Adjusting to China

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries
-Aldous Huxley

There are no foreign lands. It is only the traveler who is foreign.
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Kyle of Toungue (n., psychiatric): Irrational anxiety caused by wondering whether or not the ox tongue in your sandwich is meant for tasting you right back.
-Douglas Adams

Chou Phu (n.): Any completely made-up dish sold as a joke in an Eastern restaurant to see if Westerners will fall for it.
-Douglas Adams

This is my first blog written in China, at least on this website. If you're interested in mundane musings about my life and times here, check out http://greg-lifeinchina.blogspot.com/
I have been in this country for just over two months, and slowly my perspectives are beginning to coalesce into something beyond first impressions and generalizations.
Foremost, I am impacted by how differently these people have been conditioned to view their world. I do not say this condescendingly, for we in the West have been conditioned as well.
In fact, limited by my own preconceptions (some conscious and some not) I am hesitant to publish my assumptions too quickly. It is too early for me to be judgemental or to expound with authority. I am in the absorbing stage; not the critiquing.

There are many socio-political issues that intrigue me, but they will have to wait for another blog. It's not that I'm a blank slate. It's just that I know the writings there are not absolute.

I will say though, that I have found most first-hand accounts of living in China to be out-dated. From my readings, I expected to be stared at on the street and treated with suspicion. My experiences so far have been quite the opposite. People are curious, yes, but in a friendly and approachable manner. I get the sense that this culture has been changing quite rapidly in recent years and decades.

And here I am again in a new environment with a language that I do not understand. I won't repeat myself, but you may wish to check out the archives of May 2007 for my 'Learning the Lingo' entry.

In China, the lack of language is more problematic for me than it was in Thailand. The Xinjiang Province is less Western than Bangkok, and the city of Korla is definitly not a tourist town.
Having said that, I do admit to enjoying the pre-verbal time before I can speak and understand words. There is something powerful here, that impacts my human interactions. Body language becomes a more vital exchange, a smile goes a long way, and the eyes truly are windows to the soul. Kids, by the way, are great at this.

Aother phenomena of no shared words is that there is no exchange of personal histories. What you see is what you get, and the past that you usually use to define yourself just isn't on the table. Not surprisingly, kids are great at this too.

Immersion into a new culture, especially without language skills, makes you realize how little you can take for granted. For example (and this is but one of many): Do you hail a bus anywhere along its route, or do you find a bus stop? Then, when you get on that bus, do you pay the driver upon entering or do you have a seat and wait for the money to be collected? And, by the way, how much is the fare? If you don't speak the language and you can't read the writing, you really are a stranger in a strange land.

In the battle of language acquisition, it is important to be gracious in defeat. If I order fried rice and the waiter brings me chicken feet, I'm going to assume that the mistake was mine. And I will gnaw on those fowl claws like the good omnivore that I am.

Traffic is interesting here. Horns are so prevalent as to become inefficient, and these streets are no place for the infirm of leg or eye. If you are standing curbside at a major street (say, six lanes across), you do not wait until the whole street is clear to cross. You move forward one lane at a time, and consequently you find yourself standing on a thin white line while cars blow wind on you from either side. It's a lot like the video game Frogger, but with much more incentive to avoid the splat.

I was watching an episode of 'Kung Fu' the other day. As I saw David Carradine, the Shaolin priest, walking barefoot down the street of a western town, I was struck by the thought that this was me in reverse. Except that I can't speak the language and don't know kung fu. I can't even order kung pao correctly (thus the chicken feet)!

But as my stay here lengthens, more of this life opens up to me. Wandering the streets, I steadily increase my understanding of where things are and how to access them. Friends have started to accumulate, both foreign, Chinese and Uighur. I have a good Chinese teacher, and I am just at the threshold of starting to learn. My world is expanding.

I began this blog by saying that it was not the time to make judgements about this country. I do feel compelled however, to make some comments about my own.

demagoguery (n.): impassioned appeals to the prejudices and emotions of the populace
-WordNet

"It is of course, a trite observation to say that we live "in a period of transition." Many people have said this at many times. Adam may well have made the remark to Eve on leaving the Garden of Eden.
-Harold MacMillan

True, it may be cliche to say it, but I do see our Country facing a crossroads. And I do not know which direction it will take. If we continue with the current mind-set however, I believe that our country will devolve. It will devolve economically, and it will devolve morally.

I have been following the Presidential campaign from China, and I can only imagine what it is like in the States. You must be alternately fascinated and weary of the process. I'll try not to burden you with more of the same, and I'll be brief. I will also spare you the pages of vitriolic writings I have composed. Aside from the release of personal venting, it's not what's needed now. But, at the same time, this is not a time to remain silent.

Do I have doubts about Obama? Yes, I do. I have doubts about his ability to turn his visions into reality, and his faith-based statements set off my alarm bells. Also, I am a cynic as regards our political process. Is Obama a sincere idealist or a consumate actor? I lean towards the former, but I would not wager my life on it.

Do I have doubts about McCain? None whatsoever. I categorically do not want him as the president of my country. Here is where I temper my vitriol and return those emotional pages back to the drawer (oh, and some of the things I wrote were so clever and cutting).

But this election is less about Obama and McCain than it is about the consciousness and values of the American people. If Obama is elected and fails to make good on his promises, I will be disappointed but not disheartened. For it will tell me that although a leader has yet to be found, people still honor the concepts of freedom, honesty and generousity of spirit.

You know who I find myself watching most closely these days? Republicans. Not so much the party organization itself or talk show hosts, but the rank and file individuals who identify themselves as such. In the face of McCain's campaign tactics and Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential nominee, where do these people stand?

Those who consider McCain's tactics unacceptable, they give me some hope. They encourage me by demonstrating that human integrity is more important than a theoretical platform.
Some would say that the end justifies the means. But in matters of integrity, the means are the end.

Still, to quote Alan Watts, "the world is a giant rorshack ink blot." Anything that I say will be related to by those with similar views and denigrated by those who think otherwise. Accordingly, I will refrain from further efforts at either preaching to the choir or trying to teach a pig (lipsticked or not) to sing.

In a previous blog I said that our choices were to vote out of fear or out of hope. I'd like to revisit that statement, because actually I am voting out of fear. I am afraid that a McCain-Palin presidency would push America irrevocably over that slippery slope we've been stumbling down.