Week 4/5

It’s funny… My mom has always told me I have the keenest sense of smell. Sometimes it’s a good thing, in the case of eating yummy food or buying perfume, but a lot of the time it’s a bad thing, especially since I’m a pretty picky person and can get grossed out easily. Nonetheless, almost every part of my life is associated with a smell. For instance, every time I drink blue PowerAde I’m reminded of my thirteen years of gymnastics, and every time I use this one type of chapstick I for some reason instantly think of Milton. So naturally, I’ve finally found my “Beijing smell”. I don’t know how to define it because it’s not one smell, rather it’s a mixture of something rotten/stale with something sweet and popcorn-like. I know that doesn’t sound appealing whatsoever, but it’s actually become somewhat comforting. Every so often I’ll be walking down the street and get a whiff of it and I’m instantly reminded of so many aspects of this country – both the good and the bad. I’m reminded of the pollution which I hear is comparable to smoking five cigarettes a day. I also think about all the delicious street food that I come across no matter where I go. I’m not quite sure where this smell comes from, but it’s definitely become that smell that I’ll associate with this summer for the rest of my life.

Anyway, second semester started this week. Aside from our schedule changing a bit, (we now have a 30 minute dialogue section during which two students and one teacher debate that days’ topic), this week was pretty average. I like the new schedule a lot more because it makes the morning go by so much faster. Also, discussion is just more interesting than doing grammar drills…

Last week I was in Shanghai doing a “social study” research project for our week between semesters. I went with about 20 other HBA students and two teachers to study the economy, but since I really have little interest in economics, I choose to research the relationship between the economy and education. I interviewed a bunch of Shanghai University students and teachers and compared their interviews with those of the companies we visited, which included Kodak, Philips electronics, and the Shanghai 2010 world expo city planning center. Our research culminated in a paper which we presented today during our oral presentations. My thesis was basically that the Shanghai educational system is a mixture of modernization’s influence and traditional thought. I found this pretty interesting since I originally thought Shanghai universities would mirror western universities in their style of learning. Many of my teachers here at BeiYu confirmed this thought. I based this prediction on the fact that Shanghai’s history is unique from the rest of China. Shanghai grew to importance in the 19th century after the 1842 treaty of Nanjing and became an important port location since it was one of the few cities open to foreign trade under the Qing. Ever since, this city has flourished as a center of commerce between the east and the west. According to this logic, I thought many aspects of Shanghai culture, including its educational system, would show some western influence as a result of the city’s rapid modernization. While I did find research to support this argument, I could not ignore Shanghai people’s obvious attempt to hold on to Chinese traditional thought and customs. I think this best describes China’s mindset as it prepares for the Olympics and rapidly develops its economy. Although you can see the influence of the one child policy and the rapid modernization in most Chinese people, they still highly value traditional customs. It’s not just another contradiction in China like I discussed in my earlier post, but more of a balance every 老百姓(“common person”) is trying to achieve.

Aside from the social study, Shanghai was so much fun. While we did have a lot more project related activities than some of the other trips, there was plenty of time to explore the city by ourselves. It was a great vacation from BeiYu, but to be honest, in the end I like Beijing more. Shanghai just seemed to lack a certain uniqueness that Beijing possesses – a strong sense of history and culture. Everything in Shanghai just seems to be striving to be like the West and it just results in a somewhat fake mentality. The restaurants and clubs did seem nicer than in Beijing, but I could go to any other city and find those same places. Beijing, on the other hand, has so many interesting streets and historical sites that I treasure every time I visit because I know I’ll probably never get the chance to see them again.

Ok, well that’s my rambling for this week. Tomorrow we’re going to the Longqing gorge which is supposed to be amazingly gorgeous. I’ve heard rumors of bungee jumping but the teachers denied this… We’ll see. Then on Sunday my Chinese host sister is taking me to Tienanmen Square, which I’ve already been to a million times but it never gets old, and Silk Street, which is a huge shopping center known for its counterfeit designer brands... So send me an email if you want me to pick you up a fake Longhorn or Coach bag!











The following pictures are all from Shanghai. We watched a traditional tea making ceremony and I got to try!