An English Teacher in China

Driving in China seems to follow the general flow of things here, which appears to be:

just go baby, just go.

From a pedestrians point of view it looks like cars have the right of way and buses trump all. Cars seldom stop for people and buses never do, except at scheduled bus stops. Bicycles are fast, furious and everywhere. Electric bikes are deadly. They fly by in stealth mode, sometimes at speeds of up to 40km/hr. Sometimes I’m about to step off a sidewalk and whoosh an electric bike zooms by inches away from exploding into me. But, the biggest adjustment for me was in crossing a street in China.

Crossing the street in China is a challenge as you continually need to look in all directions, like running down on kick-off in an American football game, for all sorts of vehicles or 240lb linebackers (buses). The biggest challenge for me as a walker was watching cars turn right at a red light. Cars do NOT need to stop when turning right at a stop light. Actually, cars can speed up into the turn right. These drivers just go, and like a round-a-bout in Europe, without looking at the oncoming cars. The car coming onto the road seems to have the right-of-way. And no-one looks for pedestrians. The walker needs to be on the look out. Or to walk confidently giving a “straight arm” to the driver telling them they need to stop. Be careful, buses will NOT stop.

This “just go” mentality often leads to messy situations especially as more and more people are owning cars. People drive where they want when they want. Street signs seem to be recommendations only. Driving on sidewalks, driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and driving in the bicycle lane are common practices here. Actually I saw all of these situations while I was walking yesterday.

But sometimes, just going, can get you into trouble.

China is a developing country, yet, I’m often startled at the shocking contrast you’ll see on the streets of Beijing. From seeing the parade of black tinted Audis and Porsche Cayannes pass by and on the same street you’ll also see fruit vendors selling their goods on the back of a horse drawn carriage. China is the country of contrasts. I’m writing this post while enjoying my Starbucks coffee and studying about China.

From China Law Blog here’s an update on Chinese visas. A Z-visa is still the way to go.

The Beijinger’s fantastic summary on Chinese visas - Fact or Fiction. MUST READ.

I am feeling a bit lost these days and I need to make some decisions soon, so I thought I could use another dose of learning from THE teacher, Kong Zi, otherwise known as Confucius. Here are my favourite sections from his Chapter 7 in The Analects.

3. Confucius said, “Not to cultivate virtue, not to review what one learned, not to practice personally what is righteous, and not to correct one’s mistakes in time - these are all my worries.”

Good advice to follow. I especially like the idea of reviewing what one has learned and to put it into practice. These are two things that I could improve upon.

6. Confucius said, “Stick to the way to your goal, base yourself on virtue, lean upon benevolence, and take your recreation in the six arts (i.e. music, the rites, archery, carriage driving, classic books and arithmetic).”

I like the idea about staying focused and using virtue and caring towards others to keep you on the right path and in your free time to focus on positive things. Mind you some of them are a bit dated, though I still like the image of Confucius driving a buggy or a car. I do agree with the idea of focusing on books, music, math and being active. If you want some more tips on being virtuous here are some links from a great American teacher, Benjamin Franklin.

8. Confucius said, “I will not instruct my students until they have really tried hard but failed to understand. If I give them one instance and they cannot draw inferences from it, I will not teach them anymore.”

Tough teacher, but great principle: students must learn and figure things out by themselves. Learning must come from inside each of us.

20. Confucius said, “I was not born with knowledge, but, being fond of ancient culture, I was eager to seek it through diligence.”

I like this thought that the way to acquire knowledge is through hard work and diligent study.

22. Confucius said, “When walking in the company of other men, there must be one i can learn something form. I shall pick out his merits to follow and his shortcomings for reference to overcome my own.”

This is one of my favourite quotes from Kong Zi, that we can learn something from everyone.

27. Confucius fished with a hook but not with a net and he never shot birds in the nest.

I like this one as it shows the honour in the way Kong Zi lived and hunted.

28. Confucius said, “I am not one of those who pretend to understand what they do not. I suggest that one should listen to different views and choose the sound one to follow, see different things and keep them in mind. Knowledge obtained in this way is reliable, though not as good as innate knowledge.”

Listen to others’ views and choose for yourself. Good advice. Don’t pretend to understand what you do not. This one, I’ve got to work on.

It’s been an emotional time in China lately. I’m continually moved by the stories of people who have donated their efforts to help Sichuan recover from the earthquake. Yesterday on the news I saw an 80 year old grannie who came down to volunteer. It reminded me of my grammie back in Canada who did a similar thing back during the ‘95/’96 referendum when she supported her country. I don’t know what it is, nor how to describe it, except to say that I’m continually moved by these outpourings of love. On a financial front, I have given some money, but it never seems like it’s enough. As there are more and more needy charities asking for donations, there are more emotionally-charged images and requests for much needed money.

On a round up front, I came across some nice stories I wanted to share.

Here was a quick one from the PekingDuck which talks about a doctor who told his wife he was going out, jumped on a plane and went to Sichuan to help.

Here are a couple of interesting posts from Sinosplice. This one about the candlelit vigil moved me. And this one about how much donation was appropriate in a company was an interesting insight in the the Chinese culture. Both well worth a read.

From the emotional challenges China has been facing, I keep thinking how China needs and truly deserves a great Olympic games. I continue to send out positive energy pray that this happens. At China Briefing, they do more than send out thoughts as here they give some great tips on how to set up your Chinese office to make the environment as Olympic and employee friendly as possible. Their tips reminded me of working in Canada and watching the 2002 gold medal hockey game in my company cafeteria and thinking how lucky I was to be working for a company that would set up a big screen TV in the cafe for it’s employees.

Here is an interesting article from Asia Times about the quake and how the government is listening to the people.  Hopefully from this disaster some good will come, like improving the safety and quality of schools.

The other day I was having a class where we talked about TV news reports. I planned to start with a brainstorm about news stories about the main questions that all news stories answer: who, what, where, when, why and how? So when I asked the class about some big news events recently, the obvious one was the Earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan. I tried to move the topic away from that as it is still an emotional event that is ongoing. So, I tried getting other topics,

• The earthquake
• The torch relay controversies - I heart China, no heart France.
• The March14th riots in Tibet (picture the Quebec referendum)
• The snowstorm (picture the Ice storm that hit Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto back in ‘97)
• Inflation of 8% (food +20%)

All of these emotional events have taken place in the past 6 months. Talk about stretching one emotional, physically and spiritually. I don’t know how a country like Canada would handle this as well as the stress of putting on the Olympics (which Toronto would have had if Beijing didn’t get it.)
China, and the Chinese people, have been hit by a one hurdle after another and all have been quite visible. I don’t really know why I’m writing this except that I was shocked and impressed by how resilient the people and country have been. It is an emotional time now. While I don’t agree with everything and am sick of seeing certain things on the news repeatedly, I do hope that the Olympics in Beijing turn out to the best ever - China deserves it.

Usually, I don’t watch the opening ceremonies as I find them too long, theatrical and boring, but this time I will watch. Actually, I can hardly wait. I honestly believe this will be the most impressive and exciting opening ceremonies ever. Personally, I think the opening and closing ceremonies will be breathtaking. I cannot wait.

I hope China gets some good news their way and an exciting Olympics will do that. I cannot wait for 8-8-08 to come.

Kung Pao Chicken (Gong Bao Ji Ding) - The Recipe

I wasn’t sure if I’d ever find true love, and I still haven’t, but from a culinary point of view I’ve found the closest thing to true love and that’s a recipe for Gong Bao Ji Ding. Picture chicken breast cut into cubes with peanuts in a spicy sichuan hot sauce and NO BONES. It is the probably the most popular dishes for foreigners in China and it is my favourite dish by far. I’ve become an expert on eating Gong Bao Ji Ding and have become a bit of a snob when it comes to eating it. So, when I couldn’t find decent “Ji Ding” around my apartment, I finally decided to learn how to cook it.

With a lot of help from the book, The Everything Chinese Cookbook, and making a few additions based on what I like. I have found that everyone makes Gong Bao Ji Ding there own way. Here is my recipe for Gong Bao Ji Ding (Kung Pao Chicken).

Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons liao jiu (Chinese rice wine; dry sherry; bai jiu - would probably work too)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (can buy at Jenny Lou’s)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 handful (1/2 cup) of dried red hot chilis
• 1 cup unsalted
• 1/4 cup ginger root sliced (jiang)
• 1/2 cup spring onion diced into big pieces (da cong)
• sichuan black peppers (make your tongue go numb)

How to prepare

1. Cut the chicken in small cubes. Add the regular soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of liao jiu (cooking alcohol), and the cornstarch to the chicken, adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes.
2. Mix together the dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of liao jiu (cooking alcohol), sugar, and sesame oil.
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil to a preheated wok, skillet or frying pan (I use this). When oil is hot, add the chicken cubes and stir-fry until they are golden brown. Remove the chicken from the wok and drain.
4. Fry peanuts if raw. Add fresh oil to the pan. Add raw peanuts and fry until they are brown and tasty. Can add a pinch of salt for taste. For me, roasted peanuts is the key to good Gong Bao Ji Ding. Get this step right and you’ll enjoy it.
5. Move peanuts to the side, add a bit of oil if needed, and add the garlic clove, ginger root and spring onion. Stir-fry until aromatic. When it smells good. Mix in the peanuts, add the red chilis chopped and include the seeds (hot) and the sichuan peppers (I use ground sichuan peppers, but I think the full round ones would be better).
6. Move the spicy peanut mix to the side and add the sauce to the wok and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and add the chicken. Mix everything and simmer for a few minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

Serves about 2, usually, unless I’m hungry.  I usually like to have it on top of some white rice, so the rice can absorb some of the spicy sauce.

Enjoy.  Let me know how it turns out.  If you have your own recipe, I’d love to hear it.  Now I’m off to marinade my chicken and get the show started. Zai jian.

On Monday, I was in class when people excitedly ran around mentioning and earthquake. Actually, my boss got a call from her husband who was evacuated from his apartment building as a precaution. Other students who worked in tower buildings nearby also were evacuated. As I was in the basement of a building all day, I never felt the tremors here in Beijing. But I’ve heard that others did, especially those in tall buildings. This truly is a disaster. My heart goes out to the people in Wenchuan, Sichuan.

Here are some articles about the quake. I especially liked the one about bringing the Torch to Wenchuan and leaving it there. That almost brought a tear to my eyes. My prayers go out to all those affected.

All Roads Lead to China: Take the Torch to Wenchuan . I don’t know how possible this is, but it’s a great image. The torch left burning at Wenchuan to help bring attention, friendship, donations and love to the affected area.

CNReviews: China Earthquake photos and blogosphere. Some amazing photos here.

Whenever people talk about earthquakes in China, I am reminded of the deadliest earthquake of all time that happened in Tangshan, China near Tianjin in 1976. In this disaster over 240,000 people died. This quake happened 3 days after I was born.

Also when these natural disasters strike, I can’t help feeling like a tiny, insignificant spec on this planet. How all my stresses and worries really are about nothing. How if planet Earth wanted to change things up in my life it could do so in an instant. How really, life is a blessing that I take for granted too often.

Today I looked online at some personal finance blogs (another passion of mine) and found this great quote.

“They should just tell us we are dying when we are born, so that we actually live our lives.”

I don’t know why it takes something awful for me to realize this. That life - love, friendship, happiness - is an amazing gift.

If you want to give (money, clothing or food) you can see the updated contact information at the bottom of the CNReviews site.

“So do you want to spend all your life with your wife?” asked my student.

“I’m not married.” I replied.

“But, when you get married, do you want to spend your entire life with one woman?” she returned.

I looked at her in surprise, “Of course I do. If get married to one woman, I would want to spend the rest of life with her.”

Now she looked surprised. “Why then do they say westerners are so open if you want to share your life with only one person?”

I was a bit shocked to her questioning and I thought the conversation was leading down a path of westerners being too open physically, or sexually, with our relationships and that Chinese were more conservative and so in some way better. This is a conversation and feeling that has grown on me in a negative way over the years.

As there were only two female students in class, I thought we could have a discussion - and it seemed a more electrified topic than the grammar we had to review, so we went down this path of western relationships being “open”.

I started by trying to explain that westerners often date for fun especially before marriage. That it is common for us to have many partners; to date many different people casually before we decide to get married. From between the ages of 16 to about 26 westerners date for fun: to get to know many partners; to get to know what they want in a partner and in a relationship. But when we get married that we try to stay together, “until death (or divorce) do us part.” Then I went on a tangent talking about how social pressures are leading to higher rates of divorce. After that we got back on track to western relationships by talking about my parents being happily married for over 30 years and how most people who get into marriages, hopefully, intend on staying together for the long-term.

Then I tried to show my understanding of Chinese relationships and how most Chinese don’t date for fun. They nodded in agreement. That in China dating is serious. People date to get married. It seems like Chinese don’t start dating until much later than westerners. I have met a lot of my university students, 18-19 years old, never having kissed a boy or girl. (Looking back on my spin-the-bottle kissing parties at the age of 13 did make me judge my own moral past!) But if Chinese start dating and kissing in university, it makes sense for them to be a bit more serious about their relationships. From my perspective it seems that in China if you aren’t serious about a relationship and aren’t ready to take on the responsibility that comes with marriage, then it’s best not to get into one or to be very honest about your intentions. Again she nodded in agreement. Yet, she was still quite puzzled.

From watching TV shows, movies, music videos and from hearing things from her parents, friends and teachers, people say westerners are “open”. Being open sometimes means open-minded which I proudly agree with. But it also often has the connotation of being open sexually, to be promiscuous and or to be morally dirty. This I hate. I guess I hate the idea of being morally judged. My poor student was still confused by this perceived contradiction and my explanations.

Then my other student chimed in and told us about her Chinese girlfriend who married an American. Her friend, the married one, thought that while Americans may date a lot before and are more “open” than Chinese before they get married, but after they get married they become quite conservative maybe more so than Chinese are. When I heard I felt that this was right. I also felt a bit morally vindicated; that not all westerners are “open” and that our relationships are great, challenging, happy, horrible and hopefully lifetime pursuit. That is once you’ve had your fun and met the right person to be with for the rest of your life.

The comedy of confusions over cultural clashes to be continued in my next class…

In this chapter the great teacher Confucius talks about giving, defines wisdom and benevolence and how a gentlemen will behave in a tricky situation, and the most important rule. 

Again, here is the definition of benevolent in case you weren’t exactly sure it’s meaning. I continually forget and that may be one of the reasons why it is so far from my life.  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/benevolent

          be-nev-o-lent (adj.)

1.            Characterize by or suggestive of doing good.

2.            Of, concerned with, or organized for the benefit of charity.

be-nev-o-lent-ly (adv.)

Synonyms: benevolent, charitable, philanthropic

          These adjectives mean of, concerned with, providing, or provided by charity.  See also synonyms at kind.

So lets jump into Chapter 6’s lesson.

5/ When Yuan Si (a disciple of Confucius) became Confucius steward, Confucius gave him 90 hectolitres of grain.  Yuan declined.  Confucius said, “Do accept it.  You can distribute excess to the other people in your neighbourhood.” 

Confucius was generous in his teaching and in his giving.

12/ Ran Qiu said, “It is not that I dislike your doctrines, but that I do not have enough energy.” Confucius said, “If it were a case of not having enough energy, one would give up half way through, but you have not yet taken a step.”

This reminds me of me.  Often I’ll create a lame excess for not doing something, when really I just have not even tried to do it.  Oddly, when I do act, when I do take that step, usually amazing things come my way.

22/ Fan Chi asked what wisdom was.  Confucius said, “If one gives sound advice to the common people so that they will cherish what is right and just, and respects the spirits of the dead and the gods while keeping them at a distance, then he can be called wise.” Fan asked what benevolence was, Confucius said, “if one is the first to take a difficult job and the last to think about reward, then one can be called benevolent.”

26/ Zai Wo asked, “If you tell a man of benevolence that a man has fallen into the well, will he jump in after him?  Confucius answered, “How can you raise such a question?  A gentleman will rescue the man in the well, but he wouldn’t jump in himself.  He may be cheated but will never be fooled into taking unintelligent actions.”

I like this vivid story and how a gentlemen, while will rescue the poor fella in the hole, will use his intelligence and think of the best solution to the problem. 

30/     Zi Gong asked, “What do you think of one who can bring bountiful benefits and a better life to all the people?  Is he benevolent?

          Confucius answered, “Far more than benevolent, he would be a sage for whom Yao and Shun (two ancient sages) would be no match  A benevolent man is one who helps others establish what he himself wishes to establish, helps others achieve something he wishes to achieve.  To be capable of treating others as one would be treated oneself is the best way to be benevolent.” 

The older I get, the more I come across this statement, or the Golden Rule, and the more I know that it is true.  If we simply treat others as we would want to be treated so many issues, problems and conflicts would simply vanish.