CCTV camera crews stopped by our program the other day.
See here, my apologies to non-Chinese speakers:
Inter-University Program at Tsinghua University
Proof that I go to class!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
No Hands
Forget speaking fluent Chinese! I have recently acquired a much more valuable skill: riding a bike with no hands! This trip has been, as my dear friend T. would say in his muddled British accent, "totally worth it."
If you're anything like my mother, you're first thought is surely: "Are you wearing a helmet?" The answer is obviously no. In fact, I've actually not seen a helmet since I've been in China. They must all be getting exported to America. None to spare for us here.
In any event, it's been a process. Only a few weeks go, while watching M. ride down the Tsinghua campus while simultaneously eating baozi and changing the song on his iPod, I insisted that I would never be able to do it, that I would fall flat on my face. But then one day, like magic, it just happened.
It was then that I realized the keys to success with this undoubtedly necessary life skill...
1. Never look down. Keep your head up and look at the road ahead.
2. Sit up straight and don't lean too far to one side or the other.
3. If you think you're about to fall, don't panic. Rather, pedal faster and keep pushing forward.
4. Don't give up. It's never easy at first; just keep trying till you get it.
and
5. Believe in yourself. Just let go and trust that you'll go in the right direction.
Follow these five simple rules, and you'll be hands-free in no time.
If you're anything like my mother, you're first thought is surely: "Are you wearing a helmet?" The answer is obviously no. In fact, I've actually not seen a helmet since I've been in China. They must all be getting exported to America. None to spare for us here.
In any event, it's been a process. Only a few weeks go, while watching M. ride down the Tsinghua campus while simultaneously eating baozi and changing the song on his iPod, I insisted that I would never be able to do it, that I would fall flat on my face. But then one day, like magic, it just happened.
It was then that I realized the keys to success with this undoubtedly necessary life skill...
1. Never look down. Keep your head up and look at the road ahead.
2. Sit up straight and don't lean too far to one side or the other.
3. If you think you're about to fall, don't panic. Rather, pedal faster and keep pushing forward.
4. Don't give up. It's never easy at first; just keep trying till you get it.
and
5. Believe in yourself. Just let go and trust that you'll go in the right direction.
Follow these five simple rules, and you'll be hands-free in no time.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Singles Day
Each year on November 11th, while some Chinese youths celebrate their single status, others rush to terminate it. In Chinese popular culture, 11 • 11 is "光棍节" (Guang Gun Jie), literally "bare sticks day," referring specifically to Chinese bachelors. This year's 11 • 11 • 11 marked "Super Singles Day," which only comes around every 100 years.
Given that the phenomenon is only 20 years old, having been started by students at Nanjing University in the early 90's, yesterday was the first celebration of this momentous Super Singles Day. Singles traditionally eat for breakfast four 油条 (youtiao), fried dough sticks, for the four ones, and one 包子 (baozi), a steamed stuffed bun, for the dot in the middle. See below a Guang Gun breakfast plate:
While the holiday is celebrated largely good fun, a much more serious societal issue lies beneath the surface. In reality, the celebration of bachelor status is an acknowledgement and acceptance of the significant likelihood that many single youths will remain so for quite some time, if not forever. Indeed, some predict that by 2020, males between the ages of 20 and 45 will outnumber their female peers by 30 million. And current estimates put the male:female birth ratio at 119:100, whereas the international ratio is somewhere between 103 to 107:100. An oversimplified but nevertheless convenient explanation is, as many well know, the conflation of China's One Child Policy and Chinese parents' traditional preference for male children. As the saying goes, there are three unfilial acts, the worst of which is not to carry on the family line...
That being said, thousands of Chinese couples took advantage of what they saw as an auspicious opportunity to tie the knot. Statistics suggest that over 5,000 couples were married yesterday in Shanghai, 3,000 in Nanjing. In typical Chinese fashion, the date was even more auspicious given its grand total of 8 (1+1+1+1+2+0+1+1 = 8), the luckiest of Chinese numbers. And most auspicious of all was, no doubt, corporate profit, with e-commerce platforms like Taobao.com raking in hundreds of millions in sales revenue. We can well see why the government has no problem with this holiday...
In any event, I thought I'd wrap this all up with a little dose of Western culture, namely, a few suggestions for what not to say to your single, or newly single, friends. And for those of you who are single: 加油！
What Not to Say to a Single (or Newly Single) Person
Don’t say: “You were too good for him.”
Why: You are basically saying she has bad taste. And you’ll be embarrassed if they ever patch it up.
Instead say: “His loss!” It gets the same point across without disparaging her judgment.
Don’t say: “I’m glad you got rid of him. I never liked him anyway.”
Why: She’ll wonder about your fake adoration for him while they were together.
Instead say: “I’m confident you’ll find someone who will give you exactly what you want.” It focuses on what’s to come, not on the dud you’re glad she’s done with.
Don’t say: “How could someone as perfect as you still be single?”
Why: A statement like this comes off as a backhanded compliment. What she hears is “What’s wrong with you?”
Instead say: “Seeing anyone?” If she’s tight-lipped about her love life, move on to other topics.
Expert: Bethany Marshall, Ph.D., a psychotherapist in Beverly Hills and the author of Deal Breakers: When to Work On a Relationship and When to Walk Away (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $23, amazon.com).
Given that the phenomenon is only 20 years old, having been started by students at Nanjing University in the early 90's, yesterday was the first celebration of this momentous Super Singles Day. Singles traditionally eat for breakfast four 油条 (youtiao), fried dough sticks, for the four ones, and one 包子 (baozi), a steamed stuffed bun, for the dot in the middle. See below a Guang Gun breakfast plate:
While the holiday is celebrated largely good fun, a much more serious societal issue lies beneath the surface. In reality, the celebration of bachelor status is an acknowledgement and acceptance of the significant likelihood that many single youths will remain so for quite some time, if not forever. Indeed, some predict that by 2020, males between the ages of 20 and 45 will outnumber their female peers by 30 million. And current estimates put the male:female birth ratio at 119:100, whereas the international ratio is somewhere between 103 to 107:100. An oversimplified but nevertheless convenient explanation is, as many well know, the conflation of China's One Child Policy and Chinese parents' traditional preference for male children. As the saying goes, there are three unfilial acts, the worst of which is not to carry on the family line...
That being said, thousands of Chinese couples took advantage of what they saw as an auspicious opportunity to tie the knot. Statistics suggest that over 5,000 couples were married yesterday in Shanghai, 3,000 in Nanjing. In typical Chinese fashion, the date was even more auspicious given its grand total of 8 (1+1+1+1+2+0+1+1 = 8), the luckiest of Chinese numbers. And most auspicious of all was, no doubt, corporate profit, with e-commerce platforms like Taobao.com raking in hundreds of millions in sales revenue. We can well see why the government has no problem with this holiday...
In any event, I thought I'd wrap this all up with a little dose of Western culture, namely, a few suggestions for what not to say to your single, or newly single, friends. And for those of you who are single: 加油！
What Not to Say to a Single (or Newly Single) Person
Don’t say: “You were too good for him.”
Why: You are basically saying she has bad taste. And you’ll be embarrassed if they ever patch it up.
Instead say: “His loss!” It gets the same point across without disparaging her judgment.
Don’t say: “I’m glad you got rid of him. I never liked him anyway.”
Why: She’ll wonder about your fake adoration for him while they were together.
Instead say: “I’m confident you’ll find someone who will give you exactly what you want.” It focuses on what’s to come, not on the dud you’re glad she’s done with.
Don’t say: “How could someone as perfect as you still be single?”
Why: A statement like this comes off as a backhanded compliment. What she hears is “What’s wrong with you?”
Instead say: “Seeing anyone?” If she’s tight-lipped about her love life, move on to other topics.
Expert: Bethany Marshall, Ph.D., a psychotherapist in Beverly Hills and the author of Deal Breakers: When to Work On a Relationship and When to Walk Away (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $23, amazon.com).
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tokyo International Film Festival
A little slice of Japan so far...
This week, I was fortunate enough to catch a few screenings at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival in Roppongi Hills. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see some Japanese films that I might not get to see once I leave Japan. And I’m glad I did, for even just a few films gave me some perspective on the diversity and artistry of Japanese cinema. Hopefully, without spoiling, I’ll be able to illustrate my point by comparing two films I found particularly interesting.
This week, I was fortunate enough to catch a few screenings at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival in Roppongi Hills. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see some Japanese films that I might not get to see once I leave Japan. And I’m glad I did, for even just a few films gave me some perspective on the diversity and artistry of Japanese cinema. Hopefully, without spoiling, I’ll be able to illustrate my point by comparing two films I found particularly interesting.
About the Pink Sky, by director Keiichi Kobayashi, follows a high school girl who finds a money-laden wallet and encounters unexpected consequences on her journey to return it to its “rightful” owner. Two Rabbits in Osaka, by (Korean) director Lim Tai-hyung, follows several characters as they await the mysteriously preordained final hour of humanity.
The first film opens with a close-up of the heroine in monochrome (the entire film is in black and white). She looks nervous, panicked and confused. She looks left, right, left and right. Is she looking for someone? Or choosing where to run? The director answers immediately, showing us the wallet and the girl’s initial reaction to the discovery of its contents, 300,000 Japanese Yen. The situation is believable, and the director establishes the main character’s central conflict (while not revealing the complexities that will ensue), from the film’s first moments.
Two Rabbits in Osaka, on the other hand, begins quite differently. The film opens with a series of long, steady, wide-angle shots of a quiet, still city. The only movement in each shot is a single animal that crosses the field of view, progressing from bird, to dog, and finally to human. At first we wonder, where are all the people? Then, when we actually see one, we wonder, who is he and where is everyone else? The next few shots follow our hero as he walks alone through the streets. Eventually, we begin to see bodies lying in the alleyways and our hero checking their pockets as he steps over the corpses. What could have happened here?
Although in Pink we do not know the story behind the wallet and the money inside, it is clear that it does not belong to our heroine and that she must now figure out how (or perhaps even whether) to return it. The situation affects her and her alone, and the audience plunges into the depths of her psyche, embarking on a journey of getting to know and to understand the person that she is and why she struggles with the decisions she’s forced to make. Indeed, the film is shot from her perspective and appropriately includes her in every scene. Contrastingly, Lim chooses to focus on the global circumstances that will define the development of a range of characters in his film, which become fewer and more focal as the film progresses. The audience is drawn to the film not because of a single character’s specific dilemma, but rather by a world shrouded in mystery, revealed slowly and piecemeal. We must take a leap of faith, but once we have, we’ve made far too large of a psychological and emotional investment to stop watching.
After the screening of About the Pink Sky, I got a chance to ask Keiichi Kobayashi about his direction of the film. I noticed in particular several long, steady shots that highlight the heroine’s passionate reactions to surprising new information. I asked how Kobayashi managed to get such intensity from such a young actor. He told me that they just kept shooting over and over until they got exactly what they wanted. Sometimes it took 10 or 15 takes before the actors were able to really relax and settle into the scene. Also, he said, having a small cast and crew (only about 15 people total), made it easier to later retake shots they weren’t satisfied with.
In terms of script, the film is heavy on dialogue and runs chronologically with a minimal score. As such, it screens more like a play than a film. Kobayashi replied that it was indeed intentional and that the film remained true to script. The film is less about the plot and more about the characters and their interactions. As we see what they say and do, we learn about how they think about themselves and the society they live in, which reveals the film’s social and political undertones.
Two Rabbits in Osaka is quite the opposite. There is relatively less dialogue, and the film is driven by erratic, choppy shots, intertwining story lines, and flashbacks. Min Junho and Daishi Matsunaga, the film’s principle actor and actress, respectively, shared that there was significant improvisation in this film. I asked the actors how much of the final cut is improvised and how it differed from the original script. They told me that, in fact, they did not know much about the plot or how the film would end, but were told by Lim only that they would be in a movie about the human anticipation of death. They explained that in many of the scenes, they would be surprised with new information and would have to react on the spot. Many of these types of scenes were clipped together in editing.
In contrast to Kobayashi’s multiple-take approach, Lim’s approach is lean and mean, but it too manages to induce powerful emotion. For example, Matsunaga revealed that one of the film’s most emotive scenes, where her character is thrown a surprise birthday party (her birthday is on humanity’s last day), was a total surprise. The technique allows the film a more organic, “home movie” feeling, drawing the audience into the story and bringing to life the characters’ complex emotions.
I was impressed with both the diversity and quality of these two films in addition to other I saw at the festival, each of which presented a unique viewing experience. Kobayashi hopes his film gets some attention and can make it into Western countries. I hope for him, too, as I think the film is relatable and would have an equally strong message for Western audiences. However, Kobayashi claims that this was not his goal in making the film. He said that his Dad once told him that, in Japan, there are 20,000 fans for anything. So if he can entertain 20,000 people with this film, he’ll be happy. Imagine how happy the rest of us would be if we all had such practical goals. Good for you, Kobayashi.
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