Archives for Category "China"
Criticizing TV From Another Country
One thing that has helped my wife’s homesickness for China is watching Chinese TV shows on her computer. She’s even started watching shows she normally didn’t care about, like the multitude of war-time dramas, because, hey, at least it’s in Chinese. One of the shows she’s been enjoying is a Taiwanese “game show” where a group of people sit around a table and play a “find the murderer” parlor game. There are a lot of variations of this, so I’m sure you’ve played it at a party sometime in your life. Two people are killers, two people are police officers, and the rest are civilians. The killers are trying to figure out who the police officers are (and kill them) before the civilians figure out who the killers are and boot them from the table.
It seems silly that there would be a TV show focused entirely on something we play with our friends when we’re bored, especially since the people on the show wear costumes and really ham it up. I recall coming across a lot of similarly goofy and dumb shows when I would click through the channels in China, looking for something (anything!) I could stand to watch. But if viewing episodes of The Soup has taught me anything, it’s that Americans have no room to criticize. We have some truly awful, pointless, embarrassing TV shows right here in our own country. I’m looking at you, Jersey Shore. In comparison, a “find the murderer” parlor game doesn’t seem so bad.
Christmas vs. Spring Festival
Spring Festival (a.k.a. Chinese New Year) is the biggest holiday in China. Christmas is the biggest holiday in the US. My wife just experienced her first American Christmas, and her #1 observation was: it’s a pretty quiet holiday comparatively. Spring Festival is a non-stop, week-long barrage of fireworks. Noise is a big part of the celebration, as the origin of the tradition was to use fireworks to scare off a monster.
She did find it interesting, though, how people would hang lights on (and station inflatable snowmen in front of) their homes. It’s vastly different than the Chinese tradition of pasting red banners around the door. Her favorite was a house in Salt Lake that’s notorious for syncing its lights to the radio. I’m always amazed how “all out” people go for Christmas decorations.
The practice of giving/getting lots of presents on Christmas day was also new to her. In China, they do give each other gifts, but it’s in the form of a red envelope with money inside. When exchanging Christmas gifts, however, you’re never quite sure what somebody’s going to give you, which is what makes it so fun.
My wife enjoyed the presents aspect of Christmas but still felt Spring Festival trumps it overall. Her reason: the food. While candy and cookies and big dinners are certainly a part of Christmas, they don’t quite match the 30+ dishes you would find in a typical Spring Festival meal. To her, it would be like having Thanksgiving dinner without turkey. There’s no substitute for traditional food.
A Busy Disneyland: A Normal Chinese Day
My family and I went to Disneyland over Thanksgiving weekend. As much as Sarah has been looking forward to finally seeing this place, my parents warned her that it would be very crowded during the holidays. “I’m Chinese, I can handle it!” she said. Yes, Disneyland was busy, but we both joked how the lines were still shorter than those at the Shanghai Expo, and at least you got to go on a ride at the end!
Amusingly, after only a few days in Los Angeles, Sarah was ready to go back to Utah where it was quieter. LA was too busy for her. It’s only been eight months since she arrived in the US, and she’s already grown accustomed to the smaller crowds. We are so easily spoiled here! It’ll be interesting when we make our first trip back to China, then, where every Saturday and Sunday is “Thanksgiving at Disneyland.”
Returning Home From a Proxy Server
I use proxies a lot at work, but not because I have anything to hide. A proxy is a website that lets you browse the Internet under a different IP address. Sometimes, I need to test region-specific code outside of our internal network. Other people might use a proxy to bypass measures their school has used to block Facebook… or measures their government has used to block Facebook, among other things. Sound familiar? Well, that would be China.
It’s no surprise that using the Internet in China can be a pain. Desperate expats will pay for a VPN service, but cheapskates like myself either do without our favorite websites or hunt for free proxies to use. The problem with proxy hunting is that, as soon as you find a good one, the Chinese government blocks it the next week. In all my months of living in China, the only proxy I could consistently rely on was called hidefap.com.
I know, I know. It’s not a very respectable name. At expat parties, it was always embarrassing when we would discuss what new proxies we were using, and I had to admit, “Yeah, I’m using this site called… um… hide… fap…” For some reason, though, it never got blocked, so I always used it.
Back in the US, the first time I needed to test a script from a different IP address at work, my instinct was to go to hidefap.com. But then I realized it probably wouldn’t look good if an employee was frequently visiting a site called hidefap. At first, I thought finding a new proxy would be a hassle, but when every other site you visit isn’t blocked, it’s actually quite easy. Man, I love having full Internet access again.
Driving From China to the US
One of the biggest differences between China and the US is the public transportation, or lack thereof. It’s very hard for my wife to get around here when she doesn’t have a driver’s license, and our lame bus system is more trouble than it’s worth. But all that is about to change. Sarah now has a learner’s permit!
My wife actually took driving lessons in China before she moved to the US, not that that matters to the driver’s license division. They don’t even have learner’s permits in China, and the process to get a license doesn’t hit you over the head with as many rules and “things you need to know.” It sounds like it’s much easier to be a legal driver there than it is here. Sarah still has to put in a lot of time with the instructor and me before she can even take the test.
But now that she can drive in a limited capacity, this granted her the opportunity to drive an ATV for the first time in her life. It’s funny how things like ATVs are so commonplace in rural Utah; I don’t even think twice about them, but it’s pretty exciting for a native Chinese person. That, and she also got to ride a horse for the first time in the same weekend. I don’t think you need a learner’s permit for one of those, though…
How the Experts Pronounce “Beijing”
I’ve been home from China for a while now, and I’ve noticed a phenomenon when talking to certain people. It’s called the “I know more than you do” effect. And it’s not me doing it! Oddly enough, when I mention to others that I lived in China for two years, they proceed to tell me everything they know about the country as if I couldn’t possibly have heard this before.
“Did you know the Chinese government has built huge cities that nobody lives in?” Yes, I know. “Did you know that every area in China has its own dialect?” Yes, I know. “Did you know…?” Yes, I know! I was there!
I appreciate that they want to discuss China, but it’s hard to take their attempts to one-up me seriously when they can’t even pronounce the names of the cities correctly. It irks me when someone pretends to be an “expert” on China but keeps saying the name Shanghai with an A (as in Sh-ay-nghai) or Beijing with a “zh” (like in the word measure).
The Shanghai thing, I can forgive, even though it’s supposed to be an “ah” sound. The pronunciation of Beijing, however, really gets under my skin. Where did “zh” come from? It’s a J! You’re basically saying “jingle” without the “le.” For those who know nothing about China, you’re excused on this, but if you’re trying to impress people with your Chinese knowledge, at least learn the name of the capital.
The Tallest Statue in the World
Even though I covered a lot of ground in China, there were still a few places I wanted to see that I never quite got to. My family and I were originally planning to visit Datong to see the Hanging Temple as part of our 2009 vacation, but that sidetrip got cut out at the last minute in favor of Jiuzhaigou. I’m pretty sure we traded up, but I still regret never seeing Datong.
Two other areas I was interested in (and still hope to see someday) are Zhangjiajie in Hunan Province and the Stone Forest near Kunming.
What really stands out to me more than anything, though, is the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan Province. This is reportedly the tallest statue in the world, and yet… nobody ever talks about it, and it’s hard to find much information online. The Buddha statue in Wuxi was one of my favorite things I saw in China, so it’s exciting to know an even taller one is nearby but baffling that directions to this place are nonexistent.
My brother and I actually attempted to go there over the October National Day holiday, but the overnight train to Pingdingshan only had seats available. No thank you! I was somewhat relieved we didn’t go, because, aside from the name “Pingdingshan” (a city near the statue), I had no idea how to get there. It would have been a total shot in the dark. Next time I am in China, maybe Sarah and I will tackle this giant together.
Jiuzhaigou Video Footage
I had posted pictures of Jiuzhaigou Valley before and even said pictures don’t do the place justice, but it doesn’t seem fair to leave it at that. Fortunately, my brother took a ton of footage during our 2009 China vacation and put together a video for each of the major cities/areas we visited. The standout is, of course, Jiuzhaigou:
Better late than never, right?
