China and Overpopulation

This is a pretty average day on a main street (Nanjing Road) in Shanghai

I am through the first month and a half of classes and slowly becoming wary of responding to the same questions over and over again. Too often the questions are ridiculous, such as asking me whether or not I like China(what do you expect me to say?), whether I like Chinese food or not(What other choice do I have, I live two hours away from the closest Pizza Hut), who my favorite pop star is(this question is only ridiculous because it should be obvious that it is JC Chasez), or how I communicate with people when I enter supermarkets to buy things. ("Yes, they speak in Chinese, and yes, I do speak to them in Chinese..." to which I get a response of giggles or cries of astonishment that make me momentarily dream of a flashback to the good ole' days of beating students with blunt instruments.)

Not all of the questions are bad ones (I guess as a teacher I should be saying there is no such thing as a bad question, but seriously, do you really think I haven't adjusted to Chinese food after THREE years??). Some of the questions, though repetitious, are worth answering and deal with important subjects. I am often asked a question that is very simple, but very important. This question gets at the heart of some of the difficulties foreigners face while living in China, and some of the differences between Chinese and American society that make it some times difficult to have successful exchanges. The question is, what were your first impressions upon arriving in China?

I love this question because the first things that one notices upon entering a country are often the most meaningful. Some people notice the character of the people, others the quality of facilities, things they can buy, etc. ... But no matter what it is, the first things that people notice in a new place are often the things that are most different from what they are accustomed to seeing in their native place. These differences are important to understand if one wishes to bridge the gap and create an atmosphere of understanding between the two different areas/cultures.

When I am asked this question I can immediately think of two things that struck me upon arriving in China. The first thing is the language, which is so obvious but absolutely killer because unlike in European countries or South American countries you really have no idea what anything says at all. I had a friend in Qufu that once bought a bottle of dish soap thinking that it was a bottle of water. Language and the difficulty of communicating is a very "in your face" problem that I have to continue to deal with into my fourth year in China, but the language difference, at the very least, was something I had anticipated upon arrival. What I never really could have imagined that totally blew me away right as I got off the plane in Beijing was the sheer volume of people that were everywhere in China.

Average day on the Great Wall

China and overpopulation have become synonymous to the point of cliche, and there is no shortage of photos in National Geographic and other publications of really crowded areas in India and China. I knew all of this before coming over, but the experience of living in an overpopulated country is something that exceeded all of my expectations, and has had a powerful influence over so many different aspects of life, for me and everyone living here.

Better understanding the problem of overpopulation in China is important for many different reasons. One, it can help a person to better understand the reason for some of the difficulties one can experience living in China. The fact is that living in China can often be stressful, but many of the problems that China has are rooted in their struggle to cope with such an enormous mass of people in such a small area. Problems ranging from the trivial, lack of fixed lines while trying to get onto a train, to the severe, extreme environmental pollution that has an adverse affect on the health of millions, can all be traced back to the problem of overpopulation. Two, the current situation in China should serve as a warning to all areas around the world of the dangers and difficulties that we will all face if nations continue to expand their economies, technologies, and populations, without considering the consequences that those actions have on our surrounding environment.

Here are some stats to allow everyone to better digest the overpopulation of China, taken from a great text on Chinese history that explains the situation in China much more succinctly and clearly that I am capable;

"The inhabited part of China is roughly half as large as the inhabited part of the United States, yet it supports five times as many people. This is made possible only by crowding some 2,000 human beings onto each square mile of cultivated earth in the valleys and floodplains. The United States has some 570, 000 square miles under cultivation and could greatly increase this area; China has perhaps 450,000 square miles of cultivated land (less than one half acre of food-producing soil per person), with little prospect of increasing this area by more than a small fraction, even if it is used more intensively. In short, China must feed about 23 % of the world's population from about 7 % of the world's arable land." (China, A New History. Fairbank, John. Harvard University Press. 1998)

In other words, in China, since much of China is covered by either desert or mountainous regions that are unlivable, it is like they are cramming 5 times the population of the United States into a little over 1/3 of the land.
This is a picture that my friend took at Mount Tai( Damn you Mt. Tai!!) when I had asked if there were many people there that day she had responded enthusiastically, "not at all!!" So this crowd counts as a small group of people here.

There is no reason for me to blabber about all of the problems of overpopulation, but it is interesting to see the way it rears its ugly head in literally all facets of life. Aside from the obvious impact that it can have on the environment(which is scary and deserves comment in a later blog), it can have unthought of consequences on your daily life. Avoiding a lunchtime rush here means that you will just have to wait in line for your lunch, rather than literally fighting with your elbows, or shouting in order to get what you want. Bike rides are meant purely for getting from point A to point B, for riding your bike among Chinese traffic(let me make this clear, I HATE Chinese traffic) is a high stress, sometimes dangerous affair thanks to the enormous quantity of cars on the road, a quantity that grows daily with the budding middle class in the country. Find the sound of babies crying annoying or irritating? Tough shit. Being a foreigner you become especially acute to the population problem, since with a larger population comes a larger pool of assholes to yell comments at you as you walk by them.


Even my teaching is influenced by the overpopulation. I teach Oral English, and before you begin salivating at the prospect of all the jokes that could arise from me teaching hundreds of teenagers how to improve their "Oral," let me assure you that I am teaching them how to improve their spoken English. The problem is that in order to improve your spoken English you need to actually talk, and I have over 350 students a semester. There is just no opportunity for me to talk with all of them on a consistent basis, let alone get them all to talk during our limited two hours together a week.


This is a picture of a side road in Zaozhuang ,it could be any hour of day, a place considered to be a small town.

These are just a few examples of the ever-present influence of overpopulation here. As I have mentioned before, the Chinese have become largely immune to the annoyances of overpopulation that I notice since they have always lived with it. But I come from Hamilton NY, Pop.- 3000, and not a day goes by that I don't marvel at the amount of people there are around me here. I hope this can make the problem of overpopulation in China a bit more comprehensible, for I will unavoidably continue to talk(rant?) about it in many blogs to come.

My Big Break

Monday has rolled around and we are back to work, the vacation coming to a close. While I hear the fun stories of other people and their relaxing vacations with family, or their exciting vacations travelling to other cities, I am left reflecting on yet another vacation filled with unfulfilled goals and diarrhea. On the brighter side of things, however, I did manage to save some money, and diarrhea is a great way to lose some of those pesky pounds before a big show. Speaking of which....


Over the vacation I was casually watching television one night in my apartment when this scene unexpectedly occured...

That's right, it is official, I am huge in Zaozhuang(and for those of you wondering, I am not completely naked watching TV in this video, I did have pants on). Incidentally the handsome man for those wondering was Li Zheng, host of the local nightly news, and owner of a sweet glitter covered purple suit(and white one to match, mid-show wardrobe change!). Over the vacation this show was broadcast a total of four times, and I am totally certain that at least 17 people in the city of Zaozhuang might have seen it over the four days. The ball is rolling.

There were a few hilarious things about this party. One was how seriously everyone was taking it. That actually rubbed off on me and I ended up getting pretty nervous before starting. Another thing was the clothing. Look at the outfit I am wearing, could I look any more like a huge tourist deuschebag? The funny thing was, the leaders of the show loved it!! After the show they complimented the guys in charge of selecting my wardrobe, saying that my clothes looked genuinely foreign. I had to congratulate myself for allowing myself to become another foreigner on television who goes onto TV in order to try and teach people about foreign cultures,and ends up doing more to cement traditional stereotypes than help foster multi-cultural learning. It's hard when a few crusty leaders are in charge of everything that gets put on TV.

The way that my clothers were selected? Well they called me the day before and told me to bring my own clothes. When I asked the other hosts what they would wear they said a white and purple suit. I thought about wearing a suit, but then thought better of it, and decided to wear a maroon collar shirt and black pants. Somewhat formal, but not too formal, and nothing to stand out too much. When I arrived I thought I looked good, and immediately discovered I didn't by the reactions of "is that what you want to wear?” that I received from everyone. They kept saying a word about my clothes that I didn't understand, and finally I told my boy Li Zheng and the script writer to come over to my house at lunch and help me choose my clothes. As we were leaving I finally asked to see what the two other hosts would be wearing, and at that point understood the word that they had been saying to me for the past 30 minutes. They had been saying that my clothes would "suck the light" meaning that the colors were too drab. At parties the Chinese hosts like to wear pretty flamboyant outfits, as I discovered when my cohosts pulled out their purple and white glittered covered suits that made them look, to me at least, like a pretty pretty princess doll and a villain from Batman.

The dudes came over, talked about how cool my pad was (it is pretty sweet bro, no doubt), looked through pictures of me and my family, and then started to look over my clothes, to which all they had to say was, "Too dark, too dark, too dark, why do you wear old man clothes??" I had not been aware that I wear old man clothes, but luckily they found something they liked in the form of the bright orange Steve Nash jersey that I have(Thanks Biddle). I put it on and they were like, "Nice... very foreign," But apparently the outfit was not foreign enough, for they found the button down color shirt that I am wearing in the video in the closet too, covered in yellow. I put it on, they loved it, and then they asked me,(and this is literally the dialogue we had back and forth)

"what do you think?"

"I think I look ridiculous." I responded and they laughed hard, slapped me on the shoulder, lead me to the door and said,

"Let's go!!" What can I say, they know how to convince a man.

The dialogue that I had to say was hilarious too, I'll give you a little taste of it by viewing one of the parts that I did in English here, but I was basically selling the city I live in to Chinese and foreign investors. A city that I have lived in for all of 3 months. (Listen for the music if you can, really fitting for the occasion, at any moment Li Zheng and I are about to get into a Light Saber duel)

It wasn't all bright clothing, great lines, and good times though, I did have to suffer a bit, as back stage, while the dancing and singing performances took place I was mercilessly left to fend for myself amongst a hive of frenzied children. These children...

I dont know who that guy playing the instrument is, but the instrument is pretty interesting. It is a saw played against a stringed instrument in order to immitate the sounds of animals. Really interesting to hear, I'll have to remember what it is called, I have forgotten the name.

Anyway, I had been playing cat and mouse with these little girls all day, since we been rehearsing repeatedly since 8 am in the morning (healthy method). They were curious about me, constantly looking over at me and giggling, but at first a little frightened by my mysterious presence. But by nightfall the little demons powers had reached their zenith, while my white boy mystery powers had all but evaporated. After I made it through my first set, I was tired and tried to sit down, but one little girl mustered up her courage and came up to me and, from a safe retreating distance, asked where I was from. It was all over from there. I told her, in chinese, and then a couple of her friends joined her and they moved closer, showing their fangs in the gesture that some confuse for a grin. They began to hit me with a barrage of questions about why I was such a monster.

"What's your name?"

"John" to this response they laugh and run away and grab more friends.

"What's your Chinese name?"

"I don't have one, I like my name."

"Guo Li is American and he has a Chinese name"

"really? wow!" and then at this point they have me surrounded, there is about ten small children covered in glitter and make-up all around me and one starts to stroke my arm,

"wow, look at all the fur he has!" (human body hair and animal fur are the same word in Chinese)

"Oh, so much fur!" I'd like to point out that also at this point there are also a number of full grown adults standing around watching this whole situation with a grin on their face like it is the most adorable thing they have ever seen.

I try to make light of the situation "well, I was born in 1980, so I'm a monkey(Chinese Zodiac), so of course I have alot of hair!"

"Oh my god, why don't you shave it off?" they are examining me and stroking my fur as though they are contemplating whether or not I am delicious enough to eat, meanwhile the adults are laughing hysterically.

I laugh nervously and say,"Why would I want to shave it, hehe?"

A clapping noise breaks the spell of the moment and I hear the voice of the script writer, who I can only assume repelled down from the ceiling, saying, "Children away from him, he has to go on stage soon!" The children and adults alike all scatter with grins and chuckles, and thus I was saved by Lu Yi Chi, who told me I could call him Lewis. And so to the stage for the last set!

and that put a wrap on this most formal of parties. The full impact of my big break remains to be seen, but rest assured I am now a household name in tens of houses in Zaozhuang!

Pathetically Delicious

This is how tough it gets at times here in Zaozhuang. As a westerner suffering from western food withdrawal I am forced at times to make dire decisions. This time around it took me tothe extent of calling my friends that went to Tai An and asking them to bring me back a Big Mac and Quarter Pounder from the McDonald's in that town. The Tai An McDonalds is the second closest McDonald's to Zaozhuang, and so is also the second closest restaurant to Zaozhuang that serves anything resembling a real western sandwich. The food was bought at 11:30AM BST, and then accounting for travelling time and switching of buses, arrived at my door 5 PM BST. Upon arrival it was ABSOLUTELY f%$&ing DELICIOUS!!

I hate McDonald's, and yet once every couple of months you'll find me in this type of compromising situation, where first I wolf down a Quarter Pounder, nearly choking myself, and then let things slow down a bit with the Big Mac, even letting the situation get a little, dare I say, intimate...

Anyway, such is my life here, nothing I am too happy about, but something that I feel is necessary to continue on in a healthy frame of mind. Some people might be saying, "But John, didn't you just recover from a serious stomach ailment? Might this not be the best time to be eating McDonald's?" and to you all I can respond is, "Please, shut the f&^$ up."

Here is my friend who helped me to pull off my 3 hour call-in delivery, who also, unexpectedly, appears to be a distant relative of the Hamburglar.

The Mystique of Mount Tai, and The Wrath of my Intestines.

This week, as the United States sits mired in a financial crisis, China goes travelling! Despite the murky economic situation abroad, and its possible influence over the markets here in China, the Chinese were still feeling optimistic enough about their own financial situations to hit the road in record numbers. Newspaper headlines tout that not only have train and plane ticket sales hit record highs, but also a number of different national parks and monuments are breaking records for number of visiting guests. Everyone is feeling good after the Olympics, and the economy is good enough here to not worry about what is going on abroad at this point.

And why wouldn't the people of China want to go travelling over the break. I mean just look at how fun travelling in China is...

Human sized hamsterballs over water?!?! Seriously?! I still don't know if this is real or not, but if it is, why on earth doesn't EVERY lake have these?


Originally I had planned on joining in this travelling orgy, as I wanted to visit one of the most well known tourist destinations in all of China, Mount Tai. Mount Tai is the most famous of the five sacred Taoist mountains of China, and it is a mere 2 hours away from where I have been living for over three years. It is embarrassing for me that I still have yet to climb this mountain, for not only is it said to be one of the more beautiful and important attractions of Shandong and all of China, but I have also come to learn from many students and friends that one does not become a true man until one has summited this holy peak. Now I have also heard this about the Great Wall, which I have climbed several times, and I have even heard this challenge called upon me when friends (or enemies)are trying to convince me to continue to drink Baijiu, but being a man I am forever bound to the fate of accepting a continuous string of moderately difficult, arbitrary challenges in order to prove to the world that I am, in fact, a man. This is what is done, rather than the more direct and socially unacceptable approach of just taking off your pants and showing everyone your dick. (I've tried it, people don't like this one)


Its not that I haven't made an effort to visit Mount Tai, I really want to go. Last year I tried to visit the mountain with my sister, but ran out of time before she left the country. In the spring time I was planning on going with a friend, only to have my school suddenly call me in for a "favor"(lecture or dinner). five years ago I had thought to go many times but always able to put off the trip thinking, "I have plenty of time to do that some other day." Well at this point it has been too long, the questions on my manhood too intense, and so I scheduled with some Chinese friends to take off and climb the mountain over this vacation. This time around I came as close as I have ever come to getting there, as I even bought the bus ticket in advance. But crafty Mount Tai (damn you Mount Tai!!)continues to elude me, as I sit now in my apartment while my two friends stand atop the mountain looking down on me and laughing; two women that are now more man than I'll ever be.



This time around I was foiled by an old friend, one who comes to visit me about 4 to 5 times a year, a friend that I believe most westerners that have come to live in China for an extended period of time are pretty familiar with. You might have guessed, but I am speaking about none other than everybodies good friend, intense and painful Diarrhea!!

OK, so Diarrhea isn't everybody's friend. There are those of us who even hate Diarrhea, Pepto-Bismal for one. Indeed, the only reason I call Diarrhea my friend is because we have known each other for so long and been through so much together over the years. My stomach hasn't been the same ever since I was 17 and carelessly decided to drink the water in Peru. Over the following eleven years Diarrhea has been by my side through good times and bad for a number of moments that have been at the same time both hilarious and agonizingly embarrassing. The reason that I see the need to mention Diarrhea in this blog is because I am not the only foreigner who has come to China full of enthusiasm and curiosity, and ended up in a cold sweat over a toilet.


Almost all Chinese food is cooked in pretty heavy amounts of oil, mostly peanut or soybean oil. Not only is this not the most healthy way of eating, but when you combine this oil saturated diet with the amount of tea that is drinken, it becomes a festering ground for yellow teeth and vicious diarrhea (really brought you in with that one huh? sold on living in China yet?). Many foreigners that come to China for the first time are surprised to find that in many supermarkets and restaurants drinks are often served warm. Even beer is served warm, crappy light beer served at room temperature, nothing finer. Upon being served one of these luke warm beverages most people just shrug their shoulders, snicker a bit and say "ah, China!" But there is good reason the Chinese tend to stay away from refrigerated drinks. One simple reason is until recently there hasn't been proper heating facilities in China, so logically during the colder months from October to May you would avoid cold beverages in order to stave off freezing yourself. But a second important reason is that, apparently, if you have a diet that is heavy with peanut oil you should not drink cold beverages, otherwise, as I have been told, "its very easy to get the diarrhea." Now its clear they haven't quite understood beer to be serving it warm, but at least there is a method to the madness. Not only do foreigners who come to China have to adjust to the sudden intake of large amounts of oil, but they also often continue to drink cold beverages, turning their stomachs to silly putty.

Cold beverages aren't the only road to diarrhea, though. No, there are plenty of other options. In the provincial areas of China outside of the main cities most restaurants still don't have any enforced health codes to follow. At least twice a year I can count on getting some kind of food poisoning from either meat not properly stored/cooked, or vegetables not properly cleaned. For example this time around, the diarrhea was so ferocious that it was almost surely caused by something terrible that I ate in the past few days. This type of diarrhea is not just your run of the mill, intestinal discomfort diarrhea. This is a dysenteric diarrhea marathon the likes of which used to keep Zach and AC Slater in poor health on the trail to Oregon, leaving me the only person to go out and shoot 2000 lbs. worth of Buffalo (despite the fact I know I can only carry 200lbs. ) to take back to Kelly and Jessie, who was just bitten by a snake, at the wagon. (Am I the only person who would name their wagon mates after characters from "Saved by the Bell?") Food poisoning is a more dangerous way of getting sick, and still relatively common to find, especially in the countryside.

This time around my ailment was pretty severe, and hit me without much warning. That's the hard part about Diarrhea, you never know when he is gonna show up, maybe it will be at midnight, maybe he'll stop by while your at a bus station, or even worse ON a bus (I have had terrible experiences on buses, I'll leave it at that.). This time around I was over at a friends house, which was actually nice to not be alone while combating illness, the only problem being this was the bathroom that I was to use...
This sight is a shocking one to a lot of people when they first get to China, and is especially tough on women, as most bathrooms in China are squat toilets, though fortunately foreigners apartments and most hotels come equipped with western toilets. I can actually understand the logic of a squat toilet, I can see how if you were accustomed and able to use it it might feel cleaner than sitting directly on a seat that hundreds or thousands of people beofre you have sat on. The problem is that I'm 6 ft. tall, remarkably unflexible and had to visit this little squat box every 10 minutes for about 3 straight hours. I literally can't do the squatting, and so I am forced to use my arms to prop myself up, either pushing on the wall behind me or holding onto the doorknob. I will say that after a while the arms become quite tired and it is not the most stable situation to go to the bathroom in, and I'll leave it at that. On the positive side though, using this kind of a toilet after becoming fatigued from hours of diarrhea gives you a great opportunity to urinate on your left foot... maybe your right. Everyone has different mechanics in squat shitting, I can't predict how it will turn out, but you do have that going for you, which is nice.

So that leaves me here now, I have managed to return to my home, where I sit at a computer, wearing sweatpants, and nursing an angry stomach that has eaten nothing but plain noodles and peanut butter for the past 2 days. This week alone at least 200,000 men, women, and children will climb to the summit of Mount Tai and prove their manliness, while my intestines has once again proven that I deserve nothing more than to remain here in Zaozhuang in this androgenous state of huge wuss-baggery.

Understanding China

This week in China we have a week long vacation for the national day festival, a holiday to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic, and these national holidays are always a good time to reflect on where the people of China believe their country to be in relation to the rest of the world. Recently, due to the Olympics, there has been an unprecedented amount of interaction between China and the outside world, and I do not use that term "outside world" lightly, for I feel that despite the fact that China has become more open, and the fact that more foreigners than ever are coming to China, the vast majority of people that I meet from day to day in Shandong still tend to think of China as one world, and the rest of the world as something totally different.

There are two things that I find interesting and important to think about in all of the discussion over the development of China and the Olympics. One a basic thought that most Chinese people seem to hold about their relationship with the rest of the world, and the other is an aspect of Chinese nationalism that I find to be rather frightening.

Watching television in China in the post Olympic period has helped me to discover that the Olympics were a resounding success, and that the world now loves China with its whole heart. What I find most striking is not the censorship of the media here, that is something that you grow to adjust to, and if we are really honest with ourselves we know that media all around the world suffers from bias and different forms of censorship. What really strikes me is the position that has been taken by the government and many of the people of China in their relationship to the outside world, most specifically the "west," which China pays special attention to as it continues its quest to become the most influential nation in the world. What I hear repeated over and over again, from the television set to dinners with different "leaders" is the fact that the Olympics was an important event because it allowed the rest of the world to come to China and better understand the Chinese people.

Of course on some levels this statement is very true. The truth is that most Americans that I know do know very little about China and Chinese culture. I think that there are many Americans that agree that our education system tends to neglect learning about foreign countries and cultures. Many Americans cannot speak a foreign language, while in China and Europe children in elementary school will begin learning English or other foreign languages. Undoubtedly the Olympics did do a great deal to help foreign people understand the growing prominence of China globally, while also allowing them to understand that a majority of the citizens of the country, despite the censorship and human rights violations against certain groups that the government deems to be "terrorist groups," are generally pleased with the government and the direction that the country is going. I can't deny the ignorance of my own culture nor the benefits of other countries learning more about China, but what is disturbing is the tone that is taken by the Chinese in discussing this.

On a special TV show dedicated to the Olympics and their overwhelming success there was a series of interviews with college students from different Universities. It is always interesting to hear from college students, because they have all been raised into a different China than that of their parents. There is the term "'80 and after" used to describe when people were born. Because of the monumental changes the government went through in the post 80's period that generation has been separated into their own demographic, a group with few brothers and sisters due to the one child policy, that was born into a more open China, and a China of growing prosperity and hope. These college students had a general consensus, and that was that the Olympics were a huge success because it helped the foreigners better understand the Chinese, yet they also in general said, "We really know quite a bit about foreign countries, so many students have gone abroad to study in foreign countries, and we have foreign teachers, so the exposure to foreign countries wasn't that big a deal. But the important thing was for foreign countries to really better understand us."

This attitude is echoed in my classroom discussions, and discussions with random people that I meet on the street, and it is something that is dangerous, as the Chinese are taking the same type of one-sided stance to their relations with other countries that has made the United States so hated abroad. By saying that other countries don't understand them they are trying to skate out of responsibility for some of their own actions, especially in relation to some of their problems with domestic unrest. I feel no regret or remorse in saying that in general China does not understand the rest of the world, my experiences from my daily life resoundingly confirm that, and quite simply, if China did really have a good understanding of the rest of the world, it would not be so sorely misunderstood, as it claims to be.

First of all, the argument that having students study abroad allows a country to better understand foreign countries is ridiculous. It is an infinitesimal portion of the Chinese population that gets to go abroad to study, and even fewer who actually return to China to tell others of their experiences. By this argument the US would have a great understanding of the world, as the percentage of US students who go abroad to study and then return to the US would be greater than China's by a broad margin. Living sixth months in a foreign country does not give one a comprehensive understanding into the culture of that area, let alone does any of the understanding that is accomplished spread osmotically to the rest of the population.

I will have conversations with people all the time about western culture, bc when confronted with a foreigner no one knows what else to do but talk about what makes me different from them. This has been made embarrassingly apparent to me on numerous occasions when parents will hold their toddler close to me and say to them, "Look son, what makes him different from us? How is he different?" At times like these I honestly want to throw up all over the place, bc I already know that conversation won't be successful nor enjoyable. The amount of ignorance that I find in these conversations on subjects of importance is in general on par with the level of ignorance that Americans can exhibit about China. The sole difference is that a lot (too many) people know how to say "hello, how are you" in English in China, and people have a very very basic grasp of our holidays and eating styles.

Commonly I will overhear people who have never left Shandong province disagreeing with things I say about American culture. I find this more than a little maddening, especially when it comes from people who are 1-3 years older than me, but call me "little brother," and view me as young and irresponsible because I am not married and have no child. People in general don't understand anything about the diversity of American culture, or the reasons why people in America will argue on TV, go out to bars at night, or support the rights of homosexuals. What is generally understood here is a very cookie cutter mid-west Christian portrait of American culture that bakes cookies, plays football, and celebrates Christmas. Whenever you try to discuss any other aspects of life in the United States you are generally met with condescending smiles of people who view you as very "open minded," or over-complicated. "Open minded" is often used here in a derogatory sense, being "open-minded" is also seen as something of a cultural difference, for reasons I don't fully understand, but in general"open-minded" is a term for immoral. This is interesting since in the US you find that as the case as well sometimes, China is certainly not the only place to harbor misgivings for free thinking.

This one sided view of China's interaction with foreign countries is pretty arrogant, and has more than vague similarities to the way that the United States does business abroad also. I don't find this surprising, since governments around the world under different names often have very similar characteristics, but I do find it very disturbing, especially since it is being echoed by the youth of China.

With the national holiday also comes a livening of patriotic spirit, something that scares the s*&^ out of me no matter where I see it, but the patriotism in China has a particular facet to it that I find disturbing.

In general I think that the term patriotism is abused so that a small group of people can seek benefits and support from a large group of people. I believe that China is no exception in this manner, and this is problematic. But what is most frightening to me is the way that most Chinese relate their nationalism or patriotism, whichever you wish to call it, to their race or ethnicity. China, despite its claims, is not a very diverse country, least of all when you compare it to the melting pot of the US, so I try not to compare the two, least of all in the way that people talk to me as a foreigner. Yet even in not comparing the two, it is important to note some disturbing trends.

When watching a national party on CCTV 1, the largest network in China, I watched the performance of a song by Xie Ting Duo, called "Yellow Man," (Which also, not coincidentally, is the ringtone on my cell-piece) the lyrics of which extol the virtues of the Chinese while referring to physical characteristics that make them Chinese, and thus different from other races. There is also a popular song called "The Chinese Man," sung by Andy Lau (Andy Lau is HUGE) which is very similar in its content, talking about how yellow skin, black hair, and black eyes unites them, and then talking about the virtues of bravery, tenacity, and history that make the Chinese people great. Having pride in one's appearance is important, especially in a world where Hollywood and the fashion industry has made being white the ideal, but I also find it dangerous to be talking about the value of national character and tying it to physical appearance.

This is something that I have to deal with on a daily basis, being very white, with brown hair and blue eyes. There are more than a few people around here when viewing me appear to be viewing a zoo animal rather than another human being. This is often dismissed by other Chinese people as me misunderstanding the situation. Gotta love the way a majority can marginalize a minorities thoughts and feelings so swiftly and unsympathetically. More distressing, though, is going to dinner with University professors and students, some from Korea, some from China, and hear students and teachers alike say things like, "he (referring to the Korean teacher) is also from an Asian country, he is like us, but you, you are different," as they watch to see whether I can in fact use chopsticks, or slurp my noodles as I eat. This again adds to the feeling of being a monkey on display, a feeling that my relatively hairy body does nothing to ease. (side note, there is a popular Chinese joke which I have read numerous times on the Internet and heard whispered by people, though never directly said to me, that foreigners have not evolved properly, and that is the reason for our hairier bodies. This is obviously not the majority of peoples opinion, racist jokes are not unique to China, but the existence of these jokes is still telling)

Getting back to the Olympics, I that the Beijing games were successful in a way. It was a nice stepping stone in the furthering of relations between China and the international community, and I think that many people learned something new from the experience. But in watching the games for two weeks what I found most inspiring , despite all the glitz and glamour of the opening and closing ceremonies in the Birds nest, was the 8 minute short portion of the closing ceremonies that was done to introduce the London games in 2012. The choreography wasn't as beautiful, or as well done as the different routines that Zhang Yi Mou had directed, and the playing a Led Zepellin song sung by some new pop star was really cheesy. Yet you can see immediately that the emphasis that London ( one of the most diverse cities in the world)is putting on their games is the importance of diversity. They will try to demonstrate the benefits of a society with many races and many cultures all living together. I find that approach, a unifying approach, not a more condescending and juvenile approach of exhibiting what you makes you special or better than others, to be much more appealing and much more in line with what everyone likes to term the "Olympic Ideal." I can only hope that as China continues to open up and grow that the general populace can change their view of foreign countries as the "outside world," stop looking at everything that makes us different, or trying to criticize what other people don't understand. Hopefully China, as it continues its growth into a global power over the following few years, can live up to its rhetoric and be a more unifying presence in the global community, rather than just another nation after nothing more than improving its position in relations to those who surround it.