这个不是八达岭

I went to the Great Wall at Jian Kou yesterday, one of the most dangerous parts of the Great Wall because it is in such disrepair. Even though at times it indeed was very dangerous the scenery was beautiful and not overrun with tourists. So here are some obligatory pics.

The sign greeting us when we got to the wall. Greeeeaattt....


We had to climb this!

Doin the tourist thing...

So this week I visited the Forbidden City（古宫）/Tian'anmen Sqaure （天安门）as well as The Temple of Heaven (天坛）。 Here's a tip: if you're a student always bring your student ID and ask for 学生票 (xueshengpiao=shweh shung peyow) because they never write it in english, however if you ask for one it can be as much as 30-40 kuai cheaper, which can buy you some pretty high-class meals in China, or 30-40 bowls of rice. I guess in the back of my mind I know my time here is quickly winding down so I'm trying to 赶快体验中国的文化 (quickly experience Chinese culture) before I go home for the summer. I'm going to the Great Wall tomorrow (Saturday) and next weekend I'm going to Shanghai.

In other news, in my philosophy class two times now we have asked Chinese students to come to our class and debate with us on philosophical issues. In doing this I have noticed a few things:

1. There is a fundamental difference in how Americans view their government and how the Chinese view there government. In my opinion, Americans think that the government exists to serve the people and is a product of their people whereas the Chinese view their government as an entity separate from the common people and highly trust their actions. Most people would probably simply cite each country's governmental structure to account for this difference-- a simple matter of democracy versus communism. While this is definitely true, I think a lot of the difference has to do with our respective world views. In Confucianism, people believe in preserving harmony and ameliorating the connections between people, often this is achieved by trusting each section of society to perform their role and not meddling in their business--trusting that people who are specified for certain roles will perform them well. In western thought, I feel like we spend a lot of time worrying about the rights of individuals--believing that if we as people pay attention to these rights that this will lead to harmony. This is why American's are constantly questioning their government, because they don't believe that their particular human rights are being considered. During our debates, the Chinese students couldn't understand why we didn't trust that our government was doing a good job or why we felt that we had the right to offer our opinions on the issues in Tibet-- and the answer is because we worry much more about certain people, or groups of people, making sure that they are being considered as opposed to paying attention to the whole. Some American students couldn't understand why the Chinese students weren't more angry about their media being censored and upset about the Chinese government's actions in Tibet-- this ISN'T because "oh, poor Chinese students they don't know any better, their government has brainwashed them" (which is how I feel a lot of Americans think)-- but simply that they think that preserving the harmony of the entire society is helped by knowing your place. They think that they are students, the government is the government, and the two don't have anything to do with each other.

2. Perhaps this is a false sense of myself, but during these debates I always feel like I'm playing the mediator. Maybe this is because I am the physical manifestation of East and West, but I also think that maybe I'm not quite as culturally-centric (is that a word? darn Chinese language pledge!) as most Americans, and I can more easily bend the way that I think to mesh with that of another culture, or at least understand, or empathize . I'll have to remember this talent later on....

Anyway, here's some pics of my adventures. Tim that Olympic post is coming soon I PROMISE!

Pingyao... and stuff

Hey folks...
Sorry for the lack of updatage... and Tim I'm sorry about not putting up an Olympic post yet, I am still collecting photographic evidence of all the Olympic paraphernalia.
Anywho, last weekend details...they even bore me... But we saw a lot of old buildings, bought a lot of stuff (including a monkey king thought that it would be relaxing and it wa the IES program had a long weekend (similar to our trip to Yunnan but much shorter) in which I went to Pingyao. Pingyao is in the Shanxi province (near the capital Taiyuan) and is a UN recognized Heritage Site. This pretty much means that its a really well preserved old preserved city in China that had a lot of influence on China's history and stuff. As far as I could tell, it was probably at one point a financial hubub of China (it has the First Bank in China, apparently) but now its just a bunch of souped up old buildings and touristy stuff. Is, but also boring sometimes with nothing to do but shop and sometimes I wished I had gone somewhere else instead. I don't want to bore you with the Chinese opera mask), saw a vinegar and a coal factory, were mobbed by Chinese children in Taiyuan because they thought we (and by we I mean Topher, because he looks like Harry Potter) were celebrities and asked for our autographs, and did a performance of a court scene where I played the judge's assistant (I only had two lines....dumb) in front of a bunch of Chinese tourists...cuute.

Anywho, to update on my life I've changed my major. I am now officially no longer an Economics major, but a Foreign Language and International Affairs major with a concentration in Economics--the language being Chinese of course. I am hoping that this decision will work out for me and I've not done anything too crazy.
Friday I went to the doctor about my serious cough that has been going on for about two weeks now and was basically told that there's nothing wrong with me except I probably got sick and the pollution here in Beijing made the sickness stay around. He gave me cough medicine with codeine to help me sleep and sent me on my 'merry' way. Luckily, by the hospital there is a pretty awesome DVD store where most of the DVDs are about 10 kuai (1.50 USD) and work really awesomely. I perused there for awhile and then came back to campus only to find ANOTHER DVD guy on the street selling them for 5 kuai....oh China.
Yesterday I went to the zoo, which was more sad then cute. The only animal that seemed to be contented was the Panda, not surprising for the national animal of China...but still, the elephants getting less room then one tiny panda? Come on!
In terms of other goings on around China, lately there has been a lot of attempts by the Chinese police to get illegal foreigners out for the Olympics to make it a 'safe' enviornment. This basically means that they will check randomly to make sure that you are carrying your passport and visa at all times and if you aren't they will take you to the police station. This means that the Chinese police skulk around places where foreigners like to hang out (ie all the places that I like to go) and just question random people. Also apparently there's been like drug trafficking or something going on in Sanlitunr so last weekend or something they took a dozen or so foreigners to the police station for not having proper ID. I personally have never been asked to present any form of ID but sometimes I feel like its only a matter of time.

haven't posted photos in awhile

So here you go!

First we got us in Bar Blu, which is a club in SanLiTunr, we go here for dancing because they play popular songs. Sometimes though, they play weird selections such as 'In the Mood' (that typical swing dancing piece) and old classic rock stuff that isn't great to dance to.
The next pic is also from SanLiTunr at a bar called NanJie, where you get this tray of 12 shots for 100kuai-- its the cheapest drinking in SanLiTunr so use with caution. NanJie has also very delicious shutiao (FRENCH FRIES!) which make an excellent addition to your drink of choice.
The third pic is us at an actually delicious sushi restaurant in Wudaokou. After our terrible experience at the first Sushi place we decided to spend a little more money and it was totally worth it!
The fourth pic is from our  Beijing kaoya ( peking duck) extravaganza...mmmm delicious.
The fifth pic is just an example of the kinds of creepos that hang out in Chinese clubs...sad thing is like two ofthose creepos are IES people from my program, haha! Much love Scott and Sean! This is from the club Propoganda in Wudaokou. I really like this club because they play hip hop (not techno) and it reminds me of Central HS school dances, except more crowded and not really any African-Americans.

Yeah...nothing too interesting, just thought the blog could use a little excitement.