Understanding the Sichuan Dialect

We've had lots of fun sharing photos of Chengdu with you through this blog, but today, something for the ears.

As any student of Mandarin Chinese will know, China can be a maddening place. You can practice your four tones to no end, wildly waving one arm in the air while drawing invisible tone marks, or bobbing your head up and down and side to side until you're dizzy. And then, you get to China, and you can't understand a thing people are saying.

That's what happened to me when I landed in Chengdu six weeks ago.

WIKI IS WACKY

My Chinese friends are always quick to point out that Sichuan dialect, or Sichuanhua, is not so different from Mandarin. Wikipedia describes it as a "southwestern Mandarin dialect" spoken by 120 million people, and goes on to say, "It is typically not difficult for one who knows standard Mandarin to understand a Sichuanese speaker."

That entry must have been written by a native Chinese speaker.

Continue reading "Understanding the Sichuan Dialect" »

1:43 PM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink | comments (14) | e-mail post

Crosswalks of Chengdu

My jaywalking habits have definitely intensified since I arrived in Chengdu.

I don't know what it is about China and jaywalking. Perhaps it's the complete absence of right-of-way for pedestrians (so why try to cross safely anyway.) Perhaps it's the safety-in-numbers mentality (cross when the jaywalker next to you is crossing). Or perhaps, it's intersections like one I stumbled across today.

The intersection of Shuncheng, East Datong and Zhengfu Streets.

This is the intersection of Shuncheng, East Datong, and Zhengfu Streets in north-central Chengdu. Looks pretty normal on the map, but here's what it's like in person:

T-shaped crosswalk configuration defies logic.....

......but it seems to faze no one.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

It took me a moment to figure out why people were walking in the middle of the road. But look closely. In fact, these people are all following the crosswalks, to the "T." Literally. But no one seemed to be bother by this crosswalk configuration. There was no honking, no screeching of tires, I, on the other hand, was fascinated, and couldn't stop taking pictures.

-- Andrea Hsu

Continue reading "Crosswalks of Chengdu" »

3:00 PM ET | 04-29-2008 | permalink | comments (17) | e-mail post

 

Journalism Versus Backbreaking Work

We've all had days of feeling like work is just too hard.

Today was one of them for me.

A few of the interviews we were hoping to do fell through. I left my apartment only briefly, to go buy a Coke because I needed the caffeine.

Then, looking for something to blog about, I came across these photos I took on a visit to nearby Qingcheng Mountain the other weekend.

And I suddenly felt sheepish for feeling so sorry for myself.

A mountain porter carries corrugated sheet metal up Qingcheng Mountain.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

That day, we saw a bunch of these porters carrying construction materials up the mountain.

I didn't get a chance to ask this man (above) how much he makes, but another guy carrying a sack of cement mix in a basket on his back told me he earns 110 yuan a day (about $16), for two 3-mile trips up to a spot where a guesthouse is being built.

Earlier, I saw these guys carrying sacks of cement mix up the mountain. They'd finished for the day and were heading home.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

I saw that same guy with a few other porters after they were done for the day. They were bounding down the mountain so fast I couldn't get to them in time to snap a good photo.

- - Andrea Hsu

3:49 PM ET | 04-28-2008 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Rock Star Cui Jian Performs in Chengdu

Cui Jian on the big screen.

 

Guards occasionally told people to take their seats, but otherwise seemed to be enjoying the concert.

photos by Andrea Hsu, NPR

Cui Jian, often referred to as the father of Chinese rock, gave an incredible concert at the provincial sports arena in Chengdu last night. For two and a half hours, he and his band played to an adoring and grateful crowd, who at times, sang along with his every word. Some of the concertgoers told me it's been 18 years since Cui Jian's last major solo appearance in Chengdu; others seemed to think it was within the last decade.

Whatever the case, it was a much different scene from the last time I saw Cui Jian perform, in a small club in Beijing in 1999. Back then, Cui Jian had essentially been barred from performing large venues, and news of his shows spread by word of mouth. The unofficial ban, at least in Beijing, had come into place after a rousing concert he gave in Tiananmen Square in 1989. You can find on iTunes and elsewhere a clip of his song "Nothing to my Name," which became an anthem of sorts for the pro-democracy movement.

"Old Cui," as he's known, is 46 now, and something of a national hero. His songs are played on the radio sometimes, and last night's concert was a pretty big deal. There was a multi-tiered stage, an impressive lights display, large video screens, and a well-choreographed stage show, featuring drummers from the Beijing-based group SambAsia and a team of dancers.

Continue reading "Rock Star Cui Jian Performs in Chengdu" »

3:00 PM ET | 04-27-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Why Chengdu?

A number of you have asked how we came to choose Chengdu as our base.

Chengdu is far inland from China's major port cities.

Alice Kreit, NPR

I have to admit, when we began talking about putting together a week of programming on China, I was pushing to do it from Beijing. I know Beijing very well, having lived there in the 90s. I love Beijing's parks and hutongs (old alleyways). I can understand most Beijing residents, since they speak Mandarin. I was confident that we would find lots of interesting stories to report on.

But our executive producer Chris Turpin, and others in NPR management, kept insisting that we take our listeners somewhere besides Beijing or Shanghai. Today, I'll be the first to say it was the right decision.

Continue reading "Why Chengdu?" »

12:00 PM ET | 04-26-2008 | permalink | comments (22) | e-mail post

Well-Read China: Books to Get Us Ready

On our last blog entry we thanked all you for your questions and comments. These elements will help us think about our May coverage from China. (On the radio during the week of the 19-23)

And, in addition to the questions about China itself, we had one person ask THIS about our process:

"Could you make public some of the reading material that has been used in preparing for NPR's special report from China? The list may even prompt some NPR listeners to suggest worthwhile reading material too."

Sure we can!

Let's look at the All Things Considered China bookshelf.
.

THE CHINA BOOKSHELF

Books about China fill our office shelf. There are DVD's there, too.

Art Silverman, NPR

Continue reading "Well-Read China: Books to Get Us Ready" »

12:00 PM ET | 04-25-2008 | permalink | comments (14) | e-mail post

Your Questions About China

Hey gang! Thanks for all the good questions and comments.

One week ago in this blog, and on our radio program, we invited questions from you to help guide us as we plan for our Chengdu adventure.

Your curiousity feeds our curiousity.

We set out on this journey focusing on one big issue in China now: the generational divide. Young people in cities have been born into a modern world; their parents and grandparents grew up in a controlled, impoverished one. That's still a theme that will run through the week we're bringing you coverage from Chengdu in May.

But we'll also be pointing microphones and aiming cameras at other aspects of life in Sichuan Province. And some of those tangents come from the comments that came to the blog.

Continue reading "Your Questions About China" »

12:00 PM ET | 04-24-2008 | permalink | comments (19) | e-mail post

Chic Chengdu Real Estate Fair

This past weekend, I got sucked into the Chengdu Spring Real Estate Fair. It was hard not to. It was taking place downtown, jamming up traffic. Organizers had set up a big stage out front and brought in pop stars from Hong Kong. I missed those performances, but I did catch a pair of women playing electric violins.

A stage in front of the expo center featured singers and musicians, including this violin performance. Inside, potential home buyers had plenty to explore.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

Inside the four-story expo center, models and then models: women in all manner of evening wear, and miniature layouts of new construction.

Who knew real estate could be so chic?

All told there were nearly 300 booths -- all of them developers -- a mind-boggling amount of new housing when you think about it.

The Chengdu Spring Real Estate Fair took place downtown at the Tianfu Expo Center, drawing tens of thousands of visitors.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

Prices start at just over 1000 yuan per square meter (roughly $150) for homes in Chengdu's suburbs. More prestigious addresses in the city run from five to ten times that much, for a total cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Later this spring, we're going to look into the real estate market here. We hope to get inside one of these developments, to see what money will buy.

-- Andrea Hsu

Models in evening wear man the booths at the Chengdu Spring Real Estate Fair.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

10:00 AM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

The Pandas' Secret

Video by David Gilkey, NPR
Embed this on your blog via YouTube

I really don't smile that much. It's not that I am unhappy or depressed. It's just not in my nature. I tend to take life a little seriously.

But, as part of my coverage for NPR in China, I visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and Director Zhang Zhihe. He's a gentle man who speaks about the giant pandas as if they were his own family. At the end of our time together, I asked him why he thought the giant panda bears are so popular. A simple answer from the director: "Because they make you smile!"

I fully agree. I edited this piece for the blog smiling and laughing out loud the whole time. This footage is a preview of a full report with Melissa Block that will air in May. Enjoy.

--David Gilkey

10:21 AM ET | 04-22-2008 | permalink | comments (64) | e-mail post

Memories of Shanghai 1985

In 1985, I spent five months in Shanghai with my mother, who was doing research for a book at the time. I was twelve years old.

Here are some memories I have of that fall:

I had a red bike, which was really unusual. (Most all other bikes were black.)

We had just one Chinese friend who owned a refrigerator. (She served me chocolate ice cream every time we visited.)

And customer service was practically non-existent. (So bad even a 12 year old would notice.)

Producer Andrea Hsu (on cart) during an even earlier trip to China in 1982, being pushed down Shanghai's Nanjing Road with a set of dishes.

photo courtesy Vivian Ling

Continue reading "Memories of Shanghai 1985" »

12:00 PM ET | 04-21-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Chengdu Protest Targets French Store

It's been five weeks since the Tibet protests, and emotions in China are still raw. This weekend, demonstrations were staged outside Carrefour stores in a number of Chinese cities, including Beijing, Xi'an, Wuhan, Hefei, Dalian, Kunming, and here in Chengdu.

Protester waves Chinese flag at demonstration at French store in Chengdu.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

Demonstrators were peaceful in their campaign to boycott the French superstore.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

Carrefour is a French superstore -- one of Wal-Mart's biggest competitors, with over 100 stores in China. A campaign to boycott those stores has been spreading through email, online chat rooms, and text-messages. Supporters of the campaign accuse the company of backing the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence. They're also angry about the disruption of the Olympic torch relay in Paris on April 7.

In an interview published in a French newspaper on Sunday, Carrefour's CEO Jose-Luis Duran said the company has not given "any direct or indirect support to any political or religious cause."

Continue reading "Chengdu Protest Targets French Store" »

12:00 PM ET | 04-20-2008 | permalink | comments (30) | e-mail post

Working the Land the Natural Way

Last week, Melissa Block and I visited an organic farm run by a really interesting guy who used to be a stock broker. He's been operating the farm for seven years now without the use of any chemicals or pesticides, and indeed, the bugs were aplenty! I still have little bites all over my hands to show for it. We'll be bringing you the story of that farm in May on the radio (May 19-23.)

This week, NPR photographer David Gilkey and I got a second look at organic farming in a place called Anlong Village. Anlong sits along the Zouma River, upstream from Chengdu. Several years ago, the local NGO Chengdu Urban Rivers Association (CURA) chose it as a pilot site for eco-friendly agriculture, including organic farming. The idea was that by cleaning up Anlong, you'd protect a major source of water for Chengdu residents.

Anlong farmer Gao Shengjian believes there's a link between the use of pesticides and fertilizers on farms and the growing incidences of various diseases among the rural population. Inset, foregoing pesticides means bugs can be a different sort of problem.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

Continue reading "Working the Land the Natural Way" »

12:00 PM ET | 04-19-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Amy Tan Offers Us Some Advice

(Robert Siegel spoke to author Amy Tan this week for a story about the village of Dimen. She writes about the Dong village in the forthcoming May issue of National Geographic magazine.)

Amy Tan on recent visit to Washington, D.C. to speak about her upcoming National Geographic article.

Lars Gotrich, NPR

Amy Tan had this advice for my forthcoming trip to Chengdu: I must ask to see a Chinese opera. When I am told about a very famous (and, as she says, 'glitzy') one I must refuse and demand to see a REAL one. Then when I told about a real one, I must refuse again and insist on going to the outdoor opera that the farmers go to when they come to the city. The Chinese, she says, will think I am nuts but, this way, I'll see an authentic Chinese opera. Her other guidance: I must buy an umbrella for the sun.

-- Robert Siegel

12:13 PM ET | 04-18-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Sichuan Burger at McDonald's

A reader of this blog commented on one of Melissa Block's posts about food with the suggestion that she try a Sichuan burger at McDonald's. We never got around to it while our All Things Considered host was here, but on my lunch hour today, I thought, why not?

There's a McDonald's that's open 24/7 just a couple blocks from my apartment. I pass it almost daily, though until today, had never stepped foot inside it. One morning, very early, I did notice a man doing tai chi right in front of the doors. Unfortunately, I was in a taxi and had no time to snap a photo.

Sign of the times in Chengdu..

Andrea Hsu, NPR

McDonald's restaurants in Chengdu are heavily promoting the "Numbing and Spicy" Premium Grilled Chicken sandwich. Note the Sichuan peppercorns and red chili peppers.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

"Mala" means "numbing and spicy" -- the two flavors Sichuan cuisine is renown for. There is a hint of both in McDonald's Mala premium grilled chicken sandwich.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

WHAT'S IN A BURGER?

Anyway, today I went in and asked for the Sichuan burger, which turns out is not a burger at all, but a grilled chicken sandwich, spiced with both chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorn. The cashier told me it's new on the menu as of last month, and a quick glance around the restaurant revealed that it's selling pretty well. About half the customers seemed to be eating it, no doubt thanks to its heavy promotional campaign.

I ordered the set meal which included the chicken sandwich, fries, and a sweet iced milk tea, for 23 yuan (just over $3). I'll just say this: it's no worse than a grilled chicken sandwich at a Mickey D's in Washington, D.C. The "spicy and numbing" flavor is pretty mild compared to what I've been eating on a daily basis here in Chengdu.

Curiosity satisfied, I headed out. And then, steps away from the door, I passed a woman selling dou hua -- soft tofu, Sichuan style. Definitely, I would say, the better choice.

-- Andrea Hsu

Continue reading "Sichuan Burger at McDonald's" »

12:42 PM ET | 04-17-2008 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Opening China to You

We have a slogan here: "NPR Takes You There."

A small statue of a traffic officer stands guard at a crosswalk replacing the real thing at a busy intersection in downtown Chengdu China.

David Gilkey, NPR

And since we're taking you to Chengdu May 19-23, the least we can do is find out what you want to know about the place. What would you like to learn about the city? What questions do have about contemporary China that we might be able to answer for you? Who would you like us to profile or interview? Send us your comments and questions. We've already had some great story ideas from listeners who heard about our plans, including some from All Things Considered fans actually living in Chengdu.

Be part of our visit to Chengdu.

-- Art Silverman

An elderly couple dances in the Peoples Park near downtown Chengdu, China. The park is fills with both young and old from sunrise to sunset offering exercise, dance, and music to pass the warm spring days away..

David Gilkey, NPR

3:15 PM ET | 04-16-2008 | permalink | comments (51) | e-mail post

Stalking the Moon Bears

All Things Considered host Melissa Block is back in the US for a while before she returns to China in May, but producer Andrea Hsu and photographer David Gilkey remain -- working on multimedia pieces to be featured on npr.org during the week of May 19-23.

Moon bears appear well-adapted to their environment today, but when they first arrived, many were fearful because they'd never before felt dirt or grass beneath their paws.

Andrea Hsu, NPR

Chengdu is famous for pandas, but today we spent the day with another bear species: the Asiatic Black Bear, also known as moon bears, for the crescent-shaped markings on their chests.

For the past couple weeks, we've been hearing a lot about a group called Animals Asia and the work they've been doing to end bear farming -- the practice of extracting bile from bears' gall bladders for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Bear farming is legal in China, though the government stopped issuing new licenses for it in 1994.

Continue reading "Stalking the Moon Bears" »

11:11 AM ET | 04-15-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

A Photographer's First Impression

NPR videographer David Gilkey has arrived in Chengdu. He's working to create the videos and slideshows to go along with the special week of coverage from the Chinese city planned for May 19-23 on All Things Considered.

A painting of Michael Jackson hangs on a wall outside of a tea house in the Kuan Xiang area of Chengdu China. The small side street is undergoing a transformation to preserve the historical look and traditional feel of an ancient Chinese city. The construction boom in China seldom gives way to the preservation of old chinese architecture.

David Gilkey, NPR

Continue reading "A Photographer's First Impression" »

4:32 PM ET | 04-14-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Leaving China

Washington, DC

April 14th, 2008

When I left Chengdu this past Saturday, it was a rainy morning, the sky even grayer and heavier than it had been in the last two weeks, if that's possible. From Chengdu, it's about a 2 1/2 hour flight to Beijing and arrival at the sparkling new Terminal 3, which just became fully operational in March.

The brand-new Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport offers western food franchises galore.

Melissa Block, NPR

The airport is stunning, with soaring ceilings covered in open latticework that lets in a lot of light. If you're hankering for American food -- or coffee - you'll find plenty: There's a Starbucks, Burger King, Haagen Dazs, KFC, even a Kenny Rogers Roasters.

Lost in translation.

Melissa Block, NPR

There were two things at the Beijing airport that really caught my eye. The first was the intriguing sign on a display case that read "Rems and Hems with Limited Quite" Hmmmm. What could it mean? Rems? Hems? Closer inspection revealed that rems and hems include oranges, bottles of liquid, opium, and antiquities. In other words, things you're forbidden to carry on board. Limited, quite.

Continue reading "Leaving China" »

2:05 PM ET | 04-14-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Some Like It Hot

Chengdu

Saturday, April 12, 2008, 1:13 am

In an earlier post, I described the quite extraordinary sensation of the Sichuan peppercorn and the numbing feeling known as "ma" that it produces -- a sensation quite different from spicy heat. Afterward, a reader accused me of "sustain(ing) the impression that the local food is daintily spiced", and of "drastically misrepresent(ing) one of the most dramatically incendiary features of Sichuan culture."

Dear reader, let me prove you wrong.

Rabbit and vegetables, left, and pockmarked woman's tofu.

Melissa Block, NPR

Dinner on my first night in Chengdu included rabbit piled with puffy red lantern chilis, chopped chilis, and Sichuan pepper. On several occasions, I ate ma po tofu - or pockmarked woman's tofu - a signature incendiary dish of Sichuan.

Organic rabbit, left, and chicken with green chilis and Sichuan pepper.

Melissa Block, NPR

Another meal featured a chicken dish with green and red chilis galore - along with green Sichuan peppercorns on the stem. When I visited an organic farm just outside of Chengdu, we were served a fantastic lunch of vegetables fresh from the garden along with farm-raised pork and fish, and a rabbit dish in a spicy sauce.

Chaoshou dumplings, left, and, er, nevermind

Melissa Block, NPR

I loved the look of chaoshou dumplings folded gently in neat rows. The name chaoshou means "folded hands". In his book "River Town", the New Yorker writer Peter Hessler says, "In most parts of Sichuan, you can walk into a restaurant and order chaoshou without making a sound. Cross your arms and they will understand exactly what you want." I haven't tried that, but I have tried the dumplings, and they're delicious . You can get these in
broth or in spicy sauce. I went for broth.

But you have to draw the line somewhere, and I draw mine here: no intestines for me.

--Melissa Block

6:46 AM ET | 04-13-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Grave Sweeping Day

Bumper to bumper traffic, as people head out of Chengdu to visit their ancestors' graves.

Melissa Block, NPR

Chengdu

April 12, 2008

We were lucky to be here last weekend for the traditional celebration of the Qingming Festival, or grave-sweeping day. On Qingming, the Chinese pay respects to their ancestors by tending to their graves. It's been a practice for millennia here. But this year marked the first time since the Communist Revolution in 1949 that Qingming was officially recognized by the Communist Party as a national holiday. It's quite a symbolic shift.

In the past, Qingming was denounced by the central government as a superstitious or "rotten" practice. It was condemned during the Cultural Revolution starting in the 1960s as a symbol of the reviled "four olds" -- old ideas, old customs, old culture, and old habits.

But now China is starting to loosen its constraints on belief and faith. And this year, because Qingming was declared a national holiday, many millions of Chinese took to the roads to travel to their ancestors'graves.

Liu Guang Lian tends to the graves of the Yang family's ancestors.

Melissa Block, NPR

 

Liu Guang Lian offers blessings to the dead.

Melissa Block, NPR

So last Friday, we found ourselves in mind-boggling traffic jams as we headed southwest from Chengdu to the ancient rural village of Shangli.

In Shangli, we followed the sound of firecrackers up to the family tombs of the Yang family, which has lived in Shangli for 22 generations.

Fragrant smoke wafted from sticks of incense set in front of the pink sandstone graves. Red candles were burning, and piles of fake money offered to the ancestors had turned to ash. Liu Guang Lian clasped her hands together and bowed her head toward the graves, offering blessings to the spirits of the dead.

Here's a modern twist on an ancient tradition: Those who couldn't make it to real gravesites could go online to honor their dead at "virtual tombs" in cyberspace, typing in words of tribute and remembrance. The State Forestry Department must be happy about that. Last year during Qingming, according to government officials, the burning of offerings to the dead led to some 1,400 fires, with three people killed.

-- Melissa Block

Continue reading "Grave Sweeping Day" »

6:45 AM ET | 04-12-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Street Sweepers

Detail of original photo.

Melissa Block photo

Chengdu

Friday, April 11, 2008

Last week, I posted a photo of downtown Chengdu here, and Sean Powers wrote to us with a comment asking, "Is the person in the ... photo wearing an orange jump suit a city worker?"

We've been trying to figure that out. The man in the photo is a street sweeper, and we've been asking a number of sweepers about their jobs. It appears they're hired by contractors, and we're pretty sure the contractors are hired by the city.

I've been stunned by just how many of these orange-clad sweepers there are here. Chengdu is dirty in many ways -- it's choked with cars, blanketed by smog -- but there's a legion of street sweepers who are paid to flick away every last bit of street trash. You see them everywhere you turn.

Sweeping the streets in Chengdu.

Melissa Block, NPR

 

They work the sidewalks, they work the streets, they sweep their way down the highways, just inches away from cars barreling by. (I've also seen workers busily washing the silver guardrails that divide the highways, crouching down perilously close to traffic, breathing fumes all day long.) A Westerner here told me she's seen street sweepers shake the trees in the morning to dislodge any loose leaves so they can sweep them up right then, rather than have them make a mess later on.

Yesterday, producer Andrea Hsu asked a sweeper how much she earns for keeping the streets tidy. She said she makes 650 yuan a month -- that's about $93. She said she works eight hours a day, five days a week, so that works out to about fifty cents an hour.

--Melissa Block

2:18 PM ET | 04-11-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Polar Chengdu

Chengdu

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Yesterday, we were driving south out of Chengdu, looking at signs of this city's explosive growth. Gleaming high-priced high-rises to house the newly rich. A dramatic high-tech center: a football-shaped glass building flanked by two curved orange towers. Stunning new municipal government buildings that are a far cry from grim, old-style socialist architecture. These are angular structures, encased in decorative metal webs.

And then, I saw something that really made me blink: a long turquoise sign surrounding a site still under development, with photos of shaggy polar bears, and the words "Chengdu Polar Ocean World." Chengdu? Polar? Ocean?

I did a quick Google search, and it's true. By next May, Chengdu is slated to boast a polar ocean themed resort -- a $171 million dollar investment -- that will be home to polar bears, penguins, beluga whales, and more. It will be a kind of polar sister to a Polar Ocean World that's drawing crowds in Qingdao, in eastern China.

Hands-on experience with whale in China.

Continue reading "Polar Chengdu" »

2:48 PM ET | 04-10-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Pandaland

Top, Jing Jing as an Olympic symbol; middle the real Jing Jing just after birth; bottom, Jing Jing at just over 2 years of age, in a photo taken last fall.

Grown panda photo Lan Jing Chao

Wednesday, April 9th , 2008

You can't go anywhere around Chengdu without running into pandas.

Panda logos, that is.

There's a panda kicking a soccer ball, promoting ad space on a billboard. There's a panda sticker on the hood of a taxicab. The Pride brand of cigarettes has a panda on the carton. One of the five mascots for the upcoming Beijing Olympics (and arguably the cutest) is a panda named Jingjing.

Jing Jing is also a flesh and fur panda who lives at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. (The mascot actually got the name first; the real life panda was named after the mascot.)

We'll be airing a story about the Chengdu panda base during our week of broadcasts in May, and last week I spent a day there. I visited right before the national holiday of Qingming, and the center was filled with throngs of children -- some of them as young as two. The children arrived on buses from their schools and were gleeful and LOUD, the older ones shouting out a ringing chorus of "hallooooo's "when they spotted us westerners.

Gleeful school kids arrive at Pandaland.

Melissa Block, NPR

Continue reading "Pandaland" »

1:54 PM ET | 04- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Chengdu Dreamin' in Chinatown DC

Tuesday, April 8, 5 pm EDT

Here's how our China project works: Melissa Block and her producer, Andrea Hsu, now in Chengdu, are filing for this blog, and, when they have a few spare moments, they might even interview people for our radio program. Remember radio? Since a full week of coverage as we've planning to do in May requires lots of material, they will assemble stories now and hold them.

Chinatown in Washington, D.C. is where East meets West in the most awkward and surface manner.

photo montage by Art Silvermna, NPR

The rest of us, including myself, producer Brendan Banaszak, executive producer Chris Turpin, host Robert Siegel, photographer David Gilkey and engineer Stacey Abbott will go to Chengdu in early May. Aside from reading all the great comments and private emails that have come as a result of this blog (keep 'em coming!), we're talking to China experts, Chinese ex-pats in this country and reading books, magazines and websites concerning the country.

And on our lunch breaks, we emerge from our headquarters here into Washington, D.C's own Chinatown -- or what's left of it. We're just two blocks from a big Chinese arch that the city of Beijing gave to this city decades ago. However, it's starting to feel like a vestigial relic. In the past dozen years a big new sports arena, chain restaurants, and other distractions have chipped away at the Eastern feel of this neighborhood. When new stores come in, they pay lip-service to Chinatown by slapping some Chinese characters on their signs. Although surrounded by all these symbols, and a few remaining Chinese restaurants, we're hardly in an authentic Chinese environment.

Continue reading "Chengdu Dreamin' in Chinatown DC" »

5:04 PM ET | 04- 8-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Yu Mao Qiu

Monday, April 7th, 10:15 pm, Chengdu time

Different Strokes, Different Folk.

 

A Little Language Lesson

After six days in China, my knowledge of Mandarin remains minuscule, to say the least. I've learned a few Chinese characters, mostly from highway signs.

I can recognize the character for "tree" or "wood" - because it looks like a tree, and I can spot the character for "mouth" - - because it looks like a mouth. I can usually remember that the character that reminds me of the Greek letter "phi" means "middle", or "China." And I know that the word for "pine" (pronounced "song") has a lovely whispery sound to it.

Now I can add to my entirely random list of Chinese words the one for badminton! As we were leaving an interview with a professor today at Sichuan University, we happened upon two students playing badminton in front of an imposing statue of Chairman Mao. The next thing we knew, we were playing, too.

--Melissa Block

Melissa Block engages in a little pre-Olympic sport in southwest China.

Andrea Hsu NPR; montage Art Silverman, NPR

1:03 PM ET | 04- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

The 'Fresh' Gray Skies of Chengdu

8:45 am Monday, April 7th Chengdu Time

OK, I don't mean to belabor the point, but if you're keeping track of Chengdu weather you should know that the skies are still a leaden gray. That peek of sunshine I got last week. Gone. Here's the street view from outside our hotel at about 8 this morning.

Bleak, ugly, but great for the skin. Melissa Block, NPR

 

When I mentioned the gray skies to a Chinese hotel worker here today, he said, "I love this weather. It's fresh." And you hear people claim that the women in this part of China are especially beautiful because of the damp climate, which keeps their skin
hydrated and glowing.

I'm not so sure about that. But I can tell you that on the daily air quality report, put out by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, Chengdu's air on April 4th was grade 2, or "up to standard." Chengdu's API, or air pollution index, is given as 66. The high scorer on this list: Hefei, whose API was 131.

In Chengdu's favor, you don't see huge, heavy industry factories here, belching out smoke. This isn't one of the major coal-producing areas, such as Shanxi province in the north. Seven cities in Shanxi have been put on the "black list" by the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), with their air quality below a grade three.

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10:10 PM ET | 04- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Perusing the Papers

Sunday 9 p.m. Chengdu time

Reading the English language newspapers here is a kind of journalistic Rashomon: the same events seen through radically different prisms. I've been comparing coverage in the state-run paper China Daily with stories in the South China Morning Post, which is published in Hong Kong.

The South China Morning Post splashed a big story across page one on Friday: the 3-year jail sentence handed down to the prominent human rights activist Hu Jia.

In the second paragraph, the article notes that "critics say (the case) is part of a clampdown on dissent before the Beijing Olympics." The paper featured a large photo of Hu Jia's wife, Zeng Jinyan, who has been under house arrest since December. She's seen leaving the courthouse with their baby daughter in her arms, her face frozen in grief. She's quoted as saying of her husband, "He's been kidnapped. This is unfair, this is unjust. Hu Jia is proud that the Olympics are finally being hosted by China, but he didn't want to see a lot of ordinary people living in misery because of the Games."

Next to the photo of Zeng Jinyan, the Post also ran a box showing prison terms handed down to five other mainland dissidents recently convicted of subversion. The story of Hu Jia's sentencing barely rated a mention in China Daily: one paragraph buried on page four, under the headline "Subverter jailed."

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10:27 AM ET | 04- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Via Blackberry From Ancient Town

Shangli
Saturday April 5, 6 am

I'm writing this in pitch dark from a small guesthouse in the "ancient town" of Shangli, about 100 miles southwest of Chengdu.

Peasant life brushes up against tourists Shangli. TOP: A man carries load of goods. MIDDLE: A farmer prepares land for planting rice. BOTTOM: Just across the stream, a tourist poses for a photo outside a guest house.

Melissa Block, NPR

The first rooster crowed at 4:43 a.m. and I've been awake since.

The power went out last night and still isn't back on, but my Blackberry works (that's how I'm sending this post) and handily, the blue glow doubles as a faint flashlight in the pitch dark.

We've come to Shangli because it's a tiny display of some fascinating economic and social trends in China. This small farming village has been discovered by urban Chinese with newly disposable income, with cars, and with a nostalgic hankering to dip a toe in rural life. So on this holiday weekend, there are hundreds of Chinese who have come from cities like Chengdu to eat rustic food, drink tea, play mah johngg along the river, walk through the historic old houses, and brush up against the barefoot peasant farmers coming in from the fields, bowed under the weight of the heavy baskets filled with vegetables they carry on their backs. No doubt these tourists are listening to the rooster cacophony, as I am, and feeling very far away from the booming metropolis of Chengdu.

- - Melissa Block

10:03 PM ET | 04- 5-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

'All Things' Considers China

Friday, April 4 4 pm Eastern Daylight Time

t's off to Chengdu for two hosts and part of the staff of the NPR news magazine All Things Considered this spring.

Our China Project is underway. Check in here for developments.

Chengdu is the capital city of China's Sichuan Province. And it seems to us like a fine place to try to tell some overlooked stories. To do so, we're originating much of the program from there the week of May 19-23. Among other things, we're going to tell the story of how young people fit into China's future. They're growing up in a world their parents never dreamed of. They have more money, more opportunities and new risks.

You'll hear the stories from hosts Melissa Blockand Robert Siegel on the air, online and on this blog. Here we'll try to take you behind the scenes as we search the best people to talk to in Chengdu.

- - Art Silverman

12:12 PM ET | 04- 4-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Sun Over the City

Friday, April 4th 8:45 am Chengdu time

I just walked outside our hotel to take some pictures of the heavy gray haze that's clamped down on this city since I arrived on Tuesday. Lo and behold: this morning, the sun is struggling to force its way through the haze and smog!

The city of Chengdu brightens to meet the day.

Melissa Block, NPR

 

What a remarkable transformation to see a hint of blue in the sky, to see light reflected off the glass skyscrapers, and to see shadows of trees and bikes dappling the streets. Vendors are lifting steaming strainers full of noodles out of enormous pots in sidewalk noodle shops that are open for breakfast. The street sweepers are busy. A man walks by carrying his baby, who's wearing a beautiful striped headwrap. I hear no dogs barking at the sun, despite the legend (see previous post) but the birds are singing in downtown Chengdu.

- - Melissa Block

A father begins his day, child in tow.

Melissa Block, NPR

 

8:29 PM ET | 04- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Gray Chengdu

Wednesday, April 2, 6:52 a.m. Chengdu Time

According to timeanddate.com, the sun rose today in Chengdu at 6:52 am. I'll have to take their word for it. I was up at darkness at six, looking for the first hints of sunrise, and watched the sky turn from inky black to dark gray to a somewhat lighter gray. The dense, damp haze clamped onto the city and didn't let go all day. I've heard this is typical of Chengdu, and I've read this: "It is said that if a dog sees the sun, he will bark at the intruder." I'll keep my ears tuned for those barking dogs.

--Melissa Block

4:55 PM ET | 04- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Discovering 'Ma'

Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 10 pm Chengdu Time

Melissa gets a lesson in making kung pao chicken at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine — where she sampled the Sichuan peppers.

Jessica He, NPR

I confess I was a little nervous about coming to Sichuan: nervous about HEAT. I am, truth be told, a spice wimp. But I'm also a lover of food, and what was the use of coming to a cradle of Chinese cuisine that exults in spice if I couldn't fully enjoy it? So what was the first thing I did in Chengdu? I ate a peppercorn. And I'm here to report that "ma" is my new favorite sensation.

"Ma" is the numbing feeling caused by the Sichuan pepper, or hua jiao. Sichuan pepper is not to be confused with chilis — the bright red peppers that also are found in hot profusion in Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan pepper grows on trees, and is dried to a lovely purplish-pink tiny pod.

Sichuan peppercorns are in upper right corner, then clockwise: crushed chili (orange powder), crushed Sichuan pepper (brownish), and the whole bright, red dried chili." Melissa Block, NPR

I spend my first morning in Chengdu at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine. Intrepid host that I am, I pop a Sichuan peppercorn into my mouth and bite down hard. The "ma", the numbing tingle, starts on my tongue, an effervescent buzz. Soon the numbing vibration moves on to my lips. The cooking teacher tells me that if you have a toothache, you can pop some hua jiao in there and it will numb the pain. I believe it. "Ma" is an exquisite sensation — not at all like heat — and the taste of the Sichuan pepper is perfumey, a fragrant, aromatic layering that I've never tasted in Chinese food in the States. Note to self: check customs laws about bringing a stash of Sichuan pepper back home.

- - Melissa Block

10:07 AM ET | 04- 2-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

From Peasant to Microsoft Director

United Flight #897, Washington to Beijing

I'm heading for a two-week reporting trip to Chengdu, my first trip to China. The best thing about being moved to an exit row is that I find myself sitting alongside a friendly, talkative man named Hesong Tang. We start chatting and, even before takeoff, I've scribbled down pages of his life story.

Hesong Tang is from a small peasant village in eastern Jiangsu province — Xiang Yang — which is squeezed into a narrow valley in the Mao Shan mountains. He figures he's the 30th generation of his family to live in that village. Just about everyone in Xiang Yang shares the same family name: Tang. He's 42 years old, one of six children, and his trajectory out of the village is remarkable.

A Medieval Life

Hesong Tang's village, Xiang Yang, is nestled into the mountains covered with bamboo forests.

Courtesy Hesong Tang

 

Picture this: Hesong Tang grew up drawing water from the nearby river, carrying it home in buckets on his shoulders. He would hike with his father into the mountains to cut bamboo, carrying heavy loads on his back. He says, "it's like medieval life, 300 years ago." In hard times, his family had little food, and would live for three days on a small bit of rice and pickle.

Hesong Tang would walk 10 miles to high school, stay there for the week, then walk the three hours back home on the weekend. Neither of his parents can read or write. But he was bright, and studied hard on his own ("I didn't listen to the teacher," he tells me. "If I followed the teacher I wouldn't get to university. To succeed you have to rely on yourself.")

A Knock on the Door

One afternoon in 1984, there was a knock on the door and Hesong Tang got news that made him jump up from his nap, sure he was dreaming: He had been accepted into China's most prestigious university, the intensely competitive Tsinghua University in Beijing — it's considered the best in engineering and sciences, the equivalent of MIT. This was unheard of, unthinkable; no one in the history of his village had ever gone to university, much less an elite one. So off to Beijing he went, a kid who had never seen a car or train or running water.

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9:21 AM ET | 04- 1-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post