It’s the Year of the Pig, and I want to wish everyone a great Chinese New Year! Set off some fireworks and eat a lot of dumplings! Xīnnián Kuàilè!
I came across a very interesting article on Danwei.org today about Anna May Wong, a very early Chinese American film star (her career began in 1919). The article features a video interview with author Graham Russell Gao Hodges who literally wrote the book on Wong: Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend. In the interview, Hodges summarizes Wong’s life, which I found to be somewhat fascinating. I had never heard of Anna May Wong before, and I was completely surprised to learn that there had even been actresses of Asian descent that early in cinematic history. I’m tempted to read Hodges’ book now myself. Do yourself a favor and check out the interview on Danwei.org or DanweiTV.org. It’s really very interesting.
Crystal got back from her business trip to Shanghai just fine. She was able to visit Suzhou, which she had never done before. Below are a couple of pics from her trip.
Suzhou is quite nice. It has been referred to as the “Venice of the East” because of its Venice-like canals. Duh. I’ve never been to Venice, so I can’t comment on any possible similarities.
In other Crystal news, she’s getting her Chinese driver’s license. Supposedly, it’s really hard to get a license to drive in China, although you wouldn’t know it by the way people drive over there. The traffic is incredibly insane. And yet, I haven’t seen that many accidents over there. I’m not saying they don’t happen; I’m sure they happen all the time. I just didn’t see any. Though I will say that every time I was in a taxi I literally feared for my life and the lives of those with me. I’m not joking. Anyway, I really didn’t want Crystal to get her driver’s license in China because when she comes here she would have to learn a whole new way of driving. But I’m more or less in a let-her-do-whatever-she-wants mode, so there you go. She passed her initial written test, but I’m not entirely sure what comes next. From what she says, there are several test she has to take before she gets licensed. Wish her luck.
Crystal is in Shanghai right now. You could definitely say that, at this moment, there is no place I would rather be than with her in Shanghai (that wonderful city) right now. Of course, it probably wouldn’t be much fun since she is there for a business meeting, so I don’t think there would be much togetherness. She’s doing fine, though, and told me that they will have an outing tomorrow to Suzhou and Hangzhou. I don’t think she’s been to either place. I’ve been to Suzhou which is quite interesting. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it. She told me they will be visiting the [very famous] Zhou (I have no idea if that’s how you spell it) Village.
She and I have actually both been to Shanghai before, at the same time but not together. I had been flying home from Shenzhen (by way of Shanghai), and she flew there for a job interview (for the job she now has). For some reason that I now don’t remember, we weren’t on the same plane to Shanghai and because she was staying and I was moving on, we ended up in different parts of the airport with no way to see each other. And that’s my story about the time Crystal and I were both in Shanghai.
I want to expand on what I wrote about yesterday a bit. As I said, children are raised very differently here than they are in China. One of the strange (to me) things I noticed the first time I traveled in the Middle Kingdom (the trip where I met Crystal) was that there were a lot of toddlers running around wearing pants with open slits on the seats, exposing their bare bottoms. When some people in my tour group pointed this out, our tour guide, Julia, told us that this was “the way” in China, so that if the child needed to go, he or she could just go. Now, this wasn’t in some rural, backwater area of China. This was in Beijing, the capital city. In Xi’an, I witnessed a child defecating on the street, right out in the open, with the child’s approving mother standing near. Well, to be fair, the child was relieving himself into a tree-planter and not directly onto the sidewalk. I also heard rumors that, when Hong Kong Disneyland opened, they had a hard time preventing guests (these were Mainland Chinese tourists, mind you, not HK residents) from allowing their children to urinate and defecate in the plants. Now, I think China is a very interesting place. I love traveling there and learning about the history and the rich [5,000 year old] culture. But it’s things like this that make me think the whole country has gone completely insane.
Chinese parents tend to spoil their children rotten. I assume that this is on account of the one child policy in China. As a result, you have a bunch of spoiled little kids running around, thinking they rule the universe. There’s even a name for it: “Little Emperor Syndrome”. Now, this mostly applies to the boys. Male children are valued more highly than female children—this is one of the reasons there are so many baby girls abandoned in China every year. I don’t have any statistics about this, so please don’t take my word as law. But this happens primarily in rural areas. Why do so many people go to China to adopt babies? Because there are so many orphans, and pretty much all of them are girls. But I digress. The point is that the children are spoiled. See The 88s article (linked below) for more information about this kind of thing. Even Crystal is very spoiled to a shocking degree, but she’s coming away from that to a realization that maturity is preferable to immaturity. And, hey, please don’t think that I believe I’ve cornered the market on maturity.
Anyway, I find myself wondering how these difference will translate in my impending marriage to a Chinese girl. Certainly our un-potty-trained children will wear diapers as is proper. Crystal and I haven’t exactly discussed this issue, though I’m confident she’ll see the value of the American way of doing things in this particular area. But there are other issues, perhaps just as seemingly “no brainer” as this one, that she may or may not agree with me about. She already has suggested that our kids go live with the grandparents in China for a few years when they’re young. Um… no. We may take some extended vacations there, but leaving my kids there for an expansive period of time? I don’t think that’s going to happen.
There were a couple of very interesting posts recently over at The 88s, a blog written by an American who is married to a Chinese gal. Sometimes, hilarity ensues. Anyway, one entry, “Suffer the Little Brats”, talks about the difference between American child rearing and Chinese child rearing. I won’t go into repeating what the author said; you should really read the article for yourself. But this is something I think about quite a bit, seeing as how my plan is to marry a Chinese girl myself. See, both Americans and the Chinese think their way of doing things is the right way. When it comes to child rearing, a Chinese woman, married to a waiguoren (foreigner) will no doubt think that the Chinese way of raising children produces better results. I worry wonder if this will be my wife’s attitude as well.
The second article on The 88s, titled “My Wife, the ‘Foreigner’ in China”, relates how the author’s wife returned to China recently, and it was the first time she’d traveled there without her husband in tow. Unfortunately, she experienced some very prejudicial treatment. Her countrymen and women now treated her with hostility and seemed to consider her as something of a traitor for moving to the U.S. and marrying a foreigner. It’s a very interesting entry. And don’t forget to read the comments. Also, you might want to check out these classic entries by The 88s: “In-Lawed” and “Best In-Law in a Foreign Country”.
Previously, on my main blog, the Art of Stu, I had posted an entry about my international relationship woes. Now, everything seems to have worked itself out, hopefully for good. One of the main problems my girlfriend was having, I gather, was that I hadn’t gone through all the traditional rigamarole that is required when marrying a Chinese gal. In other words, I didn’t throw some sort of engagement party and make a big, damn fool of myself in front of her friends and family by making a showy and formal request to marry her. I guess that only then have I proved that I’m serious about her. Not the three trips to China after I met her. Not the daily phone calls. Not the diamond ring. Only when I’ve made an ass of myself will I be worthy.
It’s okay, I suppose. But it means yet another trip to China. The Spring, though ideal, is a little too soon, financially speaking. Being in China during the Summer is a pain. So, maybe September. That might give me time to save up for the trip and learn some more Mandarin. Also, we could secure the visa prior to that time, and then, at the end of the trip, she could just come back with me. If she wants to, that is. More on this as things progress.
Time Magazine still refuses to give my name back. I tried leaving a comment on their blog demanding that they get their own name and leave mine alone. I guess they thought I was flaming them; they wouldn’t post my comment on their blog. I wonder if I have grounds for legal action. Boycott Time Magazine!
No sooner do I start this blog than Time Magazine comes out with its own China-related blog and calls it what? The China Blog! The jerks stole my name. They should be ashamed of themselves. Sure, my blog won’t have the hard-hitting journalistic stories that Time’s will, but that shouldn’t matter. I was here first. So, what that I’ve only made one entry. My blog started way back in 2006. Theirs started this year. But, hey, if they want to buy my domain from me, I’ll sell it to them for, say, 5K. Otherwise, I think they should cease and desist and call their blog something else.
My fascination isn’t just with China but with all things Eastern. I’ve often wondered where this interest originated, but I’m still not sure I understand it completely. When I was a kid my best friend was Korean. He was half-Korean/half-American to be exact. His dad had been a G.I. and his mom was a Korean lady. I used to go to their house for dinner which would often be in the Korean barbecue style. I learned about kimchi and chopsticks.
Much later, when I entered high school, I found myself being somewhat a loner. It was a new school and I didn’t know anybody, not even one person. For some strange reason it was the Vietnamese kids who befriended me. I began hanging out with them at lunch time and not one of them seemed to think it was strange.
Over the years, other factors contributed to my growing interest in Asian people and culture: a Japanese exchange student, a Korean family friend, anime cartoons, movies (especially martial arts movies). Then, one day, I started thinking about actually going there, to China, I mean. The first time I ever went to Disneyland they had an attraction called Circle Vision. It was a big movie 360 degree movie theater. One of the movies you could see there was called “Wonders of China” (I think that’s what it was called). I remember thinking that China was a very beautiful country and that I would like to visit it one day. Many, many, many years later I decided it was high time I saw some of the world. So, I started making plans and went to China. And it changed my life forever.
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