Impressions of China

Postcard

First thing in the morning we all left our humble abodes and met at the front of the high school. Everyone was rather excited on the inside, but still tired on the outside. A half hour after we met the bus departed. It was weird, cause it didn’t really feel like we were actually going to China and actually going to be staying there for two weeks. The weirdest of all was that we’d be on a plane for literally the next 13 hours with a short stop in New York. A kid needs endurance to pull something like that off…

After we bussed down to Boston we went to the airport and did the baggage thing. Our bags were headed to New York for us to pick up again and send non-stop to Beijing. We, however, were going to Japan.

The wait in Logan Airport seemed pretty long, but compared to what we were in for next, it was nothing. All we had to carry was our backpacks containing our journals, overnight clothes, and anything else we needed to occupy ourselves for the next day or so.

Photo by Billy

When we arrived at JFK National Airport in New York, we found that Billy’s luggage was missing. It was such a bummer. They tried and tried to locate it but couldn’t, the airport people said that they’d give Billy 200 dollars to buy himself a new one and a bunch of clothes. As it turned out, we later found out that it was never put on the airplane and they ended up sending his bag home through the mail to his home. Also, in JFK we found these two really cute people kissing before the girl left for her flight. It was cute at the same time it was sad.

We boarded the plane after a small wait and got settled in. It was hard to acknowledge the fact that whoever it was we were sitting next to would be our companion for the next twelve hours of flying. It was probably about then that most of us finally got the hunch that going to China wasn’t just about fundraising anymore… it was about actually going to China. There were six movies on board for us to watch, it was the coolest thing. They had Payback, Stepmom, A Civil Action, Shakespeare In Love, Waterboy, and The Mighty. Video Games and audio for us to play with. They served us dinner, lunch, and snacks, and we also had our own special hostess cupcakes to celebrate Jim’s birthday.

Photo by Billy

Photo by Lauren

During the flight we were all able to keep ourselves busy with most anything. Whether it be coloring in coloring books, desperately trying to master the video games in our twelve hours on the big white bird, or fidgeting in our seats trying to find the most comfortable position to sleep (in the end Micaela and Audrey fell asleep in a tangle of limbs in an effort to share their two seats), we all managed to keep ourselves relatively sane. That does not, however, mean we got all the rest we needed.

We couldn’t have arrived in Japan at a better time. It was quiet (as quiet as Japan will be) at the airport and we were able to get out of there in no time. On top of that, we were all pretty tired and I counted more than half of us as having bloodshot eyes from all that video game playing (or the fact we were supremely tired). We had a little rest while in the airport after we went through customs and Lindsay had her first culture shock of the trip–she actually had a lot of encounters with the asian toilet style– wonder where the name ’squat’ came from…

Photo by Lauren

After that we caught a shuttle bus to our airport, but ended up getting off at the wrong stop. We went to the Hotel Nikko Winds, and we were supposed to go to the Hotel Nikko Narita. Of course, silly us. It was funny because we were sitting in the lobby of the wrong hotel, and at the time it didn’t seem off, but then after awhile I began to really think about it. Here were 17 American kids slouching in the lobby of a Japanese hotel with bloodshot eyes making a spectacle out of the Japanese telephones. It was quite the scene to behold, but we were too tired to notice our own craziness.

When we finally got set up at the right hotel we had an hour to relax and get ready to head for dinner. I don’t know a time that I had been that tired. Dinner proved worthless, the food was disgusting, all vision was being distorted and blurred, and aside from the fact that most of us were sleeping in our dishes, we were able to try some new food. Micaela and Audrey just pretended to eat their food while they were really smooshing it around and playing in their dazed state of mind.

It was no problem for us to get to sleep. It felt so good to have our toes touching the nice sheets in the nice hotel with all our friends around. Except for the triple room, which was on the other side… but they were with us in spirit. It was a strenuous night, physically for a lot of us. Several times in the night a lot of us woke up at odd times and had to struggle to get back to sleep. Finally, at 7 AM, after a great night’s rest, we received our first infamous wake up call.

We then proceeded on to a spectacular continental breakfast with all kinds of foreign and American breakfast goodies. Most of us were pretty tired, but happy to be eating something that tasted somewhat desirable as compared to the previous night’s dinner. After everyone had dined upon a mix of toast, rice, fruit, mueslix, orange juice, milk, croissants, rolls, and eggs, we headed upstairs to get our overnight backpacks and caught a shuttle to the airport at 8:45 AM. By the time we got through customs, etc. and settled in on the airplane it was 10:30 in the morning and we were all feeling pretty excited to be flying directly to China. There was no on-flight entertainment, but we had a packet to read on the first chapter of China Wakes which kept us all occupied for the majority of the short (in comparison to our previous one) flight.

Finally we arrived in Beijing at 1:30. A one-hour difference from Tokyo.

Monks in Tokyo - Photo by Stephanie

The Great Wall tourist attraction - by Audrey

The Great Wall ascends from a tiny village in which almost anyone is willing to do anything to sell you…anything. Peddlers on the street vary from those who purchase from artisans or companies, to those who actually create their art right there on the Great Wall.

A popular style of art we saw being made on the Great Wall was an engraving into a black slate to create an image of the Great Wall. Other commodities lining the broad wall were trinkets, coins, and quilts. Now, what a person in 90 degree weather would want with a quilt is beyond me, but the designs on them were quite enticing. Intricate patterns woven in patchwork and patchwork pandas were number one on the selling list. You had to be careful, because if you got too close to the quilt peddlers, you’d find yourself wrapped in one with the woman going “See, see? Nice and warm…” Very odd, people will do anything to make a sale up there. Must be the high altitude.

Tourist Attraction - by Luke

Before you step on to the Great Wall, however, from the place we climbed there was a small square in which a girl was balancing upright on a ladder, a team of men stood around sedan chairs in which to carry you, and the natives looked around for the light-haired foreigners to take their picture with.

It was quite a scene. Shops lined a small staircase up to the actual Wall, and then they became more spread out. Mostly were just small work stations with signs in Chinese asking you to buy this or that. Because of the way it was set up, we’d have to pay to get a group picture taken on this set of risers that were already set up at a prime point where the Wall ascended gracefully to heaven in the background. Well we weren’t going to pay good Yuan for that! We nestled ourselves in our own juxtaposed setting and got a wonderful group shot. Now we all have proof that “I Mount the Great Wall” (as our admission tickets said!!).

Yarmouth China Studies Project group shot

Great Wall and Lauren's head - by Audrey

The Great Wall. The snake who runs its belly along Northern China, the ultimate stairmaster…these are a few names that are fitting for the largest man-made structure on Earth, the only one that can be seen from satellites aside from man-made bodies of water, of course.

The group split in to two and took off in either direction. We soon learned how difficult it would be to move at a constant pace on the constantly shifting rises and falls of the monstrous wall.

It’s steeper than one might imagine. There were parts where you could look down the stairs you just climbed and not see the steps below. In some places it was obvious that if you fell down the stairs, chances are you wouldn’t hit more than two until you were set in to flight and rolled all the way down in to the valley where we first mounted.

The Great Wall At Jinshanling

We had a long while to climb, and were to meet back at the restaurant where the bus was parked at a certain time. When we all got down we got a yummy taste of chocolate ice cream which we learned later to be more popular in the Shanghai area. Lunch was good and we ran in to a group of students from Philadelphia who were traveling on a railroad from Russia to China.

We bid our farewells to our fellow travelers (who were on the last day of their trip, with us on one of our first!) and set off back to Beijing.

Original piece of the Great Wall

Chinese Flags in Tienanmen Square - by Luke

On our way back from Bei Hai park we drove a wide perimeter around the whole of Tiananmen square. With the sun setting slowly over the large tower in the center of Tiananmen Square (called the “(T-tower)” we got a glimpse of probably the world’s most historical monuments. Needless to say, Tiananmen Square is not classified as one of the Seven Great Wonders of the World, but the stories and horrors behind the life of such a landmark should deem it so. The pain and disgust that go hand in hand with views of Tiananmen that are pre-determined by what we’ve only learned in high school are, for me (please pardon the independent speech, here), some of the most powerful feelings I’ve ever had related to school and the rest of the world around me.

View of Mao - by Lauren

To accurately portray the spectre of the unfolding of events at Tiananmen Square, a short history lesson is in order. On April 15th, 1989, student protests broke out only shortly following the death of the communist party general secretary and democratic reformer Hu Yaobang. These protests went hand-in-hand with the feelings people had against China’s leader, Deng Xiaoping, who was not wanted (by the students) to be in charge anymore.

Here comes the tricky part…

Resisting the government’s command to cease protests on April 20, the water of China’s social self was turned from a simmer to a boil. Tension was rising and falling in at a time when the leadership of the country was wavering between Li Peng and Zhao Ziyang, that is, after Deng Xiaoping had been forced from office. The student’s protests were to create a more democratically oriented government, which was not appreciated by the communist leaders.

With martial law declared, Li Peng (the winner of the struggle over power between himself and Zhao Ziyang) ordered troops to ‘handle’ the situation at Tiananmen. He did this with the support of Deng Xiaoping.

About a month had passed since the students’ refuse to withhold their protesting. Troops were launched into the Heart of Tiananmen to brutally bring the radical, anti-democratic protests to a screeching halt. Tanks poured in with foot soldiers by their side. With stern, bloodthirsty intentions, the soldiers marched straight in to the crowd of frightened movementists…with their guns pointed forward the whole time. The rest is history, barely ten years ago, to this date, and it is impossible for me to imagine such a horrid thing existing while I was idling my 6-year-old self with pattern blocks and weather charts… sunny, cloudy, foggy, or snowy until school let out. I was completely unaware of what was going on in the world then, and if I’d had to have made a guess, it would have been a cloudy day over Tiananmen.

That is the history lesson. There are hopes that the reader isn’t completely asleep through all the names and dates, impressions and speculations…but it was definitely something that had to be reviewed before summarizing our attendance there.

Tiananmen Square Statues - by Luke

Our first glimpse at Tiananmen, as said before, was of a quick perimeter to see all sides of the Square. It was closed off, due to renovations for the 50th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, so we were only able to cruise the strip that surrounds Tiananmen. We went home, regretting that we were not able to walk on the grounds of the historical monument, but found that only a couple of days later we were able to visit, on the first day of the reopening! The great green walls of construction were torn down and we were the first to experience the newly re-stoned walkways and a completely ‘refurbished’ Tiananmen.

The experience of walking across the slate floor at Tiananmen Square was a little bit like a dream. Though it was sunny, it felt cloudy, and my feet were like marshmallows scuffling softly against the ground. I imagined all the people who died here, scrambling towards the large monument in the middle of Tiananmen, hurrying in vain trying to climb it (though it is unclimbable) and feeling that inevitable sting of death. It’s great to say that I’ve experienced such a place and hope that my travel-mates feel the same.

Yamouth China Studies Project group shot

Teaching the "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" song - by John

These Americans are so silly!!! - by John

We visited a small school in a town called Li Luo outside of Luoyang. It was here that we were able to experience teaching for the first times in most of our lives.

After awhile, at least, in the classroom I was in, the four people assigned to the room pulled everyone together for a class session of what they had learned. It was here that they were taught animals, numbers, the alphabet, and yes, the macarena and ‘raise the roof’.

Four of us were given to each fourth grade classrooms in the efforts to give the students a memorable outlook on the English language (because they were soon going to be learning it, they start it mandatorily in fifth grade).

Groups began split up in fourths in the classroom and kicked it off by belting out our most rusty versions of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and “The Eensy Weensy Spider”.

Guitar Entertainment - by Micaela

John and Seth Juggling Act - by Audrey

Once we had parted with our adorable new companions, we were set outside to perform for them. It was unlike any performance we had done yet, and the tiny, interested children gathered around us like flies to an open-faced jelly sandwich. We performed, they oo-ed and ahh-ed and we smiled back at their fragile faces.

Group of school boys assigned to learn English from Audrey

It was a spectacular thing visiting Li Luo, it was the rawest village life that we were able to see. In fact, we experience so much of the village that we were able to walk in the streets with all the children, smell the sulfuric stench that was seeping from the gutters, walk through vegetable fields, go fishing, and eat lunch in the villager’s houses all in one day.

Kids Learning the Thumbs Up Sign

Eating lunch was quite a task for us, because no matter how much you ate, more and more came. Not only that, but the hosts had a tendency to offer us beer and cigarettes, which we kindly declined to. The livingroom was a big, empty place with a couch on one end and a TV on the other. We ate off a coffee table that was near the couch end of the room.

Spending time with a family - by John

We thanked the villagers and left with the rest of our group to go to a fishing spot way far away. On our trek there we walked through a large field of tall plants and on the streets where farmer had their grains out to dry. Eventually we made it to the fishing place and had our hand at it. Only Billy caught a fish, but everyone else had fun trying!

Stephanie posing with a family

Tired from the long day, we went back to our hotels and enjoyed a little bit of city life that night after eating a hotel prepared dinner, which in no way compared to the village cooking.

News - by John

Shanghai is definitely a city of severe contrasts. While modest and homely in some places, buildings are literally being thrown up from the bowels of the streets. This creates a fascinating horizon line of tradition and new ideas when traveling along the endless expanse of turning roads.

View of TV Tower - by Jim

One street by the water best reflected these spectacular contrasts. On the right-hand side of the bus one could see the TV Tower across the water looming over several other geometrically sound buildings. On the left, a wide array of Eastern-influenced buildings made their brown, green, and yellow statements in front of a light gray sky. It was as if by turning your head from side-to-side your head was transformed in to a biological remote control clicking between the History channel and the Sci-Fi network on the television of life.

Dining at the dumpling place - by Lindsay

While in Shanghai we visited museums, gardens, shopped, danced, ate, walked through the marketplace, and were able to have our hand at surviving in a foreign country with virtually no verbal communication between us and the rest of the world.

Dining at the dumpling place - by Lindsay

Young boy hanging out with Luke

Shanghai, being the last city we’d visit in China, was a place where we all ’seized the day’ by blowing the rest of our Yuan during a day of shopping and relishing our last chances with communicating to people who don’t really understand you (which had become a favorite passtime for some).

There was a bowling alley on the fifth floor of the hotel. We’d go there at night and mop up our ‘free time’ before bed in playing one or two games of bowling. In the bowling alley there were such treats as a massage chair and a jukebox. When it wasn’t our turn to bowl we’d either go stick a few jiao in the jukebox or in the chair and let them do their magic. The music that came from the jukebox included Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, and Backstreet Boys…obviously they have as bad a taste in music in China as they do in America.

Saying goodbye to Yang and Bin, our tour guides - by Stephanie

Leaving Shanghai was where we had to say goodbye to our tour guides, Yang and Bin before lugging our suitcases to the checking counter. We boarded the plane and left the steamy climate of the humidity-plagued country to enter in to the cooled, wet feel of Japan. And then we flew home.

Not unlike the YMCAs and YWCAs that grace our country, a “Children’s Palace” (a translation) is a place for people to go to learn music, athletics, and the arts. While YWCAs and YMCAs are generally all-ages, the Children’s Palace, as specified by the title, is geared towards the youth of China. Walking up several steep flights of wide stairs, we found ourself in a conference room of sorts being oriented to the ways of the recreational center. We learned from the director about the age groups, activities, and information along those lines.

Ping Pong Session by Stephanie

After this we met up with a group of children who were playing ping pong. We found, most of all, that the children, while not as ‘impressed’ with our presence as the older population of literally everywhere we went, they were shy with us, meaning…’shy’ for a Chinese child. Shy, for them, is to not immediately jump all over you, but to test the waters a bit before making the initial plunge in to friendship. In fact, for the most part, we were more shy than they were in our ping-pong ways. Most of them were better than most of us, and some were even able to beat Cliff, our ping pong master. It was here we got to try our hand at competitive Chinese sports and get a taste of the efficiency involved. One kid would serve to an instructor until the ball fell, and while they were retrieving it another child would serve with a line of two or three at each table. The kids knew the ropes and everything went without a slip-up. It was very disciplined.

Practicing Kung Fu with the Little Ones - by Lauren

Another class we visited was a bunch of smaller children attending their first kung fu class. We joined in, finding them much easier to keep up with than the Shaolin students , and found that even the kids, who worked at a much slower pace than the students in Shaolin, were somewhat familiar with the moves. We presumed that they had been raised with it in their household, so they were familiar with it. The class was primarily male, but there were two girls. There was no obvious discrimination of them, they stood in line evenly with everyone else, and nobody edged away from them muttering something about ‘cooties.’ This was very surprising because in a kung fu class in America, a girl would almost always be ostracized in a group that was mostly male.

Young Pianist - by John

The music classes at the Children’s Palace were singular, as opposed to the group classes like ping pong, kung fu, and ballet, which was not mentioned above. Walking through the halls of the Palace we would hear distant notes. It was very serene, we’d come and go as we pleased through any doorway and observe the students performing piano and some instruments that were foreign to us. While we were enjoying our peaceful walk over the linoleum floors, a giant sound began to rumble underfoot. It started on the floor, and bounced on to the cement walls and filled the hallway with a loud ruckus. We walked to find the source (which was not hard because it was so loud!) and we all met up at the end of the hall. A small boy, maybe 8 years old, was banging with all his might on some drums while his instructor flipped music pages and his parents watched. We applauded his racket of a composition once he had finished and left the Children’s Palace with a sense of ‘wow’ for these young children who are persuing their passions at a young age.

The Forbidden City by Audrey

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a very tall wall called the Purple Wall. One might be confused with the name, as it is pictured red. If you can look close enough, there is definitely a touch of purple somewhere among the red expanse. A possibility as to why it is called the Purple Wall is that the wall is so old, 600 years, in fact, that the paint used on the walls is so faded and the sun has tinted it a grapefruit shade of red.

Street Peddler by Audrey

When we arrived we parked a long distance from the entrance. From the moment we got off the bus to the moment we entered the Forbidden city we were surrounded by a literal swarm of people trying to sell us postcards and figurines. They appeared out of nowhere and followed us like mad until they started dispersing in the crowd at the entrance to the City. This location is a virtual magnet for peddlers. They can only gather outside of the purple wall because of admission fee purposes, but believe me, they make up for not being able to get in by getting you good (or at least harassing you to a point of near-insanity) while you’re waiting to get in.

Crane Statue by Luke

When you go through the gate you pass through a small hallway that is filled with souvenirs and necessities for trekking around the hot courtyard such as an umbrella or a multitude of bottled water. After this dark merchandising tunnel you emerge in to a wide plain of stone with widespread landmarks such as statues of cranes, lions, and bridges over a small river that passes through that lead to stairways up to the first large building. Large urns were placed mathematically through the entire place, on the perimeter. Some of us hid in the shade of these, along with an umbrella to ease the heat, while others took pictures and explored this historical site.

Traditional Scaffolding by Jim

We spent about 15 minutes milling around and then the full group met at the top of the first large staircase. Some tourists asked some of us for pictures, and we observed the traditional style scaffolding they use in modern times to do renovations on various buildings.

Styrofoam Booties by Steve

Once we passed through that area of the City we were required to wear these strange booties made of styrofoam, nylon tape, and elastic. Yang said that they probably didn’t care if we kept them on, because most likely it was just a way of making money.

Performing the Cotton-Eyed Joe dance by Audrey

Further in to the Forbidden City there were museums and gardens. In one pathway between museum halls, the group did the “Cotton-Eyed-Joe” dance and a bunch of Chinese tourists got to watch us make complete sillies of ourselves.

Throne where emperor sat - by Becky

We left the overpowering landmark with a sense of smallness, which is exactly what the emperor, Qin, who had it built intended. He wanted to create a feeling of heaven on earth, and for all the subjects to feel weak and insignificant so they would easily bend to his power.

Tub Mermaids

Seeing as there weren’t going to be any aquatic accomodations at any of the hotels we were to stay at..we decided to take initiative and make our own in Lindsay and Micaela’s bathtub at the Hua Du Hotel.

The most wonderful thing about fast food in China is their ability to bring the founder to the people. Here, the once-living Colonel Sanders stands posing for the camera with Lauren. As her warm lips touch his cold, pale cheeks you can see as a little pink fill his complexion.

How can you resist that face? Those eyes? Audrey throws herself to the mercy of Ronald McDonald as he pulls those age-old moves on her. Their hands say it all, they are absolutely compatible… how come he can only exist in fiberglass form in China? Why not America? It’s a forbidden love…

Knife Frenzy

Knives..knives, knives, knives. A continuing theme for the male members of YCSP throughout our stay in China. Here the murderous bunch poses for a gruesome shot to let anyone know you don’t MESS with us!

Progressing later in to the trip, we found the size of the knives they bought getting larger and larger until they were carting around entire swords in their suitcases. Luke even went so far as to buy a retractable sword so that it wouldn’t take up too much space in his luggage. Unfortunately, as tends to happen with everything, Micaela broke it and what was once one sword was now a dagger and a blunt tip with a handle…