上有天堂，下有苏杭

Ever heard of the aformentioned Chinese saying? I found it doubtful after a Sunday at Suzhou, because Suzhou was wet and slimy the day I went, just like Cathy's .....

That leaves Hangzhou to bear this phrase on its shoulders.

(Su in Su Hang refers to Suzhou, while Hang refers to Hangzhou. They are supposedly the prettiest places in China. Keyword is "supposedly".)

Thankfully, Hangzhou managed to live up to its expectations. Below is a picture essay of three girls on a (say it high-pitched) Awesoooome~ 3 day 2 night adventure.



Sunset at Bai Di, part of the famous West Lake in Hangzhou.



Felicia checking for damaged hair on my head. Joyce said we looked like we're making out.



We woke up at 7am to walk around West Lake; of course we're sleepy!



The day before. The lake was throwing tantrums.



From the half eaten bread and Joyce's just-rolled-outta-bed look, you can conclude that we really woke up quite early.



A nifty piece of typography. See the symbol and its relation to the "Hang" in "Hangzhou".



Atop Leifeng Pagoda, the legendary pagoda that kept Madam White Snake captive.



Escalator to heaven? No, it's just that historical artefacts like Leifeng Pagoda get zhng-ed too.



Still Leifeng Pagoda. This was taken from a pavillion.



After a 2 hour train ride to Hangzhou, Felicia found this... wait for it... telephone booth fascinating. Not the flowers, not the amazingly huge West Lake, but a telephone booth.



Our dorm beds. We slept with strangers! (In seperate beds, of course)



Every adventure needs a diaodiaodiao picture. And this is exactly a diaodiaodiao picture.



3 girls+West Lake=Awesome~

For our own reference, Hangzhou's theme song is 最新的杭州的交通旅游图(repeat till loudspeaker runs out of battery)

And a special thanks to Yenshin, who loaned us her camera.

Out of Control

Beijing- Gongfu star Jackie Chan's controversial comments that freedom may not be good for the Chinese people could start to hurt not just his reputation, but also his pocket.

Mainland Chinese are calling for a boycott of his May 1 concert in Beijing, Taiwanese want his latest movie ditched and Hong Kongers are protesting against his role as the city's tourism ambassador.

The 55-year-old action movie star sparked an uproar after he told a business forum last Saturday that 'we Chinese need to be controlled', lamenting that freedom had made Hong Kong and Taiwan societies chaotic. 'I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not,' said Chan, who added: 'If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want......

(To read more, go to the link below)

-Taken from http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Lifestyle/Story/STIStory_367422.html

Chaotic? Wake up and smell the desperate poor Chinese trying to pull themselves up from the rut since Mao's dictatorship era.

While China was undergoing the "Great Leap Forward" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_leap_forward), and the "Cultural Revolution" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_revolution), Hong Kong, under British rule, was increasing its GDP by leaps and bounds. Taiwan, having become the Kuomingtang's hiding ground, became a democrat society and its economy became a Miracle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_Miracle).

What happened to China? From the 1940s-1960s, scholars, land owners, entrepreneurs in the country were killed, disowned by their families, stripped of their posessions.

So Jackie Chan, before you do a high kick and go all dictator-like, punch these facts into your head first yea?

Note To Self: Never do grocery shopping on Mondays.

With queues spilling into the goods aisle, it's really not a good idea.

Shanghai Shenanigans Part 8- So ugly it's beautiful.

I was queuing up for train tickets with Felily and Joyce on Friday evening in a packed area when I saw a man cut our queue. Trying to be discreet, he sneaked to the front, and waited. Then, before Felily can open her mouth when it was finally our turn, he bent and asked the ticket salesperson for his tickets.

He was quite tall, with black spikey hair, and had on a black leather jacket. To tell the truth, he looked like one of those gangsters you see on the street.

Instinctively, I reacted before I knew. I tapped him on his back with an "Oie".

He turned around, but turned back to his conversation with the ticket salesperson hurriedly.

Heart racing, I hit his back again with a "Eh,不可以插队！"

He ignored it.

It was then, that I reacted faster than I could think. All I knew was that this fellow was cutting my queue and I didn't like it one bit. So I hit him hard, with a loud splat, on his black leather jacket, then tugged his jacket, and shouted "插队！"

This time round, Joyce chimed in and we were shouting "插队！插队！插队！" Finally, the ticket salesperson heard us, and asked who cut in. Felily slowly pointed at him. So the ticket salesperson refused to sell train tickets to him (Yay!) and asked him to queue. Furious that his attempt was futile, he turned back, and said, “你给我小心一点！”.

However, he said that line to this man beside us because he thought it was him who was hitting him.

Scary right?

After we bought the tickets, Felily and Joyce burst out and said, "Deanna!! You were sooo fierce! We were so so scared la!"

Actually, I also didn't know why I reacted that way. After he threatened the man, I was fully aware that this guy can easily beat me up. It was quite a crazy thing to do, and especially for me, a really really extreme thing to do. I really hit him hard the third time round, totally not giving any mercy at all. Thankfully, he didn't dish out his threat, for he disappeared into the crowds, leaving three scared stiff girls in his wake.

And so, I concluded that I have become a much more abrasive person here in Shanghai, which in fact, is no surprise because the fact is, I have started to embrace the ugly side of China. For my fellow Singaporeans who hasn't experienced the real China, here's a brief guide.

1) They spit and projectile mucus

You know that irritating white mucus (sometimes green, sometimes yellow) which lets itself drip inside your nose? Well, I've seen a lot of people on the street press one side of their nose. The mucus is then projected, at an angle, then with a powerful snort, forced out. It flies upwards, then down, forming an arc. Finally it lands splat on the pavement, or on anyone unfortunate.

10 marks for accuracy and form, 0 for hygiene.

2) They urinate in public

Old men, young men, young kids. They do it anywhere, anytime. The newest culprit that I saw did it at the side of a drain right in front of the subway gantry, where a whole bunch of people were coming out from.

3) Pushing is a necessity.

See point four.

4) They don't give way. Period

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Shanghai is a very small place but has a large population. Therefore, if they give way to others, they may find that there will be no time to do what they need to. Therefore, they push, shove and do whatever to get into that bloody train, even before anyone can step out of it at all.


5) They'll exploit any tourist, especially if you're Japanese.

I once found myself in a tourist trap (one of those meeting rooms where they talk to you about a useless product and cajole you into buying it). There was this person who called himself the General Manager of the company, and started to proclaim he owned a casino in Genting. He proceeded to give a speech about how he wasn't going to sell us their products because he didn't want to earn from his fellow Chinese. Instead, he said, "我们要赚日本鬼子的钱！" and made a cutting throat sign with his hands. The whole room exploded with applause, to my immense surprise. Afterward, he gave out his namecard, which reaffirms that he was a fake, because on the card, it was written:

Malaysia Gambling Co. Limited
Singapore Holy (Pratas) Property Co. Limited

Pratas! People, his company name is Holy Pratas! The same thing in the hawker centre we like to eat with sugar and curry, only more religious!

After the speech, he went around shaking hands, then told us that he would be giving out prizes in the next room. As the rest of the (greedy) Chinese people happily went into the room, the rest of us Singaporeans who grew up eating pratas went to the toilet, then back up the tour bus instead.

In another incident, Felily, Joyce and I happened to walk around "Zhou Zhuang", a preserved ancient town with 2 japanese tourists. They were ladies, and looked to be in their thirties. Both didn't know Chinese at all, but they knew a little English, so they followed us. We took a slow boat ride together along the small river. The steerer of the boat, a middle aged lady, asked us if we would like her to sing. It's RMB 10 if she sings. On hearing that an exchange of money is necessary, our cheapo instincts kicked in and we rejected her. She then turned her sights on the Japanese ladies, but before that, she told us that she was merely doing business and we should not interrupt her business. She then quoted RMB 20 to the ladies for a song. We told the ladies it wasn't worth it, so they didn't want the song either. For the rest of our boat ride, we experienced the slow rocky motion of the waters, saw the laidback life of the ancient town, and endured the steerer's incessant nagging.




See, from these examples, how can I not become abrasive? Nowadays, I stare, I elbow and I say out my displeasure. Once, a boy around 4 or 5 years old was peeing at a grass patch outside the Olympic Stadium in Beijing. I looked at him as I walked past, and said, "你在公共场所尿尿好恶心哦！Eeew!"

To one person who pushed his way in front of me while I was at the Forbidden Palace, I hit him on the back and said in his face, "不要推可以吗？！" He said some stuff which I didn't understand to defend himself. People turned and looked. He left. Soon told me I looked fierce.

Look at what China made me! I have never done anything like these in Singapore, never at all. While I'm glad that I found my vigilante voice of justice, I have newfound fears of being beaten up in some dirty alley in future by some holy pratas man.

So, your job is to remind me that my life is at stake when I decide to be a superhero/Singa the Courtesy Campaign lion.

The Post-it Post.

The designer's joke. (I think this poster from ffffound.com is very funny)



Buying stinky chicken home and ruining a curry chicken night reminded me that I'm not a cook at all.

Having to lug home two full bags of groceries reminded me that I am leading an independent life- and it's quite tough on the arms sometimes.

Looking at my boss bitch about people reminded me the reality of office politics.

Recounting the above experience to my housemates with glee reminded me that I'm not much of a saint anyway.

Hearing stories about tensions and conflicts in other houses reminded me how fortunate I am.

Talking to my grandma on the phone, even though I can't fully understand her, and vice versa, reminded me of home.

Bathing slowly reminded me there's always a time to relax.

Discussing old songs with my housemates reminded me that I was in secondary school once, with the mushroom head, long socks and all.

Being reminded of the mushroom head reminded me that I was an awkward kid.

Having once been an awkward kid reminded me how far I've come in opening up.

Reading emails reminded me I still have friends who care.



Reading emails written by my teammates reminded me of basketball.

And how much I miss it.

Shanghai Shenanigans Part 7- All Settled In

Next week would be the halfway mark of my internship, and near the halfway mark of this programme. Fast eh?

Yesterday, I felt that I have been living this way forever- forever, in a good way, meaning I like this life. For the first time, I look at this apartment in Zhongshan Gongyuan, and saw that it was a truly functional home. We've got the rice cooker, the pot, the pan, the hairdryer in the toilet, the home ornaments- three chaptehs from beijing, a whiteboard that currently states "回家了！:D".

Wow. We're really all settled in. Would make my mama proud if she seen what I, no wait, me and my housemates did.

Ahh. I feel grown-up.

Submission

The Qing Dynasty was ruled by the Manchurian. These people, viewed by the Han Chinese as outsiders, forced all male citizens of China to shave half their hair off, and to tie a long pigtail for all their lives. The hairstyle was called the "queue", a distinct hairstyle of the Manchurian. The Han Chinese that do not comply were seen as rebels, and were captured and killed.

Bet most of ya didn't know that!

The leader.

Mao Zedong
His ruthless vision united a fractured people and inspired revolutions far beyond China's borders
By JONATHAN D. SPENCE

Monday, April 13, 1998

Mao Zedong loved to swim. In his youth, he advocated swimming as a way of strengthening the bodies of Chinese citizens, and one of his earliest poems celebrated the joys of beating a wake through the waves. As a young man, he and his close friends would often swim in local streams before they debated together the myriad challenges that faced their nation. But especially after 1955, when he was in his early 60s and at the height of his political power as leader of the Chinese People's Republic, swimming became a central part of his life. He swam so often in the large pool constructed for the top party leaders in their closely guarded compound that the others eventually left him as the pool's sole user. He swam in the often stormy ocean off the north China coast, when the Communist Party leadership gathered there for its annual conferences. And, despite the pleadings of his security guards and his physician, he swam in the heavily polluted rivers of south China, drifting miles downstream with the current, head back, stomach in the air, hands and legs barely moving, unfazed by the globs of human waste gliding gently past. "Maybe you're afraid of sinking," he would chide his companions if they began to panic in the water. "Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, you won't sink. If you do, you will."

Mao was a genius at not sinking. His enemies were legion: militarists, who resented his journalistic barbs at their incompetence; party rivals, who found him too zealous a supporter of the united front with the Kuomintang nationalists; landlords, who hated his pro-peasant rhetoric and activism; Chiang Kai-shek, who attacked his rural strongholds with relentless tenacity; the Japanese, who tried to smash his northern base; the U.S., after the Chinese entered the Korean War; the Soviet Union, when he attack ed Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist policies. Mao was equally unsinkable in the turmoil — much of which he personally instigated — that marked the last 20 years of his rule in China.

Mao was born in 1893, into a China that appeared to be falling apart. The fading Qin dynasty could not contain the spiraling social and economic unrest, and had mortgaged China's revenues and many of its natural resources to the apparently insatiable foreign powers. It was, Mao later told his biographer Edgar Snow, a time when "the dismemberment of China" seemed imminent, and only heroic actions by China's youth could save the day.

Mao's earliest surviving essay, written when he was 19, was on one of China's most celebrated early exponents of cynicism and realpolitik, the fearsome 4th century B.C. administrator Shang Yang. Mao took Shang Yang's experiences as emblematic of China's crisis. Shang Yang had instituted a set of ruthlessly enforced laws, designed "to punish the wicked and rebellious, in order to preserve the rights of the people." That the people continued to fear Shang Yang was proof to Mao they were "stupid." Mao attributed this fear and distrust not to Shang Yang's policies but to the perception of those policies: "At the beginning of anything out of the ordinary, the mass of the people always dislike it."

After the communist victory over Chiang Kai-shek in 1949, and the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Mao's position was immeasurably strengthened. Despite all that the Chinese people had endured, it seems not to have been too hard for Mao to persuade them of the visionary force and practical need for the Great Leap Forward of the late 1950s. In Mao's mind, the intensive marshaling of China's energies would draw manual and mental labor together into a final harmonious synthesis and throw a bridge across the chasm of China's poverty to the promised socialist paradise on the other side.

In February 1957, Mao drew his thoughts on China together in the form of a rambling speech on "The Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People." Mao's notes for the speech reveal the curious mixture of jocularity and cruelty, of utopian visions and blinkered perceptions, that lay at the heart of his character. Mao admitted that 15% or more of the Chinese people were hungry and that some critics felt a "disgust" with Marxism. He spoke too of the hundreds of thousands who had died in the revolution so far, but firmly rebutted figures — quoted in Hong Kong newspapers — that 20 million had perished. "How could we possibly kill 20 million people?" he asked. It is now established that at least that number died in China during the famine that followed the Great Leap between 1959 and 1961. In the Cultural Revolution that followed only five years later, Mao used the army and the student population against his opponents. Once again millions suffered or perished as Mao combined the ruthlessness of Shang Yang with the absolute confidence of the long-distance swimmer.

Rejecting his former party allies, and anyone who could be accused of espousing the values of an older and more gracious Chinese civilization, Mao drew his sustenance from the chanting crowds of Red Guards. The irony here was that from his youthful readings, Mao knew the story of how Shang Yang late in life tried to woo a moral administrator to his service. But the official turned down Shang Yang's blandishments, with the words that "1,000 persons going 'Yes, yes!' are not worth one man with a bold 'No!'"

Mao died in 1976, and with the years those adulatory cries of "Yes, yes!" have gradually faded. Leaders Mao trained, like Deng Xiaoping, were able to reverse Mao's policies even as they claimed to revere them. They gave back to the Chinese people the opportunities to express their entrepreneurial skills, leading to astonishing rates of growth and a complete transformation of the face of Chinese cities.

Are these changes, these moves toward a new flexibility, somehow Mao's legacy? Despite the agony he caused, Mao was both a visionary and a realist. He learned as a youth not only how Shang Yang brought harsh laws to the Chinese people, even when they saw no need for them, but also how Shang Yang's rigors helped lay the foundation in 221 B.C. of the fearsome centralizing state of Qin. Mao knew too that the Qin rulers had been both hated and feared and that their dynasty was soon toppled, despite its monopoly of force and efficient use of terror. But in his final years, Mao seems to have welcomed the association of his own name with these distant Qin precursors. The Qin, after all, had established a united state from a universe in chaos. They represented, like Mao, not the best that China had to offer, but something ruthless yet canny, with the power briefly to impose a single will on the scattered emotions of the errant multitude. It is on that grimly structured foundation that Mao's successors have been able to build, even as they struggle, with obvious nervousness, to contain the social pressures that their own more open policies are generating. Surely Mao's simple words reverberate in their ears: As long as you are not afraid, you won't sink.

Jonathan Spence teaches at Yale and is the author of several acclaimed books on China

This article was taken from http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/mao3.html

In Beijing, I queued for 1 hour to see his preserved body. In the queue were tour groups, common folk, foreigners like me and people from all walks of life, but mostly Chinese. At one point, people could get out of the queue to buy flowers to put in the memorial hall. A lot bought. When we finally stepped into the memorial hall, a large sculpture of him sitting comfortably on a sofa greets us. Behind the sculpture is a painting of mountains and hills. It was there, that there was an uncanny feeling that he was like a modern day emperor.

Mao mastermined the Great Leap Forward (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward) and the Cultural Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution), which resulted in millions of deaths. But people worshipped him- and still do now.

To quote him on communism, "Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer we use to crush the enemy."

He truly is, modern day Qin Shi Huang.

And I am totally fascinated by this obsession over him.

Reasons for Starting a New Blog.

After 852 posts on a teenage-angst blogskin, I've decided (on a whim while in the bathroom) to start a new blog because

1) I can write on a white surface. Finally!!

2) No more teen-angst. I'm 21, you know. Avril Lavigne's face does not add personality to my posts anymore.

3) I need some fresh perspectives. Maybe after this, I'll get around to changing my ringtone and handphone wallpaper of 1 year.

4) I just want to. Me want, me get.