After coming back from Xi’An, everything is back to the regular routine again.  Class is pretty manageable, and I’m still finding time to do other activities in the city and visit the places I want to go.  Recently I took a trip to two very famous markets; the Pearl Market and the Silk Market.  These are unlike anywhere I have ever been in the U.S.  Infamous for their fake name brand goods, it would be completely ridiculous to go to one of these places without bargaining.  The initial price that someone there will ask for is generally several times what they are willing to settle for.  I actually really enjoy going to these places, not just because of the cheap prices that one is able to get. Although I was able to get a good amount of gifts for family members here, what I really enjoy is talking to the people there.  I will often at the same time as bargaining talk to the workers about everything from where they come from to which country tends to have the most annoying bargainers.  It is actually an excellent way to practice Chinese.  Sometimes I feel as though my greatest progress in terms of language comes after going to a place like this and just talking to people.  The people who work at places like this are also always thrilled to see a foreigner taking an interest in learning Chinese. I can’t believe that I’ve already been here over a month.  The feeling is somewhere between a mix between I’ve been here forever, and I got here yesterday.

Marking the halfway point of our time in China, we took a weekend trip as a class to the city of Xi’An.  Everything was very interesting, even the train ride over there was something to remember.  Lasting about 11 hours, I was in a relatively small room with 4 beds and 6 people.  Although it wasn’t the most comfortable night’s sleep, I was able to make friends with some young kids and their parents.

In Xi’An, we of course visited the city’s most famous attraction, the Terracotta Soldiers. The Terracotta Army was built according to the command of Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. Built in the 3rd century BC, it remains one of the most greatest wonders of China. It was awe-inspiring to see the lines of thousands of soldiers, each with a unique face, each with its own uniform and weapon. One could only imagine the countless hours of expert work taken to create such a detailed display. The feeling of amazement was tinted by sadness for the incredible mistreatment of those who worked on the soldiers, all of whom were killed afterwords in order to maintain secrecy.

Among the other things we did was a bike trip along the city wall and attend a performance of a classic Chinese poem and piece of history, “The Song of Eternal Regret.”  Everything was very enjoyable and was a good way to split up the time in Beijing.  Afterwards, I am ready to continue studying.

My time in China has come finally come to an end. With only less than three days left till I fly back to the states, I realize how time has flown by this summer in China.

Last Friday night, we had a celebration to mark the end of this program. To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it that much but during it and afterwards I realized it was a good time and seeing the slideshow of everywhere we went in China was a good way to show everyone the amount of memories we actually made here. At the event, basically all the students did a performance that was anywhere from hula dancing to performing an impromptu skit of our class where everyone played a different person. We even got out of doing some homework by performing.

During my last real weekend in Beijing I was also able to go to some not so touristy places. One of my teachers recommended to me that I go and visit some hu tongs, which are tight alleys that depict what life was primarily like in traditional Beijing. My teacher even gave me some specific ones to visit. The first thing I did, though, on Saturday was visit the Temple of Heaven, a famous temple in Beijing where ancient Chinese went to pray to heaven for good harvest. This attraction was basically a giant park with various buildings used by the Chinese and is one of the most famous sites in Beijing. After this, though, we still had a lot of time left in the day so we ventured to some of these hu tongs. The place we went to on Saturday was 前门大街，which translates to front gate street. This makes sense since this place is located at where the front gate of the Beijing city wall used to be before it was torn down. It is also right in front of Tiananmen Square. The primary roads of this area are basically big shopping centers with various shops and restaurants. They also call these hu tongs but its not until you walk deeper into the area that you run into the real hu tongs. It is not uncommon in these places to see every man without a shirt on and people playing Chinese Chess on the street.

On Sunday, we went to a similar place called 南锣鼓巷 but had some more modern stores and restaurants. I think these paces were definitely worth seeing because they were sites Chinese people actually go to and there wasn’t tourists everywhere I looked.

As I look back on my time in China, I am glad I came and hopefully I can come back again, next time with my Chinese language skills even higher.

 

This is my first trip to Beijing, China, and Asia, not to mention the farthest distance I’ve ever traveled from home, taking a 14-hour flight from Denver, CO, and connecting in San Francisco, before landing at Beijing International Airport. Thankfully, the two people sitting in my row had some interesting stories to share!

One was a Chinese man from Chengdu, and the other was an American tech/business professional who coincidentally works with Indiana University in Bloomington.  He has been giving presentations in China on how to use different kinds of technology to automate the English learning process for Chinese students and assist them in applying to American universities.

This sparked an intriguing conversation on Chinese approaches to education (including the infamous “Tiger Mom” phenomenon) and Chinese culture in general.  China has proven to be a remarkable example of economic growth in the past few decades.  As an Economics and Chinese major considering future research topics, since landing in Beijing, I’ve been considering the cultural differences between China and the West, as well as such pressing challenges as pollution, public safety, and educational and political reform, and how China and the West compare.  This will be a recurring topic throughout the blog.

Once I landed in Beijing, I met one of my new teachers, Li laoshi, at the airport.  We took a cab to Peking University via Beijing’s 4th Ring Road (The city has 6, and is currently building a 7th).

The first thing that struck me about Beijing was its sheer size, the highways lined with sprawling arrays of apartment complexes and business parks.  Traffic was at times unbearable, as no driver seemed to have the slightest concept of traffic lanes, indicators, or right of way for pedestrians and cyclists (Our cabbie drove over the dividing line for the majority of the trip, as he manoeuvred through the congested streets).  The pollution was definitely noticeable as we made our way to PKU, but over the following days, the skies were unusually clear.  As it had been explained to me, the rain and wind patterns have a big

effect on pollution levels, and since it had been raining often, we were able to enjoy unseasonably low pollution.

 

At the moment, I seem to be having trouble uploading pictures of the roads and buildings I saw on my to campus.  Look out for future edits!

 

 

After the end of our seventh week of classes, our class celebrated with a talent show and dinner, our last group activity before the end of the program. We each had different group and individual performances, including dances, skits, games, and songs in Chinese, and this was a fun and entertaining way to end a hard week of classes.

Since it was our final weekend in Beijing, we decided to make it a good one. A few friends and I got up early Saturday morning and headed out to see the Temple of Heaven, one of Beijing’s most famous temples and landmarks. The temple was incredible, and not only was it a great display of traditional Chinese architecture, but it was also an interesting glimpse into the spiritual practices of Ancient and modern day China. The temple was also situated in a scenic park, and walking through this made for a good morning. After seeing the temple, the three of us walked to the Pearl Market, another popular destination for tourists in Beijing. The market was full of vendors trying to sell different name brand products—almost all of which were fake, and this was a fun place to practice our Chinese and bargaining skills. After seeing the market, we took a subway to Qianmen, a traditional market center next to Tiananmen Square. While known as one of the best places to shop in Beijing, it is not well known by foreign tourists, and so this market and collection of traditional hutongs (traditional neighborhoods) was a amazing and unique place to get a glimpse of authentic Chinese culture and lifestyle. Recommended to us by our teacher, the market had several shops that were hundreds of years old, as well as many good restaurants. Not only were we able to have one of our last authentic Chinese meals together, but we also got to see many traditional Chinese leisure activities, like groups of men playing Chinese chess and gambling in the streets.This was definitely a place worth going to, and one of the highlights of my time in Beijing.  

       

The next day—our final completely free day in Beijing—a few friends and I decided to explore another set of hutongs recommended by our teacher, and this market area which just as interesting as the one before. We were able to explore shops and restaurants occupied only by native Chinese people, and we even found a scenic lake where we could relax. This was a good end to our last free day in Beijing.

Overall, this weekend was a great way to end a great trip! While we still have one week left of classes, in less than a week we’ll be flying back to the U.S. These last two months in Beijing in have been an incredible experience!

Hi, friends! Welcome to my Beijing blog!

First of all, my sincerest apologies to everyone for the delay – to call this first post overdue would be an understatement.  I’ve been keeping myself so busy studying and absorbing the local culture that I’ve unfortunately neglected the most important aspects of my study abroad experience – careful examination and reflection.  I’d like to use this blog as a medium to sort through and recount my most significant experiences in Beijing, and I hope you’ll learn some interesting things as you read!

Before I begin, I’d like to thank my family, friends, teachers, and advisers who have all provided me with invaluable advice and support.  I’d especially like to thank Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures and the Liu Institute for their generous financial support.

Thank you all for making this experience possible, and hopefully, I can express with some lucidity what I have encountered during my time in Beijing.

 

Hi friends. So while I was gone, I went to a lot of places that I went to before like the 798 art district! I learned a lot of important, valuable lessons this week; for example, don’t let your friends take the taxi in front of you, especially during rush hour. Four of my friends and I went to 798 and took a taxi because we thought it would save time as compared to taking the subway. Going by taxi was supposed to take 30 minutes, and taking the subway was supposed to take around an hour and a half. I found a taxi waiting near my dorm’s entrance and let three of my friends go first because we couldn’t fit five people in the car. They left and five minutes later my other friend and I found another taxi. It took us an hour and a half to get to 798 because we got stuck in Beijing traffic, and trust me, it’s way worse than LA traffic. We thought the other group got stuck in traffic too, but they said that they were waiting for us for an hour. Yeah, so in Beijing, don’t ever let your friends get a taxi before you. 好的 (good).

Oh yeah and the art district was pretty cool I guess. We took a lot of cool pictures, so that was fun.

I also went to the Silk Market again and didn’t get ripped off as much this time, so I think I’m getting used to this bargaining thing. I got a T-Mac Orlando Magic jersey, a pair of Adidas NMDs, a t-shirt, an I <3 北京 (Beijing) shirt, two phone fans, a wallet all for less than a hundred USD. I think I did well, but I’m not sure. I still probably got ripped off. I also went to this place called Dirt Market, flattering name I know, and it was nothing like the Silk Market. The Silk Market was in this huge air-conditioned building, whereas the Dirt Market was a huge outdoor marketplace. The Silk Market sold a lot of fake western things, while the Dirt Market sold a lot of traditional Chinese things like paintings and jade stuff. I didn’t really like the Dirt Market, but I thought it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

The Friday of our fifth weekend here in Beijing, our class and teachers set out an our weekly excursion to the headquarters of XiaoMi, one of the leading tech and smartphone companies in China. XiaoMi was created only six years ago, and since then, has grown significantly in the selling of smartphones, tablets, and other “smart” technology in China, India, and other parts of Asia. While there, we were given an introduction to the company, its history, and its business strategy by one of its founders and engineers, and then were given the opportunity to visit their one and only retail store. This was definitely a unique and interesting experience.

The next day was our first free Saturday since arriving, so we decided to make good use of it. In the morning, we set out early to see the Summer Palace, one of the most famous palaces and historical landmarks in China. Though the day was the hottest since we’ve arrived and the park was extremely crowded, the Summer Palace was definitely one of the greatest things I’ve seen so far. The Palace itself was incredible, but it also included a scenic lake, a huge Buddhist temple, a gallery of ancient Chinese art, artifacts, and clothing, and the theater and stage that the Emperor of China used to attend.

   

After seeing the Summer Palace, three of us set out to visit the Beijing Olympic Village, and while there, we were able to see the inside of the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, something that I thought was definitely worth a visit. The next day, a few friends and I returned to the Beijing 798 Art District to see more of the art exhibits and shops, and it was great to have the opportunity to see more of this area.