Saturday, October 18, 2003
NEWS AND VIEWS
Click here to view this week's photos.
Babies and toddlers here are in the care of their grandparents during the day. On our way to school, we pass many grams and gramps in the park, watching toddlers explore the grass and the fountain. Since I look like a grandma, I am often stopped to admire someone's baby, which I do with great enthusiasm and a "hao kan" (very beautiful) with a chuck to the baby's fat cheek. This is greeted with great good humour. These little kids have their bare bums sticking out of their pants, which are open from the crotch to the back waist band. Pretty cool on these chilly fall days! When I asked Keyan about this, she told me that this was the way Chinese parents train their kids. Need to pee? squat. Need to poop squat! However, I've seen no pooper scoopers, and am having serious reservations about walking thru the park!
We went with Keyan and Richard to an activity park on the outskirts of Huairou one afternoon recently. One of the activities was to "drive" a jeep around a small asphalt track. Both Richard and Keyan were keen to do it. We demurred, having driven for almost 45 years at speeds much faster than these jeeps could go. We watched as they each steered their assigned jeep, under the watchful eye of a guy in the passenger seat dressed in camouflage fatigues, who changed gears and kept the accelerator at a snail's pace. They were delighted by the experience, and talked excitedly about how fast they had gone and how hard it was to make the turns. And then Richard, in dress shoes, insisted on trying his luck at a nearby climbing wall, where he donned a harness and was attached to a safety rope. He got half way up the wall, despite the shoes!
The text for Senior English students carries a familiar Canadian landmark on the cover- Toronto's Casa Loma. See the photo. This text applies to the whole of China, so you can imagine how many copies of this book sport Toronto's tourist attraction. We sent the folks at Casa Loma a copy of the photo in an email and they were sure interested. The director of marketing, Lou Seiler was some surprised. "Whoever was responsible, we owe them a big thank you for the tremendous exposure." No doubt some official in the China Department of Education looked through a number of stock shots and lit on Casa Loma as the Chinese understanding of a western castle - turrets, crenelations and all. Sir Henry Pellat would certainly be surprised -- his dream home the consummate idea of a castle. Just as westerners romanticize China, so our Chinese friends see the west through a romantic gauze. The book cover obviously put to shame all the British, German and Italian castles, to say nothing of French chateaux. If Casa Loma has more than its usual quota of Chinese visitors it will no doubt nod a "xie xie" (thank you) to the Chinese Department of Education, Senior English for China, Students' Book 2A.
What have we eaten lately? We've been enjoying some delicious green skinned oranges, which we took for limes until we had them in a restaurant for dessert one evening. Last Sunday, on our way home from the Ming Tombs, we stopped at a roadside stand to buy a bag of persimmons. There are tons of trees in orchard-like settings, loaded with this round orange-red fruit. And nuts! This area is famous for its chestnuts -- apparently they are shipped all over the world. That delicious French dessert, Mont Blanc, may be made with a chestnut puree from China. Also walnuts all over the place. We spent an overnight about a month ago at a mountain retreat near the Great Wall, and everyone was shaking the branches of the walnut trees, and bagging the nuts. When eaten right from the tree, the membrane around the meat must be peeled away. Otherwise, it's very bitter. The skin dries quite quickly once the nuts are stored for a while. When we get them in Canada, the skins don't have this green bitter taste. And fresh dates, something we've never experienced before. They have greenish brown skins and white flesh, with only a hint of sweetness. They resemble an apple in their crunch and crisp flesh. Because we live in an agricultural area, the fruits of the season arrive on the street the instant they are ripe. The hawkers call out the latest arrivals.
The main entrances to stores both large and small around here, have been installed with clear, very heavy plastic strips, about 4' wide, which hang from the top of the door frame to within an inch of the floor. Each strip slightly overlaps the ones to either side, creating a pretty good barrier -- intended, we assume, to keep heat or cool in or out, depending on the time of year. There's a real art to walking through these strips. A group of these strips must be moved aside with either one or both hands, while still moving forward into or out of the store. Gliding through on an angle, sometimes with a swimming motion can, on occasion work well. Leaving is more difficult, because we are always carrying something we've purchased. If the person ahead is careless, you who follow can be severely lashed by free moving heavy strips. In rainy weather, they are wet and slippery. By day's end, they are dirty and grimy. However, there seem to be store staff whose sole job it is to clean the strips. Clean or dirty, they can sure pack a wallop for the unsuspecting.
Stores here are full of staff, all in some form of uniform: a blazer, a vest, always a white shirt and tie, usually black pants. When not busy, they stand around in groups, chatting quietly (probably about the latest liaison or the newest employee or the latest style -- just like the BritCom Are You Being Served?). Enter the Thomsons, intent on doing nothing more than browsing... maybe even finding that dust pan or plastic container for left over rice. Unheard signals sound. We are surrounded with sales staff. Helpful but in words we can't understand! Zhege (jayguh), they say "This one". Well, maybe, but then again, maybe not. How about that one? (na ge). Don't know. Just let us look! We'll call you when we've made a decision. Not possible. The crowd of staff moves with us, until we finally leave the department, our only escape from too much help. Our rules for shopping:
1. Don't touch anything, because staff will immediately assume you want to buy it, or one like it.
2. Even though you might be interested in an item, try not to look as if you are.
We are getting good at side glances. After all, any foreigners, especially if they look like they are North Americans, are very, very rich, and can buy the whole store, on a whim, if they want to. Keyan has told us this. She assures us that Chinese customers don't get this kind of "service."
Our school doesn't use white boards or magic markers. There are a few overhead projectors, and a computer with projector in a few buildings. As a result, the most important way of illustrating ideas is the traditional blackboard and the only writing instrument is CHALK! Soft, crumbly chalk. A full stick of chalk barely survives its first encounter with the blackboard. Half way through the first stroke, the chalk will break. Some words never get crossed or dotted because the chalk is not up to it. We are left with half for writing and half on the floor. Soon, we grind the floor half to a powder as we walk back and forth. Two or three words more on the board and that half piece of chalk is a nub and we're reaching for another fresh piece from the many boxes which are kept on a shelf behind the teaching podium. The chalk dust is everywhere - hands, clothing, shoes. We regularly head for the nearest WC for a hand rinse between classes. In our offices, all teachers return from classes to brush themselves off and to wash their hands before heading out again. We are considering the amount of chalk dust we breathe and wondering if this is an occupational hazard!
Great preparations are underway at Huairou Yi Zhong these days. Our school is applying to be a "model" school - a status reached by a very small number of schools across the country. Last Friday there was a huge assembly in the gymnasium - all 2300 students and 250 staff - to hear the principal announce the application and explain how everyone could help to make the bid successful. As well as being polite, helpful and attentive, studying hard and doing well, being well-dressed and tidy, lining up one's bikes in an orderly fashion, there was a huge emphasis on cleaning. Thorough cleaning. Every Monday in the final period, there will be a thorough cleaning. Pails of water slopped from the nearest washroom to the classroom. Mops galore. Twig brooms all over the place! (The twig broom should be the national symbol of China.) Huge piles of recyclable bottles. Garbage bags bulging. Clean the windows, inside and out. Clean the hallways, stairs and bannisters. Sweep the asphalt driveways. An exercise designed in the Benedictine monastic style to remind us all at Huairou Yi Zhong of the joy of manual work, an exercise in civic pride, or just the need to be clean and orderly?... Who knows?
We've also noticed new signs are emerging at key locations. A new scenic view of the campus on an overhead sign at the gate, with the Chinese characters of the school's name superimposed. New signs in Chinese and in English will soon be posted around the grounds. Such things as: Avoid walking on the lawn. Keep to the path; This is your campus. Keep it beautiful. The school has gone out of its way to make sure that the translation into China's second language is more than acceptable.
Apparently the formal inspection will occur some time in November. By that time, the place should be spotless - if indeed, this is the essence of being a model school.
Oh, yes! The Ming Tombs! Large paved courtyards. Elaborate red gates. Carefully tended trees in park like settings between gates. Gate, stairs down to courtyard terrace, stairs up to the next gate, times 2 or 3, then a set of serious stairs to a tall building, the Spirit Tower, which is built over the entrance to the tomb below. At one site, the Ding Ling, we descended into a huge underground tomb of a Ming Emperor, heavily vaulted in stone with incredible thick stone doors between each room. The mechanisms for swinging them closed were ingenious. Each coffin (Emperor and 2 Empresses) in a red wooden box about the size of a car, with several refrigerator sized red boxes on either side for the goods being transported to the next world with them. In another room, three huge marble thrones with large porcelain urns and candles as decoration.
In a nearby museum, many intricate crowns and artifacts in bronze and jade. As well, a model of the entire Ming site, which is made up of 13 separate burial complexes, each covering several acres. The entire site is set at the base of several high mountains, which were covered in green velvet trees when we were there. Being close to mountains obviously gave the deceased a head start on reaching heaven.
The word "ling" appears in the names of each tomb site, and in combination with the other words which describe it, can produce amusing phrases to the English ear. At the Qing Tombs east of here, the site of Empress Cizi's tomb is called the Ding Dong Ling. The Ding Ling is the tomb of calmness or stability. The "dong" refers to the fact that her tomb (and indeed the customary siting) is east of the Emperor's tomb.
As is the case at all historical sites, it's awesome to see so much of the nation's wealth, talent and craftmanship concentrated in a single setting.
Click here to view this week's photos.
Babies and toddlers here are in the care of their grandparents during the day. On our way to school, we pass many grams and gramps in the park, watching toddlers explore the grass and the fountain. Since I look like a grandma, I am often stopped to admire someone's baby, which I do with great enthusiasm and a "hao kan" (very beautiful) with a chuck to the baby's fat cheek. This is greeted with great good humour. These little kids have their bare bums sticking out of their pants, which are open from the crotch to the back waist band. Pretty cool on these chilly fall days! When I asked Keyan about this, she told me that this was the way Chinese parents train their kids. Need to pee? squat. Need to poop squat! However, I've seen no pooper scoopers, and am having serious reservations about walking thru the park!
We went with Keyan and Richard to an activity park on the outskirts of Huairou one afternoon recently. One of the activities was to "drive" a jeep around a small asphalt track. Both Richard and Keyan were keen to do it. We demurred, having driven for almost 45 years at speeds much faster than these jeeps could go. We watched as they each steered their assigned jeep, under the watchful eye of a guy in the passenger seat dressed in camouflage fatigues, who changed gears and kept the accelerator at a snail's pace. They were delighted by the experience, and talked excitedly about how fast they had gone and how hard it was to make the turns. And then Richard, in dress shoes, insisted on trying his luck at a nearby climbing wall, where he donned a harness and was attached to a safety rope. He got half way up the wall, despite the shoes!
The text for Senior English students carries a familiar Canadian landmark on the cover- Toronto's Casa Loma. See the photo. This text applies to the whole of China, so you can imagine how many copies of this book sport Toronto's tourist attraction. We sent the folks at Casa Loma a copy of the photo in an email and they were sure interested. The director of marketing, Lou Seiler was some surprised. "Whoever was responsible, we owe them a big thank you for the tremendous exposure." No doubt some official in the China Department of Education looked through a number of stock shots and lit on Casa Loma as the Chinese understanding of a western castle - turrets, crenelations and all. Sir Henry Pellat would certainly be surprised -- his dream home the consummate idea of a castle. Just as westerners romanticize China, so our Chinese friends see the west through a romantic gauze. The book cover obviously put to shame all the British, German and Italian castles, to say nothing of French chateaux. If Casa Loma has more than its usual quota of Chinese visitors it will no doubt nod a "xie xie" (thank you) to the Chinese Department of Education, Senior English for China, Students' Book 2A.
What have we eaten lately? We've been enjoying some delicious green skinned oranges, which we took for limes until we had them in a restaurant for dessert one evening. Last Sunday, on our way home from the Ming Tombs, we stopped at a roadside stand to buy a bag of persimmons. There are tons of trees in orchard-like settings, loaded with this round orange-red fruit. And nuts! This area is famous for its chestnuts -- apparently they are shipped all over the world. That delicious French dessert, Mont Blanc, may be made with a chestnut puree from China. Also walnuts all over the place. We spent an overnight about a month ago at a mountain retreat near the Great Wall, and everyone was shaking the branches of the walnut trees, and bagging the nuts. When eaten right from the tree, the membrane around the meat must be peeled away. Otherwise, it's very bitter. The skin dries quite quickly once the nuts are stored for a while. When we get them in Canada, the skins don't have this green bitter taste. And fresh dates, something we've never experienced before. They have greenish brown skins and white flesh, with only a hint of sweetness. They resemble an apple in their crunch and crisp flesh. Because we live in an agricultural area, the fruits of the season arrive on the street the instant they are ripe. The hawkers call out the latest arrivals.
The main entrances to stores both large and small around here, have been installed with clear, very heavy plastic strips, about 4' wide, which hang from the top of the door frame to within an inch of the floor. Each strip slightly overlaps the ones to either side, creating a pretty good barrier -- intended, we assume, to keep heat or cool in or out, depending on the time of year. There's a real art to walking through these strips. A group of these strips must be moved aside with either one or both hands, while still moving forward into or out of the store. Gliding through on an angle, sometimes with a swimming motion can, on occasion work well. Leaving is more difficult, because we are always carrying something we've purchased. If the person ahead is careless, you who follow can be severely lashed by free moving heavy strips. In rainy weather, they are wet and slippery. By day's end, they are dirty and grimy. However, there seem to be store staff whose sole job it is to clean the strips. Clean or dirty, they can sure pack a wallop for the unsuspecting.
Stores here are full of staff, all in some form of uniform: a blazer, a vest, always a white shirt and tie, usually black pants. When not busy, they stand around in groups, chatting quietly (probably about the latest liaison or the newest employee or the latest style -- just like the BritCom Are You Being Served?). Enter the Thomsons, intent on doing nothing more than browsing... maybe even finding that dust pan or plastic container for left over rice. Unheard signals sound. We are surrounded with sales staff. Helpful but in words we can't understand! Zhege (jayguh), they say "This one". Well, maybe, but then again, maybe not. How about that one? (na ge). Don't know. Just let us look! We'll call you when we've made a decision. Not possible. The crowd of staff moves with us, until we finally leave the department, our only escape from too much help. Our rules for shopping:
1. Don't touch anything, because staff will immediately assume you want to buy it, or one like it.
2. Even though you might be interested in an item, try not to look as if you are.
We are getting good at side glances. After all, any foreigners, especially if they look like they are North Americans, are very, very rich, and can buy the whole store, on a whim, if they want to. Keyan has told us this. She assures us that Chinese customers don't get this kind of "service."
Our school doesn't use white boards or magic markers. There are a few overhead projectors, and a computer with projector in a few buildings. As a result, the most important way of illustrating ideas is the traditional blackboard and the only writing instrument is CHALK! Soft, crumbly chalk. A full stick of chalk barely survives its first encounter with the blackboard. Half way through the first stroke, the chalk will break. Some words never get crossed or dotted because the chalk is not up to it. We are left with half for writing and half on the floor. Soon, we grind the floor half to a powder as we walk back and forth. Two or three words more on the board and that half piece of chalk is a nub and we're reaching for another fresh piece from the many boxes which are kept on a shelf behind the teaching podium. The chalk dust is everywhere - hands, clothing, shoes. We regularly head for the nearest WC for a hand rinse between classes. In our offices, all teachers return from classes to brush themselves off and to wash their hands before heading out again. We are considering the amount of chalk dust we breathe and wondering if this is an occupational hazard!
Great preparations are underway at Huairou Yi Zhong these days. Our school is applying to be a "model" school - a status reached by a very small number of schools across the country. Last Friday there was a huge assembly in the gymnasium - all 2300 students and 250 staff - to hear the principal announce the application and explain how everyone could help to make the bid successful. As well as being polite, helpful and attentive, studying hard and doing well, being well-dressed and tidy, lining up one's bikes in an orderly fashion, there was a huge emphasis on cleaning. Thorough cleaning. Every Monday in the final period, there will be a thorough cleaning. Pails of water slopped from the nearest washroom to the classroom. Mops galore. Twig brooms all over the place! (The twig broom should be the national symbol of China.) Huge piles of recyclable bottles. Garbage bags bulging. Clean the windows, inside and out. Clean the hallways, stairs and bannisters. Sweep the asphalt driveways. An exercise designed in the Benedictine monastic style to remind us all at Huairou Yi Zhong of the joy of manual work, an exercise in civic pride, or just the need to be clean and orderly?... Who knows?
We've also noticed new signs are emerging at key locations. A new scenic view of the campus on an overhead sign at the gate, with the Chinese characters of the school's name superimposed. New signs in Chinese and in English will soon be posted around the grounds. Such things as: Avoid walking on the lawn. Keep to the path; This is your campus. Keep it beautiful. The school has gone out of its way to make sure that the translation into China's second language is more than acceptable.
Apparently the formal inspection will occur some time in November. By that time, the place should be spotless - if indeed, this is the essence of being a model school.
Oh, yes! The Ming Tombs! Large paved courtyards. Elaborate red gates. Carefully tended trees in park like settings between gates. Gate, stairs down to courtyard terrace, stairs up to the next gate, times 2 or 3, then a set of serious stairs to a tall building, the Spirit Tower, which is built over the entrance to the tomb below. At one site, the Ding Ling, we descended into a huge underground tomb of a Ming Emperor, heavily vaulted in stone with incredible thick stone doors between each room. The mechanisms for swinging them closed were ingenious. Each coffin (Emperor and 2 Empresses) in a red wooden box about the size of a car, with several refrigerator sized red boxes on either side for the goods being transported to the next world with them. In another room, three huge marble thrones with large porcelain urns and candles as decoration.
In a nearby museum, many intricate crowns and artifacts in bronze and jade. As well, a model of the entire Ming site, which is made up of 13 separate burial complexes, each covering several acres. The entire site is set at the base of several high mountains, which were covered in green velvet trees when we were there. Being close to mountains obviously gave the deceased a head start on reaching heaven.
The word "ling" appears in the names of each tomb site, and in combination with the other words which describe it, can produce amusing phrases to the English ear. At the Qing Tombs east of here, the site of Empress Cizi's tomb is called the Ding Dong Ling. The Ding Ling is the tomb of calmness or stability. The "dong" refers to the fact that her tomb (and indeed the customary siting) is east of the Emperor's tomb.
As is the case at all historical sites, it's awesome to see so much of the nation's wealth, talent and craftmanship concentrated in a single setting.
All text and photography © copyright Harkaway, 2003 - 2004
