Media Madness

My blog title today reflects two realities: Beijing is becoming the center of the world for two weeks, and the media are descending in hordes to cover it, but they are now not fully able to so because of certain limitations, and are therefore not happy with the multiple parties involved. Let me explain more fully what I mean. 

Prior to last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) promised the media full web access while here covering the Olympics. It recently came to the attention of Kevan Gosper, the IOC's head media guy, that there are indeed web access limitations that the IOC supposedly conceded to the Chinese government beyond what they had previously agreed. So while the IOC claims that it had no knowledge of these limitations, which they believed were for such sites as pornographic ones, it seemed like journalists will not be able to view sites dealing with sensitive topics (I will not mention them, but I'm sure you can guess). The latest news this weekend is that the IOC is working with Olympic organizers on opening up certain websites like Amnesty International and BBC's Chinese language one. I find the last one interesting as we can watch BBC News at our tennis venue. Its all now  give and take - how much access the government will give, and how much pressure it and the IOC will take to break. 

The title also refers to the fact that I had quite a media-centric two days this week on Wednesday and Thursday meeting journalists from Al-Jazeera English and Caijing magazine. I was able to meet a family friend here who works for Al-Jazeera English's bureau in Beijing. He's been here seven years and says he gets detained by authorities at least once a week normally covering stories outside of Beijing. He lives and works in the same diplomatic compound, Jian Guo Men, which housed and still houses many foreign journalists and now is the broadcast hub for many networks in China such as the BBC and his own, Al-Jazeera.

Naturally he has quite a bit to say about the current state of Chinese media and culture as a whole. Some of what I found most interesting was his statements on how perceptions of China are vastly different than reality. He believes the perceived gap between the Western world and China is an illusion, and that imagined gap is actually created by the Chinese government and not the people. The population further is spiritually lacking and are unsure about their connection to their history. I will save the post about his media comments until I get back to the U.S. again for obvious reasons, not the least of which was our reminder yesterday from our professor chaperones about kipping a lid on it so we don't get sent home. 

I also have a friend who is interning this summer at Caijing, a Chinese business and financial magazine. It is an interesting publication because it is one of the few that can get away with discussing what are normally considered taboo topics by the rest of the media, and for one very important reason: money. While the magazine is technically run by the Stock Exchange Executive Council (SEEC), which in turn is financed by the government, in reality the council is controlled by private investors in whose best interest it is to have an honest assessment of China's economy. They are thus able to stay away from government funding which would demand they follow the rules which apply to other Chinese media. For example, they were able to keep the recent earthquake story on the front page of their magazine while other media were refrained from any criticism. 

My friend said that the journalists in China are some of the best and most dedicated she has ever worked with. Two of those journalists are Mizzou alums, I might add. It was nice to meet alums out and about in the world of international journalism beyond the school's walls. It gives me a bit more hope that there still is indeed a need for foreign journalists, and more specifically me! I got to have lunch with all of them as well as two other interns which I thoroughly enjoyed as there was some frank discussion Beijing now. 

After my pleasant lunch with Caijing journalists, I headed over to the National Museum of China since it was fairly close by. Every cultural monument has Olympic fever, and this one is no different. The exhibitions on the first floor dealt with art that dominantly used the primary colors of the Olympic rings (red, black, blue, green and yellow) as well as art about any type of Olympic sport. There were also some entries into an art competition from Chinese and international artists that were on display. What interested me more however were the Ming and Qing dynasty paintings on display which are typified by simple subjects such as a tree branch with flowers or a bird. I then headed down Wafuijing shopping area and got absolutely soaked, even with my umbrella. Almost slipping every step to the subway, I met my friends at a delicious dumpling restaurant where the best misunderstanding story of this trip happened. We ordered some food to go for a friend who wasn't feeling well back at the hotel, and when the food arrived, it was on a plate. We naturally asked for a box to go, and we waited, and waited some more. We asked, and they said it was coming. What arrives at our table but potatoes covered in melted sugar which we were subsequently told was a dish that sounded like the English box to go. Since we had already paid for it on the bill, we dug in. Needless to say there were a lot of carbs in that dish! 

On Friday we decided to try to find the tea market which also entailed a lot of walking because we didn't know the exact route there. This market consists of five levels of over 900 stalls and small stores each selling tea and other tea paraphernalia such as teapots, and is supposed to be one of the largest of its kind. My friend had told me about this tea which consists of closed flowers that open up when placed in water. She and I found a small shop that had them, and when we asked we got a demonstration (see my photo page). The place was almost empty and all the vendors were shouting trying to get our attention, but if we did go inside the shop they were less demanding than the Silk Market vendors. They allowed us to take our time while sipping some of the tea they made. I only had tea from two vendors because I didn't want to be awake all night - a wise person who had visited it before warned us about that side effect!

Saturday we had training which basically consisted of putting labels on seats to mark photo positions in the 7 other courts at the venue at the height of the heat of the day which was not very pleasant. That night my friend from Caijing invited us to an art gallery opening near Sanlitun, an area known for its embassies and its bars. The show was a mix of pop and abstract art in a gallery in a complex that was converted from a factory and also includes a lot of upscale restaurants. It was nice to get out and meet some more Beijing locals, including the gallery owner who is a friend of my friend, a local fashion designer who invited us to her store and one of the editors of City Weekend magazine in Beijing. He recommended a good Italian restaurant and an underground bar call Song at the Place, an absolutely gigantic outdoor mall. My risotto at the Italian place was delicious, and afterwards after much too much walking we found the Place. Again, this is thanks to my misleading map! Turned out there was a hefty entrance fee at Song, but we walked in on a TimeOut sponsored talent and fashion show that proved to be quite entertaining. 

Sunday was quite a lazy day after all my walking, but in the evening a group of us ended up heading to an American style diner called Steak and Eggs. While it is quite a trek over to the opposite corner of Beijing, it was very worth it to have some of their all day breakfast of an omelet and hash browns as well as a yummy Greek salad.

Yesterday as my friend said, Beijing was quite good to us. We were able to figure out with some help how to get to the mosque in the Muslim area of town called Niujie, or Ox Street. A friend from New York had recommended visiting this part of Beijing for a different view of city. The mosque's architecture was more like that of the temples we had seen around town, but with some Islamic influences like Arabic written on the buildings. I had to wear a shawl since my shoulders were not fully covered. After a delicious lunch of lamb kebabs and chicken at a Muslim restaurant recommended by a friend, we walked to the nearby Fayuan Buddhist temple which is also the China Buddhism College. It was laid out like many of the temples we have previously visited, but the highlight was a statue of Buddhas sitting on a thousand petal lotus flower. Later that evening for my friend's birthday we decided to try a hot pot restaurant. The main event there was the creation of the noodles that were thrown all around the room by a professional "noodle thrower." While I couldn't eat the noodles, the lamb, beef and veggies we ordered were pretty delicious once cooked in the hot broth that was in a vat in the center of our table. 

Today for my friend's real birthday we headed over to the campus of Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities in China, for a birthday party her Chinese friends at our venue were throwing for her. The campus is much larger and more beautiful than Renmin with lots of waterways and a large lotus pond. We found our way to an underground pizza joint (and yes, I found something to eat!) where after lunch we proceeded to play some traditional birthday games. One involved counting in a circle until one reached a multiple of 7 or a number with 7 in it at which point you were supposed to say happy birthday. If you made a mistake you had to say something nice to the birthday girl or sing a song, which produced some rather hilarious mistakes. We also got to watch one of our friends, WenWen, perform some kung fu outside for us which was very entertaining. I then finally got to have my first bike ride in Beijing. You are not a true Beijinger until you've ridden a bike along its many hectic streets. Lucky as we were only on the university campus it was less of a problem to avoid the many cars and people that dot the big thoroughfares. I really quite enjoyed it, and it was much faster than walking!

Whew, there you go. Off now to the night market to eat God know's what!

Getting Lost and Found

Yesterday we headed out to try to find the Olympic Gardens were there are some hedge sculptures in the shape of Olympic sports and symbols. Both my room mate and I got e-mails from our mothers with photos from this place, so we thought we would try to find it after locating it on a map. Boy, were we wrong! We walked across the entire Forest Park, which is where the majority of Olympic venues are set up, trying to find this place. Since most of the people we spoke too did not have a good understanding of English, we were not sure if we were even heading in the right direction. Also the lack of street signs in English added to the difficulty. This has happened to me more than a few times in this city, and I've tried to learn that it is just part of the process here and not to get too worked up about it. 

We eventually gave up and took a bus and then subway back home. Unfortunately my room mate had what we think was a heat stroke in the subway and collapsed. She regained consciousness pretty quickly, but it was quite scary and I am glad to report she is much better now. She and another friend mentioned that it was a good thing we were together and she was not alone, because I have been sick alone in foreign countries before, and it is nice to have someone there that you know and can speak your language.

On an upbeat note, today was one of the first days that I've actually felt productive in my Olympics training. I have more faith now that I am actually part of something bigger than myself that is worthwhile. 

There was also the bonus of getting to know our fellow Chinese volunteers a bit better. There's Shaoling, a biology student at Tsinghua University who is my student leader, and a very efficient one at that. She's always asking questions and making suggestions, quite the go-getter. WenWen, a mechanical engineering student and native Beijinger, has practiced the art of kung fu for five years. Since the release of Kung Fu Panda, I'm guessing his hobby now is probably of more interest to a lot of people, which I'm sure makes him happy. Then there's Apple - her English name of course, because she wants people to feel "health and happiness" around her, and it also happens to be her favorite fruit. When I name dropped another famous Apple (i.e Gwyneth's) and told her of the uproar that followed, she said she had neither heard of Paltrow nor her Coldplay lead singer husband Chris Martin. 

What made the day so productive was the fact that we actually had tasks to complete and get done rather than just waiting for them to come up with something for us to do. We first retraced our steps to make sure we know how to get from one court to the other - the most important for my group being between center court and Court 1. The logistics of getting accreditation to go through different areas of this venue are crazy, it seems like everything has to get approved by the higher-ups. Basically we are going to have to wear a vest everyday so we can be on the field of play and use the underground walkway to get between these two courts. 

We then were given a map of the whole tennis venue and asked to mark the different areas for photo positions, entrances and stairways to get between the different courts to help the photographers. It is rather confusing getting around because since the stadiums where the courts are are circles, basically everything inside looks the same. Also there are different routes for POOL (Reuters, Xinhua News Agency, AFP, AP and the ITF photographers) and non-POOL photographers because they can't get in the way of athletes or the mixed zone (where ONS reporters get to interview them). 

After lunch, which is now an affair with lunch and beverage tickets for all the volunteers, we had a little nap time - the equivalent of a siesta but much shorter. We then moved some benches into the Court 1 moats and then practiced doing disk runs between the Court 1 moat and the photo workroom. This basically involves a disk runner going into the moat during change of sides which lasts about 90 seconds. In that time they have to gather all the disk envelopes that contain digital photos from all the photographers up and down the moat. Once back inside they have to "run" them to the photo workroom where they are either distributed to POOL and non-POOL members or put in a basket to be delivered at the end of the day to the Main Press Center. We had to practice being photographers, workroom assistants and runners. While sitting in the moat as a fake photographer, they started cleaning the court with hoses. Since it is supposed to rain most of this week, as it did this morning, I asked WenWen why they were doing this. He replied, "I guess they don't have much else to do," which seems like a common phrase that comes to mind when describing the state of our training.

Two things of note:

1. There have been a lot of dragonflies on the court, and I asked Shaoling why that was the case because I've normally just seen them near water. It turns out that it is a indication of coming rain because they need to fly so low due to the low pressure created by such weather. I have found no evidence online to support this, but it is an interesting theory.

2. When I saw that there were volunteers covering up brand names of items in the tennis venue with scotch tape, I was most intrigued. It turns out that the IOC has a "clean venue" policy, meaning that no brand names can be displayed in any venue unless it is a sponsor of the Olympics. Seems like a lot of waste of tape and time to me, isn't it logical that they are going to have to use more brands than just those of their sponsors to make this event happen?

Lucky Number 13

I'm sure you've heard about the sale of the last group of Olympic tickets in Beijing and the chaos that has ensued to get those last remaining tickets. Today wemade our own attempt to get event tickets, basically any type we could find. We headed out to the main ticket office south of the Olympic Green to find a rather short line that I must admit made me a little nervous - I was expecting long lines since this was the last day of the last phase of ticket sales. I learned too late later today that instead of staring to sell certain tickets for different events each day from the 25th to the 27th in waves, they decided to start selling them all yesterday.

We were then told around 9am, the time the ticket office was opened, that there were no more tickets left, and soon a small crowd gathered, we thought in protest, but no - they made a run for it. We decided to follow them in a more leisurely fashion to Olympic Sports Center venue cluster ticket office to see if we possibly had a chance there. Soon there were security guards blocking both the ticket window and soon after the entrance, not allowing anyone else to come in. A few hopefuls still were line waiting it out when we decided to leave, but now it seems the only option is to scan and hopefully find some good deals on the Beijing Craigslist. If we had read the official Chinese news agency's take on the situation, we would have known that the sign we saw by the ticket office informed us tickets were sold out even before we even got in line!

Just to say that training this week has been mixed - some work, long stretches of free time. We finally got to meet the rest of the photo services volunteers, all of whom are Chinese. I do know now that I have been assigned to work the moat at Court 1 during the Games which is to the left of the lotus-flower center court in this photo. I will be there for matches on a rotating schedule with the rest of my four member group during the Games, but for which ones I do not know as we don't have our schedules set up yet. There is a Chinese student who is the leader of our group, and I am supposed to report any photographer infractions - blocking other photographers or spectators or moving about the moat during the game, for example - to her after the game is finished. And, also, of course, get to see some first-rate tennis be played. 

I've gotten to look at INFO 2008, the intraweb system in the Olympic venues that provides information from the Olympic News Service for info on who is playing, and it looks like there are going to be some good competitions with all the tennis players that are coming and what has been happening in previous tournaments. The most famous are Federer, Nadal, and both of the Williams sisters - here is the complete US team. 

Training this week has involved me first acting and then reprising my role as "photographer behaving badly" to provide examples of possible problems volunteers could encounter during the matches. The first time was just for the other Chinese volunteers (which elicited a laugh!), and the second time was for the venue-run through we had yesterday. Got to watch a couple of Chinese tennis players "play" a game, and we had to pretend to be the photographers sitting the moat during it. I moved about because I was trying to avoid a huge bee, and then talked to another volunteer, both of which got me reprimands, but since this was the purpose of practice I guess it was a job well done!

We have three more days of training spread out over the next two weeks with 13 days until the Olympics begin. Will try to see Chairman Mao, the Ancient Observatory, and some more temples during that time, and of course will keep you updated along the way. Please feel free to leave comments too, I'd love to hear from my dedicated readers :).

Free Time Well Spent

So with the free time we have in between training we've been exploring some of the other neighborhoods in Beijing. On Wednesday my room mate and I decided to go eat some non-Chinese food at a cute cafe called Cafe de la Poste run by some French ex-pats. It was a little more expensive but totally worth it to eat something other than rice and veggies. I had a salade lyonnaise, while she had a type of tart. We even got to speak a little bit of French!

We then decided to walk back to Houhai in the lake area since it was such a nice day. We tried to enter a Buddhist temple nearby because a description outside of it said it was one of the best preserved temples in the city, but it turned out it was not open for visitors but only for worshippers. One of our destinations that day was Plastered T-Shirts, a store that makes unique t-shirts only here in Beijing that was recommended by both TimeOut and LP. While we had to wander through some hutongs to get there, we did find it on a cute street with a bunch of other boutique stores. I make some purchases as some of the shirts really did communicate a vibe only to be found here. On Thursday night some friends and I came back to the area for some delicious Indian food (who knew in Beijing?) and ended up at a few bars near there. Since it is still rather warm at night right now it was pleasant to sit outside. 

The next day some of us tried to visit the Beijing Underground City which was built by Mao in 1979 under the threat of nuclear war with Russia. Besides the novelty factor, I thought as a historian interested in Communism it would provide a fascinating study of cultural preservation. Unfortunately the government decided to close it down as they deemed it unsafe for visitors and in need of repair. Somewhat despondent, I suggested walking to the Temple of Heaven which was not that far away. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Temple of Heaven is actually a mistranslation as in Chinese the name actually means "Altar of Heaven." According to LP, it was a place where the emperor would come to pray for plentiful crops at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, and also for the country's future at the winter solstice ceremony which involved taking the sacred tablets from the Imperial Vault of Heaven to the large Round Altar. This was supposedly quite a big deal, and the ceremony included a procession with elephants that was done in complete silence. These three main monuments are the main attractions of the park, especially the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The building is beautifully painted and an architectural wonder: no nails or cement hold the pillars in place. A pattern here can be found in the symbolism the Chinese placed and continue to place in numbers. The four main pillars inside represent the seasons, the next 12 the months of the year, and the final 12 the day. The same care was taken with the numerological details of the Round Altar focusing around the lucky number nine. The top tier of the altar has nine rings of stones, with each ring having some multiple of nine number of stones, with the last containing 81. The bottom tier represents humanity, the middle earth, and the top heaven. Again, all information thanks to LP Beijing. 

We then headed to witness another Chinese tradition, the tea ceremony. I have been able to watch some Japanese tea ceremonies so I had something to compare the Chinese one too. The tea house we were looking for near the Forbidden City didn't actually exist anymore, so we went to the one that replaced it. We ordered a pot of rose flavored tea and then proceeded to watch a server perform the ceremony, which involved dousing the various pots and cups in hot water to keep them warm, stirring some of the tea leaves with some interesting instruments, and serving us our very hot tea. The Japanese tea ceremony is definitely more of a formal affair where the tea drinker is an active participant in the ceremony itself. Here I'm sure the ceremony was much simplified for the benefit of time and the patience of the guests. According to this website, however, the Japanese tea ceremony was originally created in China during the height of tea culture during the Tang (618 to 907 AD) and Song (960 to 1279 AD) dynasties. 

Saturday my room mate and I ventured out to the other side of town (the multiple transportation transfers I mentioned in a previous post) to visit the Panjiayuan Market, something TimeOut says "we can't recommend strongly enough that you visit this market while you're in Beijing...(it) is absolutely brimming with everything you could ever want in the way of presents and souvenirs from China's capital city." That sums it up pretty well - it has every curio, souvenir, bric-a-brac, and memento you could ever want from China. It was nice as it is less dominated by Westerners as the Silk and Pearl Markets are, and also by the berating salespeople, but there is much more selection available with pretty good starting prices. I thought I would have to bargain a lot more here because of LP's warning that everything was ten times the price it should be, but I felt I got some good stuff at reasonable prices. One piece I was excited to find was a unconventional clock for my uncle who collects them. It is a bronze birdcage that insides contains a bird that pecks its floor as the seconds tick by, and the clock part is actually in the center, round instead of flat, and circles through the numbers one through 12 to mark the hours. That evening some of us wanting more non-Chinese food and missing our American favorites went to a Mexican restaurant that somewhat satisfied our cravings.

Sunday was a day off to rest and relax in a local coffee shop on campus, and Monday I ventured a bit farther out to find a coffee place near Wudaoku, the nearby student area, that my Chinese friend had recommended where I could finish my book. After days on our feet sightseeing, these days of respite were quite welcome, also because of the extreme heat we've been experiencing. 

Tennis and Transport - Goody!

This past Tuesday all this planning over the past six months finally became realized when all of us Mizzou photo volunteers got to visit the tennis venue. The main court is supposedly shaped like a lotus flower from above. Since China is a culture big on symbolism, it doesn't surprise me that the Olympic buildings carry it too. In China the sacred lotus means purity and elegance, most likely influenced by a similar meaning in Buddhism. Maybe that is what they wish for in the Olympic Games - purity and elegance in sport? It was neat to be able to see the venue empty and without the crowds that will soon descend. 

Training has been mostly stop and go. Our boss started us off with a Power Point about the venue and volunteer expectations, and then we got an tour of the venue, but most of our time has been spent waiting to be assigned our next task.  I think they felt they had to have us come in for training because the ONS volunteers in our group had training too, yet they didn't necessarily have a schedule of stuff for us to do. We're supposed to help the other Chinese volunteers learn some English later this week to help them communicate with the photographers, but other than that we'll have to see what they have planned. 

I also have more details about what my responsibilities will be during the Games. I will be working, indeed as my title (and pass!) suggests, as a Field of Play Photo Position Assistant. This means I will be helping photographers in the moat, which are basically dugouts on both sides of the court. It is the most up close and personal photo position to the players so I am excited to hopefully see some interesting matches.

Now getting to the venue and just around Beijing has been a learning experience in itself. I'm proud of the fact that I feel like I've learned the basics of navigating the city's public transport system, even if it does take that much longer to get places. This fact is compounded by two basic facts of Beijing: one, being a very large city in size and two, having such a large population trying to get around it. It took me and a friend one taxi ride, two subways and a bus to get to our destination of the Panjiayuan Antique Market on Sunday, but that has all changed with the opening of the new subway lines. Some of us rode on the inaugural day of the opening of one of the lines on Saturday, which are quite snazzy by the way. It makes getting around Beijing a lot easier for us because now we have a functioning subway station near where we're staying. The majority of the buses and subways have TVs so Beijing's citizens can watch the constant barrage of Olympic ads and then competitions when the Games actually start. Coke, Adidas, McDonald's and more are all taking advantage of billions of viewers - read this NY Times article for more. 

Today was also the first day that half of the city's 3.3 million cars were restricted from coming into the city in an attempt to lessen the pollution that continues to dominate the horizon here. I think its going to be a while before we see a difference, it was still very hazy this morning. It is a big deal since it could hinder some Olympians from participating, and there are even some rumors that it could possibly force some of the outdoor events to be postponed if the air quality does not improve enough in time. Just beware of the bicyclists - I got clipped by one by Houhai Lake on Wednesday which left a nasty bruise!

As a last note, I had what I call a quintessential China experience on Saturday when we visited the Temple of Heaven. While the whole temple complex (which is a misnomer since there really isn't a temple on-site) is quite amazing, asking to get my picture taken with a middle-aged Chinese woman stood out as the day's unique experience. They then proceeded to ask me where I was from, and I replied California, and they just laughed. Maybe because Californians have a reputation for being particularly blond?

The Propaganda Tour and No-Flour Girl

My internet has been down for almost a week because of IP address conflicts, so unfortunately I am way behind in my travel log. Now I hope my posts will be more frequent! Since I have a whole free day, and our last free day before real training begins, I am taking refuge in my air-conditioned hotel room so that I can bring you fully up to date. 

BOCOG, or the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, set up a three day tour for all of the American journalism students who will be media volunteers. On the first day we visited the Beijing Water Purification Plant and a "New Culture Village" called Xiang Tang as an example of a model village for the future. It was dubbed the "Propaganda Tour" by some students because it seemed like they were trying to prove something to us, specifically that they are not the backward-thinking country we might have thought they were. 

The purification plant was basically a lot of water, filters and large equipment that we didn't fully understand. Basically what I understood is that they use some of the reclaimed water for tasks such as washing cars and streets, and purified water for drinking. 

The afternoon proved quite interesting if just to show the lengths to which the government will go to protect and mollify its American visitors. First off we had a police escort for our bus caravan from our lunch restaurant to the village which is quite a ways outside the center of Beijing. It was actually on the way to the Badaling Great Wall section where we would head the next day. The village is a mixture of low to high income housing, with some people getting free housing because their original homes were destroyed to make way for all the Olympic buildings. The low income area looks like a lot of the hutongs in Beijing - trash and dirt most everywhere. The high income housing has supposedly attracted many celebrities to the area and looks like an American suburban housing development. We also visited a temple that was supposedly taken down from somewhere else and rebuilt there. Finally we visited a calligraphy school in the town and saw a calligrapher at work and got to try some ourselves. We also got to imitate some tai chi done by some of the townspeople. We also got to visit a home for the elderly, and met a woman who was 101 years old. She said she was so proud because she had cleaned the room herself! After a long ride back in the middle of rush hour traffic to Beijing, we at a restaurant famous for its Peking duck called Quanjude. 

This brings me to one of my major problems here - finding food that a celiac can eat! Another girl in my group, Ellie, has the same problem so it is nice to be able to band together on this, but even then it is difficult to communicate the importance of our problem. I have a card that describes the issue in Mandarin, but even then a lot of waitresses/servers have no idea what it means. Since a lot of dishes are either smothered in soy sauce or have noodles, or even better no tell-tale signs of gluten in the dish, we were at the mercy of our BOCOG designated Chinese guide/translator who dubbed me "no-flour girl." My home is near where flower children originated, but here I am the exact opposite! We could not eat any of the dishes at Quanjude except for rice and some Peking duck, even though our guide had told us that every dish but two did not contain wheat, and obviously it was the exact opposite! In general over the next few days of touring we had a tough time, and both of us got sick in some form from the hidden gluten in certain dishes. I have found some dishes at the university canteens that I have been assured are gluten-free, and since I haven't gotten sick, I think I'll be sticking to those! 

The following day we made the trip out to the Badaling section of the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. The Badaling section is the most visited section of the wall by tourists, so I guess it was no surprise that a famous visitor from out of the country would be taken here by the Chinese government. That is exactly what we got with Mexican president Felipe Calderon. He and his large entourage decided to make a visit just as we were about to walk through the main entrance which was  then consequently blocked of from us non-VIPs. We had to wait about 45 minutes in the blistering sun (luckily I had my wide brimmed hat with SPF on me!) only to wind up in the hordes pushing through an alternative and much smaller entrance to the wall. After being swallowed by the crowd, we finally were able to walk up a much less crowded side of the wall. It was less crowded for a reason - it was a lot steeper than the other side and therefore much more difficult to climb! I made it up about two-thirds of the way as combination of nausea and exhaustion got the best of me. Since the wall was meant to keep out invaders, it wasn't exactly like the builders were going to make it easy for them, and consequentially it is very difficult for us! I was rewarded with spectacular views which can be seen on my photo page. It is a breathtaking sight for the eyes to behold, and makes you feel rather small in the face of human history. It is amazing to think something so large was created without the help of modern machinery, but at the same time rather humbling to realize something so gigantic took away so many lives to protect those of so many others. It is said that generations were born, lived, worked and died helping to build it.

At lunch time the "no-flour" girls were segregated into another room, alongside the nut-allergy sufferer and vegetarians. Even when we were told the dishes were fine, both Ellie and I felt sick later that afternoon on our way to and at the Ming Tombs. Frankly I was expecting to be just as awestruck with the immense size and number of the tombs as I was at the Great Wall, but since we only got to visit only one tomb, it did not come across that way. The underground section of the tomb we visited had all of its valuables removed for preservation, so it was difficult to understand how grand these tombs really were in their heyday. It was dominated by cold, grey concrete and some sacrificial altars with lots of paper money to appease the spirits of the dead for disrupting their sanctuary. From the temple above ground we were able to get a view of the vast expanse of tombs that cover the area. I had hoped that we would be able to see some more examples of tombs because of some of which my LP guidebook had described, but because we were rushed to keep to the official BOCOG schedule, we didn't have time. 

We were excited because we had heard we were having dinner near or in the Bird's Nest, or National Stadium. Unfortunately we didn't have a view of the stadium from our restaurant, but instead were entertained with a rather kitschy show of dances from different regions of China. 

The last day of BOCOG tours were dedicated to the Summer Palace and Winter Palace (note: called Old Summer Palace by my LP guidebook, hmmm...). The Summer Palace is dominated by Kunming Lake, which takes up two-thirds of the whole palace area, and Longevity Hill, which was created from all the dirt dug up to create the lake, and has various temples. Other noted items are the Long Corridor, which is supposed to be the longest corridor in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records, and a marble boat that the Dowager Empress Cixi used to take trips around the lake. An interesting side note is the story of how the dowager empress, who spent her summer retreat here, was able to gain power. Her son, the Tongzhi Emperor, became ill at age 20 and died. She then named her nephew the Guangxu emperor at age 4 and essentially kept him under house arrest so she could stay the de facto ruler from 1861 to 1908. She made him call her his "biological father" to reinforce her position of male prominence in the household. She got quite far considering her original position as a concubine of the emperors! 

After lunch at the restaurant that was the empress's favorite (because it served her 128 dishes at each meal, and not even all for eating!), we headed to the Winter Palace which was mostly destroyed during the Second Opium War in the 1860s which has left behind mostly ruins. It is interesting because of its combination of Western architecture and Chinese gardens that were designed by two Jesuit missionaries in the late 18th century. It had originally been designed in the early 1700s but completely changed shape with Emperor Qianlong who asked the Jesuits to transform it due to his admiration for Western style buildings. There are lots of ruins to climb over for modern day visitors, as well as a garden maze and a lotus flower garden. Again, a rather rushed time there as we had to eat dinner before we headed to the Beijing Opera for a performance. At dinner yet again I did not get my gluten-free food not because it wasn't created, but because it was sent to the wrong table! 

The opera was quite interesting for those of us that are used to European style ones. I had been to the Vienna Opera with my parents before I came to China, and they employed rather modern sets and technology with the superior singing abilities of the performers. Here the singing is not as melodic per se and seems more out of tune - one main character had such a piercing voice it was hard to listen! The costumes were amazingly decorated, and the use of some translation helped us understand the story and some of the humor that was being used. 

Overall the tour provided us with a nice overview of China's historically and in the modern day. Our tour guide did make some comments that were very revealing about both of those periods  and were an interesting combination of fact and opinion. I don't know how much of what she said was planned or on a whim, but it seemed like not all of her words were her own, if you get my drift. 

Most importantly I was glad to go back to being able to eat food that I selected for myself!

The Calm Before the Storm

I forgot to mention on Monday that I was able to have dinner with one of my dad's business friends, Cliff, his wife, two sons, their daughter, and two other friends of the family. Cliff's wife is Chinese which is why they have a home here - they spend half their time here and half in my part of the world near San Francisco. Their apartment is in a really nice area of buildings mostly owned by foreigners near the embassy area, and had a great view of the Beijing skyline (as well as the pollution that dominates it!). It was nice to take a break from the large group and talk with some people who know Beijing quite well. Now I have a guide for Beijing nightlife, which I haven't availed myself of yet, but hopefully will sometime soon. 

Last Wednesday we took advantage of our day off and the sunshine and headed to Behai Park rather near the Forbidden City. It is dominated by a white dagoba on an island in the middle of the lake there. It was originally built for a visit by the Dalai Lama in 1651, and was rebuilt ninety years later. There are small temples off the pathway surrounding the lake that provided nice breaks during leisurely walk. At one my friends and I got our photos taken in Chinese imperial clothing - unfortunately you will have to wait to see that one because I don't have access to a scanner here! We also took a ride around the lake in a small power boat - we didn't have much control over the games of bumper boats though that were inevitable! We did get ourselves up to the top of the hill with the dagoba for some amazing views. Check out my photo page for those and more...

Thursday we headed off to the Lama and Confucius Temples which are in arms length of one another. The Lama Temple was our first stop and was quite awe inspiring - we actually saw a Buddhist nun and quite a few people worshipping the different incarnations of the Buddha. Furthermore one of the sights there is an 18 meter high statue of the future Buddha, Maitreya, supposedly carved from a single block of sandlewood - when you see it person though it is very hard to believe it! The temple is dedicated to the Yellow Hat Sect, or the Tibetan School of Buddhism and therefore was was brightly decorated in its namesake color. 

Across and down the opposite street is the Confucius Temple and Imperial College. It is the second largest Confucian temple in the country and is quite serene. The combination of the artistically crawling cypress trees and various small temples make you understand why it was once considered such a place of contemplation. There is actually a large temple where Confucius can still be worshipped - something I was surprised at since my understanding is that his teachings are less about religion and more about social order. According to Wikipedia there is still a debate about this issue because it is indeed practiced by the Chinese as a religion. 

Next door to the temple is the Imperial College which taught Confucian principles during three dynasties. The entrance is framed by a glazed archway to reveal a beautifully situated hall surrounded by a moat where the emperor would lecture on this topic to thousands (according to LP) of students from all walks of life. 

By walking through all these temples that day I can understand how one becomes calm because of the religious serenity they embody. As we get closer and closer to the Olympics, our schedules are getting more hectic and less predictable, so it was nice to be in these quiet, calm places before the rush of the events begin. 

The Propaganda Tour is coming up next, so don't leave your seats...

The Best of Beijing Tour

So, on to the cultural part of our trip...

We headed to what is probably the most well known landmarks in Beijing, Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. Due to my stupid "formatting" error, my pics from Tianamen Square were deleted, but there are plenty of the Forbidden City on my photo page. The misty rain kept our day rather nicely cool, and as a further benefit kept some wary tourists away to make our visit less crowded. 

A brief history lesson... Tianamen Square is the world's largest public square, and considered, by Lonely Planet (LP), to be "the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe." During imperial times the square was part of the Imperial City Wall, with gates that were pulled down to create the square in 1949. It's probably most well known for the riots that took place here in 1989. 

Some observations: There are policeman everywhere, something LP says is meant "to paralyze the first twitch of dissent." This is the first time we really encountered Chinese people en masse wanting to take a picture with one or all of us. I understand from TimeOut that in China photos are "evidence to show people back home you've made that trip of a lifetime," so its considered the norm. And obviously, it is just overwhelming in size. You can understand how it can fit one million people when you are there. 

On to the Forbidden City... It housed 24 emperors from two dynasties, Ming and Qing, from the time it was finished in 1420 after 16 years of building. Due to the Chinese lucky numbers of 8 and 9, the place has 800 buildings, 9,999 rooms (rooms being anything between four pillars), and many of the patterns are in 9s. It takes 10 years to do a full renovation of the place, and as I understood, most of what we saw was painted two years ago. Attention was and still is paid to every detail, from decorations and architecture to court and to imperial rules back when it was a palace. One example is the little mythical animals on the corner of every building. You'll have to see the photos to get the full picture (haha...).  Just another example of how the Chinese like to do it big.  

After lunch we got to go in a rickshaw ride through the hutong area. Hutongs are neighborhoods with courtyard-based houses that are mostly of days of old, but still do exist. We first went to Prince Gong's residence, one of Beijing's largest private houses, to see his magnificent garden. Again, see the pictures, but there were lots of rock and water formations, as well as lots of greenery and gorgeous buildings. We went up one passageway up the side of a hill, meaning we got promotions - hopefully that bodes well for when school is over and a job is necessary! We also got our picture taken with a newly wedded couple that were in the most gorgeous costumes. We then got to visit an actual hutong which seemed quite small by U.S. standards but as the owner said it provided a comfortable space to live on a pension in China. The courtyard had a few birds, including a black one which could say "ni hao" (hello), and I can say I actually heard it speak! Another rickshaw ride led us to Qianhai lake and a walk through the Snake Pipe lane to the Drum Tower. The Drum Tower is previously how the citizens knew what time it was by the beating of the drum. After climbing what seemed like a never ending staircase, we were rewarded with a drum performance that was quite neat as well as amazing views covering all of Beijing.

On Sunday we thought we give bargaining a go at the Silk Market. If you've ever been at a market where bargaining is standard, imagine being haggled ten times worse than that. It is absolutely crazy, especially because you can't hide the fact that you are a foreigner. People are shouting and grabbing at you from every angle just to make a sale. I think my emotions are easily read on my face, so maybe my haggling skills are not quite up to par with some of my friends ;). We then went to the Wangfujing area which is a popular modern shopping street where we got some Olympic and other arts and crafts souvenirs. 

Monday and Tuesday were lecture days, the first on Chinese history, and the later on more about the Chinese media. Both of them tried to drum fact after fact into us, and the later was more critical about some of the problems facing the Chinese media, such as "creating" stories for the purpose of getting them in the news. I was quite surprised by the inclusion of these criticisms for reasons already mentioned. Later on Tuesday we went to the Pearl Market, another bargainer's delight. I got my Mao alarm clock - yes, I have fallen for Mao kitsch, but as a student of the history of Communism, cut me some slack! Also got a nice Chinese silk top and silk painting.

Behai Park and temples are next...

An Introduction to China

So, the first week has already gone by, and here I am writing my first post. We've already crammed a lot into our time here as you will see. So, to begin at the beginning...

The plane flight over was one of the worst I've had in a long time, sitting in the middle middle seat between two big guys. There was no chance to get comfortable enough to fall asleep, although I was able to doze off a bit here and there. When we arrived the airport was muggy, a taste of the heat and humidity that was to come when we hit the air outside. On the ride to our hotel, we passed the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube specifically created for the Olympics. They look as neat as they do in the photos! When we arrived Renmin University had a huge sign welcoming us and UNC students to their campus hotel (check out my photo page to see). We had dinner in one of the campus canteens, made easier by the fact that I had a translator to help me get my food without soy sauce! We obviously hit the beds early because we were dead tired.

On Thursday we dealt with organizational issues - cell phones, Olympic volunteer clothing, meeting venue directors etc. The Olympic Volunteer clothing isn't too bad, will have a photo to share with you later! My venue director for tennis photo volunteers wasn't there, and we don't know our training schedule yet, so I'm a little nervous! Later that day we had our first lecture by a Renmin University professor on the current state of the Chinese media. What he didn't say was almost more revealing than what he did, if you catch my drift... My opinion about the subject has already been influenced by my work on two articles about the same topic for the current issue of Global Journalist. The stories aren't up yet but you can see the photo spread on Tibetan protests around the world. Later that night we got stamps with our names in ancient Chinese and English which are quite nice - they were gifts from the dean of Renmin's journalism school.

On Friday we visited two media outlets - the People's Daily and Beijing Youth Daily. At the People's Daily we got a tour of the newsroom for their website, including one that they just recently opened that reports China's Communist Party news which I thought was interesting. They also have their website translated into several minority languages, including Mongolian and Tibetan, the later of which I found interesting because of the recent issues there with the government. I was left unclear with exactly how the government does contribute to the People's Daily's funding due to a vague response from a journalist there about that question. Over at the Beijing Youth Daily, we were recruited to do some reporting for them because they were interested in what we thought of the Olympics as volunteers. They said to call them if we thought an interesting story came up. I didn't fully understand because I am wondering what do their own reporters do if not find stories? 

I will continue with weekend activities, including our trip to the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, and our lovely rickshaw ride through the hutongs...so stay tuned.