Reillys in China

Blog Update

2009-05-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

Our internet was erratic for a couple weeks, but now seems to be stable again. Access to the blog, however, is still being blocked. Thankfully our kids came home with a back-door proxy around the great China Firewall. (Isn’t modern education great!) The proxy does not allow us to post pictures, so we'll post some photos on Facebook (Judy McMorrow page).

Strut and Fret: Romeo & Juliet Update

2009-05-29T21:48:00.001-04:00

Romeo & Juliet had a preview night on May 6th and officially opened May 8th. The cast of 18 puts on a wonderful show, drawing us into the amazing tale. The first half if full of lightness and fun, and the second half would give any current slasher film a run for its money. Lord Capulet, of course, is the highlight in our eyes. He is perfectly cast, walking proudly with a cane as a prop. His hand clap to call forth the musicians for the party is regal. His anger at Juliet’s defiance is startling. The audience draws back as he calls her a “green sickness carrion” and “you baggage” and “ungrateful wench.” The audience gasps as he runs toward Juliet with his cane to hit her as she cowers on the floor. As the production has progressed, so has Rick. He continues to work on his role. A few years ago our nephew Joe Howarth told us that every night in his play was different. At the time Rick said he didn’t understand, but now he comes home each night with a description of the slight variation that came through an injured actor or a dropped line or an intentional change in the action.

The day after opening night was media night, where several English language papers were to attend. Alas, there was a power outage in the block around the theatre and for only the second time in several years they had to cancel the performance. That impaired the publicity plan, but as with everything in China (and life), one needs to be nimble and flexible!

The theatre is an intimate stage in the round, with about 150 seats. Judy has now gone to 5 shows, Anna to 3, and Elizabeth to 2. Each of the three sections of the theatre offers a different view not just literally but also in the nuance of the action and the facial expression of the actors. It once again shows the subtly of both Shakespeare’s unbelievable gift and the creativity of this production. The show closes May 31st. We’ll miss it.

Continue on My Lord!

About that Next Gig…. (Rick)

2009-05-29T21:47:00.000-04:00

The Beijing Playhouse also runs a casting agency and last week a filmmaker filmed me to see if I might be good for a role in a movie about Harry Truman and China. They emailed and wanted me to come for a final tryout for the role of John Leighton Stuart, who was the ambassador to China from 1946-49. They were going to pay me 4000 Yuan (about $600). 

The night before the final arrangements the head of The Beijing Playhouse called and said they were not going to participate in the casting of this movie because it was a propaganda film! Here’s some of the dialogue for my part. What do you think? (P.s. Since we are in China on a US government grant it seemed better not to take the chance at embarrassing the government. They’ve been too good to us. I passed up the role.)

32、南京美国驻华使馆俱乐部（日、内）（1948年4月30日）天津
司徒雷登和傅泾波在打保龄球，收音机里播放着中共的五一口号。
傅泾波：蒋李还没有宣誓就职，中共就要成立一个新的政府，可能吗？
The CCP wants to establish a new government before Jiang and Li’s inauguration, how could that be possible?

司徒雷登：说说而已。五一口号只是毛泽东向全世界宣告他依然存在的形式。蒋在军事上还有优势，所谓政治协商，仅仅是个笑话而已。
It’s just talk. The May 1st slogan is nothing more than Mao’s announcement of his existence to the world. Jiang’s military might is greater. The so-called political consultation is just a joke.

69、南京美国驻华使馆（日、内）(1949年1月2日)天津梁启超故居
司徒雷登正在接见代总统李宗仁。
李宗仁：大使先生，我希望美国政府直接参与国共之间的调停工作。
Mr. Ambassador, I hope the US government can participate directly in the intermediation between the KMT and the CCP.

司徒雷登：总统阁下，我个人非常乐于效劳，不过很遗憾，中共方面恐怕不会接受你的和平条件。
Mr. President, I’d be happy to oblige personally. But unfortunately, I’m afraid the CCP won’t accept your conditions for peace.

李宗仁（苦恼）：长江一线已经有共军部队活动。毛泽东昨天发表措辞强硬的声明，称委员长为战犯元凶。我需要支持。
The CCP has set their foot along the Yangtze frontlines. Mao delivered a strongly worded statement yesterday, calling Mr. Commissioner the foremost war criminal. I need support.

司徒雷登：是啊，形势很危险，需要代总统出面挽救。
Yes, things look dangerous. It’s time for the deputy president to step up and alleviate the risks.

International Day

2009-05-29T21:45:00.000-04:00

For the children, plays and films are just background noise in the daily life of school and friends. A variety of terrific school events have kept us busy. International Day and Spring Fair was held on Sat May 16th. At an International School in Beijing this is not just symbolic but a true celebration of the wonderful depth and diversity of the student and faculty at BISS School. The parade of nations was a colorful walk around the track, with costumes from South Korea, Japan, Africa, Indonesia, China (of course) and many other counties. The Yanks dressed in a cowboy theme, so the weekend before we went to our favorite market Jin Wu Xing, which has everything amidst its 1000+ stalls – assuming you can find it! We did find the hat area and for 90 kuai bought 4 cowboy hats (about $3.50 each). Some bandana type material was all it took to give the overall effect. Each nationality also provided food, and for 10 kuai (about $1.50) you could eat your fill. The proceeds of the lunch went to a charity. Thankfully one of the US teachers hit on the great idea to order pumpkin pies. That was much better than our original plan, which was to try and coax chocolate chip cookies from our small toaster oven.

Track, Swimming and Basketball

2009-05-29T21:31:00.001-04:00

In May Anna participated in a track-and-field event for all the international schools. BISS took a big contingent. Anna won two (!) medals, a gold and silver, for her fast efforts. She trained with vigor and used the techniques taught by her daddy. In an elementary school swim meet last week she came home with two gold medals in swimming. She’s blossomed into a great athlete.

This spring Elizabeth participated in the junior high basketball team. Her skills also improved steadily throughout the season. Having tried soccer, volleyball and basketball teams (along with all the sports they engage in during gym class) the winner is….. VOLLEYBALL as her favorite.

Law & Journalism Program (Judy)

2009-05-28T21:15:00.000-04:00

One advantage of being on a US government program is access to an amazing group of people. Glenn Mott, who is an editor with the Hearst group and teaching on a Fulbright grant at Tsinghua, put together a fascinating program with the public affairs section of the US embassy on “Law and Journalism: A Fact-finding Session.” I helped Glenn brainstorm this project and participated as timekeeper and back-up moderator. The panelists were Eve Burton (General counsel of Hearst), Jim Fallows (reporter for the Atlantic Monthly), and Mo Xiaping and Pu Zhiqiang, two courageous Chinese lawyers willing to take on high-profile cases defending journalists in China.

Both Glenn and I were able to bring about 30 students to the panel. Renmin would provide law students, Tsinghua would send journalism students. This required having everyone’s name, national ID and phone number in advance for security purposes. In addition, the consulates at Shanghai and Guangzhou were also inviting students to participate via teleconference. Alas, the night before the event the Tsinghua international office withdrew permission – without explanation. This one school got nervous. This simple act of cancelling participation sent a pretty powerful signal. I also realized with some distress that I did not want to get my Chinese host at Renmin in difficulty. I had not even known the names of the Chinese lawyers until the day before the program so he did not know who was attending this program, only that it was sponsored by the US Embassy. Since such programs by the embassy are vetted through the political folks at the embassy, we did not expect controversy. But we assume that the upcoming anniversary of Tiananmen Square has raised the official vigilance.

The actual program was terrific. The two Chinese lawyers made clear that their views were not the views of the Party. They were critical of the Chinese government approach to journalism and the press. The challenge facing journalists in China is daunting. My later discussion with my students who attended was interesting. The most common reaction of the students was embarrassment that China was being criticized by two of their own in front of foreigners. A couple students expressed frustration that the Chinese lawyers did not praise all the progress and provide a more “balanced” presentation. There was strong resistance to the ideas presented. I noted in class that such discussions where we focus on problem areas are quite common in the US. At least the students came away with a hint of the difference in how we think about and discuss problems.

Romeo & Juliet Photos

2009-05-09T20:08:00.002-04:00

The director of Romeo & Juliet put together a slide show of publicity photos for Romeo & Juliet. We'll update this with more recent photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38644729@N00/sets/72157600531501751/show/

Chengdu Travels

2009-04-30T11:11:00.002-04:00

The weekend of April 24-26th, the 3 girls flew out to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where Judy was giving a couple talks at Sichuan University. The University treated us to several terrific meals of Sichuan food. We had already learned about their hot pot specialty, but were treated to some new variations. The talks kept us quite close to the university and its beautiful campus, full of greenery, occasional palm trees, and rickshaws that would give you a ride across campus for 3 kuai (about 40 cents). We were able to spend a half day at the Panda preserve at the outskirts of Chengdu. The panda center offered a beautiful landscape and more natural habitat than the Beijing zoo. We saw many pandas, including some young bears playing behind glass. We also enjoyed the lake that was stocked with large and plentiful goldfish. We bought bags of fish food and fed the fish that swarmed to the treats, flopping over each other in their eagerness.

Talking in China is Good for the Ego (Judy)

2009-04-30T11:05:00.003-04:00

In mid-April, I went down to Chongqing to give a couple talks at Southwest University School of law. They were gracious hosts, taking me to Ciqikou Street to see the old section of Chongqing and enjoy the vibrant sights. Each city introduces an additional nuance of Chinese cuisine. I’m not sure the name for the banquet where there are dozens of toppings and sauces around the table, which you add to the dofu dish. Whatever its name, it was delicious!

When I arrived at the law school for my talk a large banner was displayed in front of the law school building with my name emblazoned in huge letters. (Suzhou University had my name and talk running on a large marquis in the front of the law school.) This is part of my 15 minutes of fame, so I’m intent on enjoying it to the max!

By the way, one photo has "Flat Andrew," who visited us from Atlanta for about three weeks. Flat Andrew traveled from Beijing, to Chongqing to Chengdu before heading back to the US. You can find more pictures of Flat Andrew on Facebook (Judy McMorrow).

The Glories and Challenges of Street Food (Rick)

2009-04-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

I’ve been eating in small shops and street food for 8 months with no problems. The first week of April changed that. I got a small pancake sandwich (jian bing) and then smelled some meat – lamb or pork – so I bought 2 sticks for 5 Yuan (about 75 cents). Well, it attacked me for a week. I lost 12 pounds over 7 days. One night I got up 50 times – no exaggeration – which made a colonoscopy seem like a simple blood test. No more street food (at least meat) for me. Others had warned of this, but I found out the hard way.

No pictures for this post!

Opening Night Approaches

2009-04-30T10:58:00.001-04:00

The Beijing Playhouse production of Romeo & Juliet is now in full dress rehearsals 5 nights a week. The preview for family, friends and media is Wed. May 6th, and opening night is May 8th. Several assistant directors work with each actor -- singing, dancing, sword fights, facial expressions, Elizabethan English, character development. Lord Capulet is now sprouting a handsome beard and carries himself with a more stately air, even at home. We can’t wait for opening night!

Vietnam: Girls Trip to Hanoi and First Impressions

2009-04-30T10:55:00.002-04:00

On March 29th, the “girls” took a trip down to northern Vietnam for Elizabeth and Anna’s school break. (Lord Capulet had play practice.) We began our adventure with a 3+ hour flight from Beijing to Hanoi. We stayed at The Galaxy Hotel on the edge of the Old Quarter. What a vibrant, dynamic place! It was a bit overcast, so the pictures do not do justice to the life and activity around us. Motorcycles zoomed in an out, carrying young and old, tall and small. We saw grandmothers in suits and toddlers tucked between parents, almost all with helmets. Crossing the street was unnerving at first. The secret is to walk slowly and steadily, trying to make contact with the cycles zooming toward you. There was indeed a rhythm to the madness. Along the sidewalks folks would sit on small tables outside shops, conducting the activities of daily life – cooking, playing cards, talking. Straw cone hats were not just tourist items, but were actually worn by some to shade the sun and stop the rain.

The homes were tall and narrow. Apparently taxes are determined by the width of the buildings. Hmm - what other architectural influences result from tax policies? The architectural style also showed a French influence. At spots it look a bit like New Orleans. Our food choices included “pho” – Vietnamese noodles. After becoming quite comfortable with the Chinese Yuan, we needed to adapt to the Vietnamese dong, which is 17,000 dong to $1.

Among our stops in Vietnam was a trip to the water puppets, which is an art form that arose from the countryside. The puppet show was literally in water, with a story told in Vietnamese, accompanied by music. At the end the curtain came up to reveal the puppeteers standing in thigh-high water.

Vietnam: War Reminders

2009-04-30T10:50:00.001-04:00

The Ho Chi Minh complex was closed during the days we visited Hanoi, so we spent more time exploring memorials of the US-Vietnam war. We also saw reminders of war with Japan and China and France, a clue to the strategic role of Vietnam. We passed an area with a crashed airplane strewn across the front of a large building and asked if we could stop. It was a B52 memorial where the Vietnamese had shot down a US plane. The girls found it interesting to walk around and touch airplane parts and bomb shells. I found it poignant and disturbing. So many, many lives on both sides were changed by this war.

We also went to the Hoa Lo prison, which is colloquially known as the “Hanoi Hilton,” where US POWs were held during the Vietnam War. Most of the display showed the poor treatment of Vietnamese prisoners by Japanese in earlier times. A few rooms were devoted to showing the relatively “good” treatment of US prisoners by the Vietnamese. We did not engage in any political discussion about the accuracy of the portrayal. We asked our guide, Twen, what the Vietnamese people think of Americans. We were surprised that he was surprised at that question. For young people, the Vietnam War is a historical event. The next day he reported that he had asked his father that question. The father’s response: “If a neighbor comes and kills one of your family, then returns 10 years later and apologizes, how would you react? Everyone reacts differently.” We also saw an older man begging in the train station. Twen said that there are many such older men who suffered mental impairments from what people believe was Agent Orange. We know that if we went to areas of the US near military hospitals we might see similar sights. The tools of war do not take sides.

Vietnam: Food Creations

2009-04-30T10:46:00.001-04:00

Once again we found some creative food items in Vietnam. We were not sure about the appeal of the coke cans with chicken parts. (See photo.) Up in Sapa Valley there were sugar canes for sale. Folks would purchase the sugar cane, peal down strips and eat the interior while walking, like a banana. It looked quite appealing. The chickens, however, did not….

Vietnam: Sapa Valley and our “Soft Trek”

2009-04-30T09:47:00.002-04:00

We took an overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa Valley in the far north of Vietnam. We arrived at 5:30 am to pouring rain, and experienced a couple downpours during our 3 days there even though it is not rainy season. Our base was in Sapa, a town tucked in the mountains. Women in colorful dresses from the Black Hmong people would walk through town selling handicrafts.

During our 3 days we went to several different villages of the Black and Red Hmong people and of the Dzao. Because this was a “soft” trek, a van took us to the edge of the village and we would then walk for a couple hours. It is always a question whether tourists are worth the disruption. How would we feel if strangers walked through our town taking pictures? The quid-pro-quo was their desire to sell us souvenirs. At one village about 15 women were following us with their baskets on their back.

The scenery for these 3 days was like walking through a calendar – stunning beyond description. Mountains, karsts, rice paddies, water buffalo grazing along the road. At the edge of one village was a small cave with stalactites. Another village ended at a waterfall. On the second day we took a 3 hour van ride to a more remote town for the weekly Hmong market. There were very few tourists compared to the Hmong, so we received a few stares. In addition to clothing, chicks, and household items, we also discovered we could buy hashish (“no thank you”).

Girl Scout Cookies - Expatriate Riot

2009-04-23T01:59:00.003-04:00

NEWS REPORT, BEIJING, APRIL 23, 2009.

Beijing Police report a small riot broke out among area expatriates in the Haidian District of Beijing last Saturday. Apparently, an American family received a box of what are called “Girl Scout cookies.” These highly addictive substances sent an odor out that quickly spread over a 2 mile area. Crazed Americans began following the scent and quickly descended upon the unprepared campus.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” reported Wen Ximing, a law student at Renmin. “Americans started running across the square in front of Mingde hall.” Wen followed the group as they quickly converged on the park in front of Building Yiyuan 3, where the Reilly family was holding a picnic that included the addictive substances. “Adults were pushing aside children, trying to grab these small chocolate covered cookies.”

Rick Reilly, a statuesque man with a white beard, shook his head in amazement. Apparently Mr. Reilly has avoided addiction to the cookies. “But my two daughters wept when they received the package. My wife was out of town when it arrived. By the time she returned two days later the cookies were almost depleted.” Reilly accepts that the family made a mistake by allowing the remaining cookies into public view. He apologized deeply and sincerely “for allowing these addictive substances to be out in public.”

Reilly’s wife, Judy, and their daughters Elizabeth (almost 12) and Anna (10) were unavailable for comment. Witnesses report the three Reilly women curled up in fetal positions once the cookies were gone.

The cookies were a gift of the Chivian family of Newton, Massachusetts. Efforts to contact the Chivian family for comment were unsuccessful. The Public Security Bureau is investigating whether Chivians broke any international or domestic laws by sending addictive substances into China. The Chinese government reports that they are also preparing an official complaint to the US Embassy. “We are unsure at this point whether the incident will have any lasting negative effects on Sino-US relations,” stated vice-deputy Wang Jongwen.

Quick Trip to Manhasset, NY

2009-03-28T16:21:00.005-04:00

One of the highlights of our month was a visit (via Skype) to Shelter Rock Elementary School in Manhasset, NY. We were special guests of our nephew Ben Reilly in his second grade class. Rick sent a box full of items from China for the children to explore, we scheduled the time (9:25 am NY, 9:25 pm Beijing) and on Fri. March 27th we connected! The kids were amazing – excited, interested and well-prepared for a discussion about China. Mrs. Weinstein, the teacher, had each child prepare a question, and after a brief introduction from us they came up to the microphone. Ben started off and the questions flowed -- pets, food, school, the Great Wall, sports. Rick had props ready, so we showed them ping pong, hacky sack, badminton, dolls, flags. They covered the watershed. The excitement and pleasured flowed through the audio and video. We were pleased to see Bob and Mary Jane (mom and dad) and Aunt Grace in the audience. Once again we are learning how close we can be through technology.

Anna’s Birthday (Anna)

2009-03-28T16:15:00.002-04:00

I’m 10 years old! On my birthday I went to school. Right when the bell rang after morning tea everyone went in the classroom. They were screaming because they were excited to eat my cakes. We had two cakes. One of my cakes was a pink ladybug. The other cake was a normal cake with a doll on it. Everyone sang Happy Birthday three times in three languages – English, Korean and Chinese. I started cutting the cake but I stopped right away to save the ladybug’s face. Everyone said, “Oooo, you’re going to kill the ladybug,” so I quickly scooped the face up onto the plate and I saved the ladybug’s face. It was beautiful.

For my birthday party I went [on the weekend] to “The Hutong” and we made pizza and cake. My friends Disha, Su Bin, Julie, Z and Essa came, and some moms and a dad. We had a lot of fun.

Rehearsals – The Agony & The Ecstasy (Rick)

2009-03-28T16:13:00.001-04:00

Acting is much more difficult than it looks. First, we have to deal with Shakespearean Old English. Second, we have to remember that our audience will be in a semi-circle around us, so we have to speak to the audience, not to the person we’re actually talking with. Most of the time you are at a 90 degree angle to the person you are having the conversation. Third, it is easy to get nervous and freeze and forget your lines. You have to walk and talk at the same time…. Four, we dance: the waltz, minuet, some hip-hop, disco and the electric slide. This is not my strong point. It’s like doing the Macarena and Chicken Dance with a bunch of 8th graders who have been doing it all their life and you are working off the numbers and “X” marks on the floor. Sometimes the choreographer will say, “instead of a stomp, slap, hit we’ll do a slide double-hit on both heels.” I’m going “duhhh.” Everyone else is a pro! Finally, we’re singing. I am one of 5 male voices, with a limited range. Again, difficult for me. I’m a “Base 2” singer. Does anyone know what that is? All I know is it’s not second base in baseball. We practice four nights a week. I need every one. By the way, I’m growing a beard to look like Lord Capulet. My looks are my strong point! I’m glad to show the girls that it is an adventure to be outside your comfort zone.

Theatre Runs in the Family (re Elizabeth)

2009-03-28T15:40:00.002-04:00

Elizabeth had two entertainment events in the last month. The upper school (6th-12th grades) held their annual BISS Idol and Elizabeth and several other 6th graders developed a skit and routine. Their routine was creative and fun and a big hit. Look at the names of the sixth graders in the act: Alzira Fernandes, Elizabeth Reilly, Chrystal Leung, Sana Samad, Fatima Obaid al Salami, Megumi Tanaka, Punyarak Nimchuar. Can you match the name with the nationality?

On March 24th-26th Elizabeth was in the cast of “Once Upon a Time,” a musical farce with a lively score and fun plot about Captain Boredom and her zombie army trying to take over Fairytale land. The costumes were colorful and the humor had an adult edge. It was fun and joyful and exhausting. Over 50 students participated, from grades 3-12, including several of Anna's 4th grade friends.

Mother of the Year (Elizabeth)

2009-03-28T15:22:00.000-04:00

Three weeks ago I started reading the Twilight series (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn). I became totally and completely obsessed. I could not put it down. The school library had the first three, but not the fourth and last. So I asked my friend Alzira to bring it in because she owns it. I asked her to bring it in on a Friday. She forgot. I went paranoid over the weekend. I asked her to bring it Monday. She forgot. Tuesday. Sick. That day, Tuesday March 11, 2009, after school my mom officially won the ‘Mother of the Year’ award because that day she went to the Bookworm, an English language bookstore and bought me all fourth Twilight books. When I saw them I screamed. So now you know that my mom has taken the place of ‘Mother of the Year’
(The Twilight series was written by Stephenie Meyer. Twilight has recently been made into a movie which came out in November ’08. To learn more go to www.stepheniemeyer.com . You can also look into her other book The Host)

Datong Trip

2009-03-28T15:20:00.004-04:00

Soon after we came to China our friend Matt Chivian sent us pictures of a hanging monastery in northern China. A little research and a trip to Datong quickly went to the top of our list. The weekend of March 13-15, we joined the China Culture Center on a trip. A night train on a “hard sleeper” (6 bunks per cabin) brought us to Datong -- near Inner Mongolia -- at 6:20 am on Saturday morning. Breakfast and a chance to freshen up blew out the cobwebs and our group headed out to see the 1500 year old monastery perched on a cliff. En route we stopped to see a cave home of an elderly man. Apparently his home was wired for electricity, so along with the dirt floor and traditional bed, there was a satellite TV. A classic image of modern China.

The hanging monastery was impressive, particularly when you were not looking at the parking lot that adjoined the scene. It was quite amazing to walk in a spot that looked so delicate, but had withstood time, weather, politics, and all the other forces that wash away history. Buddhism, Daoism and Hinduism are all reflected in the imagery there. After lunch we saw the 9 dragon wall, and for dinner took a bus ride through a construction site to a good meal and chance to cut noodles.

After a good night’s sleep we went on Sunday to see the Yungang Grottoes – an amazing site of Buddahs carved several stories high into the side of a mountain. There were dozens and dozens of smaller caves with intricate carvings. There was also a section with 3 missing carvings taken by foreign “looters.” We were told they now sit in the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. We’ll definitely check out the Met when we return!

The train ride back was a 6 hour interesting ride through the arid countryside. This is coal country and the coal dust settled everywhere. The land had a barren field and you could see the small villages struggling to sustain a living for their residents. The train car was heated by a coal burning furnace at the end of the car, with a water spigot for hot water. The train personnel would occasionally walk by and shovel in some coal. The ride gave us more opportunity to talk with the wide range of expatriates who were on trip.

Conferences and Talks (Judy)

2009-03-28T15:09:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, March 7th Prof Ding Xiangshun from Renmin University organized a conference on comparative legal education. It was a fascinating day, with participants from Chinese, Japanese, South Korean and US law schools (i.e. me). The proceedings will be published in a Renmin Law School journal in both English and Chinese. It was fascinating to learn how Japan, South Korea and (to a lesser extent) China are moving closer to a US model of legal education.

Our blog entries have focused more heavily on family life, so I neglected to describe trips to Suzhou University and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics made late last fall. Both were gracious hosts and wonderful opportunities to talk in detail about the joys and challenges of legal practice in China. The universities welcome you with open arms. It is quite fun to see a large banner or wall-sized announcement of your talk. For a glimpse of one visit, check out:

http://dept.shufe.edu.cn/wsc/picnews/081211_e.htm

Bad Air, Medical Outings, Burned Buildings and Other Musings (Judy)

2009-03-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

We had heard so much about the air pollution in Beijing that we were prepared for the worst. We arrived during the Olympics, when factories had been moved and private cars were restricted to every-other-day on the roads. (The government used that handy mathematical concept of even and odd numbered license plates!) The air was better than we expected. There are many more good days than bad. (The two pictures from our living room window, taken at the same time of day, show the range.)

Early March we had some bad days. The haze was thick. Perhaps related to the air, my cold morphed into a sinus infection. So I walked 10 minutes to the subway, took the 45 minute ride down Line 10 to the Central Business District (CBD), then a few minutes to get lost before arriving at my destination at the Kerry Center, which has a Vista Health Clinic on the lower level. This was my second trip to the Vista Clinic, the first one also for a sinus infection. Twenty minutes later I came out poorer (US prices $161), but with antibiotics and decongestants which provided relief. Well worth it.

The walk back to the subway provided a striking – albeit hazy – view of CCTV tower (called “the underpants building”) and the burned shell of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The hotel burned down on the last day of the Lunar New Year, Lantern Festival, when a fireworks display from the top of the CCTV building misfired and hit the roof of the brand new, unopened luxury hotel. The news reports showed a blazing inferno that quickly swept the building. Since the fireworks – ubiquitous during the 15 day New Year celebration – were put on through the donations of CCTV employees, this incident was a major topic of my first class in Business and Constitutional Torts. The class was initially divided on whether CCTV should be responsible for the torts of its employees. By the end of the discussion they had moved strongly to holding CCTV liable.

And conspiracy theories are a world-wide phenomenon. Our neighbors report rumors that the misfired fireworks were no accident but a planned razing. Rick is also suspicious since this massive fire caught and spread so quickly. The building was empty, apparently without sprinklers. Hmmm. BTW, in our first effort to search both Google and YouTube to link to the Mandarin Oriental Fire, all came back with “Connection Interrupted.” In our second effort a week later, Google led us to unrelated stories -- one of the occasional reminders that we aren’t in Kansas anymore.

Boston College Chronicle Story

2009-03-04T09:52:00.003-05:00

The Boston College Chronicle, a biweekly publication, wrote up a story about our family life in China in its March 4, 2009 issue. For the curious you can find the story at:

http://www.bc.edu/publications/chronicle/TopstoriesNewFeatures/features/mcmorrow2009.html

Move Over Romeo, Lord Capulet has arrived!

2009-02-25T07:42:00.003-05:00

Rick read in the English language press that Beijing Playhouse, an English language theatre, was holding tryouts for Romeo and Juliet. Rick wanted to demonstrate “responsible risk-taking” to the girls, so on Mon. Feb. 16th he went down to the British school in Chaoyang area, about an hour trip, to try out. He returned that evening with laughter, reporting what he described as a disastrous tryout. The old English did not roll easily off his tongue, particularly since he does not read phonetically. He mispronounced “Montague,” he didn’t realize that acts were divided into scenes and picked up the wrong scene to read, he mixed up the 3 note song they taught them (in a duet no less!). One kindly actor came over and whispered, in a helpful tone, “When you see a comma take one breath, when you see a period take two, a semi-colon take three.” To his surprise the next morning Rick received a callback. That day he kept would call out random phrases to practice: R: “Steeeellaaaa.” J: “Uh, Streetcar Named Desire?” R: “To be or not to be.” J: “Wrong play.” Day 3 the call came and he was cast as Lord Capulet. A new career is born as a Shakespearean actor.

For those of you who know Rick, this is absolutely and definitely outside his comfort zone. Years ago he swore off movies with English accents and people running through fields. (“Room With a View” threw him over the edge.) The first rehearsal was Sun. Feb. 22d. We all went with him to see the rehearsal area. I wanted to shake the hands of the directors and thank them for playing the role of Henry Higgins to Rick’s Eliza Doolittle. Rick has thrown himself into this project with marathon-training approach. It is heavy rehearsal schedule, with performances for most of May. But it is living our goal: Try new things and always be willing to move out of your "comfort zone." That will hopefully be the enduring lesson of our time in China.

Elizabeth: The Agony and the Ecstasy

2009-02-24T10:03:00.004-05:00

Fall was soccer season; winter brought volleyball. The BISS under 12 girls volleyball had a very successful season, with a long winning streak. Elizabeth became an increasingly strong player, serving and running and jumping. The season culminated in a day-long volleyball tournament among 6 international schools. It was a glorious day, with the BISS team winning every game as they soared through the day to the finals. What excitement to be in the finals! Mom and Dad monitored the events by phone (since they were on the ski trip – see Anna entry). The BISS team won the first set, the International School of Beijing (ISB) won the second. The third game was tied 15-15, and whoever went up by two points would win. ISB scored once. Then – NOOOO – ISB scored again and won.

Winning is fun. Losing the last game in the season is anguish. “Do not talk about it” was her one request. Then slowly the story came out, “but only if you don’t say anything like, ‘Oh, it’s so cool to be in the finals.’” So we listened and empathized....

Anna: Hits the Slopes and Plays with Friends

2009-02-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Anna, Rick & Judy went on a Saturday BISS ski trip to Nanshan Ski area outside of Beijing. (Elizabeth was at the volleyball tournament.) It was a crisp and beautiful day. Beijing is so dry that it seldom snows, and even less so this year due to a draught. The snow is all man-made, so you go down the white slopes surrounded by brown hills. After a two hour refresher lesson Anna left her parents in the dust and took off with friends to ski away the afternoon. Quite fun!

The following Saturday Anna invited her friend Jo-Anna to play. Jo-Anna and her family are from Korea. Her dad arrived via cab at the West Gate of Renda with Jo-Anna and her younger sister, Younee. After a few minutes in the apartment, her dad went to leave. It became apparent that he was also leaving Younee. EUREKA MOMENT! This was the second time that we invited a child to play, and a younger sibling came along. It makes sense that in Asia, when you invite a child you are inviting any siblings who want to attend. This attitude of inclusion toward siblings permeates the BISS school. Kids of different classes play easily together. Very nice…..

In Praise of BC Law School Academic Services

2009-02-24T07:48:00.000-05:00

Last week I was reminded of the great work done by the Academic Services office at BC Law School. February 16th started the new semester at Renda. On Tuesday of that week I was preparing intently for my Wednesday afternoon class on Business and Constitutional Torts. Ding, my faculty liaison and now friend, checked on enrollment and discovered that no one (!) had signed up. It turns out that scheduling is done by the central administration and they did not realize that this elective class conflicted with a required course on Marxism and Deng Xiaoping Studies. In a Communist country, even with its market economy, it doesn’t work to conflict with a required Marxist studies course. Wednesday morning I received word that the class was moved to Friday evening from 6-9 pm. (That was much better than the proposed Sat. morning 8 am time!) With my Western mindset, I wondered how many students would show up to a Friday evening 3 hour course, after their schedule was already set and with only 2 days notice. To my surprise, 25 people were in the classroom. The majority of students are auditing, but they were intensely interested and active.

At BC Law School, Academic Services would have flagged this issue soon after registration. But we have learned that in China plans are made much closer to the event. Almost every US professor on the Fulbright program has a similar story of learning when classes were scheduled only a few days (or hours) before the class started. Large events get planned with only a few weeks notice. So a last minute change in schedule is par for the course. You need to stay flexible in China! Here’s a big “Thank You” to Academic Services for not requiring the BC professors to be as flexible.

The semester runs 18-20 weeks (depending on the informal understanding of when classes should end.) I have refocused my teaching for the spring in a way that will likely have lasting benefits when I return. The goal of each course this semester is to use this topic to teach the art of building an analysis. Business and Constitutional Torts will run for 9 weeks. The second half of the semester I will switch to Introduction to US Legal Reasoning and Research and co-teach a course with Lord Capulet (um, Rick) on US Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Two Beijings: The Haircut Example

2009-02-23T07:36:00.001-05:00

We sometimes wonder what is the “real” Beijing: the new, glitzy buildings and malls, or the older, earthier areas. Of course, they are both the “real” Beijing, but one is definitely cheaper than the other! Take haircuts, for example. Rick has twice gotten his haircut on the street by itinerate barbers who carry supplies on a bike or cart. They whip out a chair and voila, you have a shop. This week he got a haircut, complete with finishing touches from an electric shaver powered by a battery on the barber’s bike, all for 5 kwai – about 80 cents. (Yes, less than $1.)

Judy, on the other hand, went the same week down to the Chaoyang District, which caters to the expatriate crowd. You can live like a westerner in Beijing, but you pay more than western prices. For a color, highlights and cut at the Cie de France salon, it cost 800 kwai – yes, $120. Rick could have gotten 150 haircuts for Judy’s effort to hide the gray.

By the way, we were wondering if Chinese men simply didn’t go gray until they were in their 80s. The truth is simpler: they die their hair!

Everyone Who Could Went Home for New Years

2009-02-23T07:31:00.003-05:00

Yes, it appears as if everyone except transportation, hospital and tourist workers went home for the Chinese New Year. (While the New Year/Spring Festival is technically a week, things slow down for a full month.) Even the “barber shop” on the corner en route to the subway was closed for several days. When we first arrived we noticed that this shop has a barber pole outside, a single chair that seemed never occupied by a person getting a haircut, and a sofa with 2-3 attractive young women in short skirts. As the weather turned colder, the skirts stayed short, and the hair-cutting chair stayed unoccupied. When we noticed that the shop was open at 10 pm it confirmed that this spot was not in the business of cutting hair. Twice we’ve seen a baby bouncing happily on a mother’s knee, so we don’t judge what any of us might need to do to feed our family. But we were happy to see the door locked for Chinese New Year. As we said, everyone who could went home for the New Year….

Guangzhou Orientation

2009-02-22T10:10:00.001-05:00

We flew down to Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, for a Feb. 10-12th orientation for the Spring Fulbright Professors. It was great to meet the new professors and reflect on our experience so far. Our advice was simple: stay flexible and smile. Be willing to give up a need to have control over your life and you’ll be much happier. This comes not from living in a Communist country, but from being illiterate. So much information passes us by because we cannot read or write. We may be able to share our professional expertise, but we cannot buy a train ticket without having our hand held. We are slowly building some helpful vocabulary and are perfecting the art of pantomime.

Guangzhou (the old Canton) had been described by one guidebook as an unattractive town, but we found it a pleasure. We stayed at the White Swan hotel, which has the nickname “White Stork” because many families stay there as they await papers to take their newly adopted daughters home to the US. It was a joy to see so many growing families around us. The Pearl River flows through town and we were treated by the Fulbright program to a river cruise, and the next night to dinner at the home of the Counsel General in Guangzhou, which also overlooked the river.

Laundry Cliché

2009-02-22T07:26:00.000-05:00

The laundry on the west end of campus reopened last week. We have a washing machine in our apartment and used it regularly before we discovered the laundry. In the fall we would hang our cloths on the porch off the living room, like much of China, and it would dry quickly in the Beijing heat. Like so much of daily life when we are illiterate, the laundry was right in front of our face for 6 weeks, but we didn’t “see” it until we were ready to peek behind the door. The laundry uses driers and for 11 kwai (about $1.70) we can get a small load wash, dried and (sort of) folded. Not bad! We typically take 5 loads a week over there. Yes, yes, the cliché of the Chinese laundry. It was closed for 3 weeks over the New Year so we have done our own laundry. But it is much colder now, so we had cloths hang cloths inside the apartment to dry during the night. It is great to have the laundry back in operation!

No Lawyers Here, Only PhDs (Rick)

2009-02-06T04:11:00.001-05:00

I cannot stress enough how China is a nation on the rise in the 21st Century. If you saw the Olympic Opening Ceremony (2008 Drummers all working together) or the cheering crowds watching the fireworks, you can feel it. The May 12th earthquake showed the world how China could regroup after losing 70,000 people, many of them children. The Sunday New York Times had a front page article on the interesting architecture that is happening in Asia, and particularly in China —the Bird’s Nest, the Egg (National Theatre), the CCTV “underpants” building, and now Shanghai with the tallest building in the world.

Many people work 7 days a week, for 10-12 hours a day, sleeping in their shop and taking customers anytime day or night. They also work for peanuts, but are very proud and willing to do any job with a great attitude. At the American Arbitration Association we used to call these folks PhD’s – poor, hungry and driven – the best type workers you can hire. They will do any job with a smile.

This fall I tutored 2 students for 2 hours a day, 2 days a week on English. They were driven by a desire to improve their English. Every Friday 250-300 students and local Beijingers go to the East Gate of Renmin to practice their English from 6-9 pm, no matter what the weather, warm or cold. When students are on campus, every morning from 7-8 am there are students in the park outside our apartment practicing English out loud to themselves. They are working on learning our language so they can get better jobs.

China has 1.3 billion people – four times the population of the population of the USA, but with the same land mass. Right now they aren’t the most efficient. Stores are overstaffed and pay low salaries, but they are learning and working at it. They are becoming risk-takers. China’s government is putting over half a TRILLION dollars to help the economy here. It is an FDR style work project to help the nation and the world recession. They are expecting “only” a 9% growth rate next year after a decade of over 10% annual growth! China is putting huge resources in science and higher education and is expecting to excel. My message to you is clear: China will make it happen and in 11 years (2020) will surpass the USA economy. Keep an eye on China (and India) – they have awakened. China is changing quickly, right before our eyes. This is a place to watch.

Chinese New Year: Long, Big, Loud!

2009-02-06T04:01:00.002-05:00

The Chinese New Year celebration has been longer, bigger and louder than we expected. Students began exiting campus in early January. By mid-January every day brought hundreds of people out in the streets wheeling suitcases. It provided a visual clue of the numbers: something like 200 million Chinese travel for the Spring Festival/New Year’s celebration. To put these numbers and distances in perspective, imagine everyone from east of the Mississippi moving west for a 2 week period.

As the lunar New Year’s Eve (Jan. 26th) approached the campus became almost a ghost town. All the small stores on campus were closed. The residents, mostly retired faculty and administrators who live in the older housing in the center of campus, appeared busy with cooking and arrangements for the New Year. So we decided to splurge and go to a hotel closer to the downtown for 2 nights. We spent one night at the Great Wall Sheraton and New Year's Eve at the Westin. By showing up at the front desk of the Westin at mid-day on New Year’s Eve, we were able to negotiate a great rate and an upgrade.

Since New Year’s Eve is a family time, we decided to do it in style. We had made a trip to our favorite market, Jin Wo Xing, and purchased Chinese jackets, so we had festive attire for our New Year’s Eve dinner. We splurged on a rare fancy dinner and had our first Peking duck. (This may be the only one for Judy and Elizabeth. It’s that problem of your food looking at you….) We returned to our room on the 32d floor of the Westin, which offered terrific views. As midnight approached the fireworks began. They erupted at midnight and continued for over 2 hours, spontaneously, all over the city. It was like the city was bubbling pot. It is somewhat ironic that China, with its strong centralized government, allows the people to control fireworks, while in the US it is primarily the government that controls the display. Firework stands are scattered around the city and anyone – young, old, mature or immature – appear to be able to buy them. Apparently the emergency rooms are also very busy during the spring festival.

On New Year's Day we went to the Temple Fair at Ditan Park. Like so many public celebrations in China, it was very crowded but very orderly. People were in good cheer, with smiles everywhere.

The fireworks have continued nightly, sometimes quite late and amazingly loud. The goal is to keep the evil spirits away, so we should be well protected by now! Apparently this continues until the Lantern Festival at Day 15.

Why Fireworks? (From Elizabeth)

2009-02-06T03:49:00.004-05:00

Our Chinese class performed a play to explain the origins of Chinese New Year. According to legend there was a monster named Nian (played by Z) who would chase and eat the people small villages. Although the Jade Emperor locked up Nian, the monster was released on the last day of each year to search for food. One New Year's Eve when he came to a village an old woman (played by me!!!) was frightened as Nian attacked her and dropped her pot. Nian was startled and ran away when he heard the loud noise. He then chased after a second villager who was carrying fire. Nian was again frightened. The villagers learned that to keep him away they should make loud noises and place red paper that look like fire around the village. Since then, every year loud noises and fireworks keep the evil spirits away. We are all safe!!!!!!yay for us

P.s. Photos are from the Balla family.

Xi'an

2009-02-05T03:26:00.000-05:00

Since the week of Jan. 26th is a national holiday, on Tues. Jan. 27th we took advantage of the school break to take a 3 day trip to Xi’an, about 2 hour flight from Beijing and the beginning of the “Silk road.” Xi’an became famous in the 80s for the discovery of the Terra Cotta Warriors, who were created and buried by the tomb of the first emperor of China in 210 BC. Carefully restored, the area is an amazing site, with 6000+ life-size (or larger) warriors standing or kneeling in rows. While the clay bodies were made from several different templates, each face is different. It is like looking into the faces from 2000+ years ago, a photograph from before the time of Christ.

Xi’an offered a wealth of other sites to explore. One of our favorites was the Forest of Stele, which had been recommended by our neighbors Dave and Su. Western tradition preserved learning through painstaking work of monks copying the bible and classics. China’s scholars preserved learning for the generations by carving texts into giant pillars, called steles. The Forest of Steles is essentially the world’s heaviest library, with thousands of stones. One interesting find is the Nestorian stone, which is reputed to be the first evidence of a Christian presence in China in 600s.

We also had a grand time biking the 14 km (8 mile) wall that surrounds the center city of Xi’an. This old, restored wall is one of the few intact city walls in China. It was a bumpy ride, done on one tandem and two individual bikes. The wind was in our face as we rode north, but a few miles later we came to the turn and it was easy sailing after that.

And the Muslim Quarter in Xi’an offered a vibrant and lively shopping and eating experience. Although this is low season for tourists, many Chinese had returned for the Spring Festival so the streets were packed with people.

Obama Inauguration China Style

2009-02-04T03:23:00.000-05:00

Like so many Americans, we felt the excitement of the inauguration. We’d signed up with Facebook to watch the event on the internet. Midnight arrived and we tried getting a reliable feed, but the computer kept freezing. Not wanting to miss this historic moment, we called Janet Segal in Newton, MA. Thankfully, Janet was home, so she propped her Mac computer in front of their TV in Newton and we turned on ichat between our computers. Voila! We were watching the inauguration on Janet and Neal’s TV back in our home town. It was 1 am in the morning in Beijing and the darkness and quiet drew us even more into the moment. Witnessing this peaceful transition of power, which is one of the US’s greatest contributions to the world, was breathtaking.

While we had many conversations about the election in November, very few Chinese mentioned the actual inauguration. We suspect that most folks are not used to this lag time between selecting a leader and taking office. China is used to quick implementation of policy changes. With the stroke of a pen they can often quickly implement policy both small (tell cars to stay off the road one day a week) and large (order families to have 1 child). Our Democracy is slower, with intentional roadblocks built into our decision-making. We are more like a cumbersome ocean-liner, changing courses slowly.

Neighborhood McDonald's and Rick’s Girlfriends

2009-02-03T03:05:00.000-05:00

Most mornings Rick goes down to McDonald’s, which is down the road from the West Gate of Renmin, about a ½ mile from our apartment. He is usually greeted by a friendly staff and a group of elderly women. Since September he has been buying the women hot chocolate when he comes in, much to the smiles of all. Judy occasionally comes along, just to mark her turf and remind them all he is married….

A large grocery/department store is right next to McDonald’s. One morning after breakfast we were able to capture the employees preparing the store for an 8 am opening. The security guards lined up for inspection and proceeded to their work stations with military precision. The women who attend the aisles fanned out to their areas. A crowd had gathered for the special of the day. It may be a soap or snack or toothbrushes offered for price low enough to encourage 100 people to wait in line for the opening.

Oh yeah, about work… (Judy)

2009-02-02T00:32:00.000-05:00

During the university hiatus I have been plugging away on my contributions to a new edition of Dan Coquillette’s textbook on Lawyers and Fundamental Moral Responsibility. Mike Cassidy and I are joining as coauthors on the second edition. This book focuses on western moral though. But being in China and exposed to the eastern world, and a legal system without as many structural checks to ensure fairness, has helped me see the questions more sharply. Alas, it has not clarified any answers!!

Once again this pressing project, and the need to prepare materials for spring classes, has pushed aside language training. As Fr. Bill Neenan used to say, “the best is the enemy of the good.” I am slowly accepting that developing greater proficiency in Chinese will may not occur during this trip.

From Elizabeth!

2009-01-19T02:49:00.002-05:00

Hi. I exist. I’m really in China. We just went to the Summer Palace, well the southern part of it… I think. I’m going a concert tonight by some British band called Delirious? I have noticed, learned and realized many things and I think I shall share some of them with you all…
1) People sell all kinds of things everywhere. Toys, socks, gloves, all the gadgets and whistles. They can all vary in price. Some people push there luck and others give you an unbelievably low price, but one thing the Chinese have mastered is the art of bargaining. They bargain like mad. And almost every time they will say “ Lady! Lady!...I lose money!... Just a little more… Just for you lady because your daughter is so pretty… 10 more just 10 more!” and things like that. If I do say so myself I have become a pretty good bargainer.
2) People spit all the time in China. And I know why. It’s because dust and sand from the desert blow in and it gets in the air and you breath in air, so to get it out they constantly spit! I just can’t help but think about all of the spit we step on everyday.

From Anna!

2009-01-19T02:45:00.002-05:00

Hello. I am alive. China is very different from the US. People on the street sell stuff like food and sox and hair stuff and gloves. Right when we walk out of our building the smell is yucky, but when you keep walking you feel a little better. My mom sometimes looks at me and we go “ewww.” GROSSSS!!!!! The money here buys more stuff than in the US. My school is very different than in Newton because they teach in periods and the periods here are very short. There are 8 kids in my class and they are from Singapore, India, Korea, China, and the US. I like the school a lot. I am learning to play violin. Love, Anna

P.s. from Mom: Wednesday Anna came home to report that she needed a red cape and basket to be Little Red Riding Hood in a classroom play. I just assumed we would turn the Red Sox sweatshirt inside out and voila! But Thursday after school Anna thought that was insufficient. So off we went to the small shop on campus that has our favorite seamstress in the back of a narrow shoe store. She hems pants ($1.50), makes Christmas stockings from newspaper patterns we drew ($1), fixes tears in pants and sweaters, so we hoped she could work her magic. Sure enough, she had some red fabric. Through pantomime and the help of a student with limited English we drew out a picture of what we wanted. Come back in one hour, she said. We went to the fruit and vegetable market and bought a basket for 7 quai ($1). At 7 pm we returned and our seamstress had made up a cape fit for a Broadway Little Red Riding Hood. She asked for 50 quai (about $7), for a last-minute rush job. A bargain, we thought!

Two New Years Eves But Only One Timezone (Rick)

2009-01-18T02:58:00.000-05:00

This year we’ll have two New Years – Jan. 1 and Jan. 26, 2009 (Lunar New Year). Both are celebrated here, but Jan. 26th is the big one with lots of red lanterns and fireworks. The Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) is a family event – Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years wrapped into a two week event. Everyone seems to travel and go home to visit. They estimate that 250 million people will travel over this holiday period. That is well over half of all the people in the US, mostly traveling by train and bus. (A student friend once rode her bike 3 days to get home for the Spring Festival!) The campus is almost empty of students. And the many friends I’ve made at the shops around campus have been cleaning up their shops to head home. Our friendship is a nod-and-pantomime relationship, but it generates smiles!

Food Insights (Rick & Judy)

2009-01-17T07:45:00.000-05:00

Restaurants usually bring just one menu for the table and the waitstaff watch as you look over the menu and decide what to order for the table. Eating is a communal system where meals are shared, which encourages sharing of conversation and ideas as well. When ordering food we have learned that only one person should speak to the waiter or waitress or most likely your order will be mixed up. Having a second person say “dressing on the side” or “meat well done” almost always results in confusion. You’ll end up with one meal dropped, or two salads. What can we expect when we live in a world in which we are illiterate!

Food continues to be our biggest challenge. Chinese food here is not the synthesized version we have in the US. The Chinese are amazingly efficient in using all parts of the animals, but it continues to be disconcerting to see pig snouts, chicken feet, intestine, deer afterbirth and other items offered on menus.

Hong Kong Report: Part I

2009-01-17T07:44:00.005-05:00

After Christmas we spent 6 days in Hong Kong. Arriving Sat. Dec. 27th, we spent two days in downtown HK, exploring this European-Chinese city. The mountains meet the sea in HK, and the high rises are tucked in the land area right up to the water. There were many stunning vistas. The 60 degree weather was cold for Hong Kong, but a delight after the cold Beijing weather. (See Harbin report for quite a different experience.) There were many more English speakers in Hong Kong than Beijing, which made logistics much easier. Yet even with the European feel, this is a Chinese city. The small diner on the corner displayed its cooked food, with ducks cooked with the heads attached. Having food look back at you tends to suppress our appetite. Yet you cannot help admire the honesty and efficiency reflected in the display.

We took a half day tour of HK, which took us up to Victoria Peak, down to Aberdeen section (for a sampan ride), and the Stanley Market. This allowed us to visualize Hong Kong and its many islands. We also took a ferry ride across the harbor to Kowloon, enjoying the lights as they twinkled on at sundown. There was an aesthetic coordination in the skyline and lights so it created an amazing and beautiful display at night.

One of the highlights for Judy was having lunch with two BC Law School alums, Eugene Chow and Laurence Ho. Eugene had graduated in the 1970s and Laurence just a couple years ago. Their description of the legal practice in HK suggests that they face the same shifting legal practice that US law firms face: competition over work and bar regulations that feel sometimes like the goal is to suppress competition. The economic downturn has hit Hong Kong, but it is a nimble city, every watchful of new opportunities. It will likely do better than most financial centers.

Hong Kong Report Part II

2009-01-17T07:40:00.002-05:00

After exploring Hong Kong proper for two days we took a cab out to Hong Kong Disney, where we spent 3 days, including New Year’s Eve. As usual, the hotel was lovely and relaxing. The Disney park is smaller than the Magic Kingdom in Florida, but since these parks are too vast to fully experience anyway, it was just right for us. They threw a rollicking New Year’s Eve party. We returned to our hotel for the countdown to midnight. By then we were all happy to just walk down the hall to bed. The crowds at Disney were primarily Chinese, with some Japanese, Korean, Australian, European and US visitors tossed in. It was an international experience.

There are so many moments of pure pleasure in China, like dancing with children to piano music in the hotel lobby. We had another such moment when we took a break from the Disney experience to see the bronze Buddha on Lantau Island. Sitting high on a plateau, it is an impressive sight. The cable car ride up to the Buddha offered yet more vistas of Hong Kong. Chances for whimsy also perk up all around us.

Perhaps because of the wide range of people and cultures, the music at Disney had interesting edits. While pure orchestral music included all the main Christmas carols, if there were vocals any trace of express Christian language was edited out. It was fascinating to realize that Silent Night was sung as: “Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm, all is bright. Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.”

Harbin (Brrrr)

2009-01-17T06:55:00.001-05:00

The girls returned to school on Jan. 4th. Unsure of our travel plans for the Chinese New Years we decided we should plan a quick trip up to Harbin in the north of China to experience their famous Ice Festival. Harbin has taken its worst aspect, freezing weather, and turned it into a tourist attraction. Armed with reams of long underwear, snow pants and sox that we either borrowed or bought, we flew up to Harbin with our friend Deborah Bender. We arrived at the airport to -15 c weather. The first sign we knew it was a different world? The airport had “Cloths Changing” areas (identified in Mandarin, Russian and English) for folks to don the extra layers we would all need to survive this weather.

Even when well prepared, it was still a challenge. The mouth covers that we had previously thought were exclusively for pollution are more often worn to keep out the cold weather. But those of us with glasses discovered that the mouth covers caused warm air to go onto our glasses, which quickly frosted up. Runny noses, a chronic problem with cold weather, are awkward when the weather is so cold that everything (i.e. everything) freezes.

Luckily our hotel was right along the pedestrian walkway in the old section of Harbin. Harbin is famous for its strong Russian influence, which emerged when the Russians came into China to build a railroad. The old buildings looked more like Moscow than China, although the Chinese world was obviously the dominant perspective.

The lure of Harbin, the ice sculptures, were amazing. A thousand workers had chipped away for 24 hours a day, 14 days, to create winter wonderlands. Downtown had ice sculptures along the pedestrian walkway. Zhaolin Park featured a Disney theme (we can’t get away from it!) A cab ride took us to the Ice World, which was particularly amazing at night. An ice city was created from scratch, with glorious lights to showcase the work. But nighttime temperatures went to -20 and lower, so two hours was our limit. Many ice sculptures had slides built in, allowing for fast and furious runs. We also indulged in a horse ride around the ice sculptures. We even had hot cocoa and warmed up in – of course – an ice café. The bathrooms were also encrusted with ice, but our one test confirmed that the internal plumbing was made of more permanent material.

We Don’t Eat Dog, but Love Mifan with Chopsticks and Hot Pot (Rick)

2009-01-17T05:00:00.002-05:00

We are learning the customs and culture of China. It is always interesting, and sometimes strange to us. But then again, hot dogs on a bun would likely be strange to Chinese, as would stuffing business cards in your pocket without properly reading them. By traveling a lot, watching, reading expressions, and listening to our English speaking Chinese friends we are all learning about this wonderful world in which we live. Elizabeth and Anna are much better at deciphering words and expressions than we are, so this trip is reshuffling the family pecking order, with Dad at the bottom. BTW, mifan is rice and hot pot is a Sichuan food cooked in one pot, very spicy!

Legal Ethics Field Trip (From Judy)

2009-01-17T05:00:00.001-05:00

Jan. 4th was my last week of class activities at Renda for legal ethics. Legal Ethics ended with a field trip to the Beijing office of Mayer Brown, a US law firm that recently merged with a Chinese firm. The lure of an international firm looms large in the students’ imagination. International firms offer entry to larger salaries and greater growth. But few students had ever stepped inside an international firm. During our Dec. 26th class the students developed questions, which we forwarded to Matthew McConkley and Yanni Song, the two lawyers who had generously agreed to meet with us. On the day of our trip about 18 students met on campus in front of the law school at 8:30 and we took the subway down for our 10:00 meeting. I had done a reconnaissance trip earlier in the week to be sure I knew how to get there.

Matthew and Yanni had set up a conference room and had information about the firm available at every seat. After introductions the conversation began. Questions included the role of the economic crisis on business, how to get business, hiring practices, pro bono, corporate social responsibility, and licensing issues, and the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the training of Chinese and US lawyers. On the subway ride back small groups discussed how the visit added new information and reinforced prior conceptions. As always, the challenge is reminding folks that one description may not be representative of the whole. I’m not sure anyone can give an accurate descriptive picture of the practice of international and comparative law in China at the moment. It is changing too rapidly!

Merry Christmas from China

2008-12-30T05:45:00.003-05:00

Although missing our family and friends, we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas in Beijing. The preparatory activity is described below in “Christmas Shopping in Beijing.” Far more important is the meaning behind this wonderful holiday. We attended mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent at the South Cathedral. The South Cathedral has two Sunday masses in English and draws an international congregation. Services are longer than in the US (about 90 minutes) with a blend of traditional music and songs with which we are not familiar. Priests from the US, China and India have presided over masses we’ve attended. The priests often give longer sermons than home, with similar varying degrees of success.

For Christmas day we awoke to see that Santa had also visited China. Anna had followed Max's lead from many years ago and tied a string between her big toe and Rick's to prove Rick was Santa. Despite the string, Santa came! We then took a cab to the South Cathedral and met our friend Deborah Bender for mass. (Deborah has been teaching public health in Chengdu on a Fulbright grant and will spend her last 3 weeks in China in Beijing studying Chinese.) After a beautiful mass we then went to Grandma’s Kitchen in a hutong and met up with our friends Karen and Nathan for a traditional turkey meal and good conversation. While we missed our family and friends back home, it was a joyful celebration with our new friends in Beijing.

Christmas Shopping in Beijing

2008-12-26T05:13:00.000-05:00

Christmas Images in Beijing

The Chinese Christmas ambiance is a relentless focus on Santa Claus. For those who think the US has disconnected the holiday from its deeper meaning, come to China. While there may be Christmas carols with religious themes playing faintly in the background, it is fairly clear that in most venues Christmas as celebrated in Beijing has absolutely no connection to its religious roots. Many, if not most, stores will plaster Santas on the doors and window. Waiters and waitresses often wear red hats. Many stores have Christmas trees. As with the US, the goal is to put the consumer in a good mood so they will buy more. A great many people do not know that Christmas is a Christian religious holiday. It is oddly disconcerting.

Yet despite of (or because?) the commercial focus on Christmas is so strong and independent of its religious meaning, the South Cathedral appeared to have no compunction about putting a Santa Clause on the door of the cathedral. The church itself has a strong and enthusiastic congregation, so it does not appear to be “Catholicism light.” Yet you would rarely see a Santa in a Catholic Church in the US. Go figure….

We did manage to find a Santa in the basement of the Sanlitun Shopping Center. Santa had his beard down and was text-messaging as we approached. Business was not brisk. When he saw us he pulled up the beard, stashed the phone and managed to look jolly without saying a word. We don’t think he understood English. But we give him an A+ for effort.

It’s Official, Rick is NOT going Vegan

2008-12-22T05:09:00.001-05:00

Our friend Nathan Kelter of the Educational Exchange Office of the US embassy discovered what is reputed to be the only vegan restaurant in China. Opened by a Chinese entrepreneur who spent time in San Francisco, we had a fun outing exploring this vegan establishment. Rick went along somewhat reluctantly, being a ribs-kind-of-guy, but figured he could wash down the tofu with some pijiu (Chinese beer). Alas, we arrived to discover that the restaurant only served non-alcoholic beer. As our friend Karen said, Rick looked like he was “chewing with someone else’s mouth.” Rick says he knows why this is the only vegan restaurant in a country of 1.3 billion people. Final restaurant review was:

Great! 3 votes
Okay… Elizabeth & Anna
Only if starving and no grass is available: Rick

China’s Investments in Legal Education

2008-12-20T05:07:00.000-05:00

China has put massive investments in higher education. In no field is this more evident than law. Thirty years ago China had barely 20 law programs. According to figures from the Ministry of Education (kindly requested by the Educational Exchange Office for my research), in 2007 China had:

• 36 Ph.D. and Graduate Law Programs in 1,759 different Chinese universities or colleges or schools in 2007.

• 38 Bachelor’s degree Law Programs in 2,214 different Chinese universities or colleges or schools in 2007.

• There were 28 continuing education law programs in 1,124 different Chinese universities or colleges or schools in 2007.

• Ph.D. candidates 9,575

• Graduate Students 70,736

Compare the 2,214 Chinese universities, colleges and schools that offer law (both undergraduate and graduate) with the 196 accredited US law schools. Chinese law students can major in law as an undergraduate major, continue on for a masters, or (like US law students) can now take a 3 year masters in law after majoring in another subject in undergraduate.

It is an open question what China will do with all these young graduates trained in law. Many who graduate with an undergraduate degree in law will use that general background for business or other positions. The students face tremendous uncertainty about where they will fit in China’s emerging legal system. Exploring this question will likely be a research focus for me in the years to come.

100 Days in China

2008-12-08T22:17:00.003-05:00

We have been in China almost 4 months. We easily call this home. From visits by Karlene and Jim and Eileen Holzhauer, and calls and packages from home, we have kept in touch and received supplies. We continue to be amazed by the size of Beijing – 2X the size of NYC; 25X the size of Boston. Maneuvering continues to be the great challenge.

We represent the USA in everything we do. Many students report they have never spoken to a native speaker from the US before. (When we go to places dominated by Chinese, such as the Birds Nest, we’ll be stopped to have our picture taken. We are the novelty!) Uniformly the people are eager to have us thing well of China, even though they are often willing to criticize the government, at least in private conversation. Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing are all very proud of their heritage and tradition.

100 Days in China: Our Surprises

• Power of the heat and sun in the summer; chill of the dry cold in winter
• Wide boulevards 15+ lanes
• Friendliness of the people, from the post office to McDonalds
• No tipping!
• The international feel of Beijing
• The mixture of old and new
• Supermarkets are mobbed, like Las Vegas on a Saturday night
• People often work 7 days/week, 10-12 hours per day
• From the leaf sweeper in the park to law students, people focus hard on their job
• Fish are often sold alive in the market, so you can watch the demise of your dinner….
• Subways are easy and cheap (32 cents)
• Great Wall (need we say more!)
• A+ architecture, from the Bird’s Nest at the Olympic area to the “Egg” downtown
• Elizabeth and Anna see the world through their classmates at the International School
• Parks, grass, flowers and exercise areas – public spaces – tucked among the buildings
• English corner/ modern hutongs
• Finding old friends (Rick found 2 grammar school classmates living in Asia!)
• Trying new things: opera, theater, parks, biking, bad mitten, touring
• Shanghai = New York City; Beijing = Washington, D.C.
• The wonderful folks at the Educational Exchange Office

100 Days in China: Challenges

• Overstimulus: everything we see is new and exciting
• Being illiterate: mixed up communications happens often
• Being illiterate: we walk past stores we are seeking because we cannot read the signs
• Food differences; menus without pictures leads to surprises at dinner!
• Finding peanut butter in the market – packaging is different
• Hot foods are spicier than in the US
• Faxing, getting things notarized takes time and planning
• Distance between points A and B are much farther than they appear on the map
• No car
• Often little notice for events
• Missing family and friends from home

Aunt Karlene's Visit

2008-12-06T22:09:00.001-05:00

Karlene Reilly arrived Nov. 18th for a 12 day visit. She spent the first 3 days at a hotel on campus getting over jetlag in a quieter environment, and then moved over to our apartment for the remainder of her stay. Karlene is an intrepid traveler. By the second day she had found a good tailor to make a new cashmere coat and later returned for 3 pair of custom-made pants. (Jim Reilly had given Rick two suits from “Ying Tai,” a Hong Kong tailor, 14 years ago before our wedding. The Reillys appear to have a gift for finding good tailors in China!) Rick followed Karlene’s lead and had a cashmere coat made for himself. Taking day trips, mostly with Rick because Judy had some work demands, Karlene saw The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and mastered the subway. She helped tutor graduate students in English. Karlene and Judy made a visit to the National Theatre of China, known as The Egg, and were amazed by the spectacular architecture and use of light. We’re hoping Karlene plans a return trip.

The Great Wall

2008-12-04T21:50:00.004-05:00

During Karlene Reilly’s visit we hired a university van and spent a day traveling to the Ming Tombs, lunch at The Schoolhouse restaurant at the village of Mutianyu, then a 2 hour visit to the Great Wall. It was a glorious day. Mutianyu section is particularly picturesque, as the photos demonstrate. Our group was led by Anna, who has gone 3 times to visit this section of the wall, and Rick and Elizabeth, for whom this was the second trip. Karlene has visited the Badaling section of the Great Wall twice and reports that Mutianyu was a more vigorous (treacherous?) walk along the Wall. Pictures cannot quite prepare you for the beautiful vistas, the sense of history and the vastness of the winding snake through the mountains. Even a steady flow of other tourists could not diminish the wonder of The Wall.

Awkward Moments (Rick)

2008-12-02T21:49:00.001-05:00

I had bought silk underwear at a market. (Dragon design, of course!) Last week I was walking across the quad on the Renmin campus and my pants almost fell down. Silk is very slick and I’ve lost weight eating Chinese Food. I looked like “Joe the Plumber” as my pants slipped well below the crack. I gave everyone in Renmin Square a look at my new silk skivvies! The same thing happened to Judy as she was running in the Shanghai airport. China as a weight-loss clinic?

63 into 3 (From Rick)

2008-11-15T03:45:00.002-05:00

Marco Polo, Mr. Magoo and I are traveling through China this year as part of a Fulbright family. As a 63 year old, this is the freest I’ve felt in my life. Living in Beijing with no Chinese language skills means I must relearn everything. I’m like a 3 year old toddler, an adventurer who is learning by asking questions, making mistakes, trial and error. Exploring hutongs and underground shops, navigating grocery stores, every day is an adventure. Be it the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven or Tiananmen Square, you are an outsider among a billion hard-working Chinese people. As a new “3 year old,” I’m very inquisitive. It is an adventure to try finding a post office, supermarket (underground without signs), camera repair shop or Hutong restaurant without the benefit of language, maps or Google. Sometimes you hop a cab and call the shop and hope that someone speaks English to give the driver directions. Thankfully cabs are cheap ($3-5 per trip) and subways even cheaper (2 Yuan, about 35 cents.)

If you live here you learn something new every day, just like they taught us to do at Molloy High School almost 50 years ago – “Non Scholae Sed Vitae” – not for school but for life. If someone told me 50 years ago when starting Molloy HS that I’d be living in China with a 9 and 11 year old child, and a law professor wife, I wouldn’t have believed it. Now I too am lecturing on labor arbitration, environmental mediation, tutoring law students in English, listening to Peking Opera, and attending seminars on James Joyce “Ulysses” and corporate social responsibility in China. With children here you play badminton, soccer, ping pong, ride bikes, run track, and (of course) attend PTA meetings.

I Find Jimmy Hunt, JH Finds Me (from Rick)

2008-11-15T03:43:00.003-05:00

Strange, exciting things happen in China.

Jimmy Hunt was my best friend in grammar school in Forest Hills, NY. I lost contact with him 45 years ago but heard he was living in Hong Kong. I kept searching the internet, but no luck. After moving to Beijing in August I received an invitation to a grammar school reunion. I sent regrets. On the “Evite” I saw a Vincent Hunt from Beth Page, NY had also sent in a reply. I took a long shot and wrote Vincent to ask if he was related to Jimmy Hunt. On Halloween, 10/31/08, Jimmy Hunt e-mailed me to say hello and welcome to Asia. He’s living in Singapore now. I had found him!

On Election Day (Wed. Nov. 5 here) we went to an Embassy/American Chamber of Commerce election party in Beijing. (See separate blog entry.) I was interviewed there by Bloomberg Financial (TV) on Obama’s US/China relations and how I thought it would be for China. The next morning Jimmy Hunt e-mailed me that he saw me on TV as he was having breakfast in Singapore. CNN/Bloomberg is blocked in China, but now Jimmy Hunt found me. Strange, exciting things happen in China – come visit and find out for yourself. If you want to shake out the cobwebs, travel to a foreign land – Massachusetts, California (yes, they count as foreign) or Beijing, China – you’ll have a great time and it will make you SMILE every morning when you wake up.

US Presidential Election in Beijing (Judy)

2008-11-15T03:42:00.001-05:00

Like millions of expatriate Americans, we cast our absentee ballots. Rick mailed his off weeks before the election, but I delayed sending in my ballot so that I could show it to my classes. Several students took the time to study the ballot and ask terrific questions about why we were voting for “electors” rather than just voting. They found the ballot questions a puzzling concept. But this delay meant a last minute, rushed trip to Federal Express to assure that the ballot arrived on time. Fri. Oct. 31st I tracked down a FedEx office in Haidian, the district in which we live. A bus ride, a walk, asking 3 strangers to help me call FedEx and a mere 2 hours later I arrived at the FedEx store. The young FedEx clerk was curious about the absentee ballots and showed me another envelope ready to send off. She was wondering if it were going to the same place. No – my ballot was going to Massachusetts, that one to Minnesota. But as I stare at a thousand Chinese characters, overwhelmed and confused by what they all mean, her question now seems quite reasonable.

On Wed. Nov. 5th we attended an election party sponsored by the US Embassy. Along with about 800 other people we gathered at the Renaissance Hotel to watch the returns on CNN. Unlike the US, our gathering was from 8 am – 1:30 pm. They held a mock election and this was an Obama crowd, so cheers erupted when Pennsylvania went for Obama, and an even louder cheer went up when it was called. A few tears were shed in that room.

When we saw the long johns, we should have figured...

2008-11-14T03:41:00.000-05:00

Fall has embraced Beijing. We often see cleaners on the street and in the parks sweeping the leaves with large straw brooms. A few weeks ago tables began to spring up on the weekends, selling long johns and thick sox. We should have taken this as a warning! As it grew cooler we asked our neighbors when the heat gets turned on. Pretty early, they said, November 15th. Beijing is like Boston weather, so there have been some chilly days. We’ve learned to bundle up, layer our clothing, and keep the toaster oven open. We also learned that the “air conditioner” (available to the faculty apartments but not the students) also has a heating feature, so that has also taken the chill off our apartment until the heat comes on.

Sights and Sounds

2008-11-14T03:38:00.000-05:00

In the last few weeks we have begun to see occasional beggars in the street. US press had reported that the beggars were removed during the Olympics. Language barriers keep us from finding out – yet – where they went during the Olympics. Perhaps some students will help us find out. Beggars are not an unusual site in US cities, and many show signs of substance abuse or mental illness. We do not have enough cultural knowledge to find patterns yet in homelessness here. We have seen folks who have suffered devastating physical injuries (disfigurement that appears to be from accidents). We need to develop a better understanding of Chinese tort law in action.

We had dinner up by Beijing University with the Balla family. They have a wonderful neighborhood around them filled with small restaurants and food stalls that appear and disappear depending on the time of the day. They report that in the evening the restaurants are filled with men in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Because we live in a dorm which is mostly occupied by young women, we don’t see a gender gap. But perhaps the Balla experience is a sign of the challenges facing men in China.

Teaching Law in China (November Insights)

2008-11-08T12:20:00.002-05:00

The fall semester is long (about 18 weeks) and is divided in half. I taught Torts for the first 9 week segment and will begin teaching Legal Ethics/Legal Profession on Nov. 14th. The Renda students report that many of them have 7 classes, which means over 21 contact hours per week. Unlike their US counterparts, the Chinese law students carry fairly slender books. I have prepared my own materials for Torts and have been assigning about 10 pages per class. With 7 classes, it makes sense that the reading has to be manageable. In addition, from our classroom exercises it is apparent that the language skills of the students vary widely. Some can read through a paragraph quickly. Others need several minutes to digest the material and look up words they do not understand.

The class started out in early September fairly small, but has grown to 48 students. This is due in part to the addition of students who had been focusing on the Chinese bar exam, which was given at the end of September. Other students are sitting in on the class to help them improve their English. Thirty two students actually took the final exam. The fact that 16 students would voluntarily audit a 3+ hour class at 8 am on Friday morning captures the motivation of these graduate students.

The students frequently will express their thanks for the course. It may perhaps be a polite way to welcome the foreign professor. But from their comments I infer that they are used to a more passive learning experience and are interested in more interactive and livelier classrooms.

The 7 week course for the Temple Law School/Tsinghua LLM was an intensive and tiring experience, but worth it to meet the great students and learn more about teaching legal reasoning to Chinese students. Ding and I hope to develop a US legal reasoning text for Chinese students, so Ding attended most of the classes. This has helped us generated shared ideas on the best approach to this subject.

Alas, final exams means grading….

Visits, Gifts and Boston Red Sox

2008-11-08T11:29:00.002-05:00

We were so happy to have Jim and Eileen, from Chicago, visit us in October. Jim was in town on business and Eileen took advantage of their first year with no children at home to accompany him. She was an inspiration, managing buses, long walks and exploring neighborhoods. As a veteran New Yorker she did not hesitate on her second night here to take the subway back to her hotel alone at night. David D., who is renting our home with his family, was in Beijing on business and delivered a heavy bag of mail and miscellaneous items. He is in the wine business and also included 4 bottles of very nice wine. We’ve discovered that good beer is plentiful and cheap; not so wine.

Julia and Jason also sent a box, which arrived as Rick was monitoring the Red Sox-Tampa Bay game via the internet. The Sox were down 7-0 and were about to be eliminated from the playoffs. He had accidentally left his Red Sox cap in Boston so J&J had found a Red Sox cap and put it in the package. Rick donned the hat and suddenly the Red Sox came back to life and had the most spectacular single-game comeback in their history. I had just taught causation in torts. Clearly there was a correlation: hat on Rick’s head/Red Sox win. As to causation, we didn’t speculate but just enjoyed the ride. The luck ran out 2 games later, but it was a fun while it lasted.

Living at Renmin (October Insights)

2008-11-07T11:09:00.002-05:00

Renmin University has been a terrific place to call home. We live on the 17th floor of a graduate student dorm. The apartments on our floor have been modified for faculty, so we enjoy the benefits of a hot water heater in the bathroom (warm showers anytime!) and 3 bedrooms, a living room, and a galley kitchen. Our apartment (about 800 square feet) has good light and views of Beijing. From what we gather in our elevator conversations with the students in the building, the student apartments have anywhere from 6-8 students per apartment. The masters-level students in Torts report that they are in rooms with 4 students per room.

This tight living space for the students is probably the source of the creative use of outdoor space. (Our thanks to Eileen H. for providing this insight.) Every morning 30+ students can be found in the small park in front of our apartment reading English aloud. At first it looked like they were dovening, focusing so intently on their work. Rick has begun to go out and talk with them. Last week he took 7 students to breakfast at the Paradiso café and for a princely sum of $7 bought everyone breakfast.

In the evenings you can find several groups around campus engaged in dancing and other exercise. Music often flows up to our 17th floor. In early September we followed the sound and found a rock concert taking place in front of the Fine Arts building. Some nights it will be traditional Chinese music. But the campus settles down by midnight. Every dorm, including our own, has women who monitor the entrance. Doors are locked in the late evening. By 8 a.m. the next morning the park again fills up with students studying and practicing English.

Elementary & Junior High in China (October Insights)

2008-11-03T11:56:00.002-05:00

School continues to go well for Elizabeth and Anna at the BISS school. Elizabeth observed that the academics seem easier than schools back home, but the standards are very high. They expect work on time, neat and with appropriate detail. There is a strong emphasis on multi-sensory learning. A book project involves not just reading the book, but exploring the culture, writing reports, doing art projects. The visit to Xian resulted in multiple projects to take advantage of the experience. Anna’s 4th grade class has been studying ancient civilizations, again drawing on their visit to the Great Wall. They also have gone to an archeology museum so they could engage in a “dig,” and have been making a model of an ancient and modern civilization.

Elizabeth is on the soccer team and took part in an all-day soccer tournament with other international schools. BISS is the smallest school so perhaps their sports success cannot rival their larger compatriots. But they won the sportsmanship award! We were very proud.

With a highly diverse international study body, the school emphasizes multicultural understanding. We've learned from conversation how the word "okay" has quite different meanings in different cultures. To an American it typically means "go ahead" or "that's fine." In Asia, it may merely mean "I heard you." This can cause big communication gaps if the question is "Can you take care of this problem?" "Okay." Hmmm.

Yangtze River Trip

2008-11-02T07:46:00.002-05:00

During National Week, the first week of October,we took a 4 day trip up the Yangtze River with our friend Karen Stock (art historian Fulbrighter teaching at Beijing Normal). We flew to Yichang on Monday and were taken by a guide to the ship. With 4 levels the boat appeared to be quite typical of the cruise ships traveling up and down the river. We spent 4 days cruising up the river, stopping at the Yangtze dam, taking a side trip up one of the streams in the gorges, and visiting the Ghost City before arriving in Chongqing. The scenery was beautiful, the dam huge and impressive and the entire trip disquieting. We slowly came to understand (partially, we’re sure) the massive human and environmental disruption of this project. Well over 1 million people, and 1000 villages, were moved. Entire villages were moved to cities, or rebuilt higher up. Imagine your family graveyard swept away. The tour guides offered a consistent description that the younger people tended to like the change, but the parents did not. We could everywhere see glimpses of what was under water: a small part of a thousand year old walking trail that is now mostly under water, trees that lived right at the water line (and are soon destined to be covered as the river continues to rise), markers indicating how much higher the water will go. Tens of millions of people live downstream in the flood plane, so we do not have the facts to say it was not worth the disruption. But you cannot help but pause at the scale of the change. We were very, very glad to have made the trip.

Food....

2008-09-28T03:22:00.000-04:00

We still are not adjusted to the northern Chinese food. There is a fair amount of mystery meat in the take out areas around campus. And going to the grocery store tests Judy's carnivore tendencies. The culture is impressively efficient in not wasting any part of the animal. But it is disconcerting to see pigs’ feet, and other body parts, all available to buy. (We passed up the dish offering “deer afterbirth” when we went to a fancy restaurant a few weeks ago with Fulbright friends.) So we have been eating a little more junk food than we should. Slowly we are finding dishes that appeal to our palate. And eventually we know we'll graciously eat the delicacy presented by a host. Until then, we'll be picky.

Paralympics

2008-09-24T00:18:00.000-04:00

The Paralympics loomed large for our family during the games. Judy and Rick went to wheelchair tennis with our new friends Karen Stock and Deborah Bender, other Fulbright professors.

The entire BISS school also went to the Paralympics, so Elizabeth and Anna participated in that trip. The government had released a large block of tickets but limited sales to 10 per person. Apparently the school took 15 teachers and staff over to the Bank of China, which was selling the tickets, and had folks stand in line, buy 10, then get back in line, until they had 400+ tickets. Anna saw football and Elizabeth went to volleyball.

As a family we had tickets for the next day, Sat Sept 10th, at the Birds’ Nest to watch track and field events. That stadium is even more impressive in person than TV. The atmosphere was festive. Rick likened it to a trip to the White House; to Judy it was more like Fenway for a playoff game.

Finally, the German Paralympics team came for a surprise visit to the BISS School on Sept. 19th. Athletes signed autographs, played wheelchair basketball with the students and talked about their experience. By the end of these many intersections with the Paralympics, we were talking more about the athletic ability and less about the disability. This was a great experience for all of us, not just the children.

Friday Night English Language Corner

2008-09-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

Every Friday night the East Gate of Renda (short for Renmin Daxue) sponsors an English Corner where folks can come to practice English. We walked over on Fri. Sept. 12th and strolled into the crowd of folks. Within two minutes each of us was surrounded by a tight group of 20-25 eager to talk with us. We would later compare notes on our conversations. Rick’s group talked about China and Judy’s group talked about the experience of being a student. Elizabeth learned that most of the folks around her had never heard of Halloween or Christmas. One student said “I hear in America you don’t like people with dark skin.” She fielded that question quite well. Anna roamed from group to group, and ended up with several kids around her. After 45 minutes we were exhausted, but felt like rock stars as we disentangled from the group. We’ll go back again, but next time we’ll be armed with some discussion topics and an exit strategy!

Teaching Law in China (September Insights)

2008-09-12T23:30:00.001-04:00

My classes have gone well (as far as I can tell). I am teaching a short 7 week class at Tsinghua University, which is supposedly a 10 minute cab ride. It took me 45 minutes when I went last Wednesday, in part because the cab driver took me to the wrong gate. I had learned, from my slender experience, to have the program administrator email me in both English and Chinese which gate we needed to go to. But apparently the East Gate of Tsinghua, which everyone knows is the East gate, actually opens south, a fact that my cab driver had not picked up, so he took me to the other East Gate. (Rick and I have decided that for any trip you should allocate at least twice as much time as you think you will need.) Because a professor in this Temple-Tsinghua LLM program had to leave due to a family illness, I'm switching over to teach Legal Reasoning, which meets twice a week (47 students).

Friday I teach Torts from 8 am - 11:10 at Renmin. This is apparently a typical graduate-level class. These students (about 25) have more stamina than I do! It has been fun to meet them and begin to hear their stories. The Chinese bar exam is taking place in later September so some students are working long hours to prepare. Returning students started classes last week, but new graduate students did not arrive until this week, so an additional 8 students joined the class. That makes it somewhat difficult to plan.

For you torts mavens out there, here's an interesting fact. In China, if a rich and poor man are standing side-by-side at the side of the road and are both killed by a drunk driver (my hypo) their damages are identical. In China damages are determined by the average wage in the city or area where the tort occurred. Quite a difference from the US system.

Beijing and Children Schools Settling In

2008-09-12T23:24:00.002-04:00

The good news: we already call our apartment "home." Beijing is huge, as in big, massive, sprawling, rambling. Three folks had told us Renmin University was "small," but that is only by Beijing standards. It takes us 20 minutes to walk from the east to west gate. A few nights ago Anna and I took a walk around campus. We were out an hour and had only made it halfway around. We did stop at some of the markets and stalls that we found tucked away in nooks and crannies of the campus: shoe shop, vegetable and fruit stands, bike repair shops, photo shop, several cafeterias, mini-marts; computer and copy shops tucked into buildings that you wonder are about to fall down. The campus has two worlds. Sections are bright and modern and could be transplanted as part of NYU or any urban campus. Other parts feel like you have stepped back 50 years, with darker, more run down buildings. You see elderly folks and children around campus, although students are the overwhelming majority. Apparently some of the housing is for retired faculty and staff. You do not see many westerners.

Last week was the first full week of school for Elizabeth and Anna, and my first week of teaching. For the first week we were all are up by 7 am, so that we can walk to the west gate of Renmin (Ren DA, SHEE men), just 2-3 blocks away. Because I was getting ready for class, Rick rode with the girls to school in a cab. During the Olympics the government has put private cars on an every-other-day rotation (i.e. even numbered license plates on one day, odd number the next). Traffic has been lighter than normal, we're told. It can take 15-25 minutes to travel the approximately 5 miles to school (22-25 yuan, about $3.50). After dropping the girls off Rick walked to the subway, about a 15 minute walk, and taking it home (2 yuan per ride, or 30 cents). He has been having a ball navigating through sign language, maps and postcards.

The BISS school is off the Third Ring Road, which is a massive 14 lane road through the north of the city. The girls have settled in quickly and are very content. The school is truly international, with multiple languages spoken at the lunch tables. There is more homework, but we're not sure if that is a product of 6th and 4th grade, or just the school. Last Sunday Elizabeth spent about 3 hours of homework that had been assigned for the weekend; Anna had about an hour of weekend work. This week the girls began riding a small school bus (i.e. van) that carries 5 children from the Haidian district (in the Northwest) to school. Thankfully the bus picks them up at the West Gate at 7:30 a.m. We now need to leave by 7:15 because our apartment is on the 17th floor of a graduate student dorm and students are streaming out of the building for breakfast and their 8 am classes. It is not uncommon for the elevator to stop on 10 floors on the way down.

Judy

Shanghai Fulbright Orientation

2008-08-31T23:22:00.000-04:00

Beijing Impressions: Beijing is big, as in BIG. (Think LA on steroids.) Renmin University is just outside the third ring road, which is a 14 lane road in the thick of the city. Distances are farther than they appear. Renmin University had been described as a “small” university, but it takes a solid 20 minutes to walk across campus. There are nooks and crannies that we haven’t begun to discover even after a week. Outings always involve walking a mile or two.

Shanghai: The Fulbright orientation was held in Shanghai from Aug. 24-27th. We awoke on the 24th and walked down to the east gate of Renmin (Dongmen) to watch the Olympic Men’s Marathon run by. A frissure of excitement went through the crowd as a helicopter signaled the imminent arrival of the runners. It was our one marathon event. Rick has run over 40 marathons and represented the US in two Goodwill games, so he had a special affection for this race and the masterful athletes who competed in it. We returned to our apartment to watch the conclusion, then met Ding Xiangshun and took a cab to the airport for our trip to Shanghai.

Shanghai is a huge, huge city, seemingly more densely packed than sprawling Beijing. We stayed at the Portman Ritz-Carlton (thank you Uncle Sam), which lived up to its name. The Shanghai protocol is not to allow 4 people in a room, so we had two adjoining rooms, slippers, robes, marble baths – the works. We had two lovely dinners at restaurants near the hotel. Both stretched our understanding of Chinese food. It isn’t like home. We’ll need to develop more flexible palates!

While the adults had a day and a half of very interesting meetings, the children participated in a children’s program. They saw more of Shanghai than the adults. We all had a shared outing Tuesday afternoon to a restaurant on the Bund (riverfront), then onto the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. The museum contained a huge model of Shanghai of the future. It was breathtaking in scope. Then on to Yiyuan Gardens and market for a flavor of a 17th century (?) Chinese villa. In the evening we attended a reception at theU.S. consulate, which offered some fascinating conversation with Chinese nationals who had traveled to the US on the Fulbright program. Every day reveals more about the complexity and depth of this country. It defies generalization.

Settling In

2008-08-23T23:15:00.000-04:00

We arrived safely and on time -- a mere 21 hours after we set out from Newton, MA! We spent 13 1/2 hours in a cocoon flying over the north poll. There were 9 seats across, each with an electronic babysitter to keep us controlled. We barely glanced out the window as we flew over bays I've never heard of and beautiful ice caps. That is a long time to be confined. (Note to self: Avoid chicken sandwich next time...) We were met at the airport by Ding Xiangshun, our faculty liaison, and a student. The came in a large van, ample room for the 8 checked bags we brought. (Our resolve to pack light did not hold....) Anna and I had our first exposure to Asian toilets at the parking garage of the airport. This will take some adjustments.... With one phone call (or text message?) Ding had another 3 students waiting for us at the building to help carry our luggage up to the apartment. With the tightened security because of the Olympics we needed to register at the foreigners office within 2 hours of arrival so Dings and I dropped Rick and the girls off at a restaurant and then went over to the registration office. This would have been impossible without his help! Another stop at a money machine and store and it was time to meet back at the apartment and REST. Jet lag has hit us each differently, so at any one time someone is asleep. Just found out that the wireless left by the past occupants works (bless them!). We would have written much earlier if we knew.

Our apartment is a 3 bedroom, fairly bright apartment on the 17th floor of a graduate student dorm. We'll definitely enjoy putting a personal touch on this home. Once we get settled we'll make a video and send it around.

Next steps:

- Find out how to get sheets. (When you are tired, they are not necessary!)

- How to turn on the hot water for showers.

- How to find the driver for our 9 am appointment tomorrow morning at the BISS school.

We were glad to bring a bag full of comfort food from home. It has helped to have familiar food around for this transition period.

Pre-Departure: Detritus

We were awash in a sea of “stuff” as we clean, sort and pack for our departure and prepare the house for rental. It was a perfect storm for clutter. Rick and I had married late (49 and 39), so we two households of stuff when we married. We, of course, culled only slightly when we married, instead putting boxes into the attic and basement. Add 14 years of marriage and 2 more children and two people with similar propensities to save and, voila, there were piles and piles of detritus. We embarked on archeological digs throughout the house, fully accepting that there is not going to be a biographer and perhaps we did not need to save everything. In the end we resorted to piling stuff into boxes and resolved that we will finish the project when we return. Our favorite found item: a lovely self-portrait that Julia had done when she was 8 years old.

Tips for China Fulbrighters

2008-08-12T19:38:00.001-04:00

Tips for China Faculty Fulbrighters

• Our first step was figuring out whether it was possible to take our daughters Elizabeth (11) and Anna (9) to China for the semester or a year. (Our oldest daughter Julia and son-in-law Jason are newly settled in Denver.) We explored it both on a personal level (would it be good for our children, opportunities, etc.) We brainstormed, explored the schooling options, talked with John Garvey, the dean of BC Law School, and the Pat Deleeuw, Vice Provost for Faculties at Boston College. It turns out our Dean and Boston College were incredibly supportive of applying for a Fulbright. That made the process much easier.

• Accept that there is a fair amount of uncertainty in the Fulbright China application process. I tried to get more specific information from the CIES folks (e.g., how many applicants, what is the likelihood of getting past the fall review committee, how many of the faculty whose profile is sent to China are actually rejected by China, etc..) Nothing, nada. They played it close to the vest.

• Assuming you pass the US committee, which we heard about in November, your application is sent to China for their review and approval. We did not receive a final confirmation of the Fulbright Award until March 14. (Yes, that deep into the spring semester!) It was helpful to know that the China awards often are made in March. Thankfully I alerted our Academic Dean in the fall so that he knew there was the bubble of uncertainty in the schedule. At the end it was a real burden on the school to have to wait to finalize the first year law school schedule.

• The March 14th notification only told us we had received a Fulbright Award to China. The university placement occurred in May. That was actually a good outcome for our family. We had a chance to think about China “as a whole” and study the map, track where other Fulbright professors had taught, and get a sense of the options.

• We trolled websites (like the one we are posting to) and found it very helpful. Once we knew our institutional placement we made contact with the Fulbright professor who was at the University. In our case, Anne Donohue, a journalism professor, was teaching at Renmin University in Spring 2008. She was invaluable in sharing her experience and advice. Her blog, www.chinajourn.blogspot.com, shared the ups and downs of her experience. That helped manage our own expectations. Since we are going to live in the same apartment that she stayed in, we were able to purchase many of the household items that she used to make her apartment a home. (She, in turn, had a similar arrangement with the professor who taught at Renmin in fall 2008.)