Michael Jackson and Beijing

I know this post is one of a bajillion that talks about Michael Jackson, but writing from Beijing, it's interesting to note how even here, in China, his death is being mourned/recognized. Riding the cab today, Michael Jackson's songs were being played at almost every station, including the news stations. What really made me think about him, however, was when I went to a famous club in Beijing (because two of my male compadres wanted to go), and Michael Jackson was being played even in their halls, unexpectedly. I couldn't imagine a better memorium for Michael Jackson than having a thriving, dancing, joyous international group of young adults, clubbing to his songs. Even though he stands accused of some questionable acts, I felt a deep sense of sorrow. It really hit me that he won't be able to enjoy the fruits of life anymore, just like so many others that we know and don't know of.

Partially why I felt so much sorrow was because my life has been completely, utterly, unexpectedly wonderful lately. I have never been this fortunate in my life, in terms of financial security; and more importantly, relationships with other people. My skeptical half keeps dreading the moment where all my good fortune runs out. But hopefully, it won't. We'll see.

Settling in Beijing.II

It's almost been a week since I last landed at the Beijing Capital International airport, and made my way, with a friend's help, to WuDaoKou, where I stayed at a youth hostel until I found my room where I'm at now.

Beijing hasn't changed much since ten months ago, which is nice in many ways.  I'm living on the north west side now, rather than the east-center side, so I'm in a new neighborhood.  A good friend who I went clubbing with almost every other night last summer just flew out to America... sadness.  I start teaching on Friday.

Blogspot, twitter, and youtube are all blocked in China, but you can definitely find your way around it if you use your college's VPN network.

Hit me up if you plan on being in Beijing!  Also, if you're interested in visiting Macau, I'm so, totally down.  My chinese cell is 13681279493.

At the Airport

I'm currently at LAX waiting for my flight to Seoul, and then to Beijing!  I'm really excited about this summer, it should be really good, but I don't want to set my expectations too high :-P.  

I can't believe it's the end of another school year.  My third year.  I'm going to be twenty-one soon!  I'm going to graduate soon!  I'm going to have to figure out how to write my research thesis to graduate though, and I'm going to have to figure out what I'm going to do with my life!!  Too bad couch potato isn't a very useful profession.

So long, for now, America!  I'll miss you dearly.  In the meantime, I get to buy things cheaply in China :-).

Come visit!

I'm Back! (to blogging)

Dear all, thank you for bearing with me while I struggled through this summer in Beijing! I've been so busy with school, with work, with exploring, and with trying to eke out some sleep that I have much to catch up on, now that school and work are largely done.

Beijing has simply been amazing, and I've learned so much just by being here. It's pretty weird to be typing so many words in English now that I've lived my past few months almost exclusively in Mandarin 汉语.

I'm really, really, tremendously excited to finally have time to blog. I feel that I have learned so many new things this summer, and I have been exposed to so many new questions, that I'd be so grateful to have the opportunity to share them and organize my thoughts. I plan on starting right away. Well, time permitting. Now that school and work are over, now's the time to see all the sights and do all the things that need to be done before one leaves Beijing. Beijing is a big modern city after all!

And to all of my dear friends who I haven't seen in so long, I miss you all very, very much from the bottom of my heart. Let's try to meet as soon as possible! I'm back in the Bay Area from August 20th to September 10th, and I'm back in Boston on September 11th.

I hope all of your summers have been all that you expected them to be and more! If not, there's still one month left!

And in other exciting news!! http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=523946 Stem Cell Breakthrough!

Follow-Up: Why Calling for Bush to Boycott the Opening Ceremonies is a Big Deal

Two nights ago I posted why I've dropped my support for Hillary. For me, her very public statement calling for President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics both alienated and disappointed me. I feel like a better stance for her to take could have been Barack's "let's wait and see approach", at the very least, and an even better role model to follow on this sensitive issue would be San Francisco Gavin Newsom's handling of San Francisco's sponsorship of the Olympic torch run. Gavin, as best anyone could, balanced the needs of the torch run, the rights of its protesters and supporters very commendably. I wish our national politicians displayed these qualities.

Quite simply, many Chinese-Americans and I feel that America, though perhaps the most free and diverse nation in the world, is still not an ideal place. Stereotypes, such as that we are nerdy, tend to excel in math and science, and have no social life just aren't true, and yet you'll see these characteristics typified by the media all the time, if we aren't excluded all together. (Incidentally, you can read a well-articulated article on this other issue here.)

I'm not bringing this up to whine, or even complain. I've learned to accept these stereotypes and their consequences with a grain of salt, as a part of life that maybe some day I can help change. So why am I bringing this up? What does this have to do with Hillary Clinton's campaign-- one that I had been so excited for up until recently?

I am bringing this up because Clinton should know that her calls aren't going to do anything. China's not going to listen to her calls. President Bush is not going to listen to her on this matter. So why do it? The only reason I can think of for Clinton's actions are that docking China wins lots of political points, not only in areas where race is still a sensitive issue, but also in places that specifically view China as a threat to their way of life economically. To me, if this is the case, it's a form of race baiting-- even if it is unintentional. That's why I indicated, in my previous post, that her actions displayed either a lack of judgment, bad advice, or both.

For better or for worse, I believe that the coverage of the Olympic torch and the Olympics overall has been slanted by the Western media. If you read most of the headlines, you'll read about protesters standing out against China's human rights violations. You won't hear emphasis on quotes from protesters calling Chinese Americans communists, which is a patently ridiculous accusation reminiscent of the McCarthy witch-hunts. You won't hear about how China is single handedly bringing more people out of poverty faster than the United States, the E.U., or any other international organization. (I'm not coming to China's defense in terms of human rights violations, I just want to make the point that most reporting on China right now is really noticeably biased.) People don't realize these complicated issues, because the media's not reporting on them fairly. How many protesters even know where Tibet is?

Anyways, a lot of people have looked at this issue in more prescient ways than I care to express here right now. If anyone would like to talk about it, however, and debate it, please do!! I'd definitely spend time responding, if that is the case. But right now, I'm not sure that there is interest.

I hope this post answers your last question Sarah. To also make it clear, I'm not against Hillary. I just don't want to contribute to her campaign anymore for this primary season. I'm equally supportive of both both Clinton and Obama over McCain. I'm just not as excited as I used to be. This also explains why I'm not discounting these candidates based on their foreign, economic, or social policies. I'm for them. They're both much better than Republicans. I also think that targeting China makes it easier for some of us to forget about our own country's human rights abuses.

Why I've Dropped My Support for Hillary Clinton

After really passionately supporting Hillary Clinton as my candidate for President almost since she began her candidacy, it is with great disappointment that I have to announce that I cannot support her to that extent anymore.

(Not that my thoughts make much of a difference, I suppose I'm just announcing this personally exceptional moment to myself on my blog, maybe facebook.)

One recent event in particular prompted this change: her recent appeal to President Bush to boycott the Olympics in Beijing. The issue of China's human rights record is a separate topic, but one that is important enough to require a brief mention concerning this post. I've read many reactions to the protests in London and Paris, most of which are supportive of the protesters. I'll write another post about this issue after the Olympic flame tours my favorite city tomorrow. Save to say, I support their right to protest, on the other hand I believe they have taken their protests too far. It is one thing to make a statement and practice civil disobedience, it is another to be disruptive to the extent that one will attack people in wheelchairs in order to make a statement. These issues need to be aired out, and I'll do my best to write about this important issue tomorrow.

But for now, I think Clinton's calls to boycott the Opening Ceremonies are indicative of exactly the opposite of what I hoped for in a Presidential candidate. Objectively speaking, her protests will do nothing to convince President Bush to boycott the Olympics. Her appeal to President Bush does nothing more than appeal for political points among certain groups. In fact, her appeal does her more harm than good. She has demonstrated, by this one act, how little she really understands China as a country, while at the same time arguing for her foreign policy credentials; and has demonstrated how much she's willing to turn a peaceful international event into a forum for politics in a way that really demeans what the ancient tradition of the Olympics stands for, in my mind.

I may be wrong about what I believe the Olympics stands for, but as I understood it, it was an event to help heal international rifts and act as a peaceful, friendly forum for athletic competition. To me, the Olympics overall indicates that there are things, such as celebrating such ideals, that are more meaningful to us as a human society than rivalries. I think people kid themselves when they think that people are solely motivated by China's dismal human rights record. Let's face it, China does have a dismal human rights record. But let's also face it: What good does poking the eye of a giant do to help it better sympathize with human rights?

People with other motives too are interested in increasing rifts between America and China.

Also, I think people (particularly those who have only paid attention to issues concerning China in depth for only a few days or weeks at most) need to wake up to the twin realities of: 1) China overall, not just the Chinese government, are really excited about hosting the Olympics. It is ingrained in our culture that being hosts are a great responsibility. To not be great hosts is to lose a lot of face. For an entire international community to put politics in play where politics never really was an intention of the Olympics, except the transcendence of politics, would be an insult to the entire Chinese nation. The Chinese people already have a reason to be biased against us in the West, the Western media sometimes really does seem to report Chinese issues from a one-sided vantage point. That's not a wrong in of itself, but the Western media as an important democratic institution should not be intentionally or inadvertently giving biased reports against an entire country. And 2), let's face it, China has a really thin skin in terms of criticism. What does Clinton's appeal to boycott the Olympics really do then, if it doesn't convince President Bush to boycott? It insults the Chinese government and the Chinese people, and it doesn't accomplish much else. In the event that Clinton becomes President now, she has only more distance to cover before being able to repair relations with the Chinese. What kind of foreign policy advice is she getting? That she's willing to risk so much, for no gain, except maybe political points, is cause for my disappointment and despair that I have lost the candidate that I have hoped for. There are much better ways, in terms of impact and less divisiveness, to work out international disagreements. Forcefully bringing them into the Olympics is not one of them.

Let's make it clear: Civil disobedience and protests are great. Attacking people in wheelchairs is not. If one is a politician running for an office where one should know better (for many reasons), turning an athletic competition into an official political bashing opportunity reflects poor judgment, bad advice, and maybe both.

For these reasons, and a few others, I am renouncing my support for any Democratic nominee for the duration of this year's primary. Good luck to both candidates.