Chinese Culture Blog

A statue Chinese navigator Zheng He at a park in Nanjing, China. (GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Legendary Ming Dynasty navigator Zheng He is the subject of a current National Geographic Society exhibit in Washington D.C. until Sept. 7. The exhibit includes objects from the National Museum in China including a bronze bell Zheng He commissioned, copies of maps he created, and a 10-foot-long replica of a treasure ship -- one of the types of ships in He's fleet.

Admiral Zheng He became quite popular in the last few years due to a book by wannabe historian Gavin Menzies who wrote: 1421: The Year China Discovered America. In the book, Menzies claimed that Zheng He commanded the largest fleet the world had ever seen to explore the world. The fleet supposedly circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan and even made it as far as America, 70 years before Christopher Columbus.

After it was published, Menzies was soundly criticized by many historians who have characterized his book as pure bunk and junk history. A group of professors even created an anti-1421 website created. There was also a great expose on Menzies by Four Corners, an investigative journalism program by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Incidentally, Menzies just came out with his second book that claims in 1434 a Chinese fleet sailed to Italy and ignited the Renaissance. No word yet on the anti-1434 Web Site.

What is true about the voyager Zheng He is that he commanded a huge Chinese armada that sailed seven epic voyages from China to Malacca, Sri Lanka, the coast of India, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. Check out a great National Geographic multimedia presentation on Zheng He here.

As you read this, I'll be headed back to the U.S.A. after a wonderful month here in Beijing. China has changed a great deal since I was last here five years ago. Aside from the billions spent on improvements in infrastructure, transportation, and Olympic projects, there is a noticeable sense of confidence in the Chinese people I met that I had not seen before.

A man practices his Chinese calligraphy in a Beijing park.

Many have argued that this heightened sense of nationalism is something to be feared, as it only reinforces governmental policies that may not benefit the Chinese people. But then, one can argue that for any country, including my own, which will soon elect a new president.

Despite my departure, this blog and page will continue to be updated, so check back often for more information on Chinese culture and affairs. Read more...

They are none other than the candidates for the U.S. presidency. In China, coverage of the American election has taken the backseat to the Olympics, so perhaps that's why when I asked many Beijingers if they recognize pictures of Barack Obama (奥巴马, pronounced Ào bā mǎ) or John McCain, (麦凯恩, pronounced Mài kǎi ēn) many gave me a quizzical look.

Barack Obama. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

John McCain. (Photo by Laura Segall/Getty Images)

Ultimately though, they came up with the right guess with a little prodding.

"Isn't that the black man that's running for president?" one man said of Obama.

"He's quite old," another man said of a picture of McCain. Read more...

Walking around Beijing on August 25th was like living the day after your college graduation. The signs around you still point to the recent past, yet your friends have started to disperse to all parts of the globe. The motto of the Olympics was "One World, One Dream," but now it seems it's time to wake up.

Though the city is heavily promoting the Paralympics, which take place Sept. 6-17, there is a discernible lack of direction in the air. This is my last week in China, and I too have been beset with Olympic ennui -- that is until I decided to get off my couch, and get on a bus.

The Beijing countryside with the Western Hills in the distance.

For only 10 yuan, about $1.50, I spent today 20-plus miles outside of the city, in the picturesque Changping District, a northwestern suburb of Beijing. One of the area's claim to fame is that the burial sites of 13 Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) emperors are located here.

Just in time for the Olympics, the government significantly spruced up the three Ming Tombs that have been excavated. The tombs are scattered over 20 miles throughout the Western Hills, but their placement was not accidental. The first tomb was constructed in 1409 by Emperor Zhu Di, as the site of his final resting place. For the next 200 years, succeeding Ming Emperors would also be entombed here. Read more...

I headed to the south gate Chaoyang Park in Beijing to watch the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics last night -- I and swarms of thousands that is.

Crowds watch the closing ceremony in Chaoyang Park.

After paying the fee to enter, and being shoved and pushed in all directions heading in, we found that most of the jumbo television screen was blocked by a display aimed at a more-private gated gathering. Along with many others I tried to watch the show through the holes of a chain-link fence as invited guests of Coca-Cola sat on the grass and enjoyed the closing ceremonies -- Their children playing in a special playground area that could have sat hundreds.

But my goal was to watch the closing ceremonies like many Chinese people would (if they chose to leave the comforts of their home that is), so perhaps my experience was quite realistic. Not able to see the screen, I decided to give up and head to a restaurant at the west side of the park. The park is huge, about two-miles long by one-mile wide. Read more...

A Japanese television show presents a hilarious take on the Olympics in mime. Check it out at the Shanghiist here.

Five years ago, when I lived in China and nature called, I always prepared to hold my breath and grab the roll of toilet paper I always carried with me. Back then, squat toilets were the norm, and for a "Westerner" like me, squatting was something that just had to be beared.

A neighborhood squat toilet in Beijing

Throughout the years I've had conversations with Chinese friends and relatives who stood (squatted?) firmly behind (in front of?) squat toilets. They argued that it was more hygienic, because your bottom didn't touch the bowl. I've never really gotten used to it though, and if there is a choice, I'll always choose a sit-down toilet.

Today, "western" toilets are as common as the squatters, and in my un-expert opinion, may be surpassing the squat toilets. Just before the Olympics, Beijing made sure to provide sitting toilets precisely because they knew that many foreign visitors are just accustomed to that style. Read more...

Last week's controversy over the Spanish Basketball Team's photograph wherein the team makes hand-eye gestures exaggerating the supposed Chinese slanted-eye barely even caused a mention here in China.

A man in Madrid looks at the Spanish basketball team's controversial advertisement (MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP/Getty Images)

For one thing the ad never appeared in the Chinese media, it seems to have just run in the Spanish sports newspaper Marca. But that aside, it seems doubtful that even it it did appear here in China, the Chinese would be very offended at all.

I showed the picture to some people here in Beijing, who never saw it or heard of the debate. One man said the team was being funny, and that they were just making a joke. He was also very curious that the notion of pulling at the eyelids could be considered racist.

"Doesn't hip-hop culture allow for these types of things?" he added. Read more...

By now, the Chinese public must have at least reached the "bargaining stage" in the fives stages of grief over the early exit of Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang from the Olympics on Monday.

Liu Xiang walks off the Men's 110m Hurdles Heats at the National Stadium in Beijing on August 18. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Much has been written about the disbelief and anger of Chinese bloggers over Liu's departure from the field before he was set to race in the 110-meter hurdles due to an inflamed Achilles' tendon and a bone growth on his right heel.

Some harsher critics have said it was fear that led him off the field. Others have actually accused him of faking his injury and giving up. Bloggers have also expressed anger that he did not at least acknowledge his fans when he left the stadium. (Beijing communications consultant Kaiser Kuo has some interesting thoughts on using blogger comments as a dipstick of Chinese sentiment here.)

But just a day later, the country seems to have softened. A poll by the Chinese social-networking Website Xiaonei found that an overwhelming number sympathized with the 25-year-old athlete who literally jumped to stardom when he won China's first track and field gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Read more...

Sunday was a magical day in Beijing as I sat in my bleacher seat at the Wukesong Olympic Baseball Stadium to watch China play South Korea. It was the resumption of a game that I actually missed when the two teams first faced off last Thursday.

For some reason, I thought that Thursday's game was at night, and not during the day. So when the the first pitch was thrown, I was out buying shoes. But thanks to a downpour of rain, the game was put on hold until Sunday, and I was the first through the gate. This gave me ample time to watch the players practice. (See slideshow above.)

Highlights (and lowlights) included:

Blue-shirt teenage Olympic volunteers asking every player that happened past our stand to throw them a ball for a souvenir - including my favorite player, Bu Tao. At one point, one of the players said if they kept giving them away there would be none to play with.

Read more...