The Journey of Kim to the Palace

China Fun Fact: President Hu Jintao is said to be a fantastic dancer. While he studied at Tsinghua University, he was part of a dance troupe that traveled the country.

I must admit I am terrible of keeping you up to date on the places I have gone during my time in China. 对不起。 （I am sorry.) Anyways, a few weeks ago my study abroad group ventured to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City sits adjacent to Tianamen Square, and I was ecstatic to visit it. Thick walls and a large mote separated us from the city. As we walked across the bridge our entire group started to get very excited and when we went through the gate we saw a huge courtyard with ornate buildings, several statues....and oddly a mini basketball court which we were later informed was set up for when Yao Ming was on “display” a few weeks ago. Anyways, the courtyard was huge. You could have probably fit tens of thousands of people in it and still have plenty of room.

We kept walking through the courtyard and soon found... another courtyard with a palace in the middle. My friends and I were thoroughly enjoying ourselves and took a LOT of pictures...of anything and everything. When we reached the end of that courtyard we found... yet another courtyard. Now, I know we should have excited just be by in the Forbidden City, but the truth is that as we walked through courtyard after courtyard (that looked quite like the courtyard we just left) the thrill began to wear off. We began to realize how cold were were and that we were no where near the end of the Forbidden City. We started to take everything around us for granted.

By the time we reached the end, we had trekked through several gardens and countless courtyards. As we neared the exit, some people from the program wanted to walk through the park across from the Forbidden City and climb the mountain (ok..it was more like a big hill but I was tired and it looked daunting at the time so we are going to call it a mountain) that looked over all of Beijing. So a few of my friends and I decided to brave the “mountain” to check out the view.

This may have been my favorite part of the day. As you might be able to tell from the picture I posted a few weeks ago, the view was incredible. It was only then that we saw how huge the Forbidden City was. We probably only saw a tenth of it.

It was only then that I took a step back and truly appreciated this man-made marvel. I felt like that is the trap you can get sucked into while you are studying abroad. You begin to go through the motions and forget how incredible it is to be living in a city like Beijing, and you begin to take everything for granted. Its hard not to, and I think that everyone -regardless if they are living abroad or at home - goes through this. Sometimes, I have to take a step back and think amazing it is to be living in Beijing, studying at Peking University, and just having this experience.

Water Calligraphy

I have always been fascinated by calligraphy. So when I saw a man doing water calligraphy by the lake at Peking University I was really excited. He introduced himself as one of the professors at Beida (short version of the Chinese name for Peking University) and then he apologized for how messy the calligraphy he was writing with his left hand was (I couldn't notice any difference).The calligraphy was beautiful, and although he wrote each character very quickly, each one was as perfect as the one before.
I love moments like these in Beijing. People in China have been so welcoming. He simply talked with my roommates and I for several minutes about water caligraphy. He then asked us if we wanted anything written and showed us a few different characters.

Kim Speaks Chinese

Today in the caf, I spoke to someone...in CHINESE!!! AND SHE UNDERSTOOD ME! It's a wonderful day.

The Journey of Kim to the Countryside

In all fairness, I warned you this day would come. The day...I actually wrote a serious blog post. I know...it’s crazy.

But anyways....the city of Beijing is extremely modern. For the most part, I can find anything I would eat or buy in America in Beijing (except for Mexican food...I am still working on that one). However, Beijing and many of the cities Westerners would usually visit are not typical of how many Chinese live. One of my professors told me if I wanted to see how a typical Chinese person still lived, I needed to go to the countryside. Granted I probably wasn’t in the true Chinese countryside, but the atmosphere greatly changed just by going eight hours outside of Beijing.

For many, the prospect of modernization and increased globalization has not greatly changed their lives. Yes, to an extent modern conveniences have reached them. A Chinese person living in an urban area will make 3.5 times the amount of money an individual living in the countryside will. China’s economic growth has occurred mainly on the east coast where it is easy to export goods.

As we drove to Pingyao, I looked at the homes closely hugging the hillside. It reminded me of driving through some of the poverty stricken areas of Mexico. The houses were very simple. Many were made of brick with a concrete or wooden roof. In the middle of the Chinese New Year, the homes were covered with colorful red lanterns and signs, but it couldn’t hid the grim and dirty conditions. Trash was strewn about everywhere.

The conditions have improved for the better over the past several decades as rural income has consistently improved over the past several years; however the income inequality continues to grow.

On the way back from the trip, I saw something that seemed to characterize China’s rise over the past several decades. A single crumbling building lay in ruins at the edge of a town, but on the top of the building waved a single, clean Chinese flag. China has many areas where it desperately needs to improve, but it has a very patriotic population who are continuously pushing the country forward. The rural population has been neglected, but they are still extremely proud to be Chinese, and they are some of the most welcoming people you will ever meet.