Beijing Air Quality Over 500!

I wrote a long post about the air quality in Beijing a while ago and you can read it here. But suffice to say, since the index is out of 500, I never imagined it would get beyond that. Well, I have been proven wrong. Once again, Beijing / China finds a way to break free from any boundaries one thinks might exist and do its own thing. 

301-500, according to the chart below is so bad that "everyone should avoid any outdoor exertion" and anybody with any sort of illness should "remain indoors." Well, guess what the index is?

As of 11am today it had gotten as high as 557!!! Which the US embassy in Beijing aptly notes is "Beyond index." 

Suffice to say I am coughing, hacking, dehydrated, and feel pretty darn awful. Not only do you notice it outside, because you can't see beyond the end of your nose, but you can really feel it in your throat and lungs.

 Last night in a cab home I noticed some neon signs at the top of a building no more than 200/300 metres away but they looked to be suspended in the air as you could not see the building, you could just make out the fuzzy glow of the lights. I also went to the Summer Palace and I couldn't see the other side of the lake. Again, no more than 400m away. 

I especially like the embassy's tweet shown below. Until it figured out that "beyond index" was a more "proper" sounding way to put how bad it is, the embassy decided to say "Crazy bad."

Asking For Directions In China

No, don't worry. I am not on a desert island... though it would be really cool

As a foreigner in any strange, new city you often find yourself needing to ask the locals for directions. If you don't speak the language, asking for directions often becomes a fun game of charades and a lot of index finger pointing and arm waiving. If you do speak the language though, you would expect to be able to easily get adequate directions from strangers without too much hassle.

In China though, I have found, as have others I know, that getting directions is never as simple and easy as it should be.

Take the example of when I went to pick up my Beijing Marathon packet. I was told to head to the olympic area, which, by the way, is now fairly deserted and altogether rather eery. Especially when the pollution is bad and you can't even make out the birds nest when you get out of the stadium subway stop. When I got to the area, there were no signs for where to go to pick up the marathon packet, despite it most certainly being the only "event" going on within a couple mile radius that day.

So I started asking people for directions and the following is what transpired:

Person 1: go to the intersection

I get there and see no obvious signs this is it so ask someone else

Person 2: go left and walk about 200 metres

This leads me to a gate with a sign indicating packet pick up. But still not obvious where to go

Person 3: go that way ... and points

I head that way

Person 3 yells in Chinese: foreigner, to the left more

This sends me over an embankment and down some steps. Really not obvious where to go

Person 4: points behind him, indicating he has come from it

I keep walking and get to a small lake. Again, no obvious place for it to be

Person 5: directs me round the lake and over to a set of stairs

Get there and eventually find the packet pick up but....

Guard: you can't come in here. Go down the stairs, up a bigger set of stairs and round to the other side


WOW. By that point I was pretty ticked off to say the least.


I find it very bizarre that no one wants to take the time to actually give you a comprehensive set of directions when you ask. If someone asked me for directions, I would try and tell them as much as I could, rather than just say go straight then left if after that there was still a lot more of importance. I am not quite sure what this says about the Chinese mindset. Does it mean that they value their time and don't want to waste it giving directions? They don't value people's time and thus presume you can continue to ask many people each step of the way?

It is also interesting that it is not just foreigners who experience this phenomenon. I have been with Chinese people who also have to ask several different people for directions before they get to their destination. The overall reliance on people for help is certainly noteworthy. In the US we tend to rely on technology or government signs to guide us, and turn to people as a last resort. I think we naturally asume we are capable enough to solve an issue on our own. Here in Beijing though people instinctively turn to others for help, rather than individually try to solve the issue. In the US we highly value an individuals time, where as over here, because there are so many people, time arguably seems less valued. True? Interesting?

Something else to note is that in my experience many Chinese tend to try and avoid confrontation. Among my fellow Chinese dorm students, this phenomenon has come up quite often. You end up hearing through 3rd and 4th hand sources about how you did something to annoy or upset one of them but they couldn't say anything at the time because it would be confrontational. For example, once I was looking through a female friend's music library to borrow some music when her roommate came in and then left again. She said nothing, and we both presumed she had just grabbed something to continue doing whatever she was doing. I left 5 minutes later. Apparently though she wanted to change in the room but didn't want to ask me to leave for a minute. Cultural differences as well come into play here, but the emphasis is on the idea of shying away from confrontation. When it comes to directions as well, I think the fact you only get a small snippet of directions is due to the fact people don't actually want to help you but don't want to engage in confrontation to the extent of outrightly say "no!"

Of course one way to solve this is to not ask for directions at all, and instead just follow the crowds - which is what I did when I arrived in Tiananmen Square for the marathon and was not sure where to go. With so many people, if you are going to a sizable event or non-insignificant place, you can usually rely on the crowd to guide you.

Bikes in Beijing and the Bike Man

For a long time China was referred to as the "bicycle kingdom," but here in Beijing now, "car kingdom" is definitely a more appropriate characterization. Don't get me wrong, there are still FAR more bikes on the road than you will see in any US city but I would contend that they are definitely no longer the majority; they certainly don't rule the roads.

Aside: it is interesting that the opposite phenomenon is occurring in the US, where cities are becoming more concerned about building infrastructure to support biking.

Back to China...........

Under Mao, a bike, along with a watch and sewing machine, were the three most-wanted and must-have goods. It was during this period that the bicycle became the dominant form of transport in China, and the symbol for a communist and egalitarian country. However, often people didn't have enough wealth to easily afford one, so it remained a quasi-luxury good. When Deng Xiaoping came to power, he defined prosperity as "a Flying Pigeon for every household." At the time, Flying Pigeon was the standard for well-built bicycles in China.

Despite the shift from the bicycle to the car as a symbol of prosperity, Beijing still retains a large bicycle culture. Biking is still widely enough used, and enough of a traditional symbol, that almost all of the large roads in Beijing still have car-wide lanes, seperated by a low barrier, reserved exclusively for bikes. However, the push-bike is definitely a rare-sight.

While a car-culture dominates, electric bikes and scooters vie for dominance on the roads. A lot of 3-wheel push-bikes that are used to cart goods around have been modified to use an electric motor while still retaining manual power capabilities. Most electric scooters also come with pedels. An interesting observation of bikes in Beijing is that gas powered bikes are incredibly rare.

Maybe the US could take a page out of China's book and think about developing the technology to easily modify push-bikes to also use a small electric motor.

Back to China .....

When I went to Yangshuo / Guilin, a much more rural area of China, it was clear that biking definitely lingers as the dominant transportation. However, I could tell the balance is rapidly shifting.

In Beijing the Beijing University campus, and other neighboring university campuses, are definitely still bicycle kingdoms. The odd car that does brave to enter the campus walls is often ground to a halt by all the bicycles on the roads as it tries to clumsily weave through them all. Finding a bike parking space anywhere near the entrance to a major building is a fight. And if you aren't incredibly proficient at handling a bicycle you will get in a ton of accidents. Getting nipped on the hands by other people's handle-bars is a common occurrence. Oh, and no one wears helmets. Not even on the major roads. In fact, not only do they not wear helmets, I have never seen a helmet sold in any store. Population control measure?

To try and help you understand just how many bikes there are on campus, because it is truly incredible, I want to let you know about THE BIKE MAN.

The bike man:

• is rarely seen
• can screw with your mind
• makes treasure hunts for a living
• has a posse of cronies

So who is the bike man?

Well, he is the one responsible for organizing all the parked bikes on campus. He will re-align parked bikes to make room for others. He will move your bike many feet if he deems it to be in the way. He will move your bike wherever he wants as part of his random organizing scheme for the day.

When I return to my bike after having left it for a couple hours because I took the subway into town, I will always find it moved to a completely new spot somewhat "roughly" within the same area. Often it will take a good 5-10 minutes to find. More if it is late at night and I have consumed some inhibiting liquids. Its a good think they don't have BUIs.

So whilst Beijing is no longer a bicycle kingdom, Beijing University is, and it even needs a bike man to keep the world in order. 

Beijing Survey and TEDx Beijing

So the survey I mentioned I was going to make a while back, is now complete and posted below. It is 30 questions long and I think once we have collected all the data, it will be really interesting. I am not expecting to do anything amazing with thus; its all just for personal interest and fun.

Also, I have been accepted to attend the TEDx conference here in Beijing. The theme for it is: "uncovering innovation." I have always wanted to go to a TED conference so I am really excited about this opportunity. In order to attend, I had to fill out a rather comprehensive application since they only have a 200 person space. One of the final questions was: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Explain?

I Live in Beijing, China and I ......

• have eaten scorpion
• often have to squat when I go to the loo
• don't consider riding the subway for an hour a long time
• have a chinese roommate who snores
• have to use a VPN to write this blog... and watch youtube
• can get a good meal for 20元/$3.50
• can get a crap, college cafeteria meal for 5元/$0.90
• sleep on a plank of wood with the thinest of thin foam things on top... basically, a plank of wood
• have all my dorm lights turned of at midnight. I guess the government cares about students getting sleep
• find lots of Chinese students studying at KFC across the street at 2am because they have no lights
• pay more for western brands than in the west, despite the fact that they are made here
• only eats with chopsticks
• can ride a bike weaving between people, cyclists, vendors... basically I am amazing on a bike now
• stare at other white people on the subway because I don't expect to see them
• see fender bender accidents ALL the time
• can ride in a cab for over an hour and only pay around 60元／$9
• can go to bars and by drinks starting at 10元/ $1.50
• am rarely full. Chinese food doesn't have a high satiating factor 
• crave a salad 
• crave fish
• miss the coast
• never wear a seat belt. They don't have them in cabs.
• radically underestimate how much I get stared at
• cannot control the temperature of my room's radiator
• can buy movies for 10元／$1.50
• use google in Chinese
• sometimes can't see the top of tall buildings due to pollution
• naturally speak Chinese when buying anything eg. in restaurants, cabs, malls, the fruit vendor etc
• think China is the center of the world
• inhale enough second hand smoke to be considered smoking myself
• inhale cigarette smoke even while riding my bike
• can buy 白酒(white liquor) which is extremely potent and goes for 6元/$1 for a large bottle
• hang my washing to dry at the end of my bed
• never do my own washing because it costs 4元/$0.60 next door
• have hour long skype chats with friends back home
• carry toilet paper around in my backpack
• have to clean my dorm floors every week due to dust
• can't remember how normal people drive / how to actually drive

can't believe I have actually been living here for so long

Less Than 6 Weeks Left Out of an Epic 6.5 Month Journey

As corny and trite as it sounds, my time in China really has flown by. With less than 6 weeks left in Beijing, I already know I will be stepping on that plane back to the USA sooner than I can really comprehend.

When I look back and begin to reflect over the experience, the more I think about it, the crazier I realize I am. I had never stepped foot in China before, never eaten Chinese food, never been to any China town in the US, had very few Chinese friends, yet decided it would be a brilliant idea to head half-way around the world and stay there for over half a year. Despite China being a totally foreign place, with a different language, food, culture, etc. I felt I could tackle it and survive. And survive I have. Fingers crossed.

One of the questions that I often wonder about is why more people don't study-abroad. Obviosuly there is the major obstacle of financing, but for this program, if you are on financial aid at Yale, it all transfers over. This would arguably make it cheaper to live here because your food, social, and entertainment costs could be significantly lower than those in the US. So why does this program only have 7 students this year, when it can accomodate 20+?

I think a lot of it has to do with attitude and the way one views the world. Ok, that was rather general and uninformative. In order to explain, let me side-track a little.

Take running a marathon. When you suggest the idea of running a marathon to most people, they laugh, or shiver, or look dum-founded. The response more often than not tends to be: "I could never do that." That, in my opinion, is the biggest obstacle to them ever actually running one. If you want to run one, the first step is to mentally accept that you can do it. If you're mental attitude is one of impossibility or negativity, you are just creating obstacles to your success every step of the way (pun intended).

The same shift in mental attitude and perception needed in order to be able to run a marathon is true for study-abroad. And quite frankly, everything in life. When you ask people why they aren't going to study-abroad the response usually begins: "I can't because ....." and the list of excuses offered up is endless. Just like most people never get past hearing about the marathon, a lot of students never get past just hearing about the fantastic international opportunities.

I think a lot of the reason I have run marathons, or lived abroad is because I try not to say that I cannot. My general attitude tends to be one of blazen optimism until I fall fat on my face. Of course, this has its downsides too, but it has enabled me to experience and learn so much.

One of the reasons I think athletics is such an important component of life is that if you have the physical confidence in yourself, it naturally leads to a confident mental outlook that pushes you to take on any difficult challenge.

So as my time dwindles down, in order to make the most of it, I am going to find excuses to do things, rather than to not do things.

Bargaining In Beijing, China

Bargaining anywhere is an art. And a hard one to master.

There are several techniques that one is commonly advised to employ:

• loudly, exaggeratedly, and with a lot of incorporated arm flailing exclaiming outrage towards the ridiculously high price the vendor suggest. 
• degrading the actual quality of the product and finding any possible fault with it
• claiming you don't have that much money. Offering a price of now more than 1/4 of theirs
• not giving up when they refuse to change the price
• maintaining interest in the good, and maintaining their interest in selling you the good, while acting outraged and disinterested
• exclaiming you will leave and pretend to walk away
• claiming you want to be best friends, if only you got a lower price

There are many more but what I think it boils down to is maintaing their interest in selling the good while forcing them to lower and lower the price. Of course, that is much easier said than done, and in my opinion is a huge function of the type of personality and character you exude.

All at the same time, you need to be:

• cut-throat and amicable
• resolute and negotiable 
• a foreigner and a local
• entirely interested and indifferent 

In my opinion, a complete dualism of character is needed in order to bargain effectively.

The above video which I was present for is some of the best, and funniest, bargaining I have witnessed. At times it seems a bit ruthless and snarky, but in many ways this is necessary in order to avoid being completely ripped off. The reason I struggle with bargaining and find it rather exhausting is that the vendors necessitate you are rather rude and cut-throat in order for them to give you a reasonable price. Such behavior is rather contradictory to my western upbringing, through which I have internalized (or at least like to think I have) a sense of respect and politeness towards people. But all of that impedes my ability to effectively bargain.

It is also important to remember that the actual underlying value of the good you are buying is in fact negligible. While you might bargain a panda hat (they seem to be sold everywhere at the moment) down to 10元/$1.40, the actual cost of producing that good is probably no more than 1元/$0.20. Thus, if they are purely concerned about the profit on that good then they can actually sell it to you for significantly lower than they do. Of course, the vendor has to internalize the costs of rent, time, electricity, etc. But, so that I don't feel to bad bargaining hard, I remind myself that the actual value of the good is much lower than I will ever end up playing, so they are definitely making some profit no matter how ruthless I am.