Clear Skies in Beijing

(Abby)

Stepping off the overnight train from Xi’an, I was immediately surprised how clear the Beijing air was. I was expecting my lungs to be corroding from smoggy air the second we all exited the car, yet I didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary. There’re all these articles and people telling stories about how bad the pollution is here, but I have yet to really see it. The air in Xi’an was much worse because dust from the Loess Plateau blew down upon the city, making the air very dry and grainy. I know the pollution gets very bad, but I think this time of year is very good for China’s air and weather because there has been sun almost every day we are traveling and no smog.

Cultural Occurences

(Ola)

Although Ms. Li’s blog post was very comprehensive, she forgot to mention a very important part of our day. Last night, for the first time ever, we went karaoke-ing. Karaoke is an extremely popular activity in China, enjoyed by all different types of people. All around the city, there are huge multi-story buildings housing dozens of karaoke rooms that you can rent for a few hours. We went with our guide Alicia and her two friends and were led to a low-lighted room with couches and a screen where you pick out what songs you want to sing.

Then and Now

(Lindsay)

Today we visited Pangliu village and its school, about 45 minutes from Xi’an. Richard is from Pangliu, and on our way there, he told us a bit about China during the time of his growing up. Back in the 1960’s, Richard had passed all of his exams and begun university, but all of his plans were interrupted with the Cultural Revolution, when he was sent back to the village to work in the fields as a peasant along with everyone else. Fortunately, the village needed teachers, and he was singled out. (All of the families in the village were large. Richard himself was one of six boys.) He was given a monthly allowance of 4 yuan (about 65 cents) for teaching, which was in addition to the work subsidy given to all villagers. The men in Richard’s village earned 43 cents a day, and the women earned about 30 cents. Back then villages sold their produce to the government with each harvest, twice a year, for whatever the government was willing to pay. Then payment was allotted according to the work points an individual had earned.

When in Xi’an . . .

(Lindsay)

It might seem more than a little counter-intuitive to seek to relieve pain by taking on more pain, but when I mentioned to Richard, the gentleman who arranges the China Exchange tour from the Chinese end, that I was considering acupuncture to try to cure what’s known as a “frozen shoulder,” he pointed out that there is a government hospital directly across from our hotel here in Xi’an. So it was that I started my day, on Sunday no less, having needles stuck into both my shoulder and just above my wrist.

Consensual Massage

(Nik)

After sampling the Ramada's collection of breakfast pastries, Alisha arrived to take us out to the Banpo Culture Museum and the terra cotta warriors.

The Banpo were a civilization that lived near Xi'an about 6000 years ago and are claimed by the Han Chinese to be their ancestors. The Banpo developed a comparatively sophisticated society, developing a written system of symbols, creating jewelry out of bone and rock, and developing pottery as their keystone industry. The Banpo pots are earthen and nicely decorated with etched patterns and were used for collecting and storing food and water, however pottery was important enough that some pots were made as coffins for children.

Extreme Biking

(Abby)

We had a late start today. Our new hotel, The Ramada, had a wide variety of choices at its breakfast buffet, ranging from fried noodles to roasted potatoes advertised as “potatoes sun”. We even had real cream for our coffees! We indulged ourselves until we had to meet our new, smiley tour guide, Alicia, and our mild-mannered driver, Tian.

A New Day, A New City

(Ola)

If you’ve been keeping up with the blogs and read Ms. Li’s latest, I’m sure you know all about the dancing that occurs in public squares at night. Well, Abby, Nik, and I woke up very tired today due to staying out late and bustin’ a move with the locals of Lijiang. You readers may not be aware of this, but ABBA’s hit song “Dancing Queen,” although written before our time, was actually about us.