Hike to the Temple

During my first two years in Shenzhen Jia took me to Phoenix Temple (Fenghuang 凤凰), which was the nearest Buddhist temple to our community in Bao'an. Shenzhen has very few temples compared to other cities in China, but that's mostly because it's a very young city. Phoenix Temple is a young temple--the buildings are only a few years old--but the location supposedly has a longer history for Buddhists.

Getting to the temple was not easy. We took one of the older bus routes through the more isolated sections of Bao'an district. There were still farms in this area--mostly lychees and bananas. There were even bee keepers along the road selling honey. The boxes the bees were kept in were propped up by beer bottles.

It was a long walk up the winding road--it felt much longer than it really was because we always went when the weather was hot and humid. We were one of the few groups that didn't drive up. Fortunately, this gave us a chance to see the sights along the way, like my favorite sign in all of China. I still don't know why they would sell stupid chickens and ducks or why anyone would want to buy them.

Phoenix Temple was one of the least interesting temples I visited. But, it did provide some great views of Shenzhen on a clear day (if you're lucky enough to find one of those rare days).

The China Price

I noticed over the last couple weeks that garlic became more expensive. I usually spent $1 for a sleeve of five heads of garlic. Now I've seen prices rise slightly by 25 to 50 cents. Not a big deal for a lot of garlic (and we do use a lot in our cooking).

In a news brief in the Shenzhen Daily, it seems the price increase is more alarming. In the city of Shenzhen, the wholesale price of garlic has doubled in the past week to 7 Yuan per half kilogram (close to a pound). Considering most of the garlic around here is imported from China, and a sleeve is about a pound, the price increase is actually quite minimal. This could lead to a greater price hike in the next few weeks in the US.

I just hope I don't have to change my recipes to include less garlic.

Peace of Mind

This week's Friday photo is again from Malaysia--this time from Penang. I found this billboard along a busy street after we visited the Thai and Burmese Buddhist temples.

The fence with barbed wire doesn't seem inviting for those seeking inner peace.

Brain Damage

All this time I've been studying Chinese on my own and making little progress. Who knew all I needed was a good migraine. Supposedly, a British woman speaks with a Chinese accent after suffering a severe migraine. And it might not be a load of BS. There are documented cases of what researchers call foreign accent syndrome. The only encounter I've had with FAS is with people who have recently spent time in Ireland--I think the Guinness gets in their heads and turns them Irish.

Is It Considered Mail Fraud?

China Daily ran a story about customs seizing about 37,000 fake products in the out-bound mail--seven times the amount seized in 2008. From the article, it sounds like all of incidents were through China Post and not through international shipping companies (though that detail is left out).

It sounds like the post office isn't doing its job. From my experience in the post offices around China, they check every parcel before it gets sealed and stamped, which can cause a person to wait a long time to send something as simple as a postcard. And they do have some rules for international mail, as my wife and I discovered.

Jia wanted to send a small package to my parents after our wedding. Part of the package was a DVD of our reception. Unfortunately, the videographer used a DVD label that had pictures of Mickey Mouse--a blatant infringement of intellectual property. China Post wouldn't allow Jia to send the DVD because it would get seized by customs--she later took it to a Kodak store and had them write it to a blank DVD without a label.

We also had a similar experience when shipping a few boxes of our belongings via DHL before we moved to the US (see previous post).

Satanic Verses

After our walk through the small rainforest in the center of Kuala Lumpur that surrounds the KL Tower, we walked along a narrow street on our way to other parts of the city.

I was surprised to see graffiti in English with this sentiment in a country as diverse as Malaysia. It was also rather unusual to see this across from what appeared to be a Catholic school.

Too Many Cars

Shenzhen Daily ran a couple interesting articles about the city's traffic today. The first was about the growing concern about traffic and how residents are overly-optimistic because the traffic is better than in Beijing and Shanghai. I'll admit that Shenzhen's traffic is much lighter than Beijing's, but it's still pretty bad.

The article claims that there are now 1.5 million registered vehicles in Shenzhen--this figure doesn't include the electric bikes, small motorized carts, and cars with fake license plates. The one problem I have with the article is that unlike past articles it doesn't mention anything about the Special Economic Zone and the rest of Shenzhen--usually such articles only focus on the Special Economic Zone (Does anyone know the area of the entire city? Is it more than 2000sq. km.?) Also, the last time I read an article like this it separated the numbers between private vehicles and taxis and buses. From what I remember about a previous article a couple years ago, 1.5 million sounds like the number for private vehicles.

Although the roads will supposedly reach maximum capacity with 2 million cars in 2012, the city is still working to extend the subway system. Unfortunately, as I found out from my students, drivers in Shenzhen are unlikely to forgo driving for the convenience of mass transit (it's all about face).

The other article was about a family suing the city police for negligence that caused the death of two people who were hit by a bus that drove through the highway median to avoid debris on the road. The problem with this accusation is that there are very few traffic cops on highways in China--they mostly stay at check-points along the roads (no speed traps like we have around here). I'm not sure what a reasonable amount of time is to remove a 22-ton piece of steel from the roadway, or if the police are responsible for its removal. 

Gone Fishing

Do you know where your fish is from? There are plenty of people who want to buy fish that is local (or at least domestic) because they think it helps the economy and it's the green thing to do. Well, maybe it isn't. From CNN again, comes an article stating that fish caught in Alaskan waters is shipped to China for processing before returning to the US for consumption. Looks like my salmon traveled more than I did in the last year.

This is really a surprise. A few weeks ago I was at the grocery store and noticed a package of frozen salmon that was significantly cheaper than the thawed fillets being sold in the seafood department. The package had an American flag on it, and some cheesy American-imagery name. But, it also said "Product of China." I was confused because I know salmon is not a local fish in China. I thought that maybe someone opened a salmon farm in China or the US was allowing Chinese fishermen in the Alaskan waters. Turns out I was wrong about both.

The question now is, how long does it take to process the fish and get it back for sale in the US?

What Are You Selling?

CNNGo ran a short interview with a fake watch and bag salesman in Shanghai. It's not all that informative or interesting, but it got me thinking of my encounters with these people.

On my first Spring Festival trip with Jia to Shanghai, I got sucked into some very touristy areas that had plenty of shops that I wasn't at all interested in visiting. In Yu Yuan, I was accosted by many people who shouted in my face, "Hello, friend, buy watch bag." The first time I heard this, I had no idea what the salesman said. The second time I wondered, "Why would anyone want a bag for their watch?" I asked Jia about it and she stopped at the next salesman. She explained that they were selling watches and bags, not watch bags.

Fortunately, the hawkers in Yu Yuan were far less annoying and aggressive than their counterparts at the Shenzhen Commercial Mall.

Unhappy Shenzheners

An opinion column in the Shenzhen Daily reminded me about the lifestyles of Shenzheners. The headline says it all: "An Unhealthy, unhappy lot of money worshippers?"

It's no secret that people in Shenzhen care more about money than anything else. They also love to show off how much money they have, hence the desire to own larger cars to haphazardly drive through the overcrowded roads and sidewalks. I once asked a class about the possibility of people in Shenzhen driving less as the bus system was extensive and the subway was set to expand. The response I received was that the people would never abandon their cars for public transportation because the car owners would lose face if they didn't drive. And they have to continue purchasing more expensive cars because they have to show that they're more successful than everyone around them.

Around the same time that I asked my class about the growing car culture, there was a survey claiming Shenzhen as the most unhappy city in China. Most of my students agreed--very few seemed to like living in such a large city. That was a change in perception from the beginning of the year as most students were new to Shenzhen and loved the idea of living in one of China's modern cities. It usually took a month or two for the honeymoon phase to wear off. Most students hoped to move back to their hometowns or cities nearby--very few wanted to stay in Shenzhen after graduation. Those who wanted to stay in Shenzhen said it was because they could earn more money.

One reason why most Shenzhen residents are unhappy is because it is a migrant city--a lot of the people are far from home for the first time. Combine that with the fact that many residents came from small towns and villages, only to be dropped in the middle of an enormous, busy city. Adapting to that change in stress can be difficult for anyone. And then there's the pressure to succeed in Shenzhen--there are constant reminders of how much money people should make in the city. Quite a few new malls opened while I lived there, and I couldn't afford to buy anything in most of the stores--it made me wonder who was keeping the stores in business.

The detail of the Shenzhen Daily article that caught my attention was that it called residents physically and mentally unhealthy. With the stress of work and long hours in the office, Shenzheners aren't getting enough exercise (not to mention the plague of pollution). And those constant reminders of how everyone makes more money is taking its toll on the sanity of the people.

It's not really Shenzhen's fault. The city is always an afterthought. It's stuck between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, with Macau nearby. With all the wealth and history that surrounds it, the city suffers an inferiority complex--it's the younger brother that can never be as great as its siblings.

Flight of Garuda

One of my favorite parts about traveling through Asia (though still far behind the food) is the sculptures--the religious and cultural images adorn so many sights are amazing. My favorite from around Bali is Garuda, the bird god depicted in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Tegalalang, we came across a shop that specialized in wood sculptures of Garuda, ranging in size from a few inches to enormous (the largest one took up almost half the shop). My wife bought a small one at an inflated price in Ubud and regretted asking the price in Tegalalang, as it was half the price. The large sculpture in the shop was the nicest I saw in Bali, but I wasn't allowed to take a picture of it. I got the next-best image of Garuda--it was in the lobby of our second hotel.

Tides of Change

My parents picked up a copy of National Geographic's Journey Into China, which was published in 1983. I haven't gone through much of the 500-page book, but I immediately flipped to the section on South China to read the writer's impression of the region as well as look at the photos of places I've been. I'm not surprised that two of the most prominent parts of South China are Gulangyu and Xiamian--islands in Guangzhou and Xiamen that are home to colonial-style structures.

On the journey through Guangzhou, the author, David Pearce, mentions that it is the center of a growing import and export industry--at the time they produced bicycles, watches, and radios. He also mentions that Beijing eliminated customs duties to and from Taiwan in 1979. The quote that accompanies this is that "There are no politics in business." Quite a change from what is in the news lately.

I'll have to read through more to see how some of my favorite destinations have changed in 27 years.

Mobile Homeless

Shenzhen Daily is taking an interest in the plight of the migrants. It highlights the difficulty of finding affordable housing in the region, even though many new buildings have no residents. People who can afford housing tend to purchase multiple apartments and seem unconcerned when they can't find tenants--a lack of flexibility during rent negotiations leads to many empty apartments. This has led to workers, such as the ones in the article, to live on the streets.

It was not uncommon to see laborers all around my neighborhood in Nanshan district--they picked through trash for recyclables or potential building materials; they offered one-time services to residents and businesses. But many of these people seemed to disappear at night. Most of these people could be found by the reclaimed land of Shenzhen Bay--they slept next to piles of styrofoam and other reusable materials on a road that was inaccessible to traffic. Along side streets in the neighborhood, people slept on cots hidden by bushes and trees. Down the main road, next to the Guomei parking lot was a shack set up against a small power station--no one seemed to notice the family living inside, and they never bothered anyone on the street.

While there are still many opportunities in Shenzhen for the migrant population, it has become less popular. With more factories opening in the interior of China, migrants are choosing jobs closer to their hometowns, thus creating a job shortage in cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The minimum wage in Guangdong has risen over the past few years (in Shenzhen it was 800 RMB/month in 2005, it's now over 1000 RMB/month), but the cost of living has skyrocketed.

You're to Blame

I don't know why I read opinion articles anymore--they just make me want to bang my head against a wall. Political commentaries are the worst with mangled and bastardized "facts" and statistics that suit the particular writer's point of view while ignoring any contradictory argument no matter how well-supported it is.

But the opinion piece I'm referring to today has nothing to do with politics. It's about how Peter Hessler has ruined another foreigner's experience of living in China (yes, there have been others with this complaint). China Daily ran this article yesterday (which was posted elsewhere online a week earlier):

Peter Hessler singlehandedly ruined my life in China.

I've never seen Hessler, author of the bestsellers Oracle Bones and River Town, but I eke out a bitter existence every day in his footsteps.

Sounds rather harsh. Fortunately, the writer added a little bit of what passes for humor in some circles. The real complaint is that all the stories expats love to tell their friends back home have already been told by Hessler in one of his three books. There's nothing left for foreigners in China to do to impress the folks back home. Hessler previously issued an apology for "ruining" the China experience for everyone else.

After reading his books (I'm almost done with Country Driving), I can say that he didn't ruin anything for me as an expat in China or as a writer. I have many stories to tell that Hessler never experienced (or at least didn't write about). With the size of the country and how quickly it changes, there will be plenty of tales for foreigners to regale us with.

I met Peter Hessler at an author event at Asia Society last month and have exchanged e-mails with him (he is a very nice guy). He admits that there are still books to be written about China--but writers have to search a little deeper to find them now.

Not Quite Chinglish

The worst trend I have noticed over the last few years is the lack of appreciation for the editor and proofreader. I frequent freelance job boards and see a preponderance of job posts that pay less than minimum wage for editing, proofreading, and writing. These are no longer viewed as skilled positions. Businesses believe that anyone can do these jobs and are starting to outsource the work to non-native English speakers. These businesses end up with text that reads like gibberish.

The other day I started looking at the descriptive tags for wines in Jersey City. Here's one that I found:

Delicate notes of mature fruit and floral emerge, while the sapore is fresh thanks to one balanced acidity, very supported from one good wealth of body and structure. For its fragrance the wine is ready to the commercialization and to it since drinks the successive spring to the grape harvest.

 Does this make any sense to anyone? The copywriter for that winery should be ashamed and unemployed. And there were other tags and labels that were almost as disgraceful as that one.

For the Women

Today is International Women's Day, which doesn't mean much around here as most women still have to work. In honor of the day I thought I'd share a few sites managed and written by women (particularly sites I find interesting).

Solo Travel Girl -- Written by Jennifer Huber, a world traveler who has frequently stopped by this blog.

Freelance Writing Jobs -- Created by Deb Ng, a fellow New Jerseyan who is also a friendly and helpful writer. She also published one of my articles on the site back in November.

Aimee Barnes -- A New Yorker who spends a lot of time writing about China. She writes some fascinating articles, and she's one of the few bloggers I have met.

China Sports Today -- News of sports around China, written by Maggie Rauch.

Thechannelc -- Mostly tech posts, but some other interesting posts as well. Written by the humorous and friendly Carolyn Chan, whom I met in Shenzhen.

Going Slow

It's been a busy week since I last posted. I've finally gotten myself back into a reasonable creative writing routine and I'm trying to work my way up to consistently higher daily word counts. Rather than going about in my usual fashion of working on a dozen manuscripts at once, I'm taking the time to focus my attention on one until it's finished. This also means that I will limit my distraction time on this blog and social networks.

Though it was finished a few weeks ago, the new issue of Terracotta Typewriter is online. As always, I'm looking for new work to publish in the next issue, which I hope to have complete in May.

I've also been refocusing my attention on my Chinese studies. Listening to Chinesepod as background noise and reading the same chapters of my textbooks again and again have not helped me make progress since returning to the states. Since Jia convinced me to start a new Web site to teach non-Chinese cooking to the Chinese, I've decided that I need to learn more vocabulary and grammar related to cooking (mostly because Jia doesn't have a lot of time to translate the site between work and studying). So, I'll do my best to start translating the posts at Laowai Kitchen on my own and ask Jia to edit my attempts at written Chinese. A lot of the posts on the site are about traditional foods that we take for granted, but I'm also experimenting in the kitchen--usually with positive results.

And because it is Friday, here's a photo of the inspiring beauty of the Fujian countryside. This group of tulou on the hillside was our first stop on our morning journey through the region. Most tourists have photos from above and below the group--the Chinese think it looks like four dishes and a soup from above (I agree, it does resemble a Chinese table setting).

End of the Festival

Today is Lantern Festival, the end of Spring Festival and the lunar new year celebration.

We had a nice small dinner at home after making a trip out to the Asian market--it was quite crowded, but I'm not sure if it was because of Lantern Festival or just a normal Saturday as we usually go on weeknights. I was told that I had to eat the traditional 元宵 (yuan xiao), glutinous rice balls filled with sesame paste (though this year I only had to eat two). These little balls of goo are not high on my list of enjoyable Chinese delicacies--they're a little more pleasant than mooncakes.

The rest of my Lantern Festival was spent doing laundry and watching the US-Canada gold medal hockey game. I predicted yesterday that it would be a 3-2 overtime game, but I got the winner wrong. It was still a great game to watch.

Snowed In

It looks hell has frozen over, which means the government must have compromised on healthcare reform (yes, I know it would take more than hell freezing for the government to compromise on anything).

In the last two weeks, I think Jersey City has had more snow than the Winter Olympics--it's certainly been colder than Vancouver. And it is still snowing with no end in sight. The back yard attached to the art gallery next door is filling fast and the snow is almost up to our window.

Once again, I am trying to think warm thoughts and planning to move to warmer climates. This photo is from a new park in Bali, Garuda Wisnu Kencana--the plan is to produce a cultural history of the island through enormous sculptures. What we saw was the progress on the largest statue of Vishnu (Wisnu) riding Garuda. Judging from the parts that weren't yet combined or finished, this statue will be a few hundred feet tall.

Eye of the Beholder

I was a bit misled by the title of an article that proclaimed "Shanghai World's 2nd Most Attractive City." I thought it was article about aesthetics, but it was really about attractiveness to businesspeople--the ratings were based on political stability, economic situation, and security. But, it got me thinking about aesthetics and city rankings (of course, it's all subjective).

I do think Shanghai is a beautiful city--I spent a week there during my first Spring Festival holiday. However, it's difficult to judge the city's beauty based on my experience as I only saw a fraction of it. The sprawling city would be impossible to see in just a week (especially considering how quickly buildings are demolished and constructed).

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for older styles of architecture in cities, but I do enjoy some of the modern designs that fit in among the older buildings. It's why I like walking around New York--though I still think the Westin at Times Square is ugly. It's also why I like the view from the Bund in Shanghai--the beautiful colonial-style buildings across the river from the modern towers of Pudong.