Why it's always good to carry a camera

Yes, that is a man, hanging upside down in a tree with his feet wedged between branches, repeatedly running his fingers through his hair.

I have nothing more to add.

Reindeers in Sanlitun

An example of Christmas decoration from the nearest shopping village. It's getting colder now, very christmassy and not long until we fly back!

Double Header

Here are a couple of photographs that really need to be placed together.
Found in the local Kempinski hotel, where the observant of you will remember we lived for our first month here in China. Anyway, I was on my way to the deli this morning to pick up some croissants when I saw this teutonic take on the terracotta warriors.



These are traditional German nutcrackers, the best of which are from Saxony I believe and they are a popular Christmas decoration, but normally a little smaller...

On the way home I saw a gentleman who had 'blacked-up' making his way into the Dutch Embassy to entertain the children, unfortunately he was on a bike and was gone before I could take his photograph.

Hoist, petard, etc.

Himmo's festive exuberance has proven to be too much already.
Only the third of December and already we've missed a day / photograph.
Here's a weak effort to keep you going 'til tomorrow.

It's two people picking over a turkey carcass, that's festive right?

Christmas Decoration European style

Today's picture shows our efforts to recreate a bit of Christmas in our flat. The pine branches are not very nice here, I don't think the trees get enough water, which would make sense, considering how dry Beijing is or most of the year. Luckily, Chinese people are generally good business people and therefore provide for our cravings for green pine.

Feast or famine

Typical, you don't hear from us for weeks, then suddenly there are four posts in a week. Well, that's just the way it goes, I make no apologies for our irregularity, we're just too busy / lazy (delete as appropriate).

I've been promising for a while that I would post some info about our new apartment. We've still only been living here for two months, so it does still qualify as new. As you've seen, we have had plenty of socialising events here including house-warming parties, book clubs, thanksgiving and general eating, drinking and wiing.

It's a beautiful apartment and we're both feeling pretty lucky to have such a nice place. It's brand new and we are the first to live here. Which is great, although it does mean there are a few little problems here and there to get sorted; a shower door fitted too high, accidental free drinking water, nothing to serious.

So, first of all, a few links to give you some background on the compound called 当代Moma. Here you can see some nice, professional pictures of the place. It is in Chinese, so for those of us that don't read more than a handful of characters, you'll just have to click around and get an idea of what's going on.

This article on Treehugger (a green website) has a couple of videos linked and explains some of the environmental credentials of the place. These were pretty important to us in our choice of where to live. So we have geothermal heating, water recycling and LEED energy-saving credentials for the bulding.

Finally, this link is to the site of the Architect, Steven Holl. Some great pictures here and quotes about the compound from around the world.

Finally, just to personalise this a little bit here is a video of our apartment:

Also a link, in case the embedded video doesn't work for you.

And finally, a shorter video of the place at night:

And the link.

Christmas Decoration in Beijing

This is the first picture as promised: one of our favourite restaurants in Beijing, serving Shanghai Dumplings (or Xiaolongbao). The decoration includes a see-saw with a penguin and sea lion doing the business.

Our first Thanksgiving

This fits with the whole Christmas build-up, but deserves its own post. Why? Because last Thursday we had our very first Thanksgiving. Our American friends took over the flat and prepared delicious dishes that would then within minutes vanish into people's bellies. I can see the appeal of the holiday: lovely food, everyone is together and afterwards everyone falls into a slight food coma from having eaten far too much.

On Saturday we then had our second (none in 27 years and then 2 in one week) Thanksgiving dinner at a Belgian household, where similarly delicious dishes were served. Again, everyone was together, this time discussing the choice of new Commissioners. For obvious reasons the Belgians were very happy!

So, this is a holiday to keep an eye out for, because you can always be thankful for something and if you keep the Adam's Family values in mind (or watch it after dinner), it's very entertaining too.

1st Advent and Preparing for Christmas

Advent is the ultimate German celebration: the family comes together on the last 4 Sunday afternoons before Christmas to eat cookies, play board games and generally prepare for Christmas. At least in our family.

So, lacking the German family, we invited some good friends of ours, and did exactly that: making and eating cookies, drinking Gluehwein and playing Trivial Pursuit. The decoration is out and making the place at least a little chrismassy. The green from the Christmas trees is hard to come by though, we has to try two markets before we could find some branches that didn't look like they had been fished out of last year's celebration and were not going by fantasy prices. It's funny when the little Chinese shopkeepers advertise their more or less pretty trees, saying that they're beautiful. I doubt that any of them know what we actually do with the trees and everyone probably finds it weird to have a tree in your flat for about two weeks and to then throw it out. Crazy Europeans....

There is one very christmasy event every year in Beijing: the Christmas market the day before 1st Advent at he German embassy. People queue for 2 hours to have a sip of Gluehwein, some Currywurst, buy and Adventscalendar and to east homemade cake. All the profits are donated to Charities in and around Beijing. The Christmas market and having listened to some Christmas songs this afternoon whilst baking cookies made me think of Christmas with all its glory and that it's time to come home for the holiday. The whole build-up, like Advent is just not the same in a country where the Christmas trees are mostly plastic and red (or blue, purple, silver, you name it). So, to make our days a bit more like the run-up to Christmas, we will post a seasonal picture each day before now and Christmas! Enjoy.....

Shopping in Beijing

This will be a post for the ladies I guess, I'm not sure whether many men have the stamina to go through with the whole shopping experience in China.

Firstly, there is a market for everything: clothes (of course) in all shapes and colours, shoes, bags, glasses, plants, lights, birds, furniture ... you name it! They come by descriptive names like Dirt Market, Silk Market, Zoo Market, Glasses Market and make every serious shopper's heart beat higher. There are just aisles and aisles of stuff in all shapes, colours and materials. You need some Gucci reading glasses but think that 500 Euro may be a bit steep? No problem, the girl in the shop will fit them and measure you eyesight for about 30, and deliver them to your house if desired.

You need some traditional furniture but speak no Chinese? The friendly old man in Gaobeidian will show you a warehouse full of things and deliver the next day, business card with address will be sufficient. New winter jacket, new shoes or tights? - Anything can be bought in Yashow, the touristy, yet convenient for every whim market on 5 floors. And if you want a custom-made skirt because you love the design of one you own already.... just pick the fabric

But once you have lived in Beijing you start noticing: Those expats with the really nice, good quality real-or-not designer bags, the Chinese girls with the custom-made shoes and the subtle amount of well-known British brands on people that have never been. It's time to take shopping to the next level!

You need to find someone who is in the know: There may be whispers of a lady that makes shoes to your specifications, a lady that sells bags in an office building or DVDs that you buy from a knitting shop, but is it true?

It's always good to be introduced to these merchants and having gone with my shoe-obsessed friend we visited the shoe lady, who also has a seafood restaurant on the other side of her workshop. Three trips later I owned a pair of red pumps that probably would have benefited from a bit of stretching, but there was my lesson: accept that these things may take several trips!

Then, a few weeks ago we visited the bag lady. She has her 'shop' in an office building, nothing gives away her beautiful business. Once the office door opens and closes behind you, you are in bag paradise. Anything you could dream of. Prices almost non-negotiable, but you're so dreamy about your new leather bag, that price is not an object, you feel like you still got a great deal. A trip before Christmas will be arranged.

Another office building at the other end of the city houses a well-known and well-loved girl's brand in a tiny little office, where you may not get every size, but certainly styles of the last two years. And a little cheaper, but still with British price tag.....

So, this lights up the faces of the girls around here. However, at one point or the other you'll notice that not everything that glitters is gold. And in these moments, I take refuge with my favourite beautiful clothing website and already put things on my wish list that will be ordered just before we get back to the UK. Take a look http://www.ascensiononline.com/Default.aspx

1st snow of the year

When we woke up his morning, the day after Halloween, the world outside was white and it is still snowing (and has been for at least 4 hours now). So, we got up early and went outside into a little park, just outside our compound and built a little snowman. Chinese people were using the opportunity to have photos taken next to snowy trees and bushes. Last winter it didn't snow until January, and then only for a couple of days, but this year it seems to be more moist, so hopefully we'll get some more snowy days this year!!!!!!!

60th Birthday Party

This is the first of a couple of catch up posts.
It is just over a year since we moved to China and I can say at least for myself that I'm still loving it here. I'm pretty sure Caroline is too.

We've moved to a beautiful new apartment and that will be the subject of the next catch up post. Fantastic food and drink are still accessible and cheap.
We've got some great friends.

Work for both of us is challenging and at times stressful, but I really feel like we're both learning quickly and getting more experience, more quickly than we would back in Europe.

So everything is going well. One thing I haven't found a replacement for however is media. I haven't found a better source of world news than the BBC, particularly Radio 4 and the World Service. Podcasts, listen live and indeed local dvd copies of BBC programmes are still a major source of my information.

However, a recent event here in Beijing did show me that coverage of world events could still be improved. On 1st of October, China celebrated 60 years since the establishment of the People's Republic of China. 60 years is significant in Chinese culture because it is a complete revolution of the Chinese astrological calendar. The coverage I saw on CNN and heard on the BBC was fairly simplistic. It was reduced to a militaristic celebration of Mao.

In reality I think there were some interesting things worth mentioning that didn't really come through in the International coverage I saw.

In the run up to the parade there was a strange atmosphere around the city. To me it felt almost like the authorities wanted the whole thing to be over with. I can't give any tangible evidence of this feeling, it just seemed that the whole affair was viewed only as an opportunity for mistakes to be made and embarrassment to be avoided. Rather than a genuine celebration the emphasis was on control. Roads were blocked, notices sent to people on the route forbidding them from viewing the parade. And not just for us in the city.

As the following photographs show, preparation and training for the army was pretty intensive too.





We actually spent the day of the parade at the Australian Embassy at a party our friends Ruth and Alex threw. So we enjoyed frozen Maogeritas, Long March Ice Teas and lots of other great food and drink. We watched the parade there, this amazing video, courtesy of journalist Dan Cheung is a good summary of the whole thing.

China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

As usual, here is a link, in case the embedded video doesn't work.

Following the parade, the most human part of the day was seeing the relief and celebrations of the soldiers as they got back to their barracks and received their 'parade veterans' certificates.

You may have seen some pictures on the day itself, or from the pictures above, you may think that it's a bit uncomfortable to see such a powerful country flexing its military muscle. And being here, we did also have that feeling. However, I did think at the time that as with much of the actions of the Chinese Government, the audience was mostly a domestic one. An effort to make the populace feel safe, impressed and perhaps a little bit in awe of the strength of their country. This view was later echoed in an Economist article I read and in a Q&A session with Sidney Rittenberg we attended. So I did feel somewhat vindicated.

Another interesting point was evident that didn't seem to be covered externally. It was quite clear in the parade that Mao's role, whilst being respected, was now seen and presented in the context of other achievements by Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and the current leadership of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. He seemed to be presented as one among a few heroes - rather than the only one. And this to me seems like progress. Another few years and they may even openly acknowledge the terrible years of the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward.

It's also worth pointing out that the coverage of the day covered a lot on China's ethnic minorities. Given the recent tensions in Xinjiang, this may have been seen with some cynicism, but as usual I prefer to be a bit more optimistic and say that it would have been easy to ignore these things. Whether minority issues in China receive due attention, but perhaps this is changing for the better.

That's a bit of a long post - Caroline's out at a talk on China as an Aid recipient y'see - so anyway, I'll finish up now, with a final composite photograph from Danwei.com showing the newspaper front pages of the day - again I think this looks great.

New Kids on the Blog

Well, not new kids actually, just the same old ones.
But it seemed like a mildly amusing pun with which to announce our reappearance here on German & Geordie in Zhong Guo.

Since we got back to Beijing from Berlin to say things have been busy would be an understatement.
Caroline's job remains highly time-consuming, although from the outside it seems slightly less crazy than it was in the spring / early summer.
My two jobs have upped the ante and I am now managing people and programmes at both, which is obviously more demanding, but also more challenging from a positive perspective. I'm learning a huge amount, much quicker I think than I could in similar positions in Europe.
We've also moved into a new apartment, which merits its own blog post - due this weekend! Who knew we had so much stuff?
We also seem to have got more popular socially; in the month that we've been in the new apartment I think we've eaten dinner inside only twice.
I'm obviously not complaining about any of these things, but when you couple these things with the limits placed on the Internet (blogger is blocked) it has been particularly difficult to update the blog.

So over the weekend you can expect a post about our new place and another about the National Day Holiday, 60th Anniversary celebrations in China at the beginning of this month.

In the meantime however, I want to leave you with something I saw online and think is basically brilliant.



Link in case the embedded player doesn't work.

The Big One

By any estimation, a wedding is one of the most important days of your life.
It's impact stretches out for years into the future.

It's not the easiest thing to summarise into a moving, yet amusing blog post.

Consequently I'm not going to, at least for the time being.

We have however uploaded the photographs to Flickr.
So if you'd like an invite to the private group, then send me an email/facebook message/comment on the blog/carrier pigeon.

Just don't expect anything for a week beacuse we're off on Honeymoon to a beachside hotel in the resort of Sellin on the island of Rügen on Germany's Baltic coast.

See you in a week.

Is this the Eye or the calm before?

Well it's farily safe to say I won't get a chance to make any comment closer to the event than this.
Brief apologies to anyone stumbling across this blog, it won't make sense.
I am writing this as an open letter to friends who can't be here and an aide-memoire for me.

Yesterday flew past in a flurry of airport visits, Schönefeld, Tegel, Schönefeld was the order of ceremonies. But it all went according to plan and thirty people were collected and deposited across the city without any major incident.

One guest is stuck without a connection to New York and thence to Europe,but fingers crossed he arrives tomorrow just in time, like windscreen wipers for a Nissan Micra.

We've had a birthday already and hopefully a successful job interview among our growing group. Another person is here, but without any return plans. All in all the usual melodaramas you'd expect from a group of 30 people over a normal week.

I remain in awe of Caroline's organisational skills and serenity under the beginnings of pressure. Collection, deposit and re-fuelling yesterday went remarkably according to timetable. I would strongly recommend this bar/bistro that we went to in Friedrichshain last night for their efficient handling of 30 non-German speeakers (well 29) good food and friendly service.

I'm off to collect some more people in an hour and then continue entertaining the guests and last minute preparation.

Tonight we'll be here. An inspired location for the polterabend, assuming the sun continues to shine.

Raise a glass to us tomorrow, if you can't be there, you can be sure we'll think of you during the day.

The Old Barber of Beijing

Another advantage of flying with Hainan Air, other than a direct flight, is the fact that the available movies forced me to watch something outside my comfort zone.

The Old Barber of Beijing (剃头匠) is a film which was made in 2006. It captures the life of an old craftsmen,a barber, living in a traditional siheyuan on a hutong near the centre of Beijing. Many of the scenes are no more than a twenty minute walk from the Forbidden City.

It's a slow moving film, directed in an artistic style, with a focus on the camera work and microphones recording the sights and sounds of old Beijingers living and dying in their traditional environment.

The main theme of the film is the contrast between old and new. Traditionalism and Modernity.

People living in this situation are absolutely still a common sight on the streets of Beijing, but for how long they and their homes will last, it's difficult to say. The debate about the preservation of Hutongs is covered more eloquently elsewhere. The only perspective I would share is that I try to avoid jumping to the conclusion that life in a siheyuan with no bathroom and questionable electricity and water supplies is necessarily preferable to a modern apartment, just because I like to cycle through 'authentic' parts of Beijing when cycling between my apartment and a restaurant.

Anyway, if you've got the patience, the time and the interest, check out these films. You'll see a very different view of our home town than I can easily show. It does have English subtitles.

The titles are hyperlinks in case the embedded video doesn't work.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

Life in China and life in Germany

Yang Liu is a designer born in China, educated in the UK and Germany.
The pictures below are taken from a book she designed for an exhibition contrasting different aspects of life in China and Germany commissioned by the German Government. These images are taken from a book to accompany the exhibition and while I'm sure she wouldn't thank me for posting these here, they are already available on Chinese Websites.
If you like them, follow the link above and buy the book.

Leaders
Fashionable Dining
Dealing with Anger
Attitudes towards Novelty
Problem Solving
Restaurant Decibel-level
Parties
Sharing Opinions
Idealised version of Other
Showering
Queueing
Tourism
Punctuality
Cure for tummyache
Image of Beauty
The Place of Children
Weekend Street Scene
The Ego
Life of the Elderly
Transportation 1970-v-2006
Lifestyle
Moods and the Weather
Personal Relationships
Three Meals a Day

if cool(n) ≠ loaded(l) + profligate(p), what is n?

Maybe some words of interest for our impending guests in Berlin.

We arrived yesterday late afternoon on the Hainan Air direct flight from Beijing to Berlin. The flight was fine although uneventful. However I didn't appreciate their attempts to darken the cabin and encourage sleep on a day flight. It's relatively easy to avoid jet-lag when travelling East to West as long as you stay awake, then go to sleep in the evening as usual.

Anyway, watched a few movies and grappled with an uncooperative controller to play some pointless hands of video poker. The food was fine although average, as was the service.

I must admit ("divvin't call me a mustard mitt") that although travelling through Heathrow is nary pleasant, BA do have pretty damn good service.

Anyway, for our purposes, we couldn't beat the convenience of a direct flight.

So I thought that the theme of this post could be a few observations I have made on the six or so visits I have made here since associating with the blog-betitling tuton.

The weather tends to be warmer than in the UK. I attribute this to continentality, but then any weather I cannot explain which does not affect the UK, I attribute to continentality. (This is the combination of an enthusiastic, but insufficiently focused interest in geography and coming from an island nation). Consequently we have high hopes for a warm and sunny day a week on Friday.

Berliners hate to waste money. Despite being the capital city, Berlin is not a rich place. In fact the BBC last week ran quite a sobering report about child poverty in Berlin. If I've spoken to you about one of the main reasons I like Berlin, I probably said something along the lines of it having all of the culture and vibrancy of a capital city, without the price-ruining effects of having a large finance industry (which in Germany is based in Frankfurt). So the social scene has none of the look-at-how-much-money-I-can-waste-having-funnedness which is certainly prevalent in parts of Beijing for example.

Actually in a brief aside, I've already recognised that I very rarely have a bad word to say about life in Beijing. Now as I've commented before, this is mostly down to my natural optimism, but also becuase it genuinely is a bloody brilliant place. However, in the continued interests of balance, here's another crticism to file next to crap driving. There are too many people in Beijing that think their rapidly acquired wealth awards them some kind of special status and abilities. Actually, it's not difficult at all to see that this criticism is intrinsically linked to the driving problem. Too many people think having a car makes them 'better' than other road users and they act accordingly. You also get a degree of this in bars and restaurants around the city, however, the sad but true fact is, because we are foreigners, it is assumed we have cash to burn and therefore more often than not, we are awarded what I feel is false respect and deference in this regard. This post is not about Beijing, so I'll get back to the focus, but this is a useful point to juxtapose attitudes in Berlin.

So if cool(n) ≠ loaded(l) + profligate(p), what is n?
(That's awfully geeky I acknowledge, but amusing too, so there we are).
Mostly the social scene here seems to comprise knowing where the fleeting zeitgeist (see what I've done there?) is currently denoting as 'the place to be' and then being there. Dressed casually to indicate that no effort has been made and then drinking delicious and relatively inexpensive beers, supplemented by weg biere or biere der faust - literally (on the) way beers or beers of the fist, bought in local convenience stores. Smoking remains almost obligatory, although having a dog-on-string and 'white-boy dreadlocks' are optional but encouraged. (Think the Tanners Arms) The drinking speed is slow, to allow for involved discussion, but the road is long, night out being a literal term. Warning, this is something that has caught me out, specifically on NYE 2007 when I reached my drinking zenith far too early, brought up as I was on 23:00 hoying out times.

Reggae is popular, with home-grown bands doing some good stuff and happily seeming to avoid the burning gay people obsession that characterises the music actually coming out (not in that way - don't burn me!) of Jamaica these days. But the music scene is pretty eclectic of course recognising that Berlin is the spiritual home of Techno.

Food is always a regular feature of this blog and this post is no different. The food here in Berlin is very good. There are a large number of reasonably-priced restaurants serving food from all over the world. Just in case you were unaware of this urban (not-)myth, the döner kebab was actually invented in Berlin. Currywurst and bratwurst are two other 'weg snacks' to be enjoyed, both on a night out and when exploring the various parts of the city for sightseeing, shopping and checking out the museums and galleries.

As a student of politics, it is difficult not to be enthralled by Berlin. It has played a momentous and difficult role in the political history of Europe and the rest of the World. Walking around the city, even for the first time it is easy to feel like you recognise some of the sights and streets, whether from fiction or the news.

It remains something of a split city, the East and the West are no longer physically divided, but in people's perceptions a gap still remains. Don't be distracted by the superficialities of which 'green man' tells you to Walk or not, despite having visited a number of times, the only time I've been to the west of the city was to visit KaDeWe on Ku'Damme. Not that Caroline is at all prejudiced... (she'll probably knack me for writing that).

If you want some visuals to accompany this über-lightwieght introduction, then check out this set of mine on flickr.

Assuming you're coming to our event, I hope this whets your appetite a little. We'll provide you with more detailed information, suggestions and recommendations when you arrive. If you're not able to come, then I'll be on here ruminating, fulminating and cogitating in the build up and summing up and posting pictures in the follow up.

Follow up to "What's Going On".
Just in case anyone is interested, the Guardian have posted this fairly balanced video report on the troubles in Xinjiang. But although things seemed to have calmed down and despite reading as many reports, commentaries and analyses, I remain far from an understanding of what happened and why.

(This is my relatively uninformed thoughts on the city, helpfully I have avoided getting any detailed input from any of the three hospitable Berliners I am currently staying with.)

The Last Post

...before we return to Germany for a month.

So this week we are mainly trying to see everyone before we leave.
Trying to do all the things which we'll miss while we're away.
And for me I have to confess that mainly revolves around eating.

But even though I'll miss some things, they'll all be here when we get back.
Well probably most given how quickly buildings, businesses and bars come and go here.

Most of all though we're both very much looking forward to seeing everyone.
Other than ordering a few books, I was trying to order some things on-line that we can't get here and I couldn't actually think of anything.


I'm seriously lacking in inspiration today, so I'll leave it there and get back to you from a different time zone.

What's going on?

If you're watching the news in the UK at the moment I'd guess there's not much coverage of Iran any more?

Somewhere between randomly selected people climbing onto a plinth and more people crying in an American sports' stadium since Hurricane Katrina, you may some reports about violence and unrest in China. Last year the focus was on Lhasa in Tibet, last Sunday it was Urumqi in Xinjiang, the westernmost province in China. A quick bit of background for those who watch the BBC or other 24 hour news channels, 'cause they seem to have 24 hour coverage, but insufficient time to give each story a decent context.

Xinjiang (means new frontier in Chinese) is also known locally as East Turkestan. The local language is Turkic, which they also speak in Turkmenistan (formerly ruled by the magnificently monickered Turkmenbashi). The ethnic majority in Xinjiang are called Uyghurs and follow Islam. Central Asia is an historic cross roads of Europe and Asia and the site of the historic Silk Road explored by Marco Polo. Consequently as well as Uyghurs there are also Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uzbeks, Pakistanis, Afghans, Mongols and other ethnic goups and nationalities living in this area. In recent years (at least since '49) there has been an influx of Han Chinese - unsurprising since they make up approximately 1 in 5 humans. This movement has been attributed both to a desire to exploit the natural resources which can be mined in the 'wild west' or as an attempt to overwhelm Uyghur culture, a criticism which has also been levelled at the Han moving into Tibet.

Recently our friends here in Beijing took a couple of weeks trip to Xinjiang. We would also have gone, but it clashed with exams I had to give. And with our recent visit from Berlin. Considering it takes 24 hours+ travel to get to some parts, it didn't seem like a feasible trip for a week-long visit. However, if things don't calm down out there, we may well regret the opportunity to see it while we could. It really does look very beautiful and as you could imagine from such an multicultural crucible, there are many different influences, cuisines, costumes, architectural styles, languages, etc. My advice would be to make friends with Steven, Carol and Sunnia who will be at the wedding in Berlin, then you'll be able to see their photographs on facebook. Oh yeah, they're also great peoples, interesting, amusing, etc.

So from what I have read thus far, violence started last Sunday in response to an event in Guangdong province which is essentially at the opposite end (South East) of China. Beijing apparently has a policy of 'encouraging' businesses to employ migrants from poorer parts of China in order to iron out income disparities. But obviously when this occurs with people of different ethnicities, care has to be taken otherwise it's all to easy for mistrust and enmity to emerge. According to the story I read in the Times, a Han worker who lost his job at a toy factory, harboured a grudge against the Uyghurs, who received accommodation and food at the factory, as well as jobs. They were stealing 'his' job (Need any other evidence why the BNP winning euro seats is something to lament?). This disgruntled employee started on-line rumours of rape and sexual attacks by the Uyghurs. And nothing gets peoples' goats like the idea of 'others' threatening their women.

I remember a few years back in Birmingham, (the original, not Alabama for transatlantic readers) a similar situation led to violence between Pakistani and black minorities that led to one man being killed. Needless to say the accusations were in fact false.

In Guangdong these rumours also led to violence. 2 Uyghurs were killed, (Xinhua - Chinese press) and dozens of others (Han and Uyghur) injured. The difference however is that unlike the UK, China doesn't seem to have a very developed policy of community cohesion. Consequently, in Xinjiang, where the demographic balance slightly favours the Uyghurs, things kicked off.

After this relatively undisputed introduction, here is where the confusion sets in.
Did Uyghurs attack blameless Han Chinese?
Was this simple spark all that was needed to light the 'powder keg' atmosphere and cause the oppressed Uyghurs to riot?
Was heavy-handed Chinese policing to blame?
Have the Han Chinese now fought back and killed and injured more?

Basically no matter where you go for your news, it's pretty much impossible to tell what's going on. 'Western' press (as if there was such a consensus) used headlines like "Worst violence in China since Tian'anmen" and if that's not evocative and leading, then I don't know what is. And obviously the Chinese media instantly follow the well worn path of blaming 'outside influences'.
Youtube remains blocked, Twitter gets blocked, Facebook gets blocked.
You then have the worse than useless choice of Western media, who have an on-going narrative towards China which is economically positive, socially negative. They spend such a short time explaining the story that they have to refer to cultural reference points and suddenly everyone assumes it is another example of a authoritarian government exercising their control. The Chinese press simply look for the road of least resistance, since the most dangerous thing in China seems to be the people themselves - they must be appeased and made to feel cohesive at all costs. Of course the traditional way to do that is to blame 'outsiders'.

Look on the Internet forums and discussion boards and all you see is that people fall into a fairly small number of discussion points and use references to 'their' media to belligerently back up their 'facts'. Nobody knows what's going on, but it doesn't stop a lot of arguing and general entrenching of positions and confirmation of stereotypes. And if there were two groups you didn't want on either side of an argument it would be Chinese and Americans, as neither side are well known for their propensity to back down. (That's not particularly an insult - I'm not well known for that trait either).

So this blog post is not an explanation of what is going on.
It's recognition that I don't know. And what's worse, despite the proliferation of news sources brought by the Internet, I feel that as events like these continue to occur all over the world, I am less likely to know what is going on. And how are you supposed to make judgements and decisions if you don't know what's going on?
It's almost enough to make you ignore politics.

Just a few words in closing.
Mother - don't worry, Beijing is very safe. It's the centre of an empire, nobody would dream of rocking the boat here.
If students were to revolt today, I wouldn't be able to make a judgement on what the Government would do.
But if any 'outsiders' threaten the geographical cohesion of China, then I think there will be a swift and unrestrained response.
Look at Russia in Georgia and then imagine if that army was well equipped.
So the best that can be hoped for in Xinjiang would seem to be a negotiated truce, perhaps with the Uyghurs having won a reprieve for Kashgar old town and some further cultural freedoms. Which is perhaps the goal after all...

If anyone is interested in a brief, but reasoned exploration of different media responses, this blog is pretty good. Just don't get caught up in the flaming and trolling on the comments board.

Off the wall

Good evening everyone.
Here in Beijing it is 08:30 in the morning.
I never get bored of thinking about the time difference.
We got up early this morning, Caroline has a busy day at work.
So anyway, up at 06:30 I realised that back in Newcastle it is only 23:30 and 00:30 in Germany. It feels strange looking out at a beautiful sunny morning, feeling ready to meet the day ahead when a lot of people back home are about to go to bed in the dark of night. Maybe you're thinking this is all a bit pedestrian and I should just get used to it and shut up - well don't worry, I probably will, just at the moment, the idea of it still interests me.

I haven't blogged since April. As Caroline has helpfully been able to point out, that's because this website, along with youtube and other less useful sites, have been blocked by the so called Great Firewall. Censorship is better discussed elsewhere, but I will say that if I can set up a free VPN in order to circumnavigate the GFW, then it can't be too difficult. It often seems to me like the Internets exist to get around any restrictions people invent to prevent or limit its potential.

And what has happened since then? Well we've been home to Europe and seen most of you reading this. I wouldn't kid myself that my observations are sufficiently insightful to attract any readers that don't know us. Not yet anyway, China/Beijing like most places seems like somewhere it takes a little while to get beneath its skin.
But we're getting there and learning more every day.
I'm still fascinated by the differences and enjoy every day, seeing something new, understanding something a bit better, overhearing snippets of conversation I can now understand - at least parts of.

We've also been to Hong Kong and Macau, which I enjoyed immensely. Hong Kong is at least as cosmopolitan as Shanghai, but in my opinion the difference is that Hong Kong has character. Mostly because it's a pretty beautiful city (I like urban landscapes) built on beautiful hillsides and bays. I definitely feel like there's more to see there. The combination of Chinese and British architecture, conventions and culture is also a big selling point. However I'm so familiar with the British stuff that it almost doesn't register. It simply looks like buildings, roads, buses, etc. Just as I'm used to them. Not so in Macau however, which also has this cultural schizophrenia, but this time the Portuguese influence still stands out in strong relief for me. Great mix of food too. Especially little custard tarts - which amusingly when I worked at Asda Bakery I thought were the ultimate in bland elderly British taste, always bought by the pensioners, little did I know their exotic provenance. I did of course have a brief gamble in one of the huge casino's in Macau and thanks to Stanley 'Wagons' Ho (my addition to his name) I came away a winner - yes I do still remain lucky.

We have also welcomed our first major visitors from Europe. Sven, Martin and Adam made the trip from Berlin to come for an 8 day sprint introduction to China. We didn't give them much chance to relax, but I do hope they had a chance to see some of the conflicting faces of Beijing and China. We also enjoyed a return (for me) trip to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. A lot of people are unimpressed by these, especially since there is more than a suspicion they've been somewhat repaired in recent years. I've always been susceptible to my imagination though, so for me, the story of the Qin emperor, his hubris and the ultimate destruction of the army is one of the great stories. Especially when supported by the fantastic visual spectacle.

Other than that we have been working and enjoying our day-to-day lives in Beijing. The weather is beautiful at the moment and we're making the most of it whenever possible on roof terraces. When it's particularly hot we/I am often the only person on a terrace as all of the sensible people luxuriate in the air conditioned interior. I'll get used to the sunshine eventually - just not yet.
The outdoor pool at our apartment opened yesterday too and I intend to spend a couple of hours enjoying that tomorrow morning.

I've had a few job offers recently, but am limiting myself to the two. Still teaching business classes at my original university coupled with some part-time work at the microfinance / non-profit organisation. This allows me to combine excellent working hours and holiday which are absolutely necessary to match Caroline's 12 weeks off. I certainly didn't come here to be stuck in an office while she is off exploring China. However, job #2 importantly allows me to maintain a policy / governmental focus and I'm learning so much being involved with a start-up enterprise with strong Chinese characteristics.

Caroline's work remains stressful, challenging and as far as I can tell brilliant. She works very hard, but I am forever impressed by the experience she is gaining and how quickly she is able to adapt to the large demands placed on her. It's no stereotype to say that the Germans I know have a damn strong work ethic.

You can see photographs of our latest trips on flickr. A slideshow should be playing just to the bottom right of this page.

I realise I haven't yet mentioned the relatively large and important event which is looming (can good things loom?) on the horizon. I think that probably deserves it's own post.

So, here I am, back on-line and with no excuses over the summer, I'd better try and keep this slightly up-to-date, particularly if I want to attract back our seven regular readers.

See you all soon.

20 years

I have to apologise again for our lack of blogging, but as you may have read, several websites are now blocked on the Chinese internet: Apart from YouTube (which has been offline for a couple of months), WindowsLive, Yahoo and Google (inlc. all their twitter, vlogspot etc. websites)have been offline now too, just in time for the 4th June 20 years anniversary of the events in the largest square of the world. Only one Chinese newspaper mentioned this date yesterday, but in Hong Kong, Taiwan and outside of China candles were lit in most squares and streets.

For Mark and me it's a bit bizarre to think that by taking off certain websites, this event would just be buried, but apparently young people in China are generally oblivious to politics and this seems to be no exception. With the increasing wealth of Chinese families shopping seems to be more interesting than historic events. Seems strange? Not really I guess when you look at history: Wealth numbs political and social conscience, at least for a while until you feel that you should really share a little bit and start donating or doing voluntary work. Chinese people (more specifically the younger generations) seem to follw the same pattern and who can blame them?

China still amazes us every day and by meeting different people from different parts of the spectrum it just becomes more and mysterious. When Michael and Shelley came to visit us with Shelley's mum a couple of weeks ago, her Mum's greatest experience of Beijing (never having been here in her whole life) was to get up at 5.30 in the morning and wait patiently outside the Mao Mausoleum, just opposite the Forbidden City to see the body of China's modern emperor. I can't see any of Mark's little students do that, Mark is struggling enough to engage them in an overview of the EU.

And then there is Hong Kong.... Formally part of China now, but so different in language, culture and attitude. When we were there last weekend, they were just selling the book of Zhang Ziyang describing the events that happened to him. In mainland China this book is not being sold. So, another piece int eh puzzle of understanding China, maybe.

So, I will try and keep yo uas updated as I can under these circumstances and hope that I can put up some pictures soon again too.

Summer in Beijing....

... has already started. And we didn't report on it immediately. Apologies for that and our only excuse is that we were away in Europe (as most of you will have seen us) and that blogspot is currently blocked by the Chinese, but we expect it to work again soon, it usually doesn't take very long. So, therefore I'm writing the blog from work.... (after hours of course).

Time has flown by since we got here, which is now 9 months (!!!!) long enough to have a baby, or to enjoy the different seasons. Yes, there are indeed seasons here. When we got here, it was quite warm and humid, then it went slowly but surely down to -10 degrees and now (after a brief few days of spring) it's suddenly up to 30-35 degrees. So, all the summer dresses I've bought ove rthe years, trying to wear them on the odd hot day are now in daily use. This makes a total change to the winter life and suddenly the roof terraces all over Beijing are open and people are sipping cocktails at 10pm in just skirt and t-shirt, it's unbelievable.

I guess, I shoudl loose a few words about Mark's and my work. Mark has goven up one of his three jobs and is now busy deciding which other one to keep, so I'll keep you posted on that. My new colleague finally arrived in May and now I don't have to stay in the office quite as long anymore, which makes a nice change. I also get to write a couple of new projects which reminds me of uni and how we learned to spend months on it, here I have about 2 days.I guess theory and practice is not always the same.

This Thursday is Dragonboat Festival and I wish I could tell yo uwhat exactly that means, but unfortunately all I know is that some dragon boats wil lrace each other. We will be in Hong Kong with Sunnia, enjoyong the races in the harbour I guess.

Then, not long until my good old German mates are getting off the plane to see in which mud hood we live here, how disappointed they will be! WE'll go and visit Xi'an and of course all the major site, and there may even be an overnight stay at the Great Wall.

And then of course we'll be back in Europe in about 7 weeks, so it's gonna be a busy time until then.

So, keep in touch everyone and I'll keep the blog updated from work!!!!!!!!!

Shanghai and home

This will have to be a quick post.
I'm writing this during the break of my weekly three hour English class or job number two.
I don't necessarily think teaching English is my strong point, but it is a good opportunity to speak to another bunch of Chinese students and understand their thoughts about China, their expectations of life in the UK and their ambitions for the future, etc.
More than that, these guys are going to come and study in Newcastle, so I think there's loads of useful advice and preparation I can give them.
I'm also keen to give ideas back to former colleagues at Newcastle Council and the two universities about how they can improve the experience for their Chinese students.

In the wider sense, Chinese students to the UK is such a major business with so many policy implications for both countries that I find it extremely interesting. If on the off chance I was ever to do futher study in the future, this and other ideas about migration would definitely be my focus. With birth rates falling across the west, dealing with young people moving to our cities is something we're going to have to get increasingly used to - and people have problems with it today...

Anyway, enough of that.
I recently read an article in one of the ex-pat magazines here which gave gentle amusing criticism to writers of blogs in China. I was proud to see that I'd achieved all of their cliches. However, this blog is written for friends and family back home and to help me remember when we eventually leave China. So I make no apologies.

Had a great time in Shanghai last weekend. Went expecting to think less of the place now we live in Beijing. I enjoyed our visit in 2006 but thought it felt very much like a world city without much feeling of being in China. However, many, many would also say that of Beijing. Anyway, to cut a long story short we had a great time. Ate at a cracking French (contemporary European...) restaurant with brilliant views of the bund on Friday night. Stayed at a lovely hotel. Had a great time wandering round the city in the sunshine on Saturday visiting parks, shops and the French Concession and then met up with Michael and Shelley (Suzhuo isn't far away) for a meal on Saturday night.
On Sunday Caroline had to work - which in reality was the reason for the trip.
As you may have seen if you watched the F1, it rained - damn heavily.
A point on that, you know you're in a big city (20M) when they can host an event like a Grand Prix without you really noticing an increase in visitors.
Me and Michael met up and he gave me pearls of wisdom about marriage...

It was an enjoyable and quite relaxing weekend, which we both need given our heavy work schedules at the moment. My 3 jobs don't take up as much time as Caroline's ridiculous 2, but more importantly we're both enjoying it and trying to carve out interesting experience and opportunities for the future.

So one more busy day with a load of tasks today and then tomorrow morning we've got a flight home to catch.
Can't wait to see friends and family.
Speak to you all soon in person.
Will no doubt get the chance to update this with some recent photographs in the next 2 weeks too.

Return to Yangshuo

Back in August 2006, Kerry, Ben, Mark and I came to China for Mike and Shelley's wedding. When we were planning our post-wedding two-week route around China we asked Michael where we could not possibly miss and he said a little place in Southern China called Yangshuo.

So after the wedding in Suzhou and trips to the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and the Great Wall and Beijing, we went for about three days rest and relaxation in Guangxi Province.

There's a good chance that in the intervening period I have bored you with photographs or regaled you with tales about how wonderful this place is. (Assuming we know each other of course). The surrounding landscape of the town is just so beautiful that it's easy to get carried away.

Happily, this weekend just gone, I was able to stop talking about it and go back there. A group of 7 friends from Caroline and my work planned a trip for a long weekend and to celebrate Steven's birthday.

On Friday Carol and Erik, Steven and Sunnia and me and Caroline assembled at Beijing airport for a 09:25 flight. There were brief hold ups as Caroline realised she didn't have one of her many official passports, specifically the one with the visa allowing her entry into China. Happily we weren't leaving the country, so it didn't prove to be a problem.

We arrived at the small airport at Guilin. It's a nice enough town, from the two brief trips I've taken through it and very popular with Chinese tourist. But for a break from Beijing we wanted to get away from cities of any size and so after stopping to collect another friend, Daphne, who had travelled by train, we went through the streets, only stopping for fruits and beers. Arriving at the banks of the river Li with a small woman in tow (she only wanted us to take a look at her boat!) we then began the process of bargaining for the 2-3 hour trip to Yangshuo. We agreed on a price about 65% of her original suggestion, but had the sneaky feeling we could have got more discount.

I have a rather short and unexciting video of this boat trip, or rather the one we took in 2006. However, for reasons best known to others, access to Youtube remains blocked here, so you are saved from that link. It actually does little to show what an enjoyable ride it is, so you're not missing out on too much. The reason I appreciate the boat ride is because it allows you to break up the travel day, first by plane, then bus to Guilin, then boat. It also provides a great first glimpse of the limestone karsts.

After the boat ride, stopping along the way to check out the view on the back of the 20 yuan note, we arrived and walked through the town. We found a couple of taxis and got underway to the Outside Inn where we were staying.
The place was fantastic as only the photographs can give you any impression.
And even better there was an in-house sausage dog called Lily who I had the opportunity to play with.

After unpacking, we headed back into Yangshuo for dinner and a few drinks. We enjoyed some great beer fish (which may or may not be a local speciality). But not before we had ordered and then had to inspect the live fish before it's head was bounced on the curb. After dinner and a wander along the main shopping street - West Street - we headed up to the rooftop bar above Monkey Jane's guesthouse. This was a place we had visited in 2006 and I was pretty happy to see that Jane still recognised me. Then after the first visit to the bathroom, we discovered why my face had been recognisable:
This poster was on the inside of the bathroom door and had been for the last two years. A smaller version was stuck on the bar too!

It was Steven's birthday and so he cut loose and enjoyed himself in a liquid fashion. I could give more details, but it would seem a little unkind - so I'll keep that particular ammunition for the future, just in case it becomes necessary...

After a cracking night of beer pong, cocktails and general merriment, we managed to find a 7 seat tuktuk to take us back to the guesthouse. Via some chuan'r, from a person I have now named a chuarista. Funny isn't it...

On the Saturday, following a delicious breakfast we headed off with Lily for a walk around the karsts. After an unfortunate, but ultimately unremarkable, interaction with an angry farmer and his rabid-looking dogs, we ended up finding a beautiful plateau. We lounged around in the warm weather and then wandered back to the guesthouse. We made the most of the outdoor seats and hammocks and chatted to the managers of the guesthouse and their kids. We ate lunch and dinner in the restaurant joined to the guesthouse which was delicious. We then headed back into Yangshuo for some gift shopping and a few drinks at Monkey Jane's.

On Sunday we rented mountain bikes and headed off for a cycle round the breathtaking scenery, ultimately aiming for Dragon Bridge. It was a fantastic day, probably the most enjoyable, even though it started off with a warm shower which made some of the tracks a bit muddy. We ate lunch on a floating bamboo raft next to an attractive little village. Four or five hours later we got back to the guesthouse to meet Carol and Erik, who hadn't made it out on the bikes as they had a few tasks to complete.
Not wanting to mess with an enjoyable and established routine, we headed back into town for dinner and drinks.

We woke up on Monday a bit disappointed to see our last day, but decided to get up and make the most of the best weather of the weekend. We spent a few hours lounging around in the sun relaxing, before we had to take a van back to the airport. Daphne stayed at the guesthouse, as she was taking the train on to Hong Kong on a visa mission. We were all pretty jealous of her being able to keep on travelling and could easily have stayed in Yangshuo for another week. We definitely plan to go back again soon, at least for another long weekend.

Caroline will be posting some photographs over the next few days. Anyone that thinks this place looks unmissable, you'll easily be able to twist our arms for another visit if you fancy heading over to China.

A quick post on music

Music is difficult to avoid here.
Whether it's blasting out of a hairdressers, a car window, a mobile phones additional speakers, some speakers spread all over campus, the yoga room of the gym, you get the idea.

However, it seems a little different.
I remember when we visited Beijing in 2006 after Michael and Shelley's wedding.
We'd spent the day at the Great Wall and arrived back in Beijing around 23:00.
Now back then we didn't know the city and if you don't, it can be difficult to find food outside the regimented hours that Chinese people eat.
(Now of course I know where a hundred 24 hour eateries are).
Anyway, one of the things we saw as we sheepishly trudged into a McDo's was a gang of punks. Resplendent in leathers, chains, piercings and sporting the kind of day-glo mohawks I vaguely remember from the 80s.
So they were clearly an identifiable sub-culture, partially defined by the music they listen to.

And that's the usual way at home.
Young or old, rich or poor, you pick your friends and clothes partially according to the music you and they like. Some of my best memories of school are of gigs with friends at Newcastle University, buying beers for a guy with a beard 'cause I had fake ID and he had none.
Your demographic is linked to the music you listen to.

But here that link is not so clear cut. Apart from the punks and a few students who told me they like Britpop there's not an easily discernable link between music, fashion and lifestyle. (This isn't strictly true, there are plenty of places I could go to find people that disprove this theory, but stick with it and I'll get to the point).

So because this link is not as all pervasive as it is elsewhere, many people have no idea they 'shouldn't' be listening to certain music 'cause they're too old, poor, straight, whatever.

Consequently, I frequently find myself in taxis listening to happy hardcore, gay disco, trance, etc. With a 50-year old taxi driver. The surprise comes when you find that it's not the radio, but his cd or mp3 player and he has downloaded it (no-one buys music - see Google have just announced free, legal music downloads - but only in China).

On family, long weekends and a criticism

Those of you that have read my previous post will have noticed a general theme.
I love life here in Beijing and am very positive about most things.
Partially it's because I am, by nature an optimist.
I try and minimise the problems and focus on the good things.

It is also however because life here genunely is great.
Interesting and challenging, with a healthy dose of fantastic food and good friends thrown in. And a low cost of living.
But to avoid accusations of smuggery I thought I'd throw you all in credit crunch Britain and elsewhere a fact to focus on. (Point of note, although the news may try and tell you otherwise, away from the export centres, the 'global' financial crisis is not hitting hard here in China - not as I can see with my limited vision anyway).

So here it is, the thing the irritates me about China the most and makes me swear every other day:
The driving is crap.
It's not dangerous particularly.
I'm certainly happy riding my bike all over the city and do so about 3 days a week, when I don't have to scoot between 2 jobs by taxi anyway.
But it is infuriating.
The main sentiment is "might is right".
And this makes for soem irritating incidences, when people see you but happily pull in front of you, because your person/bike/car can do their taxi/swv/bus no harm.
It might be technically true but it simply means that if they are driving a bigger car, all rules including etiquette (non-existent in this context) go out of the window.
Also drivers tend to rush unecessarily, they'll speed up to a red light, to wait in traffic, even if it means threatening you with impact.
And the right turn is sacrosanct and will happen at all times, no matter red light, pedestrian, or anything else.
Oh and people converse by way of their horn, but curiously I seem to be getting used to that - except when it's directed at me.
So because my dad (and his dad before him) is such a purist when it comes to driving, he's passed on a sensitivity to me that means all this stupidity on the roads quite gets my goat.

Anyway, enough of that - quite cathartic in it's own way, I've been crafting that post in my head for weeks.

This weekend is Qingming also known as Tomb Sweeping Day. So it's a time for Chinese folks to remember their ancestors and more recently departed and also to get out and enjoy the Spring. A good aspect of this is that we have a 3-day weekend, which we have decided to turn into a 4 day weekend and head south to Guilin and Yangshuo to catch some sun and relaxation before Beijing warms up.
It's beautiful down there and I have photos on Flickr to prove it.
You can expect a lot more when we get back.

A recent class saw a few of my students talking about the importance of family and their plans to return home when older to look after ageing parents.
This made me think about different attitudes to old people in different countries.
And made me happy to look forward to my Grandmother's 90th birthday when I'll be back in the UK at the end of April to see friends and family.

There's no better time for procrastination than when you should be doing something else...

Well, well, two blogs in a week I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you boy?
And if anyone get's that obscure reference, I'll buy them a chupachup.

A few days ago Caroline's bike got a flat tire.
Another beautiful feature of life in Beijing is that handymen hang out on street corners. They have little mobile workshops that can cut keys, repair shoes and other leather goods and fortunately for us; bikes too.
After spending about 45 minutes wheeling Caroline's bike all over the 'hood past three unoccupied handyman sites, I found one approximately 5 minutes from the door.

Anyway, he deftly identified the problem, whipped the valve out, shortened it with a very sharp piece of metal and pumped the tire back up again. He wanted something that on two hearings sounded like baisa, he must have had a strong provincial accent I guess. So I gave him Y20 (take off a zero for €/£) note in the hope it wouldn't be too small. It wasn't, he asked if I had anything smaller, so it must have been less than ten. However I figured since I was happy with the job and would have paid more, Y20 was a fair price.

Anyway, just a little detour to explain how easy it can be to get some otherwise awkward tasks done when there is a huge amount of labour knocking around.

I am currently toiling away with 3 jobs, so free time is scarce, hence the reduced number of blog posts. 2 Universities and 1 micro finance / sustainable enterprise if you're interested.

I had lunch with a student last week, during office hours when we meet up to talk about any academic questions they might have.
However, when we actually met she'd worked out the questions for herself and generally just wanted to gossip.
There was some vaguely salacious rumours about other lecturers, but I'm not too interested in that stuff, so mostly dismissed it.
However, she did mention something I thought that was quite interesting.
The students at my college have a lower college entrance exam score, so essentially their parents have to pay to get them on a course that includes foreign study.
So these kids tend to be the progeny of the relatively / very wealthy.
Sometimes see them driving round in luxury 4x4s, don't forget that for the many, China remains a developing country.

The rest of the students at the university are considerably poorer, representing as they do a cross-section of Chinese society.

So, apparently the rich kids think that sometimes when they go in the lecture theatre after the 'poor' kids, it sometimes "smells a bit funny".
However, they also know that all of those kids are there on merit and scored considerably higher in their exams.
It kind of levels out the playing field I think and stops the rich kids from being too snobby.
You should see the blackboard sometimes when we have a class after the boffins (that ones for you dad :-)
I often can't understand a word that's on there.
It is in Chinese of course...
No I jest, last week sometime they had been teaching astrophysics, in English! Measuring quarks, black holes and cetera.

So I'll end on this happy note:
The people with the top 5% of IQ in China outnumber every single person in the UK.

Bridal Life in China

This of course it very important for every bride, but in China, there is at least one extra layer to the Bridezilla business, mainly: the wedding pictures! Whilst in Europe it's considered bad luck if the husband sees the bridal dress before the wedding, in China all the wedding pictures are taken around 6 months in advance of the wedding (and are then put on the wedding invitations). I have wondered if there are ever couples that split up after the pictures but before the wedding and what happens to the pictures then. (I haven't found out yet, but I guess it will be good business for the photographer.)

My Chinese colleagues tell me that the pictures are alomst more improtant than the wedding, because you give them to your family and hang them up in your house (a very common idea is to have one picture blown up into a canvas and put on the wall, our neighbours have one).

The pictures are usually taken wearing the clothes provided by the photographer (so the groom doesn't actually see the wedding dress) and then you go out to the beautiful sights and get them taken. Hence, we have seen brides and grooms pretty much everywhere we have been that is worth taken a picture of: Suzhou, Forbidden City, Dalian waterfront and my personal favourite:at the Snow Festival in Harbin (see living proof below). My new hobby has become to take pictures of the brides (grooms are just not that interesting). Usually I would feel very bad doing this, but in China it's totally ok (especially considering the fact that pictures of us probably feature in dozens of Chinese households by now). Therefore, my aim is to collect hundreds of pictures over the next three years, and my absolute favourite of my so far ten pictures is the bride in the snow.

This poor girl was wearing a skinny dress and nothing but some lace over her arms and it was about -17 degrees. I was worried my fingers would fall off every time I quickly took a picture, but this girl was either already frozen or from Siberia!

So, over the next months, I may post some curious bridal pictures here. Of course, the question is whether Mark and I will get the cheesy photoshoot.... Well, you'll just have to wait and see!

Excuses, excuses

Hello everyone.
You may have noticed something recently.
Namely that we are rarely here.
It's been 17 days since our last post.
Unforgiveable.
The major reason is that Caroline is currently doing 2 full time jobs and I think I am fluctuating somewhere around 1.5
Between this and our continuing attempts to eat, drink, walk and visit our way around China; regular blogging has taken a bit of a blow.

So consider this a taster, I'll be back with a substantial post with pictures and everything at the weekend.
Also, that little box over to the right contains my tweets, which some people crappily refer to a micro-blogging. They do give a very brief but up-to-date reflection of my observations and thoughts on a day to day basis.

So at the weekend you can expect musings which may or may not be related to:
- Mutianyu
- Dalian
- What rich Chinese kids think of poor Chinese kids
- What Chinese kids think of the colonial history of Africa and Fair trade
- Whether Spring has hit Beijing
- How excited we are to have booked flights to Yangshuo

These and other exciting topics will be covered in the next post.
Now off to meet Caroline who has agreed to give a guest lecture to my students about the EU. Then this evening, we are attending a book chat with this fellow