Today, I rolled out of bed in mid-morning and lazed about in the room emailing and skyping.
After getting some lunch, I went over to Bally. I ran long (an hour and a half), and then rode my bike around the neighborhood. While riding around, I found a huge residential area that I had previously overlooked. A single alley ran north-south through a large block across from the school, and this alley served as a market for everything from fresh fruit and vegetables, pork, fresh fish, clothing, noodles, to mom and pop stores. For the people that live in the high rises nearby, this alley served as an alternative thoroughfare to the large and unwieldy streets that circumnavigate the block, and it seems to be the preferred corridor for getting to and leaving from housing.
An idea struck me at the time: the idea of the hutong, or rather what the hutong represented to the people of Beijing – the opportunity to live in close proximity to neighbors, enjoying the convenience of being to shop just outside your front door, and receiving your “earth spirit” from being on the ground – is being recreated in modern residential areas. I wonder if these areas will be demolished in the future as the government advocates for “better” market alternatives like shopping malls, grocery stores and larger, specialized stores. Only time will tell in this respect.
Today, I received an email from my thesis advisor, Dr Michael Harvey, suggesting that I read an article from a quarterly journal that specializes in East Asian news, the Seri Quarterly. (I recently read a chapter Gladwell’sWhat the Dog Saw about plagiarism, and I want to be sure that I do not commit said offense). I read one of the first articles on the page about the shift in the CCP’s political scheme with the enactment of the 10th Five-Year Plan. The plan, as mentioned by the article, proposes that Beijing will be focusing more on human development, artificially high consumer prices (that are not being met by rising wages), real estate rights, environmental fighting corruption, and general “human rights,” among other initiatives. I say “human rights” because I believe that the fundamental definition of human rights by Chinese and western standards is vastly different. Anything less than a full transition to democracy, I am afraid, will not suffice to satisfy the hard-line human rightists in the States.
If the CCP actually comes through with they say in this 10th Five-Year Plan, it could mean big changes for the Chinese government and more cooperation with Western nations. It would seem likely that Washington and other government would be more willing to cooperate with a more “liberal” Chinese government. In this respect, I am speculating and have not read enough information to determine what will happen with this most recent Five-Year Plan. This is more of a starting point for further research into the evolution of politics and life in China.
At 6:15 I left from the dorm on my trusty bike. I had a 30-minute ride to Beijing University, arguably the best university in China. The opera to which my host family had invited me was going to be held in an auditorium on campus. I locked the bike near the east gate of campus and asked around until I was walking in the right direction.
I have just been struck with the dissimilarity of Chinese universities and their American counterparts. Dear reader, allow me to elaborate. For one, Chinese universities are compact. The buildings stretch upwards due to the limited space, and every inch of the limited university green space is groomed and landscaped meticulously. Secondly, every university that I have seen is surrounded by a fence, and each gate guarded by what appear to be only the most competent of guards. Where university begins and the real world begins is marked distinctly, with no room for doubt. Whereas at Ole Miss, Auburn, and Alabama (to name a few), it is difficult to tell where the university begins and ends. For this reason, universities are not subject to traffic, nor do they blend in very well with the surrounding neighborhoods. Thirdly, most Chinese universities are rather young. For example, MinZu University was founded in 1941; Peking University in 1898, RenMin University in 1937, and FuDan in University 1905. The last three of this list are three of the top-rated Universities in China. I think you see the trend too – every university in China is less than 120 years old in China. This lack of universities could be a vestige of the traditional Chinese support for mentor and apprentice-like trade schools, a general desire to not follow the Western model of education at a time when many Western schools were being established, or any number of other reasons. I pondered these thoughts as I walked through BeiDa, looking for the auditorium.
I met my host family, my ever-punctual host family, and we entered the building. Ben-Ben was assigned to be my translator and host for the Chinese world of Beijing Opera, should I or my host sister be in any need of assistance. To my delight, I didn’t need much help understanding the story, and I could follow the story by looking at the subtitles on the screens adorning the edge of the stage. I think that most of the Chinese people were looking at the screens too!
The story we watched this evening was about a young man who misses his mother, crosses the border to see pay filial respect, and then pleads for his life after being detained by a knifing old lady who plans to execute him for crossing into enemy territory. It was aptly called “The Fourth Son Looks for His Mom.” The plot of the story took its time. The story, the poetry, and the actors’ behavior onstage seemed to parallel Western Shakespearian Theatre. As is the case with Shakespeare, we can understand the play, but no one talks like that anymore. The actors’ movements onstage are also limited, and every movement made by the character expresses something deeper about the scene: emotion, social status, and a number of pantomimes for everyday life (such as opening a door, riding a horse or riding in a train). The scenery is minimal. I simple alteration in the backdrop could move the setting from a house to the Forbidden City. The costumes, on the other hand, are elaborate. Actors may wear three or four layer of clothing complete with huge white sleeves, gloves, platform shoes, headdresses, and a thick layer of face paint.
The play, by the way, lasted almost three hours. I had plenty of time to contemplate the Beijing Opera. After the show, one of the actors gave an encore in which he sang a piece from a famous piece of Beijing opera. His announcement brought cheers from the crowd, but the importance of the scene was lost on me.
I rode back towards campus in the night and stopped to get some roof food and an ice cream before going back to the dorm room to get some sleep.
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