Next chapter

Firstly, an admin note: I have updated my settings to receive an email whenever anyone takes the time to comment on the blog, I'll now respond straight away. All comments are appreciated and I can now demonstrate my appreciation by replying quickly.

So, to follow up on my post at the end of September concerning unemployment - it's over!

I have a great new job.

I don't want to get into the details yet because I need to take a few weeks to figure out what level of division between personal and professional I need to take. It's no major secret, but obviously the Internet is a public forum and some issues are for discussion on a more selected basis.

In generalities however it is in the same field I was working in before I left the UK, but happily a little bit further up the ladder. I really enjoyed that job. It wasn't anything earth-shattering, but it was interesting, I got to travel and my boss always gave me opportunities to take on more responsibilities and develop my career. The pay and benefits were very good as is the case in the public sector in the UK - enjoy them if you've got a job in that sector and don't harp on about the private sector - you're on to a good (although perhaps precarious) thing. I'd had that job for three years though and was certainly at a stage where I was looking to push on, gain more experience and take on more responsibility.

As things turned out, I gave it up for no fixed job. German in Zhong Guo got the job here and it wasn't a difficult decision to give it all up to come with her. She's now missus Geordie in Zhong Guo, so I feel my choice was vindicated. I've never felt a moments regret since making that decision.

In the first place, since at that time we weren't married, I needed a visa. I accepted that I would be the junior partner financially, but I also wanted to earn enough to pay a loan that I'd taken out before we got together. I'm all for integrating our finances, but that didn't seem fair.

With some heavy duty searching, I was able to find a job that fitted both these criteria. Like any job there were some frustrating times as I adjusted to the new system. Ultimately however, that university job grew into something really beneficial and gave me some invaluable management experience and exposure to the nature of bureaucracy in a large Chinese organisation. In the second year of that job I was able to take on some more responsibility and instigate some real change in the development and delivery of the teaching, which was, I think really focused on giving the students more of the practical skills they need to succeed in both British universities and the international work place.

I should also mention the fantastic experience I gained working at a new and dynamic NGO focused on the green economy and micro finance. An opportunity that came up at a party and developed into a totally different, but equally invaluable perspective on working in China.

For different reasons at different times I left both of these jobs, but with no regrets and I recognise 100% that without these two roles, I wouldn't have had either the confidence or the experience to apply for the job I'm about to start.

So, the point of the post is this: I thought I was taking a backwards step (career-wise at least) whereas in fact it has resulted in the best job I've ever had and the opportunity for real progress.

I know that not everyone has the luxury I've enjoyed over the last few months of being able to take the time to find the perfect job and in the meantime, not be too stressed about money, somewhere to live and particularly relevant in China - a visa to stay here.

If I could offer anything from this whole experience though it would be that any new opportunity can be put to positive effect. It sounds trite, but it's true to my experience over the last two years. You may not take a decision or make a move for reasons related to work, but what you learn can still help.

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

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.

No Planes, but trains and automobiles. (Long Post Warning)

Well we are back safe and well from the border town of Dandong, but not without incident. More of that later.
Five of us met at 21:00 at Dongzhimen subway station on Friday evening. Me and Caroline, Carol, Patrick and Sunnia all fellow lecturers from my university.

Fortunately for me and Caroline they all also speak Mandarin at levels we can only hope for in the future. We took a night train from Beijing Station to Shenyang North Station, arriving around 07:30 where we changed to a train to Dandong.

On the train journey to Dandong from Shenyang we had seat tickets as it was only a four hour journey and during the day. When you have seat tickets, at least on this train, that simply means four people sit together on the bottom of three bunks. We were packed in with three Chinese women who I’d guess were in their thirties or forties. Over the course of the journey Patrick and Sunnia were talking with the three women and the train guard, another woman about the same age. It was a good example of much you can interact with people when you can speak the same language. Everyone was very interested in us, where we were from, what we are doing in China and how much money we are paid. It was simple curiosity rather than any kind of jealousy or resentment, although we obviously weren’t comfortable talking about money, especially if we seemed extremely well paid compared to people living outside Beijing.

We arrived in Dandong at around 13:00 and were all pretty tired, we had spent the evening on the train snacking, drinking and generally carousing to the chagrin of our fellow passengers who only wanted a normal night sleep - it was a bit too exciting for us though. As soon as we arrived in Dandong we could see the strong Korean influence, not least in the prevalence of the Korean characters on nearly every shop and street sign. These are distinguishable from Chinese characters as they use a lot of circles which are not present in Chinese script. We took a right outside the station, manfully avoiding the various hawkers and 10%ers trying to set us up with a hotel room. With the use of the trusty Lonely Planet and a few roadside maps we wandered up Connecting Road No.6 to find the Yalu river and the border with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.


From the river bank, after some obligatory photographs including an incredibly blue sky, we set off to check out one of the guidebook recommended hotels. A quick look at the available rooms in the Oriental Cherry and we were happy to check in for around €23 for a very nice double room with a view of North Korea. After the obligatory difficulties with Caroline’s Laissez-Passer (EU diplomatic passport) we left the hotel to find some lunch. As is often the way when confronted with new and cheap food we went a little crazy and ordered quite a lot. Seafood was popular since it was a coastal town and the octopus and scallops were fresh and good.

Next we wandered the streets getting a bit of a feel for the town. I say town as it only had the piffling population of 700 000. Strangely that seems small now after spending time in Beijing. As well as the writing, the Korean influence in the town was quite clear in the shops and we spent an enjoyable 20 minutes pottering about in a mini-mart gathering up exotic alcoholic drinks and snacks. We then managed to wander into a surprising sight: Tesco. I was quite keen on a look inside for comparison purposes, but we never quite made it. After a brief discussion with an American woman living in Dandong, we decided that a visit to the Eastern-most point of the Great Wall was probably best left for the following morning. Instead we meandered back towards the harbour to take the short boat journey near to the banks of North Korea. This may sound like strange tourist activity, but the mystery that the country is shrouded in makes it quite a compelling thing to do and an enjoyable forty minutes was spent peering at the unlit banks spotting exotic activities like group exercise and bike-riding, the kind of activities you just don’t see in China…

The Korean side of the river really did look quite forlorn with a sad-looking collection of cranes and rusting barges. The never-working Ferris wheel only added to the atmosphere. As the sun went down and the neon began to light up the Chinese skyscrapers, the different trajectories of two ‘socialist’ countries was described in sharp relief. Back on dry land we cheered up by buying some tourist tat and warmed up by visiting Peter’s coffee shop. A French Canadian place currently operated by the eponymous 16 year old boy and an American and Norwegian friend of the family. Like many things China does its’ “opening up” in a big way and is attracting people from all over the world, even to its’ smaller, less obvious destinations. We relaxed with some caffeinated drinks and sent some emails using the free Wi-Fi, a couple of games of Sorry and Connect-4 added to the holiday atmosphere.

After checking with Peter and a waiter we head off in search of some entertainment for the evening. Since lunch had been so substantial we were more interested in a few drinks than anything to eat. On the walk, we saw some evening activity down by the river:
We spent the evening in a classy little river-front joint called the July Bar. Kiwi drinks proved very popular, especially with a little Korean Soju added. We reacquainted ourselves with the dice drinking game that I was first taught a couple of years ago on a visit to Yangshuo. In the early hours we abandoned the bar having enjoyed the live music, Sarah Brightman DVD on loop and one waitress added to the list of fans gained. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the lack of other guests by keeping the party going for a couple of hours.

Next morning after an early and ‘interesting’ breakfast we found a taxi prepared to take the six of us to Tiger Mountain (Hushan) and the Great Wall. The Wall looked quite steep, but we got to the top in pretty short order. From the peak of the hill there were great views all around, augmented by a telescope rented out for 3 Yuan by an old guy in a US Army coat.
Back down the other side and we reached ‘One Step Across’ the closest point between China and North Korea. Caroline was showing her usual disdain for authority when a border guard popped up to suggest we might like to get back into Chinese territory.


The bracing activity was just what we needed to recover from the previous evening’s excesses. We then took a taxi back to the railway station for the local take on the Jianbing (including a small sausage). The journey back to Shenyang was more subdued, as the return route normally as, especially as we were all pretty tired. Getting back right on time we had an hour in Shenyang before the fast train back to Beijing which would get us home at 22:30. We went for some Chinese fast food right next to the station. Baozi and beef noodles were the order of the day. After a quick meal we headed back into the station with plenty of time to spare.

Unfortunately this was Shenyang Nan (south) Station and our train was due to depart from the North station in 20 minutes. We headed across town in a taxi that showed more than usual reticence to speed and got to the platform after quite a substantial sprint. The train had just left. So we had a problem. It was 18:30 and we had a long journey to make. There were a number of different options, but the caveat was that we needed to be back insufficient time for Caroline to get to work for 08:00 the next morning. Sunnia also had a lecture at this time, while Carol and I both had lectures at 10:10. The usual hustlers at the gates tried to convince us that their bus was the only one in town, but again we turned to the Lonely Planet. After a bit of a hunt we eventually found the bus station and bought tickets for a night bus which left at 20:00 to arrive in Beijing around 06:00 the next morning.

Hardly ideal, but still a good solution under the circumstances, we settled into an almost empty bus as it departed the station. Just outside the station the bus stopped and approximately 20 more passengers got on. Half of whom were teenaged school kids, one particular girl could not hold her excitement as she saw our unexpected faces she let out an involuntary yelp. She then jumped into the seat behind us and proceeded to eat through a mountain of snacks., at one point offering a half-eaten pomegranate through the seats like feeding time at the zoo. We weren’t too worried by this development, as experience had told us that Chinese people are normally pretty reliable when it comes to settling down for sleep on public transport. The secondary market in tickets was an interesting one though as clearly empty buses leaving for Beijing are a useful thing to sell on. As far as we could tell, the bus drivers must have been in contact with the ticket touts by mobile phone, so ultimately everyone ended up on the same buses out of town. Depending on the deal you cut with the hustlers, this could be more or less expensive than buying the bus tickets at the station. Enterprising and environmentally sound, there was little to criticise about the set-up.

So, we settled down again for the ride home. Only it wasn’t to be so easy. The engine proceeded to cut out on one of the main express ways out of town. The driver and his mate jumped off the bus to tinker with the engine and petrol tank followed by starting the engine again. We pootled forward a few yards and then rolled to a stop again. This routine repeated itself approximately twenty times to our dismay and yet to the complete lack of surprise of any of the other passengers, despite Chinese customers normally being a pretty demanding lot. At one point the driver ran across the carriageway, vaulted the central reservation and jumped into a taxi headed in the other direction. We were confident another bus would be on the way, but no such luck. He arrived back sometime later with a hose that was quickly ‘jerry rigged’ into place and away we went. With a fuel stop, a stop to collect more passengers, (at which point we hopped into quieter seats), a stop for a small cage of dogs to be loaded into the hold and a few more engine problems and repairs we then left Shenyang approximately 2 hours later.

Exhausted; cold and concerned about the state of the bus there was little we could do but fall asleep. A few hours of drifting in and out of fitful sleep we arrived back in Beijing at about 06:30. Curiously it seemed the arrival time was set to anticipate the curious carry on with the bus. So we took a short taxi ride from the bus stop home. Caroline had time for a shower before work and I grabbed an hour’s sleep.

The weekend was over. Despite the problematic journey home we’d enjoyed seeing another part of the country and a brief glimpse into one of the most secretive regimes on the planet.

Introduction to Beijing

The blog is far from finished, so expect some changes.
In fact it hasn't even really started.
However, I did see this page on the Guardian and thought it might be a useful link for anyone who doesn't have a clue what Beijing is like.
Obviously stay tuned and you'll get a better description straight from the horses mouth.
Or mine, if the horse is tired.