Immediately after arriving home I decided that, since I would like to improve greatly on my 普通话 (Putonghua; Mandarin Chinese), that I would attempt to return to China very soon. I am following through with this idea at present by applying for the NAU All-year study abroad program at Beijing International Studies University (北京第二外国语学院; Beijing di er Waiguoyu Xueyuan; literally: Beijing #2 Foreign Language Studies Institute) for 2012-2013. After applying and (hopefully) getting accepted, I will begin a loose plan for travel while in China, as I would like to return to Suzhou, visit a close friend in Taiwan, and see things along the way. Stay tuned for more updates and adventures to come! And vlogging!!
1) In America, Red Bull gives you wings. In China, Red Bull can give a boost to your badminton skills, just ask Lin Dan, a star player of the China National Badminton Team (above).
Driving in China:
2.1) If you have the chance to drive in China, and you've never done it before, decline the offer immediately because:
2.2) In China, there are rarely any traffic laws (they are obeyed when there are, though), and even if there is a traffic light -- usually at major intersections -- expect for the motorized scooters to keep coming and, in some instances, vehicles to keep coming as well.
2.3) Basic rule of the road: In America, pedestrians have the right of way. In China, the biggest thing on the road has the right of way, and it will honk while driving at ridiculous speeds to make itself known (basically, if you don't pay attention and a large vehicle is coming and you notice last second, you can either run like hell or face the threat of... well, you know, as with scooters or anyone else in a big hurry as well).
3) In America, the predominant language is English, and some people here think a majority of other people around the world learn English to keep up with us (especially in big cities). In China, the majority of people don't speak English, including university students (if they do, its usually broken and don't expect them to understand what your saying). As in the picture above, also expect street signs, most shops (unless they're a European or American brand/company), restaurants and other things to have things in Chinese and (sometimes) Pinyin without the tones, and if there is English its usually not that great anyways. Plus the restaurants have photo menus (in most cases) so if you have to point to what you want its ok. Advice: Learn the language, because in the end you won't embarrass yourself (mostly) and you won't come off as disrespectful.
4) In America, every once in awhile you may see an armored truck stop at a bank and see one person get out to deliver the money without hastle. In China, the armored trucks aren't as, well, armored, (actually its usually a black older model of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter) and require at least four or five guards decked out in SWAT-like gear and shotguns to get out of the truck and wait for the package to be safely delievered (picture unavailable).
5) In America, most mannequins are usually serious (save for at Old Navy, perhaps). In China, mannequins like the one above seem pretty overjoyed to be wearing the clothes they're in.
6) In America, a can or bottle of Coca-Cola, when opened, usually lasts a day or less. In China, a can or bottle of Coca-Cola (可口可乐; Kekoukele), when opened, usually lasts about a week or more.
7) In America, you know the water (including whats used in tea, ice and to wash lettuce/fruit) is safe to consume. In China, since the quality of tap water is so poor, you should think twice before drinking unheated tap water (or ice water), getting it in your eyes or swollowing it while bathing/brushing your teeth, or eating any dish that hasn't been cooked but has been washed in water. Advice: drink bottled water. If a restaurant doesn't have any bottled or serves water unheated, stick to the 可乐 or beer (啤酒; Pijiu).
7.1) In America, dishes in all restaurants are cleaned and washed properly. In China, use a napkin with some hot water or tea (whatever is on the table) to clean any dishes before eating (even if they came in a sealed package).
7.2) Meat dishes: In America, bones are removed long before they reach a kitchen (or in the kitchen). In China, none of the bones are removed from such dishes. Side note: Think twice before ordering a plate of fish that doesn't look like seafood, freshwater fish are often highly contaminated.
*This post will be later updated if more pointers are later remembered, but for the time being this is about it.
After an uneventful Tuesday filled with last-minute packing and seeing the Soochow campus for one last time (in the rain, which wasn't too fun) we woke at 5am to more rain and took the surprisingly short 2 hour ride to Pudong Int'l Airport (PVG) in Shanghai, where we caught our flight to Tokyo, and from there to Los Angeles, where we finally parted ways. All I can say is, when I go back to China (hopefully for my Junior year of college) I'd love to visit Suzhou again.
After taking our final exam for Chinese 201 in the morning, I went with some fellow students to see the Temple of Mystery (玄妙观; Xuanmiao Guan), a Daoist temple located in the (almost) center of Guanqian Jie, the busiest strip mall-esque side streets Suzhou has to offer (and not a bad selection of restaurants/brand stores either).
Once inside the cool darkness of the temple, if you don't know Daoism or a good bit of Chinese history, the you'll probably think you understand why the temple got its name:
Aside from three statues at the entrance (above), the walls are lined with a multitude of other statues (more Daoist deities) (below) which aren't really explained:
After a very interesting look around, we realized it was time to head back to school to meet up with our teachers for the final dinner and certificate ceremony (in China, official certificates are required to be with a resume when you submit it for a job -- with a photograph and everything -- in order for full consideration, which keeps away fakers I suppose).
For the final part of our study of Chinese at Suzhou U., we were separated into groups of two and sent with three Suzhou students to visit one of their families (pictured) for lunch. After the lunch -- which was probably the best meal I had had in China -- we went were scheduled to go spend time around Suzhou with the kids who had gone with us and see some sights or do anything else.
While one of the students had to leave us, me and my compatriot went with the two girls who had accompanied us (above) to go see the Pan Gate (盘门; Panmen) or the old city gate of Suzhou.
Aside from the pagoda and other structures that made up the park, the most fascinating was the actual city gate (referred to as the Land and Water Gate) which had been constructed during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) by the State of Wu as a mode of protection for the capital (modern-day Suzhou, which was also originally called Wu).
The gate itself seemed similar to the Great Wall of China (in my eyes, at least) featuring walls and ramparts that faced what would later become the Grand Canal...
Mechanisms that lowered a gate (pictured above sentence) into the water in case of attack by that route or to halt suspicious vessels (the Water Gate)...
As well as the Land Gate, which could be closed to provide extra protection against an attack by land.
Following the excursion, I went to have dinner at one of the girl's homes -- which, I must say, was the best meal I had in China, with the earlier one now being moved to second best:
Which included, among other dishes (such as beef, shrimp, squid, two vegetable dishes, sticky rice and some goose) Beijing Duck (which is definitely the best dish I had while in China).
Breakfast: Fish, doufu, pork dish, sticky rice, green food and a little dish called Thousand-year-old Eggs (which weren't that bad actually, if you like strange tasting hard-boiledesque eggs). This is the beginning of our day at Tongli, an old city on the outskirts of Suzhou known for being a good representation of what once was the "Venice of the Orient" (a catchphrase now used to lure unsuspecting tourists to Suzhou). Even though its no Chinese Venice (mainly thanks to the pollution of the canal system), Tongli does make for a great visit.
After entering the old portion of the city, we caught a ride on a few cycle ricksaws and made our way to the top tour attractions of Tongli. Which were, namely:
A museum featuring old woodwork from Tongli, Suzhou and the surrounding areas...
More (interesting) woodwork at one of the estate/gardens we visited...
Gardens that could definitely rival the ones we had seen in Suzhou...
And to top it all off we traveled for a brief distance on the Tongli canal the old school way (via paddled boat)...
All this before my camera died in the sweltering heat.
No, these isn't an artist representation of a recent (if not light) experiment with psychadelic drugs, but it is, in fact, a picture of a nighttime tour cruise on the Grand Canal, a very integral part of Suzhou's fame.
The Grand Canal, which reaches from Beijing to Hangzhou (passing through Suzhou along the way), was a project initiated during the Sui Dynasty (581-618) to combine sections of older canals (some of which were earlier attempts to complete the Grand Canal, whose plans were said to have been truely initiated in the early Qin Dynasty).
The boatride itself lasted about an hour, and passed some interesting parts of the city (which unfortunately were lost in translation as the tourguide spoke in quick Chinese) and finished off with a show of Suzhou folk music on the erhu.
There's nothing like going on a tour bus with Chinese university students to experience a cultural event. Namely, the event is going to Qingdao not to see the cultural event (the Dragon Boat Festival) but to go to the beach and have fun around the city, very similar, in fact, to what American university students might do to celebrate Spring Break (only with more drinking, wanton parties and forgetting it all happened the next day, of course).
Even so, it was all in all a great time, for we were able to see: a monument built in honor of the 2008 Olympic games...
Experience the awesomeness that is a relatively cheap Chinese hotel equipped with an almost see-through restroom...
Realize the view we got out of our hotel window is of a sketchy place where people make numbers for light-up signs...
Visit a small and crowded Qingdao beach...
Walk down a crowded pier to look at/pay entrance to a two-storied octagonal building filled with nothing but merchants selling wears you can buy on any street market and realizing later the reason it was so crowded was because the building is the logo for none other than:
The Tsingtao (Wade-Giles romantization of Qingdao) Beer company logo...
And going to another Chinese beach the next day before leaving that evening (Monday).
Eventful, of course, until I was the only one who later realized (with a bit of light-shedding help from my parents) that we'd been swindled into paying a considerable amount of money (￥360, currently the equivalent of $55.58) by a Soochow student who convinced us we'd be going to see the Dragon Boat Festival... Fair warning for future travels though.
Aside from Tiger Hill, Cold Mountain Temple (寒山寺; Han shansi) was one of the three Buddhist sites we went to visit while on the trip, and the most interesting out of the three as it was a still-active Buddhist monastery. Above: the Chinese character for Buddha and what I think is Guan Yi, a very famous female Bodisattva.
Even though the temple made for some great pictures and was a great place to visit, I realized one peculiar thing about how the People's Republic handled religion: "You can practice freely, because if you didn't how would we be able to entertain the rest of the people?"
Yep, this is what its like, well, at the Suzhou City Zoo (苏州市动物园; Suzhou shi dongwuyuan) at least: a number of small caged areas featuring various apes (see above), at least ten deer crammed into one cage (also see above) and a dancing elephant (which we didn't see, thankfully), all of which aren't kept in natural environments and probably don't get the best treatment (by American standards, I mean). Basically, if one of these places were allowed to open in the U.S., PETA would be all up in the ownership's grill with lawsuits until the place was shut down (mind you, this is a situation in which government regulations in regards to zoos are virtually nonexistent).
One of my favorite excurions of the entire trip, Tiger Hill (虎丘; Hu3qiu1) is a place you'll most likely read about and hear about before you go and maybe even while you're in Suzhou. While the hill is covered in dense forest growth, the place is still an excellent place to explore, starting with the bridge leading to the actual hill (partly pictured above).
In fact, aside from the entrance and a number of the buildings on the site, once the pagoda that adorns the hill is glimpsed, it would seem as if you were in India or one of the island nations of Southeast Asia instead of Southeastern China.
Interestingly enough the site has been a tourist attraction for centuries, possibly because of the numerous legends surrounding its creation and just the pure awesomeness of the place. The painted-over calligraphy on the walls and the pillars of this pavilion were actually inscriptions made by visitors to the place years ago.
Before class began this Monday we went to see a few students we had met that weekend practicing 刀 (Dao1, literally: Knife, known commonly as broadsword) for their Wushu (武术) final exam.
Believe it or not (its not that hard to believe really), Wushu is offered as a course and a major at Soochow (and other universities in China, I'm sure), so if you wish to learn about the culture more or even, as in my case, go to sharpen up your Wushu/Gongfu skills while in the land where it all began, definitely inquire at your host university.
Following our adventure at Lion Forest Garden, we walked back over to Dongbei jie (since it was in the general vecinity) and went to try some tea at Shengfa's (see "Humble Administrator"). The sampled tea was 菊花茶 (juhuacha), or Chrysanthemum tea, which had a very light taste with little bitterness and which Shengfa (above) described as a Summertime tea. During our stay we asked about old parts of Suzhou worth going to. She referred us to Pingjiang Lu District, in which alleys led to older parts of the city.
So, after finishing the tea we left Shengfa's and journeyed down one of the alleys she directed us to (close to Dongbei jie) that led to Pingjiang lu.
After passing one or two canal-side tea bars and, finally, this guy, we knew we'd found the place.
From more canal-side tea bars...
To Chinese Zumba, populated by middle aged to older women and with music that was ten times better than the drivel they play in American Zumba classes...
To sections of the Suzhou canal that were lighted, Pingjiang lu exposes the traveler to one of the niftiest parts the city has to offer. Definitely the perfect topper after a trip to Lion Grove Garden or any other excursion you might go on.
