Entries: María Inés Zamudio

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is located political center in Beijing right next to Tiananmen Square.  The construction of the palace complex began in 1407, Ming Dynasty.  It was completed fourteen years later in 1420.

Inside the Forbidden City, there is a small Starbucks. There is a controversy around this coffee shop. Some people would argue that Starbucks should not be inside the Forbidden City because it doesn’t belong in such a cultural and historical place. Others say that it is small and it is not even noticeable.

So here is where you come in, please comment on this blog and tell us what you think about this controversy.

We’ll post the results later.

long journey

I looked around the bookstore. I noticed “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx on the shelf written in Chinese.

“He is here,” Zhou said.

I turned around and stood up.  He is a tall, thin pale man. He looked at me and smiled.  After greeting Zhou, my translator, and me, he told us that there was too many people in that bookstore. He told us we should leave.

I gathered my things and started following him.  Neither one of us knew where he would take us. I decided to take my chances. I knew he would a good source for my story. I wondered if he was afraid of talking about sensitive topic to a complete stranger in a public place. I wanted to ask, but I reminded quiet.

The three of us walked out of the famous thinker’s bookstore located in the south gate in Peking University. We walked for a couple of blocks. Wee were quiet for the most part. I tried talk to him through my translator, but he didn’t seem too receptive.  After a couple of minutes he told us to stop.  He looked around and finally told us to follow him.

He walked into a colorful teahouse.  We followed closely.  The teahouse was impressive, full of color and Chinese music.  I was relived to see that he wanted to talk in a public space. I was relived to see that he didn’t go to a remote place.

He walked over the front desk and talked to the waitress. She smiled and told us to follow her.  We walked across the room.  As we walked more and more, there were less people and the beautiful decoration from the teahouse started to disappear.  I felt nervous.  We finally stopped.  We walked into an empty room in the back of the teahouse.  We sat down and as I took my recorder out the waitress brought me a cup of lemon tea.  She then looked ad me and walked away.

….long journey to a long interview.

The cab ride back to the hotel was even scarier. But I will save that for later.

small world?

Ever since we arrived in China I noticed the image of Che Guevara on posters and on t-shits. Then as I was walking around in the stores I noticed that many of the business were selling Che t-shirts. When I had dinner with a Zhu’s friend, He noticed that I was wearing a necklace with the image of Che.  He was really excited to find something in common with me.  He knew some English, so as soon as he saw the image around my neck he smiled and said “I know Che!” So we had a long conversation about the Cuban revolution. 

Today, as I we waited for our interview with the organizing committee for the 2008 Olympic games I heard a familiar word.  I noticed that the two men sitting next to me were speaking in Spanish.  I was really excited to finally understand what people were saying around me. I asked where they were from and both of them were Cuban.  One of them was a member of the State-run Cuban press who had an interview planned for the same morning and the other man was his translator.  Fidel, the translator, has been living in Beijing for 2 years.  He is master’s degree in linguistics.  He said that Latin America has a lot in common with China.  Since we didn’t have much time to talk, I’m still wondering what he meant by that.  For now, all I know is that the image of Che is somewhat popular in China.

Che t-shirts for sale in Chinese stores:
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White skin = beauty and social status

Early morning yesterday, Zhu and I went shopping.  We went to the expensive mall and the small street shops.  While we walked, Zhu was telling me about protecting her skin from the sun. She said that she thought it was interesting how in the U.S.  girls paid to get good tan. Where as here in China, girls do as much as they can to protect themselves from the sun. They use umbrellas, hats and even buy special lotions to make their skin look whiter.

Not only girls do this, guys do it too.  They don’t only do it because of beauty (at least from what I understood).  They do it because it is a symbol of wealth.  The people who have darker skin are usually the people that work in outside.  These people include farmers in rural areas and migrant workers in the big cities.  So if someone comes from the countryside to study in a university, other students know that this student comes from a rural village because of the tone of his/her skin.  Unlike the Cultural Revolution, people look down on peasants and they’ll do as much as they can to not have their skin color. 

Top 5 reasons why I fell in love with Shainghai in two days

I really don’t know what’s wrong with me. Every time I travel outside the U.S. I fall in love with the country that I’m visiting.  This time was not different.  Here are five reasons why I fell in love with Shainghai

First:  Friendly people

The Chinese people are very friendly, warm and humble.  In only two days, I’ve met wonderful people.

Second:  Lotus Flowers

Lotus Flowers have been my favorite flowers for a very long time. Now that I came here and saw so many images of the lotus flower I felt really good. But this flower is so amazing that it can even be eaten.  Last night we ate, Ou, which is the root of the Lotus flower filled with rice and sweet sauce. It is delicious!!!  yet another reason to love both Shainghai and Lotus flowers.

Third: beautiful city day and night

Enough said.

Fourth: transportation system
Taxi rides are quick, cheap and fun.  The subway is fast and confusing, and the bus a bit dangerous. 

And last but not least: reporting
Over the last two days, reporting has become a new exciting challenge. I think all of us have enjoyed this part of the trip.

Lotus flower in Fudan University

Shainghai at night