Pictures and Shouzhou and Proof plus a little Breaking and Entering

It is often said that a picture is worth a hundred words. Or a thousand words...or something. I don't know. I can't really remember. But I do know that some people think the exchange rate of words to pictures is extremely high. And I think that I mostly agree. Except, it has occurred to me that this blog is composed almost entirely of pictures at this point. Which is like...a shitload of words.

And anyway, it has also occurred to me that my blog may or may not be the cyber equivalent of a person who comes home from a trip and suckers their unknowing friends and family members into an agonizing hour-long slide show of all the places they visited.

So yeah...I'm not trying to talk your ear off with photographs. But...I probably am. This is my formal apology. Sorry. Now here are some photos I took of Souzhou!

Souzhou is a canal town which dates back to the 6th century. It may be one of the most breathtaking places I've ever seen.

I know, right?

Sometimes when I go to places like this, I shove my camera into the hands of an unsuspecting Chinese guy or a buddy and force them to take my picture. I feel like I need hard evidence that I was actually in these places.

So...this shot is a little less scenic. But I wish I could explain what was going on when it was taken. First and foremost, it should be noted that Chinese museums and galleries are completely anarchic. People step right up and touch the famous paintings, they take pictures of everything, they climb on the statues. These places have such free reign that often times, people will cross the red velvet rope between themselves and the exhibit. They will stand next to or sometimes on top of the Qing Dynasty era knick knacks and get a better look. Maybe take a load off on an emperor's throne or something.

The picture doesn't show the rope in front of us but Rachel and I are actually in the exhibit. We saw a bunch of little kids climbing on the ancient, hand-carved relics and decided we could do that too! What's more amazing though is that nobody said anything! No alarms went off, no security cameras beeped, no baton-toting security guards tasered us! We left the scene of the crime completely unmarred and a little bit closer to 16th century magistrate, Wang Zianchen.

Hangzhou- Part 1

The gang and I spent this past weekend in Hangzhou- a Chinese city near Shanghai known for its tea cultivation and sleepy West Lake. It was also, apparently, once of Marco Polo's all-time fav places. We hiked through the tea even though this little old lady kept following us. She wanted us to buy tea from her but we just pretended like we didn't understand what she was saying. It's a fairly helpful tactic. What? I'm not allowed to walk through this more convenient door? What? There's a line? What? This isn't a free sample? Giggle, giggle. Sorry. I don't understand Chinese.

Later that night, we decided to check out Hangzhou's nightlife. And apparently....they had been waiting for us. As soon as we saw the Top Red Prestige Club we knew that it would be a sufficient hangout for V.I.P.'s like us.

So we became besties with the whole wait staff and hung out with them in the Prestigious break room.

Hangzhou- Part 2

I love this freaking guy. I couldn't not take a picture of him- I mean, look at him...
broin' out...shirtless. Nina- wise up. This is the future of fashion.

This pic was taken on our way up to the pagoda seen below. We don't know the Chinese chick in the middle but apparently she really wanted to take a snapshot with a couple of white ladies.

Fear Factor?

It seems like every new day in China presents a host of culinary dilemmas. Some end in delicious new flavors...some end in vom. Either way, here are some stand out meals:

I don't know if you can see the sign that my friend Sarah is pointing to but it's a picture of a camel. Yup. Which we ate. Barbequed on skewers. It was actually super dee duper delish.

This kid was so cute. We saw him at a street fair and had to take a picture. It didn't come out super well but he's so little and the octopuses (octopi?) he's eating on a stick are so huge
.

Fish eyeball. Oh, yeah. I Ate it. Whatever, ain't no thang.

Ummm...I should admit, though that I ate the eyes primarily for bragging rights and will not be repeating this any time in the near future. It was a huge mistake.

Finally, the critters pictured above are hairy crabs. And they are hiary. I'm not sure if you can tell but their legs are covered in this very weird coat of hair. It's known as a delicacy in China and is particularly famous in Shanghai in the fall...so we had to do it. They were excellent, if challenging to eat.

The aftermath.

Culture Class Feild Trip!!! Zhang Gardens and Wu Jian Lu

Wo men de Laoshi Nina hai you wo de peng you Vera. Our teacher Nina and our buddy Vera.

Our Tourguide

Chinese people believe that goldfish are symbols of wealth so there are often ponds outside traditional Chinese homes.

Cont'd

so many undies

Why does this chicken have a bow and arrow if we are going to be eating him in a pot? Food for thought.

M50 Art Enclave (and other random photos)

To sign in to this gallery, you had to leave your finger print

I think these are really taxidermied animals- the horror comes in waves

This is toastbox. It's a desert in China and it's exactly what it sounds like.

The Economist

If someone had told me a year ago that I would find myself in an Economics class in China , I would have laughed. Very loudly. In their face.

Today, I spent three hours today discussing the astronomical growth of China's average gross domestic product. FOR REAL!!! I've spent the past two years of my life memorizing monologues, wearing jazz shoes and talking about "feelings". Pretty soon, I'm gonna start wearing a pant suit and talking on a blue tooth. (I'm being facetious dad, don't get your hopes up).

Despite all odds though, I attended a lecture conducted by Sean Chen, an economics professor at a nearby university. He spent the majority of the class presenting statistics on China's natural resources, labor supply, capital, management and technology.

Here are some of Professor Chen's talking points:

1. Even though China is approximately the same size as America in terms of land mass, only 25% of the land is composed of planes. Most of China's territory is made up of mountains, deserts and basins.
2. America's population is 300 million while China's is a staggering 1.3 BILLION- one fifth of the world's population.
3. In 1978 as China's political climate shifted from Mao-era communism to a so-called "market economy with Chinese characteristics", 20% of China's population was in urban areas. Today, that number has skyrocketed to 45%!
4. China didn't really use cars until after 1978! And during this time, everything was purchased with government allotted coupons- things like furniture, food, matches, soap, rice, cloth to make clothes with etc.
5. Today, only 56% of people have the opportunity to go to college.
6. China is currently tied with Germany as the third largest economy in the world, tailing behind the U.S. and Japan.
7. McCain is the Chinese hopeful for the upcoming American election.

So there you have it. Sort of.

There is no question that in the past thirty years, China has made enormous, almost unfathomable leaps in its economy.

That said, there is still a lot to be done in terms of human rights issues, environmental issues, etc. It's also difficult to gauge the legitimacy of Professor Chen's statistics. China has no census and the government isn't exactly known for making this kind of information widely available. But that might be some red-scare-style paranoia talking. I'm completely aware that whenever I talk art or politics with someone in China, a communist alert begins to beep somewhere inside me. It's hard to know what's what when everyone's access to information is limited.

But with all skepticism aside, it's undeniable that China is getting more and more recognition on the international stage as a truly powerful country.

National Holiday in Hong Kong!!!

Last week I was in Hong Kong with five buddies from the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Here are some pictures from our trip:

We saw one of the girls from America's Next Top Model on the street and proceeded to pose as super models ourselves.

We celebrated my friend Steven's birthday.

I took candid pictures at the dinner table when people least suspected it.

We went to a bar that looked like the inside of a buddhist temple.

We got caught in a typhoon!

(It's hard to tell but this is an aerial shot of a street filled with frantic, umbrella-clad people.)

It took us several different flight plans, trains, buses, and cabs to get back but we're finally back.