Contemplation

Contemplating our trip to China has proved a more involved process than I had expected. In some ways, I was surprised at the western touches that we encountered, although I shouldn't have been, as Beijing and Shanghai are major cities with international connections. In other ways, like a movie that you just can't get out of your mind, China was different, not just from home, but from the "home" that we've crafted in Hong Kong.

Our trip was naturally divided in two geographically, but also in some ways emotionally and intellectually. Shanghai was lovely -- the French Concession reminded me of Buenos Aires, and the Bund reminded me of old New York (Tom said it reminded him of Chicago, but I haven't been there yet). There were cool shops and artists and lots of visitors in town for the Expo. Our hostel was spacious, and cozy, and served a killer scrambled egg and coffee breakfast for quite cheap every morning. If I were going to live in mainland China, I think it would be quite pleasant to live in Shanghai.

But it was Beijing that really captivated both me and Tom. Beijing was harder. By that I don't mean that navigation was more confusing, or people less accommodating. But my brain was stretched a little bit more while we were there. Maybe it was the strangely quiet streets; maybe it was the CCTV cameras all over Tiananmen Square; maybe it was the group of middle-aged ladies we saw dancing all together in the park one evening. Maybe it was because we actually got to spend some time with people who lived in Beijing, and who could give us some insight into daily life there.

I think the presence of Communism was in the back of our minds much more when we were in Beijing. It felt a little bit like a city that was waiting for the other shoe to drop -- I couldn't tell if I felt that because I'd read that I was supposed to feel that in the midst of China's "meteoric" economic growth, or if the city really did have bated breath, but there was something there.

Perhaps that sense was well-captured when Tom and I visited my friend Kevin at his workplace "Disney English." Disney English is a new venture on the part of Disney Co. to teach children English through the tribe of characters in the Disney library. It's a brilliant idea -- middle-class parents line up every evening with their little ones to check the place out, and they're signing up dozens at a time. All of these kids will develop a strong association between speaking English and Disney characters, and presumably a life-long loyalty to the Disney brand. And China wants these kids to learn English. Maybe it's an emphasis on education that has always been there, but it seems like there is some kind of informal national mandate to "catch up" with the outside world (although not totally connect with it, see, e.g. the Great Firewall).

But, like a lot of the "catching up" happening in China, it felt a bit manufactured. Kevin -- who is wonderful with kids and fantastic at his job -- would be just fine teaching without the Disney paraphernalia. And there's a reason that "disneyfied" has developed as a term (has it developed as a term? Maybe that's just me...)...the place was cheerfully sterile.

I'm not explaining myself very well (Peter Hessler could do it better :-)). Because the manufactured "catching up" is paired with very genuine people who are living this whole change that is happening in China right now, and that doesn't feel disneyfied at all. All I know is that both Tom and I came away from the city wanting very much to study Mandarin, hard, and return in a few years to try and delve a little deeper.

All for now (it's bedtime in HK). But more on "real China" soon!