Samantha Coughran is in Beilun, Ningbo at Chai Qiao High School! Here with two of her best friends from University of California Santa Barbara, John Leach and Amy Montemayor, she explains that because of them her adjustment to China has been a smooth one, aside from the clear bathroom doors, learning Chinese, and the not-so-casual daily stares. With about 3 and a half months left in her China experience she’s hoping to get some bucket list items crossed off, by heading to the Great Wall!
In the Classroom Sam has been through the novelty phase and uses her classroom as a portal to a land of excitement, flaws, and learning, “Perfection has been the ultimate goal for these students, so a class dedicated to speaking with flaws and discussing weaknesses is horrifying. I’ve turned my classes into a goofy 45-minute break from their hectic day; I focus on things my students like, crack jokes, dance and laugh…My students are less afraid of speaking, chat with me during passing period and hang out in my office to read English books that I had donated to the school through a Book Drive.” This kind of classroom ability is to be expected from an old pro. Sam, and her two very good friends, taught English in The Republic of Georgia last year!
Sam not only works for her students advancement in the classroom, she also works for it through social media by promoting her book drive to her friends in the states, in hopes that they will send books for her students to enhance their English literacy and understanding of American culture through reading!
Just twenty-five years of change in Shanghai.
Shanghai Development.
Almost hard to believe Shanghai’s skyline used to be so low. Entirely unrecognizable.Wow, a lot can be built in a quarter of a century!!
I had no idea it had changed this much so recently! Amazing
An astounding look at how quickly Shanghai has developed!
Sean Hayes is currently teaching in Guangzhou. Like many AYC'ers he visited the Ice Festival in Harbin during his Spring Festival break, but by the time he left he was engaged! Read up on his magical proposal:
“I have a very interesting, and I think unique, story to tell about my Christmas and Spring Festival break. I’m not sure if anyone at all except my own friends and family know this, but I’m very happy to share it with others who may become inspired by my story. I recently took my girlfriend, who lives and works in Tianjin, on a trip to Harbin in the far north of China. We had a marvelous time viewing all the sights, as well as visiting the famous Harbin Ice and Snow World, which was almost entirely composed of breathtaking ice sculptures. Even the buildings were made out of ice! It was amazing. Even more amazing though is what happened in front of the Russian cathedral, St. Sophia’s, where my girlfriend of over two years became my new fiancé. Yes, I asked my girlfriend to marry me. It was like something out of a fairy tale. Everything had been just perfect, right down to the falling snow and beautiful music being played by the church in the background. After Harbin, there was my visit to my fiance’s home town were we spent the entire break visiting her extended family and telling everyone on her side the good news. I enjoyed every moment of visiting my future Chinese family. After our vacation, my fiancé and I returned to our respective cities to resume working.”
Congratulations to Sean Hayes and his new fiance! Who says that dreams can’t come true in China!
Soccer, that foot sport you may remember from elementary school gym class, is an excellent way to meet people in China. There are a couple of reasons for this: you don’t have to speak Chinese to play it, and, unlike table tennis or some of the card games, it’s a popular game that you know how to play.
The hardest part, which is actually pretty easy, is finding a game. Ask some of your (male) colleagues, students, or neighbors if they have a regular pickup game that you can join. (Note: If you’re a woman, they may find your request a little odd, since soccer is, like, so brutal. But don’t let that stop you!) If they don’t have a game, or you don’t want to play with them, try heading down to a nearby university or park on the weekend and hanging out at their soccer fields. When you see a group of friends with a ball, ask to join their game. It’s a request that’s pretty easy to make with body language if your soccer Chinese is sub-par: join the warm-up circle and see if they let you in.
Once you’re in the game, everything should go pretty smoothly. Keep in mind that, as in the US, some players take their games super-seriously, while others are more like your little brother and will tackle their friends. Go along with it, and enjoy your new hobby!
Like most AYCers, Anitra Saddler wanted a new experience. “I chose China as a way to branch out into the world,” she says. “I wanted to experience life that was different from my own.” She sought the exact opposite of her small town in Minnesota: Changsha, in Hunan Province, renowned for its spicy food and warm climate. “Here in China it has been a different beat I have to move to and learn how to adapt to day to day,” says Anitra. “I am sometimes frustrated with the new change of pace; however, I do not regret it for one moment.”
For many teachers, Anitra’s classes would have posed a huge problem. She encountered the same problems all foreign teachers have in China: huge class sizes of up to 40 kids, in her case all girls, and her students entered the room believing they could walk all over a foreign teacher. But for Anitra, who comes from a large family with many younger siblings, controlling her classroom has never been an issue. “The students are so used to being drilled by their teachers that they believe foreign teachers are the “easy fun class” and will try not to follow the rules,” Anitra says. “It is very important for them to know you want to have fun, but you are their teacher and rules MUST be followed.”
Another challenge Anitra faces is that she teaches a mixture classroom: half her students spoke English fluently, while half knew no English at all. “At times making lesson plans is a bit difficult due to the wide range of English abilities. However, I love the challenge! This gives me the opportunity to use multiple strategies, learning aids, and so on to engage the students.” Anitra’s effort pays off: she loves her students and her students love her, constantly approaching her for hugs and presenting her with gifts. But she doesn’t get a swelled head; instead, she is reflective. “The older children are more difficult to bring them out of their comfort zone. They are afraid of losing face!!! The younger children most of the time can’t get enough. Making the class fun and new, keeps everyone interested and willing to explore outside the norm.”
AYC is promoted as a selective program for individuals who want to experience China while developing professionally, growing personally, and enhancing future prospects in the U.S. and abroad. In its inaugural year, the program had a lot of hurdles to overcome. Bringing expatriates into China can be a logistical nightmare, and recent tightening of China’s visa regulations made the task even more arduous. Despite these hurdles, my experience with AYC has been superb. This program opened my door to China, and continues to provide the support and unique professional network that makes living and working here the experience of a lifetime.
The mission of AYC is based on a premise that I hold dear; that lasting peace can be achieved through dialogue and exchange. To have been involved with this program in its early stages came with some challenges, but there is little doubt in my mind that AYC will develop into one of the world’s leading Sino-U.S. exchange programs, and I’m excited to witness that transition. I do recommend this program, and would invite others to experience the joys of global citizenship and cultural ambassadorship by joining AYC’s growing ranks of interesting, accomplished alumni from top U.S. institutions.
- Adam, Shanghai
China has three distinct concepts of homeland: 籍贯 (jiguan)，故乡 (guxiang) and 老家 (laojia). Many people in traditional families will be headed to their 籍贯 - their paternal grandfather’s hometown. 籍贯 is the only one of these three used on official documents like school records or hukous. 故乡 (lit. former hometown) sounds a bit more poetic, and can be used to refer to any place with which you have developed an emotional attachment (Nanjing would now be considered this columnist’s second 故乡）. 老家 (old home) is very colloquial and usually refers to the place where you grew up or where your parents live. Most people will probably head for their 老家 for the holiday.
As it happens, the reason tickets are hard to buy at this time of year is not entirely because everyone in China will be traveling during the same few days. Scalping of train tickets by people called 黄牛 (yellow bulls) has historically been a huge problem, with people using their connections to buy obscene numbers of tickets and selling them to desperate migrants returning home to their families with the money they’ve earned working. The government has taken huge steps to curb this in recent years, but the problem is probably impossible to totally eliminate.
Note for foreigners coming to China: be aware that going home for the holiday with your S.O. strongly implies that a wedding is not far off. Even if you’re just friends, it’s probably a good idea to bring someone else along if you’re visiting the hometown of someone of the opposite sex during Spring Festival to avoid adding grist to the vicious hometown rumor mill.
It took me a long time to realize what a stroke of luck it was to be placed in Nanjing. Being placed with 13 other AYCers, in a large city, with sizable expat population, was key. The strong community I formed here helped me celebrate the good times and weather the bad. That’s not to say there weren’t moments of homesickness and depression, but half price burgers and drinks cures a lot of ills. I came to China to experience something different and for me, different has been the operative word during my time here. Some differences are really cool, all fireworks are cheap and legal, others are more troublesome, your passport is required to book train tickets, but nothing works quite like you think it should. I encourage those who are looking for some excitement to give China a try. I don’t think China is part my professional future but I do speak mandarin better than my friends back home. Your time in China will be hard, but I think the experience is worth the difficulty. How many other chances will you have to drop everything and live halfway across the world for 9 months?
- Andrew Paulson, Nanjing
Congratulations to the AYC Photo-Essay and Video competition winners! We will be showcasing all of the submissions for the contest over the next few weeks, so be sure to check-in here to see what it’s like living in China with AYC! You can view all entries here: on.fb.me/1kesX7P
Photo-Essay Contest
The Winners of the 2013-2014 AYC Photo-Essay Contest:
First Place Winner: Andrew Ebanks (picture on left)
Second Place Winners: Isaak Tarek, Lindsey Pointer, and Arielle Strafford
Third Place Winner: Brecken Byron, Jessica Gourdet, Jaline King, William O'Brian and Linda Wang
Video Contest Winners
The winners of the 2013-2014 AYC Video Contest:
First Place Winner: Michael Peterson (picture on right)
Second Place Winners: Mackey Landy, Richelle Gamlam, and Kirsten Ourada
Third Place Winners: Victoria Evans, Evan Deal McDaniels, Ilyse Liffreing, Daniel Ward, and Rachel Smith
Jaline and Jen both studied Chinese in college, and both women had spent a few months in China before joining AYC. Jaline is particularly attracted to Chinese as part of her heritage: her mother is Chinese, although as a fourth-generation American, she can no longer speak the language. Both women knew before they arrived that they would remain in the country another year or two.
When they were placed in Hefei Number One High School, the school did not quite take them seriously. Rather than giving Jaline and Jen classes to teach, the school gave them small groups of students to practice conversational English with in the hallway. But the two quickly proved themselves, bringing quiet students out of their shells and pushing confident students further. “We made it clear they couldn’t just give one-word answers, they had to expand their thoughts in English,” Jaline says. “If they didn’t want to talk, we’d ask them, What do you think?” Noticing that the students’ written English skills lagged far behind their spoken ability, the women set up a writing lab for the kids, both to go over basic English writing skills and to edit college essays. “We’re so happy our school supports our ideas, since we know that’s not always the case in China,” Jen says.
Next year, the women think they may stay on at Hefei Number One, where they have made so many connections and so much progress. Although life hasn't always been easy – the women mentioned flushing their toilet with chopsticks – they have carved out a niche for themselves at their school.
Lindsey doing another song with her class. She was teaching them the words for mountain, grass, flower, river, etc. - in anticipation of Earth day - and made up new words to a song she knows to go along with it. Here’s part of it. They loved it! :)
Making a good old song ESL friendly!
“I love the mountains
I love the river blue
I love the tall trees
The sky over me and you
Boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da!
I love the sunshine
I love the moon too
I love the flowers
The grass under me and you
Boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da!”
Great anecdote from AYC'er Lindsey Pointer in the classroom! Check it out!
Most Americans, even ones that have never been to China, know the prevalence of counterfeit goods（known in Chinese as 山寨产品 or “mountain village products”) on the Chinese market. Those of us that have been here have seen it on a daily basis: phone buyers have to beware of accidentally buying a Nokir, Samsing, or Suny-Ericcsun phone, sports apparel stores are full up with Naike, Hike, Like, and Nilce products. Even Chinese brands aren’t safe: try telling the difference between identically designed products from 康师傅 and 康帅傅 or 脉动 and 脉劫. The word mountain village was originally appropriated to express the concept of knock-off goods because it conjures up images of poverty, small-scale production, and geography that makes imposing the rule of law difficult. It was first used in this way in the 1970s, primarily in Cantonese, but quickly permeating into Mandarin as the phenomenon spread.
Intellectual Property issues have been a thorn in the side of western entrepreneurs for decades, but Chinese take a more nuanced view towards the counterfeit industry. In a country where copying has historically been seen as a way to learn from the masters, some people prefer to focus on the potential long-term benefits to the economy that can be attained by learning to make top end products. The sociologist Ai Jun has even argued that copycatting is a necessary stage in the development of a market economy. Others see it as a hotbed for innovation: the periodical New Weekly wrote “grassroots, adaptable, open, innovative and low-cost, anti-authoritarian, anti-monopolist, anti-mainstream — these are the hallmarks of the mountain village economy.” Perhaps above all, it is egalitarian — making modern conveniences and luxuries available to a far wider audience while creating economic opportunities for people otherwise excluded from the system. Whether or not this view is correct will be put to the test in the next decade as China continues its efforts to transition to making higher quality consumer goods. Until then, stay alert to avoid accidentally buying an aPad the next time you’re in the electronics market.
AYCers Ashley & Nika
Under different circumstances, Ashley and Nika aren’t sure if they would have been so close. Ashley is extroverted and adventurous, while Nika is more cautious and thoughtful. But in fact they are a perfect pair, exploring all Ningbo has to offer. They board buses with no destination in mind and wind up all over the city. Together they have developed a “Ningbo bucket list,” which includes such items as attending a soccer game, picking fruit, and cheering at a Chinese basketball game. (They completed the last one quite easily – one of Nika’s friends from home plays for a Chinese team.)
Ashley and Nika teach at the Haishu Foreign Language School in Ningbo. Haishu was only built three years ago and the campus feels like the set of a CW drama, with beachy colors and lots of flowers even in winter. Since the girls work together, they often sit in on each other’s classes and give each other tips, or make lesson plans together. On Fridays, when Ashley’s classes are particularly rowdy, Nika watches and lends moral support. “It was one thing for me to tell her about it,” Ashley says, “but it was completely different for her to see it. I felt supported.”
All in all, though, the two feel comfortable at Haishu. Between the appreciation they get from the school and their strong friendship, Ashley and Nika are growing roots in Ningbo.
There are four novels in Chinese literary history seen as so excellent they deserve their own category: the 四大名著. In chronological order these are 水浒传 (Water Margin or Bandits of the Marsh, Ming, 14th Century), 三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ming, 14th Century), 西游记 (Journey to the West, Ming, 16th Century) and 红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber, Qing, 18th Century). Each one offers a window into a different aspect of Chinese society. Water Margin deals with political ethics and the margins of state power, with people on the periphery of the Song state gathering in difficult terrain where state power is hardest to enforce (a common theme in Chinese history), then resisting and overcoming the state before eventually switching sides to help the state ward off the invasions of neighboring dynastic forces and fight rebels. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes a tumultuous period in Chinese history after the dissolution of the Han Dynasty and includes some of its most well known characters: Zhu-Ge Liang, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Guan Yu among many others. For those wishing to understand what “cunning” means to the Chinese, the Romance should be the first choice along with Sunzi's Art of War (孙子兵法). Journey to the West describes the pilgrimage of a Tang Dynasty monk to India to bring classical Buddhist texts to China. The monk is accompanied by the Monkey King Sun Wukong (shout-out to our Lianyungang AYCers!), half-man half-pig Zhu Bajie, and the monstrously ugly Sha Wujing. This a must-read for those interested in the impact of Buddhism on Chinese society, and the 80’s TV series made from this novel is one of China’s most entertaining and most accessible series.The Dream of the Red Chamber details the complexities and subtleties of Chinese emotional life. The story, which involves a staggering cast of nearly 40 main characters and over 500 supporting characters, describes the decline of an aristocratic family. If your Chinese reading skills aren’t quite up to snuff, these novels are all available in translation.
Though China has officially followed the Gregorian calendar since the rise of the Republic of China in 1912, many of the most important festivals (including Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Qingming Festival, etc.) in the Chinese calendar are observed according to the lunar calendar, known as 农历 in Chinese. To this day, crops are planted by the lunar calendar in most places, and some Chinese people prefer to observe their birthdays according to the lunar calendar (you can calculate your lunar birthday here if you so desire).
The lunar year is made up of 12 months of 29 or 30 days, with extra “leap” months (闰月) added to about seven of every 19 years to keep it in time with the astronomical calendar. The earliest known written records of observation of the lunar calendar date back nearly 4,000 years to Shang Dynasty oracle bone carvings. Given its age, it is unsurprising that the system of marking time will contain a lot of 汉子 (hanzi, characters) you’ve never seen before, including the rarely-seen single character word for 20: 廿. If obscure characters are your thing, try checking out the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
Lastly, many of you may have heard that in China this year is 4711, a system which takes the reign of the mythical first emperor of China as its year 1. While some communities of overseas Chinese use this calendar year, none of the mainlanders surveyed in our unscientific poll had ever heard of this.
Spring has come to Yichang! We were blessed with two beautiful sunny weekends in a row, during which I was able to fit in three great hiking excursions to a few cool new places around Yichang (including Wenfo Shan- a sacred Buddhist mountain with a temple on top) and a trip out to the countryside with a few of my third grade students, Kay Kay, and Salina to see the beautiful Oriental Cherry trees in bloom. My classes the last two weeks have consisted of various excuses to take the kids outside for some time running in the sun, and mandatory classroom dance parties. To top it all off, my mom sent me the most amazing care package full of all sorts of vegetarian-surviving-in-China-goodies and I’ve been eating like a granola chick queen. So things have been pretty dang good!
The spring has always been my favorite season. In part definitely because of my birthday, but there is also something about things warming up, coming alive again, that awakens me. Winter was difficult here between the inescapable cold outside and inside and barely ever seeing the sun through the smog and fog. For a girl raised on 365 days of Colorado sunshine, it just wasn’t easy. But at last, the sun has returned!
Sun worship makes a lot of sense to me. Of course there is the joy when it rises each morning, and the woeful longing of “please don’t go!” when each evening I watch it disappear behind the hills, leaving traces of light strewn across the Yangtze river. Then there’s the vitamin D factor and whatever happy chemicals are released in your brain as that sunshine soaks into your skin. But there is also something else about it, something about being in sunshine evokes a sort of liminal space for me. The penetration of the sun’s beams melts illusive boundaries of my skin and I catch a glimpse of that ultimate unity with the universe. Suddenly it is all too clear that I can just be. And better yet, I can just be happy, I don’t have to wait for anything to make me feel happiness, because it is just a choice I am making. “If you want to be happy,….” becomes “If you want to, be happy.”
As always, John Denver says it best. Sunshine almost always makes me high! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybeke7_d1zE
And here’s a song called Happy that I played during first and second grade dance parties last week! Great video too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM
Check out participant Lindsey Pointer’s post about the happiness of Spring in Yichang, China!
Kiana Jackson is an AYC teacher from Kennesaw, Georgia, who like all of us, has taken the leap from the US to China to teach. Placed at the England International Foreign Language School in Jaimusi in the Heilongjiang province, she is teaching English to multiple ages, specifically kindergarten and 9 -11 year-olds. Unlike many of us, she and her coworker Jonathon are the only foreign teachers in the town. On top of that, the school that she works at is up-and-coming, meaning that they just recently moved into their newly renovated school and are working to enroll more students. So though at the moment her classes are small and intimate, she faces the possible challenge of having to readjust to a bigger class size. The biggest hurtles for Kiana have been the cold weather, the language barrier, the lack of mac and cheese. Despite these obstacles, her positivity shines through as she maintains an enthusiasm about her new environment and the personal growth this experience will generate. Read more about Kiana’s story and steadfastness in getting to China here.
The Ghost Festival here in China is something of a long lost relative of the Western Worlds Halloween. What is shared is the idea that on certain days the human world and the spiritual world overlap, a belief which has deep roots in Chinese cultural history. Four holidays in the traditional calendar are known as 鬼节(gui3 jie2) or Ghost Festivals. Ghosts are “hungry” in Chinese culture so they will be offered food, alcohol or cigarettes as appeasement. During one festival in particular, Qingming Festival, Chinese take advantage of their proximity to the spirit world to send swag to their ancestors in the afterlife by burning paper offerings in the likeness of BMW’s, townhouses, iPads and of course fake hundred dollar bills.
Robert and Annemarie Barnes work at the Wuxi International School as Pre-K teachers. Along with teaching their students, meeting neighbors, and exploring Wuxi, they are also raising two children, Althea and Robert ages 4 and 2. Annmarie teaches a small class of 7 students all with varied language skills. “Since I work at an International School, I have students from Korea, Taiwan, America, and China. They all have different language abilities, ranging from only English with no Chinese at all, to only Chinese with almost no English at all.” Still she says that she loves teaching in an international school and it is a profession that she could see herself in for a long time. Robert and Annemarie seem to be making Wuxi their own through biking adventures and taking their children to dance in the public square, as well as befriending their neighbors and enjoying homemade dumplings. Annemarie cites the language barrier as her greatest challenge, as well as her never ending struggle with WiFi. Despite the challenges, the entire family continues to power on and learn Chinese as well as they can. The children are learning in the Wuxi International School and Robert and Annemarie are learning as they go. The Barnes’ are truly a family immersing themselves in China and loving it.
There’s a lot you can tell about a car by its license plate. In general, the character represents the province where the car is registered, while the first letter represents the city of registration. Many abbreviations are straightforward, others represent historical toponyms (湘 for Hunan, 粤 for Guangdong, etc.). The provincial capital is always A, with the second largest city as B, and so on. A high proportion of cars with A 00 after their province character are black Audi A6s with tinted windows, the car of choice for high up officials. License plates with red characters at the beginning denote cars belonging to the armed forces: WJ is for the military police, 空 is for the airforce, 海 is for the navy, and other characters represent specific army bases. Police cars have a red 警 after them.
The Chinese and the Americans aren’t so different: just like in the US, you can get vanity plates. Lucky numbers 8, 6, and 9 are popular, especially in strings. Some people also go the dirtbag route and get the number 250 on their plates, a Chinese insult implying lesser mental capabilities.