Nine Stories

For our assignment this month, we watched the Frontline video: “Young and Restless in China”. This video was interesting to watch. It followed 9 people living in China for 4 years. It showed their advancements and how the country was affecting them. All of the topics the movie addressed were very interesting to me, and all of the injustice was shocking to me. I had heard and understood about the poverty, poor living and working conditions, and the pollution affecting China today, but I guess I never really thought about how much this would affect the citizens of China as well. The industrial work being done in China has both helped and hurt the nation. On the up-side, China has technology and is more modernized, however on the down-side; the citizens have had to endure a great deal of pain. This pain ranges from extreme poverty, brutal endless labor, lack of education opportunities, or even the loss of a family member to a human trafficker. Here, in the US, we don’t have to worry as much about these things. As a result when we hear about things like this we’re taken aback. We don’t know how to respond to occurrences like this.

The video changed some of my views on China. Growing up, in school, we never really learned too much about China. I don’t know why. I wish we did, but we didn’t for some reason. So, in my head I’ve always had varying pictures of China. One picture was that of poor rice farmers, working for long hours under the baking sun. The other picture that of a bustling city… not a huge one, but one big enough to be a city. There were many bicyclists but few cars. And the last picture I had was that of ancient China; Emperors in palaces, the Great Wall, dragons, buildings of stone, beautiful misty and mysterious mountains, and creative inventions (weapons, paper, lanterns, etc.). It seems kind of silly to say, but I didn’t know how all of these pictures came together to create the masterpiece. I didn’t even know if that was an accurate depiction of China today. This trip and the movie have helped me realize what China actually looks like. There are these things, but China has also become industrialized. The cities have grown and developed. Skyscrapers, billions of people, and hundreds upon hundreds of cars touch every corner of the major cities. I now know China is greater than just the place you plan to dig to while in the sandbox.

The differences between the social classes are great in China. "There's actually a lot of discrimination in China, if you don't have money, people will look down on you."—Wang Xiaolei. There are people living in the country who have to become either farmers or migrant workers. And then there are people living in the city who are starting their own businesses. It’s pretty incredible how different the people’s lives are just based on where they live.

My favorite character in the movie was Wei Zhanyan. She seemed very sweet, and looked like a hard worker. She grew up in a small village. She had to quit school very early in her life. Her parents didn’t have very much money so she became a migrant worker. She helped pay for her brother’s schooling. I thought this was very selfless of her. I’m sure it was hard for her to help her brother get the learning he wanted when she wanted the same thing. The difficulties she had connecting with her mother made Wei’s struggles greater. “Children without mothers have to grow up fast” – Yang Haiyan. In the movie we find out Wei’s parents have set her up with an arranged marriage. This surprised me because I didn’t realize an arranged marriage was still a tradition in China. Wei didn’t like the man she was engaged to, and decided not to follow the tradition. She did not marry him. This must have taken a lot of courage to break away from the tradition and her family’s decision; and I respect her for it. Recently, Zhanyan and another migrant worker, her friend Jiang Ping, got married and moved to Mongolia to be with his family. Not too long ago, she gave birth to a son. I like Wei because she was so strong and kindhearted even when it was hard for her, and even when the times were bad.

“Because I don't like to fight. I don't think fighting can solve problems. It's 2006 now. You use your brain to solve problems."—Wang Xiaolei – Rapper

Unfortunately the problems in China are growing at the same rate as the growing industries. Hopefully we can stand together and ‘use our brains to solve the problems’.

Nine Dragons… and Food!

Dragons are sacred in the Chinese culture, along with the number nine. Dragons symbolize power and excellence. Sometimes they are used to show peace and harmony, and other times they are depicted as mischievous. The numbers 6, 8, and 9 are highly valued to the Chinese culture because when said aloud, their names sound similar to words that have positive meanings. For example take the number 8. The word for eight in Cantonese is “baat” which sounds similar to the word “faat” which means fortune. As a result of this, the number 8 is used when fortune is relevant. The number 9 is important because it is the highest single digit number. Since it is the largest and the most powerful of the single digit numbers, it is historically associated with the Emperor of China. The Emperor’s robes often had nine dragons. Sometimes the Emperor would conceal one of the dragons to preserve the long lasting power of the dragon.

There is significance to every number in the Chinese culture. The numbers have positive or negative luck, and some of them have both. Finding out which numbers are lucky and how the combinations change the number’s meanings is very interesting. For example, 5 is positive because it symbolizes the 5 elements in Chinese Philosophy. However, it is also negative because it is usually associated with the word “not”. 4 symbolizes death. When the two numbers are put together, making 54, it means “not death”. The two negatives make a positive.

These ideas about numbers can be seen throughout any of the art, architecture, and the daily life of the Chinese people. Similar to the architecture in the United States, builders skip floors when building skyscrapers. In the U.S. the 13th floor often does not exist. In China there are many missing floors. Some of them are floors 14, 24, 34, 64, and all of the floors between 40 and 59. (Obviously each number would have its own reason for being unlucky, however the reason for 24 being unlucky would be because it means “double death”) Also, the floor numbers would go from floor 68 to floor 88. Imagine you are a superstitious shop owner living in China. You’re trying to decide how many tables to put in your shop. You would have to think through every number and make sure it was a lucky one. “Oh. Okay, so if I have this many tables, then I will be fortunate this year… But if I add the number of chairs to the number of tables then I have an unlucky number again… hmmm…”

For more information about Chinese numbers go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture

The dragon is symbolized as power, and therefore it makes since that the most powerful single digit number, 9, is associated with it. The Nine Dragon Wall in China is a beautiful piece of art in BeiHai (North Sea) Park in Beijing. Our class got to go back to Chinatown in Chicago and see the smaller version of the Nine Dragon Wall. The wall replicates the nine large dragons and over 500 of the smaller dragons. The colors of the dragons symbolize good fortune as well. The Nine Dragon Wall in Chicago is one of only three replicas outside of China.

While in Chinatown we got to go to the statues of the 12 Zodiac animals. They are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Lamb, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Here is the legend for how the animals’ order was chosen:

“According to Chinese legend, the twelve animals quarreled one day as to who was to head the cycle of years. The gods were asked to decide and they held a contest: whoever was to reach the opposite bank of the river would be first, and the rest of the animals would receive their years according to their finish. All the twelve animals gathered at the river bank and jumped in. Unknown to the ox, the rat had jumped upon his back. As the ox was about to jump ashore, the rat jumped off the ox's back, and won the race. The pig, who was very lazy, ended up last. That is why the rat is the first year of the animal cycle, the ox second, and the pig last.”

~High Five Dragon!~

My Zodiac sign is the dog. Dogs are the 11^th position in the Chinese Zodiac Calendar. The dog symbolizes character traits such as loyalty and kindness. Dogs offer useful advice. They are always listening and lending a hand to their friends. Sometimes dogs can be perceived as nosey. Ensuring others are happy is more important to the dog than wealth or success. Dogs like to finish what they start and always want to master new subjects. Dogs are hard working well rounded individuals. They are adaptable, flexible and laid back. They spend money wisely and favor practical items. Dogs can benefit by learning to relax and by being more rational.

I think this description mostly applies to me. I am shy around people I don’t know, and it takes me a while to warm up to them. I think I’m really nice and I try to help people as best I can. I save my money, and don’t spend it quickly. I believe I am well rounded. I am a straight A student, enjoy playing and watching sports, I am an artist, and a musician. One thing I found really interesting is the fact that the dog’s color preference is pale yellow; my favorite color. J

Find your Zodiac Sign: http://www.chinesezodiac.com/calculator.php

I had a lot of fun on the trip to Chinatown. The tour of Chinatown was really cool… I learned new things about the history of Chinatown and the significance of particular things. However my favorite part about this trip had to be the eating experience. It wasn’t so much the food that was my favorite part… I mean, yes the food was awesome… but, I loved the atmosphere of the room we were in. I liked eating and laughing with the people going on the trip. It helped me realize how close and how real the trip is. By the end of this journey we are going to be one giant family. We tried some different things… I tried for the first time a potato pancake and Crab Rangoon. I also, consequently, tried wasabi for the first time as well… I uh… didn’t know it was wasabi… nuf said. We all tried to order something we hadn’t had before. My favorite quote of the night: “What is that?!” Well whatever that was, it was apparently good. We all didn’t have our food by the time we had to go (or risk missing the train), so about half of our meal was stuffed into carry-out boxes. In a frantic rush to get the food in the boxes and get out the door, sadly, some of the food never made it into the boxes. It kind of slid right off the plate and onto the table. We made a royal mess of the tables but we sure did have a good time doin’ it!

Before:

After:

Heavily loaded with Chinese food squished into carry-out boxes we headed for the subway. Coming out of the subway, our class ended up taking the wrong stairwell. Don’t know how, we just did. We walked in confusion for about four blocks. And through much discussion between our teachers, we finally figured out we were heading the wrong direction. Going back across those same four-or so blocks, we continued onward, and made it to Union Station. We had 5 minutes before we were going to get on the train. During these 5 minutes, for some odd reason most of us bought more food. It’s not like we were hungry… I mean we had our Chinese food in our hands right? ... I don’t know. We’re teenagers; we walked it off in those 8 extra blocks. Sure… With my newly acquired smoothie and the fried rice from the restaurant, I hopped on the train. We must have been a sight to see; about 20 kids eating Chinese food, some without utensils, on the train, so tired that we might fall asleep in our rice. But, hey. It was a good day.