Zai Jian/Ni Hao

It's my last night in Beijing which comes with mixed feelings. I'm really glad to be going but a little sad to be leaving. Guo Xin treated me to a farewell Sichuan dinner where I tried preserved eggs. I think the spicy sauce helped mask the gelatinous consistency and grey color. Think grey hard boiled yet jellied egg. She said the good ones are actually orange-y in color. Maybe next time.

On my way to work today, I finally took a picture of a sweet potato vendor. I tried one of these recently and it was very tasty. Another evening I bought some roasted chestnuts. I would have taken a picture of the guy but we had a monetary miscommunication and if he actually wasn't calling me a "dumb foreigner" then his tone certainly implied it. It wasn't really a Kodak moment. I paid the finally understood price (when someone holds up two fingers it mean two to me, not twenty), took my chestnuts and hurried home. But they were tasty.

"Zai jian" Beijing and "Ni hao" Portland and "Xie xie" to those who have been following this blog. I've appreciated the company.

Corporate Love

My last full day in China dawned bright, blue and, well, really cold. After a final staff lunch at a dumpling restaurant, where Guo Xin videoed us reciting a poem for her upcoming wedding celebration (written by Zhao Min where we each took turns reading a line), I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) forum. It was a big televised event held at a hotel famed for hosting important international VIPs such as our very own former President Bush Sr. It was quite a production with dancers, lights, cameras, media a-plenty, government ministers, a representative from UNDP and a slew of corporate leaders accepting awards for their demonstration of CSR.

I had been unsure whether I really wanted to attend, but having little choice, was glad they provided those little headphones which relay simultaneous translation. Even then, it was hard to follow what was being said. And sometimes you had to wonder at the choice of words. Several corporate representatives talked about the "love" they were giving, feeling, sharing with the community. Okay, perhaps, but...it seems a stretch. Another interesting experience was, being one of maybe three foreigners at the event, it felt rather odd having the camera on the boom sweep down and stare me squarely in the face - and lo' and behold, my face flashed up on the screen behind the speaker. It's really hard to hold an interested face AND not look at the camera while it hangs there like a giant eye watching you. I really feel for celebrities attending awards shows...not really, but it did cross my mind.

I was attending the forum because MC works with corporations to implement their CSR strategies helping them work/volunteer with local NGOs - such as Dandelion School. Our office figured it would be good to have a presence at the event. However, after 2 1/2 hours of speeches, videos and awards, I took off. It was interesting though hearing speaker after speaker say the same things about working towards worker safety, worker's rights, following labor laws, not using child labor, incorporating green production methods etc. Many protections that the west frequently takes for granted but are now becoming the buzz for this country.

Mao's Mausoleum

This morning I paid an overdue visit to Mao. It had been on my list of things to do so this Sunday morning, I got up early, subwayed over to the south end of Tiananmen Square and joined the throng. (The photo I took last month looking towards Mao's Mausoleum at the southern end of Tiananmen Square.)

It is quite a procedure but that is part of the experience. Since bags and cameras are not allowed, I arrived with money, passport and my apartment keys. They let one large group go at a time, so you stand in line waiting for your turn. Following a yellow-lined path, you proceed to the security check point and through a metal detector. Then you line up in four rows until everyone is together again. Our mass group was led up the front of the mausoleum into the foyer where there is a white statue of Mao sitting amid dozens of plants. At this point people can place fake tulips they purchased prior to entry in front of Mao (the flowers are periodically gathered up to be repurchased by future visitors). In the next room, surrounded by a glass wall, is the glass casket holding the preserved Mao. I had read online about his "glowing" head. And with a light aimed at his waxy face, it does have a yellowy glow. You have about 10 seconds to get your fill of Mao as the group files past and enters the last room - the souvenir shop. And that's it. The amount of time you spend in the mausoleum is about 30 seconds. And it's free.

As I stood outside again, it was a poignant moment. Not because of Mao but because I realized that this was the last time I would be in the heart of Beijing before returning home. It was strangely a sad realization.

Shopping...

I am not a big fan of shopping. But, this being China, with souvenirs and Christmas gifts beckoning, and the end of my trip looming, it was time to go out and get the job done. Psyched up, list and money in hand, and repeating a mantra to resolve to bargain, I entered the world of Beijing shopping.

My first stop, and I wish I'd taken photos but it was all I could handle focusing on my mission, was the Silk Market. Don't be misinformed by the name. It is a five story enclosed building crowded with stalls of shops on each floor and a fifth floor food court. In the basement are shoes, hand bags and luggage. Clothes are on the other floors and the silk fabric store is located on the fourth floor. It is like something out of a movie - if that movie took place in seedy alleys in Thailand. I felt propositioned. The phrases "Lady, lady, you want nice hand bag? Lookie, lookie. Come here, you want Gucci?" followed me as, head down, not making eye-contact, I quickly maneuvered my way through the stalls. "Lady, lady, lookie, lookie." Thing is, despite their lack of English, the young women are well schooled in how to NOT strike a bargain. I bought a pair of throw pillow cases - they sell the same few patterns everywhere making me cringe to think there is a sweat-shop somewhere mass producing them. The girl who sold them to me was smooth. When I offered a counter price she scoffed and said "What! You must be joking me. I give you good price." The game was up before it started.

Saturday morning, having survived unscathed from my evening at the Silk Market, I rose early and headed back to the Dirt Market. It didn't get above freezing that day. I cruised through the stalls hunting for my gifts. Here there is no "lookie, lookie" but there seems to be a secret to eyeing things without really eyeing them. Because once they've caught you seriously looking at something the aggressive calculator game starts. One of you punches in a number and the other counter punches. If you walk away, they grab you "what price? what price?" Practicing western guilt, I feel like I got their hopes up for something I have no intention to buy. Such was the case when I stopped to look at old man's collection of odds and ends. In a friendly way, I gave the "It's cold, isn't it?" pantomime (he spoke no English) and next thing I knew he took me into his dusty little shop, took off my gloves, put my hands on the radiator which was great for my numbed fingers, and invited me to sit down. I felt obligated to look around for something to buy. I spotted one of those bowls that you hit to make a lovely gong sound and out came the calculator. Guilt ensued, after all he was so sweet, so we bargained and I bought it. He even offered to let me stow my purchases while I shopped. Did I need this bowl? No. But the memory of that friendly little old guy, makes the purchase more worth it.

Academic Dreams

China is frequently linked with high academic performance. Guo Xin confirmed that no matter the socio-economic status of a family, great stress it put on succeeding through education. So it was that Friday afternoon, I met more of our adolescent beneficiaries who had completed their education at Dandelion and were part of the first group of unregistered students to be accepted into a public high school. It is a three year school, where the first two years are spent on academics and then in the third year the student can decide whether to work towards going to a university or start vocational training. They live at the school during the week, traveling for hours by bus every weekend back to their homes on the other side of Beijing.



We visited the students that afternoon to practice their English and show them a movie which is a huge treat. The feature DVD that day was the animated film Ratatouille (above photo: they are engrossed in the film). The students are amazing kids. They are migrant youth from all over China who glow and buzz with interest and excitement. They were so friendly and so attentive, eager to speak their very good English, express how thankful they are to be in the school and how they hope to work hard to succeed. As their class leader told me "All of our dreams are to go to University". It warms your heart and you really hope they do - though it will be a challenge given their educational background. One girl (see photo), all smiles, ran up to me when I was leaving, telling me how glad she was to meet me, that she would like to come to my home and then gave me a huge hug. If I could, I would bundle her up, take her home and see that she becomes everything she wants to be.

Non-profits in the land of profit

Another task completed during my stay was the MC orientation for our Beijing staff. Two of our four staff started in September and the third when I arrived. These three are also new to non-profit work. And as I was to learn, non-profits are a new, and sometimes hard to grasp concept in China. Aside from the nuts and bolts of the MC HQ office, I wanted to emphasize such catchy concepts as "transparency", "accountability", and "team work".





During the post-Q&A session, one of my coworkers asked what he should tell his friends when they ask him about MC. They do not understand how non-profits work. There's no profit? Well, then we must be a front for secret operations. It seems suspicious. From the discussion that followed, it appears that China is only beginning to accept the idea of "charity" work. As my colleague Guo Xin explained it to us, the west has traditionally had a religious culture to foster the ideas of "it is better to give than receive" and "give back to society" etc. China, with its Buddhist heritage and political climate, does not have that same cultural ideal. But times are changing. Ten years ago, NGO work was nearly absent but now there are large numbers of local NGOs and the presence of international ones as well - though it is very difficult to register in the country and keep a low-profile to be allowed to stay.

The Face of Mercy Corps

One of my tasks while I am at the Beijing office is to act as the token westerner for public events. When the British couple came to visit Dandelion School, I was unanimously voted the presenter. When the donor visited yesterday, Kate insisted I go along as the HQ representative. And this morning, after a miscommunication left me standing outside in the absolutely frigid cold for a half hour in front of The People's Great Hall (where the communist party meets, next to Tiananmen Square) without an invitation, I was to perform the token duty of handing the president of the Chinese Foundation for Poverty Alleviation a large sign showing how much money has been donated through MC, shake hands, be given an appreciation plaque, all the while having our picture taken.

From appearances, it seemed to be a rather important event. There were many celebrities there - the latest Chinese version of American Idol winner, several actors and some singers, as well as the treasured master calligrapher's club and some very high up government officials. During the whole handing over of the cards and accepting the plaques, Chinese march music played continually giving the atmosphere a very surreal feel. We each had corsages and upon departing were given a swag bag which contained a calendar and a men's dress shirt. Huh?? Whoever fits the shirt, it's all yours.