Chinese people do not know any limits. This, of course, has both positive and negative connotations. One day in November, when only 2 elevators in my 40-storeyed apartment worked (which is often the case), I decided again that descending 11 flights of stairs is not a strain. However, when I reached the dark stairwell around floor 2, I almost stomped into a huge pile of shit. Seriously? You’re almost home. I understand the urgency associated with having to wait for the elevator, but–excuse my description–if it was still a recognizable mass, it really couldn’t have been that bad, could it? And let’s not mention the time in Harbin when I saw a grown woman crouching at a bus stop during rush hour doing you-know-what. Oops, I just did. Public urination and defecation should really be censured and discouraged. If not by the government, then at least by passersby who I am sure find it just as uncomfortable to watch as I do. This applies to other nasty habits that Chinese people exhibit, from public spitting to cutting in line to smoking inside the elevator. It’s not Western cultural imperialism, it’s basic respect for other people. Though on the positive side,
disappointment
Why It Sucks To Be a Chinese-American in China
From a NYTimes article titled China’s Financial Industry Recruits Abroad: Despite the swelling number of unemployed financial service employees, those qualified to work for Chinese firms is extremely small. Mr. Leggett’s background in Chinese — he studied Mandarin for four years as an undergraduate student at Columbia — made his move feasible. He has shocked many recruiters with his Chinese ability: “They see a tall, white guy and they’ve got low expectations. When they find out I can say a lot more than ‘hello,’ in Chinese, they begin to take me seriously.” Oh that’s great. But when they see an average-height Asian girl they have different expectations. Every time I speak to a Chinese person, they expect me to be completely fluent. Here are five different circumstances I find myself in: 1. I tell them I am Chinese (or Chinese-American). Laughter. Okay, seriously, what am I? Proceed to point out certain superficial features that lend then to believe that I am of a different race. Conclusion: I speak Chinese, but I look Korean or Japanese. Therefore, I am Korean or Japanese. 2. I tell them I am Chinese-American. Disappointment. Believe that as a descendent of Chinese people, my Chinese should be
Look What I Get To Live In!
(image of bicyclists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square via nytimes) The UN Environment Program released a report last Thursday (side note: good typography, color choices, UN!) about the thick clouds of smog and soot over Asia and the likely effects it has on health, food security, and environmental changes. Due to the unprecedented nature of these noxious brown clouds, the exact consequences of their presence is not confirmed. Regardless of the consequences, it seems like countries are dilly-dallying around until the human/environmental toll is too hard to ignore, which may be years away. By then it will be too late. The world needs to get on this shit, pronto. And seriously this time. On a related note, though I may not be dying, I am still suffering. Now that I have finished consuming about 200 pills in the past two weeks, I don’t feel much better. I don’t really want to continue taking these pills. For one, I can’t bring myself to trust Western medicine produced in China. Second, I don’t like eating too many antibiotics over a long period of time. I mean, what if I created a mutant bacteria and created the next Avian Flu? Anyways, every time I
Away, away
Due to extremely poor internet connections (we’re talking 20 minutes to load one single page here), I have failed to update as much as I’d like. In a few hours, I am headed to Shanghai and Nanjing for a little over a week. I have opted not to bring my laptop, which is a bold move on my behalf. I think I will survive.
What Next, Melamine in Oxygen?
The Shanghaiist reports of the many more products that have shown traces of melamine. I can’t believe how this is turning out, and I don’t even want to imagine the many other harmful chemicals that are in the foods we consume. Way to lose major face, China.
Tainted Milk
Today I will be throwing out all of my dairy products. The melamine milk scandal just continues to spiral deeper and deeper into trouble. Not long after I posted about melamine in milk and yogurt products, I went on a rampant search to find what exactly those “eight out of 30 products” were. I searched English news websites, Chinese news websites, the Chinese Ministry of Health website, all to no avail. But then all of Hong Kong’s supermarkets started to recall all of Yili’s products. When precautions made on behalf of a government are that intense, something’s gotta be up. I have to wonder, why does China not take preemptive measures so that events like this don’t have to happen? It is only when it it’s too late (i.e., people die, are hospitalized, etc.) that the government takes action. Talk about losing face. But that’s how China works, and something tells me that unless major government reforms are implemented, it’ll stay this way.