向北京告别 (Farewell to Beijing)

Our third year Chinese teachers

On Friday, we had a graduation ceremony (where I got to give a speech!) as it was our last day of the Harvard Beijing Academy.  The teachers were really amazing, and I could not have imagined a program that enabled me to learn Chinese any better in two months.  

Third year friends and teachers

After the closing ceremony

Now, I am headed to the relatively small city of Lishui in Zhejiang province to teach school kids English for two weeks with the program Building Bridges or 在蓝天下, a coalition of students from Yale and the top Chinese universities.

张天骄~Lily (together again after three years!)

Learning to play mahjong

Visit to National Museum of China

Beijing opera mask, as painted by my friends

At a traditional tea house for a farewell dinner with my host family
(While I lived in a dorm during the HBA program, I visited with them on weekends and for the Dragon Boat Festival to eat the best meal in China I've ever had.)

Live shows during the meal displaying traditional Chinese culture, such as dancing, instruments, kung fu, opera, magicians, and tea pouring

While in Beijing I was able to meet up with Lily (张天骄), my Chinese host sister from three years ago in Chengdu.  She now goes to college at MSU in Michigan, which she says is incredibly different and more intense than what college would've been like in China.  Even going to school in the States she still almost exclusively spends her time with other Chinese nationals, so her spoken English is still far out shadowed by her written academic English (a common phenomenon with students from China).  I also learned that only about one or two applicants from the entire city of Beijing are admitted to Yale every year.

2012

2012

2015 - Lily and I today

有空气污染吗？

U.S. embassy's ranking of the daily air quality!

China's ranking of the daily air quality! As you can see, they actually rank the pollution worse than the U.S.  China has been pretty honest and proactive with dealing with its air quality issues.  Supposedly they're cleaning the air so it's constantly getting better and within a matter of years will be entirely safe again.

A typical day with not so good air quality.  The 'fog' outside is actually the haze/smog from air pollution.  Sometimes the air feels slightly thick and has a bit of a scent.  Doesn't bother me but some of my classmates wear masks.

At least on campus there is a big antismoking campaign.  This poster says "Smoking is very ugly" and "Love me? Then don't hurt me!"  In China, girls almost never smoke, but Chinese men, particularly in the past, have been under a lot of societal pressure to conform to the norm of smoking.

Gray Beijing sky at nighttime over the track.   I try to only run outside on the slightly better days or at night.  Some of my friends say they feel congested after they exercise outside. 

The third year teachers playing tug-o-war on the track after class to defend our honor.

Raining inside our dorm during a storm.

How to Determine If You're White and in China

Subway crowds

You hear "hello!" shouted as you walk down the street

People regularly talk about you in Chinese right in front of you

A guy chases you down the street to ask if you'll for pose for pictures with him in front of a famous temple but you don't even pose for pictures for your mother so that's not gonna happen

Little kids often say "哇！外国人！" "Whoa! Foreigner!" when they see you

A horde of salespeople immediately attach themselves to you when you enter a store

You've been asked multiple times if your hair is real

Somewhere, someone has a picture of you holding their baby

Groups of girls ask to take selfies with you as you walk through the mall

The only pick-up line guys use is a heavily accented "Nice to meet you"

When you say "你好" hello people are flabbergasted by your Chinese skills

You try to step out of the way so that you're not accidentally in strangers' pictures but then they turn the camera back towards where you're standing

If all of the above apply, then yep, you are definitely white and in China!
If some of the above apply, consider that you might be another ethnicity besides Asian.

北海公园、颐和园、长城、避暑山庄、普宁寺

Beihai Park by boat

Jade Islet in the center of the lake

The Tibetan-style White Dagoba is visible topping Jade Islet

The Summer Palace:
"former playground for emperors fleeing the suffocating summer torpor of the old imperial city" -Lonely Planet

View of the Summer Palace's Kunming Lake, manmade as present for the emperor's mother

Round 3 of me vs Great Wall, this time the Jinshanling portion (very few tourists)

Imperial summer resort, like the Forbidden City but

with gardens and lakes to make it cool

                                                    

Punning Temple in Chengde city

Great Wall visible in distance

胡同儿、天坛公园

One of the two famous towers of Beijing (鼓楼 Drum Tower)

The other tower (钟楼 Bell Tower)

View of the hutongs (historic alleyways where the affluent used to live) from the tower

烟袋斜街

后海 (lake nestled among the hutongs, turns into quite the bar scene at night)

Entering Temple of Heaven Park, more worth visiting than the Forbidden City in my opinion

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (also called the Temple of Heaven)

At the Temple of Heaven Park I saw a lot of couples taking wedding photos.  Some brides wear red (an auspicious color in China), and some wear white (due to the growing Western influence).  There's two ceremonies anyway, an official registration with the government at the marriage office where you receive marriage certificates and an actual wedding banquet involving guests.  When China's population was expected to grow exponentially after the Reform and Opening, the government began encouraging late marriage and late childbirth.  In China's typical paternalist style, the 1980 marriage law still forbids men younger than 22 and women younger than 20 from marrying.  However, the dynamics of the Chinese population are changing.  No longer at risk for uncontrollable growth, China's now preoccupied with an aging population characterized by a huge amount of older Chinese who don't have enough children or social security to support themselves.  Just this year, the National's People's Congress has allowed discussion concerning changing the marriage law, just as the one-child Policy has also been loosed.

Infinite Corridor

Imperial Vault of Heaven

Round Altar

With a friend from Beijing Language and Culture University