NOTICE JANUARY 2005: This site has not been appreciably updated since 1999. China is changing fast. Some information may no longer be accurate. Certainly, economic progress is transforming China. Political change has come more slowly. Recently, Doctor Jiang Yanyong, the man who became a household name in China last year when he contradicted government figures for the spread of the deadly SARS virus in the country, has recently disappeared after sending a private letter to the National People’s Congress and other leaders asking for an official reassessment of the events in Tiananmen on 4 June 1989. Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Please enjoy these pages. China is a wonderful country with wonderful people. NOTICE AUGUST 2005: I've just returned from a great travel study experience practicing Taijiquan (Taiqi / tai chi) in Deng Feng, China. The program was on Songshan Mountain at the Fawang Temple, the second oldest Buddhist Temple in China about 30 minutes drive from the famous Shaolin Temple. Martial arts are no longer practiced at the Shaolin Temple, only Fawang Temple, more than 400 years older than Shaolin Temple, allows wushu / martial arts training on temple grounds. It was such a great experience I created a website to promote the program. Click here to go to Taiqi.CA Q&A Readers' Tales Culture Subject 610 Contact Me Your guide in 1976 era People's Liberation Army uniform.          First, I need to set the record straight. I am not a travel guide. I am a professor of Chinese history and culture, a sinophile and an avid China traveler. If you are traveling to China on business or holidays or possibly moving your residence there, I will try to guide you. I will answer your questions and share our readers' tales. Where I cannot answer your question, I will post it and invite responses from our readers. Questions will be published in generic "a reader asks" format. Reader's tales will be attributed only if permission is provided. When doubt arises, I will check with you. The uniform? Circa 1976 (the cap later) People's Liberation Army. A friend's father, a retired PLA officer, found it in a trunk and gave it to me as a gift. Seneca College Professors at Beijing University, July 2001          Culture History Seminar, Beijing Univesity In July, 2001, the China Guide led a group of fellow Seneca College professors and friends to Beijing University. The group participated in two weeks of classes and travel to historic sites. We were actually driving through Tiananmen Square when the Olympic announcement was issued. About five minutes before midnight, actually before the official announcement, the first fireworks expolded beside our car. Perhaps they'd been given early notice of their historic achievement. More pictures... Hollywood Goes to China          Summer at the Beijing Film Studio In the Summer, 2000, Diana Eden and 18 members of Hollywood's film industry attended the 2000 Beijing Motion Picture and Television Conference. They met film industry counterparts at the Beijing Film Studios, The Beijing Opera and the Beijing Film Academy. For Diana's glimpse of China visit the Readers' Tales page. Attendees at 2000 Beijing Motion Picture and Television Conference: Chen Yan, Costume Designer; Diana, Costume Designer; Zhao Bo Tong, Professor Art Department, Beijing Film Academy; Cliff Chally, President, Costume Designers Guild. Today's weather in Beijing A reader asks: I will be visiting Shanghai for a few days. Is it safe there? I like to participate in local culture as much as possible. Confucius: When seeing what is good, pursue it as though you could never quite come to it; when seeing what is not good, elude it as though you dared not put your fingers into boiling water.          You are going to my favourite city. You must see the skyline from the rooftop of the Peace Hotel. It is stunning, especially at night. Access to the rooftop is free and the hotel itself reeks of history. Now let's get to your question. You have to be prudent in any large city, especially at night. However, I can tell you Western tourists are really quite safe. Personally, I've felt safer there than in any large North American city I've visited. I will warn you about an irritation you'll encounter in the Bund and Nanjing Road district (a must-see area). There are pimps on the look-out for foreign males. It is not so much their presence that is annoying but rather their manner. They chat you up for 10 to 20 minutes feigning an interest in practicing their English. Of course, you don't know they are pimps and you want to be polite (especially if you are Canadian, like me - although it was Confucius who said " When away from home behave as though you would entertain a distinguished guest."). Eventually, they always make the same proposal: "Would you like to go somewhere for a beer and to meet some Chinese girls?" It is reputed that these fellows are off-duty members of Public Security (the police) . Presumably, this is how they operate with such impunity. I won't forget one such encounter. It was along the Bund. This fellow was very presentable, bright and articulate. Initially I was sceptical but he wore me down. We chatted for nearly 30 minutes. Supposedly, he ran an art gallery in Beijing. We talked about art, culture, etc. I even told him about the pimps. He expressed alarm and told me it was illegal. It was only a short time later when he uttered the inevitable: "Would you like to go for a beer and meet some Chinese girls." Todays temperature in Shanghai... News links... A Chinese weekly of news and views. The official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party Hong Kong's leading English language newspaper Inside China Today is an online publication of European Internet Network More Chinese newspapers. I'm considering teaching English in China for a year or two. Can you recommend any helpful sites? My friend Eugene          I highly recommend Dave's ESL Cafe. It's a great employment resource listing teaching opportunities world-wide and has other resources including teaching materials and a discussion board. My dear friend Eugene (now deceased -- photo left) was hired through this site to teach in Taiwan. Bookmark me first and then visit Dave's. Dave's ESL Cafe I understand that China is a totalitarian state. How much personal freedom do the Chinese have? Public Security troop. We had a nice moment. They were on holidays!          Freedom vs. Stability It's not easy to talk about freedom in China, or any other country for that matter. I'm reminded of President Clinton's speech at Beijing University in 1998. He told the story of a man in New York City who stopped him during an election campaign to ask the following: "Mr. Clinton, if I vote for you, will you free my son?" The gentleman went on to explain that he was afraid to send his son to school in New York City because of the guns and fear of violence. It may be more accurate to say that China is an authoritarian state. Let me clarify. A totalitarian political system through one-party rule and a state bureaucracy attempts to control all state resources and every segment of social and all facets of private life. Mao Zedong's China was like this (for a glimpse of China during this painful era see the movie "To Live"). Once a significant degree of marketization (that is, liberalization) of economic life occurs control is no longer total and the political system becomes authoritarian. That is the situation in China today -- one party, authoritarian rule. It's difficult to talk about freedom in modern China; it is a matter of nuance in a country full of contradictions. For example, my friends in China can access this website but can't access my College's site. A firewall prevents them access. The justification for China's restrictions on access to the internet is its campaign against "spiritual pollution". Strangely, the Chinese cannot access my College's website but they can get all the porn they want. I can tell you Western visitors to China are generally surprised by the level of personal freedom they observe. I felt this, too and it's not entirely a faulty perception. Things have loosened up in China since the open-door policy of 1978 when Deng Xiao Ping uttered one of his famous statements: "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice." Later, he pronounced: "It is glorious to be rich." Today, the Chinese people are certainly free to become rich if they can figure out how. Politically, genuinely democractic elections have been held in Chinese villages over the last decade. This experimentation has not extended to other levels of political organization and there's no sign it will any time soon. Simply, after thousands of years of rule by emperors and the Chinese Communist Party, it's unclear just how much 'freedom' (i.e. western style democracy) the Chinese want. Confucius' famous saying: "Let the ruler rule and the subjects be subjects." rings true when describing modern China. It may be the Chinese are content to be ruled by a single party as long as the party rules ethically and for the benefit of the people. The Chinese believe that stability is most important. Stability will beget prosperity and prosperity will bring greater freedom. Stability and the obligation to preserve it is the government's justification for its crackdown on the meditation group/cult called the Falun Dafa. Since last year's demonstrations, 35,000 followers have been detained and 5,000 more were sent without trial to labour camps. The Chinese government has been alarmed at the group's ability to mobilize followers to demonstrate. Any gathering of people for common purpose is closely watched by the authorities lest they pose some threat to the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP considers itself the guarantor of stability in China. The People's Army doing civic duty. No, she's not a general; she's a train conductor. A few words on the justice system... Justice delayed is justice denied...?          There have been changes in the Chinese justice system. In the civil area, a judicial system recognizable in the west has been taking shape with the drafting of thousands of laws and the training of thousands of lawyers (this replaces the old neighbourhood committee system for conflict resolution). In criminal law, an accused is considered innocent until proven guilty (a very recent change). Nonetheless, one can be arrested and held for three years before charges are applied. And, Public Security officials (the police) can mete out instant punishment for traffic related offenses. This fellow in the picture below on the left was obliged to stand on the street corner holding the yellow flag of shame until the officer on duty determined his punishment satisfactory. I'm not sure what his crime was but my sense was that he'd been drinking. Everyone had a big laugh (thankfully including him) when I snapped my picture. Maybe you have to look at this sort of justice from the perspective of the Chinese. Our own legal system is overwhelmed; imagine if we had 1.24 billion people. Socially and individually, there's greater freedom in today's China. Although there are official newspapers that instruct regarding CP policy and views, there are thousands of smaller nonofficial publications, too many for government censors to screen. Cable is coming to China and phone-in radio shows allow citizens to air their views even to the extent of criticizing certain officials. But appearances can be deceiving. I learnt this one day after watching the movie "Titanic" in a Chinese film theatre. I asked my friend how many foreign films were released in China each year. The answer was "about ten". Earlier, that day I'd met with a group of high school students and happened to ask them about their favourite musical groups. They all cited performers from Taiwan and Hong Kong. I was a bit surprised that none had cited mainland performers because I knew there were several famous ones (e.g. Cui Jian) from the Tiananmen Incident era. Later, that night, after the film I returned to my quarters and continued reading one of my books. I came across the following facts. After the Tiananmen Incident, the Chinese government decided to placate the people by allowing foreign films into China, specifically -- ten. They also decided to go after the Beijing rock scene. Beijing rock and several rock anthems had sustained the students during the weeks of protest at Tiananmen. After the protest was crushed, rock performers could no longer get licences to perform in large concert halls, only small clubs. And, soft pop music from Taiwan and Hong Kong was imported for broadcast. In all liklihood, neither my friend nor those young students knew of the circumstances shaping their cultural tastes. Do we? Mobility restrictions exist (an internal passport system) but have been relaxed in recent years due largely to the requirements of marketization. Still, there are obstacles. Someone raised in Tianjin who goes to university in Beijing (a few hundred miles away) will have difficulty seeking employment in Beijing after graduation. If you want to travel overseas you have to persuade several levels of bureaucracy that your journey is justified. One of my friends, a working teacher, whose family has a bad political history, lied to get a visa for temporary travel to Canada. Once here, he was able to accept an offer of admission to a grad school in the U.S. Of course, other Chinese students have no trouble at all getting student visas. In today's China you can do a lot -- just don't criticize the CCP. I probably already know the answer to this but what's your advice regarding street food in China. Should I chance it? Locust Crab Mmmm...the best bread!          Buns in the oven... The Chinese love to snack. Well, we all do. Particularly, you notice it in the parks -- corn on the cob, individual weiners packaged in red plastic, tiny candied crab apples on a stick. And, as you can see left, other delicacies. They are not all tempting but some certainly are. You must be careful with fresh fruit. Always peel it. On my first trip, I bit into an orange peel to loosen it and developed symptoms several hours later. My friend ate grapes and was diagnosed with a symptom-free intestinal ailment once home (they also have a skin and he should have pinched them into his mouth like our Chinese friends). Another friend, a seasoned China traveler, couldn't resist eating some delicious red strawberries purchased from a sidewalk vendor. He was ill for several days and cursed himself for not knowing better. I've always wanted to try the candied apples but I was concerned there might be apple skin underneath. My first go at street food was a big success. They make several kinds of bread/buns in oil-drum ovens (see left). It is freshly baked, piping hot and absolutely delicious. My favourite was a sweet bread. What is life without a risk or two. I am travelling to China in December or possibly January to adopt a child. Can you tell me the types of weather I should expect? Is there a couple of different climates in China? What should I concentrate on for clothing? Kang dang kou pants.          I'm not sure which city you will visit but I'll assume you will be in eastern China. There are two climatic zones you might encounter: the wheat growing north and the subtropical, rice growing south separated by the Yangtze River and Shanghai. Shanghai can certainly be coolish at the time of your expected travel while Beijing in the north will be decidedly cold, about 32F or 0 degrees Celcius. Guangzhou in the south will be warm. Several years ago when I was returning from China eleven Canadian couples were returning to Canada with their newly adopted babies. The cutest baby I ever saw was right across the aisle from me. Three years later I happened to see their picture in the local paper as they were awarded their citizenship. The youngster on the left was climbing the Great Wall. I snapped my shot just as his kang dang kou pants opened. These pants are common in China. You won't find a lot of pampers there. Too expensive. Let me take this opportunity to tell you about a great resource for Chinese children raised in the West. It's Asia For Kids. It ensures they will not lose their culture. I also recall some reading materials for adoptive parents at this site. Asia For Kids Reporter's Notebook by Dulcie Ann Freeman: "Off to one side, near one of the few trees in the square, I saw a young father neatly spread a sheet of newspaper on the ground. Then he held his round infant son aloft over the paper while the baby defecated through the open bottom of his pants. The father delicately restored the baby to his shoulder, wrapped and tossed the small packet into the trash basket, and joined his companions. Amazing, I thought. This baby knew what was expected of him and cooperated!" (thanks to Betty White for providing this.) School kids visiting Tiananmen Square More Q&A