Today is a holiday in China. Based on the Chinese lunar calendar, we are midway through autumn! The appropriate way to celebrate mid-autumn festival is by eating mooncakes while looking at the moon. Mooncakes are little round pastries, filled with dried fruit or some other kind of sweet filling. They are really heavy and not necessarily my favorite snack, but recently some friends gave me one that was not very heavy or sweet and it tasted pretty good.
I find it hard to believe we are mid-way through autumn already. I continue to wear sandals and a T-shirt everyday. However, over the past week, I have had three different people tell me that it is too late to wear sandals because its fall now and I will get sick if I wear sandals without socks. The wardrobes of people here have changed within a week. Even though the days are still sunny and warm, everyone wears a jacket or sweatshirt. The Chinese tend to consider the season, not necessarily the weather itself as an indicator of what to wear. I, however, am determined to continue to wear sandals and T-shirts as long as they are comfortable. I guess I can't adapt too well to these customs.
On the weekends, I like to go shopping (which sounds funny because really I hate shopping). But part of my research is to consider the rise of supermarkets and consumerism in China. So I try to visit different supermarkets throughout the city. Supermarkets in China, as they have grown substantially over the past decade, generally refer to large stores where one can buy just about any household item. Like a Super Wal-Mart in the US, they include food and clothes and everything in between, usually separated by 2-3 different floors. As I strolled through supermarkets in town yesterday, I was greeted with winter jackets and long underwear. The long underwear here is thick and bulky, meant to protect against the cold Siberian winds that winter in Harbin faces.
I have been warned by more than enough people that winters in Harbin are long, dark, and cold. The only goal when one goes outside is to get as fast as they can to the next building. Ah! I am just trying to get used to the idea that it is fall here, I can't even think about winter in Harbin. Its only September, but happy mid-autumn festival!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Irrational Fears
I hope something that most people share is an irrational fear. There are things that terrify me and I’m not exactly sure why; there is nothing rational about why I am so scared of it, but I am. In China I face two of my biggest fears on a regular basis. I hope I am learning not to be scared.
My first irrational fear: Rats. China has big, gross rats. It is not uncommon to see dead ones in the middle of the sidewalk. Even when it is dead, I walk as far away from it as I can get. When I was looking at apartments in Harbin, I wanted to get one that was at least on the sixth floor and was clean inside so it would not attract rats or mice. I had some of these in my first floor apartment in Sichuan and I refused to go inside until I knew the problem was taken care of. I’ve never had one hurt me, but nonetheless I am scared of it.
So the other day, my good friend Melissa and I went for a run. Like me, Melissa is a Geography PhD candidate (but not at Colorado). We got to know each other in Beijing last year and by shear luck, we both ended up in Harbin this fall. So after our run, we were walking through a park on our way home when a big rat ran across our path, just inches from our feet. Together, the two of us screamed, loudly and in unison. Actually it was more like a bloodcurdling screech. I’m surprised no one ran up to us to make sure we were OK. Instead, two guys behind us laughed, no doubt having seen the entire event. At least we gave them a show and I know I have a friend with whom I can share my irrational fear of rats.
My second irrational fear: the telephone. This is really embarrassing, but I hate to make telephone calls. I do not mind receiving calls and I do not mind making calls if someone is expecting me to call or if its is a good friend. And if there is nothing I hate more than making phone calls to complete strangers, its making phone calls to complete strangers while speaking in Chinese.
After using my professor at Northeast Agricultural University for academic connections at the university for other rice professors, I’ve realized that I am on my own now to get connected to businesses and companies who process and distribute rice. I’ve spent the last few days surfing the internet, gathering the names of agricultural companies in Heilongjiang that supply rice. So now I have a list. I also have a speech planned, ready for when I actually make the calls. I’ve made plenty of phone calls in Chinese before and it always turns out fine. After one or two calls, I realize nothing bad is going to happen and it gets easier. But for now I am sitting with a list staring at me, waiting for me to call. I hope by posting this I am forcing myself to make the phone calls so you all can check up with me.
My first irrational fear: Rats. China has big, gross rats. It is not uncommon to see dead ones in the middle of the sidewalk. Even when it is dead, I walk as far away from it as I can get. When I was looking at apartments in Harbin, I wanted to get one that was at least on the sixth floor and was clean inside so it would not attract rats or mice. I had some of these in my first floor apartment in Sichuan and I refused to go inside until I knew the problem was taken care of. I’ve never had one hurt me, but nonetheless I am scared of it.
So the other day, my good friend Melissa and I went for a run. Like me, Melissa is a Geography PhD candidate (but not at Colorado). We got to know each other in Beijing last year and by shear luck, we both ended up in Harbin this fall. So after our run, we were walking through a park on our way home when a big rat ran across our path, just inches from our feet. Together, the two of us screamed, loudly and in unison. Actually it was more like a bloodcurdling screech. I’m surprised no one ran up to us to make sure we were OK. Instead, two guys behind us laughed, no doubt having seen the entire event. At least we gave them a show and I know I have a friend with whom I can share my irrational fear of rats.
My second irrational fear: the telephone. This is really embarrassing, but I hate to make telephone calls. I do not mind receiving calls and I do not mind making calls if someone is expecting me to call or if its is a good friend. And if there is nothing I hate more than making phone calls to complete strangers, its making phone calls to complete strangers while speaking in Chinese.
After using my professor at Northeast Agricultural University for academic connections at the university for other rice professors, I’ve realized that I am on my own now to get connected to businesses and companies who process and distribute rice. I’ve spent the last few days surfing the internet, gathering the names of agricultural companies in Heilongjiang that supply rice. So now I have a list. I also have a speech planned, ready for when I actually make the calls. I’ve made plenty of phone calls in Chinese before and it always turns out fine. After one or two calls, I realize nothing bad is going to happen and it gets easier. But for now I am sitting with a list staring at me, waiting for me to call. I hope by posting this I am forcing myself to make the phone calls so you all can check up with me.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
The Northeast
Its been three months since I arrived in China in June. Except for 2 days in Beijing and 2 days in Inner Mongolia, I have been in Harbin (or at least Heilongjiang province) the entire time. I am learning so much about the northeast of China by being here and its much more than I thought there was to learn. The northeast is called the dongbei in Chinese (which actually translates directly as east north) and is a very distinct region of China. People here are dongbei more than they are Harbin. Its not just as though they live in Harbin, its that they associate where they live with the entire northeast of China.
Previously I lived in the southwest of China, but I called it Sichuan. There is a strong regional identity with Sichuan people. Although Guizhou and Yuannan are also provinces associated with the southwest, there are distinct provincial identities associated with each of the provinces. Throughout all of China, the northeast is Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces. There is no questioning that other provinces may or may not be a part of the northeast. Compare this to the US where the northeast is New England to some people, and to others, it extends down to Washington D.C. It is slightly more ambiguous in the US.
The northeast certainly has an interesting history within China and Harbin itself, as an international city with Russian traders and a refuge for Jews, has been at the center of most of this history. I just ordered a book on this history and will get it soon (via a friend of a friend who is coming to China next week). I am more interested in what has happened since the 1930s when Japan claimed control over the northeast as Manchuria. My interest comes in the form of rice that is grown here that has connections with Korea and Japan, but more on that later. For now, I am trying to understand the collective identity that northeastern people have with one another. The identity here is used both from within China (as a northeast person) as well as external to China to claim a collective identity with surrounding countries. And because I study food, of course I am interested in the ways that food marks one's identity.
A few weeks ago, I was walking down a street in Harbin and saw a store named Northeast Consumer Goods. I was in a rush to get somewhere, so I only had time to glance in the store and see it was a store selling food products from the northeast. I took note of the location, thinking they had to have rice there. Northeast rice is very famous, after all. So prepared with my camera and a speech to give the manager about who I was and what I was doing, I went back and walked into the store this week. I was greeted with packages of fancy berries, honey, and mushrooms. They even had alcohol in this store, but as hard as I looked (its a small store) there was no rice! So I asked the saleslady who had followed me around since I came in where the rice was. She said they don't have rice. I had built up too much hope in this store holding answers to why and how dongbei rice is marketed that I was dismayed.
But it was interesting to talk to her about why they don't have rice. Rice is not a specialty product, rice is a necessity, she told me. This store caters to middle class consumers who want to give friends and relatives outside of the region gifts from the northeast. Rice is not considered a gift apparently because it is a staple crop, even if it is labeled high quality from the northeast. I should have thought of that. But now I know. And I also know the more special gifts from the northeast if I ever need to give a gift to someone outside of the northeast.
Previously I lived in the southwest of China, but I called it Sichuan. There is a strong regional identity with Sichuan people. Although Guizhou and Yuannan are also provinces associated with the southwest, there are distinct provincial identities associated with each of the provinces. Throughout all of China, the northeast is Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces. There is no questioning that other provinces may or may not be a part of the northeast. Compare this to the US where the northeast is New England to some people, and to others, it extends down to Washington D.C. It is slightly more ambiguous in the US.
The northeast certainly has an interesting history within China and Harbin itself, as an international city with Russian traders and a refuge for Jews, has been at the center of most of this history. I just ordered a book on this history and will get it soon (via a friend of a friend who is coming to China next week). I am more interested in what has happened since the 1930s when Japan claimed control over the northeast as Manchuria. My interest comes in the form of rice that is grown here that has connections with Korea and Japan, but more on that later. For now, I am trying to understand the collective identity that northeastern people have with one another. The identity here is used both from within China (as a northeast person) as well as external to China to claim a collective identity with surrounding countries. And because I study food, of course I am interested in the ways that food marks one's identity.
A few weeks ago, I was walking down a street in Harbin and saw a store named Northeast Consumer Goods. I was in a rush to get somewhere, so I only had time to glance in the store and see it was a store selling food products from the northeast. I took note of the location, thinking they had to have rice there. Northeast rice is very famous, after all. So prepared with my camera and a speech to give the manager about who I was and what I was doing, I went back and walked into the store this week. I was greeted with packages of fancy berries, honey, and mushrooms. They even had alcohol in this store, but as hard as I looked (its a small store) there was no rice! So I asked the saleslady who had followed me around since I came in where the rice was. She said they don't have rice. I had built up too much hope in this store holding answers to why and how dongbei rice is marketed that I was dismayed.
But it was interesting to talk to her about why they don't have rice. Rice is not a specialty product, rice is a necessity, she told me. This store caters to middle class consumers who want to give friends and relatives outside of the region gifts from the northeast. Rice is not considered a gift apparently because it is a staple crop, even if it is labeled high quality from the northeast. I should have thought of that. But now I know. And I also know the more special gifts from the northeast if I ever need to give a gift to someone outside of the northeast.
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