Week Three: Dragon Boat Festival

Where is the time going?  It feels like I stepped off the plane yesterday and yet my trip is nearly halfway over.  This week I continued work on a few projects at the office and assisted with an ACCA recruiting event on Wednesday evening.  However, it was an abbreviated work week due to the Dragon Boat Festival.  This is a national holiday in China and is also celebrated in other countries around the region.  In some areas there are boat races held and people throughout China will eat a food called “Zongzi” which is mainly rice stuffed with other fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves.  The origins of the holiday seem to be debated, but everyone enjoys the extra day off.

After having visited most of the major tourist attractions in my first few weeks here, I wanted to spend this weekend getting to know some of the less touristy spots.  On Friday, we visited Panjiayuan Antique Market.  While this is a market that is well known, it is far less westernized than the others we have visited.  I neglected to take my camera, but may visit again and will try to get some photos.  The other markets we have visited (the two most popular ones for westerners) are both indoors with nearly every vendor speaking some level of English.  Another major difference is the items carried.  Many of the markets carry items similar to what you would find in any mall in America, but this one carried mostly locally made jewelry, art work, and antique reproductions.  It was the type of market I’ve wanted to visit ever since arriving.  The crowd was almost exclusively locals so it was a completely different experience and very enjoyable.  However, I do not want everyone reading my blog to think that all the shopping in Beijing is done in small markets where locals haggle over prices.  Really I’ve been trying to get in touch with the traditional side of the country, but it is very westernized.  Malls are everywhere.  In fact there is an entire mall underneath the world trade center complex where I work, and I have to walk through it daily to get to the elevators for the office.  There is another mall directly next to the subway I take daily.  They also have every western restaurant imaginable: McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. right next to the Subway entrance.  While I love all the amazing food I’ve had since I’ve been here, it’s sometimes nice to get some western food.  I haven’t taken advantage of it yet, but McDonalds actually delivers food 24 hours in Beijing so that’s one thing I may have to try while I’m here.

Yesterday, we visited the 798 Art Zone.  It is basically a huge compound of buildings and small tree lined roads with a mixture of indoor and outdoor art.  We saw some really interesting pieces.  There were also some small galleries mixed in where you could purchase art and some small shops and restaurants.  It seemed to be exclusively modern art and like virtually everywhere I’ve seen in Beijing so far, I would love to go back again before I leave the country. You never really knew what you would see as you came around a corner.  Below are some pictures of a few of the more interesting pieces of art.

At times I found myself wondering whether some of the art was actually commissioned or if street artists are more or less welcome to come here and create.  We saw this painting on a wall almost immediately upon entering.  The face was so lifelike that my camera actually recognized it as a face with it's facial recognition system and auto-focused the shot.

Continuing the movie trend, we saw this Transformers inspired piece a little further down the road 

and this one a little later on.

Here's a group photo of me and a few of my new friends.

I really liked this piece.  From a distance it looked like it was painted on a wall or perhaps just a flat cutout.  However, as we got closer we realized that it was actually three dimensional.

This may have been my favorite one because it was a little interactive.  We saw a few locals climb inside to take pictures so we weren't going to miss out on the fun.

As soon as we got in, the locals went crazy with smiles and photo taking.  We are completely used to this by now though.  We draw a fair share of curious glances even in the areas frequented by foreigners such as the Forbidden City.  Many locals have asked us to be in a picture with them as well.  I haven't quite figured out why they love taking photos with us, but we never turn down anyone who asks.  Some don't even care to be in the picture, but will simply snap a photo of our group.  In fact when we asked someone to take our group photo above, several other locals turned around and started taking pictures with their cameras as well.  It was kind of funny really.  It always makes me smile.

Week Two: Lost in Translation

I can’t believe it’s already been another week.  This is an amazing country and time really does fly.  I must admit I suffered from some culture shock for the first 24 hours or so after I arrived.  While Beijing is a fairly westernized city, it still takes a little time to get used to everyone around you speaking a language you don’t understand.  However after getting settled in and meeting my roommates, it didn’t take long to get comfortable with the city and be perfectly at ease.  Ordering a meal is one of the few complicated parts of a day, but to my surprise a vast majority of the restaurants we have visited have English on the menu right next to the Chinese words so pointing is frequently used to help with ordering.  One of the things that surprised me early on was the amount of English we have encountered: the subway broadcasts messages in both Chinese and English, signs on stores all over town have names in both languages, and the ATM’s I have used have English as an option.  However, despite the prominent display of the language across the city, it is still rare to find anyone who is able to speak more than a few words.  I am continuing to work on my Chinese, and have another lesson this coming Tuesday evening.  The nice thing about being in a foreign country is every new word you learn can be practiced almost instantly.

This week was actually fairly eventful.  On Wednesday night, I went to a karaoke night with about 70 other interns who are working with different companies across Beijing.  I’m not normally one to get into karaoke, but the Chinese experience is extremely different from American karaoke.  Instead of one person singing to a whole bar, you actually rent out private rooms so it is just you and the people you’ve come with.  I forgot to take my camera to this event, but if I can find a photo I will definitely post one.  It was a lot of fun and I got to know a lot of people better.  I’ve already become friends with a number of people from all over the world.

On Thursday night my manager took me and a few co-workers out to dinner at an authentic Mongolian restaurant.  This was not a typical restaurant though.  Instead of a building, you entered a small hut barely larger than the table you sit at.  There were dozens of these huts spread across a large open area.  Just like with Chinese food, the dishes were brought in one by one and placed in the middle of the table for everyone to share.  The food was quite good especially the lamb.  During our meal, a few performers came in wearing historic Mongolian clothing and played some amazing music for us.  During one of the songs, I was presented with a blue silk scarf which was placed around my neck and given a small cup of wine.  I was then shown to dip my finger in the wine and touch it to my forehead.  Next I was shown to dip my finger again and flick a few drops both high and low in the air before finally consuming the rest of the bowl.  While I did not understand the meaning behind the ritual they were re-enacting, I was amazing to feel as though I was transported to another time and place.  After the performers left, our group talked for hours.  I remember feeling that this was in many ways the most rewarding night since I had arrived.

The weekend was filled with more exploration of the city.  On Saturday I woke up early to travel to the Summer Palace.  It was about a 45 minute subway ride from where I live, but it was definitely worth the trip.  For those of you not familiar with the Summer Palace, it was essentially just what it sounds like, a summer retreat for the emperor.  Unlike the Forbidden City which is one massive enclosed area of buildings, the Summer Palace blends in with the landscape around it.  Most of the buildings are on Longevity Hill and overlook Kunming Lake.  We spent about 4 hours at the palace and probably could have stayed longer if we had more energy.  It frankly is impossible to explore the entire area in one day, but what we saw was very impressive.  

On our way back from the Summer Palace, we swung by the Olympic park area, and took a few photos of the buildings which were also impressive, but could hardly compare to what we had just seen all day.  One thing that did impress me though was the number of visitors to the Olympic park area.  Admission is free unless you want to tour inside one of the buildings so many locals come just to stroll around.  There was also a large number of vendors selling food and souvenirs.

It seemed like nothing could top the Summer Palace, but early Sunday morning we woke up and boarded a bus which we had rented out for the day.  We drove about 50 miles outside the city to a section of the Great Wall of China.  While this was definitely near the top of my list of places to visit, I must admit that I thought the claims may be exaggerated or that having seen so many pictures and video of it would in some way ruin or lessen the experience.  I could not have been more wrong!  I hope everyone reading this blog will one day have a chance to visit it.  It was such an amazing experience that I think it is worth visiting China even if the wall is all you see.  No amount of pictures or video will prepare you for the sheer size of the wall.  I was speechless sitting there wondering how anyone could have built this wall or how much something similar would cost to build today.  You really get an idea of the wall’s size though when you start trying to walk it.  The wall more or less follows the very peaks of the mountains.  At some points you are almost climbing vertically rather than walking and the steps can get quite narrow.  

I was glad that I went with such a large group (about 25 people) because what ends up happening is many people wear out and decide to not go any further.  I was determined to get to the end of the “mint condition” area though.  You see, the tourist areas typically have been heavily repaired over the years for obvious reasons, but I wanted to see areas of the wall which have not been touched.  It took nearly two hours to cover what looked like less than a mile visually.  When we finally got to the deteriorated areas it was really cool to see what the vast majority of the wall probably looks like.  One moment everything is nearly perfect with barely a stone missing, and the next moment you’re wondering where the wall went.  You’re walking through small bushes and even trees which are growing right inside the wall!

Instead of walking back down the wall when we were ready to leave, we paid a little bit extra to take advantage of an alternate route.  We took a toboggan slide down! For those of you not familiar with toboggans, we essentially took a giant slide which flies you down the mountain on a small kart.  It was amazing!  It took nearly 3 minutes to get all the way down and is something I will never forget.

Week One: Lunch in London??

Greetings from China!  So much has happened in the past several days that I’m not even sure where to

begin.  Well, I arrived in Beijing a few days ago after some minor difficulties.  I was originally scheduled to fly from Dallas to Chicago and then to Beijing, but my flight was canceled due to problems with the plane and I had to be re-routed the other way around the world.  I went from Dallas to London and then on to Beijing.  After my nine hour flight I had just enough time to squeeze in lunch at Heathrow airport before hoping my connection to Beijing.  With wait time included, the entire trip from Dallas took about 24 hours.  Unfortunately my bag did not arrive with me...the airline left it in Dallas.  Luckily, I only had to wait roughly 24 hours before the airline delivered it to my apartment.  I can't tell you how relieved I was when it showed up safe and sound.

After safely receiving my bag and getting settled in, I had a few days to get to know some of my fellow

interns and explore the city before the work week began.  On Saturday we visited the Forbidden City

and spent about 3 hours exploring before a huge storm swept through the city out of nowhere and sent

us running for a taxi.  I definitely plan to return before I leave China.  It is a vast and amazing area to

explore.  On Sunday we visited a Chinese market and I enjoyed watching my new friends haggle prices

on their goods as is customary.  The vendors really get into it, and it can be quite entertaining to watch. 

I didn’t buy anything myself as I plan to save most of my souvenir shopping for the end of my trip.  It was

a lot of fun though.

Today was my first day of work so I was finally able to meet everyone I’ll be working with.  The Beijing

office of ACCA is located in the center of Beijing’s central business district on the 31st floor of the World

Trade Center Tower 1.  The office has an amazing view of Beijing and the surrounding area.  You can

see the mountains off in the distance, and directly out the window in front of my desk is tower 3 of the

World Trade Center which is the tallest skyscraper in Beijing.  It was great to finally meet the team I’ll

be working with and learn a little more about the company.  Many of the staff members speak at least

some English which is great since I don’t speak Chinese and definitely want to be able to communicate

with as much of the staff as possible.  Tomorrow night I will be taking my first formal Chinese lesson

which should be extremely helpful.

It’s less than a week until my flight departs for China and I couldn’t be more excited.  The last few weeks have been fairly hectic with the semester ending and it still hasn’t completely sunk in that I’ll be in Beijing for the next 2 months.  I have never left the U.S. and I don’t speak Chinese so it will be a very interesting summer.  Luckily speaking Chinese is not a requirement for my internship since I will have an English speaking manager.  The company I will be working with is the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (also known as ACCA).  They are one of the world’s largest and fastest growing accountancy bodies.  Specifically, I will be working with the Business Development team to help the company expand its presence in China.  I am almost completely ready for my departure.  One of the biggest loose ends was taken care of a few days ago when my passport arrived. I had received it some time back, but had to ship it off again to get my visa.  It was quite a relief to have it back with my visa in place.  I was also excited to see that it is a multiple entry visa which means that I am free to leave and return to China during my trip.  This is great because I have been considering making a side trip to Taiwan or Hong Kong to see some friends if I have the time one weekend.  All that’s left before I leave is to pack and keep working on some basic Chinese phrases to help me get around.