Shopping in Xidan

I am hearing complaints about the lack of posts. Some have called me lazy, others have been kinder but no less disappointed! Unfortunately for everyone out there and me, the last week or 10 days have been utterly boring and uneventful. I have fallen into a routine of morning class, lunch, tutoring session, nap, dinner, homework, relax time and bed. Same thing everyday. It think though, it has become a good thing because I now have a routine and feel like I live here in Beijing and am not just a tourist or passerby. However, the result has been thatI don't really have as much to talk about...if you think of your daily lives, how often do you have something really noteworthy to write on a blog?

Nonetheless, I this past weekend I went clothes shopping with a few of my Chinese friends because I really needed some more winter clothes. China is a shoppers paradise, whether its clothes, food whatever. The big choice in China that you have to make especially when buying clothes is where to go. Generally you have two choices, you can go to the clothing stores like Gap, H&M etc. or you can go to Chinese shops and markets. The biggest difference between the two is price but quality is also not as good at the Chinese shops. However, when you consider the price of the two, its easier to pick the lower quality one. Many of the Chinese shops have really great choices and have almost identical clothes to what you would find in Gap or H&M.

In Xidan, there are both malls filled with dingy, somewhat rundown Chinese shops and 21st Century mega-malls where you can buy Gap, H&M or even Versace, Prada and LV. Obviously, I chose the Chinese shops because if you know how to bargain...you can get great deals. Oh yeah, that is the other big thing about Chinese shops, you have to bargain, or you will get ripped off! I hate to bargain because Chinese people are very nasty when it comes to business and because there are two prices at these shops, the Chinese price and the Foreigner price. Lucky for me, my friend Annie is the GREATEST bargainer, perhaps in the world! Unfortunately for me, because they were Chinese shops they didn't have a lot of things in my size so I didn't buy much. However, I was able to buy a belt, two of those new, trendy circular scarves and a sporty winter jacket for 295 RMB! For those of you who want the the conversion that is about $44. Exactly! Pretty cheap. On top of it all, the coat I bought must be the warmest coat I have ever bought in my life!

One of the cool things that I especially like about Xidan is the architecture. Since it is right next to Tian'anmen Square it seems to have molded a little bit of Imperial, Sino-Sov and Modern architecture designs (Sorry I didnt get any of the Imperial-style architecture).

Also, Chang'An Avenue runs right by Xidan shopping plaza. Chang'An is probably the most famous road in Beijing, maybe even China. It is also the widest road in Beijing, with 10 lanes and two bike lanes!

Here are some pictures of Xidan.

And the last picture is of Chang'An Avenue during morning rush hour, courtesy of Wikipedia!

One last thing, since today is the Mid-term elections in America, I thought I would teach everyone how to say election in Chinese, since I learned it as well today, when I told my teacher I was going to leave class early to watch the returns! 选举 (pronounced xuǎnjǔ) means election. You can also say 大选 (dàxuǎn) or literally the "big election" since today is a General Election. A primary would be called 初选 (chū xuǎn) or literally meaning "early election." Not sure what you would call the mid-term elections maybe 半中腰选举 (bàn zhōngyāo xuǎnjǔ) or 中途选举 (zhōngtú xuǎnjǔ) which I think both mean halfway election but I don't know if that is how it would be said in Chinese. I will attempt to get a clarification on that.

Good luck Democrats!!!!

Good Winter

Yesterday, was I think, the first sign of winter. We had about two weeks of beautiful fall weather (my favorite season) but yesterday it got COLD! It was about 4 degrees Celsius or 40 degrees Fahrenheit, with a cold breeze and a slight rain and from here on out it is only expected to get colder. Winter weather in Beijing is similar to Ithaca, NY, where I went to college, so I am used to the cold weather. But I am sad that autumn was so short.

You may be wondering why I am devoting a whole post to the changing of the seasons but the thing in Beijing that is so different from Ithaca, is that there is no heat in almost all buildings until November 15th!!! That is the first day the government allows most apartment buildings to begin heating the buildings. It is a way to conserve energy, I think. In other words, my apartment is FREEZING. I only wear sweatpants, sweatshirts and two pairs of socks. I also have about five candles lighted to give off heat. I am seriously considering buying a small space heater, it is that bad. The only good news out of all this, is that in the morning I get ready so much quicker and get to school earlier because the sooner I get my clothes and coat on, the sooner I am warm.

Hope everyone is warm in America!

Underground Bike Bunkers

Today, my friends and I made a fascinating 

discovery. We had found out that we had been living 

and going to school on top of a massive underground 

bunker...filled with bikes!!! I don't have words to 

describe how bizarrely cool this place is, I will let 

the pictures I took show you.  Also, we found out 

that this isn't the only bunker, we have discovered at 

least 10 so far, each filled with bikes!

Previously, in an earlier post I mentioned how Chinese want the world to see how much China has changed and thus build huge, beautiful buildings yet have awful water quality etc. Well, I wanted to mention another funny thing about Chinese mentalality. Today, I was buying some books with friends and we had picked out three that we liked. Two of them were pretty normal size books, and so they cost 15 RMB but the third book was a long one, and so the cart owner thought since it was bigger it should cost more and wanted to charge 25 RMB!




On another occasion, I was trying to buy a pair of Converse sneakers with friend and my friend got hers for 35 RMB but the stall owner wanted to sell me mine for 75! When I asked why so much for mine when my friends were 35 RMB she said it was because they were bigger and used more material!!! What!?!? If only I spoke enough Chinese to explain how bulk purchasing of raw materials and an assembly line work!

The lesson to learn here is that Chinese people think the bigger something is, the more it should cost.

Last, but certainly not of little importance and something my Dad will be happy to hear, is that last night, I found cartons of ice cream for sale in my Apartment convience store, first time I have seen that in China! So obviously I had to buy some. Sadly, it cost 28 RMB or about 10 RMB more then I had spent on lunch and dinner combined. Oh well, there is nothing better than a movie and ice cream in bed!

My Short Take on Liu Xiaobo and Democracy in China

 I try and stay away from political topics as much as I can but this one is just way to important.

I have read much about China's political system, politics and society these last few years and every time I became more unsure of the future of Democracy in China, and for that matter if Democracy is even right for China. However, in these last few days, I have realized that for as much as the Communist Party has accomplished in the last 20 years, that without the very basic of human rights what does it matter. How can the Party profligate all of their successes while ignoring all that they have taken from people?

There were and are many excuses for why Democracy could never work in China, from to many people to the type of social structure Chinese society is, but I say if you never give people the chance then of course Democracy won't succeed. I have only been here for a month (3 months living in China total) but I can say that the Chinese people are dynamic and resourceful and even with 1.3 billion people they could make work.

McDonalds

Have you ever laid in bed late at night, hungry but to lazy to get up to cook something and didn't want to have to put clothes on and go out to your local fast food restaurant? Well have no fear, because in China, McDonalds has a 24 hour, English/Chinese language hotline you can call to place your order. What's even better is that you don't have to figure out which McDonalds is closest because the hotline does all that for you AND there is no delivery fee, tip or surcharge of any kind. Lastly, to top it all off they show up in a bright red McDonalds jumpsuit! Sorry for no picture but I didnt want to be mean to the guy and take his picture. Oh and after placing my order, the guy was here in less then 15 minutes!

Off to enjoy my late night snack! Loving China right now!

Air Quality

One of the things that I have been meaning to mention in a post has been the air quality here in Beijing. I remember running up to the Olympics that there was a lot of coverage on the poor quality of air in Beijing. When I was in here two years ago, I think there were only 10-15 blue sky days in two months and that that was mostly during the Olympics, when the Chinese government seeded the clouds to make it rain and clear the skies.

This time around, I think there has been a drastic improvement in air quality and overall "blue sky" days. Just in the last week, outside of the one rainy day, five or six of the days have had blue skies. From what I have read, the government has made a strong push to move heavy industry out of Beijing and into the suburbs or even into Central and Western China, in an attempt to provide a higher standard of living for Beijingers. Whether this is the reason that the air quality is better or not, I do know I am happy for the change.

Here is a picture of today, from my apartment window. It is a perfect autumn day, warm in the sun, accompanied by a soft, cool breeze.

School and Iphone 4

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days but there honestly hasn't been a lot to post about. I have gotten into a routine of school, tutoring, studying. There really hasn't been that much time to do anything else. However, yesterday was National Day, the founding of the PRC and so I have a week off from classes because of it. They call the week off a Golden Week. There are two per year in China, for National Day and Chinese New Year. The reason why they give the whole country a week off is because it is the only time anyone can return to their homes. Long weekends just aren't enough time when your traveling by train from Beijing to Chongqing or wherever. So for this Golden Week, Chinese people get one of their two opportunities to travel home each year and over 150 million will take advantage of it this week.

I was planning on traveling to Shanghai this week for both the expo and to see the city but I just decided I didn't want to deal with all the hassle of traveling with so many Chinese people. But I will be making a trip out to the Beijing suburbs, perhaps to Chengde. So, I will have plenty to talk about then.

In other news, the Iphone 4 has been released in China, and people have been going nuts. Scalpers have been going into the Apple store here in Beijing and buying 20 to 30 Iphones for around 5000 RMB. They then go and sell them right outside the store for 7000, 8000 or even 10,000 RMB. Sanlitun Village (where the flagship Apple Store is) has turned into a circus because of it and there are now always police officers hanging around trying to bust sellers. I think its more likely they are just hoping for a discount on an Iphone and then they wouldn't arrest the scalpers. Here is an article about the Iphone pandemonium.

Also, here is a picture from the deck of my favorite cafe, called The Bridge. Many expats and middle-class Chinese college students come here to study. The building across the street is Houlian and it is the main shopping mall in Wudaokou, which is a 15 minute walk from my apartment. Also, many students hangout here because Peking Univ, Tsinghua, BLCU, Renmin my school and at least 5 other schools are all withing walking distance of Wudaokou.