Feelin' Good

It's been a good week.  I had a test on Monday that went well, and for the most part I didn't have any particularly pressing or difficult work, other than normal preparation for classes.  That's not to say I've been complacent, but it's been a relatively relaxing week.

Last weekend I went to the Confucian Temple with some classmates and my roommate.  I generally enjoy Confucian temples, because not many people go to them.  Many people say that this has to do with the fact that no one really believes in Confucianism perse anymore, even though it's become such an integral part of the culture.  I also think it has to do with the fact that they're generally smaller, not quite as impressive, sometimes not well-kept (remnants of the Cultural Revolution, perhaps?), and tend to not have anything that is "biggest" or "tallest" etc.  Anyways, it was nice and peaceful, although I had to leave early because I had a test the next day.

It's been a week of conversations.  I've had a bunch of conversations with various classmates, Chinese roommates, some random people at the university's exercise yard, and also (a wonderful surprise) my Chinese teacher from Yale, Su Laoshi.  It was great to see him and chat for a bit.  For the past few weeks I've also been reading the newspapaer in Chinese pretty consistently, watching Chinese internet videos on Youku (Chinese version of Youtube), and reading occasional articles in Chinese outside of class, all without too much difficulty.  I've felt good about my progress, but at the same time, when I stumble over some explanation, I know I have a ways to go.  But I definitely feel like I'm going in the right direction.

I was actually reminded of something yesterday when talking with Weiqiang.  We were on the bus on the way back from Old Harbin (the quarter of Harbin that the middle and lower classes used to live in back in the day, it was quite nice, although somewhat unfortunate.  Most of the buildings hadn't been kept up very well, which was kind of nice because they were "authentic" I suppose, but at the same time, the streets have been commercialized and the stores on the first floor have no regard for the preservation of the buildings, let along the general style and atmosphere of the neighborhood) and talking about the city, and got to the topic of eminent domain.  I mentioned something about the Hutongs being destroyed for the Olympics in Beijing and that the residents weren't sufficiently compensated.  The conversation continued, and at one point Weiqiang was about to say "quedian" (shortcoming) in relation to the government, but he literally couldn't bring himself to do it.

I found out that he was a CCP member in about the second week I was here.  He said he joined because he believes that in the end the CCP is doing a good job and helping china move in the general right direction, even if it is a bit off.  (I couldn't help but think: what about after a long time? the divergence only gets larger.)  For him, it's a source of pride to be in the party, and he hopes it will help become a better person because of the opportunities it will give him—vocational, educational, and personal.  He sees his main responsibility as simply being the best person he can be and constantly  improving himself to be a good representative of the party.  This is probably in part the source of his competitive nature and seemingly unquenchable desire to show that he is better, smarter, more knowledgeable than those around him—sometimes it comes off as selfish or boastful.  I can see where he's coming from, but it seems that he's doing it for the wrong reasons.

One of the things that struck me most was that he said party members weren't allowed to be religious, because you were only allowed one belief.  That really took me back.  He sticks pretty well to the party line for the most part, and I've honestly been a bit disappointed in his ability to think openly without preconceptions, but that's something that we all suffer from.  In some ways it makes him seem a bit unidimensional—there's not much separation between his different identities in different situations.

In the end though, he's a good guy and generally a fun guy to talk to, although a bit serious at times.  I've simply decided to try and avoid those sensitive topics for the most part, because it's not worth the headache, and I don't think I can really convince him of anything to be honest.  Either way, in the end this is a language program, so in some ways the content of the conversations is secondary to acquiring language skills.  Obviously I don't want to misrepresent anything or say things I truly disagree with, but the purpose is to get better at expressing myself and learn about each other, not to try and change each other's political views.

Pictures are from the Confucian Temple, Old Harbin, and my calligraphy from our extracurricular class (great class).