Ringing in 4704 - the Year of the Pig

Last Saturday, the 17^th, Chinese around the world celebrated the Lunar New Year. My only experience of Lunar New Year celebrations up until now have come from the Chinese snacks that Jenna Wong’s mom brought in once a year back at P.S. 178 and enjoying a meal of dumplings and bubble tea courtesy of the Harvard Chinese Students’ Association. However, I now realize that Chinese New Year (Spring Festival as it is referred to here) is the Chinese holiday. This comes after living through what can best be described as a collective cultural explosion during this past week. Forget National Day or the May 1^st holiday, which have only been celebrated for a few decades. The Chinese have been ringing in the Lunar New Year for millennia (take that Dick Clark), and the festivities are grander than those of any other celebration on earth. Imagine everything but the most essential transportation and security services shutting down; hundreds of millions of travelers flooding planes and trains to make it home for the holidays; fireworks going off on every street corner for days leading up to and following New Year’s, and you’ll only begin to appreciate the sheers scale of the celebrations.

I had a very international Chinese New Year’s Eve, passing the few before and after midnight with a Russian classmate and his friends in a Korean restaurant. There’s no single fireworks display in Beijing for Spring Festival. Instead families set off their own in parks and courtyards throughout the city. At midnight on the 16^th, all we could hear was the deafening pop, pop, pop of fireworks all around us, as flashes of light illuminated the fog off into the distance. I often complain about the cold, austere streets of Beijing, devoid of personality and losing the spirited street-life that lend Chinese cities their character. During Spring Festival, the people take back the streets, putting on a series of massive, week-long street fairs. Lots of greasy street food, carnival games, and vendors. It also hasn’t hurt that this year’s celebration coincides with the best weather Beijing has seen since October. Spring Festival has been a nice break from work and a chance to have fun with friends and family before heading back to school. However, it’s also reintroduced me to some of the things I loved about Beijing, but have lost touch with over half year I’ve been living here.

I'm Back (again)

Back in Beijing after 3 weeks, back on blogger after 3 months. Before coming home for the holidays I averaged a major illness or injury every 2 weeks: food poisoning, followed up by a severely sprained ankle, not to be outdone by a bout of the flu. All around the end of the semester sucked, bringing my total number of Beijing hospital visits to 6 (not counting follow-up visits).

Since then I've been healthy and happy and traveling, first to the Caribbean with my family and Vietnam and southern China during my winter break.

Vietnam was the perfect respite from the cold and pollution in Beijing I went to there with few expectations or preconceived notions. I simply knew it was close (to China at least), cheap, and not as heavily touristed as Thailand. What little I had read and researched about the country didn't really prepare me for my trip. Vietnam is incredibly beautiful, so beautiful that it breaks your heart to leave. The people we met were warm and outgoing (even when they're trying to squeeze a couple extra dollars out of us). Wherever you go there's an infectious energy in the air (besides bird flu) that lifts your spirit despite bone chilling winds in the north or sweltering heat down south.

I couldn't help but draw comparisons between China and Vietnam, two "communist" countries embarking on projects of economic reform and opening up. While China is wealthier and growing faster than Vietnam, people there aren't as hurried or harried as people in Beijing (I've got a lot of gripes about Beijing, but their are enough of those to fill a book). People in Vietnam seem to make it a point to enjoy life to it's fullest, whether they farm in the rural Northeast or own a business in Ho Chi Minh City. These are simply generalizations from about a year living in China and 2 weeks in Vietnam, but I'd readily take another trip south of the border, sooner rather than later. Here are some highlights from north to south:

Beijing Hospital - Part Deux

Making progress on my tour of Beijing university hospitals, I paid a visit to the Beijing Language and Culture University Hospital this past Friday - having been the recipient of a large Japanese elbow to the lip during basketball practice (the elbow belonging to my friend and teammate). Here's the play by play: I was guarding Fumi on the low post; he fronted up to the basket; I backed off to try to throw him off balance then came back to contest is shot; I didn't see anything that happened after that, but something big and heavy slammed into my face. I came away with a sore jaw and deep cut to my lip that required 8 stiches . Doc said it should heal up in a week, but I'm going to the Beida hospital to get it checked out again today. Right now I'm just taking it easy and trying to keep my situation moisterized like P-Diddy. I'll post updates on my recovery and spare everyone the post-op pics.

Hooray for Communist Effeciency

So the National Day holiday is coming up quick (National day, October 1st, is roughly equivalent to our Independence Day and marks the founding of the P.R.C). The good news: I have a week off for the holiday. The bad news: so does practically the entire country. Imagine literally over a hundred million people crowding bus and train stations, all vying for precious hotel rooms and clamoring for a glimpse of famous sights around the country. There are three golden weeks in China during which the entire country goes on holiday (the other two being the May Day and Spring Festival celebrations). One of my teachers here told us a saying about the golden week holidays in China that roughly translates into the following: during golden week, adults look at the backs of heads while children stare at butts.

I understand having these sorts of national vacation periods back in the day when the government wanted to build national spirit and the people stayed in their town or village singing songs and such (I have no evidence that that is what happened back in the day, I'm just using my imagination). Nowadays, it seems like everyone and their uncle is planning to go to Inner Mongolia or some other "remote" destination.

I'm torn between wanting to take advantage of my only vacation time till Christmas and my aversion to large masses. If anyone has suggestions on good, low key National Day destinations, hook a brother up.