Debate

I was hoping for more concepts within the foreign policy debate tonight with the presidential candidates. They did mention however, one of the biggest areas of concerns would be the whole idea of how to crack down on the outsourcing to China, as well as the copyright issues in China. While certainly the whole copyright and more fair trade arguments may be a difficult argument to press, mostly due to the idea the harder we press, the more likely they will then want us to pay back our epic bail out bill. I don't want to get too much into my own personal politics here, but I'd be interested in what people think are important factors in the foreign policy with China currently.

Plans for the Tiger Years blog

Now that I'm back in the states, and not going back to China within any near foreseeable future, many of you are probably wondering what I will do with the blog. There are still many things that I read while I was in China, about China, that I am going to at least formulate proper blog posts on, and there have been a lot of current events in China that are equally worthy of posts (hence the NY Times articles that I have been posting.) At the time being, I am currently looking into at least working for Chinese NGO's and China related businesses back in the states as well. So for the time being and the foreseeable future, I will continue the blog. If there is any discussion point that you would like to see addressed here, feel free to let me know either by commenting below, or by email, or sending me a facebook message.

Another one bites the dust...

So I've had a few inquisitive propositions from friends on why I haven't been posting, especially about recent events, and now that many of you readers if not all now know that I am back in the States. Some of you readers haven't seemed to happy or enthusiastic about resorting to using NY Times articles as a cop out. I had posted that I would continue and do a proper update once the dust settled. The dust while I was over there has settled. But it's not necessarily settled in a way that I want to post publicly over social media, whether it be on this blog or through facebook. That being said, it's not something that I am completely and utterly opposed to discussing, however, like I said, I don't feel that discussing this matter is something I wanted posted publicly for EVERYONE'S business, because, frankly, it's not everyone's business. Feel free to drop me an email, or call. I'd be happy to field questions. This also being said, it is in fact important for me to at least mention a disclaimer. While living abroad, there are always going to be frustrations. If I have expressed disdain or frustrations, whether it be to you or on this blog, it wasn't in any way directed to the last place I worked. I may have asked for suggestions on how to deal with certain situations, or people, but again, most of those are usually going to be based on one's own personal experience with a place, whether it be somewhere you work, go to school, or live, but I don't have any beef with the school I now no longer work for. The standards and expectations are high, and things are fairly approached and discussed and while the dust rose at a time when the country was at unrest over various issues, which made it more difficult to ultimately choose the outcome of how the situation was going to be resolved. The last few weeks of my time there, I had a lot to consider, and it's certainly never easy choosing or developing in areas that you don't have much of your own personal experience to help make sound or proper judgements. However, with the bumps in the road, overall things were done fairly and I've come to an understanding of my own. That's all I'm going to publicly say on the issue. Like I said, feel free to contact me personally if you so choose to get further details.

In China Protests, Japanese Car Sales suffer

So towards the end of my time in China this last go around, there was a pretty large dispute with Japan and China (there always is), and within a lot of the protests, the anniversary of Japan invading Manchuria came around, which largely affected the Japanese car industry. I've included a recent NY Times article that you can read below. And the picture, is yes, from Xi'an, right where I was living.

HONG KONG — Japanese automakers suffered plunging sales in China last month and have cut manufacturing by up to half in China this month after violent anti-Japanese protests against Japanese-brand cars and even their owners. Toyota announced on Tuesday that its sales to dealerships in China dropped 49 percent in September compared with those in the month a year earlier, while Honda said that its sales had fallen 40 percent and Nissan said that sales were down 35 percent. Mazda said last week that its sales fell 35 percent last month. Industrywide sales data is not yet available for September because not all automakers have reported sales yet. Automakers’ sales to dealerships rose 7 percent for the first eight months of this year compared with those in the period a year earlier. But dealerships have complained of rapidly rising inventories of unsold cars, making it likely that automakers may need to slow shipments to dealerships at some point unless the current economic slowdown in China is suddenly reversed. Japanese automakers have sharply cut production schedules through the end of October, a sign that they see little immediate improvement on the horizon, although they have followed corporate traditions so far of refraining from layoffs. Automakers release figures only for their sales to dealerships in China because the government has halted the release of retail sales figures by dealerships to consumers for the last year. When a 51-year-old man in Xi’an made the innocent mistake on Sept. 15 of driving with his family in a Toyota Corolla past an anti-Japanese demonstration, he was so severely beaten that he remains partially paralyzed from brain injuries, while the car was destroyed. The law enforcement authorities in another province detained last week the main suspect in the beating, a spokesman for the Xi’an police said by telephone on Tuesday. The attack on the man and his car was briefly the most searched topic on Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site that resembles Twitter, as many suggested that the demonstrators had gone too far. In a separate video widely circulated on the Internet within China and shown on television overseas, a mob overturned a Honda CR-V police car in Shenzhen and took turns smashing it with clubs. Protesters took to the streets over a territorial dispute involving claims by China and Japan to sovereignty over a cluster of uninhabited islands northeast of Taiwan, known as the Diaoyu in China and as the Senkaku in Japan. Anti-Japanese protests subsided during the weeklong national holiday in China last week. But the issue continues to simmer, with the Chinese government announcing that it would continue to send surveillance vessels to waters around the island that have been patrolled for decades by Japan’s Coast Guard. Chinese fishing boats may also try to reach the islands after the holiday, as it has become politically more difficult for either the Chinese or Japanese governments to stop them. Japanese automakers were struggling in China even before this autumn, said Yale Zhang, the managing director of Automotive Foresight, a consulting firm in Shanghai. “Even without this political issue, the Japanese manufacturers made a lot of mistakes in areas like product-planning,” he said. With the exception of Nissan, Japanese automakers have been much slower to introduce new models than the three market leaders in China — General Motors, Volkswagen and Hyundai. From January through July of this year, before the anti-Japanese protests started, all of the best-selling 10 models in China were produced by those three companies, Mr. Zhang noted. He added it was the first time in many years just three companies had produced all 10 top sellers. The three leaders appear to have been gaining further market share at the expense of Japanese carmakers this autumn, with Hyundai’s sales rising 9.5 percent last month from a year earlier and General Motors’ sales up 1.7 percent. Volkswagen’s sales have also risen, but the company’s practice of releasing separate figures by brand and providing year-to-date figures instead of monthly figures makes it hard to say how much. The attack that partially paralyzed the man in Xi’an coincided with reports of damage to other Japanese-brand cars in that city, although no other comparable incidents of attacks on individuals were reported. Although better known outside China for its terra cotta warriors, Xi’an, in western China, is a hub of the country’s weapons manufacturing industry and a center of nationalistic sentiment. A bar on one of the city’s biggest avenues, several blocks from the city’s main crossroads, had a large, nationalistic sign on the front door a few years ago, when anti-Japanese sentiment was less prevalent elsewhere in China. The sign read “No Japanese allowed.” By contrast, Shenzhen is in Guangdong Province, in southeastern China. The province has been the biggest market and biggest manufacturing center for Japanese cars in China in recent years and has welcomed the factories of many Japanese companies, particularly in consumer goods industries like electronics. Some political commentators have suggested that the protests in Shenzhen also reflected dissatisfaction with the Chinese government, which has allowed anti-Japanese demonstrations even while continuing to ban protests against its own policies. Toyota and Nissan each had 5 percent of the Chinese market for the first eight months of this year, while Honda had 3 percent, according to LMC Automotive, a global consulting firm. Volkswagen and General Motors each had nearly 15 percent, while Hyundai and its Kia affiliate had a little more than 9 percent.

In Organic-Hungry Hong Kong, Corn as High as an Elevator’s Climb Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse Plots like the rooftop City Farm are sprouting across Hong Kong amid fears of tainted imports. By MARY HUI Published: October 3, 2012 HONG KONG — Kimbo Chan knows all about the food scandals in China: the formaldehyde that is sometimes sprayed on Chinese cabbages, the melamine in the milk and the imitation soy sauce made from hair clippings. That is why he is growing vegetables on a rooftop high above the crowded streets of Hong Kong. “Some mainland Chinese farms even buy industrial chemicals to use on their crops,” Mr. Chan said. “Chemicals not meant for agricultural uses at all.” As millions of Hong Kong consumers grow increasingly worried about the purity and safety of the fruits, vegetables, meats and processed foods coming in from mainland China, more of them are striking out on their own by tending tiny plots on rooftops, on balconies and in far-flung, untouched corners of highly urbanized Hong Kong. “Consumers are asking, will the food poison them?” said Jonathan Wong, a professor of biology and the director of the Hong Kong Organic Resource Center. “They worry about the quality of the food. There is a lack of confidence in the food supply in China.” Organic food stores are opening across the city, and there is growing demand in the markets for organic produce despite its higher prices. There are about 100 certified organic farms in Hong Kong. Seven years ago, there were none. There is no official count of rooftop farms in Hong Kong, but they are clearly part of an international trend. New York has many commercialized rooftop farms established by companies like Gotham Greens, Bright Farms and Brooklyn Grange. In Berlin, an industrial-size rooftop vegetable and fish farm is in the pipeline. In Tokyo, a farm called Pasona O2 takes urban farming a step further: Vegetables are grown not only on roofs, but also in what was an underground bank vault. With 7.1 million people in one of the most densely populated cities on earth, Hong Kong has little farmland and almost no agricultural sector. The territory imports more than 90 percent of its food. Hong Kong is hooked on vegetables, and 92 percent of its supply comes from mainland China. On a recent morning at one of Hong Kong’s bustling and chaotic fresh produce markets, known here as “wet markets,” a woman bought three Chinese squashes for a good price. “Vegetables are expensive nowadays,” she said wearily. “Even if I cared enough about organic food and worried about chemicals, there’s nothing I can really do about it.” Land is one of Hong Kong’s problems, of course. There is not very much of it, and only 1.6 percent is farmed, most of it in the New Territories, on the city’s far northern rim. And even that acreage is under threat from developers. A government proposal to develop the New Territories threatens to remove about 242 acres of farmland, according to a joint statement issued by green groups. This accounts for about 13 percent of Hong Kong’s active farmland, they said. People trying to start small organic farms in the New Territories have been deterred by the lack of a clear agricultural policy there. Large vacant tracts held by developers can be rezoned for development almost at will, creating an uncertainty that has scared off a number of potential farmers. Then there are the typhoons, the oppressive humidity, the boiling summers. Soil is another problem. “Imported organic soil isn’t suitable for Hong Kong’s hot and humid climate, and so we had to adjust the soil,” said Osbert Lam, a commercial video director and the owner of a rooftop operation called City Farm. With a graying ponytail, Mr. Lam does not look like a typical farmer, but he is intensely dedicated to his farm. He imported soil from Denmark and Germany, but for a year he had to tinker, sift, mix and adjust before arriving at a suitable recipe. Even so, he said, the formula is tweaked for different crops: “You need to add more sand to grow potatoes, and more peat moss for strawberries. Each crop needs their own luxury home!” Another issue for rooftop gardeners is Hong Kong’s notorious bureaucracy, and many of the city’s green thumbs are turned back by red tape. “There is too much work in dealing with the government and the Housing Authority,” said Mr. Wong, the organic-food expert. Still, some urban farmers find the effort worth it. It cost Mr. Lam about 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, or roughly $65,000, to set up City Farm, including all farming materials, an office, piping and wiring. And the whole operation can be easily moved. “It’s a mobile farm,” he said. “I can have the farm here today, and move it elsewhere tomorrow.” Fourteen stories above the city’s urban din, on a rooftop the size of a couple of basketball courts, City Farm flourishes with an impressive array of organic vegetables. Black plastic planter boxes adorn the rooftop farm. Some are topped by large bamboo frames holding bitter gourds and pumpkins, while others have little signs stuck into the soil, handwritten with the names of herbs and their planting dates. Made in Taiwan and looking roughly like milk crates, the planters come in three varieties: shallow boxes for growing leafy greens and herbs; a deeper version for turnips, carrots and potatoes; and raised planters that are easier on the farmers’ backs as they tend to their plants. On a recent walk through the beds at City Farm, Mr. Chan, who works there with Mr. Lam, stopped at various plants, talking about them with the tenderness of a parent. He pointed to some Okinawa spinach that he eats raw to reduce his blood pressure. Not far away was a mini-watermelon plant, its fruit the size of Ping-Pong balls and hanging delicately from a bamboo frame, protected from insects by finely woven netting. From a bamboo frame, Mr. Chan picked off a small Spanish chili pepper. After a quick rinse under the garden hose, he eagerly offered it to a visitor. “You develop a different attitude,” he said of cultivating his garden, “and it changes your lifestyle.”

The Haps as of Late

So it's been nearly two months since I've posted anything, but now since I know people from work read this, the things that have gone down in the last two months weren't really things I wanted to post publicly. That's not to say that I haven't had my ups in addition to the many downs of the last two months, I just don't really want to advertise to everyone why I've been such a miser in my feelings and sentiments. I've discussed it at length with people I'm on good terms with (mostly not associated with the school I work for, for my own sake and sanity.) At the same time, there have been many people that I've blown off, mostly because I don't feel it's their business. And since a lot of it, I'm still in the midst of sorting out, which I want to do on my own terms, I'm at least going to hold off on the posts for possibly a bit more, until at least some of this dust settles.

Birthdays in China

I've never been in much luck for birthdays in China. Certainly having a birthday during peak season at a language school pretty much is a hit or miss that you'll have it off. If it's a weekend, the chances are a definite no. Depending on your school, if you get two days off sporadically, there's a chance. The first birthday I had in China, was July 2010. I had my birthday off. I had originally made plans, but every time I had tried to do something, things canceled. In the mean time, I probably would have been better off if I had just gone along with my original plan, and done it by myself. I had originally wanted to go to the water caves, in Benxi, a town about an hour by train from where I was living, but with only one day off a week, it was a little harder to pull off, as after 6 days of work, it's hard to squeeze in all your errands, sleep, planning, and general life. It's certainly more enjoyable if you have that short span off to do it with a friend. No one seemed to feign interest. So I thought, hmm, sleep, go to my favorite markets, a temple, a football game, and a dinner with some friends after. My roommate, who at the time, was my best friend, said she'd participate, up to the football game, and possibly join for dessert of the dinner, as she had an interview. She ended up sleeping in really late so I went ahead with my plans, however, only got to the market and went to get some cake before I went to the temple and then the football game only to realize that my wallet had been stolen. This normally wouldn't have been an overly bad thing, but it had some important cards in it, that then had to be canceled, and a police report had to be filed, in case any charges had been incurred on my cards. This took most of the afternoon, which meant I had missed the temple and the football game. As I was sitting in the police station, everyone who was supposed to go to the dinner, canceled which left me alone after a horrid afternoon. The next year, 2011, I also had the day off, and chose to plan it and just have my own day where I did whatever I wanted. However, I got really sick and was throwing up blood, and stayed in the hospital for a few days, crappy birthday #2. This year, also managed to live up to the hype, because I had managed to be released from the hospital a week before my birthday, with a system that still wasn't up to par, and classes on my birthday, as well, as a stressful weekend of multiple parent presentations, and my boss watching other classes. I had the day off before, my birthday, and tried to do a normal Chinese birthday. I was still on the sick side, so I had planned for a low energy day, especially since I had an important weekend approaching. I had gone to a painting class, which I enjoyed, and the teacher, as well as a few people that were in the area, made me some special paintings, which I'll include in pictures at the bottom. Sounds all grand and everything, and I had a false illusion that I was actually going to have a normal day before my birthday. However, as I was walking through the park near my apartment, I slipped on a wet rock, and fell into a lake, only to destroy the calligraphy scroll my teacher had given to me for my birthday, and also wrecked my ipod and phone. I ended up lacerating my leg bad enough, that I had to go back to the hospital and get 10 stitches in my leg, because I hit the underwater filtration system on the way down. Gross. So much for a simple day. To top it off the next day, I worked from 10 until 9 the next night, and I was supposed to meet a friend, only to never actually get there at a decent hour to actually manage it. All and all another frustrating round of a birthday. All I had wanted was something simple and I couldn't even get that. In the meantime, here are the photos of the scroll that no longer exists.

I'll post some other more happy and thought provoking posts later this week, hopefully.

Chinese Calligraphy

So part of my cultural experience for me off and on since I've been in China has been taking Chinese calligraphy classes. It's been a real treat, mostly because I get to grind my own paint, and it's a way to experience China in ways that are hard to come by otherwise. It's my way to make it real, and spend time in the city, and refilling my vitals away from work. I've picked up classes again here in Xi'an and what makes it more special this time around is that I stumbled upon the teacher myself, found his gallery and spent some time one afternoon just playing around with paintbrushes and one thing lead to another. I'm including some pictures, because it's one of those things it's easier seeing it for yourself. Chinese characters are written in series of strokes. They typically are written from top to bottom, left to right. They used to read them in rows top to bottom, right to left, then top to bottom, left to right, but now Chinese is read like English. Writing Chinese is a lot more difficult at times then one would imagine, and just like in any western language, with Chinese calligraphy, it takes extra effort to make things look nice and requires diligence, practice, and good handwriting skills. These rows are from top to bottom left to right. The image of the whole sheets the first column and the fourth column are my teachers, the other columns are mine, but it should be pretty obvious, seeing the difference in style and overall appearance of the strokes, as I'm still a little heavy handed. Unlike western calligraphy, Chinese calligraphy is not done with pens, or at least not the formal kind. The true art behind it also comes with the brushes that you choose to use. The thinner the brush, the easier it is to use. Typically the beginner will start with pen and ink in an exercise type book, like those old sheets of paper with the really big lines we got back in grade school. Although Chinese characters should be able to fit within a certain size box, and you use the lines within the box for guidance. The more advanced you get the thicker your brush can be, because you aren't as heavy handed. Calligraphy masters typically are going to use a pretty thick brush. It also depends on the size of the project, certainly if it's a smaller paper, you aren't going to want to use a really thick, free form brush. Calligraphy brushes don't really have the variety of your average paintbrush; they are all round brushes, and will be made with different types of materials for different effects. You are also going to range from a pretty wide circumference to a pointed tip. Calligraphy brushes are like pens in that aspect, but tend to get better effects, especially due to the nature in which Chinese characters are written. There's certainly far more of an appeal with Chinese that's written in calligraphy with fresh, well ground ink, than something that's written with the rubbish cheap pens that you buy at Target and Wal-Mart. There's also a choice and a selection with the paper you use as well. Chinese characters, however, have changed over the years: currently the characters that are used now are simplified. There are less strokes, and are easier to write. The traditional characters was the original writing system and can still be seen on old historical buildings within cities. Hong Kong and Taiwan are still on the traditional character system. This is it in a nutshell, I at least wanted to give some background information, without being overly burdening with information. Feel free to ask more questions if you are interested, as it's certainly a fun, timeless art.

The War on baby Girls

This is the article from March 4, 2010 from the Economist. Apparently the link didn't work.

IMAGINE you are one half of a young couple expecting your first child in a fast-growing, poor country. You are part of the new middle class; your income is rising; you want a small family. But traditional mores hold sway around you, most important in the preference for sons over daughters. Perhaps hard physical labour is still needed for the family to make its living. Perhaps only sons may inherit land. Perhaps a daughter is deemed to join another family on marriage and you want someone to care for you when you are old. Perhaps she needs a dowry. Now imagine that you have had an ultrasound scan; it costs $12, but you can afford that. The scan says the unborn child is a girl. You yourself would prefer a boy; the rest of your family clamours for one. You would never dream of killing a baby daughter, as they do out in the villages. But an abortion seems different. What do you do? For millions of couples, the answer is: abort the daughter, try for a son. In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset boys’ greater susceptibility to infant disease. But nothing on this scale. For those who oppose abortion, this is mass murder. For those such as this newspaper, who think abortion should be “safe, legal and rare” (to use Bill Clinton’s phrase), a lot depends on the circumstances, but the cumulative consequence for societies of such individual actions is catastrophic. China alone stands to have as many unmarried young men—“bare branches”, as they are known—as the entire population of young men in America. In any country rootless young males spell trouble; in Asian societies, where marriage and children are the recognised routes into society, single men are almost like outlaws. Crime rates, bride trafficking, sexual violence, even female suicide rates are all rising and will rise further as the lopsided generations reach their maturity (see article). It is no exaggeration to call this gendercide. Women are missing in their millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100m; the toll is higher now. The crumb of comfort is that countries can mitigate the hurt, and that one, South Korea, has shown the worst can be avoided. Others need to learn from it if they are to stop the carnage. The dearth and death of little sisters Most people know China and northern India have unnaturally large numbers of boys. But few appreciate how bad the problem is, or that it is rising. In China the imbalance between the sexes was 108 boys to 100 girls for the generation born in the late 1980s; for the generation of the early 2000s, it was 124 to 100. In some Chinese provinces the ratio is an unprecedented 130 to 100. The destruction is worst in China but has spread far beyond. Other East Asian countries, including Taiwan and Singapore, former communist states in the western Balkans and the Caucasus, and even sections of America’s population (Chinese- and Japanese-Americans, for example): all these have distorted sex ratios. Gendercide exists on almost every continent. It affects rich and poor; educated and illiterate; Hindu, Muslim, Confucian and Christian alike. Wealth does not stop it. Taiwan and Singapore have open, rich economies. Within China and India the areas with the worst sex ratios are the richest, best-educated ones. And China’s one-child policy can only be part of the problem, given that so many other countries are affected. In fact the destruction of baby girls is a product of three forces: the ancient preference for sons; a modern desire for smaller families; and ultrasound scanning and other technologies that identify the sex of a fetus. In societies where four or six children were common, a boy would almost certainly come along eventually; son preference did not need to exist at the expense of daughters. But now couples want two children—or, as in China, are allowed only one—they will sacrifice unborn daughters to their pursuit of a son. That is why sex ratios are most distorted in the modern, open parts of China and India. It is also why ratios are more skewed after the first child: parents may accept a daughter first time round but will do anything to ensure their next—and probably last—child is a boy. The boy-girl ratio is above 200 for a third child in some places. How to stop half the sky crashing down Baby girls are thus victims of a malign combination of ancient prejudice and modern preferences for small families. Only one country has managed to change this pattern. In the 1990s South Korea had a sex ratio almost as skewed as China’s. Now, it is heading towards normality. It has achieved this not deliberately, but because the culture changed. Female education, anti-discrimination suits and equal-rights rulings made son preference seem old-fashioned and unnecessary. The forces of modernity first exacerbated prejudice—then overwhelmed it. But this happened when South Korea was rich. If China or India—with incomes one-quarter and one-tenth Korea’s levels—wait until they are as wealthy, many generations will pass. To speed up change, they need to take actions that are in their own interests anyway. Most obviously China should scrap the one-child policy. The country’s leaders will resist this because they fear population growth; they also dismiss Western concerns about human rights. But the one-child limit is no longer needed to reduce fertility (if it ever was: other East Asian countries reduced the pressure on the population as much as China). And it massively distorts the country’s sex ratio, with devastating results. President Hu Jintao says that creating “a harmonious society” is his guiding principle; it cannot be achieved while a policy so profoundly perverts family life. And all countries need to raise the value of girls. They should encourage female education; abolish laws and customs that prevent daughters inheriting property; make examples of hospitals and clinics with impossible sex ratios; get women engaged in public life—using everything from television newsreaders to women traffic police. Mao Zedong said “women hold up half the sky.” The world needs to do more to prevent a gendercide that will have the sky crashing down.

Thank Heavens for little Girls!

I'm sure that many of you, even if you haven't been to China, are aware of the girl issue in China. The Economist ran a very informative article on this issue back in March 2010, which I will post on the blog when I finish typing up my general reactions to the issue, or you can access it through this link: (I'll still post the article, however, since the Economist may actually take down the article at some point too). China is very much a male-centered society, which only makes it more difficult for women in a lot of areas. Culturally speaking, it's more ideal to have a baby boy, mostly because it is the boy whom is responsible for taking care of his parents when they get old, and they continue the family name. This means that for several years, people were getting amnio testing to see if they were having a girl or boy, and often the girls would either be aborted, or given up for adoption. However, it's now become illegal to find out the gender of the baby prior to birth. (don't get me started on medical treatment in China, I'll have to save that for another blog). This doesn't mean that the number of girls being given up for adoption or put into something more unspeakable. Some things can also be done in China if you throw enough money at it as well, with the appropriate people looking the other way. As a result anyway, girls still tend to be given up for adoption. If you want to adopt a Chinese baby, and doesn't have a health condition or special needs, it will probably be a girl. There are boys available for adoption, but only if they have an expensive health condition, or special needs. That being said, my classes of students primarily are boy centralized. I'll be lucky in a class of 12 students to have more than 2 girls. Boys are certainly far more spoiled than the girls too. With the one child policy, nobody seems to want girls, but like I said there are even ways around the one child policy. If you have a child with special needs, you can have another child. If you live in the country and are farmers, you can have more than one child, especially if the first is a girl. And my favorite, if you live in the city, and have enough money, you can pay a fine to have a second child. This doesn't entail twins or other multiple child at the same time births. It's very rare to see twin girls in China, much for these listed reasons. It's hard at times for westerners to totally grasp this concept as well. Mostly because we've come (for the most part) to value what women do for our cultures, but that doesn't mean that women don't have any rights in China, they are just far more limited then developed countries are used to. It's also grappling to understand why someone could simply toss aside a child they planned, due to cultural fears and traditions. This goes along with what people expect from men and women in China as well. There was a young Chinese college student I was friendly with in Shenyang. I've mentioned him before in this blog. He worked for Starbucks, while he went to college to study accounting. He was originally from Dalian, which isn't far from Shenyang, about a 4 hour train ride. It's a coastal beach town. When I lived in Shenyang, I would visit him at Starbucks when he was working on the lower level, and just discuss various issues with him, from things he was doing in college, China, my work as a teacher, cultural differences, news articles, etc... He recently just finished school and has gone back to live in Dalian. He gave up a good job offer in Changchun, a smaller city that is located halfway between Harbin and Shenyang, in northern China. He did this because even though his parents are still relatively young (in their 50's) he feels obligated to take a job they found for him in Dalian, so he can be closer to them when they do get old. Chinese people don't have the same sense of changing career paths or jobs once they start working. It's not uncommon to stay at the same job for the duration of your working life (there's a government control that women retire at 50, men at 55 in China. This is actually non-negotiable, however, many older people often will do other income type jobs, like peddling fruit, vegetables or various nick-knacks on the street... a subject for another blog). Despite the cultural war on women in China, far different from the war on women in the States right now, the other thing I've noticed as a problem in China, is that now that all these king of the household boys are getting old enough and there is the mass abundance of boys the big question becomes, what is China going to do with all these boys? There's certainly not enough women in China to marry them. Sending the men to other countries is difficult, mostly because a big number of the Chinese population don't travel outside of their province, let alone to another country. This is starting to change, but if people travel in China, it's usually domestically, and it's usually not very far, and within the same province. There are those who do leave the country, but rarely will they consider immigrating to live permanently in another country. Chinese men typically don't have an appeal to date or marry women that aren't Chinese... another big problem. This doesn't mean it never happens, but it's certainly a scarce occurrence. Rarely do you see a Chinese man marry a westerner, or a foreigner (that doesn't mean some won't take a foreign mistress/lover, but the chances of them getting married is slim pickings. On the flipside, it is far more common for Chinese women to be attracted to Western men. Western men also tend to have a far bigger attraction to Asian and Chinese women, then Western women being attracted to the Asian men as well. Within the three schools I've worked for, it's not uncommon for the males and men to date around the Chinese staff pool, or Chinese women period. Some even get married. I think the women in China have far more of a desire to leave the country then men, mostly because, culturally, they don't feel as obligated to their family due to a lot of constraints on their daily life. It's rare to see women in leadership positions in China, but it does happen. Our center manager is a lovely woman who seems to be keen on what she does, and is very caring. These are some mere observations and thoughts on the process and would certainly welcome a discussion further with anyone that's interested...

China Bucket list

So you're probably wondering some of my choices other than work that brought me back to China. Here's a list of places and things I would like to do before I honestly feel I am content with my experience China: Cities: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dandong, Chongqing, Qingdao, Lhasa, Urumqi, Kunming, Provinces: Tibet, Yunnan, and Hainan specific places/touristy items not in Xi'an: -take a boat down the Yangtze River from Shanghai to Chongqing, -Three Gorges dam (the largest dam that has been built), -Tiger Leaping Gorge: makes the Grand Canyon look miniscule, -spend a night camping out on the Great Wall, -Desert Camel excursion in Urumqi (mostly due to the Minority groups here), -go to some of the "national parks" in Yunnan, -boat ride along the North Korean boarder, Xi'an items: waterfalls, mountain villages, Small Wild Goose Pagoda, and some of the smaller temples. There are probably a few other things I just can't think of at the moment, but this is my major/primary working list. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

Xi'an and EF Xian

So now that you at least know a little about EF itself, and the time off, I can at least let you know some more specifics about the school location I work for. I’m at EF Xi’an school 4 which is located in the northern part of the city. Xi’an itself is a larger city of China. It’s certainly not Beijing or Shanghai, but it’s not the podunk little Chinese city either. There are about 8 million city residents, so by no means a small city. There’s a lot to Xi’an than most people are aware. It is the city with the terracotta warriors, but the warriors aren’t even in the city, they are in a suburb. There’s a lot in the city historically, and a fair amount of minority groups as well. It was the ancient capital of China, so there is a fair amount of history to the city. Xi’an was known as Chang’un prior to the Ming dynasty rule, and was the capital city under the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang. It was also the eastern starting point for the Silk Road. Some other major historical finds here were the Lantian Man, which was found in 1963, but dates back to 500,000 BCE. Banpo Historical Site, a Neolithic village that was found on the outskirts of the city in 1954, is 6,500 years old. It’s one of the few cities that still has the ancient city wall still completely intact. Xi’an is also the capital of Shaanxi province. The capital cities of various provinces have museums, and the one here is certainly the best museum I’ve been to since I’ve been in China. They have a nice mix of everything, and for those that are going to the warriors, it gives you a solid sense of history and what was being done in China, specifically this region before and after the warriors were made. There are several city parks, and the mountains are nearby. There are a fair amount of temples, and certainly my favorite was the big wild goose pagoda, granted there are still several that I haven’t seen yet, but there’s at least a fair amount of culture in the city. China has a fair amount of minority groups that live in China, the largest being the Han Chinese, which makes up a majority of the population (about 70%) but there are a fair amount of other minority groups that make up the Chinese population. One of these minorities is the Muslims, which come from the northwestern areas of China, along the borders up near Urumqi, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. With the modernization of China, much of the minority groups are being dispersed into the larger cities, so Xi’an has a pretty big Muslim ethnic minority population, outside of Western China. There’s a big mosque, and then there’s the Muslim quarter. So, lots going in the city. EF Xi’an has 4 schools. There is one in the north, south, east, and western parts of the city. I’m at the one in the northern part of the city. It’s on the outskirts, but an easy metro ride into the city. Each school has about 10 teachers, including the DoS and ADoS. So each school is small, but there’s a pretty big network, which is nice. A majority of the students of EF are children, most of them are 7-10. We do get students as young as three though. Students that are 3-6 are put into classes according to ages, and any student over 7 is put into classes according to level. 7-10 year olds are usually put into our High Flyer courses, and then teenagers, depending on level, will go into either Trailblazer, or certain other teenager courses. Since Chinese students learn according to rote memory and English is very much a phonetic language, we also offer reading courses for the ones who are enrolled in other courses, but are struggling with reading and pronunciation. We also offer 1-1 courses and some other tailor made classes, as well as adult classes. The teachers when they get here are assigned a mentor. You work with the mentor for the first 6 months of your first contract, depending on how long you’ve been in the EF system. You set up a routine planning schedule, and some weeks you actually do plan a class with your mentor. Within the first three weeks of your teaching, your mentor observes one of your classes, and will then give you constructive criticism on it, and your weakest area, you will then spend 2 months working with your mentor to improve upon that area. I’ve been paired with Stephen, who is the DoS, who has been with EF for 7 years, 5 of which were at EF Xi’an, the other two were at the Urumqi EF. He’s been DoS for about a year and a half, senior teacher for a year, and ADoS for a little under a year. He’s Scottish, and has also lived in Tanzania working for the British Council, another English language program. He is serious, which isn’t like most other Scots I’ve come across. He does know his stuff though, and I feel like his feedback is constructive, without being in your face, or YOU MUST DO THIS type thing to completely change your style of teaching. He works with you in your comfort levels of teaching, which has certainly made keeping the mindset of things all on the professional level with him, which is exactly how I want it (at least I’m not going to make that mistake again). I’ve enjoyed working with him, and I’m still trying to get to know the other teachers I work with, but things seem to be off to a much smoother start, more than I can say for the other two schools I worked for.

The 6th month hiatus

So now that I have gotten into the basics of how EF works as a franchise within China, I can at least go into more of the details of my return to the land of the big chicken (if you look at an atlas map of just China, it’s shaped like a big chicken… Taiwan and Hainan being the feet, Urumqi area being the tail, and the north east being the head.) Certainly being home for 6 months wasn’t the original idea. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate the time that I did have at home, and part of me believes that in the 6 months I wasn’t mentally ready to come back. Also, I wanted to be fully healthy, for a couple of months before I returned. When I left HohHot, I was probably at least a little jaded in the sense that I was emotionally attached to Scott. Far more than I should have been for someone who was my boss. I am a little concerned about that thinking about it now, because I obviously hadn’t learned from my Farm and Wilderness fiasco. Granted, I had told Chris from F&W something in confidence that he then took and used it against me in hiring me back from my knee medical leave. That’s neither here nor there now, though, because as a result, things would have been a lot different had I actually gone back there. I would have never had gone to the Glen, which was a pivotal moment for me (and wouldn’t have gone to TSC either). That’s a story for another day, though, and certainly not for this blog. With Scott, I had at least tested the waters a bit before I disclosed anything, however, to my firm belief now, I dove to deeply with him. I thought it was healthy, but looking back, I made all the wrong choices being friends with him. When I had gotten home, we had talked occasionally, kept him updated on the health process, letting him know that it was going to take longer than the original plan. I was also working on renewing my passport, and finally doing the last things of the wallet stolen on my birthday fiasco... like replacing my driver’s license. The passport was a disaster, as I had started the process in Beijing, but they couldn’t seem to get it right. My name had originally been spelled wrong on my passport, and the Beijing Embassy couldn’t seem to actually be able to read the paperwork properly. Figured the US state department would be able to read it. However, they kept making the same mistake. I was trying to get around the red tape in waiting and the local congressman said to make an appointment with the office, and all I needed was either airline tickets or a letter from my employer saying when I would be traveling, where I was working, and what I would be doing. I had agreed with Scott before I left, that I would work for him when he returned and he would let me know when he would need a teacher. We had agreed January seemed reasonable, but in order to get my passport for the paperwork, I needed him to write the letter. Scott couldn’t seem to pull himself together and couldn’t contact me with anything that would even suffice as something to get my paperwork done. So I re-tallied by actually getting his letterhead from another teacher I had worked with whom he had written a reference for, and filled in what I needed to do to still make my appointment without actually having to by return flights if I had no real plans yet of returning. At this point I really began to doubt his motives in bringing me back to work for him. I didn’t hear from him for months after he blew me off. That was in December, so I chalked it up to a bad idea, and enjoyed being home for the holidays, the first time in over a year. In January, I got sick again, and didn’t really seem to have much of a desire to go anywhere, as it seemed that we hadn’t actually solved the problem back in November. I ended up going to a naturopathic doctor and began to persue some other contacts that I had gotten myself and from some other friends. I had considered going to Chengdu, but the more that I talked to the friend that I knew that worked there they seemed to be in the process of management change, which I described below, usually not how you want to start out in a school. It’s always rough the first few months, as the new management tries to get accustomed to the ins and outs of that particular school. Plus, she said he didn’t really know what he was doing, and still nobody likes him, and we have a pretty similar taste in management style, so I took her word and continued my search. I followed up on a few other leads but never really seemed to get anywhere decent. I looked into working in other countries and domestically. I had things at home that always seemed to come up; mostly, there were some family things that I didn’t want to leave the country before they came up. I talked to some programs domestically but it seemed that the ones I wanted to do I needed a master degree for, and I’m not really sure I want to commit to TESOL teaching long term just yet. Thus I went back to looking abroad. In the beginning of March I went back to using Linkedin on a regular basis, where I joined a few discussion groups and stumbled across Martin, the DoS of school one in Xi’an. We got to talking about some basic teaching theories through the discussion boards we were both members of and then I added him to my network. Scott and I were having arguments back and forth over skype, over if I came back what visa I would come back on if I worked for him. He wanted to bring me in on a tourist visa, and I wanted to come in on the work visa, as I have spent two years in China, and have always been on the city resident and work visas, I felt that returning on a tourist visa was a slap in the face. And, truth be told, after months of not really talking, him ignoring me for my passport, and the argument of when I would start and the visa, all but illuminated that I didn’t want to talk to him anymore, but would rather see if I could get an interview with Martin. I asked if he was hiring, he said yes. We scheduled an interview, which lasted for about 2 and ½ hours. The interview was one of the glowing ones, that only seemed to end because it was nearly 2 am my time. I was given the job two days later, and I certainly didn’t need to think about it. I talked to some of the other teachers, and it all seemed to be the right fit, and now 6 weeks later, I’m in Xi’an. Once I returned, I got a new phone number. The DoSes talk at these meetings, which happen every 18 months or so. I have been in touch with the people I was closest with in China before I left, all except Scott. I’m sure he’ll find out eventually that I’m back, but he won’t actually be able to contact me regularly. Not really sure how I feel about it, but at this point in my life, I just need to move on. I’ve been very cautious at what I do and say with Stephen, the DoS at my school as a result as well. It’s hard to believe that a year ago this school, and Stephen specifically, didn’t want to hire me. A lot can happen in a year, I’m just not really sure what to make of the last year of my life just yet, nor do I really know how to size up the upcoming year. We’ll have to see how things progress.

back to the land of the big chicken

So I've been back in China for nearly a month now. It's been a lot easier getting settled this time around, mostly because this school really seems to know what it's doing. I had really done my homework this time around prior to coming back, and had pretty high restrictions and desires if I did return. I have realized that I haven’t spent much time in this blog identifying the main cooperation that I’ve been spending more than two years of my life working for, so I’ll spend this post at least getting into some of the fine details of what is behind the school I work for. I am still working for EF: English First, which for those of you who aren't familiar with the franchise, it's a language school development process that is originally based in the States and the UK. In English speaking countries, however, it's known as Education First. There are locations posted around various English speaking, and non-English speaking countries. However, that being said, English First is the biggest language school franchise in China, with over 60 different locations. It's a private language school, which means that the students that come pay for classes, which can either be a one-to-one, or a group class. These classes are done in addition to their school classes, or if they are adults, in their free time (or for work, depending on their job) Whichever option the student chooses, will then have various different tests to then place them into the appropriate level. This encompasses a computer test, as well as an Oral placement test, as Chinese students tend to have a better written knowledge of English rather than speaking ability, or rules that they can use on paper don't transfer to what they have as an ability to verbally produce, as Chinese students learn by rote memory. The one to one classes can be tailored to individual students, and are often students that are preparing to go abroad for some kind of schooling and need help practicing their English, or with test taking practice with TOFEL or IELTS, which I’ll have to get into in another blog at some point, but are basically English proficiency tests for universities in English speaking countries for non-native speakers. That being said, with the over 60 locations in China, there is a certain hierarchy to the franchise madness that is EF in China. Shanghai is the headquarter office and getting a job at this location can be highly competitive. You need pretty much a rave reference, know an “insider”, have pretty solid credentials, or have been in the EF system for a certain number of years. As a result, they are in charge of how things are run through the rest of China curriculum and standard wise. They are the most up to date on technology in the classrooms, and have very high standards for what their students can produce. Management here is elite, and those who are usually in such a position have been with EF for a number of years; in addition to probably having spent at least 5-10 years living and working in China. Training for the teachers is top notch, and they expect a high level of professionalism. They also run training seminars for the other locations in the country a few times a year. They also run training seminars for the managers and senior teachers from around China at the school The next step below Shanghai/headquarters is what is known as a franchise school. These directly report back to Shanghai. If Shanghai says, we are using a new book for 5 year olds, a franchise school has 30 days to get that book, implement it in new classes, and train teachers on how to properly use the book in classes. The franchise schools in China for EF are Guangzhou (the mainland China side of Hong Kong), Hong Kong, Beijing, Tianjin, Taiyuan, Chongqing (southwest China, where some of Mao’s headquarters were), Shenzhen, and Xi’an, which is where I am. Management is usually also higher end at these schools, also people that have been with the location for a number of years. There isn’t much turnover for management, and teachers tend to stay longer at a franchise school or Shanghai, then the lower ranking schools. This doesn’t mean that some people come and go after their first year contract, nor does it mean at the lower ranked schools that there aren’t people who stay long term. But you certainly can learn a lot about a school that has more than one or two people stay for 5+ years. Typically, if a teacher wants to work at a franchise school, they must put the time at the lowest of the low of the EF ranking system: The EF Branch schools. These are the schools that are scattered around the country, and while they are supposed to follow the stipulations of what Shanghai says, they don’t always do. This also means that there is less of a regular check from Shanghai, and if we refer back to the same book change, a branch school will usually have about 18 months to change it, and there’s no guarantee that they will change it, let alone train you on the change, which leaves a teacher to their own devices a lot of times, and there is no guarantee that there will be foreign management at a branch school either. There is usually a higher turnover rate at a branch school, because the rules aren’t consistent, there may not be the proper management, and you typically get screwed over far more at a branch school than you ever would in the other two schools. However, the downside is typically if you are looking to stay long term in China, or with the global system that is EF, you have to do your time at a branch school. This means usually 2 years. If you want a management position, it typically helps if you put your time in for more than a year at the same location. That’s not to say that people won’t switch around, because like all office dynamics you may not get along with your fellow teachers, or your management team. With a private school like EF they will have to have both Chinese and foreign management. The Chinese management is in charge of hiring the Chinese staff, and foreign staff is expected to hire the foreigners, however, it is still ultimately up to the Chinese staff to make the final selection of the foreign staff. Each location is going to have an owner (Chinese) and a center manager (Chinese). There are those who work at the front whom sell the courses to the prospective students (Chinese) and then there is the Program assistant, who is also Chinese but will work in the classroom with foreigners. The foreign management is the director of studies (DoS), who works in conjunction with the center manager, and oversees the foreign staff and the course development. Shanghai and franchise schools will have an assistant DoS, who does the scheduling. The DoS and ADoS will also teach, but will typically have a lighter course load so they can also observe teachers and provide training in things that teachers need to develop (not always offered at branch schools). All schools will have a senior teacher, who is next in command, who has typically been at the same school for at least a year/18 months… their lesson plans have succeeded beyond the typical new to the field system and can provide assistance in the office for classroom management and ideas, and can assist with things when the dos or ados are busy. So that’s the rundown of the system that I gave 19 months two before leaving China, and have thrown myself back into for the next year at least. The Shenyang and HohHot branches of EF that I worked for were branch schools, and now I’m at a franchise school. Shenyang was certainly the most poorly run one of the three that I’ve spent my time at, mostly because they didn’t have any of the foreign management whatsoever. They had a group of teachers that had been there for 5+ years, that never worked more than 20 hours a week, as they were typically heavily favored and the Chinese staff was all related some way or another… Teachers were heavily favored, and those that were decent teachers were worked to the bone with 60+ hours a week. It all seemed manageable until I went elsewhere with decent management. They were actually so far behind on updates and having the system that all the other schools did have, they were actually stripped of the EF name at one point. This school had the highest turnover rate out of all the schools I’ve worked at. Like all poorly managed offices, once the contract was up, 95% didn’t stay. The 5% that did was that group that had been heavily favored and never expected to do much more than their lazy asses wanted to do. Some even cut contracts, which is also never good for a school. HohHot wasn’t as bad management wise, the city itself was just your average small town in China, which is like living in small town America, but it was on the outskirts of the desert, grasslands, and mountains, so the weather was a constant curveball. The Chinese management was screwed up, and while I was there, I thought the management was decent, however, since I’ve left, and worked for a properly run school, the DoS was more someone you wanted to pal around with rather than actually work for. The teacher who had originally been DoS had been far better with ideas and management style then the guy who was in charge. Since I left this branch school back in November, there has been a mass exodus, and they are on their 4th Dos since I had been hired in May 2011, which is never good, when there’s that much change, but it’s mostly due to the frustrating Chinese staff there. They did have people that had been there for awhile, but most of them left around the same time I did in November, and those that came to replace us, all left within 3 months as well. Xi’an has certainly the best EF that I have worked for at this point. There are 4 school locations in the city, and each has its own set of management. We get regular training and feedback. There are some class differences, and small differences in just how things are run, but it’s certainly a lot easier working for this school and the fact that they have a 97% teacher retention rate for a second contract, is a huge deal, and the fact that they have a 90% rate for teachers who have been there for 3+ years is even better. It means that they’ve managed to make things work. I’ll try to do a less formal post of more of my thoughts and experiences working at Xi’an later this week or next week. I will also try to include some highlights from the recent weeks of being here as well.

I'm including a link that I pretty much knew from my first few months in. The fact that Chinese people are willing to hire people who don't have a university degree, but are white, over other more better qualified teachers tends to be astonishing.