Tidbits From the World

On January 1st 2010, there was a buddhist concert in Xi’an. A popular Taiwanese singer came to give a performance in Xi’an’s auditorium. This singer is trying to popularize buddhist music by incorporating some elements from pop music.  She only sang during the last thirty minutes of the two-hour show. During the first hour and a half, various kinds of Buddhist music were played: monks hitting their gongs, children singing in chorus and orchestras playing traditional Chinese violin. After the show, some spectators complained that the Taiwanese singer had been lyp-synching because she sang over a recording, instead of with an orchestra. I personally believe she was genuine, because as she would move her microphone closer to her mouth and then back further again, one could hear some mild distortion in her voice… a small detail that can prove a lot!

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A man is standing in front of the scene with a panel which reads:

Please turn off your cellphones
No Pictures
No Recording
Do not Talk

Security guards were located in strategic locations to make sure the directions were properly followed.

It was, however, allowed to take photos of the concert hall.

Outside, I found an interesting ad that, in its English version, doesn’t respect the “One China Principle”:

The centre for Ajison Noodle is located in Kumamoto Kyushu, Japan, and since 1968 over 500 noodle shops have been established in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and China.

“味千拉面” 是以日本九州熊本为中心，自1968年创设以来，到目前为止在日本，香港，新加坡，中国台湾，大陆等地已拥有500余家的连锁店。

Usually, when Taiwan and China are referred to in the same sentence, they are always referred to as “Chinese Taiwan and the Mainland” or “Taiwan Province and Mainland China” or other variations… In the Chinese version, the distinction was made, but not in English… Is it the work of the “Japanese Devils” English translators?

On a bag of dog food you get the directions to feed your beloved “gestating bitch” or your “lactating bitch”. I’m not sure if the word “bitch” is still commonly used to indicate a female dog, but it surely looks awkward on a nutrition table.

I got the result of my standardized test of aptitude in Chinese (HSK)… and with great regret, I learned that I am still considered a BEGINNER (level 5). After one year and a half of intensive studies, in China, I am still a beginner… If I had gotten 1% more, I would have been able to move up to the intermediate level (I needed 262 points out of 400, but I got 258). I will have to try again in March in Montreal.

In my apartment, all the mirrors are too low; I always have to bend to see my face. And yet I am not particularly tall and I don’t find the Xi’anese to be short either… I don’t know why all the mirrors are so low here…

In the Christmas Season, in downtown Xi’an, lights are everywhere: on fake trees, real trees, on buildings,…

These two pictures are not particularly spectacular, but they are the only ones I have of the lights downtown… my batteries went dead right after I took those two pics. Too bad, one particular scenery around the Bell Tower would have made for a very nice picture.

Of course, I could go back there and take those pictures of the beautiful night scene and post them here for you all to enjoy… but this is not an option, and unless you know what China (or any other chaotic country) is on rush hour, you might find it difficult to understand the reason. I was there on Christmas day. And what do the Chinese do on Christmas day in Xi’an? They go downtown, and they walk… So the place was packed with people. Getting on a bus packed to maximum capacity is possible, but undesirable; getting on a taxi is impossible and if, by any chance, there is finally one that stops near you, your place WILL be taken by someone else who thinks he wants the ride more than you, and that we are living in a jungle where the survival of the fittest is the only rule. On that day, it took us nearly two hours to get out of this place, at that pace it would have been faster to walk all the way home. Sorry, you won’t see photos of the beautiful sceneries from Downtown Xi’an on Christmas day.

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Here are some of the pictures that I took during my journey in Sichuan province (also written as “Szechuan”).

The purpose of my journey was to take part in activities for a summer camp organized by an NGO whose main activity consists in building libraries in high schools in the Chinese countryside.

This library was built just a few months earlier in an empty building belonging to the school.

Before the start of the summer camp (on Monday), I was asked to give speeches in front of some classrooms. In total I gave 8 speeches about travel and foreign countries. (I spoke English and Ying translated into Chinese).

Group photo.

One of the many movies that were shown during the summer camp.

A physical education student. Every night, he and his classmates train outside. Their goal is to be admitted to the physical education program at the University. If they get admitted, they will have good prospects for the future. These guys might, one day, get a gold medal at the Olympics Games!

Ping Pong. (乒乓球 [ping pang qiu])

In the library, these very old books caught my attention… Lenin’s Whole Collection and Marx and Engels’ Whole Collection.

Marx and Engels.

“To our Mother School” – July 14 1974.

One of the favorite activities of most Chinese: 爬山 [pashan] climb the mountain!

Two old men wearing the “Mao suit”.

We met very nice people.

This man is writing his home address so that we can send him his photo.

This woman used to work in a factory in Xi’an, but she decided to come back to the countryside and set up a poultry farm. She told us that her job at the factory paid very little, while selling chickens is a very profitable business!

I stayed at the “best hotel” in town.

I’m not quite sure what this is… from what I understand, you can get a new name there…

This is something that would be unthinkable in Quebec, where all the names of the students would be replaced by secret codes only known by the students themselves and the teachers: the list of the students who passed the tests and were admitted to the University.

Power failures were quite common there, but they would never last very long.

After the summer camp, we went to Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan.

A dog and his master.

A bar.