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23 Apr 01 - 03:47 PM (#447537) Subject: Americans in China? Info please... From: Little Hawk I saw some pretty interesting posts from "Seth in China", and would like to talk to Seth or any other Americans/Canadians/Brits or whomever who are visiting China, so we can all find out some more about what it's like there these days. So here's the thread. Go to it. - LH |
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24 Apr 01 - 02:03 AM (#447887) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: GUEST,Seth from China I live in the city of Luo Yang, in Henan Province, not too far from the Yellow River in Central China. I notice from surfing the internet that there is an increasing amount of paranoia and disinformation being promulgated about how awful it is to be here. All I can say is, It ain't happen' to me or anyone I know. My Chinese friends understand the difference between international politics and personal friendships, and even co-teachers who aren't not particularly close to me have gone out of their way to show us that they know we are not the enemy. It's really nice, because we are not on the tourist route, and there are not many =maybe 50 Americans in this city of six million. It would be much more difficult for us if we did not have our internet connection, though, because it is very hard to get any non-Chinese news except by way of the net. I teach 5th and 6th grades at a rather expensive private school, but books and paper to write on is still at a premium. ONe of our friends in the state was kind enough to send us several boxes of recently replaced and unused children's text books and another box of popular magazines from the U.S. YOu can't imagine what a treat a four year copy of "National Geographic" is for my kids. ANd these are the "haves". THe "have-nots" do without a lot more. What I learned here is that even though people seem to live reasonably happy with much, much less that Americans, The last ten or twelve years have been the best for Chinese people in a long, long time. MIllions dead in civil wars in the twenties, millions more in the JApanese occupation, still more in the revolutionary struggle after World War 2, may be a million lost in Korea, 30 million starved to death as a result of the "Great Leap Forward" in 1959, chaos and madness during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, and after that, a period of realtive peace, Tianammin Square, and more peace and greater prosperity for some with the development of a market economy (socialism with a Chinese character, as they call it here) So when I see someone my mother's age walking around, I think, " My God, what has that person lived through?" But it's Spring, the fields are green, we are off to Cheng Du for a week. More when I get back Seth from China |
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24 Apr 01 - 12:09 PM (#448191) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: Little Hawk Great. In some ways it sounds a bit like Cuba, in the sense that I saw people who didn't have any trouble being happy with a whole lot less than what we North Americans take for granted. And I was happier there myself. Of course, it was a very exciting and different time for me. I might well have felt equally happy as a Cuban visiting Canada....it's very refreshing to see a whole other way of life and be free of all the stuff that's usually around you. Can you describe what a city of 6 million people is like in China? The buildings, the businesses, the traffic, the markets, the social life, etc? Are you teaching English there? - LH |
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24 Apr 01 - 05:06 PM (#448404) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: folk1234 Wow! The true power of the internet. Thanks, Seth. |
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24 Apr 01 - 05:29 PM (#448427) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: DougR Interesting, Seth. Thanks. DougR |
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24 Apr 01 - 06:20 PM (#448481) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: GUEST,Seth in China Chinese urban architecture of the post_revolutionary period is nothing special, in fact it's ugly, but I think it's a standard style for developing countries-lots of concrete block, squat buildings, half finished construction and /or demolition everywhere, the funkiest of structures abutting the newest and most gaudy,dirt, dust , mud and debris interlaced with pushcart commerce, school kids in uniform, toddlers peeing on the sidewalk, beggars and choosers, but the main streets of this city are very broad, with park like centerstrips and lined for miles with sycamore? trees, whose over-arching branches create a skeletal esplanade in the winter and a lovely green one in the spring and hotter days of summer. Under the trees, a mix of cabs, bikes, three-wheeled and two wheeled vehicles of every description, trucks, buses all execute this impossible tango,where they should be constantly running into each other , but they don't ( for the most part), people on bikes and put-puts glide around obstacles and each other with the insouciance of tropical fish. THere is no such thing as jay=walking,if only because the idea of crosswalks and traffic signals has not really taken hold here, so there are always people walking through the traffic. Unlike, say, Mexico City, the goal here is to avoid hitting anyone else, and it's done everyday by the whole population.Avoiding conflict is very important to Chinese character. OF course, it might be different in Beijing, or Shanghai, Chinses cities are more distictinve in character thatn cities in the U.S. I'm off for Cheng Du Seth from China |
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24 Apr 01 - 07:14 PM (#448540) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: Little Hawk Fascinating stuff! I also found the traffic in Cuba to be incredibly lively, and at the same time very cooperative, in that everyone LETS the other guy in!!! It's like they drive aggressively and courteously at the same time. The horns are used to alert other drivers that you are about to make a move, not to insult or threaten them. It sounds like the traffic in China is a lot denser, though, and I bet it's pretty noisy. I will refresh this thread now and then, and hopefully hear more from Seth when he returns from Cheng Du. - LH |
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25 Apr 01 - 06:57 PM (#449421) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: Little Hawk Ding hao! - LH |
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26 Apr 01 - 05:14 PM (#450176) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: Little Hawk As any proud Canadian hoser would say... "It's time to, like, refresh this one, eh?" - LH |
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26 Apr 01 - 05:15 PM (#450177) Subject: RE: Americans in China? Info please... From: Little Hawk As any proud Canadian hoser would say... "It's time to, like, refresh this one, eh?" - LH |