Angela Fremont's trip to China Blog

BEIJING TO XI’AN

A Bullet Train traveling 200 miles an hour takes us southwest to Xi’an today. We pass agricultural fields with many mixed plantings. Very different from fields in the US where you would see only one species growing. Every surface seems cultivated by either homes or agriculture. I keep thinking of Professor Ronald Knapp’s book, House, Home, Family: Living and being Chinese which describes so much of what the Bullet is zooming past; the rural life of China devoted to single family farming. Clusters of houses with groves of trees around them, surrounded by fields of beautifully growing vegetables shining in the hot sunlight. I recognize corn, and perhaps spinach. At dinners we are served cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, corn, peppers. It is a vegetable rich diet that comes delivered by these farms of the east and south.

The north is arid grasslands and desert. In fact, Harold sends me a link to the Times today that describes the forced evacuation of the nomadic tribes of the North. Trading their culture of sheparding animals and living in tents for the apartments, electricity and jobs that are creating these enormous urban centers.

 

The north is arid grasslands and desert. In fact, Harold sends me a link to the Times today that describes the forced evacuation of the nomadic tribes of the North.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/world/asia/china-fences-in-its-nomads-and-an-ancient-life-withers.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Trading their culture of sheparding animals and living in tents for the apartments, electricity and jobs that are creating these enormous urban centers.  There are also lots of enormous apartment buildings going up in Xi’an for the workers that will leave the more rural areas to live and work closer to jobs that will bring income to send back home.  The apartment buildings are huge blocks, reminds me a bit of Co-op City.  Can you see the cranes busy at the top?

It is very hot in Beijing, but even hotter in Xi’an, home of the Terracotta Warriors. Tomorrow we head directly for the site.

Amazing huge. I drew and photographed. Wonderful experience inside the pits. Headed to Banpo Neolithic village now. 

 

This afternoon, 7/7/15, we visit the Rural Women’s and Girls School started by the daughter of the famed Chinese author, Bing Xin. Wu Qing is 78 years old and a powerhouse! She greets us: “Good afternoon brothers and sisters! I say this because we are all global citizens and we must treat each other as brothers and sisters. And friends! We must all be friends!” She tells her life story of Japanese bombing, her hatred of the Japanese, the humiliation and suffering of her parents, her radicalization and describing herself as a verb. She wants to makes changes. And her life is devoted to that work. She quotes her mother, “with love you have everything.” Not just the romantic love, but love of all people, all things. She talks about the 5 L’s. Love, is the first. With love you must Listen. Listen to stories, to the truth, to your heart. Learn. Study, read. Lead. Be courageous. And finally, Laugh. She is very fierce.

 

We are teachers and she tells us that there are 6 criteria for educating the whole person:

1. Every student should know his or her rights.
2. Financial independence. Don’t rely on your parents, make your own money.
3. Environmental responsibility. Back to that theme of global citizenship and care for each other and our planet.
4. Health and Sanitation. She talks about eating, exercise, a healthy mind and body.
5. Know your students. They will trust you if you take the time to get to know them. If they trust, they will tell you things that will help them to grow past the things holding them back. Build relationships with your students. Be a good teacher. Be a verb. Verbs are the soul of the English language. Be creative. Don’t have pets. Raise gender awareness.
6. Fight against domestic and school violence. With love you have everything. Rosa Parks is one of her role models.

She tells us that every person needs a goal in life. And if you stick to your principles, you will have to take the consequences. She is an elected delegate to the People’s Congress.  But she is not a Party member.  She is a Constitutionalist.  They call her the lady with the Constitution because she carries it everywhere with her.  She reads passages to us about ethics.

The school is spotless! Clean, clean, clean. Organized. The students all do the cleaning and care of the dormitories and classrooms. Green beans, cucumbers and rose bushes grow all along the spaces between the dormitories. Bamboo poles support an arbor of squash vines running the length of the living quarters. We visit a classroom for girls learning to be kindergarten teachers. We see the students in a computer class, writing in a word document. Later they come outside and share drawings as gifts. We buy painted gourds to support the school. Everyone waves goodbye as we leave in our airconditioned bus. We chatter back in the bus about our visit, excited, inspired to go back and act for change, teach and connect to our students.

 

Our first day in Beijing! We travel in a group to Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City. Our bus is air conditioned, but the air outside is light and surprisingly clear. The Square is huge, as we are learning everything about China seems to be oversize. The surrounding walls were meant as a protective firewall. There is a checkpoint to let us into the square with a very long line. The square is open and not terribly crowded. Everyone takes photos, and later, the photos only show an open plaza with tiny roofs in the background. Closer to the Forbidden City the photos show the enormous high walls and the color red. Umbrellas to protect against the bright sunlight are shades of pastels and decorated with sequins and designs. We follow our guide, Mr.Zhou who carries a pole with a yellow flag that says China Focus in turquoise. As we get closer and closer the crowd gets tighter, more flags appear, more yellow flags appear, we move like ducklings in a line. On the other side of our ticketed entrance we realize we have lost Paul. There are thousands in the Forbidden City. Paul’s phone does not have internet, which seems to be a problem for many of us. We all stand, worried and wondering. An hour passes as people go off to look for him and return. Then, suddenly he appears. Smiling. How did he find us? Where did he lose us? All our experiences are processed through this group, like a multi legged single organism.

Without a doubt the highlight so far has been our trip to the Great Wall. Driving more than an hour out of the city, and then further up into the mountains surrounding Beijing. We transfer to a different bus that takes us to the pop up village selling souvenirs before you hike the 500 ft up to the cable car that will take you to the base of the Great Wall. The cable car silently moves us up the steep mountainside, through trees, to our right the wall comes in to view. We too are silent, and breathless, awed by the immensity.

 

Later in the afternoon I draw from a high perch and the sun shines on me and the Wall. The mountains in the distance are shades of blue and gauzy. It is very hot on the shadeless barrier between civilization and the barbarians. I try so hard to be present. Absorb, breathe, look closely, record the stones, the watchtowers, the breadth of the Wall. A worker passes carrying a bamboo pole holding a bag of trash. Knowing this construction can be seen from space, that it is thousands of miles long, it overwhelms the imagination.

Yesterday’s Fulbright Hays seminars took place at the Communications University of China. We listened to Prof Zhang Kai speak about the changed and unchanged domestic news reporting of Xinhua News Agency. Unlike AP and Reuters, Xinhua is owned by the state. Its’ primary responsibilities are to gather and report on national and international news. Prof. Zhang said there is a Chinese proverb that says bad news will be told to me by my family, and only good and beautiful things should be shared. So in the decades before the 1980’s, news focused on the positive elements of society. China is trying to follow the model of western media, with more reporting on national and international events that keep people informed. CUC also has a media museum exhibiting early radio, tv and film equipment. Each day includes a wonderful lunch and dinner. We have eaten many new dishes and continually see different dishes at each meal! We are trying to learn to pace ourselves, as new dishes keep appearing. Our scholar guide, Mr. Zhai Guanjun is very funny and attentive; very thoughtful and considerate.Our Beijing guide, Mr. Zhou is also very wonderful.   Our Chinese hosts have received us in board rooms and banquet rooms. We are feeling very honored and pampered.

Beijing is enormous. Like China. The scale of everything seems to make our little neighborhoods and cities seem quaint. The architecture here is volumetric and imaginative. I’ll send along a couple of images. Have had long long days of lectures translated from mandarin. And one very amazing session w the daughter of the famous Chinese author Bing Xin. Brave, fierce, committed to change. She started a school for rural women and girls. Soooo inspiring. More to say but I am too tired.

We’re all tired after acrobat show.

 

 

Just home and showered. Very hot today. Saw William Kentridge show in art district. A sort of mini MOMA.