Pictures

Today was one of the rare clear days in Wenzhou so I decided to post some pictures that I took today using my point and shoot Canon PowerShot SD 1000.  If anyone would like a copy, let me know in the blog comments.



In this b/w picture you see contrast between the rich and poor in Wenzhou.

In this picture you can see a family living in one of the slums.

This picture is a city-scape looking at the South side of Wenzhou from one of the many bridges.

This is a picture of a purple flower that I thought was pretty.

Many goods are transported on small river boats like this one.

A butterfly.

This is one of the arch suspension bridges in the city. Behind it is a temple (red roof).

Three gazebos at a park behind the Number 21 Middle School.

Weather

So it's winter in Wenzhou. For those of you who are wondering what the winter weather is like, it is not too different from the Panhandle of Florida. Winters are usually warm, cloudy and wet here in Wenzhou. The average temperature so far has been in the mid 40s Fahrenheit and it usually rains at least once a week. However, there is one big difference between Wenzhou and almost anywhere in the states; SMOG.

For someone like me who grew up in a place where it is not uncommon to have three or even five times the visibility you get here in Wenzhou, the smog has been the most difficult thing to get used to. As I grew up in Oregon's Willamette Valley and have lived in such places as Redmond (in Central Oregon) and Pensacola (in the Florida Panhandle) I am rather used to being able to see hundreds of miles on a clear day.

As you can see in this picture, there is a lot of smog in Wenzhou. In fact, in the months that I have been here there have been only a handful of days without smog. The sky is often grey in the morning not from clouds, but from the exhaust of 7 million cars, buses, and motorcycles. At sunset, the sky turns a brownish-red. Why is it red? Red light is the only wavelength that can penetrate the brownish smog. Only when there is a strong wind does the smog dissipate. On those days, if it isn't raining, you can see about 5 or maybe as much as 7 miles and the sky will be blue. Those days are very nice.

That being said, once you get out of the city the air pollution is not that bad. I have posted some pics of Wenzhou here today for all to see. I will post pictures of the outlying areas as soon as I get out to take some.















This picture is a late morning street scene near my apartment.

In this picture, you see one of the murals painted on the side of a community building. This is the only form of street art in Wenzhou. You will not see graffiti here.

This picture is a b/w shot of a building across the river.

This is the same mural as before, but I played with the colors.

Here you see the same river front picture as at the beginning of this blog, but again I played with the colors; highlighting the only green area in the shot.

NO MORE GOOGLE?!?!?!?

OK. So almost everyone has heard about the hacking of Google China. Google has announced that it is considering leaving China entirely. Why is this such a big deal you say? Well, for one Google is an internet powerhouse in every market it has ever entered EXCEPT here in China where Baido reigns supreme. Also, Google and the Chinese government have had a rather difficult time seeing eye-to-eye about freedom of information. This has led to many theories and counter theories and counter-counter theories; all fueled by the media and by people who like to chase the mice inside their skulls. So, I am not going to go into it very much. Basically all we know is that Google was hacked and the code used to hack the behemoth was apparently Chinese. We don't know who, why or really even when it all began. We don't know if it was one person, a group of people working together, or multiple unrelated attempts by several independent and people. We don't know anything. So what does this tell us? NOTHING.

So what if the code was Chinese? Hackers of this level are generally rather good at hiding their tracks. Just because the code was Chinese does not mean the user was also Chinese. I am not going to put forth any opinion here, but if you are interested in finding out more, here is a link to a rather good blog about the subject. http://chinatripper.wordpress.com/   Look for the posting dated January 21, 2010.

Exams and Standardized Tests

Here in China, they place a huge emphasis on exams and standardized tests. Beginning in primary school, students are taught how to pass the state exams. The higher the average scores for the schools, the higher their status and the more benefits they can get. This continues right up to the university level. Students majoring in English are required to pass certain exams before graduation. These exams are usually the TEM (Test for Emglish Majors) 4 and 8. The TEM 4 is given to students in their sophomore year and the TEM 8 is given in their final year. Where I have found the going to be difficult is that the students and the administration don't care if you are teaching your students the skills they will need to communicate in English, so long as the students can score highly on the TEM exams. This is like teaching doctors how to pass the MCAT without teaching them anatomy. Although the government (both local and national) are trying to change this and shift the focus of the officials and the average people away from "teaching for tests," there seems to be a cultural reluctance to change this focus.

Standardized testing is not a recent phenomenon in China. Rather it has its roots in the imperial exam system in which young men would have to score highly on these government tests if they wanted to attain a high ranking job with in the government. The higher the score, the better the job and the more prestige an individual could hope to gain. If a person failed or did poorly on an exam, they lost face and would run the risk of shaming not only themselves, but all their relatives. This is something that many westerners have a hard time coming to terms with as most western cultures view the individual as a separate entity. In other words, we see the successes or failures of an individual as their and theirs alone, not as a reflection of the entire familial line. This cultural dependence on exam results seems to have carried forward through today's TEM and other similar exams. However, there are some problems with this. The first is that students know that no matter how poorly they do in a particular class, so long as they can pass the exams, they are pretty much guaranteed to graduate and find a decent job. It takes away from the authority of the teacher (at least at the university level).

This is not to say that I am completely against standardized exams. On the contrary, I think they serve a purpose but that purpose should be secondary to classroom academics. This would ensure not only that students would learn the necessary skills to succeed in their chosen field, but it would still leave room for standardized exams. Standardized exams should be used as "benchmarks" or tools by which we might judge a particular student's strengths or weaknesses. Once those strengths or weaknesses are known, then the student should be given the opportunity to receive more focused training or tutoring to strengthen weak areas. The standardized test should not be where the buck stops, but rather where it begins.

Anyone else have thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them.

Earning Extra Cash

While you are in China, especially if you are working as a teacher, you will probably have the opportunity to earn some extra money on the side as a private tutor or part-time teacher at another school. I highly suggest that you consider doing this. The main reason is that you can earn pretty good money for being a tutor. The going rate in Wenzhou for a private tutor is 100 yuan per student per hour. Most tutoring sessions involve at least 2 students for two hours per week. You do the math. If you are offered the chance to teach part time, you will have to negotiate your salary, but it should be fairly good.

On average, a private tutor can expect to earn an extra 1,000-4,000 yuan per month or more depending on how many students you take on and whether or not they come to you or you travel to them. Usually if they come to you, you will give them a small discount in the tuition fees. I teach 2 students for 2 hours every week and I get 300 yuan for each session which amounts to 1,200 yuan per month. For those of you who are not sure how much that really is, it is enough for you to live comfortably in almost any city in China. This means that you can save your regular salary for traveling, sending money home, or whatever you want. My monthly salary is only 4,500 yuan per month and I need to send most of that home to pay off my student loans since I am now past the grace period. The extra 1,200 yuan means that I can send a little more home or save it for travel.

As of the time of this blog, the exchange rate for yuan to USD is 1 USD=6.828 yuan.
4,500 yuan (RMB)=659.05 USD
1,200 yuan (RMB)=175.46 USD

4,500 yuan (RMB)=412.72 GBP (British Pounds)
1,200 yuan (RMB)=110.06 GBP

4,500 yuan (RMB)=458.44 EUR (Euro)
1,200 yuan (RMB)=122.25 EUR

For those who are interested, you can find up-to-date exchange rates at:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi?Amount=4500.00&From=CNY&To=EUR&x=18&y=5

Award Banquets

About once a year the city of Wenzhou puts on an award banquet and invites all the foreign teachers in the city. This one took place on 28 September 2009. One of my coworkers was one of the recipients of the Yandang Friendship Award. These banquets are usually formal and they provide a good opportunity for foreigners to meet and mingle with the officials not just of the school they work for, but also of the city. A warning to all of you who have never been to a Chinese banquet, expect to partake in many toasts. Your glass will never be empty so be careful if you have wine or beer, most people get rather drunk at these events. I was one of the drunk ones, but then I wasn't alone either. The only downside was that I had to teach the next day, but that is what movies are for.  Anyway, here are some pictures from that night.

Night life in Wenzhou

Most Chinese cities have a pretty diverse night-life. In Wenzhou, there are several bars and clubs that are frequented by both foreigners and locals. One such place, and my personal favorite, is a bar called La Luna Bar and Grill. It is owned and operated by a Mexican-American named Jorge (George). It is a small hole-in-the-wall place but the booze is good, the food is better, and the people are always interesting. During holidays like Halloween, La Luna hosts a party. I have posted some pictures of the party here in this blog. This year there was costume competition, the winner got an oven. Unfortunately I did not win, but one of my co-workers got second place which was a bottle of Oregon wine.

*Update: La Luna has since moved several times and is now under new (Chinese) ownership. The former owner of La Luna is the part owner of another foreign bar located under European City called Odessa. It is now my favorite bar. La Luna is still OK, but has become rather "chinafied."  Both Odessa and the new La Luna host Halloween parties.

Street food

While you are in China, you or someone you know will probably come down with some mild food poisoning or other gastrointestinal illness. This is considered par for the course, especially for westerners visiting China as our guts have not had to deal with the many varieties of food-borne illness the way most people in developing countries have had to since birth.

As with most developing countries, China has a lot of street food vendors. Street food is often the best way to experience the ethnic and cultural diversity of the area you are visiting. In Wenzhou for instance there are Uighur and Muslim food stalls next to Indian or Pakistani ones not to mention the ones that specialize in the local Wenzhou cuisine which is centered on steamed dumplings, dried fish, sweet sausages and poultry. However, although this plethora of food is often well cooked and tastes great, you need to be careful of street food stalls. Botulism and Salmonella are not uncommon among visitors.

Although most food stalls on the street are quite safe, there are some things to look out for:

1) First and foremost, is there a line of people waiting for food during the lunch or dinner hours? If so, you can be pretty sure that the food at least tastes good.

2) Second, is there garbage or food on the floor or in the cooking area? Although there is a general sense of dirtiness to most street food stalls, generally they are free from larger vermin unless there is a lot of garbage around. The cleaner the floor, the safer the food.

3) Third, is the food served hot? Hot food is infinitely safer than cold food or food that has been sitting around for a few hours. The bacteria that cause botulism and salmonella poisoning die at temperatures of 140-160 degrees Fahrenheit.

4) Fourth, if the food is served cold, is it refrigerated and is the refrigerator kept at at a cold enough temperature to inhibit bacterial growth? If you are handed food that should be cold and it feels warm, don't eat it. Often merchants and vendors use refrigerators as storage areas, but they do not leave them plugged in all day. This makes it a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

5) For more established, permanent vendors look for the health inspection form. This is usually a small poster with happy-face graphics on it. A green happy face is good. Yellow is OK and a red frown is very bad. However, the lack of this should not be a reason to bypass the food. In fact, many perfectly safe food vendors will not display their certificate.

It you are one of those unlucky folks who come down with food poisoning, the symptoms usually last only a couple of days and will not require a hospital visit. However, if you come down with a high fever and severe vomiting and or diarrhea it is highly recommended that you see a doctor. Complications from food poisoning are rare but can be serious.

For more information about Botulism and Botulinum toxin visit the CDC website at http://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/botulism/factsheet.asp

For information about Salmonella poisoning visit http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/salmonellosis_gi.html

I have been one of the lucky ones here. However, I have had mild food poisoning in other countries and I know it can really be a terrible experience.

UPDATE: Many cities in China have banned street cart food vendors since 2011. This does not mean they are not around, it just means you have to work harder to find them. Many of the hotpot and barbecue carts will come out near all night bars and night clubs for example. Others will stick to back alleys and side streets; again usually appearing at night. A great may have moved to permanent locations or regular market stalls. Keep on the lookout. Street food is still the best way to learn about a city and its people.

New Year--travel time

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! Nothing much happened here in Wenzhou. Spring Festival is coming up though so I recommend making travel plans now rather than waiting until Spring Festival time. The trains and airplanes tend to be packed during the Festival and there is no guarantee that you will be able to get tickets. Also, hotels and hostels fill up rather quickly so be sure to make reservations if you are going to stay in one of them. If you don't know how to make a reservation, some hotels offer online booking but you should get a person who speaks Chinese to help you. For airfare, most airlines offer online booking and some of the webpages are bi-lingual. Be sure to double check the dates. if you are supposed to be back on the 8th, don't wait until the 7th to return. Instead book tickets for the 5th or 6th. The rule for travel in China during any holiday is to expect unexpected delays.

Personally, I don't know if I am going to travel for Spring Festival. I may decide to save my money and instead travel during the summer. I want to go to the Amur River region along the border with Russia to see the Northern Lights at some point, but that is a bit expensive so I think I will stay here in Wenzhou for the time being. Wenzhou has great access to both air travel and rail lines. The city is located in the middle of China, along the coast so there is easy access to all modes of transport that will take you to anywhere in China.

Also, if you are buying a train ticket, you usually can not but a round-trip ticket. If you have to change trains (say in Shanghai or Beijing) the train station you begin at can only give you ticket for as far as Shanghai. When you arrive in Shanghai, you will have to buy another ticket for the next leg of your journey. You have to do this every time you change trains. The same goes for buses. Airplanes don't have this restriction.