The Jade Bracelet

Chinese tradition has it that when a couple becomes betrothed, the man places a jade bracelet on the left wrist of the woman. That bracelet symbolizes in China what a gold ring symbolizes in the West: enduring affection, devotion and promises kept for a lifetime.

Why the left wrist? Because overwhelmingly, in China, people are right handed. Thus a man uses his right hand when facing a woman. Her left wrist would be the one opposite his right hand, so her left wrist becomes the bracelet bearer. Rather convenient that way: her bracelet does not get in the way of her right hand doing things. Most Chinese women are right handed, too.

Real jade is durable and strong. There are many shades of jade: from white to black even, but the purest jade is a deep, translucent green. Green is my favorite color. I would never think that there would be someone in my life that would eventually place a jade bracelet on my wrist with all the symbolism it entails, so I set out to buy one for myself, the first time I came to China in 2008. Of course, like most everything else here, I am too big for jade bracelets. Even the largest one I could find is too small to fit over my lunky, work worn hands. But I remain enamored of the tradition.

Flash forward now to the real world. The one where I have friends like Gary and Mask, who will be dropping by this afternoon to visit. It has been a while since we’ve seen each other – only once, a few weeks after our hurried parting in the taxi when we came back from Chong Qing. The cab dropped them off at the train station and took me on to school, if you remember from the ------- entry. I’ve missed my friends, but they’ve been busy, and so have I. We’re going to catch up this afternoon, over a meal that they will prepare for me in my own kitchen.

There’s another first: not very often have I been ordered out of my own kitchen by a group of men!

Welcoming them in from the biting cold: three guys in thick jackets, huddled at my door. Gary, looking elegant in his scarf and hat, Mask, his slightly comic mien beaming a smile and a new friend, later dubbed Wolf – a character’s name from a book I am currently reading. Don’t worry, this Wolf, as the one from the story I’m embroiled in, is kind and gentle and humorous. In fact, it is he that does most of the cooking, assisted by Mask, while Gary and I chat about his recent travels.

Before the cooking begins, indeed before we even sit and drink tea, we exchange gifts. I had picked up little trinkets for them when I went to Xian Ning for Tony’s speech competition. Gary had traveled to Bangladesh and Mask, that sneaky little rascal went all the way to Xi’an!

No fair, Mask! You were supposed to go with Gary and I: the Three Travel Musketeers! “It was only for business. So boring!” he assures me, dispelling my mock anger. Whatever his business was, he had time to shop for gifts. I had no idea what he gifted Gary or any of his other friends, but I can tell you what he gifted me.

Barely inside the door, with coats not yet removed, the guys were so excited to shower me with their finds that we were still hugging and greeting each other when Mask thrust a burgundy velvet and satin box at me. I opened it and inside rested a luminescent jade bracelet.

Let’s see. I’m trying to remember what I felt at that moment. Awe? Um, no… not really. Stopped dead in my tracks? Maybe a little bit of that. Puzzlement? Yeah, a lot of that. What is a girl supposed to think when a man – a casual friend, comes back from the jade capital of the world and presents her with a jade bracelet, in this country where such an item means lifelong devotion? Was Mask proposing to me? In front of his friends? Just before he cooks me dinner?

I put all of that to the side.

You see, there is a specific way a man is to adorn a woman with a jade bracelet. With each bracelet purchase comes a thin plastic bag. The woman puts her left hand into the bag. The paper thin bag acts as a lubricant, allowing the rock hard jade bracelet to slide effortlessly and painlessly over her bunched knuckles and onto her wrist, where it will grace her life forever.

Mask did not seem to have a bag handy. Without pausing to look at his – or any of the other guys’ expressions I thrust the burgundy box, still containing the bracelet at him and turned heel, returning a moment later with just such a bag. NOTE: anyone who does any kind of shopping in China will have an abundance of wafer thin bags laying around. ANYTHING you buy is placed in a bag: fruit, snacks, a pen… anything. It was not like I was laying a special bag in wait for a jade bracelet I knew would surely be coming my way.

Now it is Mask and Gary’s turn to be surprised; presumably Wolf’s too. How did I know about the bag trick, they asked? I gave them the standard reply: “I know everything! I just can’t remember it all at once!” Laughing, Mask takes the proffered bag and places my outstretched left hand in it. He then takes the bracelet from the box and slips the cool jade over my fingers.

And it stops right at my bunched knuckles. In spite of all our best efforts, tugging, pushing, bunching, Gary making sure my knuckles were rolled up tight as could be and even my exhortations that I was not feeling any pain, we could not get that stupid piece of jade any closer to my wrist. We ended up setting it aside, each of us feeling the endeavor was hopeless. I’m just too big for China.

Was Mask disappointed? He might have been. Probably was, but his expression was inscrutable. Gary did aver that Mask had confided to him that he described me to the saleswoman, who assured him he had bought the largest possible jade bracelet. Surely it would fit.

I was disappointed… again. Remember I have wanted a jade bracelet since I learned of the tradition, back in 2008. Of course I never imagined a man placing it on my hand, I just always wanted a bracelet. I wonder if Mask, now knowing that I knew about the bag trick also intuits that I know what wearing a jade bracelet means. And I still wonder if he meant that to be a proposal, or just a token of friendship.

These Chinese: they are so hard to read! Their intent is never clear.

I do feel bad for Mask. Even the poorest grade of jade is not cheap, and this bracelet is not poor grade. I feel even worse for him because I was able to immediately don the earrings that Gary brought back from Bangladesh. And they do look stunning: a perfect fit for my face.

The irony is that, while pal’ing around in Chong Qing I had confided in the guys that earrings are my favorite jewelry because there is no sizing required like with rings, bracelets or necklaces. Either Mask’s English skills were not sharp enough to catch my meaning or he simply forgot. Or he intended for me to have a jade bracelet, no matter what. Again, when it comes to intent the Chinese are so hard to read. Even more ironic: the bracelet would fit around my wrist, if we could just get it over my overly large hands.

I am determined to find a way to wear that bracelet. Maybe I can use it as a scarf clasp or a belt buckle… some kind of fashion accessory. One does not let such a heartfelt gift linger in a velvet burgundy box.

Do you have any suggestions?

The Crazy Way Things are Built in China

As I recall I left you with workers pounding on concrete and the promise of telling you about ownership laws in China. I am sure you are breathless with anticipation on these subjects and more with regard to the ongoing building boom here, so I’ll not leave you in suspense any longer. Let’s get on with it.

In China you do not buy property like you do in America. Once you buy a property in America, be it a condo or a piece of improved land – land with water, sceptic/sewage lines and electric run to it, that property is yours forever and ever, Amen. Unless you are cheated by imminent domain or foiled by Agenda 21 (did you read about that yet?), that property is yours to modify or sell, or retain for future generations, as you see fit.

In China you buy an apartment and retain ownership for 70 years, after which the property is remanded to the government. The reasoning behind that is that one must surely be in his/her twenties to buy an apartment. If they retain it for 70 years, they will be 90 years old. Even in a country known for its citizens’ longevity, 90 years is quite a venerable old age. And, most 90 year olds do not live alone. By that age they have either moved in with relatives or have been relegated to a new facet of Chinese life: an Old Folk’s Home.

Now, with capitalism running rampant, people are buying new apartments like they buy clothes. Some people, like Shelin’s parents or my friend Gary, own two or three apartments. And there are more apartment buildings being built every day. The neighborhood where Gary’s current apartment is located is slated for destruction in two years. He is not dismayed. He is prepared to move into his new apartment, as soon as it is completed.

Even though each person retains the rights to a dwelling for 70 years the government has assessed a building’s standard longevity to only about 10 or 20 years. That guarantees the cycle of tearing down, building and buying will continue for the foreseeable future. I believe that is one reason the Chinese economy is booming.

Please note that the ‘seventy year rule’ only applies to city dwellings. Rural homesteads, such as Sam’s parents in Xi Shui, or farmer’s land holdings remain theirs for generations. However, as I understand it, that too is changing. The more people move into cities, the more farms become government collectives and the more people make farming their daytime job, instead of farming being a way of life.

I think, all over the world, farming as a way of life is disappearing, don’t you? Consider the current farm situation in America, for one. But that would be the topic for a different blog, not for mine. I’m just indulging in speculation and sharing my ideas. As with any topic, please feel free to email me at teamkrejados@gmail.com; maybe we could have an interesting and enlightening discussion about it.

Back to construction methods, which is what this post is supposed to be about.

Last entry I reflected on the wacky, disorderly way things are done here. It seems there is no methodology to it at all! Landscaping is done and then a week later dug up to put a gas line or electrical line in. Paving is complete and then torn up to reroute a water main. Even in repaving the main road in front of campus I’ve seen examples of this backward approach to work. The road, newly asphalted, has been dug up every few meters because the pavers have covered up the manhole covers. Manholes are not a concrete tube, stretching down into the sewer like they are in America. They are brick well-looking constructions that reach down to the sewer line and are topped off with a manhole cover.

I’ve seen nothing of the systematic building processes so familiar from American construction.

What I have seen is age-old construction methods. Concrete, mixed by hand in a pile on the ground and shoveled into a wheelbarrow. Buckets of water, hauled by ‘shoulder poles’ – bamboo pole carried on one’s shoulder with two buckets hanging down supply the concrete mixer. Bricks, painstakingly laid in whatever formation they need to take: a wall, to cover a gap where a window or doorway once was, or a well configuration, to act as a manhole. Painting done by hand rather than with an air-driven paint gun. Is it because migrant workers are unskilled labor and wouldn’t know how to use modern tools like concrete mixers and power tools?

No, I think it is just because that is the way things are done in China. I have seen workers use power tools; heavens knows those grinders and pipe threaders got on my nerves enough. And there are welders everywhere, welding to beat the devil but never putting up an arc shield. Wonder how many passersby have gotten retina damage from looking at that entrancing blue arc?

Just like there are street sweeping vehicles – I’ve seen them, but usually it is humans that do the sweeping while the vehicles remain parked, I’m sure there are and have been advances in construction technology, but most of the labor is physically intensive and human driven.

We all know a few well placed hits with a jackhammer will take down that concrete wall in the apartment above me, but what will those migrant workers do to earn their pay if they don’t have a wall to swing sledgehammers at for the next ten hours?

Same issue with the mining industry: instead of modern mining techniques, miners employ age-old equipment and methods. Same with ferrying raw goods down (or up) a river: there are barges, but the deckhands really have to work to earn their keep. I believe that, by keeping construction methods (among other professions) in the dark ages, the Chinese government is attempting to keep people working and thus keep the economy booming. Really, it is not such a bad idea.

Now if only the pay scales would match the economic boom! The constant lament is that no one gets paid enough to afford anything. New apartments being built today will sell for a few thousand Yuan per square meter, as opposed to maybe ten years ago when one could get a decent apartment in a good neighborhood for a few hundred Yuan per square foot. These new apartments are not any more luxurious or better appointed than their older counterparts – remember, they are being sold ‘bare’ and by the square meter, no amenities included.

About those amenities. Would flooring be considered an amenity? I would think so, seeing as it is a choice given to new apartment buyers.

While living elsewhere than in China I’ve often grumbled and muttered about my kitchen and bathroom flooring being of the patterned vinyl variety. Such flooring has ridges and ripples that tend to trap dirt and make it look worn and shabby and uncared for, after a while. Someone once told me that those ridges and ripples are necessary; otherwise one might slip and fall should the floor become wet.

While there might be a grain of truth to that, I contend that it is not so. Here, even outdoors the tile is smooth and shiny. One would think that slipping and falling would be worry #1. However, in my kitchen my biggest worry is how to keep all of that shiny, untextured tile clean and dust free.

I’ve said at times that living in China is like living an anachronism. It appears that working in China has the same effect. Migrant workers have to work hard to earn their money. I have to work hard to keep my house clean.

We’re just all hard workers, here in China!

Building Craze

Or should I say “the Crazy Way the Chinese Build Things”? That would actually be more appropriate, I think.

I woke up this morning to a symphony of hammers pounding on concrete. It sounded like it was directly above my head but it was actually coming from the apartment directly upstairs and to the left of my home. I figured the owner of that apartment simply did not want a wall where the builder had put a wall and so a bunch of migrant workers with sledgehammers were set to tearing it down.

I’ve lived in this construction zone for a little over a month now, and have had ample time to witness firsthand the disorganized way the Chinese have of building things. I was going to write about it out of sheer frustration when I first moved in here, but decided to stay my hand until I could calm down and rationally (?) tell you about this craziness. For craziness is what it seems like to me. Besides, I needed to learn more about how things are done. Now I know, and so can report accurately.

The architect is only involved in the initial stages of building. He/she drafts a plan and submits it for approval from the developer. The developer ayes or nays the plan and the concrete starts to flow – upon approval. Upon disapproval, it is back to the drawing board, naturally.

All buildings are concrete. All the architect is responsible for is pouring the concrete shell. The shell implies not only the building skeleton but the inner walls – also concrete, tracks and niches for electrical lines and outlets, and imbedded PVC water and sewer lines. Gaps for windows and doorways are also part of the plan. After that, the architect disappears and takes his/her blueprints with him. His/her job is considered complete.

What happens with the plans? They are filed with the district city hall and become city property. If a subcontractor needs to look at the plans they must pay a fee, and they cannot make a copy of the plans. Such subcontractors might include plumbers who want to know where the water lines are, where they come from and where they are destined to. Or, the subcontractor could be a telecommunications officer trying to hook up a phone or internet line without accidentally mistaking a power outlet for a communications outlet.

Confused yet?

So what happens after we have these magnificent, empty shells ready to receive electrical wiring and already plumbed for water? That’s where the subcontractors and engineers come in. but before they do any actual work, the units – apartments are individually sold. Bare concrete walls, no flooring, no amenities such as cabinets in the kitchen or showers in the bathrooms. That is all the responsibility of the new tenant/occupant/owner. Apparently, prospective buyers choose to buy based on building location and price per square meter. As there is nothing but a concrete shell to consider, emotion is completely out of the picture.

The new tenant has the power to choose: do I want an outlet here or there? Do I want to have an internet hookup in this room, or in these two rooms? On this wall or on that side of the room? The only thing the new occupant does not get to decide is where water and sewage is concerned. Those lines are imbedded in concrete, if you’ll remember. There is no such thing as deciding to put in a second bathroom or moving the tub here or there. Most of the time, tubs are not a part of Chinese bathroom landscapes, anyway. For the most part, washing facilities consist of a showerhead mounted on the wall, and a drain in the floor. Only the most affluent incorporate a shower stall or tub in their designs.

The tenant/occupant/owner goes on to choose floor covering. Usually they select tile for the kitchen and bathroom and some sort of laminate for the rest of the dwelling. Some owners want tile throughout the house. There is also a variety of tile to choose from for the bathroom and kitchen walls. The rest of the apartment is at least whitewashed. Some owners opt for paint. Then comes the choice of hot water supply. Does the owner want a solar unit, with the tank mounted on the roof and collectors attached, or would he/she rather have an electrical unit, mounted directly in the bathroom? The third option would be a natural gas water heater. The water lines are prepared for either eventuality.

While new apartment owners are deciding all of this the developer marches forward with the development of the area. He/she hires landscapers to beautify the area, facers to finish the building façade and a road construction crew to pave the streets in the development. If the building is to have a natural gas option for the occupants, the gas lines are run outside the building, along the finished façade. If the apartment owner wants natural gas to cook on or heat water with, then the individual lines are drilled through the concrete and into the individual apartments. If no natural gas is desired, then the line going to that apartment is plugged.

Should the tenant/owner decide they want air conditioning, a unit is suspended on the façade of the building. Holes are drilled into the concrete to run the refrigerant lines. If the owner does not want A/C, the place where the unit should have mounted is either covered with a grate, or there is simply no unit mounted. No extra holes are cut or drilled.

Beyond confused? Yep, me too.

I was beyond confused when they landscaped the area while still drilling through concrete for gas lines and to mount air conditioning units.

Each of these features – natural gas, air conditioning, choice of solar, electrical or natural gas water heaters, where to mount the electrical outlets and the communications outlets involve a different contractor. So, the owner of the new unit must deal with several contractors at once.

Contractors generally hire migrant workers. Some migrant workers have construction experience and some don’t. Those that do have a measure of construction experience are promoted to foreman and instruct the inexperienced workers. Thus we end up with a team of window and door hangers, a team of floorers, a team of tilers, a team of whitewashers, a team of carpenters, ect. These teams rotate through the development as needed. You might have door hangers in a unit before floorers lay the floor. You could have plumbers running solar water lines while tilers are attempting to tile the bathroom. None of the work evinces quality craftsmanship.

If a building is to have natural gas, the landscaping is dug up to run the gas lines. In the case of the road already being paved the pavement is torn up to run the lines to the buildings and the road is then repaved. When the communications contractors run their fiberoptic lines the landscaping and pavement again suffer. There seems to be no concerted effort on the part of the various contractors to make building anything a smooth syncopation.

It seems the goal of the developer is to get out of the area as quickly as possible. Like the architect, he/she does their thing – pave the roads, landscape the area, make the building façade attractive as quickly as possible and then flees, presumably in pursuit of the architect who ran away with the blueprints.

What if the owner wants a window on the right side of the wall instead of the left side? No problem: where the window gap was is bricked up and a new window gap is cut into the concrete before the window is hung. What if the owner doesn’t want this interior wall? No problem whatsoever, about 8 migrant workers armed with sledgehammers will pound for 10 or 12 hours straight and take that wall right down for you.

And that’s where we came in folks. To those pounding hammers that are now, mercifully, silent. In the next post I’ll tell you about building techniques, hanging cabinets and decorating, and the rules of property ownership in general. Being as so many in America are in turmoil over Agenda 21 – the multinational incentive to ‘organize’ urban areas, and issues regarding imminent domain, it might interest you to know that property ownership in China has a time limit.

If you are not informed or aware of Agenda 21, I recommend you google it and do some reading. It might prove interesting to you. While you’re doing that I’m going to get going on the next entry.

Human Rights

OH, Sophia! You live in China and you’re going to embrace the topic of human rights? And you say that this blog is not political in nature? Really?

I can hear you say that as you read the title of this entry. I assure you that this blog is in no way political and what I’m going to talk about with regard to human rights has nothing to do with the standard Tibet-prisoners-laborers issues that most everyone is familiar with when ‘China’ and ‘Human Rights’ are mentioned in the same sentence.

This topic actually comes on the radar because of a video that went viral a few weeks ago. This film depicts a little girl – a toddler, who gets run over not once but twice, by two separate vehicles while onlookers do nothing to rescue her. In a later interview the truck driver asserts that it would have been more costly to save her life than to end it.

As I understand it, the Western world was outraged. “Yep, that’s China!” they exclaimed. “That’s where human life means nothing! Just look at that little girl being run down in the street like a dog! And that driver’s attitude! Never would this happen here!”

The thing is when looking at incidents like this is that they must be judged within the context of the society that they occurred in.

In China there is no provision for such a happening. The parents have no medical insurance because such a thing does not exist here. The driver’s insurance is not geared to cover the expenses of putting this poor, broken girl back together. All of the costs would have to be paid up front, and by all rights and obligations the driver would have to pay them. Maybe he has a family too, and they are just barely scraping by. Maybe he has no money to pay any extra costs for run-over little girls. So the money to treat her would have to come from somewhere, probably the parents. What if the parents do not have the money either?

And then, consider the therapy. Someone – most likely the parents or the parents’ family, would have pay for therapy and then get the child to therapy, if physical therapy is called for. Or, what if she needs special equipment like a wheelchair or crutches or a prosthesis? Would there be time or money for that? From either party – the driver or the girl’s family?

And then you must consider the fact that China makes no concession at all to the handicapped. There are no special parking spaces in front of buildings, there are no wheelchair ramps; indeed there are very few – make that no jobs for handicapped. There is no equivalent legislation to the Americans With Disabilities Act in China.

As I talked about in the Tulip entry (posted December of last year), there is such a stigma attached to being in any way handicapped or disfigured in China. Even with the best therapies and most advanced prosthetics, should this child grow up she would still be incapacitated to a degree. She would be denied formal education because there would be no facilities to educate her at. She certainly would be denied higher education. Most likely her parents would keep her out of school altogether to keep her from being taunted and stared at. She would be turned down for job after job, both because of lack of formal education and because of her disabilities. She would not be able to get on a bus, get down the crowded sidewalks or even into an office building should she be wheelchair bound. What would her future be like in that context?

And what about the quality of her life? Being at least disfigured if not outright disabled, she can count on never finding a mate, being gaped at by the general public and spurned by society. At least, having the internet would make a difference in her life. She could reach out to the wider world and make friends while never leaving her apartment. That’s a step up, but not a big one. Would you like to live like that?

And would she live in pain the rest of her life? You bet! Anyone who has suffered a past injury can attest to the fact that the old trauma manifests itself at weather changes and during the winter, or when rain is about to fall, or even if you twist or stand or sleep the wrong way. Some never quite get over that broken arm or sprained ankle. In some cases, such as a torn rotator cuff of damaged knee, the injury gets progressively worse until it either demands replacement or incapacitates the victim altogether.

And then you have to think about the fact that this is a little girl, 2 or maybe 3 years old. Had she been rescued and operated on, perhaps repeatedly, her parents would have a lifetime of worry and care and financial strain to look forward to. Instead of enjoying their child, the only one they are allowed to have, they would have to care for her like they would for an invalid parent… only for much longer a time, and all while watching her suffer.

All of this can be neatly summed up by saying: rescuing the girl and saving her life would have been more costly in terms of money, pain and stress for all concerned, not the least of all the girl… should she recover sufficiently to experience such things.

I want to emphasize that the Chinese do love their children. I have classrooms full of girls who once were babies and they are still dearly loved by their parents and all of the rest of their family members. And each one of my students would have been mourned and missed and wailed over, had it been them to be mowed over by a truck in their toddlerhood. So, it is not for lack of love or consideration of human life that this one child was killed with seemingly no remorse.

While talking about this with me, some of my Western friends have said ‘This would NEVER happen here!’ That is most likely true. In America it is not common practice to run down little girls or little boys and decide his/her rescue as a matter of practicality. What would most likely happen is that, no matter how much the child will suffer and no matter how it impacts the quality of the parents’ life, the driver’s life or the child’s life, that child will be put back together. He/she will undergo painful surgeries and tortuous rehabilitation, live with the psychological trauma of being handicapped and, in spite of that wondrously leveling document called the Americans With Disabilities Act, be discriminated against.

When my friends who were discussing this with me exclaimed that such callous disregard for human life would NEVER happen in a ‘civilized’ country, it almost hurt my heart to remind him that America has one of the highest rates of crimes against children in the civilized world. China does not even have a word for pedophilia, because such a phenomenon does not exist here. Nor does China have an agency called Child Protective Services because, as a rule, children are protected and not abused or mistreated.

And we can go on and on about what would happen or never happen in either country: rape is virtually unheard of in China while in America 1 in 4 women fall victim to this crime. China ranks as one of the world’s lowest listed countries for murder, and… we all know where America sits on that list. Drug crimes, hate crimes, theft, ect… all similar statistics: huge disparity between America and China. Although, theft in China is on the rise (see next post).

All of this makes me sound like I’m very much pro-China and anti-America. That is not the case and this is not a post about which country is better or worse. I’m just highlighting societal differences with regard to this incident and the comments made by some of my conversants. It also makes me sound as though I would watch that video of a little girl being mowed down in the street while munching popcorn and cheering the driver for backing up and running over her again. No my friends, that is decidedly not the case. I deplore the fact that this child died on that day, just like I deplore the fact that hundreds of other children died on that day of malnutrition and/or starvation, malaria, cholera, dengue fever, drive-by shootings or abuse. This ONE child’s fate is a tragedy, to be sure, but so are all the others. So why make ONE child’s fate a reflection of an entire culture when other societies are absolved of that exercise in judgement?

What ended up happening, as shown in the news here, is that the driver, mortified and forever plagued by the ghost of his deed, has visited with the parents and shared in their grief. And, the parents have forgiven the driver immediately upon his admission of guilt, and then have taken more than half the blame, damning themselves for not watching their daughter more closely and taking better care of her. The driver will pay for all funeral expenses, in addition to paying the family compensation. No criminal charges for anyone. The Law figures both sides have suffered enough.

Perhaps, later on, if the parents have recovered enough and their marriage is not shattered by this single act of devastation, they might have another child.

Hear me well on this though: the Chinese were outraged over this incident too. After first hearing of this incident from one my friends in America via email, I put the question to my sophomores for discussion. Their attitude was in fact similar to the West’s: that driver should be punished, not just have to pay compensation to the family. However, strangely enough, they did not speculate at all on the parents’ inattentiveness as a cause to their daughter’s fate. It is simply accepted here that children will be watched out for… except in this case.

The First Bank Robbery Ever!

Being a history buff, I would love to tell you about the first bank robbery ever. Having no internet connection means I cannot research that event and make this entry’s lead-in both exciting and factual. What I can do is repeat that I have no internet connection. Are you tired of hearing that? I’m tired of saying it.

So I won’t mention internet connections again, unless it is to tell you that I am again connected, and in the comfort of my own home.

While I cannot tell you of the first bank robbery ever, I CAN tell you about the first bank robbery Wuhan has ever experienced. It is quite shocking, even to me who has lived in the greater world where bank robberies and store robberies are considered no big deal. Underreported, even.

Wuhan’s first ever bank robbery occurred on December the 1^st, 2011, at approximately 3:42PM, as an armored vehicle was making a pickup. Or was it a drop? The location of this robbery was at Guang Gu, the Optics Valley Plaza Mall, showplace of shopping and densely populated by students, fashionistas and businessmen alike.

While I am not sure of what exactly took place, I was informed that, while the armored car personnel was making their run into the building they were intercepted by a number (3? 4?) of robbers intent on grabbing the moneybags and fleeing. No civilians were hurt, but two people died. It was not clear to me whether those two people were armored car personnel or robbers.

Sam, shocked to his traditional Chinese core, related this to me as we were on the way to his house. He was going to help me make some online purchases, and then we were going to enjoy a dinner at his home. It had been a while since I had been to his house and an equally long time since I had laid eyes on his lovely wife Penny. Unfortunately the joy of the occasion was clouded by my grief and sorrow at Russ’ passing (see Numbing Pepper entry). Perhaps part of the reason that I didn’t catch many details is that I was trying to stifle my tears and dam my thoughts about my in-laws’ sadness.

It appears that, as I do, Sam banks with China Construction Bank, the bank that was robbed. Fortunately neither one of us banks at that branch; it is too far away from his home and from our, or Penny’s work. However, now that it is known that that bank is a target for robbers, he has advised Penny to not venture into any bank branch should there be an armored vehicle in front of it. He suggested the same thing to me.

This event is not only shocking for it being the first bank robbery in Wuhan but for it having been done boldly, in broad daylight and in such a crowded area as Guang Gu. At any given time of day people throng through this gigantic shopping mall. Every time I have been there and patronized that branch there have been people 5 and 6 deep at the ATM, and a lobby full of customers waiting for teller services. This is not some remote, po-dunk, dinky little branch of a bank. It is highly visible and heavily frequented.

All of that says nothing about the fact that robbery is about as contrary to Chinese culture as eating with a fork and knife. I simply cannot imagine the age, mentality or circumstances of the people who committed (or attempted to commit – still not sure if the robbery was successful) this act. What were they thinking?

Of course, I ask myself that question every time I hear of some stupidity like a robbery or other criminal activity. Don’t you?

This act is yet another reminder that the gentle, honorable way of life China has maintained is fast disappearing. I remember telling you, around this time last year that this society still largely operates on the Honor System (See entry of the same name, posted December of last year). In that entry I also told you about major department stores now having anti-theft devices at the door and lockers to store large bags in so you don’t get tempted to ‘accidentally’ drop something in without later paying for it. While these mute testimonies silently shout that the Era of Honor is over, this bank robbery proclaims it from the ramparts.

What is driving this turn away from tradition? Is it the desire for material wealth, wanting things that you haven’t earned yet? What drives any bank robber to rob a bank? Surely it cannot be a compulsion.

And speaking of compulsions: here is something else to frown about. If someone will attempt to rob a bank in broad daylight, can rape or murder be that far behind?

I remember reading about certain criminals whose acts were so vile they shocked the nation. One said he had this compulsion to eat his victims. Another also put the blame on his deeds being fueled by an uncontrollable urge. I’ve never heard bank robbers ascribing their actions to being a fixation. Have you?

Bank robbery is, in my opinion, driven by economic need. Whereas the taking of a life can be driven by passion and done on the spur of the moment, bank robberies take planning and preparation. Don’t they?

So who is or are the individuals who planned, prepared and conspired to commit the very first bank robbery Wuhan has ever experienced? I don’t know.

I don’t even know what their fate will be. There has been nothing else in the news about it. However, with this being the first ever robbery, I’m sure it will test the local and even national legal system. Unfortunately I’m equally sure that, shocking as this event was, it will prove to be a gateway for more such misdeeds.

The Neighborhood

The Neighborhood

In this post, the final pictorial post for a while (I am still writing entries and would like to get back to posting things I’ve written!) I’m using your eyes – my camera to show you what I see on the way to the main road. It is an odd, inharmonious conjunction of old and new China.

Immediately after leaving the back gate we see a farm on the right and a pond on the left. Yes, that is a pond in spite of its appearance as a grassland. Please note the old farm houses in the background of the pond picture. Behind the farm picture is new construction.

Coming up to Ba Tan Lou, the road that gives access to the main highway we see an abandoned wasteland in front of a highrise development. Please note the ‘shoulder pole’ in the foreground. That wasteland is earmarked for more new construction.

The loooonnnngg road to the main highway! Most of the houses along this road have been here since the early 1900’s. Some of these houses incorporate small shops in the front rooms and the families live in the back rooms. This road is paved, for the most part.

Now very close to the main highway, as that newly built overhead road indicates. Construction vehicles constantly travel down Ba Tan Lou. Those small blue conveyances are converted motorcycles, equivalent to what the rickshas of yore would have been. For a few Yuan they will take you into the back neighborhoods. For example, it costs 3Yuan for me to take one of these motorcycle taxis back to campus. For an extra Yuan the driver will take me onto campus and right up to my doorstep. Very handy when I have heavy grocery bags!

The next picture is of more such conveyances. These little shuttles are actually government approved and they can carry up to 8 passengers. Please note the ‘shoulder-pole’ in the foreground.

The last picture says it all. A shoulder-pole braving the traffic. If you can, discern the condition of the road. It is overlaid with steel plates for cars to drive over because the road as such, is not really a road so much as a collection of potholes. In the background, that blue and white awning is a bazaar and farmer’s market. Those vans parked at the intersection are for rent (for the right price), but are not government sanctioned. Therefore they cannot advertise. A gentleman on a bicycle and construction dirt piled up behind him.

And that, my friends, is China.

The Campus Shots

I’ve shown you my apartment and how I get to the internet café, now I’m going to show you how campus has changed.

The back of the school is now, or at least is going to be the front of the school. The entrance is marked by two mirrored stones with the school’s name on them, separated by a grassy, landscaped island. In the second picture, to the east of those stones you can see the building is still going on in the housing development. To the west of the housing area is the stately new library and gymnasium. The library is open for business. The gym is not yet ready. The shorter building next to the library building is a Teacher Activity Center.

The red and white building directly behind the stones bearing the school name is Teaching Building 5, where I conduct my Sophomore English classes. Eventually all English classes will be held in this teaching building. The stately maroon colored building you can see through the archway is Teaching Building 2, where I held my first class ever at this university.

Other pictures included in this entry are: the entrance to my apartment building. My apartment is to the right of the stairwell on the ‘ground floor’. Victor’s apartment is the one with all the junk on the balcony. He ‘lives’ right next door to me, although he doesn’t really live there. He just flops there on days he has classes.

A wide angled view of the housing area, although that is rather a misnomer because the first building you see – the one the van is parked behind is a professional building, housing administrative offices. My apartment building is catty-corner behind it.

A wide angled view of the new library/gym. The teacher’s activity center is behind the gym, not visible in this shot.

The back gate, in the process of becoming the front gate. What is now the main gate, the one that lets out to The Street will become the back gate once the campus transformation is complete.

Nowadays I tend to make my escape off of campus via this back gate. In the next post I would like to show you how dramatically the landscape is changing in Wuhan.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!