Background checks

Yesterday, we were taken to a local police station to register with the authorities. This is now required of any foreign national residing on a university campus, even if their visit is short. In the past, the university just took copies of our passports. The involvement of the "People's Police" in academic visits is one of many signs that security has tightened in the aftermath of the Olympics.

The experience was routine but unnerving. Yingjuan Tang, who escorted us to the station interpreted for us. She said it was best if I did not let on that I knew some Chinese. The officer who interviewed us, a woman, was very polite but the atmosphere was intimidating. The questions were simple: they wanted to know how long we'd be in China, where we would go, why we were here. She scanned our passports and searched interminably on a bunch of computer screens. She seemed to be doing some type of background check. Afterwards, she printed out forms which she asked us to sign, and stamped them with a big red star representing the People's Republic. I don't think our interviews took more than an hour, but it felt way longer.

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, or Johnson City for that matter.

Pictures: The ubiquitous People's Police

Is teaching a competitive sport?

Weifancheng or Wendy (pictured above) is an English teacher here at NCUT. She was in my class last summer and also participated in the English pedagogy seminar at ETSU. Recently, she was selected to participate in China's National English Teaching Competition.

She described the process to me, and I relate it as accurately as I can. NCUT selected her and one other teacher to take part in the national competition. There were five levels or rounds. The judges were college professors. For round 1, the local level, she was videotaped teaching her class. She passed to round 2 where she submitted lessons plans, and curricular material. I believe she was also interviewed by a panel of judges. She passed to the provincial level, or round 3. Here, she was assigned to a group of students she did not know previously, given material to teach, and was videotaped on short lesson. She was evaluated on poise, rapport, knowledge, efficient presentation, diction, and professional appearance. She came in fifteenth, out of all the English teachers in Beijing which was impressive, but not high enough to qualify for the national
competition.

So is teaching as a competitive sport? Are you kidding? It's an art, an idiosyncratic process, which cannot be scored like basketball or even synchronized swimming. At its core, teaching is about passion for one's subject and clearing away confusion that prevents a person from learning it. It's an intuitive human process, not a series of skills.

American educators have a lot to learn from the Chinese. But I hope to heaven that competitive teaching is not a practice we copy.

Eating an omelet with chopsticks

Once a week, we eat in a restaurant called Beasleys with a group of our friends. The menu offers traditional Southern breakfasts. Its pancakes and omelets are especially good. Perhaps Joe was missing Beasley's when he ordered a combination omelet and crepe in a campus cafeteria. Prepared on an open griddle, the dish combines eggs, scallions, chili peppers, brownish sauce and a Chinese type cracker I could not identify. It was rather large, and hard to handle with chopsticks, though Joe seemed to manage.

I think Beasley's should start featuring it? Of course, they'd have to
get chopsticks.

Take me home, please!

In some parts of China, big dogs are raised as livestock and eaten. Miniature dogs are popular pets, though, especially since families became smaller with the one child policy. The government forbids people to keep big pets in the cites. This is understandable, given how close together people live. The dog in the picture above was allowed to enter the campus super market, and people started petting it.

Cats are less often kept as pets in this country. They typically live outside and are used to suppress the rat population. College students sometimes feed the cats on this campus, and the cats seek human attention.

This cat (below) was nuzzling the young lady pictured below, but the girl explained in forceful Chinese this cat was not hers. The cat became interested in me, but I told it I live in America and have cats already. Knowing how our older cat Butter reacted when the younger Jasmine arrived, I can only imagine how our two cats would react if a Chinese cat arrived in their household. Besides, I'm not sure the US government would allow us to bring a pet back with us.

Amy Ramsey, who is looking after our cats, tells us Butter and Jasmine are doing well.

What do they want us to do with the bottles?

My Chinese study is paying off, though I am far from fluent. I can
understand what merchants and waiters say to me some of the time; taxi
drivers understand me. This morning, I got a student to tell me where
to find the recycling bin by waving an empty bottle at the trash can
and saying "Where are the plastic bottles?". My vocabulary is
definitely limited.

Pictures: The dining hall

Information control

I write this blog from Beijing, but the actual posting is done by our
good friend Dennis Cope in America.

North China University of Technology, where I am working is
well-equipped and has a lovely a lovely campus (see photos). Students
walk about smiling and play ball. To look at this place, you would not
know how tightly information is controlled. It is, I think tighter
than in previous years.

In my current location, I cannot use Dropbox, the system I would
normal use to share files with Dennis . Nor can I access any type of
information bypass software. I cannot see Facebook, blogspot, or
Youtube, all of which were available the summer of the Olympics.
Obviously, I cannot view this blog, but I will read your comments when
I return to the States.

We've had a good sleep and are reconnecting with friends. As always,
excursions to China are an adventures.

A world of paper

Museums have taken to developing exhibits for passengers in transit. I greatly appreciate this. The exhibit by the International Origami Museum in the Tokyo Airport is particularly good. These artists recreate the world in folded paper. Brings to mind the jokes about Sunday school classes replicating the universe from colored macaroni and my children’s jibes about the way we used to sculpt animals and trees from bread dough.

But origami is an art, not just a children’s pass time, and the scenes of pagodas, musicians, and flowers these artists create are truly impressive.

A Culture of Gift Giving

We arrived in Beijing late last night, and at Noon there’s a to do at the university. I’ve wrapped a bunch of gifts for our Chinese hosts (above). It’s best to leave them unwrapped ‘til you get here, because Homeland Security unwraps them if they go through your suitcase when they’re looking for bombs.

The Chinese are always giving gifts to their families, their colleagues, their guests and their friends, and it’s only polite to reciprocate. In international friendships, items representing American culture are especially appreciated, so I crammed my suitcase with knickknacks, stuffed animals, ETSU paraphernalia, and miscellaneous dust catchers. As a result my suitcase was very heavy, and Homeland Security inspected it. However, the airline did not consider it overweight, which was fortunate— they now charge a hundred fifty bucks for an overweight suitcase. It made a big difference that I had all of my books on the Kindle.

Finding gifts items that weren’t made in China was a challenge, and some of the stuff I bought was actually manufactured in here. I’m told the Chinese understand if some of the stuff representing America was actually made in China. A sign of the times.

Below: The gifts I brought. Maybe I won’t run out this time.