Taekwondo

Here are some clips from Noam's Taekwondo lessons - he goes twice a week with a couple of other foreign kids in our complex, but otherwise it's all in Chinese. He loves it and is doing very well. Will hopefully pick it up again when we get back to New Paltz . . but we prefer the price here in Xi'an. It's about $50 US for 3 months, including outfit, shoes, and twice weekly lessons.

Earthquake

I’m compiling a few emails we sent out about the earthquake and its aftermath to offer a sense of what it was like here in Xi’an – approximately 500 km away from the epicentre. Of course this kind of event makes everything feel fragile. We had a trip planned this weekend that would have taken us about 200 km closer to the earthquake epicentre, our friends were scheduled to be at ground zero the weekend after next, and Tal’s teacher and his family were there about a month ago. Besides being home to tens of thousands of people, the epicentre of the earthquake is near the World Wildlife Federation’s Panda Preserve – a very popular tourist destination in China and one that we were considering visiting on our way to Vietnam this July. Obviously, we’re going to skip that adventure. It will be a long time before travel to that part of the country will be back to normal.

I’m also adding in a couple of pictures of our campus the second night after the earthquake; many students continue to refuse to sleep in the dormitories, feeling the buildings are not safe in case of aftershocks. The first night there were apparently many more students outside, but I was focused more on my own family and did not wander around campus with my camera. Tonight, after almost 20 hours since the last aftershock, I was feeling more at ease. My family is sleeping soundly in our own beds.

Not quite sure of the students desire/need to continue to sleep outdoors. Some of them I know are legitimately scared, but when I walked around campus late tonight there were guitars out, laughter, singing, candles. Seemed like a giant excuse for a camp-out.

Re the situation in Xi’an – most of the damage is related to property, but no buildings collapsed or anything like that. Fallen tiles, cracks here and there, this kind of thing. However, 13 construction workers were killed on a construction site as the building they were working on swayed.

What our letters don’t mention is what didn’t occur. All this pandemonium and chaos in a city of 8,000,000 and I didn’t hear one siren. And I was in an extremely busy intersection when the earthquake occurred. Then, when I thought about it, I’ve NEVER heard a siren in Xi’an, and never seen a firetruck here either. So much for emergency response.

Dear all:  Most of you received a first email intended to inform
everyone that we were OK.  Some have asked for additional details, so here they are:
The ground began to swell and sway at around 2:30 in the afternoon.  It
was a LONG and significant swell - no way to confuse it for anything but
an earthquake.  Seems we had an aftershock at 4:30 AM (we slept right
through it - our neighbors mentioned it - no sirens).
The epicenter is in Sichuan province (neighboring province to the south
of us) - right on the edge of the Tibetan plateau.  Some jokers are
claiming that this is an act by the Dalai Lama to break Tibet free -
wouldn't that be something.

The boys were at school, Lin was in mid-town at a post office and I was
in my office.  The boys were evacuated from their building and kept
outside.  They were not allowed to re-enter to gather up their books
etc. and were sent home as usual.  No school today as the building is
being assessed for safety.

Linda was in the post office and ran outside with everyone - thousands
of people crowding into the middle of the main street in Xi'an (for
those of you who have visited - Shao Zhai - about 1/2 way from our
campus to the old city wall).

I was at the computer in my office.

At the University: There were no sirens, no announcements on public
address systems and nobody asking that we evacuate the buildings.  I
tried standing in a door post, and then got under my desk (they gave me
three??) and then realized that I had no faith in the construction in
China and decided to get out.

After about 15 minutes I returned to my office to discover that the
internet was not disrupted (a shock).  I was steadily trying to reach
the boys' school and Linda and did get messages out though nothing back
from Linda - amazing how the phone system collapsed but Skype was up - I
could have spoken to any of you, but not to anyone in my family!

By the time I got home, the family was in, we had a normal dinner, Tal
and I played some ping pong but Noam's Taikwando class was canceled.  
Everything was weirdly normal....

While we slept in our building, it seems that ALL the campus students
were required to sleep outdoors last night - the poor kids.  Faculty are
either more expendable or harder to boss around.... I will leave it to
you to decide which.

Our sense is that there is no clear organizing authority charged with
dealing with the situation. This is so clearly different from what one
would expect in the west that we find it perhaps the most disconcerting
aspect of this event.

Nonetheless, we have all that we need and our lives are back to normal
(except the boys' school being canceled).

The oddest thing is that while the quake was ongoing most everyone I
spoke to felt nauseous and lightheaded.  It was quite uncomfortable and
since the earthquake went on for an extended time, so too did the
discomfort.

Lots of coverage in the local media, with pictures of the Prime Minister
heading to the scene to "take over" relief efforts.

Based on my experiences in China, particularly my experience with
construction standards here and corruption levels, I think it is quite
amazing how well Xi'an did during the quake - though there are
rumors.... and my office building lost some bits and pieces.... and I
would expect the situation in Sichuan to be quite serious.  Rural area
construction is quite poor and old.  Rural in China isn't rural by any
Western standards - so lots of people are going to have been affected.

Still, we are thankfully well and safe.  We had a family meeting about
what happened and how we would respond in future to similar events.  The
boys, it should be noted, maintained their cool throughout the quake,
calmly following instructions and not becoming hysterical.  Linda and I
did well too - a test under fire as it were.... no need for another one
thank you very much.

I expect my students tomorrow to be a mess - lets hope they are allowed
back into their dorms tonight.

Best to all,
Yoni

Hi everyone: Some more details about the earthquake. We are all fine, but feeling a little uneasy (not the right word, can't think of the right word) as the reality of the disaster sinks in. Had classes today with my students, many of them tired and exhausted from a sleepless/sleep-limited night but all very willing to process yesterday's events. Some were actually in dire need of processing the events. Funny thing is that the students received only one message from their university re the earthquake at about 4:00 pm (90 minutes after it occurred) - that all buildings and dormitories were safe to enter. However, most students did not believe this information so everyone stayed out much longer, and a good portion of them slept in the outdoor stadium on campus. So, after countless discussions with my students on Tibet, and endless frustration with what I deem their blind acceptance of government/authority, turns out that my students do not blindly accept government authority. No matter what they were told yesterday, they all preferred a sleepless night in the outdoors rather than re-entering the campus buildings.

Yours,
Linda

Hi there - Boys are off school again tomorrow though I anticipate Thursday school will be open again. Was some damage to their building and it has been challenging to find a building inspector free and willing to give it a lookover. Most schools and other buildings skip the inspection before re-opening (on campus they sent a security guard into the buildings about 90 minutes after the earthquake, and he said that everything was fine!!!). We have returned to our regular routines, although many around us are still wary of entering buildings and the parks are littered with people sleeping outdoors. Some of my students insist that they will sleep outside for a week at least. Their response is a little puzzling - they are tuned into the news, but there is a lot of faith placed on rumours. (Speaking nof rumour-mongering, the dean of international students told several foreign students to expect an aftershock in Xi’an today at 2:48 pm. Where he got this ludicrous information I’ll never know, but the ground was solid all day). My students seem to distrust whatever minimal information has been given to them by the university. But, in defense of the students, the university leaders have communicated almost nothing to them and have been largely absent. Some of my students told me that during the earthquake their teachers simply ran out of the room before anyone else . . they were left to manage their own evacuation. I understand panic and rash decisions, so I'm not trying to judge, but my students really feel abandoned and like they can't trust anyone. So I suppose they feel it's best to just stay outside. But, we've had almost 24 hours with no further aftershocks, so I imagine that they will soon return to their dorms. Probably a good rain will help them all go back inside (today the weather was gorgeous . . no wonder they all stayed outside).

Love, Linda

more censorship

Another development in our ongoing experience with censorship in China is worthy of mention.

Of late there has been extensive discussion in the (foreign) news of the Tibet unrest, the Olympic Torch relay, the Uighurs in Xinjiang and the environment – The Chinese press carries some of this, but with an obvious Chinese bias.

While I have been leery of discussing any of these issues in my formal classes, I have done so with interested students in my office. The result has been some interesting discussions, with my goal (sometimes more effectively achieved sometimes less so) of increasing my interlocutor’s openness to other, sometimes opposing views.

In these discussions I invariably stress that I am not engaged in attempting to convince them of my “correct” opinion – but rather to expose them to alternative viewpoints that challenge the official Party line. A lesson in critical thinking, the power of the media and the benefits of openness to opposing opinions.

Yesterday I was informed in passing by a friend that the university would be hosting a professor from a neighboring university who is an expert on Tibet. The professor was to give a lecture to mid-level campus officials on the history of Tibet in China, the riots and the efforts at dialogue with the Dalai Lama. I was intrigued and excited at the opportunity to hear a lecture that would summarize the Chinese position on Tibet – one that was not filtered through the mass media.

Oddly, no-one seemed to be aware of the lecture, and students and most faculty were not invited. Since the lecture was about to begin, I contacted another colleague (with whom I’m conducting a project) on campus for information on the venue. She seemed surprised about the lecture and said she was unaware of it. Odd, I thought.

After figuring out the lecture venue, I somewhat apprehensively decided to nonetheless attend. Standing outside the lecture hall (they had already begun) I listened through an open door to decide if I would be able to understand the accent of the speaker (I find a thick local accent almost incomprehensible). Deciding that I would probably understand around 70% of the content, I chose to enter.

At that point I noticed some startled faces in the audience staring at me through the doors (interspersed among the many sleeping attendees). The head of the foreign affairs office was among those who spotted me and quickly came to me before I could enter the lecture hall.

He asked what I was doing there, and after I explained my interest in the topic he asked who had told me of the lecture… I obfuscated…. With a smile…. He then proceeded to explain that the lecture would be boring, that it was really only for mid-level officials, that I could learn everything that was being said from the internet, that it was irrelevant to my research and that he lacked the authority to allow me to enter – all with a smile….

I, innocently explained that as a political scientist I was quite interested in the topic – even if not directly relevant to my research. I also described how eager I was to enhance my understanding of the Chinese position on Tibet in order to achieve our shared goal of greater mutual understanding between China and the West (I’m still smiling here)

The official explained that in fact the lecture covered three points (I mentioned these earlier) and that he would be pleased to invite me for dinner and tell me all about the lecture… but (smile) I couldn’t attend.

At this point I bowed to the inevitability of the situation, thanked him and departed. There will be no dinner, of this I am confident. Ah, and as for that friend I called about the venue – the one who didn’t know about the lecture? Well, since the lecture was in the same building as her office, I thought I would pop in to discuss a project we have been working on. Imagine how surprised I was to discover she wasn’t there! Her office mates explained to me that she was busy attending a lecture on Tibet.

Passover

Passover in Xi’an was a mixed bag. In some ways it didn’t meet my expectations and in some ways it surpassed them.

We had invited several people. My Chinese language teacher, Carly, a devout Christian who is always peppering me with questions about Jews and Judaism, and was very excited to receive the invitation. A lovely Muslim young man from Turkey (Sirkan) whom we have befriended, also very devout and extremely interested in other religions. Sirkan came to Xi’an about a year and a half ago not speaking English or Chinese, and has since become very proficient in both – he’s really amazing and is wonderful with our kids. Sirkan brought his friend, Khalil – also a very lovely guy, wonderful with kids, who showed us pictures of himself participating in a ritual slaughter here in Xi’an before their Id el Fitr feast. Sirkan and Khalil had invited us to their place several weeks ago and (with their other roommates) cooked a marvelous meal for us including home made yogurt, Turkish tea, and other treats. Khalil does not speak English very well, but says he understands much better than he speaks. Lastly we had our friend Tom, an English/Israeli hybrid and his girlfriend Cynthia. Cynthia is from Xi’an and is non-religious.

So, I had wonderful dreams that this would be a very interesting, inspiring, multi-faith experience. Well, it was definitely interesting, and definitely multi-faith. But the problems started before the Seder began.

We went on a trip to a place called Luoyang just before Passover as there was an organized trip from our university. Timing was awful, and we arranged to leave the trip early so we could prepare for Seder . . but it was too much of a stretch. Y was against participating in the trip, but I pushed hard. Travelling is difficult in China and it's nice (and cheaper) when it's organized for you . . and I feel the end of our year approaching and there's so many places I still want to go. Anyway, we came home to an extremely rushed prep experience (we did the Passover cleaning and other prep in advance, but not the cooking), which meant a late starting seder. Challenging for us, especially after 3 days of tiring travel. All of our guests were respectful, and tried hard in their own way, but it was too much of a stretch. Khalil’s English was just not good enough to keep him interested in the Seder, and since he was the playful type, and sitting beside Noam . . . you get the picture. Needless to say, Noam does not need a lot of encouragement to get distracted. So we spent much time trying to encourage Noam to participate without making Khalil feel like we were reprimanding him. But it was not workable. Tal was helpful in the kitchen and in the prep time, but felt a little uncomfortable with all of the unfamiliar adults.

Between the English/Hebrew/Chinese/Turkish translations, there was always someone struggling to understand, and it was difficult to keep everyone focused at the same time. Yoni and I were trying our best, but after a really rushed seder prep, with me constantly fretting about not having enough food (we did), we were not at our best. Even Tal started to become anxious, “are we going to have enough food?” You get the picture.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad. There was some interesting discussion about how the different faiths approached the Exodus story – and everyone was very nice and pleasant to be with. And Noam did a great job with the 4 questions, even though he said he was nervous he came through without a hitch.

Still, we decided to have a family-only seder the next night (didn't really plan on having two seders, but it felt right) after a long family discussion the morning after. This time everyone was better behaved and we all prepared something. It was really lovely and made up for the shortcomings of the first seder, and then some. Next time if we want a diverse seder, I think we will need to bring in some different texts and approach it in a totally different way.

And the lessons of life go on and on and on.

Just another quick note regarding all this talk about Jewish stuff. When a Chinese colleague or friend hears that we're Jewish, the response is very interesting. Almost universally positive, overwhelmingly so. So I began asking people why they think so highly of the Jews. Several mentioned that they have read in many books that the Jews are extremely smart, some of them even say that we're the smartest people in the world. I supposes I could explain to them the multitude of examples where this is not the case, but so far have just enjoyed the good feelings. It's nice to travel in a country where people have such a positive response to your heritage. We should probably try to find some of these , "why the Jews are great" books before we leave . . . to keep us feeling positive when we need it.

Views From a Student

In this blog, I am including a note written by one of my students. She has given me permission to post it here. I am posting it exactly as she has written it (grammatical and spelling errors included). She wrote it after several class and private discussions on the subject of Tibet and censorship, as she felt that I really didn’t seem to understand her points, or those of many of her classmates. My student stated that she feels her views represent the majority of Chinese people and, based on my conversations with other friends, students, and foreigners, I am inclined to think that she is correct.

Some additional information about this student, which I think is relevant, is that she is an amazing young woman. As “class monitor” she is always organizing other students, ensuring that everyone’s needs are met, and is always looking out for others. After one class, when the subject of family violence came up, she approached me afterwards regarding a friend of hers who comes from an abusive family. She was worried about her friend and wanted to know how she could best support her. I know her a little better than some of my other students as we volunteer at the same special needs orphanage, and have gone there together on one occasion. She has wonderful dreams about social justice, assisting the downtrodden, and empowering others.

Dear Linda:

I really want to write something for you about Chinese politics, especially Olympics and Tibet.

First, about Tibet.

1. Why does Da-Lai La-Ma ask for independence?

I do not think they ask for independence in order to protect so-called culture. I have three reasons.

A. Chinese central government does not resist or abolish their culture, even not limit. They can develop by themselves because Chinese central government gives them more right to govern their region than Han people. So in this point I want to ask “no destroy. Where is protection?”

B. Of course, everything will change as the time goes. Maybe their culture is gradually disappearing because of the influence of Han culture. But how to protect it effectively? It’s a long way to go and also they should use scientific method, our aim is to deal with things, not to make it mess.

C. If they really want to protect their culture, why do they do that kind of disaster? They rob shops, kill people, and fire buildings? So “protect culture” is just an excuse and a lie. If they really want to protect their culture, please communicate with our Chinese central government and also give their own methods about how to protect their culture.

So, I can say, the real purpose why Da-Lai La-Ma cause this big disaster just want to make things mess, cause chaos to get Tibet independent. Once Tibet is independent just as they expect, they can get more power and more right. So just for right, for power, they cause this disaster.

2.About citizen in Tibet

From some investigation and some information from my major teachers I can say majority of Tibet citizens are good. They love country, religion and culture. In their mind they really want to protect their culture and the place where they were born and grow up. So Da-Lai La-Ma make use of it. Most of them support our Chinese central government but they are utilized.

3. About CNN

Among us we hate CNN. It is not because it says something we cannot accept, just for it tell lies. Maybe it tells some truth, but half lie and half truth. For example, it use some photos, of course which are true, but CNN just take one part of that photo to tell audience something it want to tell. CNN misleads some audience and cause some misunderstanding. So among us there is this kind of saying: “Please tell truth. Do not behave like CNN.”

4.How does our Chinese central government do? Of course, everything has two parts. Da-Lai group must be responsible for it. However, how does our Chinese central government do? Every Chinese know our government gives Tibet more support and money, so we think Tibet citizen should be satisfied about it. But is it enough? More Tibet citizens have their own religion. We should help them to protect and put more care about their spirit not only money.

And also communication. This is the bridge of friendship. We should know what they really need. Not just money.

5. How about this Tibet issue?

I think it will be put down, our Chinese central government can deal with it and control it. Although it becomes bigger and bigger some good sides have appeared. Somebody has surrendered themselves. Now Tibet is in a normal atmosphere and people have a normal life.

6. How about international response?

I think this issue belongs to China. It should be deal with by Chinese government. Other countries do not have the right to deal with.

Hainan

We just had a glorious visit to Hainan Island with my folks – the southernmost tip of China (at least the undisputed part of China) . . according to the Chinese there are things further south. But that’s another story. The pictures speak for themselves. It was pure luxury and a welcome change from our small apartment in polluted Xi’an. The swimming/beach pictures are from the hotel we stayed at – complete with water slides, beachfront, banana boats (we got thrown in the middle of the ocean), seawater pool, daily acrobatic show, you name it. Most of the tourists were Chinese, but there were also a ton of Russians, not to mention Koreans and a few other Westerners. Noam at one point looked at me and said, “it doesn’t even feel like we’re in China anymore.” Apparently Hainan, the island, feels very much like other parts of China, just with more tropical weather, but the place where we stayed for almost all of our visit (it was hard to drag ourselves away) – Yalong Bay, Sanya – is really an international resort. My dad and Tal even played golf one day, and there was lots of things to buy at VERY Western prices.

We took one day trip to a fun place called Monkey Island, where the monkeys roam freely. Even Tal came with us to Monkey Island, although it was touch and go for awhile. This time the monkeys stayed away from him, and he did his best to avoid sudden movements.

Jingdi's Tomb

As the weather in Xi’an has become warmer, we have begun venturing out more frequently for siteseeing. At this point I’m already getting emotional about all the wonderful places that we just won’t have time to visit. We love traveling, but we can only push the kids so far, and there’s still work and school. They always seem to get in the way.

The Terracotta Warriors are about 45 minutes outside of Xi’an and are quite incredible, we’ve been there a couple of times and a guide book will explain them better than I. But what we recently discovered is that the Terracotta are really not the most impressive historical site around Xi’an – it’s Emperor Jingdi’s tomb, locally known as Han Yangling. This tomb reveals more about daily life than martial preoccupations (a total contrast to the Terracotta Site) as Emperor Jingdi was influenced by Taoism and thus more focused on improving the daily life of his subjects rather than waging war. What a concept. His tomb is filled with anatomically correct, miniature terracotta figures, all without arms. The figures were originally built with moveable wooden arms that disintegrated over time, and clothed in silk cloth that met the same fate as the arms. The site has only been open for two years, so it is wonderfully under-visited compared to its more famous cousin – the Terracotta Warriors. Not a small draw since in overpopulated China we feel as if we’re elbow to elbow with people virtually all the time. I've included a few pictures of the tomb/museum.

Regarding Xi’an’s historical sites, there is so much more to uncover. Surrounding the city (and other places in China as well) are countless burial mounds . . including the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang himself (the man who unified China and had the Terracotta Warriors constructed to protect him in his afterlife). Qin Shi Huang’s tomb is very close to the site of the Terracotta Warriors, yet remains largely unexcavated. Burial mounds look like small hills and are literally buried treasure. Here's a picture of me and the boys standing in front of one near Jingdi's tomb - the entire site of his tomb is enormous and they've only dug in a few specific areas. I can’t quite understand why more archaeological digging is not going on (or even grave robbing, for that matter), yet each time I ask a tour guide or a local this question I receive a variety of befuddling answers. They’ll say that they want to leav

e some things for their future generations to discover, or that archaeologists can’t figure out how to excavate the artificacts without the figures losing their colour when exposed to air. The first answer seems absurd, and the latter answer has been floating around China for decades according to Yoni, and also seems rather absurd since some of the Terracotta that I’ve seen have colour, and I just can’t believe that modern science couldn’t have figured this one out yet. Especially since they’ve found a way to keep all of the terracotta figures at Jingdi’s tomb under glass in a carefully monitored environment.

I’m also including a picture of a panda from a place called “Louguantai” about 1.5 hours outside of Xi’an. There’s a famous panda preserve in

Chengdu that we’ve been told is a world class wildlife preservation site. We hope to visit if we can squeeze it in, but not sure we’ll manage it. Anyway, I didn’t want to leave China without seeing some pandas, so we decided to try Louguantai. We were a little reticent as I will never forget a zoo that Yoni, Tal and I visited in Nanking in 1999. The conditions were deplorable. No other word for it. We have specifically avoided the local zoo in Xi’an due to those strong memories. Anyway, this panda preserve in Louguantai was recommended by a German friend, so we decided to give it a try. It was really just a glorified zoo, and, although it was better than the Nanking zoo, still very disturbing. I won’t be going to another zoo in China. That’s a promise.

Last is a picture of me and Tal riding horses up a mountain – I think those are cherry trees we’re passing, but I could be mistaken. The mountains are just amazing this time of year – everything is flowering. Even our somewhat grubby campus is looking pretty.