the Sam Jackson College Experience

CollegeScholarships.org kindly sent along this really nice graphic about students loans today and the way their costs accrue to students over time. It just scratches the surface of some of the issues about student loans, but it’s a valuable quick-look-tool. I wish it included information about financial aid, which I think is a very important counterpoint to consider when looking at student loan sizes and tuition prices, but still quite interesting all the same.

I haven’t written about loans or financial aid in some time… big, scary numbers like the ones in this graphic make me want to revisit the issue. Especially when I start thinking about grad school. (!)

(via www.collegescholarships.org)

Yunnan Province (云南, “South of the clouds”), located in southwest China, is home to some of the middle kingdom’s most beautiful sights and scenery. The Yalies of the Fall 2009 Yale-PKU program had the pleasure to take a 5 day trip to southern Yunnan before our classes started and roommates moved in (Sept 6-10). For those of you who have been angry at me for not uploading photos, be happy! Your fortunes have changed with this post : ) This will be mostly a photo-travelogue, with my commentary.

First, some more background about Yunnan. Many of the “most beautiful” traditional sights are located in northwest Yunnan – Lijiang, with Tiger Leaping Gorge; Dali, with Erhai Hu; Shangri-La with, well, Shangi-La… etc. When we found out that we weren’t going to go to any of these sites, a lot of us familiar with them were rather crestfallen… and may still are, at least a little bit. However, we still had a really great time in Tengchong county and Ruili City, which were rather less ‘touristy’ than the northwest would have been. The question remains as to whether or not those places are touristy for good reasons! but all the same, it was worthwhile to have had a nice trip together, even if we would have wanted to plan it a little bit differently. With no more complaints and without further ado, some more photos and stories!

The photo at the top of this post is from a lake that we visited in Tengchong; while in Tengchong, we also climbed a few dormant volcanoes and visited some very lovely villages, perhaps dubiously authentic, but “charmful” all the same! I am sorry I don’t have more photos of myself, but other people were taking photos of me, and maybe I can get my hands on those. These are mostly of the scenery or other people!

Tengchong – and much of southern Yunnan – is a volcanic hotspot of sorts. All the mountains you were were formed from volcanic activity, and this resulted in – what else? – hot springs! We got to visit a really pretty hot springs park, and a few of our own stayed afterwards to go into the hot springs themselves (indoors, with snacks, etc). Meanwhile, the rest of us went to go relax, and then we went out again in the evening for dinner and massages from local deaf masseurs. Not quite like Zatoichi, but still nice – especially for 20 RMB!

At the hot springs, our guide informed us excitedly about the new development of a “five star hotel!!!” — indeed, everywhere we looked in Yunnan, it seemed, ‘five star’ hotels were being put up. Nearby we were also able to see the work currently in progress on what is to be the “largest golf course in China” which – of course! – would be the site of at least a few new “five star hotel.”

This obsession with official accreditation extended in some cases to the most bizarre of places. For instance, I can tell you with the official authority of the Chinese People’s Scenic Sites Rating Committee (paraphrased) that the above hot springs are a “four star” tourist attraction. Perhaps the most hilarious example of this practice came in a village we visited later on, in Ruili (the village is pictured below, near the Banyan tree). There, the villagers themselves got together to rate each other’s homes on a variety of different criteria, from cleanliness to filial piety… yes, really! Anyway, moving on.

After two lovely days in Tengchong, we set out for Ruili, in even-more-southern Yunnan. With our guide and driver, we set out along the historic road to Burma, tracing much of the same routes that the “southern silk road” once took. Driving through the mountain switchbacks was, frankly, extremely terrifying. Our driver saved our lives many times, no doubt.

The roads were not themselves so much a problem as were our fellow travelers on the roads. (This is a general rule of thumb for travel conditions in China, it seems)

Scooters were not a serious worry – in an accident or collision, we’d survive handily. Instead, on this narrow and twisting two-lane road through the high mountain passes, extremely slow moving “trucks” — actually truck bodies matches with extremely weak tractor or motorcycle engines mounted naked in front of the drivers — were heavily loaded with volcanic rocks for the stone carving operations further back down the mountains. Given these and other kinds of slow moving vehicles – local farmers and pedestrians entering from secret off-roads into even more sinuous and dangerous village mountain roads – on a truly horrifying number of occasions we were faced with two oncoming vehicles bearing down on us in each lane.

On one side, the jungle and mountain. On the other, thousands of feet off the mountainside through steep rice paddies to the valleys below. Every time, people were able to maneuver successfully, and I’m alive here to write this story… but very, very scary.  Luckily, I didn’t have to drive, so when not preoccupied with our impending deaths, I was able to snap photos like the ones you can see above.

And then, we made it to Ruili – alive! Oh, how happy we were.

Ruili was, until quite recently, a very exciting travel destination for foreigners who were looking for heroin, prostitutes, danger and excitement on the Burmese border. Why is Ruili City a boomtown of such illicit trades? Simply look across the Ruili river to find your answer: Burma. Yes, we went to the Burmese border. In fact, we drove along one section of the border where there were simply some weak low fencing and on the other side, Burmese farmers. For a brief background reading on how Ruili and other boomtowns are growing because of the surging trade with the junta  -  China is Burma’s 2nd largest trading partner – check out this piece from PBS Frontline – Burma: The Chinese Connection. Brief relevant sections quoted below:

Along the Burmese frontier, Chinese boomtowns are sprouting up, bankrolled in large part by the trade in narcotics, jade and timber from Burma. One such town is Ruili, just over the river from the Jie Gao Free Trade Zone.

I first visited Ruili four years ago. Back then, the construction boom brought a volatile mix of men, cash, drugs and sex. China’s first AIDS cases were discovered here in the early 1980s.

These days the atmosphere in Ruili is less frenetic. It feels like a town that is finally settling into its self, after going through a spasm of growth. The thousands of Chinese construction workers, who’d come for the building boom, have left. Many of the Burmese prostitutes who flocked here during the boom are also gone.

“In the past, you could see men and women shooting heroin openly in the streets,” a longtime Ruili resident tells me. “But today, Ruili is much cleaner, more modern.”

But the town has not fully shaken its sleazy reputation. Heroin trade has decreased slightly, but amphetamines — another Burmese export — are flooding the streets along the China-Burma border. There are still dozens of brothels, advertising both Burmese and Chinese women.

So yes, Yale / PKU brought us to one corner of the Golden Triangle, Southeast Asia’s main opium production zone. Ruili was a little bit gritty, and we were careful going out – the night market was full of Burmese children who sneak over to beg, for example – but it was still an interesting experience. While here, the “Southeast Asia” feel was stronger than ever, even though it was obviously with a Chinese element. One reason we came to Yunnan was because it is full of so many minority groups – and so many which are just found in Yunnan. Here in Ruili, we got to meet local schoolchildren from different minority groups as well as Han Chinese, and visited some minority villages and other local sites.

At right, you can see one of the many places we were able to visit around Ruili (aside from our numerous excursions to heroin-filled brothels, of course). This was a truly lovely park / wildlife area. We picked up a second guide in Ruili, and she told us that the area was sacred to the local Buddhists, and that therefore for a long time no one would go into it to hunt, log, etc – thus, it was in pristine condition! This definitely seemed to be the case, at least to a certain degree. There was a really nice trail that went to a waterfall there, and this is a photo taken along the way. This area also had some hot springs, which fed into proper “pools” in which local people were just swimming, washing clothes, etc.

The forest was said to be good for your health because of the very high levels of oxygen because of all the foliage there – this was basically rainforest, or so it seemed. Though the day was very sunny when we started, under all the tree cover it still stayed pretty cool, despite the heat of the local climate.

There were giant, old trees – reminiscent of the redwoods and sequoias of the American West, even, although more subtropical / tropical. I have more photos of everything that will be uploaded to… Facebook, I suppose? So look for them there. : )

The next day, we were set to go visit a local village school, and then a corresponding local village. While at first I hadn’t been particularly excited about the village or the children, thinking it would be a pretty tacky and inauthentic experience, I was pretty pleasantly surprised.

The kids were all really, really nice – they were very excited to get to meet us, and it was nice to have little kids who really wanted to play with us and who rarely if ever got to meet foreigners.

Obviously, all of them would imagine Yale as being less exciting than a Chinese university, but I still harbor some hope that maybe one of them will be inspired and end up coming to Yale some 10-15 years from now. We sat in on a couple different classes, and then got to play with them outside. Many were shy at first, but it was interesting to get to see them learn and to see the school.

The picture on the right shows the kids in their English class, which was the only one that I could really follow along with – my Chinese is definitely nowhere near 4th grade level, which I believe is the year the students in the yellow outfits were. In any event, I could communicate passably with some of the younger children about basic concepts, but couldn’t understand their playground songs, etc.

Outside, during their recess, we got to play with the kids – each class getting a few “big brothers” and “big sisters” (i.e., Yalies). At first, we played their games, which were delightfully violent or dangerous, the kind of things that PTAs have tried to outlaw in the United States like Red Rover, etc. We also played duck-duck-goose, and when I lost I had to stand in the center of the circle and sing a song – but I didn’t know the “you just lost duck-duck-goose” song in Chinese, so I sang part of the U.S. National Anthem instead… to the great delight and laughter of all the Chinese (and Yalies in earshot, as well). At right is a photo of one of my fellow Yalies, Monica Lu (Morse, ‘11) with a variety of friendly little schoolkids. The red scarves indicate that they are on the “honor roll” so to speak, and are especially diligent / hard-working, etc. We left around lunchtime, and so did the students – they go home for lunch, if they live close, and then come back for more classes later.

In the background you might be able to see some rubble; it was just littered around the schoolyard, which was a bit worrying, but it turns out to be positive: they are building new classrooms etc and it’s just part of the construction process. The facilities were all things considered quite nice: they had nicer overhead projectors and equipment in some cases than what I had had in elementary school, even if the facilities were anything but fancy. The school had recently gotten a good infusion of funds for their expansion / renovation, so they were on pretty solid footing. Apparently they also had a program in place to teach Burmese children, too. Some of the kids whose clothes look different are from different minority groups,  but it’s not always obvious; most of the differences in outfits are just those who are wearing ‘uniforms’ for different grades.

After we also had our lunch, and emergency ice cream to combat the heat (remember, we’re on the Burmese border, but not at altitude anymore), we headed off to this nearby ‘minority village.’ There are several interesting stories to tell here, though I had few photos to go along, but I’ll try to give a sense of what it was like.

First, we were met by a local woman who was head of the women’s committee of this village and four others. This was actually a very important post, since – or the claim was made – that this and the other villages were part of a minority group which was in fact matriarchal, where the women have indentured servant husbands for several years until they have “earned their keep” and can move upstairs into the bedroom of the house, for example.

Afterwards we weren’t quite sure how much of the story we were told was entirely true, but it seemed quite believeable. In Chinese fashion, this woman – 10 year party member! – was not eager to really show off the squalid conditions of the village-village, instead touring us her house and suggesting another nicer section to visit. After talking with her and hearing the story of the village (translated by our program director) she offered us a large selection of jewelry to purchase, supposedly made from local materials in a local factory constructed by the Chinese Communist Party for the villagers – the proceeds were meant to support the village and their Buddhist temples. After hearing the very well told story of their history and culture, we of course all leapt to buy trinkets; southern Yunnan is an important site of China’s jade trade, but the items were mostly metals. Still, we left about 2000 RMB (~300 USD) poorer, collectively, and richer by an unknown number of bracelets and earrings.

Now, with a short drive an an additional walk, we came to another, nicer part of the village – or a nearby village, it’s hard to tell – as pictured above. Some of the old style houses were still around – woven bamboo walls, etc – some were newer buildings of brick, and some were a combination of both. The classic house here in this area is to have a mostly empty lower section of the house for entertaining guests and storing your animals when need arises; upstairs is where the family lives and keeps their nice possessions, etc.

Our objective was the Buddhist temple of the area, since a very large Buddha had been built over many years. I took photos, but it wasn’t especially exciting – what drew my attention was another absolutely fabulous Banyan tree. This picture is taken from very far away and doesn’t really convey the full scale of the tree; we had stopped at some Banyan groves earlier, and this was much bigger than any others.

Now, I later learned that this particular tree – of a species significant to Buddhists and Hindus alike – was probably sacred and significant to the local people, especially given its close proximity to the giant Buddha (taller than the tree, perhaps?) just 100 feet away. Still, my first thought when I saw such a beautiful tree was to worship it in my own way – by getting up on top of it and experiencing its age and majesty first hand. I didn’t know that was wrong until I started getting yelled at, but still…!

Banyan trees are a kind of ficus – often called stranglers for the way they sometimes start by growing around existing trees – which drop down roots which then grow into larger trunks which can end up as large as real trees themselves.

These trees can grow to be hundreds of years old, and cover huge amounts of territory because of the way they can extend laterally – the first picture above shows just how “wide” this collection of trunks can become. Very impressive trees!

Afterwards, we went into the adjacent temple, which mostly merits mention because – like so many other places in China – it had a very cute cat posing in a very photogenic way.

After this, we went back to the hotel, had some food at an interesting Burmese-themed kitschy restaurant (which was fun, if tacky – Cameron got married off to a local woman, as well!). At night throughout the trip, we all became friendlier and closer by playing lots and lots of Mafia together. The next day, we drove to the airport, flew back to Kunming (capital of Yunnan Province) and from there back to Beijing. With that, I’ll end this travelogue!

This has gotten to be very long (almost 3000 words) so thank you for reading till the end, if you really did, and I hope you enjoyed the stories and photos. I had a great time getting to know lots of nice new people who are now my good friends in the program, and it was very cool to get to see Yunnan as well. We had many interesting experiences which were not recounted here and maybe I will write about them randomly some other time. Until then – thanks for reading!

If you want to see a gallery of all the photos used in the post, click the “read more” link below.

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We treat our own very well!

And… I have reason to be afraid for my upcoming birthday : )

(Oct 31st – if you are confused about how to best send me gifts or cash favors, just leave a comment or use the contact form ; )

你 好 from Beijing! I have been here in China since the start of September, and this week classes finally got started here at Beida (Peking University), a week behind Yale’s schedule. So far my experience in the Peking University-Yale Joint Undergraduate Program has been quite good, though China has a lot to take in. This is the first of an ongoing series of letters / updates I’m going to do my best to issue regularly while I am here for the semester.

What have we done so far?

• Arrived September 1
• Settled in and explored Beijing, going on several sight-seeing trips
• From Sept 6-10 we went on a trip to Yunnan Province, which was very interesting – more on that soon!
• Classes started September 14
• Currently experiencing life here in Beijing and China!

In this post, I’m going to talk about why I’m here in China, and share some first impressions. More detailed posts to come on the other points above as well as some of what is mentioned here.

Let me just first give a brief overview of why I’m here, since I never really elaborated on it before. I have always wanted to study abroad, although the country of choice has historically been France – hence the 7 years of French, etc. However, after I had completed my language requirements with an L5 French course at Yale, I decided to take Chinese. I wasn’t sure at the time (last fall) whether or not I would end up studying in China, but Yale offers a lot more resources for study in East Asia than it does for Western Europe, unfortunately.

For Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, you have options like the Light Fellowship for fully-paid intensive language study available to you. I would have ideally been studying here in China this semester on a Light fellowship; unfortunately, you have to be starting 4th Semester or higher Chinese to study in a Light-approved program during the year. I didn’t want to go on a summer program and sacrifice the season to 80-characters-a-night of Chinese homework, among other reasons, so that option was out. Still, there was the Yale-PKU program, which I applied to and decided to go on last spring.

I still haven’t answered the questions “Why China, why now?” The reasons are straightforward: Why China? I feel very certain that the China-US bilateral relationship will be the most important one of any two nations in the coming century. No other two countries have as much combined power to effect change in the world – for good or ill. I therefore feel I have essentially a moral imperative to better understand China and its people, culture, and trajectory, because whatever course I choose to take in my life, I’m sure China will overlap to at least some degree. As for the latter question – what better time than the present?

Now, onto my (first) first impressions!

The very first thing I noticed, and the thing that I continue to notice the most, has to do with pollution and air quality. But, this topic merits its own post, so I’m going to leave it aside for now. For the moment, let me just say that while I am becoming a little bit used to it, the perpetual haze serves as a continuing reminder of what sacrifices have been made for the sake of “modernization.” So, aside from that:

China is a lot less exotic – at first brush – than I had imagined. No immediate, overwhelming culture shock – not like going to Texas or Las Vegas, for example ; ) ! In all seriousness, though, although China is a very ‘different’ place from my familiar America, my expectations have been in line with what I’ve experienced, generally speaking. In places where I have been ’surprised’ it has been at how accessible Beijing has been to me, with just 1 year’s worth of Chinese study. No doubt, a lot of work from the Olympics 2008 buildup has paid off for me in this regard, with the subways helpfully having both English announcements and Pinyin / English station names, since I don’t always know all the station title characters! (For a look at the current subway system, and how fast new additions are expected to be brought online, check out this map – dashed lines are subway lines under construction or planning).

Modern China is aptly described as a country undergoing immense changes, and in this regard there are everywhere great contradictions and idiosyncrasies. Wandering around Beijing one can be successfully lulled into thinking China is really well developed, leaping forward into the future. The truer picture of the city – as microcosm of China – is often just concealed behind thin walls, secret alleys and courtyard houses and markets hidden away out of sight. The hustle and bustle of modern construction draws much attention, but can’t always distract from old and beautiful buildings several stories shorter, paint peeling and fading after decades of neglect. Other times, though, it’s possible to get away from this same hustle and bustle and appreciate the thousands of years of history which lead up to today’s China. There are many sites in wonderful condition. Tragically, for every great historical site – in either good or poor condition – there seems to be some complementary “10 times more beautiful and wondeful” palace or temple which was inevitably destroyed by Westerners in the 19th century or Chinese in the 20th. Many, however, have been rebuilt.

This complicated situation is very obvious at our school here, Peking University, known in China as Beida, short for “Beijing Da Xue” (Beijing University, 北京大学). Beida was created from a combination of other campuses, some of which were once royal gardens; many of its buildings are old, historic, and very beautiful. Others are new modern classroom and science buildings which would not look out of place on many an American college campus or office complex. Of the former category, many have seen interior renovations, but cry out for help maintaining their facades; others are just in desperate need of repairs, period.

As far as facilities and infrastructure is concerned, it’s clear we’re not at Yale anymore. Some of the dorms here do not have any showering facilities, and students may have to walk 5-15 minutes outside to go take a shower, because the plumbing simply isn’t in place. In this regard, our program has its own showers indoors – a real luxury : ). To be fair, a lot of what we see here is merely reminiscent of the kind of expansionary construction seen at college campuses in times which had both a combination of bad architectural taste and financial distress – Wesleyan until recently, anyone? Though, to be fair to our Middletown neighbor, what I’m describing here is really a whole different category. I’ll take some pictures soon.

All in all, despite my well-known proclivities for highly vocal complaining, I don’t have very much to really say at this time. I’m in a good “frame of expectations” right now, so while I am definitely appreciating Yale more! I’m able to have a good time here, too. Things are not perfect, but they’re good enough. As time goes on, maybe this will wear thin and I’ll start to get more frustrated, but on the whole things are quite OK. The myriad disadvantages and inconveniences in daily life here are small prices to pay for the chance to get to live in China and experience it first-hand, with Chinese roommates, as opposed to the isolated “international island” that all other schools experience in their study-abroad programs here with Beida. One of our professors, a Chinese graduate of Yale Law School now teaching us at PKU, told a funny joke at the opening ceremony: “PKU is my mother school, and Yale is my father, and now they have had a beautiful child, the PKU-Yale Joint Program! However, as you may know, China has a very famous one-child policy, ensuring that it remains a very unique program…”

Our Chinese roommates are all very nice, thoughtful and open to creative exchange, and I am really enjoying getting to understand China better through them and my time here. You learn a hundred times more from a month here than you could just trying to read about the place – or at least, you learn different, on-the-ground knowledge and understanding. Experiences from everyday life build on one another into a real appreciation and understanding, it seems.

China can’t be reduced to a stereotype or a single two-dimensional picture. I don’t expect to really “get” China after just 4 months here, but I hope to have a better grasp of the place than I did before I came, and that much seems certain.

More updates to come!

I am studying at Beijing University for this fall semester as part of the Yale-PKU Joint Program. I’ve been in China since September 1st and have been having a great time. I’ll have more updates to come, and pictures to boot, but just wanted to remind everyone that I am very much out of the country and a bit difficult to get in touch with at times as a result of my current location!