It's been a long time and I have much to share. I apologize for not keeping up with this as much as I planned. To be honest, since my last post I feel like I have become extremely settled into Beijing and sometimes it's hard to really step back and look at it all. Also, since I've become so used to everything, its kind of hard to distinguish between what's "Chinese" about what I've been doing.
That's my excuse. I'll continue with the regularly scheduled blogging now.
SOCIOLOGY FIELD TRIPS
My Chinese sociology class is taught by a very animated young Chinese man named Kan Wang. His lectures often involve really great stories of his times as a researcher in different parts of rural China. He also is pretty open about his personal experience with bribery and forgery. For his sake, I'm not going to go into detail about that sort of stuff but I will talk about some of the field trips we've been on.
1. MIGRANT WORKERS COMMUNITY
The first real field trip we went on was to a migrant worker NGO and community.
BACKGROUND: Migrant workers are extremely important and significant members of Chinese society. As you would think, they take seasonal jobs in different industries. I think the more popular jobs are in heavy industry but they pretty much take what they can get. If you're traveling around Chinese train stations and see packs of people with massive bags on their shoulders, most likely they're migrant workers.
The community we went to is a place where migrant workers live and send their kids to school. It seems weird that migrant workers have permanent homes in Beijing but for Chinese people, you can still be a migrant worker even if you're not moving all the time. China restricts the movement of people across provinces (through the HuKou system) so workers living in Beijing often remain non-Beijingers and are not guaranteed government-provided insurance or public services like education.
We talked to several people who work for the migrant workers NGO that seeks to provide legal aid for migrant workers who are abused or mistreated by factory managers. The people who work for the NGO are former migrant workers who really have an interest in fighting for the rights of workers even though they make as much if not less money than migrant workers. From talking to the NGO reps, it seemed like there is a sense among migrant workers that they pride themselves on being THE labor force of China. Around the community there were banners hanging in everyone's home that said something to the effect of "labor is glorious" or "the success of the nation is in the hands of the laborers". Many migrant workers come from rural backgrounds and see becoming a migrant worker as a very promising job choice. Many rural farmers and migrant workers talk about success stories of migrant workers who work their way up to become factory managers.
The school we visited in the migrant community was very poorly equipped. The teachers had to control huge classrooms of kids and even with the school there, most of the kids don't complete high school. The community school is really the only option for any type of education since the migrant children can't go to public schools.
2. BEIJING'S PREMIER HIGHSCHOOL
To see the other side of town, we went on a trip to a local high school in Beijing that serves the elite students of Beijing. The school uniforms consisted of white sweatsuits with different colored stripes that indicate what grade each student is in. We first went to see a gym class which was basically a student led class outside on the school's track and field area. The facilities were very nice but there really weren't enough teachers to lead a single class so some older kids run the different activities. The most memorable activity was the 10-legged race. This consisted of 10 kids standing side-to-side with their legs strapped together racing around the track. I was really impressed by the students' ability to literally sprint exactly in pace with one another. I also thought to myself that this activity was a truly "Chinese" PE activity reflecting the ideals of class cooperation and the emphasis of the group over the individual. In China, communism even penetrates PE class.
3. 798 District
This was really the coolest place I think we went to as a class. 798 District is an area on the outskirts of Beijing that consists of tons and tons of art studios and cafes. It is THE liberal expression spot in Beijing with really modern and off-the-wall artwork, some of which is pretty critical of the government if only in very subtle and sarcastic ways. While we were there we pretty much just cruised around different studios. I would recommend this to ANYONE who comes to Beijing. It's not one of the first places people mention when they talk about stuff to see but its definitely worth checking out.
798 is also the place where I ate my first and only bagel in China. This may seem like a stupid thing to mention but you have to realize that there are probably more Jews in Iran than there are bagels in China.
It's good to get back into this blogging thing. Here are a few things to look forward to (assuming i get around to it).
Making a movie in Chinese
Great Wall hiking trip
Wu Tai Shan
Inner Mongolia long weekend trip
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