The P-Word

Just because it amuses me, I will add more to the story on the t-shirt. No it isn’t a fake or a photoshop thing, it’s a real t-shirt that I purchased by the Master of Nets Garden. I bought it because I thought it was too funny (after Tammy haggled with the guy to get him down to 25% of his original asking price). Matt bought one as well.

There were questions to be answered. What did the Chinese think about Obama? What did the t-shirt say (it didn’t say anything, you had to read it)? How would think Chinese react to these questions? All things had to be considered…notice I didn’t ask the question about “What would someone in the US think about this shirt (especially if they voted for Obama)?” Honestly, not because I don’t care but I really don’t think that it matters. Some people will be offended, since that seems to be the standard response to anything and everything that someone doesn’t like. Others may find it amusing and still others that voted for Obama might act like they like the shirt (and secretly hate me for wearing it). Oh, c’mon folks! I know that some Obama voters read the blog, lighten up a little (ALL Presidents are lampooned and in many cases, it is deserved). I don’t hate the guy, I pray for wisdom in our leaders regardless of class, race, religion, party affiliation, what team they root for, etc. I just hope that wisdom will come, although I believe that following the same path as many other nations and expecting different results doesn’t really make much sense to me (but I’m not Wil E Coyote – Supra Genius). Isn’t that the definition of insanity?

Anyhow back to the story, I asked two people at work to explain the words on the t-shirt. First interesting point, neither even noticed that the image was of Obama. They immediately looked at the saying and told me what it meant. In fact, one thought the image was of a Chinese soldier named Lei Feng. The story that Jerry (a Chinese colleague) told me was that Lei Feng made personal sacrifices and gave of his time and money to help others. He didn’t ask for thanks or recognition, he just gave “service for the people”. So he is considered a role model and his image is found on many posters that illustrate this “sacrifice” theme. He said that this saying is so engrained into their minds that he made the assumption that the image was of Lei Feng until I pointed out that it was the US President Obama. While they may know of Obama, they didn’t seem overly impressed with his image (unlike Chris Matthews, they don’t get goosebumps just hearing the mere mention of his name). I thought it was a little strange but I have to remember where I am and that this market isn’t saturated by stories about the US President. So, Matt turns to me and says “Still feeling good about that t-shirt?” I mean the story was compelling and made it sound like the message that Obama would want to portray, so perhaps the t-shirt wasn’t what I was looking for after all (Curses!! Foiled Again!).

To quote Lee Corso;“not so fast my friends”. Here is some more information about Lei Feng that sheds more light on the subject. Keep in mind that this information is not readily available to the Chinese people so what I got from them is how they see the image and the quote. Read on and decide for yourself (obtained via Wikipedia).

Lei Feng was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army that was characterised as a selfless and modest person who was devoted to the Communist Party, Chairman Mao Zedong, and the people of China. Lei became the symbol of nationwide propaganda; the youth of the country were indoctrinated to follow his example.

After Mao's death, Lei Feng remained a cultural icon symbolizing selflessness, modesty, and dedication; his name entered daily speech and his imagery appeared on t-shirts and memorabilia. Owing to relaxation of political controls, Lei Feng's life became more openly questioned by scholars and the public in the post-Mao era.

A campaign in his name began in 1963 with the publication of an illustrated diary purported to be his. Critics believe that the text was a fabrication. The purported diary contained over 200,000 words and was written in flowery language, much of it praising Mao and the Communist Party. The photographs of Lei Feng doing good deeds for the working people are believed to be staged. The campaign began at a time when the Chinese economy was recovering from the Great Leap Forward campaign. During 1964 the Lei Feng campaign shifted gradually from doing good deeds to a cult of Mao. The diary exhorted the youth to "submit... unquestioningly to the control of the Great Leader".

So, after reading that and seeing both sides of the story….what do you think of the t-shirt now? I think it fits even better now that I have obtained more information and understand the true nature of the quote. It goes hand-in-hand with the saying that “knowledge is power”. Be thankful that you have access to the knowledge IF you choose to not always accept what you are told is 100% true (cough, cough, global warming).

Obamao

I’m not going to say a lot about this image; I’m going against my natural inclination and not talk about politics (as much as I’d love to post a rant)…I’ll leave it at this, a picture is worth a thousand words. We found this t-shirt on Saturday and I had to get it. I’ll be you never thought you would see me ever wearing a t-shirt of Obama. I think this is probably the best and most accurate portrayal of Obama that I've seen and you know I’ll be wearing it.

In case you are wondering, the quote beneath the picture is from Chairman Mao, “Service for the people” along with a copy of Mao’s signature. More to follow on this t-shirt but I'll let you ponder about the perspective of seeing a US President wearing a Mao suit and how this could be viewed differently in two seperate nations.

Stay tuned....if this doesn't generate some conversation, I don't know what would.

Bend don't Break

This weekend, we took a quick trip to Shanghai to give our visitor, Matt (aka. Matt-ah), a chance to see the big city and get accustomed to the use of the railway and the subway systems. We know he plans to go back on his own and we wanted to give him just a taste of Shanghai in less than 8 hours (so this was but a very small taste, like a grain of rice from the pork fried rice plate). Although this does have to do with Shanghai, it isn’t really about Shanghai…it’s about the Expo happening in Shanghai and the efforts being made for all those that come to see the International Expo (and I'm sure the same could be said for any city/country that hosts a major sporting event like the World Cup or other event like a party convention, etc.).

It should come as no surprise that in China there is a large market for bootleg items like DVDs, purses, watches, bags and multiple other items that people don’t mind obtaining a copy of the “real thing” at a fraction of the price. Now, this could be looked at in several ways but for me, I see it rather simply. By purchasing a copy, I’m sticking it to the man (whoever that man is). You take your chances, some copies are better than others and some just don’t last very long since the quality is suspect. However, paying some of the actual prices for these items seems a bit stupid to me. What makes a purse better than another….the brand name!?!? Really?!?! Maybe my upbringing has wired me different but I refuse to buy things like this in the US. I have never and will never by Nike shoes. They are shoes people!!!! Are they more technologically advanced? Be honest, they are the same but the “swoosh” makes them special right? So, again I justify my actions by believing that some companies are ripping off the consumer with their goods and I’m trying to bring balance back to the marketplace (I am the one that they had foreseen to bring balance to the force). Anyhow, back to the story and off my soapbox (and my potentially lame justification for my actions).

With the start of the International Expo (did you know these things still existed?) in Shanghai, there has been a crackdown on the availability of said bootleg items. At least that is what it appears to be on the surface. In reality, what is happening is that the DVD store owners have all basically partitioned their stores off with walls to separate the legal from the “illegal” (wink-wink). Anyone that has been in the DVD store before knows that the store is now much, much smaller and there is a wall there that wasn’t there before. “Hey, what happened to all of the movies?” This is so they can keep the storefront nice and legal for the hoards of unknowing foreigners that may happen by after their visit to the Expo. People come in and look around and think, “Wow! The stories I heard about bootleg videos must be urban legends.” People that are in the know; go in and ask to see the movies and are taken to the back room to shop (Pssst…wanna buy a watch?). The question is, do the local authorities know about it? I let you ponder this question but if the resident foreigners know……

In the Shanghai “copy” market, we were in the jersey stores looking for authentic jerseys (and let’s not kid ourselves here either, the NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. charge ridiculous prices for jerseys….stick it to the man!). Out front were some jerseys but they were obvious fakes, not even close to the real thing. We looked around some more and found the same to be true all over. “Hey, where did the good looking jerseys go?” As we looked into the stores, we noticed ladders in the stores. Now the jerseys are hanging up and down the walls but I didn’t see the need for the ladder, it’s not like they can’t reach the jerseys on the top of the wall with their little hooky-thingy (yes, that’s the technical term). It shows how much I know. I wanted to see if they had a Kevin Garnett jersey (if you don’t know who he is, I won’t explain…I’ll just sigh and move on). They asked his number and they showed us the crappy jersey. “Not that one, a good one, this looks bad…ugly, not good.” They say “Kobe Bryant” I laugh and say “HECK NO!!! I HATE BRYANT!” (Lakers-Celtics; oil-n-water, etc.) So they ask the size, I say 48 (or small or something) and up the ladder she climbs, opening up a panel in the ceiling into the “attic”. She hops up there and a few minutes later comes down with a Garnett jersey. It’s the real deal (or close enough to fool most people, a good copy with quality craftsmanship). So, I watch them go up and down on the ladder as people come in to find jerseys. I try and think about what they are doing and I realize that they are doing the same thing as the DVD shop keepers. The “real copies” are hidden away in case of an inspection by the authorities. The inspector would walk into the shop, look around and see the replica jerseys and give the “OK” stamp to the shop to continue their business. If he finds the other goods, he will confiscate them and fine the shop owner (and then probably sell them to another shop keeper…man, my faith in people is rather limited isn’t it). So again, on the surface, everything looks nice and legal but there’s the ugly truth right there in front of you if you look hard enough.

I won’t say this kind of sums up life in China but it does define how some things work. The term “face” (or saving face) is a large part of the culture (that is very hard to understand for the Western mind…at least this Western mind) and I think it plays into this behavior for the DVD and copy shops. The inspector has a job to do and that is to ensure that there are no illegal copies available or being sold in the shop in his “district”. If there are, he loses face because he isn’t doing his job. If the shop owner sells copies openly, he causes the inspector to lose face (and in order to save face, the inspector must now take action against the shop owner which causes the shop owner to lose face). If the shop owner makes the effort to show a “clean” business, he saves face (and can continue to earn a living) and also ensures that the inspector saves face since his superiors will think he is doing a great job. This type of thinking permeates the culture (and not that it’s a bad thing, it is what it is and to steal a quote I hear many times here “You can’t change China”) and has wide ranging impact that is sometimes tough to get around. We’ve had several examples from work and I’ll avoid the temptation to tell a long story as an example (try to contain your disappointment). Sometimes “face” can work to your advantage (with great power comes great responsibility), however, if you don’t understand it it can be a real problem to try and accept that this is the way things are and that people really see things like that. I don’t claim to fully understand it, I just try to acknowledge that this is the way things are and that I have to be aware that “face” is very important.

Probably the most interesting thing here is that I tied in a trip to Shanghai to a lesson in “face”, perhaps a bit of a stretch but I think it flowed. I have to admit though that by posting this, I am potentially creating a “face” problem for someone (how did this get posted on a website that has been blocked?). A foreigner is saying not very nice things about China…to the contrary; I am stating what I believe to be interesting tidbits about living in China. You think that the US is different? I’m not so sure; perhaps “face” isn’t the correct term, how about “respect” (you dissing me?) or perhaps even better “perception”. Think about it, many times people do things not for themselves but to make themselves look better in the eyes of others and isn’t that the very essence of “face”? I’ll leave you to yourself to ponder these deep thoughts.

I can't drive 55

Seriously, I can’t drive 55 kilometers/hour (my apologies to Sammy Hagar). This morning I decided to test my freedom by riding my large e-bike (to be known henceforth as “The Hog”….leaving the smaller scooter to be named “The Piglet”…I can’t take credit for that name but it fits) to work. I checked the weather forecast for the day to ensure that I would not be rained on (or hopefully would not be rained on) during the ride to or from work. Once it seemed the weather would hold, I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door to get moving towards work. I estimated it would take me about 40 minutes for the drive but I wasn’t sure and I wanted to get on the roads as early as possible to avoid the rush hour.

A couple of key points to make before I continue with the story. Different scooters have different speeds and based on the battery power, some run faster than others. From my little trek down the street with Warren on Saturday, I noticed that if the scooters are run at less than full throttle, the batteries will last longer. Many of the Chinese have to travel long distances on their scooters to and from work. Therefore, they don’t run them at full speed in order to get to where they are going. At many workplaces, they have small “car ports” where the scooters can be parked and plugged in to recharge. I tell you this so you can realize that although we are all traveling in the same general direction, we are all moving at different speeds because along with the e-bikes, there are also people that are riding the standard “pedal power” bicycles on their way to work. So when you mix in the varying speeds and different types of scooters/bicycles, you have a pretty good variety of what I like to call “moving obstacles”. One other important piece of information to note is that there are separate bike lanes separated from the six lane highways with “medians” to prevent one from getting easily to the other. This is a good thing since it does take away some of the fear from riding on the road alongside the vehicles. The bike lane is perhaps about the same width as a single lane of the highway, it appears that you can get about 3 scooters across with a little gap between each, 4 scooters….if you ain’t rubbing, you ain’t racing. I don’t think four is possible unless they are the really small e-bikes.

Now, I know that it gets pretty crowded on the roads in a vehicle but it’s also pretty crowded on an e-bike in the bike lane. As I headed out of the apartment complex to the first intersection, I hit the first bit of traffic. There were about a dozen or so other scooters headed down the road in my direction. I merged in nicely and was on my way. I see the light is red ahead at the major intersection and many scooters are waiting to get across the street. I pull up and get in the queue to cross the street, it’s pretty crowded and everyone seems to want to get a little further ahead than the other guy (if you ain’t first….you’re last). I hold my ground and just wait patiently for the light to turn. Once it does, it’s like keystone cops; everyone pushes off to get their balance and then jostles for position, some narrowly avoiding the others. At the same time, although the light is green and we are going with the flow of the traffic in the lane next to us, there are also cars trying to turn right on red. We have to avoid those cars (meaning that you either stop and wait for a small gap between vehicles (my way) or you just continue to drive forward like you don’t even know they are there…the Chinese way) in order to get through the intersection. It’s not really comfortable to stop and wait for a gap since although there is only one turning lane, people can turn right from the second lane or further so you have to watch and as always, stick with the locals. [Dudley’s traffic law #1: Keep a local between you and the traffic and stay even with them, if they cross, you cross. They must know what they are doing right?!?] The first intersection is the major problem area, other than that, it was pretty easy. Kinda boring isn’t it….you were hoping for more action I’m sure. I don’t want to embellish so just the facts. The ride to work was rather mundane since I beat the traffic and was able to just motor along at 45 kph (remember, I can’t drive 55) pretty much the whole way to work. I had to pass some people or wait for some space to pass every now and again but I just hit the horn (yes, the e-bikes here have horns) to let them know I was there and for the most part passed them pretty easy. I made it to work in about 30 minutes.

The way home….different story. Since everyone heads back about the same time, the closer I got to home, the more crowded the bike lane became. It was really kind of crazy as I got within 2 kms of home. First of all, it felt like rain was coming very soon and there were some raindrops on the way home so everyone was in a hurry. Second, more and more people were all headed in the same direction. It was getting crazy. I was able to pick through many people but then I started to realize that I needed to slow down since it was getting harder to maneuver through the rest of the people. The Hog has some “wiggle” to the steering as you go slower that I still haven’t been able to get to master. When I run slow, it’s almost like the front wheel is unbalanced or I’m riding over a bunch of stones that are all at different heights. I can control it but it’s hard to manage when you have the added pressure of people all around you. Even at 30 kph, a collision would be a problem. So, as I get closer to the Modern Avenue intersection, it becomes apparent that I’ve got some trouble to get through this. At the intersection, I slow to get ready to wait for the light to change. I’m about 50 e-bikes back in the pack (seriously, 50) and more are coming each passing second. Soon, they are swarming all over, trying to move closer to the front, even if it means that they have to bump another bike or kind of whack someone in the shin as they pass by. It was ridiculous; the light changes for almost 60 seconds at this intersection and here they are trying to get close to ensure they get through. It was stupid (in my opinion) and dangerous. If one scooter went down, it was all over for everyone else. When the light changed, then it got worse as everyone was trying to get balanced and moving forward. It was a bunch of near misses but everyone made it through. The problem is the cars, cars turning right from your left and cars headed perpendicular to you also turning right on red. You basically swerve around through the maze until you see the other bike lane. Once in the lane, then it’s survive until the next intersection where I turn left to home. I have to try and get to the left side of the group now but they weren’t budging. I basically slowed down until I had the room and then moved over to wait at my intersection. So, I was almost home.

Just so you know about riding across the intersections here, you don’t always ride at right angles. You know, I didn’t have to go over to the far side of the intersection to turn left and then ride straight home. Instead, I rode diagonal across the intersection to get to my side of the street. It may sound odd but it’s the way they ride. When you get to the intersection and the left turn arrow goes green, take the left turn with the cars, riding alongside and hoping not to get taken out from the cars on the other side of the street also turning left. It’s a trip but it’s what the locals do and so it’s what I did as well. Finally, I arrived at home. The battery still had a good charge so I decided not to charge it overnight and I’ll see what kind of range I have for the bike on a charge (a good piece of information to have).

It may seem like something small, I drove myself to work today but it’s kind of huge for me. It gives me a little bit of freedom to get out and do something without having to depend on others. I don’t have the confidence yet to take the scooter to places like Walking Street or Bar Street but I will get out and explore Suzhou more. Rather than looking out the window of a taxi, now I can see things like the locals always see and when I do, I can snap a photo or two. Keep me in your prayers as I continue to be a rebel on my Hog.

93 Percent

They say (don’t ask me who they are but they are really important and smart people) that 93% of all communication is non-verbal. So….why does anyone try to learn a second (or third, etc.) language?

My answer is quiet simple actually, because at 93% you still need more in order to get things done. I’ve used my mime routine time after time here and it works okay but you can’t get the full story. I’ll use an example (if you knew this was coming, raise your hands). We were given a large e-bike from a Canadian family that has returned to Canada. We already have a smaller scooter (e-bike, whatever) that we got from a family moving to Shanghai but the chance to get the larger e-bike would provide us with a larger traveling distance away from the apartment that we could ride and experience more of Suzhou like the locals. The only problem with the e-bike is that the back tire has a leak and goes flat in no time(I say only problem, it’s a big one). So, I’ve got to get it fixed. I use my connections at work and ask people with e-bikes about how I can go about fixing this. They indicate that I have to find a shop or one of the guys that ride around town that can fix the bikes. I call these guys the AAA of China. They ride around on their scooters, up and down the streets with tires and stuff hanging off of their e-bikes so they stand out a little and you know who they are and what they do. It’s like a tow truck, you have no doubt about it’s purpose…same with the AAA guys. You’ll see them on the side of the road fixing an e-bike, so in a strange way they are like a mobile repair shop. Anyhow, I ask the guys at work, do you think that they (AAA) would come to the apartment and fix the bike? The wheel is so bad that it goes flat very, very fast and I can’t get far with the bike. I could push the bike but it’s a lot of energy spent hoping to find a guy around where you are headed. They seem to not understand why I need the guy to come to me, just go to find them on the street. I get nowhere with this line of questioning and I just accept that I have to go to them (it’s not like calling AAA after all). For the past two weeks I have looked for the guy near the apartment as I come home on the bus from work. Anytime I would see them in the vicinity of the apartment (within two to three blocks) it was always when I had Chinese class so I couldn’t head in that direction and hope they were still in the same place when I arrived with the scooter.

Sunday morning rolls around and Warren and I decide to try and find one of these guys or go to find a shop and see if they could come to us. We took the quick ride on the small scooter and bicycle around the immediate two blocks with no luck so we headed to an apartment complex that we heard had a bike shop nearby. Just as we turn on to the street, I spot a AAA guy throwing away his trash. We ride up to him and give him the “Ni Hao” routine and I pull out a photo of the bike & tire issue and indicate to him that I live at Horizon. He seems to understand and points with a lot of gusto towards the apartment complex and stuff. When I ask if he can come to the apartment to fix the bike (or what his favorite color is, I think I did the former but my Chinese isn’t very strong) he says a lot that I don’t understand but I get the impression that he won’t be coming with me. I indicate the bike is mine and he nods again but says a lot more that I don’t understand. Warren and I figure he isn’t able to go to another street but there’s no telling. Either way, as we leave I thought he was going to follow us but he goes the corner and stops. Warren thinks he is waiting for us to return so I speed home on the small scooter to get the big scooter. I left Warren in my wake (well, not really since the battery was dying on the scooter but it sure makes it sound like I was really hauling doesn’t it) and headed back to the apartment. I drop off the scooter and pump some air into the e-bike tire and head back out to the point where we left our “mechanic” hoping he was still there. After all, we weren’t but maybe 10 minutes to do the e-bike exchange and head back out.

Because I knew the tire wouldn’t hold air for long, I got on the e-bike and decided to get it rolling as fast as I dared (since I didn’t have a lot of experience on this bike I was more afraid of the speed combined with the balance issues) to ensure I could find the guy again. I told Warren he could try and keep up but I was going to “turn and burn” to get as far as I could before the air in the tire gave out. Thankfully, the AAA guy is right where we left him working on another e-bike, making a tire change on the front tire.

Now I know you may be asking yourself “Why didn’t you just patch the tire?” or “Why didn’t you just take the flat tire off the e-bike and take it with you?” Good questions with good answers. For one, I don’t know what a Chinese tire patch kit looks like or even where it is sold. I suspect that it may not be exactly what I think it should be, plus I have to take the outer tire off. When I was able to put air into the tire, it seems that the e-bike was very shaky which led me to believe that the outer tire may have been warped or something so I felt it would be best to replace both the inner and outer tube. As for the second question, it was the back tire that was flat. The back tire is connected to the drive system and there is no way that I was going to pull this thing apart on my own. I didn’t have a garage or anything to store it so once I pulled the tire off (if I was able), it was over until I could get the new tire. Since the repair would’ve been out in the open, anyone would’ve walked by and stopped to watch me do this and they might have heard some bad language from the foreigner (as anyone at work might hear, you know it’s not like it is common but every once in awhile it slips out). I didn’t want to be a spectacle and I wanted the bike to work so I decided that this also wasn’t an option.

So, we wait for the first repair to be done and then he gets to work on my bike. He takes the outer tire off and pulls out the tube and shows it to me. Keep in mind, the wheel is still attached. He says a lot to me and I look at Warren (after all, kids are supposed to be better at picking up languages than the old folks) and he gives me the “Huh?” look. Great! So I ask him to say it again and he does but I still don’t follow. I indicate that the tire was punctured using my prowess with charades. I point at the tire with my finger and add the “pssssssss” sound (which tells the whole story by golly). Yep, I am a master of languages! He nods and says more to me and I’m stumped. Finally, I stop and think about the conversation that might happen in English and I try a new tactic. I point to the tire on the e-bike and say “Zhe ge” and then point to his e-bike at the new tire and say “Nei ge”, same with the tube. He nods and gets to work. Finally…..he was trying to find out if I wanted the tube patched or if I wanted a new tube. I told him that “this one” “that one” with my superior Chinese language skills but it did the trick. He knew now that I wanted both the inner and outer tube replace with new components. Score one for the skinny white guy!

He had to remove the back tire from the bike and although he did it fast; I never would’ve gotten it right. This thing wasn’t meant for ease of removal and I would’ve had a really tough time getting it replaced. He did it quickly and had everything he needed, me….I would’ve needed much more tools than I have. The funniest thing was that when he pulled the new inner tube out from the box, he stuffed the box into a nearby bush (you know, way down in so no one would know it was there) rather than walk an extra two feet to the trash can. I know, it’s not really funny but it was interesting. He looked around and then just shoved it down into the bush. I don’t understand it but when in China right. Anyhow, when he finished and pumped up the new tire, I asked him how much. He wrote it down (although I would’ve understood if he had said it) and it was 150 RMB. I know this was definitely an inflated price since my colleagues at work told me it would cost about 50 RMB (but perhaps that was just for the inner tube and not a full replacement). I looked at him to see if he would look me in the eye but he didn’t so I suspect he was gouging me but for less than $22 I was going to be able to ride the e-bike. It was okay by me, so he got a few extra RMB out of the deal. I got the e-bike, it’s a win-win situation. Afterwards, he gave me his business card and told me I could call him with any problems. Now think about that. We could hardly communicate in person and now I would be able to call him…..that would be an interesting conversation indeed. Each one would think the other was an idiot or had the wrong number. Funny.

So when they say that 93% of all communication is non-verbal, realize that the remaining 7% is HUGE, especially if you want to be understood. I will continue on my journey to speak the Chinese language despite the fact that it is extremely frustrating and difficult. I try to use what I know at work but I feel really stupid and that’s the biggest hurdle I have. I have to get over the self-conscious desire to be perfect and allow myself to make mistakes when trying to speak the language. Stay tuned as we continue since Tammy has moved on to her second course (this time she is in one-on-one classes) and I continue in the remedial Chinese class. I’m waiting for the light bulb to come on and even if it’s only 10 watts, at least it’s something.