shanghai gets very cold

I’m not sure which way is which, since I have trouble seeing the horizon, and it seems like in order to get anyplace, I find myself going in every widening circles. Shanghai is a very weird place...

So is China. The people are people and very friendly. I was leaving the university yesterday evening, and passed the Chinese Army Garrison that is here to protect the river. As I was walking toward the gate, out trotted a company for a run – looked exactly like an US company except for the funky green uniforms…Guys grabbing their sides, complaining; guys kinda falling back; NCOs yelling, and, exactly like my platoon leaders, a couple of Lieutenants running the other way passed me and said, “Hello, how are you!” 

Students are extremely eager to learn. I have never had 300 very polite students at a time straining to capture every word of wisdom that I drop. They are very polite – I seem to be unable to work the lapel mike – hobbit artifact that it is. It has turned into a running joke – my assistant Celeste hovers over me to make certain it’s working, I sigh, the class giggles. They get very restive come break time – only time the politeness breaks down. So I have a couple of girls in each class tell me how much time I have. 

Broadband is not an option at the expatriate apartment. The amount of bandwidth available for the dial-up is pretty pathetic. I feel very isolated in some ways. I have a really good idea of what’s going on in China, thanks to the English News Channel, (CCTV International, and it probably should stand for Chinese Cable TV but I can think of other meanings) but that’s about it. I did get a copy of the Chinese Daily News today from Alex, so I can see that not a whole lot of good is happening in Iraq. US, BBC and other stuff – CNN, HBO, etc. are blocked except for hotels and party leaders with satellite dishes. I had an interesting conversation with Alex – I remain furious about the visa issue. This is the biggest country in the world, with the most potential; they want to invest in the US and they want to learn from us. Why in the name of sense do we not do everything we can to get them here? None of my students are planning on going under ground and working for $2 an hour and all the stray cats they can eat. We discussed North Korea and have the same opinion – very scary. Alex indicated that he thinks that Africa is hell on earth – genocide, slavery, constant wars, AIDS everywhere and other diseases popping up. 

Thursday was the first night I have not been dragged out to dinner with parents. I kind of miss it – the food was a lot better in these incredibly upper class restaurants than in the apartment, and the company was interesting. In general, they were very impressed with me because I could kind of use chopsticks without sticking myself in the eye. Shanghai’s restaurants tend to serve a wide variety of dishes on a rotating table – I’ve had some marvelous stuff and avoided some weird stuff as well. Fresh raw cod with lemon slices (very good, and I hate sushi) versus crispy jellyfish flakes. (Yum…not!) We really don’t know what to do with tofu – several varieties last night, including one that seemed to be soaked in coffee. Actually tastes pretty good. Mrs. AXE will be convinced the commies did a Manchurian Candidate number on me when I go home and order some variety of tofu that sounds like what I’ve just had. Chestnuts in mocha sauce – regular chestnuts not water chestnuts – are really good. And, there’s some kind of Chinese sub with spicy beef that you spoon into a sesame bun that would be perfect Super Bowl Food.   

Had dinner with a group of parents; the primary host was a very prominent attorney. He didn’t speak English, but wanted to talk to me quite a bit. He says that a lot of wealthy Chinese are interested in investing in the US, so that their children can have internships and gain practical experience. I intend to drop him a note. When we did the card exchange thing, I saw something that struck me as funny. His email was Hunan@lawyers.com, and his firm was www.shanghailawyer.com. His assistant and translator noticed and asked me what was going on. I explained that Shanghai had a meaning in the United States as basically being kidnapped and forced to work; that lawyers had a reputation as being basically sharks. I told the old joke about “Why don’t sharks eat lawyers? Professional courtesy.” They howled, and then started talking about Jackie Chan and Shanghai Noon and Knights. That since the Chun Wain was basically shangahi’ed into the various things he got into. Well, I guess it probably wasn’t in the scriptwriter’s mind, so much as “High Noon,” but still...

It is colder than I can believe. Pu Dong is sort of like New York on Ecstasy – weird deep canyons covered with neon and pagodas and the wind just howls. The Hobbits go around turning down the heat, I think. The office that I get to hang out in is really freezing; however, Alex keeps his office at toasty warm. ( Discovered that the Heater/AC in my office just blows cold air…heh, heh, heh. Funny. No wonder he keeps turning it up…) The only reasons that I might have preferred the hotel to staying in the expatriate expert apartment is the heat level (very low) and the fact that I’ll have to do my own laundry. If I come back, and that seems to be a good possibility so far, I’ll bring more underwear, t-shirts and socks. 

On Saturday. I have been here a week and am still bemused. I have nothing terribly profound to say, not even anything as dopey as Nixon’s “Truly, it is a great wall.” Last night, I went to dinner with the senior teachers from the various colleges in Shanghai Maritime University. Fascinating group – the teachers, the staff, the drivers, Alex and the tame American all at the table. One of the senior members, Mr. Chun, was a composer and conductor. The university choir had just won some major award, and the faculty got together to congratulate him. I suspect that sort of interest does not run high in the US. I had been afraid that I might be forced to sit through a Peking Opera, or some such thing. Alex asked my sort of indirectly if I might be interested in attending one, and I said I suspected that I wouldn’t really like it since I hated western opera where I had some idea what was going on. 

I am also an object of curiosity because I neither drink alcohol nor smoke. They normally get a kick out of my drinking Pepsi – which is a far cry from my normal club soda and lime. Last night we got a bunch of different teas along with the meal. They wanted to smoke after the meal and were very polite about it. I told them to enjoy – I had simply become so virtuous that I could barely stand myself. They found that interesting. 

One of the teachers asked me if I could explain to him American culture. Ouch – I said that I was not sure we had one culture, but rather a variety of racial and regional cultures that shared a root language and not a lot else. That surprised them a bit – the Chinese people seem to be comfortable talking in Mandarin to each other while celebrating their differences. I have to admit that it is interesting for me to be asked for information on Desperate Housewives or Friends. I have to admit to having seen some episodes of  Friends – hard to avoid, really. But so far, I have avoided Terry Hatcher and gang. As we were going into the restaurant, a street vendor tried to sell me the VHS tape for the second season of Desperate Housewives. Do we still make VHS? The Chinese love Desperate Housewives although they think it is crazy. 

This morning, I did wash. Itty bitty machines, but using two got my stuff done and reasonably clean. I suspect that I had no idea what I was doing, and got the things to work only by accident. Shortly after that, Alex took me to the Shanghai History Museum. This involved a fairly brisk walk into a cold wind to a bus stop, where we crowded onto a bus. Forget gentlemanly instincts – Alex shoved me into the first available seat. People standing on top of each other. We went around forever, adding more and more people without letting many off. Through a tunnel and along until we got to the People’s Square, where we got off and went in. Passed a McDonalds along the way, and I felt nostalgic; passed a Papa John’s and I was really confused– at least it wasn’t Dominos, and it looked like they didn’t deliver.

Museum is in a modern, sort of pagoda-ish building. Fascinating. Four stories of culture – like most of these collections, whether the Victoria and Albert in London, the MET or some parts of the Smithsonian, pretty overwhelming. Lots of Buddhas; lot of dragons; lots of other stuff, including a visiting exhibit from the US with gems and precious metal stuff by a Shire of Ectopia artist and some stuff from Idar-Obertstein in Germany. I’ve been to Idar-Oberstein in my previous existence, and knew they did stuff like this. Still, amazingly beautiful. However, it is something to see very well preserved and intricate stuff from 4000 BC. Some of the stuff from the folks in the 500 AD era reminded me of late Medieval Europe arts; actually saw a lot of common themes. Some of the stuff dated in the last century BC reminded me of how busy my relatives ere then, painting each other blue and setting fire to virgins in wicker cages. I now have three Mandarin words memorized – Dao (knife), Mao (spear—which confuses me, but that is probably due to the pitch and tone, I thought it meant cat) and Jian (sword.) Saw some fascinatingly interesting stuff, but entirely too much of it. 

We walked around a bit of People’s Square, and several vendors tried to sell me a kite. We then wandered over to the Subway. Alex was apologetic, a bit; he normally rides his bike and seldom visits Shanghai proper except with a cab. However, no cabs to be had on a cold, windy day. We had to wander around a bit to find the subway – they had actually moved stuff around since Alex’s last visit. Shanghai had originally charged by distance on the subway, but the crowds were so great that they just made all the rates 3 Huan – about half a buck. It was a typical subway – felt like I was in New York. We ended back in the center of the new Pu Dong – Shanghai Stock Exchange, and so forth. Caught a bus that went forever, and then we were back at the school’s apartment complex. Alex took me into a convenience store where I was able to get a 2.5 liter of Pepsi, a bit more than a half liter bottle of Vanilla Coke and a big bottle of tea along with some Halls for 17 Huan, or about $2. 

As I said, nothing terribly profound to say; I’m not being chased by street vendors or hookers; the soldiers and cops actually seem to be kind of friendly. People are in their own worlds, not unlike the US. I suspect within their own communities, things are different. Another thing that is strange is that the universities are not paid for by the state – there are a lot of very rich people  since some of the universities are quite expensive. People work like hell, there is a wide gulf between the rich and the poor, the young and the old, there’s a lot of energy and most people appear to be positive about life. 

Still, I have to wonder. Alex is about 25 or 26; my two assistants, Celeste and Lily are in their early 20s; Jain the Accounting Professor who thinks I am an expert on GAAP (yeah, that’s me!) is about 30. Most of the other adults I am encountering are in their 40s or 50s. I suspect that Mr. Chun was forced to spend some digging ditches with the Red Guards. There isn’t any visible resentment, but still things strike me that are unsaid but felt. The Party Secretary’s Office is next to the President’s at the College. I haven’t seen him yet; but, Mr. Hain seems to be the stand-in. He is pretty interesting – I guess his role is that of the Provost, trying to schedule resources and make things work. My students will be taking their first test this week; however, we have had to re-arrange some dates due to lack of classrooms. He is very concerned about standards, and is concerned about the possibility of cheating. Hmmm – my administrators at City University worry about the same things. However, this guy is actually concerned from pedagogical reasons. He thinks that multiple choice questions are lousy ways to test learning…anyway, my Finance Course is getting an exam largely made up of problems; I haven’t figured out a good way to do that for the Intro to Business Course. The classes will be broken up into 12 groups, and will be taking the tests in groups of no more than 25. My role on that day will be to wander around and look wise…we’ll see if I can pull that shit off. 

They’re also concerned that some of the students might have stolen the exam. No problem. Nice thing about the cut and paste function in word. As for the Finance exam, well, numbers are easy to change. I then took the thing to make certain it made sense...found some errors and corrected them. This trip may make me better at the clerical aspect of teaching...which would be a shame.

Comments

[the quitter]

great story there axe. keep em coming.

ps i know the building that houses the museum. i didn't get to go in, but i saw it from the elevated highway through town and asked about it. beautiful.

[Neil Shakespeare]

Thanks for the posts. Very interesting. Fun reading.