On the first day of class, the Chinese students graciously took us out for lunch and more importantly, they ordered for us so we knew what we were eating.  Before they took us to the restaurant, Joana asked us if we minded taking the subway.  Philly’s subway is at best, mildly disgusting with New York’s being even worse.  Here we were, about to take the subway in China for crying out loud and I expected the absolute worst.  I imagined mass hysteria, screaming children and trash everywhere (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit but you get the idea). When I walked down the stairs I was pleasantly surprised to see clean white tiles and nice orderly lines waiting at the self-serve stations for tokens.

For a portion of our writing class, we are required to write small vignettes about moments in China.  This is the first vignette I wrote when I stepped onto the Subway for the first time.

As I step onto the crowded subway platform, I use my elbows to make my way through the many people awaiting their respective stops.  I reach for a near-empty pole and grip it, waiting for the jolt, the tell-tale sign that the subway has begun its journey. Now that my feet are firmly planted I have the opportunity to look around and take in all of my surroundings.  I wonder where people are going.  Is that young girl on her way home from university?  Or is she coming home from a long day at work?  Directly to the side of me is a man holding a young boy about four years old.  He is staring at me with the uninhibited curiosity only little kids can muster.  For some indescribable reason I did not want to break the child’s gaze.  Perhaps it’s my nostalgia for home peeping out at the sight of a family.  Hesitantly, I raise my hand to wave at the boy, unsure of what sort of response I’d get from either the boy, or his father.  The father felt my movement and was now staring at me too.  The only sign the boy showed of registering my gesture was a long blink of his eyes.  Not wanting our brief encounter to end, I extended my pinky finger to the boys fist.  He grabs it with a force I’d never expect from a boy so little.  A smile fast emerges onto his pudgy cheeks and spreads from his face to his fathers.  Suddenly, the subway came to a stop.  Following the lead of the other students, I made my way off the subway and briefly glimpsed over my shoulder for one last look at the boy.

Liz

For those of you who have been following the news pertaining to China’s recent (and devestating) earthquake, you know that it occurred within the Sechuan province.  Recently Genevieve and I had the opportunity to eat lunch at a Sechuan restaurant, so I thought it might be neat to comment on here about the food from that region.

The Sechuan restaurant is nowhere that our American group would have ever gone on our own, simply because there’s no storefront, and no English on their signs.  It’s literally a little house with an open door that shows into a room where people are sitting at makeshift tables.  You walk through an alley around back of the house and there are tables set up outside, along with a grill and a whole lot of food.  There are no pictures on the menu and it is entirely in Chinese.  Fortunately we had our Chinese classmates with us.

Genevieve & I were accompanied by Joanna, Abigail, Ricky, and Nancy.  These four wonderful friends of ours selected the food (good call, since Genevieve and I would have a tough time ordering off of a menu of Chinese characters).  We had rice, along with two large bowls that contained a mixture of food I couldn’t decipher.  The one that I fell in love with had pumpkin and chicken mixed together in a brown sauce.  Both dishes were very spicy!  The southern Chinese sure know how to do it.

A funny aside: yesterday I was walking with Weiping to Shanghai Road, and we passed by the Sechuan restaurant.  I told Weiping that we had eaten there recently, and she half-freaked out, half-burst into laughter.  I don’t think she expected us to digest the food (Genevieve and I are troopers!).  I got “be careful,” about 4 or 5 times from her on the way to Shanghai Road.

Another interesting thing to note: Today I was walking to Shanghai Road with Anne and Genevieve and noticed another Sechuan restaurant on the same road as the other.  I’ve recently been reading a book on rural-to-urban migration in China, where peasants from the countryside move to cities for factory or entrepreneurial work, and often set up enclaves within a certain area.  Within these enclaves a certain minority group will often specialize in a given field (e.g. In Beijing, Henan migrants are known for selling vegetables and recycling trash, and Anhui migrant women are known to work as maids).  With two Sechuan restaurants on the same road, it made me wonder what other Sechuan businesspeople are in that area and to what extent of a Sechuan migrant enclave exists?  And, how will those dynamics change as a result of the recent earthquake, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of natives and the displacement of over five million people?

Food for thought.

- Anthony DiFiore

It’s amazing that even in a country almost 7,500 miles from the U.S. we have created a sense of home. This weekend when we traveled to Tiantai and Ningbo, when we felt antsy on our bus ride or longed for familiarity, we most often talked about going back to Nanjing. In Nanjing we have our bedrooms, our bubble tea shop, our classroom, our new Chinese friends, our DVD store and our secret restaurants where we can buy Western food and Diet Pepsi. While I can’t speak on behalf of our entire group, I know that while I do miss people from the U.S. (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you guys!) Nanjing has been acting as my idea of home past 10 or so days. Here are some things that have helped me create Nanjing as my “Chinese home”:

In our explorations last week, we discovered a fruit stand in one of the small narrow streets off of the main road. There are clusters of ripe bananas, cherries, apples, and spiky fruits like Leiche (I don’t know that I’m spelling that correctly) and something red and bumpy that we don’t know the name of (it tastes like a raspberry/strawberry—it’s delicious!). It feels like home because it gives us a chance to eat something that tastes familiar. It also makes me feel part of the community by buying fruit to support something local. As places become familiar to us, we also have the opportunity to become familiar faces to others. While its likely that most vendors probably forget us, there’s still the chance that our acknowledgement of presence is reciprocal. The idea of routine is crucial in my feeling home.

Blurry B-ball picture

We have the privilege of getting to see our Chinese friends every morning that we are Nanjing. What a wonderful experience it has been getting to know them and learning about China through their eyes. Their kind and welcoming demeanors has made all of the difference in making me feel comfortable. The reciprocity in our relationships is definitely present. For instance today after class, we played basketball together (5 on 5 and knockout). We tested each others hoop skills. Even Ann joined in our game. As Liz commented from the sidelines “I didn’t know that this game would be so serious!” It was definitely competitive. Jenny, another Nanjing University student met by some of my classmates last week playing on the University’s outdoor courts, also joined us. We’ve nicknamed her “Jenny from the block”. She is going to join our class tomorrow.

(Ann and Maura under a very old tree.)

Maura, a Saint Joe’s alum and Nanjing University graduate student, has especially helped me feel home in Nanjing. She has showed us those secret Western style restaraunts that we eat at when we need “safe food” that we know will sit well with our stomachs. She has helped us find a German deli that serves sandwiches, a Burger King, and an Italian restaurant that we ate at last night. It was interesting to go to an Italian Restaurant in China. It was the first time that I knew what everything on the menu would taste like. It wasn’t a guessing game, it was a matter of desire. Although none of the Western style food we’ve found is the best, it tastes delicious when you’re craving something familiar.

I’m wondering if the Chinese students will have similar experiences with Chinese food in America. I’ve definitely learned that there is a difference between Chinese food in the U.S. and in China. While the food doesn’t always sit well with my stomach, it has grown on me. For instance this weekend we had a wonderful eggplant and bean dish and very fresh spinach (even though I usually hate spinach in the U.S.!) and something that almost tasted like a rice crispy pizza. To say the least, there are so many more types of Chinese food that I never thought existed. And Weiping always makes sure there is something on the menu for all of us.

I hope that as we continue our journey through China, we will make the new cities that we visit feel like home. When we leave Nanjing at the end of the week, I’m sure that we will miss our new found comforts and friends. Hopefully when we are back in the U.S., we will be able to help the Chinese students find a sense of home in Philadelphia. Maybe the City Ave Starbucks and China town restaurants will help them feel familiar when they are half way across the world?

Some of us at a Temple near Nigbo.  Emily in brown T-shirt, bottom.  (Photo AG)

Cole slaw. Brian and I sat dumbfounded trying to explain this mixture of cabbage and mayonnaise to the Nanjing University students. Dr. Green devised a creative way for the Chinese students to practice their English and prepare for the U.S. of A. Each pair of SJU students had to facilitate discussion with a group of students about Diner food, Mexican, or Italian cuisine.

The Chinese students sat excited and intent to learn, though we struggled to find the appropriate descriptions of the diner food they would encounter in August. Upon their summer arrival in the United States a new culinary experience awaited them; Dr. Green charged us with the duty to prepare our new friends for the unexpected.

We compiled our menu and organized the diner food into categories of lunch, breakfast, and dinner. Hilariously, Jamie, a Chinese student commented that according to the categories on the menu one could stay and eat there all day! This exchange between the Chinese students and Brian and I made us both more aware of the gastronomic differences between the two cultures.

Though we struggled through the explanation of French toast and the Philadelphia delicacy of cheese-steaks, we finally arrived at something quite familiar to the Chinese students: noodles.

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It’s been almost a week now, and I thought that I would be pretty adept at eating Chinese food. After all, I like it a lot, my husband is an excellent cook of Chinese, Thai, and various other Asian cuisines (on our first date he made hot and sour soup and beef with asparagus; he’s recently started working his way through a cook book of pot stickers of the world), so I thought, hey, a month in China, no problem.

Two Chinese banquets later, it is still no problem. I love Chinese food–for lunch and dinner. I’ve eaten jellyfish, the innards of bamboo, goose liver and green beans, bits of whole fish with its eyes in it, and shrimp with its head on. Weiping (see below) prevented us from eating pigeon. We may, however, have eaten frog. We’ve certainly eaten pork. And I’ve sampled some wonderful Chinese alcohol that you do shots of when your host toasts you (a necessary cultural competence!). But I haven’t quite managed to grow to like Chinese breakfasts.

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Cherry, Crosby (center) and Kevin

I certainly have to agree with those who have written thus far in that the way we have bonded with these fantastic students so deeply in such a short amount of time has left me somewhat dumbfounded. I have never in my life felt as warmly welcomed by complete strangers as I did the first day of class here. Since then my relationships with several of the students has grown exponentially.

Every morning when I walk into class I hear Jamie’s voice asking me how my night was. Not too far behind is Kevin’s quiet hello. While being much more shy than Jamie, he always has a fair amount to either ask or tell me. Today in class was no different. Immediately after sitting down he asked if I would join him and his girlfriend for lunch. After an eventful class of attempting to explain some American slang to the Chinese students, we ventured off to a restaurant for apparently the best duck in Nanjing.

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(Anthony, center; with Popo, right, and another student, photo AG)

As a quick intro, I’m the economics student among the group, so coming to China has been especially fascinating for me, given that its economy has experienced so many changes (and so much growth) over the past century. My research topics, and what I’d like to post in most of my blogs, revolve around my perceptions of China’s urban economies. Hopefully these can give some interesting insight to our blog readers of the differences between China and the United States!

This blog is about the Chinese marketplace. First, here’s some Econ 101: China considers itself to be a “socialist market system,” which is sort of an oxymoron. The Communist Party rose to power in 1949, but theoretical communism was never practiced in China. Theoretical communism implies an absence of government, and can only be achieved after the success of a ’socialist’ system. Socialism implies collective ownership by the people, for the people. When socialism has been used in governments (e.g. Soviet Union, Cuba, China, etc.), it has often turned into a situation where a dictatorship controls all modes of production (i.e. all companies), and one despot has unlimited power over the people.

So why is this important in China?

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My biggest concern about meeting the students from Nanjing was that our relationship would be one sided. That we American students would act as teachers who would “help” the Chinese students practice their English without gaining insight into Chinese culture. I knew from past service learning experiences that this rarely happens—that learning is never one-sided because relationships are created through give and take and striving to understand the other. If anything, I knew that I would probably gain more from the experience than the Chinese students. But still, I feared that I would take on a teacher role rather than a friend role. After meeting the students, I quickly learned that our relationships would not be one-sided. They have easily become our friends and exclusive Nanjing tour guides. I am going to back track to the day before yesterday (Tuesday) to explain how our relationships have developed.

(Emily (blue shirt) and Joanna (black shirt) photo by Ann Green)

After our first class on Tuesday, the Chinese students took us through Nanjing. Since we were such a large group, it was difficult to find a nearby place that could seat all of us. We decided to take the subway in order to find a bigger restaurant. The Chinese subway is unlike any American subway that I have ever seen. The stations are clean with shiny tiles and bright fluorescent bulbs. It looks more like a hospital than a subway station. The Chinese students guided us through the process of purchasing tokens, something that we would have had difficulty doing on our own because of our language barrier. We purchased our tokens in a machine and proceeded to the subway. We rode to the next stop and found ourselves in a mall where the Chinese students lead us to a dumpling restaurant. They ordered for all of us making it easy, and painless, to receive a meal. Usually it takes much patience and effort to communicate through means other than spoken language to waiters and waitresses in restaurants. With the few Chinese words that I know (although some people in our group can understand and speak Chinese more than others) it is sometimes extremely difficult, and often awkward and frustrating, to do something as simple as ordering a meal. If we are lucky, the restaurants that we go to will have an English menu or a menu with pictures. But still, we often don’t understand the exact contents of the dishes. We usually have no idea what we are ordering and whether or not we will like it. The students explained the contents of each dumpling (some had pork, spinach, and beef) and for a change we actually knew what we were eating.

They then took a group of us through the Nanjing mall. There were small stores cramped into each corner of the corridors. The neon lights looked flashy and loud trying to entice customers to peruse their selection of clothing, pursues, bags, shoes, sunglasses, and hair products. When I thought I might buy something, Nancy and Joanna (two of the Chinese students) helped me try to bargain a lower price with the sales person. They told me when the sales people were trying to cheat me, something I’ve realized that happens often when you’re a tourist in China.

(Connie, facing camera, Emily in blue, Abigail in black profile, photo by AG)

During our trip, I had a chance to learn about some of the students lives. I learned that most of them live at least an hour away from the Nanjing University campus that we Americans were staying on on another of the University’s campuses. Most of them share their dorm rooms with three other people. Their home towns are from all over China including parts of the Mongolia region and the Sichuan Province.

Lunch with students!

Greetings everyone from Nanjing! Dr. Green’s class has been working with the Chinese students for two days now but it feels like much longer. There are about twelve students who we talk to and get to know as a part of the service learning component of the course. The students are mostly our age or older about 22-24 so we have a lot in common even though we grew up on opposite ends of the earth. In class, we went over English names and Chinese names The set up and titles of English names are as confusing to them as Chinese names are to me! The Chinese students all have English names either given to them by previous English teachers or made up by themselves or they got one yesterday. Since the Chinese students have English names they gave us Chinese names. My name is Ma Li. Ma is a popular family name and they picked that name from my middle name Marie. They picked the name Li because it’s short for Liz and means “Jasmine.” Yesterday was also a big day because it was the birthday of one of the Chinese students, Nancy. We brought a cake to the class and taught the students how to sing the “Happy Birthday” song. The Chinese cake was delicious although it was hard to eat it with chopsticks.

After class we met a bunch of the students for lunch. After the bill came the Chinese students argued with the waiter until they gave us a 12% discount. At most of the shopping centers we’ve gone to haggling was necessary with the final prices coming out to 1/2 of the original price or more.

The Nanjing Museum we went to for our field trip in the afternoon was incredible. My favorite piece was a giant vase with 10,000 different characters for the word “longevity.” There was a smaller vase with ONLY 100 different characters for longevity but it didn’t look nearly as cool when compared to the giant vase. There were many artifacts left over from palaces. There was a set of porcelain bowls from the concubines of an emperor. The more yellow in the piece the more status the concubine had. We learned many different tidbits in the museum such as although bats are a symbol of night or scariness, in China the bat means luck.

The President of the Museum took us to a giant dinner after our trip. The food seemed to never stop coming with some of it being delicious such as the “grass” and other things I was afraid to try such as the jellyfish. Almost all of the drinks are served room temperature so drinking warm beer, water and everything else with dinner has taken some getting used to. Dinners are very extravagant and I feel so guilty wasting so much food. I learned later that during fancy dinners such as the one we had, it is expected to have many leftovers.

In answer to my mom’s question bubble tea is a smoothie (I prefer mango) with tapioca balls in the bottom. You drink it out of a big straw so that you drink the the tapioca balls with the smoothie at the same time. This has become a favorite of the group because it’s always served cold so it’s a refreshing beverage

L.iz Lynch

I didn’t know what to expect from Nanjing. I knew that it was formerly the capitol of China, and holds much historical importance. I knew that it’s a major economic center for the country. I also knew about its dark history during World War II, when the Japanese military slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Chinese (numbers are estimated to be as high as 350,000). In a country where family precedes the individual, I couldn’t help but wonder what differences we’d find in a city of families that have lost generations of members in unimaginable ways.

Downtown Nanjing can be attributed with giving a warm first impression. Salespeople aren’t as pushy. There’s not as much commercial flash. And we’re stationed in the middle of Nanjing University’s campus, in a beautiful hotel with modern rooms. I got my first taste of local friendliness on my first evening in Nanjing, when the owner of a local bubble tea shop gave me a free drink after chatting with him. Since then our group has given the shop a decent amount of business.

There’s one special thing I’ve noticed about Nanjing. When our group has walked along the streets, touring malls and boutique shops and little marketplaces in dimly-lit alleyways, I’ve noticed that there’s something missing. We’ve seen dessert shops, dvd/cd stores, restaurants & cafes, salons, clothing shops, and boutiques dedicated entirely to sunglasses or makeup. What we haven’t seen are law firms, offices for dentists and doctors, accounting offices, and a host of other services operations that would be deemed ‘professional.’ Where is the professional community in Nanjing?

In a place like Philadelphia, one can’t walk along Market or Walnut streets without seeing a townhouse that has been converted into a law firm. Even my hometown of Media, PA, is ripe in its downtown area with professional services firms, which sandwich the retail boutiques, restaurants, and salons.  It seems odd that a city of 5 million people wouldn’t have an established and sustainable professional services community.  Shouldn’t our host university be a local harbinger of professional services for its hometown?  Or could the generations who should be building this local economy be among those lost in the tragedies of war that happened a long time ago, but maybe not long ago enough?

For whatever the reason, one has to look very hard to find the woes of beautiful Nanjing, hidden within the economics of development.