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POLI/ASIA 347: Urban Lab Shanghai
The student blog for Rice University's Urban Lab in Shanghai.
 

Archive for March, 2015

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Back in Houston and so much more to learn

March 20th, 2015 by nnz1

Coming back to Houston, I was sad to see the end of an incredible trip. For the short time we spent in China, I felt we had packed in as much as we could. I saw and learned so much.

Anya and I were the only two survivors of the Virus That Hit Urban Lab Shanghai. Literally everyone had slowly gotten sick, one-by-one, as if we were characters in LOST. I hate getting sick and would have hated to have that put a damper on my experience of China so I was keen to avoid getting ill. Luckily, my immune system didn’t let me down and I was able to enjoy China fully (sorry to the rest of the participants! — seriously, I felt bad for how badly everyone seemed to feel).

What I would like to learn more about: I want to delve more into Shanghai’s history to understand further the influence of Western imperialism; I also want to further understand the experiences of migrants in both Shanghai and Beijing. My time in Shanghai only opened up even more questions about what the lives of migrants are truly like. In Beijing, we primarily spent time being tourists and we hadn’t done much research on Beijing going in. Having visited Beijing, I’m incredibly curious as to how the experiences of migrants there compare with those of Shanghai.

If I were to go back and do this trip over again, I would have made more of an effort to visit migrant neighborhoods or schools. I also would have spent more time visiting non-tourist-heavy destinations – among my friend’s suggestions for Shanghai were Moganshan Road (a graffiti and art filled area), Tianzifang (touristy but quaint market). Visiting Xiaonanmen was valuable, and as much as I loved the tourist destinations we visited and needed the structure of the trip, I wish I had taken advantage of my free time more to explore solo. I was shy to talk to the locals in Beijing (partly because I was afraid the thick Beijing accent would hinder me from understanding), but in retrospect I wish I had engaged with them more. My only interaction with a local in Beijing was in a cab ride, in which the driver said Beijing was getting too crowded so he didn’t like it anymore. Though my interactions with the locals were always simple, they always somehow deepened my understanding of what I was seeing.

I’ve gained a deepened appreciation of my heritage and ancestry from conversations with locals and views of the Forbidden City, Great Wall and other such amazing structures. The country my father and mother’s parents are from is heavy with a rich history and culture; and right now, it’s navigating how to maintain that history and culture in a changing, globalized world. I’ve learned that aspects of other cultures that may seem at first bizarre may actually be endearing (e.g. the marriage market, shuttlecock hacky sack). And I’ve seen the ways in which powerful transnational and globalized forces impact the real lived experiences of individuals around the world (e.g. migrant merchants being pushed out to the city’s fringes, McD’s and KFC’s).

The week was amazing and I’ll treasure the memories from it for life. I’ve only scratched the surface and there is so much more to learn about China, a country that reflects on my history as a Chinese-American and the globalized future I am entering as a young professional.

Posted in 2015 Class, Houston / Recap | No Comments »

Beijing: Steeped in culture and history

March 20th, 2015 by nnz1

Day 1: Train ride, Peking Duck

We left Shanghai at 6:30 in the morning for the train station to head to Beijing. After 6 hours on the train and 2 other hours commuting to and from the train station itself, we finally arrived in Beijing at 2 pm. The train was comfortable, fun, and offered a beautiful view of the countryside between Beijing and Shanghai. The train station was bustling and chock full of both Asian chains (e.g. Yoshinoya, Mr. Lee) and Western chains – as much as I rag on the transnational capitalism that has resulted in Western corporations staking their claim in the Asia, I have to admit, it was pretty comforting to know that, if I wanted to, I could easily satisfy my craving for KFC, McDonald’s or Starbucks. Which is why even though I liked Beijing more than Shanghai (an anomalous attitude in the group) for its cultural richness and (what I perceived to be) greater historical preservation, I would rather live/work in Shanghai. Perhaps I’m too attached to what is comfortable – being around other expats, being able to rely on English if needed, knowing Starbucks is just a block away from wherever I am. I’m also not sure how much my feelings have to do with the incredible pollution in Beijing. I caved and got a mask because I could feel the smog in my throat.

Jeh and I in our masks. The pollution was real.

The moment I stepped out of the train station, I felt like I was in Queens. Throughout most of the trip actually I hadn’t felt like I’d visited another country. If Shanghai was a blend of Chinatown (NYC) and Times Square, Beijing felt like a combination of Queens, Houston, and DC. Architecture- and landscape-wise, I felt very much like I was in Rego Park, Flushing, Forest Hills, or some other relatively popular, commercialized area of Queens – milling with people, bustling with commercial activity, but still relatively quiet and calm. Buildings hovered around 11 stories high (in contrast with Shanghai’s typical 40-story building). It was like Houston in that it was sprawling — remarkably difficult to navigate; public transportation is lacking and forget trying to hail a cab. It was like DC in the strong nationalist presence felt, though that may have had to do with the fact that the NPC was congregating at the same time we were visiting.

I joined the group for dinner at DaDong for Peking Duck; we had a private dining room with its own bathroom. The duck was not mindblowing, but definitely excellent. I feel that it was on par with some of the best Peking Duck I have had in the U.S.

Peking duck in the city of its namesake!

 

Day 2: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Imperial Garden, vegetarian dinner at Buddhist restaurant

Tiananmen Square was surreal. Within the square are the National People’s Congress building and Mao’s Mausoleum (has anyone called it the Maosoleum? If not, that name should be invented), among other buildings. It was a sprawling square, much larger than I ever fathomed. Though the tourists at the square were there for its political and cultural significance (it’s probably akin to the National Monuments in DC), I kept reminding myself that I was standing at the site of a massacre and it humbled me. I was under the impression that no one in China knew of Tiananmen, that 6/4 meant nothing to the Chinese. But the speaker at the next day’s dinner, a minority woman named Jin Lu, said that many people knew of what happened. They just don’t consider it as big a deal as Americans make it out to be, which was interesting to me. In the same way that mass shootings or riots-turned-massacres become just another day in U.S. history, the 1989 massacre is also viewed in the same context as just one incident in China’s long history, which spans thousands of years. This made sense to me, and though I was surprised that people actually knew about Tiananmen, it seemed like Jin, like my father, believes American media has overhyped and sensationalized the significance of Tiananmen. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but it nevertheless was an interesting, humbling and eye-opening perspective to hear. I’m going to have to ask my international Chinese friends more about it.

I was astounded by the Forbidden City. I’ve never been in the presence of such magnificent, sprawling and intricate architecture. I was amazed to think that my ancestors built such a beautiful and exquisite structure. It was unlike anything I had seen in my life and again I was humbled by the weight of history. The Imperial Garden, too, was beautiful. The emperors and empresses truly lived extravagantly.

We then had an insanely good vegetarian dinner at a Buddhist restaurant named Gong De Lin; Buddhist monks had apparently developed ways to make vegetarian dishes taste like meat, and taste like meat they did.

 

Day 3: Temple of Heavenly Peace, HouHai for lunch, Bell and Drum Tower, Nanluoguxiang, Dinner w/ Jin Lu

The Temple of Heavenly Peace and the surrounding park were beautiful. So many people, young and old alike, were getting their fitness on in dance classes, shuttlecock hacky sack games, badminton, tai chi, and kungfu. The fitness culture in China is amazing and definitely needs to be more of a thing in America. I joined in on a hacky sack game; I oscillated between being good at it and horrendously awful at it. Ultimately I bought one because Lanie, Anya, Josh and I want to make it a thing at Rice.

We then went to HouHai for lunch, a beautiful, quaint commercialized area by the lake. We then got to see an incredible view of Beijing, complete with the traditional hutong compounds, from the top of the Bell and Drum Tower.

View from the Bell & Drum Tower!

Afterward, we walked down Nanluoguxiang, a popular street market lined with stores, food vendors, bars and restaurants. Packed with tourists, it was nevertheless a fun experience. At dinner with Jin Lu, I had Shandong cuisine for the first time. I’ve never had Chinese food quite like Shandong cuisine before—dishes included sweet potato with caramelized sugar and sea cucumber. Apparently it is a foundational Chinese cuisine that doesn’t really exist in America, since most immigrants in America are from southern China (my father included).

Nanluoguxiang

Churros and vanilla ice cream drizzled in chocolate off Nanluoguxiang

 

Day 4: Great Wall, Summer Palace

I got to check off “Climb the Great Wall” from my bucket list. Finally! We had a wonderful tour guide and her driver took us out to the Mutianyu section. When faced with the options of taking the chairlift up or climbing over 1,000 steps to scale the cliff to the Great Wall, I decided to climb the steps. Boy, did I have no idea what I was in for. It was probably the most exercise I had gotten done all year. BUT I made it up and did not regret it because now I can say that I climbed 1,000 steps to get to the Great Wall. The wall itself and the hazy mountainous views around it were breathtaking. It was easily the most remarkable thing I had seen in my life thus far (to be fair, I haven’t explored much beyond the US).

We had lunch at a supposedly “local” village restaurant that oddly was large and had very nice facilities. The food was pretty good. Afterward we drove out to the Summer Palace, where the imperial family would go during the summer when the Forbidden City got too warm. Our tour guide told us about Empress Dowager Cixi, who loved staying at the palace as her summer resort and had a marble boat built to signify the stability of the Chinese government. The stories were entertaining and reminded me I need to brush up on my Chinese history as the stories are as riveting as fiction or a drama. Irrespective of historical accounts of Empress Dowager Cixi, she is undeniably a character. Our guide mentioned that Western powers had destroyed the Palace twice – first in 1860, at the end of the Second Opium War, and then in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, in which 8 allied powers, including France and the UK, burned all of the garden (again) and stole its artifacts, divvying up the goods amongst themselves. The palace is still in restoration. I was reminded of the incredible influence and damage the West has wrought on China. Our guide told us that though Cixi absolutely hated Westerners, she loved their goods – their cars, etc. – a hilarious fun fact that oddly is quite representative of the attitude China in general has (righteously so) taken to the West.

The Summer Palace was beautiful and Empress Dowager Cixi is nothing short of a character!

Bridge in the Summer Palace

Overall, Beijing was astounding in its beauty (putting aside the pollution) and its cultural significance. Though Beijing too has a history of Western imperialism and is a popular tourist destination, I felt the weight of history, culture, and heritage there in a way that I did not feel in Shanghai.

 

Posted in 2015 Class, Beijing | No Comments »

Shanghai: Full of Contrasts

March 20th, 2015 by nnz1

Arrival

After an exhausting flight from New York to Shanghai, we finally arrived late Saturday night. We had a hot-pot dinner with the Uber City Manager of Guangzhou, who is also a Rice alum. She seemed really cool and claimed that the Chinese government does not see Uber as a threat yet to the taxi business, which was interesting.

Day 1: Urban Planning Museum, Marriage Market, Bund, Yu Yuan Garden, Dongtai, XinTianDi

Urban Planning Museum: It was astounding to see how Shanghai’s urban planning has been shaped over time and where it is heading in the future. I was shocked and a little disheartened by the sheer level of historical Western influence on Shanghai’s urban design; there were maps showing the various ways in which American, French, British, and other such Western powers divvied up Shanghai into respective settlements. I was impressed by an entire section devoted to what Shanghai is doing and plans to do to be eco-friendly.

Lunch at Raffles City Mall on Nanjing Lu: I never thought that I would ever see a place with more ads and lights than Times Square in NYC, but I stand corrected…On Nanjing Lu, we were inundated with pretty Western faces advertising Michael Kors and Swavorski. Nanjing Lu is, of course, much wider and sprawling than Times Square and less crowded, but the overall feel of a hyperbranded, hyperconsumerist fantasy land was certainly a common thread between the two places halfway across the world from one another. This was the first time my sparse Mandarin (learned over 3.5 years at Rice starting from CHIN 101 in freshman year) proved useful to the group as I helped Mishi get a vegetarian meal at the Gourmet Noodle House we ate at. My sparse Mandarin surprisingly took me quite far during this trip and the locals were extremely understanding and friendly about my trying to communicate with them in Chinese as a Chinese-American.

Marriage Market in People’s Park: This was easily one of the highlights of my time in Shanghai. Firstly, the scene itself is overwhelming and unlike anything I have seen before; hundreds of men and women in their 60s (and older) with hundreds, if not thousands, of “ads” for their 25-55 year old children, papers upon papers listing gender, year of birth, level of education, and occupation, among other things.

男＝male；女＝female

People milling about, talking enthusiastically to one another, handing out Post-Its with name and contact info, arguing, making pitches. It was amazing. The most surreal and amazing part was being able to converse with the locals and actually get a deeper look at this phenomenon (BTW, this is a weekly market with most people there regular visitors/advertisers). Unfortunately, the notes I frantically took on my phone after the conversations have all been deleted somehow (not sure why, but probably has to do with the lack of Internet connection or Wifi I had at the time).

What I remember is that most of the people I spoke with were looking for partners for their children because their children have been so focused on professional and academic achievement that they have not had time to date. Additionally, since many of these children are these parents’ only children (as a result of the one-child policy), they are able to invest as much time, energy, and resources into facilitating their children’s success (maritally and otherwise).

Not to worry, this marriage “market” is not some kind of place where arranged marriages are blindly set up between wayward parents. How it works is basically if two parents decide their children may be a good match, they exchange contact info, have the children meet, and let the children decide from there on out whether “sparks fly.” I actually found the whole phenomenon quite endearing and actually kind of useful — why don’t we have these in the U.S. again? Anya called it a “real-life Tinder.” I vote we bring this to the U.S. Also, the parents I talked to said their kids know they’re at this market “advertising” them and are totally fine with it (they probably think it’s pretty efficient! Especially if they’re workaholics).

To every parent I talked to, I asked them whether they thought this market was effective (“你们觉得这个人民公园相亲角有好处吗？有帮助吗？”) and they all responded, without hesitation, in the affirmative. I probed a little deeper and asked how common success at finding “matches” was, and all the parents I spoke with said that success is not common, but there have certainly been successes. Sounds a lot like the perils and uncertainty that come with online dating. One parent, who was advertising for his son who is working abroad in Canada, had been going to the marriage market every week for the past 2 years. I learned later from Shelby and Stephen that the parents at the market are probably Shanghai locals (as opposed to those from outside Shanghai) who have enough income to provide their child with a house (necessary to be an eligible bachelor/bachelorette). This makes sense as every child being “advertised” had extraordinary academic and professional achievements (no doubt only possible because they had the resources to get there from within China first).

I was enamored with how loving these parents were of their children and how much time and energy they were willing to spend to ensure (marital) success for their children.

Walking tour of Bund: It was remarkably smoggy and crowded.

Yu Yuan Garden and Mart: Filled with tourists, but nevertheless, the garden was beautiful and the mart entertaining. It fulfills the stereotypical appearance of what one might expect to see in China. Though the garden is supposedly historically accurate I wasn’t sure how much of it was original and how much was reconstructed.

Dongtai Antiques Market: Our first visit to this long street of hundreds of stalls run by migrant and low-income merchants selling knick knacks, Mao Ze Dong memorabilia, and “antiques” (debatable). The merchants were visibly much lower income than the Shanghai residents frequenting People’s Square and Nanjing Lu, in dress, speech, and appearance. But they were endearing to bargain over items with. The run-down stalls contrasted with the demolished buildings and crane-filled construction sites in the backdrop, all against a further backdrop of high-rise apartment buildings, speaking to the incredible urban growth Shanghai is experiencing. In fact, Dongtai is facing demolition itself.

 

Xin Tian Di: The Founding Site of the Communist Party of China is, ironically, located in one of the most highly commercialized areas of Shanghai, filled with traditional shikumen buildings housing Starbucks and upscale boutiques and restaurants, as well as a huge mall with highbrow designer brands. We ate dinner at the Din Tai Fung in the mall; I found it ironic, too, that what according to several, is the best Xiao Long Bao (a traditional Shanghai dish) restaurant in Shanghai is a Taiwanese chain (the XLB were fantastic though).

Xin Tian Di is one of the most highly commercialized areas of Shanghai.

Day 2: Richard Brubaker, Robert Foye, CCP Founding Site, hospitals and chats with Dongtai locals

Interview with Richard Brubaker of Hands On China:

Lanie and I couldn’t go to the talk with Robert Foye, a Rice alum who manages a wine-importer company, because we had an interview with Richard Brubaker, who works with a non-governmental organization that serves migrant youth and parents. It was a really enlightening and informative conversation. Some notable insights he said:

  • The migrant school system is funded by the Ministry of Education, but often managed at a very different standard from regular public schools
  • Migrants often leave town after completing their nine years of required education to take the gaokao back in their home provinces – since different provinces have different gaokao’s, and thus teach different curriculum materials, the youth are not prepared properly and end up working in Shanghai instead of pursuing university education. Additionally, the universities outside of the big cities are often subpar.
  • Shanghai does not have the wealth, capital or resources to build out an entirely new public school system devoted to providing quality education for migrants; there’s too many people.
  • Right now, China’s economy is skewed towards the east coast, which is why migration into Shanghai is high. Once the economy balances and other provinces develop better job and education opportunities, which is inevitable as the national economy develops, the influx of migrants and strain on Shanghai’s public infrastructure will relax.
  • There are schools in migrant neighborhoods that are still largely for migrants but may be owned by the Ministry of Education or private owners. Migrant youth want to attend these schools so they are not discriminated against.
  • Brubaker said migrants are visibly discernible in dress and appearance; attempts to integrate migrants into the public school system have thus far failed
  • The budgets of migrant schools are much smaller than that of public schools, affecting infrastructure, number of teachers, training, salary and turnover rate.
  • Brubaker did not know what the difference in training requirements was for teachers in migrant vs. non-migrant schools, but said “there has to be a difference in training.”

All this time I’ve been trying to answer this question to myself: Has Shanghai’s enormous wealth, facilitating the expansion of China’s mass middle class, brought enough opportunities to the marginalized (low-income, migrant, and/or minority) to justify the fact that such wealth has also been built on their backs? I still don’t know the answer.

Hospitals

Robert Foye’s wife was gracious enough to show us around various hospitals and take us to Dongtai again to get a glimpse of the poor in Shanghai. We visited an expat clinic and two public, large hospitals. The disparity was striking – on par with the discrepancies between U.S. private and public hospitals. The expat clinic was clean, full of English-speaking employees, and accepts only appointments and only patients with insurance. The hospitals were loud and crowded (with 6 patients to a room in some cases, along with each patient’s large families). They take in walk-ins and trauma patients, as well as patients that lack insurance (though Ms. Foye did say that healthcare was relatively cheap in China, even without insurance).  The facilities were definitely on par with a public hospital in the U.S. – my mother works at a large, public hospital and the difference between my mother’s hospital and those in the Texas Med Center, for example, are astounding.

Dongtai Antiques Market

I actually got to talk to some of the merchants this time, which was, as it was during the marriage market, incredibly gratifying, eye-opening, and informative. There were still gaps in understanding, but talking to locals in the best Mandarin I could muster constituted, easily, one of the best experiences of my China trip in general. I spoke with two migrant women from Henan and Shanxi, and a minority woman. All of them had sons that were in their teenage years; some were attending school in Shanghai, some back home. The Henan migrant said that the biggest and most salient issue for them as migrants was easily education. Because they lack Shanghai hukou, her son cannot attend college in Shanghai and will likely end up working after graduating high school. When I asked all of them what they thought their life was like as migrants in Shanghai, they all said, “so-so” (“马马虎虎；还好，还可以”). When asked whether she was worried about her child not being able to pursue higher education, the Henan woman said she was very worried.

It was amazing to learn more about these women beyond bargaining over items with them.

As Brubaker mentioned, all the migrant parents want better lives and opportunities for their children than they had or currently have. (How) can this (class mobility) be possible if migrant youth cannot pursue quality higher education? If one moves to a city to pursue better job opportunities and a higher quality of life, is it worth it if one’s children cannot have class mobility?

Top: the neon, hyperbranded, hyperconsumerist, Times Square meets Disneyland hybrid face Shanghai boasts (Nanjing Lu); bottom: the neighborhoods getting demolished and people getting relocated to make room for high-rises (by the Dongtai Antiques Market)

 

Day 3: US Consulate, Neri&Hu, Jing’An, Grumpy Pig

Some notable things that Mark Wuebbels, a foreign service officer with the US Consulate of Shanghai, said:

  • Anhui (a much poorer province starting to industrialize) is where all of China was 15 years ago.
  • The general direction of China’s economy is going in the direction of greater economic growth and industrialization in provinces outside of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong.
  • Providing healthcare to the Chinese people is a huge priority for the national government
  • The national government actually wants to expand hukou and dismantle the urban-rural divide, but Shanghai locals do not want to expand hukou because it would increase competition for university admissions. Additionally, Shanghai cab drivers, who were specifically designated Shanghai hukou, are upset that something that was carved out specifically for them will be expanded to others. I was very surprised by this.
  • (Just as Brubaker said) Wuebbels thinks the solution to the exclusion of migrants from crucial social services and public goods is to open more top quality schoosl and job opportunities outside of Shanghai.

We heard Jerry el Fierro, a Rice alum, speak at his architecture firm, Neri & Hu, about the changing perception of architecture in China, the differences between designing and building architecture in the U.S. compared with in China, and the future direction of Chinese architecture. Given that many of the Pudong skyline buildings and much of Shanghai’s urban built environment have been Western-influenced, I wondered how much of Chinese architecture was truly Chinese? Is there such a thing? However, Jerry’s talk reminded me that in art and in architecture, nothing is ever isolated; art is dynamic and responsive. Every piece of art has multiple influences and influences the creation of other art across time and space – so can any one style of art or architecture be of a specific country?

Jing’An Temple: After lunch at an Italian pizza place, we visited Jing’An Temple – a large, beautiful traditional Buddhist temple. There, I picked up some traditional Buddhist books (available for free!) for my dad and me to peruse once I got back. One of the volunteers at the temple spoke really good English (he had done his PhD in England) and told us about the history of the temple, the monks there, and the significance of the Jade Stone structure. I burned incense, prayed to my ancestors, and prayed to the Buddhist statues inside the temple.

Dinner at Grumpy Pig: We then had dinner at Grumpy Pig, where one of the chefs is a Rice alum who had majored in Managerial Studies and Asian Studies (!). His wife is a Rice alum who majored in Sociology and Asian Studies and is a teacher at a private school in Shanghai. The food was downright amazing and its fusion aspects reminded me of the Momofuku restaurants run by David Chang in NYC. The next day at lunch, we met Tiffany Lee, who works in digital marketing for REVOLVE Clothing, also a Rice alum who majored in Psychology and Policy Studies. All of these alumni were extremely cool. The differences between their majors and what they currently do as professionals spoke to how much one’s major in college doesn’t always translate to what one does in the future – and that this is okay. It was refreshing to meet and speak with Rice alum doing different things than they may initially have expected and following career paths different than are typically touted at Rice.

Dinner at Grumpy Pig

 

Day 4: Solo exploring in Xiaonanmen, Sci-Tech Bazaar, Lecture at NYU Shanghai, Pudong, Di Shui Dong

Xiaonanmen: The group went to New Century Park in the morning, but I decided to venture off on my own to visit more low-income parts of Shanghai. A friend had advised me to try to find the Secluded Library in Xiaonanmen and then walk down to the South Bund Fabric Market. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to get to the fabric market and the Secluded Library was closed, but I still got to explore Xiaonanmen. It was similar to the area near the Dongtai Antiques Market, with clothes hanging out the window, a stray meowing cat, street stalls and vendors, run-down concrete housing, and residents that didn’t speak Mandarin (they spoke different dialects).

A block over, as I walked to the subway station to join the group at the Sci-Tech Bazaar for lunch, a new building was being constructed.

Lecture at NYU Shanghai: After lunch with Tiffany, we heard a fantastic lecture from Non Arkaraprasertkul, author of one of the (in my opinion, best) journal articles we had previously read on “Power, Politics and the Making of Shanghai.” His presentation was called, “Locating Shanghai: Urbanization, Heritage Industry and the Political Economy of Urban Space.” He spoke about his anthropological work spending time living in a lilong house. His research poses a compelling question – Shanghai is often spoken of in terms of its colonial past as the “Paris of the Orient” and its impending hyper-modern future of high-rises and skyscrapers, but where is the present? Back in the 1930s, 90% of the urban fabric was composed of lilong housing; today, only a handful of neighborhoods boast lilong housing and are gated and valued as heritage buildings, with high-rises dominating the urban fabric now. This has changed the nature of Shanghai’s social landscape.

He raised many fascinating questions that had been lurking in the back of my mind the whole trip:

  • To be a global city you need to blend modernity with historical preservation. How do you blend history, culture, and modernity?
  • [paraphrased] You need history because otherwise, people will leave. There’s no sense of attachment or belonging. Without a cultural or historical rooting to a place, people will follow the money. There are things built 10 years ago to look old – to what extent is history fabricated or replicated?
  • A lot of the lilong housing, though historical, are in hazardous conditions; to what extent do we preserve history if, by preserving, you are allowing the people living there to continue to suffer?

Non was also simply hilarious and enjoyable to speak with in general.

Pudong Skyline: it was beautiful and glittering with lights.

Di Shui Dong: Tiffany joined us for dinner at what has been deemed the best Hunan restaurant in Shanghai, Di Shui Dong, and it may have been one of the best meals of my life. We feasted on cumin seasoned ribs, frog legs, and caramelized bananas.


Overall, Shanghai was amazing. I learned a lot from our speakers, from visiting both tourist-heavy and non-tourist-heavy areas, and most significantly, from interacting with local citizens. From the history of Shanghai, architecture and housing, disparities between migrants (who make up half the population) and non-migrants, and the speakers, I can’t help but think of Shanghai as containing little that is actually of Shanghai. Shanghai seems to be more like bits and pieces of different parts of the world and history constructed into one mish-mash, patchwork urban dystopia. But…is that necessarily a bad thing?

Posted in 2015 Class, Shanghai | No Comments »

Unexpected Stop at Home

March 20th, 2015 by nnz1

As we all geared up for the flight to Detroit enroute to Shanghai, our plans screeched to a halt when we heard that our flight had been delayed due to ice. This would force us to miss our connection to Shanghai. Instead, we decided to fly to New York City to catch a connection the next day to Shanghai. At first I was bummed we’d be losing a day in Shanghai, but I was then overjoyed at the prospect of spending time with my family. As much as I would have loved to galavant around Times Square with the group (sarcasm), I was thankful to be able to see my parents in Queens for the first time since winter break and enjoy some good, homecooked oxtail soup (my dad learned to cook in the Chinese army and his food is the best I’ve ever tasted — I may or may not be biased). I didn’t do much besides sleep all day in my comfortable bed.

Elmhurst, Queens is urban without skyscrapers. There are some high-rise apartment buildings, but most of metro Queens is composed of small businesses, mom-and-pop shops started by immigrants, seven-story faded brick apartment buildings, the rattly, snaking 7 train tracks, and a bustling population of minorities. No lawns or mailboxes here (I remember being shocked to see a lawn and mailbox for the first time when I visited Staten Island). Being in NYC again refreshed my memories of its urban landscape and how different it is across boroughs, crucially informing the comparative perspective I would apply to the cities in China I would visit.

Posted in 2015 Class, Enroute | No Comments »

On policy and people

March 20th, 2015 by Matthew

In returning to Houston and reflecting on the significance of our short trip to China, I cannot help but wonder how China will look in five years time. Although this was my first visit to China, I have heard so many others remark on how rapidly China seems to change between each visit as it continually seems to remake itself. Moreover, I also have to wonder what the rest of China is like. We visited two of China’s grandest cities, but it has numerous other major cities and a vast countryside that we could have seen as well. Even inside of Shanghai and Beijing, we were only able to see a small part due to the expansive nature of both cities. In particularly, it would have been fascinating to see some of the outskirts of Shanghai since we never made it very far out of the central city there. Some of our pre-trip readings mentioned the unusual nature of some of the suburbs (apparently one is themed like an English country town, including a mock church), but it would have been probably even more informative to visit a routine suburb in order to get a sense of what life in Shanghai is like away from the tourist areas.

 

New World City?

It would have also been fascinating to get a first hand glimpse into the governance of Shanghai or Beijing by speaking with a government official. Unfortunately, it is apparently extremely difficult to get Chinese government agencies to take you seriously without an invitation from a partnering Chinese university. Even so, my experience in Shanghai and Beijing has certainly sparked my curiosity in Chinese local government and I intend to investigate further how that government has steered the development of these cities (looking especially at pharmaceutical policy as that is, after all, my research project). Similarly, it would have also be immensely helpful to have the opportunity to speak with professors from Chinese universities on various topics, though that is likely road blocked by a similar difficulty as speaking with government officials.

 

On a more personal level, if I were to do this trip over again, I would probably wear a mask the entire time I was in China. As awkward those masks are to wear, the choice is obvious given the combination of China’s poor air quality and my asthma. I was struggling with a racking cough before we even made it halfway through the trip, and even though I began wearing a mask while we were in Beijing, I was still coughing even well after we returned to the U.S. Next, I would also want to spend more time exploring Shanghai and Beijing on my own. While it was great that our group got along well, we probably spent too much time traveling around in a pack, which impeded our ability to truly engage with the urban environment around us. Similarly, I wish that I had taken more time to interact with the native Chinese around me, even if I wasn’t able to speak their language. It probably would have been helpful if I tried even harder before coming to find some contacts in China who would have been willing to talk to me about pharmaceutical policy. Finally, a small thing that I wish I had done more is climbing up tall buildings to get a view of the skylines of Beijing and Shanghai. Although the pollution often made viewing difficult, I really value the perspective provided by looking at a city from high up so I wish I had taken more advantage of the tall buildings around us.

 

The tallest buildings in Shanghai

In pondering how China has changed my perspective, there are several issues that come to mind. Spending even ten days in China has certainly made me more aware of environmental issues and appreciative of the relatively clean air and water we have in the U.S. China’s massive population is now more than just an abstraction to me, as I can think back on the crowds of people that seemed to confront us at every turn in Shanghai and Beijing. Furthermore, Shanghai seemed to offer me a glance at the future with its ultra modern skyline while Beijing presented a curious amalgamation of past and present, combining ancient Chinese history with a sprawling metropolis. Even more than any of those things, however, there were two themes that stood out me in visiting China. One was the juxtaposition of massive urban renewal and transformation (symbolized by skyscrapers coming up like wild flowers and subway lines that seem to go in overnight) with the lack of political participation. In reflecting on why China is able to achieve infrastructure projects with such rapidity in comparison to the often-sluggish building process in the U.S., I can’t help but think that the squashing of any significant form of dissent is key. This poses interesting questions about the trade-offs between efficiently and participation. Secondly, on a related note, several of our speakers noted how China offers the freedom to do things architecturally and otherwise that would not be possible in other parts of the world due to regulations. The trade-off of less regulation is apparent in the food safety issues and pollution problems that China faces. As someone interested in the study of public policy, I find it fascinating to observe how China’s choices on these dimensions play out in shaping the form and livability of its cities.

A neighborhood slated for demolition

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Under grey skies

March 20th, 2015 by Matthew

Thursday was our travel day, as we got up early to catch our bullet train to Beijing. The train itself was fairly confortable, with adequate legroom and seats that reclined generously. Covering the considerable distance between Shanghai and Beijing in less than five hours was satisfying, though the novelty of traveling in excess of 300 km/h quickly wore off. Arriving in Beijing, we stopped to get a quick bite at the train station. I went to the KFC, because I had heard it said numerous times that visiting a KFC in China was a necessary experience. Maybe it was just a train station KFC, but I wasn’t impressed with the venue or the quality of the food. The shop didn’t have an English menu, which led some Chinese people nearby to laugh at the silly Americans. I looked at them and did my best to communicate that I knew that they were talking about us, but that didn’t seem to abash them.

 

Shanghai train station

After checking into the hotel, we headed out to get some street food, including sugared strawberries, Tibetan yogurt, scorpion, starfish, and lamb. The starfish was sand/salty with an unpleasant aftertaste, but everything else was quite good. We closed out our first night in Beijing by visiting a renowned Peking duck restaurant and having an extravagant meal. Walking back to the hotel, I was surprised to notice fireworks shooting off all around, including directly on the street we were walking along. According to our instructor Shelby, it was the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebration. That was the closest that I have ever been to such large fireworks and, amidst getting pelted with the ash, I was definitely questioning the wisdom of firing off firework in the street. It was undeniably a cultural experience, however.

Fried scorpions on a stick

 

Waking up the next morning, it was time to see some of the main attractions in Beijing: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Our first experience at Tiananmen Square wasn’t the square itself, but the massive security line leading up to it. We found out later that ten people had been knifed earlier that day in Gungzhou and that it was the first day of the National People’s Congress, so security was much tighter than usual. However, in the first security line, the guard actually pushed me ahead of some of the Chinese people waiting in line and none of the white people in our group were patted down. I guess they don’t see us as much of a security threat. At the second security line, we were able to get through even though we didn’t all have our passports once the guard found out that we were all from Houston (He said something about the Houston Rockets). They did search us that time, though. Walking through Tiananmen Square rendered its massive character readily apparent (it was even more massive that the security line that we had gone through to get in). The Forbidden City continued the monumental theme with courtyard after courtyard, although I don’t think I fully appreciated the architecture of the buildings, given how similar they looked to one another. The gardens at the park of the palace were quite pleasant, but I was aghast at how blatantly everyone seemed to disregard the signs not to touch the ancient trees.

The vastness of Tiananmen Square

Getting back to the area around our hotel from the Forbidden City was no small feat, considering how difficult it was to hail a cab for a reasonable fare, but we eventually managed it and settled in for a late lunch/early dinner at a Tibetan vegetarian restaurant. The restaurant specialized in making vegetarian dishes that tasted like various kinds of meat, and it was quite interesting sampling their selection. Some of the creations were on point, while others were not as impressive. After dinner, I turned in for an early night.

 

We opened up Saturday by visiting the Temple of Heaven, another exorbitantly large complex. This time it was largely a park-like setting, with various parts of the temple interspersed. In spite of the thick pollution in the air, many people were doing all sorts of activities in the park, from dancing to wrestling to badminton. Our group even joined in a game of hacky sack as we were making our way through the park. Ascending up to the main temple, I was hoping to get a view of Beijing, but the pollution obscured the outlook. After the temple, the rest of our day was spent around the lakes near the Forbidden City, where we meandered through shopping streets and visited the drum and bell towers that used to be used to announce the time in Beijing.

Temple of Heaven

 

For dinner, we met Shelby’s old program coordinator Jin Lu. She was the only native to China that we spoke with in a formal setting on the trip, and it was interesting to hear her thoughts on pharmaceuticals in Beijing. Unlike the expatriates I had spoke to in Shanghai, she had a largely positive view of pharmaceuticals in China and said that she did not experience any significant difficultly obtaining the medications she needed. She did admit that it sometimes took a while to get an appointment to see a doctor. In contrasting her opinion with the others that I heard, I had to wonder if it is a difference in expectations between a native and expatriates, a difference between Shanghai and Beijing, or something else altogether. It is difficult to say, but I did note that Jin Lu’s assessments of Beijing and China were on the whole quite positive and that she didn’t voice many criticism. Contrastingly, although most of the expatriates we spoke with were also largely positive, I felt that they were more vocal in identifying China’s perceived shortcomings.

 

Sunday was our last full day in China and we spent it the best way that we could: going to see the Great Wall! The section of the wall that we visited was apparently less touristy than most other sites, which leads to me to wonder how many tourists must be at the other sites, since we still saw a goodly number of other tourists. Trekking up to the wall, I was impressed by how fit a Chinese solider would have needed to be. As steep as the approach to the wall was, the elevation changes on the wall itself were not inconsiderable either, and moving along it was quite an exercise in hiking. While we were on the Great Wall, the sky began to clear for the first time since we came to Beijing and we were finally able to appreciate the horizon without it being cloaked in smog. From the Great Wall, we moved onto lunch and then the Summer Palace, after a formidable drive through Beijing traffic. Our time at the Summer Palace was limited by the traffic that we had to go through to get there, but it was pleasant to stroll along the lakeside and take in the setting sun. For our last dinner in China, Shelby decided that we needed to experience a hotel buffet so he took us to the Grand Hyatt. Unfortunately, the service didn’t live up to his expectations but as someone who has never been to a massive hotel buffet before, I was impressed by the quantify of the food if not necessarily the quality.

 

The Great Wall

The Summer Palace

The next morning we were on the way to the airport and preparing to bid China goodbye. The process of leaving China was somewhat less smooth than entering it, however, as we had to traverse grumpy customs officials and intensive security that insisted on taking our bags apart. Walking abroad Delta flight 188 was a strange experience as I felt like I was returning to a familiar setting even before we left the momentarily blue skies of Beijing behind.  

 

Blue skies in Beijing

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The head of the dragon

March 20th, 2015 by Matthew

After setting into our hotel in Shanghai, our first initiative in China was to go out and get some late-night food at a hot-pot place. After having stayed out suitably late (and beyond) for proper adjustment to jet lag, it was off to bed after a very long day. The next morning opened with a Chinese breakfast at the hotel. Congee was prominently featured in the buffet, so I made it my goal to try it every way possible over the week (w/ salt, sugar, cream, onions, etc). Our first destination that day was the Urban Planning Museum, which was a very impressive demonstration of the planned nature of Shanghai’s transformation. Particularly imposing was the massive scale model of Shanghai that took up the better part of one of the floors of the museum.

Scale model of Shanghai

We took a bit of free time after the museum, and I had the chance to see the marriage market of Shanghai. Here I got a first-hand experience of how the Chinese notion of personal space differs from that of Americans, as there were a lot of people and I was continually getting bumped into. The marriage market also underscored some of the Chinese values surrounding descendants, as there were elderly parents at the market who came every week in hopes of finding a potential mate for their aging son/daughter.

 

The rest of our day was given over to a walking tour. I got my first view of Pudong (the new skyline of Shanghai) while strolling along the Bund (Shanghai’s old skyline). We also visited the Yu Gardens, and the house that was the founding site of the Communist party. Its location was particularly interesting as it was immediately adjacent to a highly commercial shopping district—a symbolic reminder of the contradictions of China. In that shopping center, we were able to find an excellent dumpling restaurant serving traditional Shanghainese dumplings, which marked a pleasant end to the evening.

Pudong skyline

Yu Gardens

 

The next morning took us to meet with the Vice-President of the Treasury wine Estates and his wife. He gave us a presentation introducing some of the key aspects of China’s business climate, while his wife spoke on some of the ways in which the form of the Chinese language influences Chinese thought. Afterward, we returned to the founding site of the Communist party for a more thorough exploration than the previous evening had permitted. The museum was an interesting piece of propaganda (Communism was apparently the “inevitable result” of conditions in China), but I found the interactions of the security personnel with us to be even more interesting. They were remarkably patient, even when members of our group were breaking various rules. This was actually something that I noticed on several other occasions, which leads me to wonder whether the training they receive is superb or if there is some kind of cultural difference at work.

 

Our class at the founding site of the Chinese Communist Party

That afternoon, I had the opportunity to visit a hospital for expatiates as well as two local hospitals and the Shanghai No. 1 Dispensary. I gleaned a wealth of information for my project, including how expatiates in China will buy even over-the-counter medications from the hospital because of concerns about the medications supplied by local pharmacies and counterfeit drugs. Some drugs are apparently not available in China, including some types of vaccinations, and thus have to be imported. Even drugs that can be obtained can have variable availability. Other drugs are only available on 7-day prescriptions, which leads to people coming into the doctor all the time and long lines at the pharmacies. Standalone pharmacies like the Shanghai No. 1 Dispensary have quite a lot of traditional Chinese medicines (a whole floor in fact) and they are displayed even more prominently than the pharmaceuticals.

A hospital pharmacy

 

On Tuesday, our first activity for the morning was a visit to the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, which was marked by the People’s Liberation Army soldiers that were guarding it, and its ample green space. In spite of the extravagant claims of the Urban Planning Museum, most of the Shanghai I saw was lacking such greenery. At the Consulate, we had the opportunity to speak with Foreign Service officers, and I of course questioned them on pharmaceutical policy in China. They didn’t have detailed knowledge, but I did pick out three broad themes: (1) China’s attempts at building a pharmaceutical industry, (2) its efforts to control prices at “reasonable levels” through measures such as buying in bulk, and (3) the importance of local experimentation in China, in which some provinces are given more latitude to run pilot programs. However, I was rather surprised to hear them say that Shanghai is one of the most conservative provinces in China, given the usual association between urbanism and liberalism.

We wrapped up the morning by visiting the Shanghai-based architecture firm Neri & Hu and having lunch at a Chinese pizza place that was trying quite hard to be authentic without really succeeding. Our afternoon included a stop at the Jing’An Temple, an ancient Buddhist temple in the middle of Shanghai. During our free time, I wandered around a Watson’s pharmacy, and was stuck by how much of an emphasis I saw placed on cosmetic products and the evident dearth of medications sold by the pharmacy. That evening brought us to the Grumpy Pig, a wonderful restaurant where we met with Diane Feng, a Rice alum living in Shanghai. I asked her about her experience with pharmaceuticals in China and she described bringing her own medications from the U.S. and using the expatiate pharmacy at the hospital instead of local options. She also offered to connect me with a pharmacist friend of hers.

Jing'An Temple

Wednesday was our day over in Pudong and we began with an exploration of New Century Park on multi-person bicycles. The park was fairly massive, and it appeared to be ringed with residential high-rises. I was particularly impressed by the approach to the park, however, as it linked the business district into the park in a dramatic fashion. For lunch we met with Tiffany Lee, a Rice alum who works in the fashion industry. She didn’t have much experience with pharmaceuticals, although she did tell me that non-pharmacies didn’t sell any over-the-counter medications. We spent that afternoon with Non Arkaraprasertkul, an expert on the urbanization of Shanghai. In listening to Non, I was particularly struck by his analysis of Shanghai’s urbanization as not just the duality of the old Bund and the new Pudong, but also the tearing down of Shanghai’s old neighborhoods in order to erect high-rises. Having walked through Shanghai and seen some of those old neighborhoods interspersed between modern developments, I fully agree with his point that that transition may be more significant than the aesthetic differences between the Bund and Pudong. After our extensive conversation with Non, we off to our Shanghai farewell dinner after a brief stop at the ground level of the Pudong skyline. The next morning found us on our way to the second city of our trip, Beijing.

Walkway to New Century Park

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Beginnings, auspicious or otherwise

March 20th, 2015 by Matthew

For me, the process of getting ready to leave for China was pushed off to the last minute by the barrage of work associated with wrapping up the first half of the semester. The night before leaving, I took a midterm, scheduled Rice EMS for March special events, and sent innumerable emails before settling down to pack in the wee hours of the morning. I slept about an hour and a half, and then it was off to catch the shuttle to the airport at 0500.

When I woke up, I had a reply to one of those innumerable emails. I had queried the Shanghai Municipal Information office about pharmaceutical policy, my research topic, and I was excited to hear what they would say. Unfortunately, the reply wasn’t actually a response, but a notification that their email account didn’t accept messages from unknown addresses. I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but this was a good example of how hard it can be to get cooperation from the Chinese bureaucracy without an introduction. Connections are important.

Curiously enough, both the parent course professor (Dr. Marshall) and the lab instructor (Shelby) had independently designated me in charge of making sure everyone got on the shuttle in the morning. I guess I have some sort of responsible vibe, or something (This may also be why my classmates nicknamed me “Dad”…). Anyway, I rounded up them up and we got on our way to the airport a few minutes early. Which was all for naught, as apparently temperatures above freezing are sufficient to overwhelm Delta’s deicing capabilities at IAH, and our flight to Detroit was delayed to the point it was clear that we would miss our connection to China. It was a terrible waste of our collective sacrifice in getting up so early (I think our class averaged something like two hours of sleep). But there was nothing to be done for it, and the best Delta could do for rebooking was to send us out of NYC the next day on China Eastern.

Waiting at LaGuardia

As disappointing as losing out on a day in China was, I was pleased with our layover destination, as I had never been to NYC before. Our hotel was out by JFK airport, but we went into downtown for the evening to see the sights. Although it was bitterly cold to be walking around the streets of NYC, I really enjoyed seeing Times Square, Central Park, and the Empire State building for the first time. In taking in my first impressions of NYC, I noticed that the air quality was worse than I would have expected. Little did I know what I would be in for in China…

Snow in Central Park

The next afternoon, it was off to China on an almost 15-hour flight. I was somewhat disappointed with the service and food quality on China Eastern, but that was partially because I expect higher standards from a non-US carrier. I made it through the flight comfortably enough by watching five movies back-to-back. One thing that really surprised me on the flight, though, was a Chinese man offering to let me use the airplane restroom before him if I was planning on being quick. I wonder if that is related to some sort of cultural difference between Americans and the Chinese.

As we arrived in China, one of the most fascinating parts of the customs process was having ability to rate the agent sitting across from you by pushing a button 1-5 on a machine. Of course, one wonders about how safe it would be to give the agent a poor grade, but it was nevertheless unexpected for China to be allowing you to provide such feedback from the moment you walk in. After clearing customs, we took the subway into the city, and we were in Shanghai!

On the Shanghai subway

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An Unexpected Vacation

March 19th, 2015 by jkr3

As the minutes turned to hours of waiting in terminal A8 at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental airport, the class slowly came to the realization that we would not be traveling to Shanghai on time. Technical difficulties with Delta airlines de-icing machine delayed our flight for more than 3 hours, meaning our connecting flight from Detroit to Shanghai would certainly be missed. However the time spent in terminal A8 was rather productive. Although at first the class sat in disappointment, we soon started chatting with and really getting to know one another helping to solidify the group dynamic for the trip.

After a few hours of waiting, our Instructor Shelby came to speak to us with good news: we were going to New York City for the night! From what I could tell, everybody was very happy about the outcome. 2 of our classmates had family in NYC and would get to spend the night with them. As for the rest of us, we would get to spend an adventurous yet educational night in the Big Apple. Half of my family is from Buffalo, New York so I had previously been to the state countless times. However I had only been to the city once before when I was 4 0r 5. Needless to say, it was an extremely eye opening experience for me.

As we made our descent to New Yorks JFK airport the scenery out the window was sort of surreal. The Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty were all within my line of sight at once. I had only ever seen these famous monuments and architectural feats in movies and on postcards, so it’s easy to see why I was so taken aback. After a strenuous couple of hours spent waiting at JFK’s baggage claim for our shuttle bus, we made our way to our hotel in Jamaica, New York (about 20 minutes outside of the city).

After settling in the hotel, we hailed a couple of Ubers to take us into the city for the night. We then spent several hours going on a walking tour of the city with Shelby being our guide. We saw the Empire State building up close, Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, Central Park, Fox News’s headquarters, and most importantly a 4 story Toys R’ Us in the middle of Times Square.

After several hours of walking in the bitter 19-degree weather we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel in several more Ubers. Although the trip to New York was technically just an extended layover, it felt more to me like an unexpected vacation. The density of New York City helped prepare me for what I was about to see in Shanghai.

 

 

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The Return Home: Back to Glorious Net Neutrality

March 19th, 2015 by jkr3

Although I learned an incredible amount about Chinese cities and culture, there is much more to learn. China will be faced with many problems in the coming years and it will be interesting to see how they will be dealt with.

 

I’m specifically interested in how Shanghai and Beijing will deal with their growing pollution problems. Beijing especially. One of the days we were in Beijing, the air quality was worse than it was in New York City the day following the September 11th attacks. Although you could easily breath in the cities, there were times that the pollution was very noticeable.

 

If I could do the trip over again I would spend a greater amount of time in Pudong. It’s a growing and lively part of Shanghai that remained mostly unexplored while we were there.

 

Above everything else this trip greatly broadened my cultural horizons. I left China with a new sense of respect for other peoples way of life. The trip also made me even more grateful for the basic commodities we’re given as Americans; such net neutrality, (mostly) clean air, and clean drinking water. The trip has permanently changed my outlook on life.  Anyone that is able to go to China should do so at least once in their life.

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