Harmonious 3-Wheel Motion: July 2008

Harmonious3wheelmotion returns on the box tip!!!

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Hopefully summer 2008 is finding everyone well. I recently returned to Beijing after a whirlwind visit to VA, Chicago, NYC, and Japan. It was great to see family and friends, and of course, it made me miss "home." A lot (2) of people asked me to re-start my blogging, as they seemed pretty curious about what life is like in Beijing with the Olympics quickly approaching.

Well for one thing, day-to-day life, at least my day-to-day life in Beijing, is quite different from the picture created by much of the media reports that one reads or sees in the US. Before I came to Beijing, I formed a pretty simplistic view of what life would be like in China. Fake goods, unsafe food, carcinogenic toys, getting jacked for my kidney, etc. Many people--including some Hong Kong relatives--had no idea why I would ever want to go to a place like China.

Of course, now that I've been here for over a year (already?!), I have developed a more nuanced view of life in China, or at least life in Beijing. And I love it here.

[I have realized that life in Beijing is its own beast, and doesn't necessarily speak to what life is like in other parts of China. I think I mentioned this in earlier posts, but China is more like Europe, in that different regions have their own customs, dialects (there are over a 100 dialects in China with linguistic distances surpassing that of Spanish and Italian, for example), cuisines, etc. More on this another time though.]

Life in Beijing can be viewed through many lenses, and toggling through them can lead to quite different phenomenological experiences.

If I use the lens of seeing Beijing as the site of Olympics, one frame of reference would be when Atlanta hosted the Olympics. As an American, I thought it was cool that the Olympics was in the US, but I wasn't THAT excited. One of my roommates, Peter, actually competed in that Olympics, and I took a road trip with another roommate, Russ, and his SD friends to the ATL. We were mostly fired up about seeing Peter compete and possibly seeing the US women's gymnastic team in the Olympic Athlete's Lounge (1 out of 2 ain't bad...sorry Pete).

In Beijing right now, Chinese people are fired up about the Olympics. Fired up! They see the Olympics as China's coming out party as a Modern Country, and many seem very emotionally invested in the success of The Games. Emotional! (Like Young Jeezy, but not sure if they also "hug the block"). When there was that hullabaloo with the torch relay a few months ago, many people here took it so personally and did not understand why the rest of the world was picking on China...on them!

To get ready for the Olympics and combat the ridiculous traffic situation that is Beijing, the city has imposed driving restrictions so that only 1/2 of the cars (sorted by even and odd numbers on driving license plates?) can drive on any given day. There are also special Olympic driving lanes to facilitate traffic flow to and from the events. I have not heard one Chinese person complain about this. (The foreigners on the other hand...)

I am trying to imagine if Bloomberg told New Yorkers that 1/2 of them could not drive on any given day...and then not hearing a single complaint/fuggetaboutit. Chinese people are pretty hip hop in that sense. Riding (bicycles, buses, subways, etc.) for the team yo!

Having just visited friends in Chicago and NY a few weeks ago, and using that lens to see Beijing, it is striking just how many material comforts Americans have...and often take for granted. (At least I did.) Condos, flat screen TVs, cars...a bathroom INSIDE their apt.

In the hutongs (alley streets) of Beijing, most Chinese people do not have a toilet in their apartment. They have to go to a public (smelly) bathroom when they have to go-go. And many of these public facilities have no stalls. No privacy whatsoever! This still blows my mind.

At the same time, I can't help but notice how much more energy abounds here in Beijing. I remember first moving to NY in 1999 and feeling like no other city in America could touch New York as far as the raw, non-stop energy. Growing up visiting Chicago as a shorty, I thought Chi-town was big-time, but New York (sorry Chi-town) blows the Windy City out of the water. (I gets metaphorical).

Whether it's me just getting older and/or the city changing and the incessant reports of a US recession, New York seemed even more muted during this last visit. Now I think Beijing blows NY out of the water, as far as the raw non-stop energy.

Another lens to see Beijing is to use Tokyo and Japan as a frame of reference. In the US, many Americans--jokingly or not--often crack that all Asians look alike and they're all the same bla bla bla. After visiting Japan on the way back to Beijing from NY, I was reminded of just how different Japan is. Japan is soooooo clean and orderly. The streets are clean with no visible refuse. People queue up for the bus in a civilized way. And the bathrooms? Best bathrooms in the world. The best, Jerry, the best!

In contrast, Beijing is much, much dirtier. Grimey! Not only the air, but the streets are often lined with refuse. Kind of like...Chinatown. Hmmm.

Japan: 1.
China: 0.

But upon further review, I am pretty excited to be back in Beijing. Why? It actually feels quite liberating coming to China. How? For example, in Japan I had a chance to catch up with a Japanese friend, who had moved back to Tokyo from NY about a year ago. While I was thrilled to be back in Tokyo--it's like I'm in the movie Lost in Translation!--she was explaining that she felt quite constrained being back in Japanese society.

I guess this is one downside of such a rigid societal structure; the social pressures responsible for the ultra clean toilets that are like magic and orderly bus queues also can weigh down on people.

My friend explained that Japanese people are very detail-oriented. Their appearance, for example. Impeccable. Very attuned to the social pressures of what is appropriate or stylish. And the Japanese youth are mad stylish!

In China, on the other hand, not so much. What's poppin' in the streets can be described as a more fock-it-why-not style. Kind of like Spicoli meets 2pac? Like you can walk down the street at any hour and see people wearing pajamas. Or sans shirt. Even in the restaurants. No shirt...service!!!

My Chinese teacher, a Beijing lady in her 50s, says that only the uncouth leave home with no shirt on. And while Chinese people get a bad rap for spitting and not lining up for buses in an orderly fashion, you know what, I think uncouth is kind of liberating. If it's 90+ degrees, fock it I'm taking off my shirt. Why not? Why is it acceptable in Hawaii or Florida at the same temperatures, but not here? I can respect that viewpoint.

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4pm PJ's steez.