Hi Shanghai!

I arrived in Shanghai on August 29th. As I took the long cab ride across the city, by the neon buildings and seemingly infinite apartment high rises, I let out a lunatic laugh and wondered "Where am I?" I just had traveled about 10,000 miles in less than 72 hours: I reluctantly left Copenhagen on Friday the 27th, arrived that same night in San Francisco where I saw many friends and spent a night with my City once again (I feel a need to admit it felt surreal - almost dreamlike), then got on a plane to China on Saturday afternoon. I was dropped off down the block from my apartment, wandered a bit until I found my place, then settled in for the night. The next morning I awoke to this image out my bedroom window. No matter where my mind was, I knew it had not yet caught up to my physical surroundings, for here I was - a waiguoren (foreigner) in Shanghai.

The next morning I had registration and an orientation, which was followed by a tour of the city, including a visit to an old monk garden. The complex was beautiful, full of strange rocks (said to put you in a meditative state), traditional architecture, and a koi pond, in addition to diverse and well-maintained gardens. The coolest part though was stumbling upon the trees pictured here. After a double-take, I recognized them, for they happen to be my favorite tree. I had also heard about them in Boy Scouts from an assistant scoutmaster, and acclaimed naturalist, Jack Laws. (He has published an amazing guidebook on the Sierra's that can be found on Amazon.) They were Chinese or Dawn Redwoods.

Prior to the 1940s, Redwoods were thought only to be native to California's northern coasts, though a Chinese species was known from the fossil record, but thought extinct. In 1941, a Chinese forester noticed a weird looking tree while hiking, and later sent samples to scientists in Beijing and Nanking, where it was discovered to be a still extant, though severely limited, population of Redwood trees. Since then these trees have become ubiquitous across China for their aesthetic value, and have now been planted in nurseries across the world. (Here ends my Wikipedia regurgitation.)Finding that tree, and then subsequently seeing it all over town, including on Fudan University's campus, has brought back memories from home. One thing I always miss when I leave California is the gorgeous scenery and nature, but at least I've got one thing here to fulfill that craving for what I miss.

Although some of the trees have turned out to be the same, the weather definitely hasn't. Just a couple days ago I excitedly wore, for the first time in China(!), a pair of pants. If you know me, I'm not much of a shorts guy, so trust me, it was a big deal. Until about a week ago, temperatures were constantly in the 90s with unacceptable humidity. A scorching sunny day could quickly turn to a summer downpour and back within an hour. Though the rain would provide temporary cooling relief, afterward it meant greater moisture in the air and the accompanying sticky-ness that engulfs your body. I don't like to complain, but weather is one thing that can set me off; so, when combined with the months I had spent with Danes - who never stop talking about the weather - and my unadapted, strictly Northern European heritage, I can't help myself. I remember reading in my history classes back at Berkeley journal accounts of colonialists who were sent off to the tropical regions of the world. It always annoyed me that much of their writing was consumed with bitter rants on the weather of their region. (I wonder if anyone has attempted to trace the cruelty of colonial regimes to the weather-induced bad moods of their administrators.) Now, I understand. And look at me, what am I doing?! I should move on...

Check out these photographs:






















First, I will explain what is in these two photos then I will provide some context. The top one shows a set of open air containers that were used to house live giant frogs, water snakes, turtles, and snails. The one on the bottom shows freshly roasted pig snouts on display with a price of 26.20 RMB (a little less than four dollars and a few RMB more than the price of a typical lunch). Where did I find these, in some back alley butcher frequented only by locals? Nope. I found them when I went to a packed WalMart (a.k.a WaMa) to buy soap and shampoo. I found them both in the grocery area - so no, those live animals aren't supposed to be pets. Anything, including dog, seems to be edible here. Perhaps that is the vestige of a history of famine? The rest of the WalMart was also rather interesting, and I ended up taking more pictures than items bought (the rest of the collection can be found on my Facebook). Though a western corporation, WalMart has nevertheless adapted itself to China, as I have had to also. I can't compare my shopping experience here with anything in the US because I have yet to step foot in a WalMart back home, or at least I have no memory of doing so. But if it taught me something, the Chinese can consume just as well as anybody else.



















Coming to China, I must admit I harbored fears - some now obviously irrational - regarding the power of the state and its ability to stifle speech, movement, and information. Even to just write this blog post I have had to go through a VPN (virtual private network) hosted by UC Berkeley because this website is blocked. Let us all be thankful that our government(s) trust(s) us enough to operate a blog. The photo above demonstrates a very real differences between the US and China. It is a shot from a classroom that includes some of my classmates in the foreground. In the background is a single camera pointed directly at the class. At the lectern, from which the professor must speak, are two microphones. The camera and the microphones are on 24 hours a day. It is like this in every classroom. Whether or not someone actively listens and/or watches the classroom, the message is clear: students are a threat and the government must know what they are up to. However, there is one place on campus where professors and students are not placed under surveillance while they teach and learn: the Center for American Studies. I speculate that because the CAS was built with a State Department grant, the US government has refused to install cameras. For that, I am thankful for my country.

















I have ventured outside of Shanghai once, when I went to Nanjing with four friends: Tom, Greg, Ben, and Jamie. The main purpose of our trip was to visit the Rape Museum, which details the atrocities committed by the Japanese during their occupation of their city in the run up to, and during, World War II. To the Chinese, it is a part of their Holocaust. The museum claimed that the Japanese killed 300,000, and not just soldiers, but mostly the men, women, and children who were left behind. The statues outside, like the one of the left in the photo above, testified to horrors the civilians were subjected to. Inevitably, it was a moving experience. The museum had great English translations of the commentary, something not so common. One of the two images that will stick in my mind the most from our visit was walking into a room that contained in it a mass grave filled with the skeletons of the victims. They had built the museum around this find and left it there bare for all visitors to see. The other was a picture taken by a Japanese soldier as a souvenir, but now serving as an example of their brutality, of a companion soldier with a sword raised above his head, a split moment before bringing it down upon the neck of an old Chinese man. But what this photo captured was a complete look of serenity upon the old man's face. He had been forced down on his knees, but had placed himself in a meditative position and had his palms pressed together in front of him. We cannot control what happens to us outside of our minds, how external forces act upon us, but we do have the pure freedom, and an irrevocable freedom at that, to react as we please. And in that moment before this man was beheaded he had serenity, while the soldier was seething with hate. As I walked away from the photo after a long time spent analyzing it, I thought to myself, the old man had won.


On a more personal note, I have been so pleased with the new social life I have settled into. I have made a great group of friends, who are all from California, and mostly the Bay Area. I had wished to make friends with the locals but there are large language, cultural, and social differences. As most of the kids in the program are under 21, there has been a high level of excitement for going out to bars and clubs, something we are deprived of back in the states. Shanghai is also arguably the best city in China to do so. The photo on the left shows one club we went to, known as Club Obama. It is one of Shanghai's newest clubs and had a large amount of money poured into it. When a friend found it on the internet, we decided we had to go. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to expectations (coincidence?). When out in the city, I have been repeatedly impressed by the generosity and friendliness of the Chinese. Men (the women here are cripplingly shy unless they are hookers) will buy me and my friends drinks or invite us to their table for service without charging us anything. A friend in the program insists that it is a part of their culture, and feeds their status, to be seen with "white" people, especially Americans. Comparing the treatment of Americans here to Europe, I must say that they like 'us' more here. Even though Europe and the US share culture, history, and are 'allies', Europeans can be snobby, as they sometimes dismiss Americans as brutish and dumb, while Americans call Europeans pansies and pretentious. This got me thinking about the perception in the media and in political discussions about fearing China, which at times borders on paranoia. I believe this results from a misunderstanding of Chinese motives. I have come to conceive of China as a 'younger brother' to the 'West', which is a metaphor I believe can help understand their actions and rhetoric. As a younger brother, they are now entering puberty and beginning to flex their muscles. After years of being beaten up upon, they are ready now to assert their independence, sometimes in destructive ways, but this is just part of any natural maturation process. They want to be taken seriously, but their older brothers readily dismiss them. This merely fuels their resentment. But despite all this, China does look up to its brothers. They want to be like them, but not the same as them. At the end of the day, there needs to be a recognition from both sides that China cannot be picked on anymore. Nevertheless, this doesn't mean that equal cooperation can't have fruitful results. And you know what China? I can relate.

Books - Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
"Who were all these strange ghosts rooted to the silly little adventure of earth with me? And who was I?"

Music - Unison by Bjork

People - John Rabe: the Nazi who saved thousands of Chinese civilians during the Rape of Nanjing