Matt's World Religions Weekend

Happy Easter and God bless and for he's a jolly good fellow.  I hope
your holidays were filled with good turkey as I was unable to find
anything remotely close here in China.

So what did you do this weekend?  I climbed QingCheng Mountain, which
is where Daoism (that is, an entire religion) was founded.  No big
deal.

The weather here has now reached the "hot" stage and it was a sunny
weekend to go climbing.  For practical purposes, a holy mountain in
China seems to mean that there are cable cars and stone steps to the
top.  And although it can sometimes be discouraging to round a corner
and see another towering flight of stairs, I don't have much to
complain about next to the dozen people I saw walking it in high
heels.  It's a nice view from the top and the greenery on the way up
was a nice break from the city even if it was a wee bit crowded.  The
climb is neat because you have to pass through many Daoist Temples on
the way up, so you get a healthy dose of incense and gold-leaf statues
staring down at you.  Do you like Yin-Yang symbols?  This place is for
you.

Since I once again underestimated the Chinese crowds I ended up
getting an afternoon train to QingCheng, so I spent the morning at the
Wenshu Monastary in Chengdu.  I was pissed off for not getting up
earlier to get an early train but alas, it was a famous Buddhist
Monastary and well, you can't really stay angry in one of those.

It's hard to understand a religion by just reading a few paragraphs
(or starting on the wikipedia article and then giving up).  How do you
explain a belief?  Certainly the history, stories, and philosophy
don't seem to get me very close.  Buddha attained enlightenment by not
seeking teachings on enlightenment.  In Daoism you practice action
through inaction.  And now I've gone cross-eyed just thinking about
it.  But besides the mythology, how does a religion shape a country?
One of my enduring images of religion since coming to Asia was an
early morning procession of young monks through the streets of Houay
Sia in Laos: our hotel owner diligently sat outside with the other
townspeople and gave out alms.  Amid the chanting and rustling there
was a profound silence to the whole experience, an honest devotion
that begins everyday before the town wakes up.

There, I'm sounding religious already.

Anyway, yesterday we went for duck soup (apparently pronouced soap if
you are Chinese) with some Chinese friends.  There was beef tongue and
a few other treats involved but it was all rather tasty.  Afterwards
we went to a Taiwan ice cream place.  I ordered the recommended
red-bean ice cream which is a perfectly good bowl of ice cream ruined
with a layer of red kidney beans on top.  Imagine my surprise when
they brought out long, thin, grilled fish complete with skin and eyes
to accompany the red bean.  It wasn't as bad as it sounds, but it begs
the question just how did these people get ice cream so wrong?

This week I am reusing last week's preachy Earth Day lesson since many
of my classes had three days of exams last week.  Today one of my
classes asked if they could sing to me Yesterday (by the Beatles),
which we had discussed in detail a few weeks ago.  They must have been
practising because it was great, I felt so honoured.  It will be good
inspiration for tomorrow which includes my worst class ("mutual
dislike" is probably the most appropriate phrase) and my monthly
40-minute kindergarten lesson (one of my endeavours that I am so
grateful no one at home will ever be able to witness).

Next week is THE holiday between New Years and the summer: May Day.  I
am stalling on making plans since, like any holiday in China, it is
the busiest time to try to do anything.  I shudder to think of the
innocent tourist who goes to see the Giant Buddha on a holiday, where
the lineup is 2 hours long on an average overcast weekend in March.
Lesson learned.  We'll see what happens.

A short lesson on the word "Ganbei"

I spent the weekend in Leshan, recovering from several weekends on the
road sleeping in airports and catching early morning connections. I
was attacked by thorns while hiking the Great Wall, and something's
been jammed in my calf muscle since that hike, sending a jolt of pain
through my leg every time I go upstairs. This afternoon I finally
pulled out the thorn, a quarter of an inch long. Free at last!

In Leshan, if you're not shopping on Sunday afternoon, you're playing
mahjong. Tea houses line the river, and they're packed on weekends
with wizened old faces puffing on cigarettes and betting big money on
blocks. I drove a bit out of town to the countryside with some
Chinese friends to enjoy the quiet scenery, "breathe the fresh air",
and of course, play mahjong. It's a religion here! I won a few hands
but I'm afraid to get serious as there is significant money involved
in most games. And noise. You haven't really travelled in China
until you've been kept up at night by a game of mahjong.

We haven't been able to find a bar in Leshan, and with the arrival of
patio weather it's heartbreaking to not have a local watering hole.
But drinking in China is a sort of all-or-nothing approach, and the
idea of a bar where you share a few casual drinks with friends doesn't
exist. On the other hand, at a big dinner with friends, everyone
drinks until they're quite boozy.

"Ganbei" is the Chinese word for "Cheers", but beware of casual usage!
Ganbei translates to English as "dry glass" and if you don't down
your little shotglass of liquor you risk some sort of disrespect.
I've had dinners here with strangers who have thrust their empty
glasses in my face when I haven't finished my shot. A meal with
liquor means you Ganbei with everyone at the table individually, and
often in rapid succession. Being a guest only means more Ganbei-ing.
If you say something particularly funny or inspiring (tonight I
mentioned that Canada burned down the White House during the War of
1812) you can expect to Ganbei the entire group. Even with the
relatively weak beer, the whole thing goes south pretty quickly.

Yet this blog entry is remarkably well put together!

Anway, this week I'm teaching about the environment, since Friday is
Earth Day. Does anyone care about Earth Day anymore? Is it just a
thing for public school students to talk about recycling? Anyway, I
doubt it will get much reception, as all of my classes have mid-term
exams this week. Three days of exams sounds like agony for the
students but means a short holiday for us. Now there's something to
Ganbei about.

Go to Jiuzhaigou

Thursday afternoon I found a cheap flight to a place called
Jiuzhaigou. Jiuzhaigou is a place of legend, sort of like China's
Banff National Park and one of the most popular places for Chinese
tourists. The most beautiful place in China? Possibly. Flights
prices triple starting May 1 so it seemed like as good a time as any
to go.
Jiuzhaigou is located in the north of Sichuan province, which is the
province that I am working in. The middle of Sichuan provine, called
the Sichuan Basin, is essentially a very flat circular area that holds
most of the people and large cities, including Leshan and Chengdu.
This basin is ringed by some of the highest mountains on the planet,
so travelling to the extremes of the province takes a long time even
if the distance is not great. I woke up near the end of the flight to
be treated to a vista of huge white-capped mountains as far as the eye
could see. One day, all of this will be yours.
The pictures speak louder than anything I can describe but still don't
do it justice. The massive waterfalls and emerald blue lakes flowing
through tall narrow valleys were spectacular. It was sort of
"packaged up" nicely for visitors, and none of the Tibetan villages
really felt authentic, but that didn't subtract from the beauty of the
place. Plus there were Tibetan prayer flags all over. Oooh, so
exotic.
I took the long 8 hour bus ride back to Chengdu on Sunday, which was a
nice way to see the countryside. Pretty dramatic scenery as we passed
small villages along the river valley. We were on a very new road
that workers were still putting the finishing touches on as we drove
throw Wenchuan, well known in Sichuan as the epicenter of the 2008
earthquake. A lot of building going on in that city, but situated on
the river it looked like a really nice place to live. Difficult to
imagine the nightmare that unfolded in those tall valleys a few years
ago.
The Sichuan Basin is known for its lack of sunlight, and true to form
it was sunny for most of the way back to Chengdu (I need sunglasses
now anytime it gets sunny). Then we went through a very long tunnel
with air quality that seemed akin to a coal mine. When we came out
the other side the skies were overcast once again. Welcome home.
Anyway, this week I'm doing a music lesson, and the students go batty
when they hear about that. We talk a bit about their favourite
artists and music (Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber) and
then work on organizing the scrambled lyrics to the Beatles'
"Yesterday". Would you take it as a compliment as an artist if your
music was being used to teach ESL? It's going really well, and also a
little funny to hear the students recite lyrics in their "Microsoft
Sam" monotone voice. Can't say I'm tired of hearing Yesterday yet,
but it's only Tuesday!

Ich bin ein Beijinger!

Happy Qing Ming Jie, or Grave Sweeping Festival!  This is a yearly holiday where Chinese people go to visit and clean up the graves of their ancestors.  It's a quiet thing without much heraldry, complete with Chinese people telling me "I'm going to visit my grandfather" and leaving me awkwardly wondering if they means a living or deceased one.  So I went to Beijing.

The combination of transportation got me to the capital around 2am.  My cheap flight arrived at some small military airport where long-cloaked guards escorted us across the tarmac on foot.  Combined with the walk through the deserted streets and some dark alleys to my hostel, it was a fairly atmospheric way to begin a long weekend in the old communist stronghold.

Beijing is sort of the opposite of Hong Kong.  It's this flat city that extends forever in all directions.  If Chinese cities are judged by the number of ring roads then Beijing is the grand-daddy of them all with six ring roads.  As for the people living just at ring road six, do you really say you're from Beijing?  At the centre of the city is the Forbidden City, a monstrous complex of imperial palaces that you enter from Tiannamen gate (easy to recognize since it has a giant portrait of Mao on it).  The palaces are very impressive, and reminded me that China has always been a very large and powerful place, not just recently.

I rented a bike (apparently this is all I know how to do anymore) because the city is incredibly spread out.  By the end of touring around I had found some really nice spots: the esplanade leading up to the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium with its many kite flyers; some hipster hutongs (narrow streets that constitute "Old Beijing"); and a small lake lined with bars and what's that?  Chinese acoustic guitar?  Who knew?

I found it interesting just how many people tried to rip me off in Beijing.  I guess Sichuan is just more honest, as I usually don't have to negotiate a price for many things.  A bowl of rice costs one yuan (about 15 cents) and no one has ever tried getting more.  But in Beijing, on two ocassions I was asked to pay an amount for lunch that was higher than what I chose in the menu, so we had to open up the menu and do the little dance.  I was given the wrong change twice, the second time I heard the daughter of the lady say "you gave him the wrong change" in Chinese.  But the worst is buying any tourist item (I picked up some Mao memorabilia to decorate the apartment, of course), you are given an exorbitant price.  It's difficult to understand if Chinese people think we're stupid or if people like the "charm" of bartering.  But 45 yuan for postcards (that's about a week's worth of lunches) isn't reasonable to anyone.  I offered 5.  She took it.  I still probably paid too much.

 

Anyway, that was all before I visited the Great Wall.  Beijing was awesome but they don't call it Great Beijing.  The Wall was definitely the highlight.  I admit I probably have enough Wall pictures for one of those picture-a-day calendars.  Maybe even two (his and hers!).  But climbing up the hill and to the top of your first tower, and looking to the horizon and seeing the string of stone zigzagging across the hills, well it's pretty iconic.  The Gubeikou section that I hiked is way off the tourist radar and is neat because the Wall has been pulverized or covered in dirt but it's still there.   The towers have seen better days but look like something out of an Indiana Jones movie which is cool.  Though easy to access from the Chinese side, the "Mongol horde" side of the Wall (north side) is still usually a 10-20 foot drop, so even after 500 years without maintenance the thing is still doing its job.  Sometimes you walk beside the wall, sometimes being very careful when climbing the surprisingly steep brickwork.  Always felt a bit nervous walking on the Mongolian side.  Times change but, well, you never know.

I hiked onward to the Jinshanling section, which has been restored to the classic wall shape we all know and love.  There is a pass at Jinshanling, a low point between two mountains that would be most susceptible to an attack.  It's interesting to see how the structures are designed and fortified to hold the pass.  And they did hold it for quite some time.  But the Wall did fall, which is pretty crucial to Chinese history.  But I think it was an inside job.  It always is.  Probably for the best though, can you imagine how pissed off the builders would be when all of a sudden the enemy had planes?

Met some sort of Chinese photo club who were carrying several tens of thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment.  Why bother selling cameras in North America when you see how many you can sell in China?  It is a little shaming just how many pictures I suffered through for them, but they did give me a ride back to Beijing.  At night we "ganbei"ed a few times (when the Chinese drink their 3% beer it's expected that you down the glass every time you cheers someone - it gets very messy) and then woke up early to see the sunrise.

This short week isn't all roses since I'm making up most of the classes from Monday and Tuesday.  Classes were actually made up on the weekend.  This explains why most students weren't actually excited about a 2-day break, since it is in reality just a shifted weekend.  We're learning about loanwords in English, and it's been going surprisingly well.  They go especially bananas when we talk about words from China, like kung-fu.  Did you know that brain-wash comes to English from Chinese?  Decided not to explain that one to my students....

Is this a long post?  Sorry!