Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Now for something a little bit different. I was at a discussion on the following subject tonight: Should same-sex marriage be legalized in mainland China? Which wow, kind of cool, right? This event was organized by one of the undergraduate colleges of my university, it was two debate teams competing. Four people on each team, with a very rigid structure. The teams took turns giving their opinion, each participant had between 1:30 and 3 minutes to speak. Now obviously, this was a debate team competition, so the opinions they represented were not necessarily their own, but I still thought it was immensely interesting. So here, a little recount of the event. Also remember that I understood only about 30% and I might have misunderstood some things.

(Gary, if you're reading this, ask your roommate how much of this is accurate :) )

The event was started with the moderators introducing the judges, most of whom were teachers at the university. Here I took my first note of the evening: One of the teachers hadn't shown up, which the moderator commented on with 可能他没敢来 - maybe he didn't dare to come.

Then the debate started. All the debators were male, which I thought was a little strange, but I guess just the way it is. And let me just say, they had amazing debating skills. Most of them used the time they had perfectly, coming to their conclusion just as  time ran out. One of them even finished exactly to the second. Also, they were very animated and spoke at a ridiculous speed (one of the reasons I struggled to understand them). When they were asking each other questions, it was a common technique to pose the question, and then immediately interrupt your opponent's answer with the next question. All in all, a highly entertaining event.

So now for a few of the arguments from both sides.

The Pros:

• Homosexual people are normal people, so they should have the same rights.
• Changing the law will also change the attitude of the people. They used an analogy to equal rights for 黑人 - literally "black people" - in America. Once the law was changed to protect equal rights, the attitude of the general public also changed to become more accepting.
• It takes time to change the law, but to protect equal rights, you need a law change. So better start now.
• Then there was something about the number of inhabitants in China, which I didn't quite understand. Maybe, because they can't have children, the growth will slow down?? Or they can adopt children? I really can only guess.
• It worked in the West.
• It's being discussed in Taiwan. (This is where the "mainland" in the discussion topic is important)
• Also they kept saying something about 30%. Where sorry, my listening skill totally failed. I have no idea. Maybe 30% of Chinese people support equal rights for homosexuals??

The Cons:

•  The pressure by society is too big. No children. Disappointment to parents.
• China is still developing, there is not yet enough public support for homosexuals to change the law. 
• The West and China are different. Also, legalization of same-sex marriage in some Western countries did not necessarily lead to more acceptance.
• There has not been sufficient preparation by the government for this kind of legislation change. It would have to be 考虑'd (thought over) a lot.

You may notice, that my notes are more comprehensive for the pros. Maybe because I am more drawn to their point of view, also because they in general spoke more clearly and understandably.

So much for the formal debate part. Afterwards, the audience members had the opportunity to state their own opinion. I would happily have done so, but sadly my vocabulary is highly insufficient for that kind of discourse. One of the people who spoke, said that he thinks relationships that are not 男女 man and woman are 恶性 - wicked. Or he said that they make him 恶心 - want to puke. Either way, :(. But afterwards, the moderator asked the people in the audience to raise their hand if they didn't agree with him, and a clear majority did, so :).

Then, to round up the event, one of the teachers spoke. He said that the question of legalizing same-sex marriage is a question of either valuing personal freedom or societal order. Which I think describes the situation in China pretty perfectly.

So yeah, that's how I experienced this evening. Obviously this is in no way a complete picture. There are a lot of things I didn't understand. But I still thought it was worth sharing. Oh and also, the Pros won :)

The poster for the event. Basically I walked past, saw the rainbow, thought huh? It can't be. But it was! Props to you, 交大.

Chinese Word of the Day: 同性恋婚姻 tongxinglian hunyin - same-sex marriage

Books, Bread and Nutella

Time for another update from the Far East!

It's getting cold. Which is both good and bad news. Good, because it means that we aren't eaten alive by mosquitoes anymore. Bad, because all space heaters will only start working on the 15th November. So until then, we're going to bed wearing jumpers and scarves.

In other news, my cough is finally gone!! Thanks to the help of some magical Chinese cough syrup, which was delicious. Of course I immediately took advantage of my improved health to try out the university's swimming pool. It was exactly as crowded as expected, but at least for some reason you get less stares there than outside. An interesting thing that I discovered was that Chinese kids are not taught to swim "frog" style (breaststroke), but crawl. They looked insanely cute practicing it. I will definitely come back to swim there again.

Last weekend, I made a very important discovery: METRO. A giant store that sells imported products. Among them Nutella and Bread. :) :) :) I now finally have a jar of Nutella again, or to be entirely truthful, had. It did not survive the week. It's somewhat difficult to find your way in the store, but it's basically heaven on earth for me. So. Much. Food. Also I've started going to book stores again. So far, my purchases include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Chinese, two Maths books (one for Analysis and one for year 8, I think I understand more of the former), a compilation of ancient Chinese poems and the novel The Shadow Thief by Marc Levy in Chinese. I hope for happy reading.

Also, for those of you who were worried about my life without a fridge, you can now relax, last week we got one! It's beautiful and I love it. Naturally, my roommate and I stole the box it came in. It is now standing on our balcony, we cut a door and a window into it and you can go there for some quiet time. Also it's a great spot for unwanted guests ;)

That's about it for now. My plans for this weekend?
1. Discussion on whether or not same-sex marriage should be legalized in China. Kind of cool, that these things are being discussed here, right?
2. Go to a cat cafe. A cafe with a lot of cats. More on that later.

Chinese Word of the Day: 泳帽 yongmao, bathing cap. Because you have to wear one in Chinese swimming pools or you will get kicked out.

And at last I see the light.

My new best friends.

Here Comes the Sun

Hello again!

Why so soon, you ask? Because today was a beautiful day. Sunshine and clear skies. So you finally get to see what my campus looks like. Today I also went to 兴庆宫公园 Xingqinggong Gongyuan, a park that is very close to the university. The park is great, it has table tennis, badminton, Chinese chess, opera singers, all in one place. It's a wonderful place to escape to. 

The main building.

Square of the four great Chinese inventions: Paper, Gunpowder, Compass and Printing.

The library.

A rare pedestrian street.

The North Gate of Jiaotong University.

Flower arrangement for the National Holiday. Note that the flowers are not planted, they just remain in their pots. A phenomenon widely seen in China.

A wild coat rack.

A small temple inside the park.

Interesting boat design.

I found this in an abandoned corner of the park. Do any of you know what this is?

Chinese Word of the Day: 怀孕 huaiyun, pregnant. Don't worry, it's not me. I found a Chinese TV-series that is now occupying a lot of my time, which is about a girl who finds out she's 怀孕 after a one-night stand. 命中注定我爱你, if any of you are interested.

Let's explore...Nanjing!

Hey guys!

Sorry for the long wait, I've just come back from a week of vacation and have now finally found some free time. Why did I have a week of vacation? China's National Holiday is the 1st of October, because Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. Most people have a week off work/study, except for those who work in stores since these don't close during holidays or on Sundays. The result of this free week, also called Golden Week, is that millions of Chinese travel to their hometowns or go visit friends. Of course I also took this opportunity and went to visit Jana, a friend of mine, in Nanjing.

I got on a train on 1 October at 5 in the afternoon. Because of the masses of people travelling, I was only able to get a ticket for the 硬座 yingzuo, hard seater class. In Chinese trains there are 4 classes of tickets. 硬座, with rows of five seats, three on one side and two on the other, 软座 ruanzuo, soft seater, which has a little more padding and space, 硬卧 yingwo, hard sleeper, with bunk beds in an open cabin and 软卧, soft sleeper, with comparments of four beds. Check this website if you want to know more about the differences. So I prepared myself mentally for 16 hours of sitting in an uncomfortable seat. What I got was luckily not that bad at all. Of course the train was more than full, but I had a window seat which meant that I could lean against the wall to sleep. I actually got a few hours of sleep and arrived in Nanjing at 9 in the morning on 2 October. Jana thankfully picked me up from the station and after a short metro ride we arrived at her campus. I have to say that her campus is a lot nicer than mine, trees everywhere. It's also a lot smaller, thus harder to get lost in.

After a breakfast of dumplings we went to a beautiful park close to the campus and later in the day after a well derserved nap we visited a scenic garden and Nanjing's Confucius temple. The garden was beautiful and somehow quite peaceful despite the inescapable crowds. They even hired people to provide the appropriate musical background. The temple was not so peaceful but still very beautiful. I learned a bit about Chinese temple traditions. For example, it is common to tie pieces of cloth with good wishes on them to tree branches. Also there was a small water basin where visitors could light candles in the shape of water lilies. Absolutely gorgeous. Naturally our visit ended with a small photo session in front of the exit. As foreigners we do attract a lot of looks, a phenomenon that a Chinese friend called 回头率很高, the rate of heads turning is very high. It is not uncommon for locals to try and surreptitiously take a picture of me, pretending they're looking at something on their phone. It's always fun to call them out on it though, since for one thing it surprises and delights them greatly that I can speak Chinese and also I sometimes get to know new people this way.

 The ambient music.

 Xueye you cheng. Succeed in your studies.

Anyway, on with the show. On Friday we walked along the Nanjing city wall. There were surprisingly few tourists there and we enjoyed the relatively good air quality. The city wall is divided into separate parts, with a separate ticket to be bought for every one of them. Hilariously, there is also an "illegal" entrance to every part that apparently all the locals know about and use in their masses. That way, the city profits from tourism and the locals get to enjoy their city's sights for free, not a bad strategy. In the evening we went to an international bar which had music playing that I knew *_* I never thought that YMCA by the Village People would someday make me this happy.

Saturday we had a lazy day and in the evening went to visit the Jiming temple. On our way there we made some new Chinese friends who were also looking for the temple. The building was beautiful and we even got to listen to a Buddhist "mass". There were about 100 people gathered in the temple who were singing Sutras. With the sun setting and the sky slowly turning darker, it was a perfectly harmonious end to the day. For dinner we went to a restaurant serving Nanjing specialty food, which had attracted a lot of people. Reserving a table is only common in very fancy restaurants here, so the way this restaurant solved the problem of seating people was to have every group get a number and then wait for it to be called. A little strange at first, but efficient. The food by the way was absolutely delicious.

 The secret entrance.

On Sunday we decided to climb the 资金山 Zijin Shan, Purple Mountain, a "mountain" of some 400m in the middle of Nanjing. Jana invited some Chinese friends of hers to come with us and the first struggle of the day consisted of us trying to find each other. Turns out that her university has two campuses and her friends were waiting for us at the other campus. After about two hours we finally found each other at the foot of the mountain. It was a great hike and we found some time to take pictures in a thousand different poses. (换一个Pose! Another pose!) And of course we got stared at and loudly commented on in Chinese. I try not to let it bother me, but sometimes the incessant "look, a foreigner" gets tiring. Also I have discovered that before going hiking in China, it's instrumental to check the air quality. Had we done so on Sunday, we might have decided to change our plans since the air quality in Nanjing on that day was "hazardous", meaning that outdoor sports should be avoided. I should soon feel the effects, on Monday I woke up with a cough that has stayed with me since.

 Taking the chair lift back down. About 10 people waved at us and 5 were playing 小苹果, the hottest Chinese pop song at the moment.

On Monday we left the city and province and went to a lake in Anhui to have a barbecue with a few of Jana's friends. It was wonderful to see a truly blue sky again and breathe freely for a few hours. The scenery was tainted a little bit by the heaps of trash left behind by other people but nonetheless we had a great day.

Tuesday it was already time for me to leave, after an all too short visit. My train left at 8 in the morning and took me to Suzhou, where I had to change trains. Due to holiday craziness, the only train that I had been able to get a ticket for left at 8 in the evening, so I had a whole day to explore Suzhou. I went to the Garden of the Master of Nets, a cleverly designed building and garden complex where you never know what awaits you when you turn a corner. I got lost a few times, but obviously had a lot of fun doing so. Afterwards I visited Suzhou's zoo, which had beautiful parts, like the tropical birds, and awful parts, like the lion and tiger cages. I finally ended up in a park where I sat for about four hours, occasionally talking to people who either wanted a picture with me or just wanted to chat with a foreigner.

 I am oddly fascinated by doorways in China. The above was taken in the garden, this one in the zoo.

 Parrots!

 The cage of horrors.

Sunset at Suzhou train station.

I arrived back in Xi'an at 9:20 in the morning on Wednesday, which meant that I was back at university just in time to participate in the second lesson of the day. I am now adjusting back to getting-up-at-8-life and trying to cure myself of this cough. Tea is my best friend. Also my bed.
Chinese Word of the Day: 口罩 kouzhao, mask. Pollution in Xi'an reached hazardous levels yesterday :( It's back to normal today though. A true rollercoaster ride of visibility and life quality.

Talk to you guys soon!