GPC in China--Does China Have a Middle Class?: 10 or 15 years ago, guys like the watermelon man in the photo to the right were much more common. Now they have to compete with more cars, buses, scooters, and even roller-bladers. China definitely looks different and by different I mean more prosperous. All of the young people wear jeans, which used to be too expensive, and almost everyone seems to have cellphone. But does that mean that China is growing a middle-class in the way we think of a middle-class? The answer, I'm finding, seems to be, "No." According to Arthur Kroeber of Dragonomics Research and editor of China Economic Review (see May 2007 issue), the growth that China has seen has resulted from a combination of foreign investment and exports. To sustain growth China needs its own people to become consumers. But when you look at incomes and living costs, what you find is that only about 125 million out of the total populations have significant disposable income. And they are limited by opportunity costs as well, for if they buy a car, it may be years before they can save enough money to buy anything else, such as a major appliance or computer. Also, these 125 million or so Chinese consumers are concentrated in 3 zones: Beijing-Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Shanghai-Hangzhou. Those three urban centers are as far apart from each other as some European capitals, creating real challenges for foreign companies that want to set up distribution centers to serve these far-flung cities. Estimates on how quicky China can grow a consumer class vary, with the most conservative suggesting a possible 300 million consumers by 2015. This week I had an interesting conversation with a bright young journalism major, let's call him "Itchy," who recently finished internships with both Xinhua News Agency in Beijing and the prestigious Wenhui Daily in Shanghai. Itchy also thinks that China doesn't have a true middle-class and he thinks it could be 50-100 years before it really gets one. Of course, these facts are not all bad for U.S. businesses and other foreign companies that want to do business in China. Such realities may burst our China bubble but prompt a more strategic focus on various trends and issues that shape emerging markets here. For example, financial services, is one area that seems to be doing well, with both Chinese banks and foreign banks, such as Citigroup, expanding their range of services as they try to discover niches that reflect consumer wants and needs. Fueling domestic spending through the availability cheap credit!--That sounds more like the American Way than Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, don't you think?!

GPC in China: Nanjing by Night, Part II: At about 1:30am, I was getting ready to shoot some generic street scenes on Ninghai Road in front of our campus when this young man came walking by. He expressed an interest in what I was doing, and I offered to shoot his portrait, and he agreed. I did five or six shots with him and it all took less than five minutes. I liked this one the best since, as you can see, he has undeniable charisma. Afterward, I gave him my blog address so he could view the photo when he gets back to his own country (he sounded American). I wish that I had written down his name because afterward, I was so focused on getting all of my equipment gathered, I forgot his name. I think I will start keeping a journal to record the names of the persons who pose for my street photography. Anyway, friend, thanks for posing for this portrait. When you do finally view your portrait, please email me and I'll update this blog entry to include your name if you want. Best, William.

GPC in China--Nanjing by Night, Part I: Friends of mine know I'm a fan of the Rumanian emigre photographer Brassai, who shot night scenes of Paris in the '30's. Last night came the biggest rain we've had since arriving in Nanjing. I'm a bit of a night-owl and couldn't resist going out to try and snap a few shots of Nanjing's glistening streets. The little cobblestone alleyway in the photo to the left isn't as foreboding as it looks. It's just around the corner from my dorm and a stone's throw from Ninghai Road that runs in front of our campus. At 1am I was wrestling a tripod, fiddling with shutter speeds, doing manual focus in the half-dark, fighting foggy lenses, and dodging the occasional lone midnight motor scooter rider until I got the shot that I liked. Wherever you are out there, Brassai, are you proud of me? (Photos on this blog are clickable if you wish to view them in a large format).

GPC in China--The Private Gardens of Suzhou: I snapped this picture of some little manmade waterfalls in the private garden called the Canglang Pavilion in Suzhou. Although, I preferred the forested trails of the hills outside of Hang Zhou, I think I would have enjoyed the elaborate private gardens of Suzhou more if they had not been so crowded. I guess the problem is that the private gardens are no longer private! After returning from Suzhou, I found a funny old verse by the Song Dynasty poet Ye Shaoweng, entitled, "On Getting No Admittance to a Private Garden":

Most likely, he hates visitors' clog-spikes leaving prints on the green moss;
No response is made to my prolonged tapping at the wicker door.
But how can the splendor of springtime in a garden be enclosed?
A twig of red apricot flowers peeps out over the wall.

GPC in China--Han Shan Temple, Part II: During our visit to Han Shan Temple in Suzhou several weeks ago, I snapped this photo of a Buddhist nun. Even though I took the pic before I'd learned to use the continuous-servo focus feature on the camera I was using, and it came out a bit blurred, I still liked it because the the nun looked so serene. Of the many schools of Buddhism, only Chan survives as a vibrant practice (the famous Shao Lin Temple monks are Chan). Chan was somewhat counter-cultural in its orientation and did not benefit from state-sponsorship in the early dynasties, and so, to its benefit, it did not suffer but instead flourished when those dynasties fell. Unlike other forms of Buddhist practice which were textually focused, Chan emphasized the importance of teacher-disciple relationships and active, joyful participation in society. Chan traditions tell of Chinese "homegrown" Buddhist teachers, such as Hongren and Huineng, whose combination of humor and insight challenged their students to consider how the Buddha's teaching applied to their existing situations. The Chinese Chan Buddhists trace their lineage all the way to the historical Buddha through Bodhidharma to one of the Buddha's favorite disciples, Mahakasyapa. The story is told of how the Buddha once appeared to preach before a large crowd, but instead of preaching, simply held up flower instead. Mahakasyapa was the first person to smile at this, and the Buddha said that Mahakasyapa had understood his sermon the best. Judging from her beautiful smile, it looks like the nun in the photograph above understood the lesson, too. (Thanks to the East-West Center's Peter Hershock and his excellent book for introducing me to Chan Buddhism).

GPC in China--Counting Down the Days! I snapped this photo of a man and woman involved in some kind of intense discussion on a market street in Suzhou. I'm still curious to know what they were fussing about, but it's more fun to imagine. Relationships have been an interesting subject here in China. Chinese people have asked us if we know about the one-child policy, but haven't expressed any criticisms of it. I've made one good Chinese friend whose parents divorced early and who grew up in a step-family. Another new Chinese friend just broke up with his girlfriend because she wants to stay in Nanjing and he wants to live and work in Beijing. Based on conversations we've had with various Chinese divorced persons or children of divorce, it appears that what I'd read about previously is true: that divorce and its consequences are more common here. Yet, still on every radio station, Chinese pop songs weave the dream of a shared romance, and on the shores of Hang Zhou's West Lake, between the peacock pen and the tidal basin, we stumbled up on a plump Chinese lady bedecked in a Western-style white bridal gown, posing for a photographer in anticipation of a "white wedding" that is becoming more and more popular here.

GPC in China: Trip to Hang Zhou Part V: Next time I come back to China, I want to do an entire photo series on Chinese people and their ice-cream. Of course, people everywhere love ice-cream, but the Chinese--young and old--seem to really love their ice cream. When I took this photo, I had originally planned to photograph this girl and her mother eating ice-cream together, but her mother and I got to talking together and she told me that she was an alumnus of Nanjing Normal University (the school where I and our GPC students are studying). She then introduced me to her parents (the little girl's grandparents) and the whole family gathered around and encouraged this little girl to pose for her own photograph, which she bravely did. Next I'd like to photograph some senior adults with their ice-cream. Some of them look just as happy and just as funny.

GPC in China--Trip to Hang Zhou Part IV: Some of the most fun we had in Hang Zhou was in an outdoor market on Riverboat Street that really had a carnival-like atmosophere. There were people in costume walking about, magicians, musicians, an inflatable moonwalk for the kids, and people eating ice-cream everywhere. Everybody on Riverboat Street was having a good time, especially kids. After dining on a tasty lunch of beef noodle soup (very much like the Vietnamese "pho" that we enjoy in the U.S.), we went next door to the Dairy Queen for a smoothie. I really enjoyed talking with these two sweet but goofy guys that made my strawberrry smoothie at the DQ.

GPC in China: Trip to Hang Zhou Part III: The photo to the left was taken on one of Hang Zhou's many truly delightful forested trails, this one in particular called "The Tiger Spring Path." The ancient story tells how some Buddhist monks planned to build a temple on this forested hillside. In preparation for construction of the temple, they began to dig a well, but after much effort found no water, and then decided to abandon their plans. Before leaving, one of the monks took a nap beside the well that they had been digging and had a dream in which two tigers visited him and caused water to spring up from the well. According to the legend, when the monk awoke, there was, indeed, water flowing from the well. The temple was built, and rest, as they say, is history. I enjoyed the real solitude of the meandering, forested trails and rustic pagodas of Hang Zhou more than the crowded, miniaturized, and manicured gardens of SuZhou.

GPC in China--Trip to Hang Zhou Part II: The photo to the left is the skyline of Hang Zhou taken from my room on the 13th floor of the Jian Feng Guest House. We thought it was funny that the hotels here have a 13th floor, but we didn't have any bad luck on our trip to Hang Zhou. When I first looked at the neon sign for our hotel, it looked to me as if its name meant "Wind of Construction." That would have been an apt moniker, considering all of the highways, highrises, condos, and overpasses that were under construction as far as the eye could see in Hang Zhou. In his critical study, S/Z, Roland Barthes explores the cultural relativity of concepts of beauty and exposes their arbitrary nature from an epistemological point-of-view. My experiences talking with Chinese people about Hang Zhou have suggested the extent to which beauty is a cultural construct, not necessarily grounded in an objective reality. Case in point: After I returned from Hang Zhou, many Chinese people asked me, "Wasn't it beautiful?" and if I had answered honestly, on the whole, I would have had to say, "No." But when I asked these same people if they had ever been to Hang Zhou, most of them also said, "No."This made me wonder why they thought Hang Zhou was beautiful if they had never been there themselves. When I inquired further about this, I learned that most of what they conceive to be the beauty of Hang Zhou is found in the poetry written about Hang Zhou in the pre-modern period. The world of Hang Zhou--of the poets and painters who lived, loved, and created art beside Hang Zhou's famous West Lake--still exists in the minds of Chinese people the way that, say, Shakespeare's London exists in the minds of Anglophiles. Modern Hang Zhou is an unfinished work--I'd like to come back and see how it is in 5 or 10 years. In it's current state, it is not nearly as green as the other cities we've visited--Beijing, Zhen Jiang, Nanjing, and SuZhou--that is, until you get outside of the city. Out on the periphery, the West Lake and the forested hills surrounding the city offer more than a hint of the ghosts of Hang Zhou's poetic past. But when you are in the in city center, they seem quite hidden away.

GPC in China--Hang Zhou Tour: This weekend, our group is in Hang Zhou for a two-and-half day tour. There is an old saying in China that, "In heaven you have paradise, and on earth, Hang Zhou and Su Zhou. After our charming tour of Su Zhou last weekend, I was a little thrown when we arrived in Hang Zhou only to be greeted by the worst rush hour traffic in memory, threading through mile after mile of scaffolding and in-progress construction of various overpasses and causeways, etc. It was construction on a scale like I've never seen in America--like Spaghetti Junction to the 10th power on acid. Where was the famously charming Hang Zhou, I wondered? Turns out that Hang Zhou is two cities in one--the concrete jungle at the center and a treasure trove of gorgeous and serene lakeside parks, gardens, and tea plantations around its perimeter. It's bizarre that these two completely incongruous environments are within such close driving distance of each other. In the photo above, a group of tourists gather under a tree beside Hang Zhou's renowned West Lake. More on Hang Zhou in my next posts...

Our visit to NNU's satellite campus, part II: After we had dinner with the NNU students, our GPC students were invited to do a panel session for them. The auditorium was full of two or three hundred Chinese undergraduates, and they were all encouraged to ask our students questions about American life and our impressions of China. This was a really fun night! The atmosphere was very informal and the Chinese students had a really good time asking us their questions (in very good English, I might add) and laughing at some of our students' replies. On this trip to China, I've been hearing a Chinese word that I've never heard on previous trips--"sui bian." It means "informal" or "casual" and several times, when asking a Chinese person what I should do in a certain situation, they have replied with a smile, "sui bian!" In spite of the apparent censorship of my blog here, I'm impressed with this new "sui bian" (i.e. casual) attitude in China, and I hope that it is the spirit of "sui bian" that catches on here. It certainly seemed to prevail on our fun and very free-wheeling panel session with NNU students.

Last Thursday evening, our GPC group was invited to spend some time with students from Nanjing Normal University's satellite campus, a very new and modern looking development about 30 minutes outside of Nanjing. We watched some Chinese guys shoot baskets while conversing with our hosts, mostly students studying to prepare themselves to teach Chinese-as-a second-language in foreign countries. They told us of the predicament of some of their classmates who have justrecently travelled to Thailand to teach Chinese in Thai primary schools. The Chinese student-teachers were distressed to find that their upcountry Thai pupils spoke no English, leaving them without any common language of communication--a challenge they were not expecting. I had fun watching the Chinese guys in the photo to the left play ball. The guy in the yellow shirt was the shortest, so he played the hardest. It was good sportsmanship and good drama as well.

Hi friends! I was disappointed to discover this week that it appears that China is censoring my blog (and all other foreign blogs hosted by blogspot that I have tried to access so far). I was surprised and saddened by this because my blog seems innocuous enough. I hope it will only be temporary. Anyway, as you can see, I've found a way around this, sort of. I can post, but I just can't view my own blog here. More on this situation as it evolves. The photo to the left was taken in SuZhou last weekend. I really enjoyed listening to these three perform traditional music and snapped this photo while they took a break. This photo was taken in the neihborhood they call Zhou Zuang--the "water town" of SuZhou. (The photos on this blog are clickable if you'd enjoy viewing them in a larger size).

While in Suzhou this past weekend, we visited the Cold Mountain Temple, named after the 7th century monk-poet Han Shan (his name means "Cold Mountain"). I was especially interested to visit this temple because ever since being introduced to Han Shan several years ago, I have enjoyed reading and re-reading his poems. As the reader learns, "Han Shan" or "Cold Mountain" is not actually a place as much as it is a state of mind. It's not that there is no actual Cold Mountain--there are several, but Han Shan's poems about climbing Cold Mountain are generally considered to be allegories of the path toward Enlightenment. They work as poems, however, because unlike, say, Wordsworth's reflections on Mt. Snowdon' in which the idealism of the poet is foregrounded, Han Shan's poems are vivid and even sensual (though in an uncanny sort of way), and the spiritual message is subliminally present in the landscape itself. The temple itself wasn't in very good repair and I didn't see any monks around, but I found myself drawn to the relationship between the two temple custodians pictured to the left. I like to imagine that the man in the picture is the face of the poet-monk Han Shan:

Wonderful this road to Cold Mountain--
Yet there's no sign of horse or carriage.
In winding valleys too torturous to trace,
On crags piled who knows how high,
A thousand different grasses weep with dew
And pines hum together in the wind.
Now it is, that straying from the path,
You ask your shadow, "What way from here?"
--Han Shan

GPC in Nanjing: Week 2: Will staying in China for more than a week make you crazy? The answer must be, "Yes!" After a week of non-stop, whirlwind touring in Beijing, all of us experienced a little bit of belated culture stress after getting settled into Nanjing and decompressing a little. All of the telltale signs were there. You know what I mean--the late night runs to the McDonalds near our campus; eating a second or third chocolate sundae just because you can; paying your taxi driver too much to drive you to Nanjing's Pizza Hut, even though it's way on the other side of town. And there are those unwished for little surprises--like how what looks like an Egg McMuffin on the menu here has no Canadian bacon on it, but lots (and I mean lots!) of ketchup and mayo. In the photo to the left is Monique Artis, a first-year student of Chinese who is on this trip with her twin sister, Heather. Stephanie Wallace, another student on our trip, had fun fitting "Mo" into her red, hoody, custom-made-in-China straight-jacket . Mo wants you all to know that she did not want this photo published, and she is not, NOT, crazy! Really!

GPC in Nanjing: Week 2: This past weekend, we took a weekend-long tour to one of the southernmost cities in Jiangsu province--Suzhou.

Situated on the Grand Canal that connects Shanghai all the way to Beijing, Suzhou prospered early and by the time of the Yuan and Ming had a well-deserved reputation as a city of the arts, riches, and romance. Especially charming was the area called Zhou Zhuang, a "watertown" with houses and shops built along many little canals--like a little Bangkok--but in a very charming yet understated Chinese style. In the photo to the left, a young performer of Kun Qu (a forerunner of Beijing Opera, or "Jing Ju") prepares for his performance which was lively and which we enjoyed very much.

GPC in Nanjing: Week 2: Last Thursday, we took a tour of the Zhong Shan scenic area on the northeast side of Nanjing. There are many impressive sites there, including an expansive and hauntingly beautiful memorial garden and an ancient Ming tomb/burial mound, now covered with a mysterious and misty canopy of rainforest. This photo to the left was taken just in front of the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925), founder of the Republic of China. The more than 300 steps one must climb to reach the top are symbolic of China's population at the time of its construction--300 million. The photos on this blog are clickable if you want to see them in a larger size, which I especially recommend doing in this case if you want to get the feeling of being at Dr. Sun's burial site. Dr. Sun's mausoleum was one of the most beautiful and best kept up sites that we've visited, and though it was magisterial, it had a very intimate and human feeling about it as well, befitting the spirit of the noble man whom it was designed to honor.