Frances Chen's China Journal
Thoughts and adventures of a Chinese-American living in China

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Week of June 16, 2007

Science Museum
June 16, 2007

Today was a one of-a-kind day spent with over 60 children from a local orphanage in Shunyi, a district just north of Beijing. A few months ago, a group of friends of mine discovered this modest-size orphanage started by a local family, and after learning the true conditions of their situation were compelled to help. How it all came about was this family was living next to a fireworks factory many years ago, and one night a terrible explosion came from within the factory causing a big fire and badly burning the wife and son. They were sent to Hong Kong for extended medical care, eventually costing the family every penny they had. The wife and son survived the horrific experience, but where left physically deformed. Because of that, the son was banned from attending any public schools. The family was forced to find teachers that would be willing to come and home school their son. The word had spread about the son's situation and other people asked if their children whom were also unable to attend public schools could join. It’s now known as an orphanage because the children have been more or less abandoned. The orphanage started with just a handful of children and has now grown to 81 children ages range from 6 to 14 in just a half a year. None of the children there have two parents and those that have one parent are not being cared for by them on a regular basis. The orphanage has become a safe home for neglected children, many from migrant families that are just too poor.

Anyway, over this past year, my friends have made a lot of effort to raise funds to help the schools. They wrote to their friends and family back at home and explained the situation and many people generously donated to the cause. In addition, they organize groups to go out every Saturday to spend time with the children. Today was the biggest organized event they have done for them. They needed funding to take these kids out for a day at the museum so they wrote a proposal to the International church here where many foreigners attend including my friends. They paid for the buses, tickets, snacks, etc. They got over 40 volunteers to help out the over 60 children that wanted to go.

I was paired with another volunteer, named Elle and she is from the Philippines. Together we managed 4 kids—2 young girls and two older boys. I couldn't believe how well behaved and seemingly emotionally happy they were. When they marched out in a single line to where we were all waiting for them, they were waiving and laughing. They were being lead by their main teacher who was a skinny fellow probably in his late twenties, early thirties. He walked in front with a megaphone playing the “Happy Birthday” tune. This obviously was what they were trained to hear when they were being told to “walk” and “follow”. When he stopped them, he spoke into the megaphone and they formed 6 lines and took a military stance, then he had them all turn in unison and do a few hand gestures. They did it again and again until they were rotated back to the front again. That’s when we were assigned our kids for the day. The bus ride was fun. They didn’t seem shy at all. I had them write their own Chinese names on their nametags, and I also made sure to include their names in “pinyin” meaning the phonetic pronunciation. This was best for both myself, who can’t ever remember Chinese names and for Elle who didn’t speak any Chinese.

The older boys Jin Zhi and Liang Liang preferred to go off on their own. The girls, Yan Yan (age 7) and Meng Meng (age 8) needed more attention and were very different in personality. I spend more time with Yan Yan because Meng Meng wanted to be held by the big brother volunteers who she had a familiar relationship with. Meng Meng had a stronger personality and knew what she wanted, where as Yan Yan was more quiet and whiney at times. Like when we took the escalators up, she kept wincing like she was scared, but I could tell she wasn’t really scared. And during the day she found a baby chick in a small wire cage on the staircase. They were apparently selling them outside of the museum and somebody must have left theirs where Yan Yan found it. The baby chick kept sticking it’s head out of the cage trying desperately to fit its entire body through, but of course couldn’t because the wires were too close together. But it didn’t give up and kept trying and trying and chirping and chirping. I said she was going to have to find a bigger box for it when she gets home and that’s when she started whining again saying she didn’t have a bigger box. Within the hour, she gave it away because she knew she couldn’t take care of it. We sat together at the IMAX movie “Extreme”. It’s always a sensory overload when I watch these types of movies and this time was no exception. This was Yan Yan’s first time to see anything of it’s kind and has likely never been to even a movie theater before. The scene opened up with us above snow capped mountains and she kept saying “we we’re flying, we’re flying.” She was really amazed and kept talking, more to herself then to me. But we didn’t make it through the film without falling asleep. In no way would I imply it was dull, but we had had a big day and the natural sounds were incredibly soothing.

For some kids, this was probably the best day of their life. I hope this will only be one of many more to come in their lives.

The Great Wall… in the Raw.
June 15, 2007

Recently I co-lead a group of American university students to The Great Wall. But it’s not just any part of the GW, but rather a very special unrestored section that runs through a small village called Sancha. My friend, Tina and I were asked to take this young group of art history students to this particular part of the GW because we often go as a weekend getaway from Beijing. It was a chance to share a part of our lives and to give them some insight into this modest village. By now though, there might be some awareness on Sancha thanks to Author and Journalist Peter Hessler who wrote the critically acclaimed book “River Town” and most recently “Oracle Bones”. He has spent many years in China as a writer for the New Yorker. He has done some of his writing in his rented home in Sancha and in 2004 the New Yorker Magazine published a lengthy article he wrote about the village and the relationship he has with a family there. Tina and I made copies of the article and passed it out to all the students. They enjoyed the story even more when we told them that wee would be staying with the family featured in the article.

The village was as quiet as usual. We were the only visitors at that time mainly because it was during the middle of the week. They normally get more trekkers over the weekend. Many of the villagers were use to seeing foreign faces so they never make much of a fuss. They mostly keep to themselves occasionally flashing a smile and saying “ni hao” or “hello”. The students were really enjoying the off-the-beaten-track experience. We got in the night before and planned to head up to the GW at 7 am the next morning. It wasn’t that bad getting up so early because the sun rises early and so do the villagers so it felt quite normal to be up at that time. Our day started with the usual countryside breakfast of corn meal soup, scrambled eggs and flat bread. I requested for the yummy fermented tofu that goes well in the soup and on breads, but no one seemed share the excitement in that except Tina. That’s a good indication that you’ve been in China for too long!

So we got the group moving as scheduled and everyone seemed very enthused as any one would be going up to the GW for the first time. But a third of the group felt they wouldn’t be able to climb the somewhat steep route so we organized for a car to take them to the closest restored part of the GW where they could ride up in cable cars instead.
I was really impressed with all their determination to do the two and a half hour hike. Some were intimidated and didn’t think they could do it, but it wasn’t until one of the girls (I will call her Ann) revealed her determination that turned everyone’s attitude to purely positive.

Ann was injured a couple of years ago in a horse riding accident and was paralyzed for 2 years. She miraculously overcame it without any kind of surgery. It’s a miracle that she can walk today and live a perfectly healthy and normal life. At the beginning of the hike she was showing signs of trouble. With each step she took, she winced in pain. It seemed odd to me that a perfectly healthy looking young woman would have to struggle to the extent she was. To avoid being noisy I just suggested that she take more breaks or feel free to turn back around if she was in too much pain. That’s when she told me her story. She still has to struggle with a pinched nerve in her lower back, which numbs her leg when she sits or walks for too long. The combination with her 24-hour plane ride and the beginning of an upward hike was not something her doctor would approve of. Of course after hearing this, I was feeling very cautious. If something were to happen to her on the Wall, Tina and I were going to be responsible. We let her hike, but we made sure to walk slow and stop whenever she wanted, but she was not asking for anyone’s sympathy. Ann persevered onwards despite the constant pain. I found her a walking stick to alleviate the pressure off her leg. She was grateful and it seemed to help. After about 40 minutes, we arrived at one of the towers. The plan was to walk across the wall to the other towers. I suggested she stay there and wait for us to come back. The walk wasn’t going to get easier. Ann replied, “I’m going with you. If there is anything being paralyzed has taught me, it’s I can’t give up.” I said, “Ok, but please know your limits.”
She eventually made it up to all three towers and back town with no problems. Hiking the GW probably seemed like a dream once, but now she can say she did it. Now they can all say they did it.

Hutong Magic Part 2
June 14, 2007

I have been quite the friend to The Aussie by doing daily inspections on the renovations of his siheyuan while he was out of town. He of course went over the plans with the contractor before he left and bought all the necessary materials—cheap plank wood, kitchen equipment, specially made window paneling with Chinese accents, etc. His partner, another Aussie, if full of artistic ideas, but speaks very little Chinese. Her communication with the contractor consisted of pictographs, hand gestures and occasional grunts. Together we were able to communicate changes that needed to be made. We realized we had to be very careful with the destruction part of the process (before the reconstruction) because they were quick with the sledgehammer. If we say we didn’t want “this” wall, ten minutes later there was no wall. If we say we want a window, we turn back around and there’s a big hole. Everything was “mei wenti” or “no problem”. I was thinking this is going to be easy! Well, building the place back up is when it got tricky. It all started to show with the window paneling. The idea was to have accordion-style sliding panels so that the whole window opens up to the outside. Well, we took it for granted that the idea was simple and logical, but when it came down to it, they didn’t get it. The panels were hinged in such a way that it didn’t allow the doors to fold open completely. I asked, “Is this as far as it opens?” He replied, “Yes”. By the time we explained our preference to have the doors open the opposite direction, we had a nice little audience of five construction guys who found it much more entertaining to watch us babble then for them to their jobs. Of course he made the changes…but not without leaving the carved marks of the once misplaced hinges right in the front of the specially designed Chinese-style wooden panels. My favorite part is when they started painting the frames around the window. They made an ill attempt at trying to match the color of the wood. To them it was “cha bu duo” or “good enough”. So without further ado, they spray painted the frames not bothering to cover-up the already fitted wooden panels. So now there are two frames-- one around the panels and one ON the panels. And where would China be without all the hacking and spitting? Well, there is no better way to christen your new siheyuan then to have all the construction guys hacking and spitting right in your new place of business. They don’t even think twice about it. To them it’s as public as the street outside. Like I always say—you get what you pay for. You want cheap labor, you get cheap labor.

Hutong Magic Part 1
June 13, 2007

Beijing is known for its hutong charm. “Hutong” refers to the alleyways connecting all the traditional Chinese homes known as a “siheyuan” or a “four-sided courtyard”. My Australian friend (who I will refer to as The Aussie) this year signed a 10-year contract to rent a siheyuan, which he has just converted into usable space for various intimate events. Up till now this has been no easy task. He would like nothing more then to buy the lovely siheyuan, but the problem is that the house belongs to five members of the family that once inhabited the home. Ownership is literally divided by square footage so one person may own the bathroom and another may own half the kitchen. As you can imagine it would be extremely difficult to get everyone to agree on any major decisions so it boggles my mind that they were even able to agree on rental terms that satisfy The Aussie’s requirements. And here’s another reason why you would want to think twice about pouring your savings into a siheyuan--buying a place does not mean you own the land the house sits on. Therefore, you would forever be at the mercy of modernization. Today they say this particular neighborhood is protected, but we will see what happens tomorrow.