Dinner at the Grand Hotel

 I am unsure what I concluded from the dinner at the Grand Hotel.

It was definitely a chance to see how hard the students in Taiwan worked. As Dr. Liu described, his students would often get up at 5:30am and go to school until 9:00pm. Then they would go home and do homework until about midnight. Much of the work they did until 9:00pm was outside of the normal school day. This work consisted of workshops and classes to improve on their English – literature, drama, conversation, art, music, etc. Further, parents often do not get to see their children—and they simply accept this fact. If their children work hard, they will be better than the other children thus bringing honor to their families and saving face. Parents believe that their children’s long hours and hard work are necessary sacrifices in for this honor. They want their children to be the best that they can be.

I also couldn’t help but feel a little out of place as we continued to talk. I am a theatre major. Although I am taking management and Spanish language courses, I am planning to go in to the entertainment business. I sat at a table of other students who had prospects in Taiwan. Teaching students, nursing students, law students, business and accounting – they all seemed to have some degree that they could pursue in Taiwan or some way in which they could benefit from coming to teach in Taiwan. I didn’t feel like the same applied to me and the career I am pursuing. Ming Chuan in Taiwan didn’t even really have an art program. There were other universities that had art programs, but we didn’t hear much about them. It was simply something Carol mentioned in passing. Perhaps I was making myself feel uncomfortable by thinking too hard about what was being said or trying to find too much meaning in what was happening, but either was I found it difficult to dive in to the excitement that the others seemed to be feeling about studying abroad in Taiwan. 

Baoan Temple

I feel as if I missed out with Baoan Temple. I had a hard time understanding the tour guide, making it difficult to remain focused. I understood that it was an amalgamation of different religious beliefs with many gods to pray for about different things. What I missed were the explanations about rituals and symbolism behind the different paintings and decorations.

We did talk about Yin and Yang – the most prominent examples were the crescent prayer blocks and the bamboo barred windows. It was really exciting to see the religious elements we discussed in class actually used by the natives and to understand how they worked.

I would like to return to some of the Taipei temples and learn more about the architecture, layouts, decorations, and elements that are present. The display was so intricate and eclectic – it would be interesting to compare deeper to the other temples we visited in Beijing and will visit in Japan. 

Upon Arriving in Taipei

Taiwan reminds me of what I think Beijing would look like in ten years. The buildings were crammed on to the streets. There was an eclectic mash of colors, styles, signs, and languages. There were logos that we recognized and some that we did not. There were cars, people, and scooters everywhere. You could feel the rush of the city before even exiting the bus. But it wasn’t a hectic busy like Beijing—it was just a city and it was lively.

We made an analogy as well: Beijing is to New York as Taipei is to Toronto. Beijing was big, busy, and built up. It was very white in color but it was dusty at the same time. It felt manmade. Taipei was different. It was still clearly a city, but it fit so perfectly in to the mountains and the landscape that it didn’t seem out of place. There were trees everywhere and it seemed natural and inviting. It even had Taipei 101 to imitate Toronto’s CN Tower.

The temples are so much more ornate than in Beijing. Beijing was wonderfully painted and well kept. With everything so immense and intentionally placed the importance, power, and majesty of each location was deeply apparent. In Taipei, the intricacy of the colors and designs were the more eye catching aspects of the temples – especially Baoan. The decorations were beautiful and breathtaking, but there was so much to look at that it was hard to take it all in. 

Defining Culture

The Pearl Market, though not a traditional aspect of Chinese culture, was an exciting and eclectic experience. We walked in the door and there were vendors grabbing at us and calling to us trying to sell us cheap, worthless trinkets that were little related to anything truly Chinese—just junk you could enjoy for twenty minutes and then throw away because it broke.

What were even more shocking were the stalls upon stalls of counterfeit items like DVDs, video games, jerseys, and electronics. The government doesn’t regulate these items in China so they are easy to sell and rampant. I almost felt guilty watching the group and other tourists support the counterfeit culture. We are constantly searching for cheap things and will do anything to cut a deal. The vendors were clearly aware that we would buy anything as long as it was cheap and they played to that.

I wasn’t sure if I was more worried that the beautiful, ancient Chinese culture was falling prey to Western capitalism, or that our western culture was falling prey to the Chinese’ understanding of the way we function. Either way, the relationship seems unhealthy. Kyle told me of a family that goes on vacation to China with empty suitcases specifically so they can buy cheap Christmas and birthday presents, and with all the money they spend on the trip and vacation, they still save money on the cost of gift shopping, so they do it every year. Stories like that scare me and make me wonder where we’re headed and which culture will suffer the greatest loss (or if there will even be a loss at all). 

Lost Luxury

The vast size of Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven took my breath away. The intricacy of detail and color and the immensity of the structures (considering they used no nails!) are just incredible. I could only imagine what it would be like to see these places in their glory.

At the same time, it seems like intense luxury with no sentimental value. The young emperors lived in this giant, beautiful palace…alone. They were puppets to the Empress Dowager and were deprived of interaction with other children and the outside world – they deprived of many of the things that create what we consider childhood.

Our guide today talked about the emperor and his concubines – how he was “busy” because there were so many and he would often have to stop before he got through them all. It all struck me as so very empty. All of the women throwing themselves at the emperor in hope that they might bear his child and bring honor to their families, the emperor jumping from concubine to concubine simply out of duty rather than actual enjoyment or desire. Further, the Empress Dowager making decisions behind a screen in order to bestow power on the emperor and still get her way, the eunuchs, serving the emperor castrated so that he could be the only man in the palace, the emperor not even eating more than three bites of each meal so that no one could poison him.

I know that the ritual and honor of it all and the collectivist way of life is all part of the Chinese culture, but I can’t ignore the emptiness of it all. I feel that I would be lost in the endless luxury – luxury that hardly seems like it was ever actually enjoyed. It seems it would often be more of a burden than an honor and that the true glory of the buildings and the way of life would be lost.

As I write this, though, I am wondering if I am getting everything out of these paces as I could be due to the rush and the crowds. I feel that I miss a lot and cannot simply take everything in that would like to. Perhaps I was disillusioned going in – expecting something great and full of revelation. I keep hoping all of these things will culminate to one great, deeper meaning. The hope makes it seem as if I am over analyzing what I am seeing while I search for meaning. I’m not sure what the real answer is. 

Power in Arcitecture

Summer Palace was beautiful—the art and history in the architecture could take your breath away. It is incredible to me that it was burned down twice during invasions and rebuilt with such splendor each time. The paintings of the classics on the ceilings and structures are so intricate – I can only imagine the time and work that goes in to maintaining them (or the time and money that went in to creating them in the first place).

The marble boat is what really struck me, though. We’d learned about it in class and when we watched The Last Emperor, but to see it in person was entirely different. It was built by the Empress Dowager Cixi with embezzled navy funding in order to waste the money and prevent reform. I find it curious that in the United States we have checks and balances that are often so extensive that nothing gets done but in China under Cixi, there was one ruler with the extensive power to prevent things from getting done. They are on complete opposite ends of the extreme.

It was also strange to me to think that something full of so much beauty and intricacy—a site so appreciated by tourist and natives alike—could have been a part of a scheme to damage all of China.

The Ming Tombs were just as majestic. As we walked through the gate, the structures farther back in the tomb seemed to grow larger. You could feel the weight they carried. Inside the offering building, I was taken aback by the size of the support beams and the statue – the great architecture, though not as intricate as at summer palace, was powerful simply for its size and vastness. As we exited into the courtyard, the rear structure overlooking the burial mound loomed above us. As we climber to the top, the peacefulness was incredible. It was quiet and open – no tourist merchants hocking their wares or noisy cars beeping through the city. The whole set up seemed to demand respect as we stood gazing out at the mountains in the distance.

Once again, the same majesty and power was apparent in the great wall and our climb to the top. The crumbling stairs were massive as we mounted each, getting closer and closer to the peak and farther away from the city and countryside below. I was a long, exhausting climb but it was wonderful to look out over what seemed like all of China when we were through.

Just as it is inherent in the weathered, beaten look of the inner city hutongs, the age of the country and culture is clear when one stops to take in the architecture.

Thinking back, though, I am not sure that all do stop to take in the architecture—or perhaps it’s that we are not all given the opportunity to do so. Many have at least seen photos of ancient Chinese architecture—they could recognize a Chinese style building if it was showed to them. But few have been able to go and stand amongst the buildings and see the beauty and power in the walls and decorations or experienced how intentional the layout of each site is. Additionally, many have seen images of modern China, but they seen buildings that are meant to be seen. They see the structures built for the Olympics and the business districts of Beijing rather than the weathered hutongs or the dusty streets.

As tourists on a one-time trip to Beijing, I feel was saw the part of China that we were supposed to see. We saw a part of China trying to show that it could westernize despite the history and culture in its past. We saw tourism and westernized Chinese food, high class restaurants imitating Italian cuisine rather than the best of China, and fresh buildings and high-rises crowding out the ancient splendor of historic China. I want to see more. I want to go beyond Beijing and see the rest of China – the “real” China, or what it would be without tourism and buildings meant for show and tell. Even with our daily excursions, we are carefully guided by Alex and Parrol. We are taken to tourist-friendly restaurants where food is ordered for us to try. Even when we go as a group to restaurants like the Dim Sung restaurant, we still have food ordered for us so we don’t get the experience of fending for ourselves or falling heavily in to the extensive culture that surrounds us.

I would hope that if given a second chance we chose to run a little farther and hunt a little deeper for the pieces that truly make up China rather than just the surface of tourist-heavy Beijing. 

Seeing the City for the First Time

I am impressed with the number of people who are simply out and about in Beijing. We took a walk with Andy and Judy to find a 700 year old hutong street and ended up just wandering around the hutong area, walking through shops, and exploring some city parks. The first thing I noticed was that people weren’t shut up in stores or offices. They were out on the streets socializing with one another. Shop owners would set chairs outside their stores and sit with friends and family while they ate and talked. Bicyclers would stop and talk to each other or talk to walkers along their way. In the parks, there were groups of families and friends sitting out and enjoying the beautiful sun and scenery around them. It didn’t seem like something that would happen in the United States—maybe in a small town, but not in a huge city like Beijing. In the United States, people would be rushing to work, too busy to stop and chat. They would be shut in their cars with the air conditioning blowing before they shut themselves in their offices and stores, also with the air conditioning blasting. Beijing was busy with all of the people, but it seemed so much warmer and friendlier simply because people were so open with each other. 

Another aspect of Beijing that caught my attention at first glance was how dusty the city is. The city cars seem to be covered in a layer of dust or dirt. You can even taste it in your mouth. The hutongs seem dilapidated and there is garbage piled in the nooks and crannies. The laundry we saw hanging in some of the living areas looked stained and dirty. Even the people look warn and leathery. Nothing looked new or pristine, but used and broken in. It was as if you could see the age of the culture simply by watching the way people live.