All posts tagged Beijing

Pollution in China: No, we don’t wear facemasks all the time

By On April 3, 2010 In China, Latest With 4 Comments Permanent Link to Pollution in China: No, we don’t wear facemasks all the timePermalink
Tiananmen

Tiananmen Square on March 20. Photo from Reuters

It’s widely known that China’s air is pretty badly polluted. For the last few weeks in Beijing, a combination of dust from the Gobi desert sandstorms and pollution turned the air brown.

Last week, the sandstorms reached Southern China. In Hong Kong, the pollution index hit 400. (An index 200 is considered “severe”). On Tuesday, I visited Hong Kong to finish some errands. Here’s what I saw:

The Harbour

Pollution along Victoria Harbour. These buildings on the island are not very far from Avenue of Stars, where this photo was taken.

The pollution definitely had a noticeable effect on my health. On Monday, I began to develop a deep cough. I assumed I had just come down with something until I read about the pollution in the news Tuesday. By Wednesday, I lost my voice and the cough became painful. My voice was so gone that I needed a microphone to teach my classes. Luckily, the worst of both my cough and the pollution were gone by the end of the week.

One of the recurring themes of China in the Western media is, of course, the pollution. It’s a classic example of framing. (Sidenote: Communication Studies terms FTW!) While I agree that it’s a problem, I sometimes think it’s overhyped. Yes, some days here in Shenzhen, a city in Southern China, the pollution can be pretty bad. But often, the skies are almost completely clear.

A lot of the news that comes out of China tends to come from Beijing, a city that is far more polluted than the rest of China. But I think it’s unfair to portray China solely from the Beijing perspective. China’s a big country, after all. It’d be like saying all of the US is just like New York City.

I’ve heard some crazy facts and rumors about the pollution: Living in Beijing is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, each month spent in Beijing takes a year off your life expectancy, expats who return to their home country tend to bounce back, etc. I can’t prove the validity of these statements, especially since I’ve only visited four cities (Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong) and seen the countryside only once (on my 27-hour train ride from Beijing to Shenzhen). But I can say that every day here ISN’T miserably smoggy, requiring us to wear facemasks all the time. But if your main perceptions of China come from AP photos and CNN, you might think we do.

I want this shirt.

By On October 21, 2009 In China, Latest, Personal With 2 Comments Permanent Link to I want this shirt.Permalink
The shirt reads "Beijing Huar." It's making fun of the distinct Beijing accent which sounds a little bit like that of a Pirate.

The shirt reads "Beijing Huar." It's making fun of the distinct Beijing accent which sounds a little bit like that of a Pirate.

Back in August, I spent close to three weeks training in Beijing to receive my TEFL certificate. One major difference I’ve noticed between Beijing and Shenzhen is the accent people in both cities have.

Beijing ren (Beijing people) tend to add a distinct “arr” to the end of words. Nanfang ren (Southern people) avoid the “arr” because they believe it is bu hao ting (hard to listen to).

The “arrr” is known as erhua or the “Beijing huar.” It has the tendency to make speakers sound like a pirate. (Pirates say “arr” a lot, get it?)

Taxi drivers in Beijing had some of the thickest erhua I’ve ever heard. Their words seemed to be slurred, making it difficult to get around the city.

The concept of the “Beijing huar” amused me, so I decided to look it up online. The first thing I found was a website selling these t-shirts making fun of the accent.

Says the homepage:

“A distinctive feature of Beijing Mandarin is the “arr” sound at the end of many words, making you sound like a pirate! Celebrate this cultural synergy!”

Brilliant.

Dealing with the culture shock

By On September 7, 2009 In China, Craziest thing I saw in China today, Latest, Personal With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Dealing with the culture shockPermalink

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in China for a month already. Adjusting to the cultural differences has been going surprisingly well. But there are still the occasional low points.

During my 2.5 week training session at Peking University in Beijing, my fellow CTLC participants and I learned all about culture shock. It is said that there are 4 stages of “acculturation” — the ability to call a foreign place home:

  1. Honeymooon: excitement, anticipation, enjoyment of differences
  2. Hostility: irritation, anger, depression, physical ailments
  3. Humor: a growing ability to deal with the differences and see them as interesting or funny
  4. Home: the ability to function well and feel comfortable in the new culture

Of these stages, I would say that I mostly find myself in #2 and #3. My honeymoon phase was pretty short. The miserable Beijing weather — a mix of hot, humid and polluted — was enough to put me out of that stage pretty quickly.

Hostility

It’s very easy to be hostile in this country. Common courtesies in the United States — saying “thank you” or “excuse me,” waiting in line — simply aren’t recognized in China. Pedestrian safety is low on the driver priority list, and drivers here are more likely to honk their horns than a New York City taxi driver. And unless you’re willing to pay a lot of money, your only food options are Chinese, McDonald’s and KFC.

Humor

But at the same time, the cultural differences can be absolutely hilarious. If you follow my Twitter feed, you’ll notice that I’ve been running a “craziest thing I saw in China today” series. (From now on, that series will also be part of this blog). One of my favorite things about this country is all of the poor English translations. T-shirts with English writing on them almost never make sense (i.e. “Orange Music Crumple”), and my favorite store to buy teaching materials from is called “Office Thigs.”

Will I ever reach the home phase? Only time will tell.

—

In other news, I am all moved in to my apartment in Shenzhen. I will provide the details about my area and school in an upcoming blog post.

On that note, this website has been blocked by the Great Firewall of China. For that same reason, my access to websites like Twitter and Facebook has been limited. There are ways around that, but they require an extra amount of work. And when I am able to access the sites, the connection is painfully slow.

And finally, my camera broke on the flight to Beijing, so my only images from China have come from my iPhone. I hope to upload those to my Flickr stream and this blog once I have a more reliable internet connection.

Until then, I will try to keep blogging and updating from coffee shops.

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