Laoshi Hao (Hello Teacher)!

On July 8, our entire group had the pleasure of traveling to the Shanghai suburb of Jinshan to tour and guest teach at a foreign language middle school. You wouldn't believe how courteous and polite the kids were. I had to ask myself over and over again "are these really middle schoolers?"

The English lesson our group taught was about animals. Would you believe me if I told you that the Chinese students could name more animals from memory than I could? And not just cat, dog, etc. During the brainstrorm, these guys mentioned armadillos, yaks, buffalo and the like. Not bad for non-native speakers, huh?

The number of students in a Chinese classroom tends to be relatively large, compared to a US classroom. On average you can expect to see about 40 kids in each class. So why is it that Chinese students perform exceptionally well, even with such a large class size? Chinese teachers are very effective at grouping students and teaching them to work as semi-automous units in the classroom. I think this should serve as food for thought for all of us that immediately point to large class sizes as "the problem" with our schools.

Anyway, check us out playing animal charades. I'm the one jumping around like a kangaroo (in case you didn't notice :-)

Do you speak English?

I once had a dear professor at Penn who had traveled extensively with her daughter while completing anthropological research as a graduate student. I remember asking her about the challenges she faced while globetrotting with a little tot in tow. She said to me "when you travel with kids, they can get you access to fascinating people, places and experiences you would never have had otherwise."

Sure enough, the encounter we had with a young Chinese girl and her family in a Hangzhou bazaar showed me how right my professor really was. China (and practically every other country in the world) is lightyears ahead of the United States in the area of second language instruction for children. See my post on my experience as a guest teacher at the foreign language middle school in Jinshan.

Chinese parents are serious about education. They recognize the benefits of multilingualism and urge their kids to take advantage of every learning opportunity. Don't believe me? Look at this Chinese mother insisting that her daughter practice English with Amira:




As you saw at the end of the clip, Amira is clearly more concerned with using the merchant's calculator to make me haggle over her toy in my broken Chinese. But I found this encounter most fascinating. Needless to say, the mother won the battle to spark conversation between her daughter and Amira. Here's how it went. How cute!

Rapping Things Up "Xi Ha" Style

Well, it does appear that things are coming to a close. Thankfully it's a positive close. My paper on Chinese hip-hop (a.k.a Xi Ha) is finished. I've enjoyed learning about China's creative addition to the world of global hip-hop. If the commercial madness (i.e. whackness) of American hip-hop continues as it is, I'm certain we'll be looking even more fervently overseas for some refreshing hip-hop innovation. Tony Mitchell put it best in his celebrated narrative on international hip-hop, Global Noise - "[global hip-hop possesses] a sense of innovation, surprise and musical substance that make it increasingly necessary to look outside of the US to countries such as France, England, Germany, Italy and Japan where strong local currents of hip-hop indigenization have taken place.”

RedStar's album is scheduled to drop soon. You can check them out at

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=114694191

Here are a couple of other dope Chinese hip-hop links that were most helpful during my study:

http://www.dongting08.com/ - Research Blog on Chinese hip hop
http://hiphop.cn/ - Extensive resource on what's happenin' in Chinese hip hop
http://www.thelab.cn - Meeting ground for aspiring artists/DJs in Shanghai

PEACE!

The Beauty of Hangzhou

For our first weekend excursion we went to the lovely Hangzhou, located in Zhejiang province. The city's magnificent West Lake is one of the main attractions for tourist folks like us. We must have climbed at least 3 different pagodas. After ascending the one that had an elevator, I wanted to choke our guide for taking us to the one with raggedy stone stairwells!! I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the relative peace from the Shanghai hustle and bustle.


In the pictures above, we are with our camp buddies in a local garden (I cant remember the name right now) :0 Despite the fact that there are no loud rides or fancy attractions in this garden, the kids loved it! We spent well over an hour climbing stone dragons, drinking fresh spring water and crossing streams barefoot. A place like this makes it easy to ignore the fact that there are hundreds of people around you in every direction (sigh).

A Summer to Remember

I'd say Amira had a pretty adventurous summer. By the grace of God she visited Shanghai, China, various cities in the Dominican Republic, New York City, Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA and then made it back home to good ole Philly, PA. This post is about camp in China, so let me hop off my tangent :-)

Summer camp in China was a cool idea. Amira spent her weekdays taking private Chinese lessons at Mandarin Rocks. Actually, the only reason her lessons were private was b/c she was the youngest one at the camp. The other kids ranged in age from 8-14. Sometimes that meant she got special treatment (remember the movie popcorn story?? [below]) and sometimes she felt left out :-(

One of the most interesting things I noticed at the camp were the teenagers who traveled abroad in pairs (i.e. without parents) to learn about Chinese language and culture. Apparently is not uncommon for some wealthy sophisticates to send their children trekking around the world with minimal supervision. Our group consisted of several eager young teens who were obviously used to a lot of freedom. From eating rats in Vietnam to scuba diving in New Zealand, these kids had done it all. I must admit that I sat in admiration as they told me of their many world adventures. In some ways they were extremely precocious and in other ways they were just regular ole teenagers. The only difference is that they were thousands of miles from home doing what I wouldn't DARE send my kid to do alone. No, not in a million years!

Mandarin Rocks had a full line up of activities for the kids. They were constantly hitting the streets of Shanghai to shop, watch movies, see the acrobatic show, visit The Bund (waterfront) and a host of beautiful Chinese gardens. Honestly, I think Amira got around Shanghai more than I did. Don't take my word for it. You can always ask her yourself what she thought of China :-)

Shanghai Snapshots

Everybody has been asking what does Shanghai look like. Well honestly, it's not much different than any other major city, I think. Well, okay, take the population of your typical major city and triple it. Case in point: The population of New York City is estimated to be around 8 million. Shanghai's population has recently surpassed the 20 million mark!!! I've never seen so many people in my whole life. The so-called "baby boom" of America ain't got nothing on the Chinese Baby Boom!!!

Shanghai is basically like a supersized Chinatown, which is probably the reason I didn't suffer from any major culture shock. All the basic amenities one would expect to find in a major city are here - comfortable lodging, attractions, food options, etc. They even have a circus arena. And as if Shanghai isn't developed enough, officials are still working on major plans to expand the city even further. We recently visited the Urban Planning Center to see what big plans are in the works. Don't believe the hype though. There is some controversy behind these plans that actually mirror the eminent domain and gentrification issues we're familiar with in the U.S. There are two sides to every coin.

On the daily I work as a professional juggler. Between classes at the university, Amira's camp activities and my research project, I'd say my hands are pretty full. It might sound overwhelming, but I think that's where my the uniqueness of my experience here really shines. Do I get frustrated sometimes? Yes. Do I wonder if I'll make it until July 27? Well, considering the way people drive in Shanghai, yes. Yet and still, the learning potential that lies within this trip far outweighs all the drama. I hope this blog will be the evidence of that.

OUT

Hip Hopping Across Shanghai

Sometimes I have great sympathy for the parts of my body that I overwork. Today's pity award goes to my eyes. Despite their drooping and slight reddish color, I can't let them retire for the evening just yet. Nah. There's too much work to be done. I've been working tirelessly, scouring the internet and academic journals to get data for my investigation on Chinese hip-hop. My quest to uncover the reality behind this emerging Chinese phenomenon is officially underway.

The focus of this study is on foreign participation in local Shanghainese hip-hop. The development of hip-hop identity and visibility is in it's early stages in Shanghai. Compared to places like Korea, Chinese hip-hop has quite a way to go to reach substantial recognition in society. Many foreigners have come to China (for various reasons) to function as "hip-hop ambassadors" of sorts, supporting and promoting the transformation of local hip-hop into a viable and respectable art form in the eyes of the Chinese public.

Today was a productive day in that I had the honor of speaking with the gracious MC Mojo from the explosive Shanghai-based, multicultural hip-hop group, Redstar. Mojo is a fluent Chinese-speaking, African-American MC with roots in Brooklyn, NY (go Brooklyn!). I was also pleasantly greeted with an extra surprise today, Mojo's wife Zoe. Zoe was more than happy to input her 2 cents into the interview; her ideas were well-received. She even offered to babysit Amira for me. hehehe Thanks Mojo and Zoe.

I want to go into more depth about hip-hop in China, and I'm sure there's plenty of room in the blog for my rambling on the matter. But for now, I'll need to go and attend to the multiple parts of my body that are pleading for rest and relief from a truly tiresome yet fulfilling day.

Tomorrow Amira and I are heading way off to the outskirts of Shanghai (Hangzhou) for a much needed escape from the big city. Hip hop is following me to Hangzhou too as I've been invited to another event tomorrow. Or maybe I'm following it? Either way, it's cool.

PEACE

Little Empress

Forget Chris. Everybody loves Amira! All this time I thought for sure that all the stares and smiles of admiration we've been getting from the Chinese were for me. If only I had a nickel for all the times on this trip that I've been wrong! It's all about Amira over here. Yesterday at Kung Fu Panda (I wasnt there), Amira accidently started eating popcorn from the wrong woman's bucket and the lady just let her eat it all up. Even some of Shanghai's grimiest taxi drivers soften and sweeten up when she's around. What the deally yo?

Seeing as though Black people are a rarity round these parts, and Black children are virtually non-existent, it's really not surprising that people in Shanghai are curious and fascinated with her. Sometimes all the attention is a little unnerving though. So far people have asked (and not asked) to touch Amira's hair, give her things and take pictures with her. I'm going to go ghetto if another person touches her, especially without asking.

In 1979, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping enacted a law restricting couples to only one child. Given that China is an extremely populous nation of over 1 billion people, the idea was to put the slow down on all those babies. So what was the result? Well, within a nation full of only-children, you can imagine that it is more than common for Chinese families to spoil the heck out of their one kid. Yep, all that doting and attention ends up creating what the Chinese refer to as "little emperors (or empresses)."

It certainly does appear to me that Amira is developing a "little empress" attitude of her own. In less than a week she's become more defiant and driven to have things exactly her way. I guess all the attention has really gone to her royal little head. Oh well. Why ruin a good thing? I'll wait until we get back to Philly to bring my little empress back down to planet Earth.

Would you pay $15 USD for some ice cream?

Today's question is "Would you pay $15 USD for some ice cream?" Well I did and it was mmm, mmm good. Now, I can't say it was 15 dollars worth of good, but who can turn down Haagen Daaz?

Haagen Daaz in China is the biggest spectacle. No matter how tight your Chinese is, I dare you to walk up to the counter talkin' bout you want to "sample" the rum raisin. No ma'am. You'll need to wait to be seated by the hostess just like everyone else. That's right, hostess. After you're seated your waitress brings you a menu filled with the most tempting of delights, the cheapest of which is the peanut toppings weighing in at $2 USD hahaha.

Anyway, what the Chinese want, the Chinese will get. Did you know that there are 66 Starbucks in Shanghai alone?!! Consumerism is making big waves in China and apparently there's no price too high for certain things. Now, is there a way that I could justify paying $15 for the smoothie and single scoop of cookies and cream we ordered? Nope. But one look at the picture, and you'll see Amira displaying the meaning of true satisfaction with our overpriced purchase.

Chasing the Sun

On Friday, Jun 27, 2008, two excited, yet tentative young ladies boarded a plane headed to Shanghai, China. One of those ladies was me. Had you asked me, there would have been no way for me to tell you that I would spend the next 16 hours aboard a 777 chasing the light of the sun.

I must admit, it was the most fascinatingly troubling experience I've ever had. Truly strange and exotic to say the least. I could have been at home playing Ghost Recon with my wonderfully supportive DuWayne or reading a good book even. Instead, for the first time in my life I was busy witnessing 24 straight hours of daylight (16 in flight + 8 upon arrival). Everytime we opened the window, just like a nosy neighbor, the sun was there. C'mon people, this just isn't natural.

All ranting aside, those 24 hours of light led to the end of a tunnel called Shanghai. Amira and I battled out jet lag as long as we could, just to catch our first glimpse of this magnificent city that had the nerve to greet us only with endless highways and a grim, cloudy sky. That's alright though because Saturday, Jun 28 was a special day. It was another day of God-given protection and a safe arrival to a new destination. For that we must give thanks.

WE MADE IT Y'ALL!!!