Jackie Chan: Sellout or Victim of a Bad Translation?

你们好!
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I go to the supermarket (超市chāoshì) in Beibei every 5 days or so, simply for (mostly breakfast) foods that aren't served in restaurants - peanut butter, milk, bread, (clean) eggs, etc. - as well as toiletry items and other odds and ends. I only mention the supermarket because of who's picture I associate with it: Jackie Chan, the (former?) Hollywood action star and native of Hong Kong. As the escalator brings me down to the supermarket's ground floor, a huge advertisement for black hair dye (infamously used by 100%(?) of Chinese politicians) proclaims Jackie's smiling face. Whenever I meet new students in the classroom and we discuss the "first thing(s) you think of when I say 'China'" almost every class has someone who says "Jackie Chan." When I watched the Olympic Closing Ceremonies at Hooters in Chengdu, Jackie Chan was singing "I love Beijing, 我爱北京!" with the rest of China's entertainment elite. Yes, he is kinda a big deal in China, but when he sang "I love Beijing!" it turns out, according to a controversial statement he made a few days ago at a gathering for top Communist officials, he wasn't lying.

Chan's statement has been causing quite the debate in China, mostly on the Internet. He said, again, to a room full of top Beijing government officials, "中国人需要管zhōngguórén xūyào guǎn" or more completely, "中国人还是需要被管的zhōngguórén hái shì xūyào bèi guǎn de" which translates to "Chinese still need more 管guǎn."

The character "管guǎn" is the character in question. Many Chinese bloggers (the real media in China) and Western media outlets translated this character as "to control." So, many interpreted Chan as saying that "Chinese still need to be controlled" by the government, thus advocating the CCP's tight regulations, most notably, the suppression of free speech and expression (See YouTube.com still being blocked by the Great Chinese Firewall). An explosion of criticism spread across the Chinese Internet like brush fire, calling for boycotts of Chan's films and even a Facebook group calling for him to be sent to North Korea for a) supporting the suppression of free-thinking and b) more or less saying that Chinese are a bunch of sheeps who do not have the know-how to govern themselves.

However, Chan, who, in my opinion, is already a bad representative of China and the Chinese people for his reinforcement of Chinese stereotypes on the silver screen, may have been misquoted, or rather, victimized by a bad translation. "管guǎn" means "to be managed, regulated, governed" and not necessarily "controlled." Personally, I still don't like this statement, but we must remember a) Chan was talking to people who would probably have him shot in the ally outside the meeting hall if he didn't say these words (or something like it), b) Chan is an actor (and thus, businessman) and with his reputation at stake, the last thing he needs is his Western-funded movies being banned from Chinese theaters by the CCP, and finally c) WHY THE HECK DOES ANYONE WHO RUNS A COUNTRY OF 1.3 BILLION CARE WHAT JACKIE "Rush Hour 3" CHAN THINKS?

Moral of the story: The Chinese language (and China as a whole) is just plain complicated, even for Chinese. Oh, and Chris Tucker is not funny...

I love and miss you all,

Phil

蓝麦飞

The Guizhou Countryside

你们好!
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On my way home from Guiyang, Guizhou Province, I pulled my video camera out from of its case and thought it might be neat to "capture the moment" as the bus sailed down the highway through the Guizhou countryside. The final product, with a little editing and an amazing "off the cuff" original piano composition from my dear friend Ryan S-, is something I feel quite proud of, and will be happy to watch again in 5, 10, 50 years when America and China will most certainly be very different countries.
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Turn your computer's volume up as high as possible to appreciate this simple, personal reflection of Life on the Chinese Road:

I hope to have this video and the one from the previous post on Youtube.com as soon as possible.

I love and miss you all,

Phil

蓝麦飞

Site-Exchange in Guiyang, Giuzhou University

你们好!
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This past January at PC China's IST conference, PCV "13" Dave (California) asked me if I might be interested in traveling down to his school - Guizhou University 贵州大学 - for a PC-sponsored site-exchange in order to help facilitate the introductory stages of a student production of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
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"Of course!"
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Timing could not have been better. I had just finished teaching Hamlet to my post-graduate English Literature majors last week, so the play was (and always is) fresh in my mind. Sitemate Kristen decided to travel down to Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province (about 5 hours by bus), with me to visit some "14's" and help Dave celebrate his 27th birthday (生日快乐, 哥哥!). We arrived on Friday evening, met up with PCVs Todd, Jess, and Lisa, and enjoyed cheap beer, many laughs, browsed Guiyang's pirated movie scene, and devoured the local Guiyang delicacy: Bean Hot Pot. All this before the next day's Hamlet-facilitation marathon.
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I received the (only slightly) abridged 55-page script from Dave about a week before I arrived at Guizhou University, and my first thought was, "Wow, Dave's students must be English-language machines." Dave originally told me that his students were to put on a Shakespeare play for a competition in Hong Kong, but when I asked them for the details, I was both amazed and impressed that almost none of them alluded to this competition, but simply said they wanted to "challenge" themselves. And after spending the next 6 hours with these students (YES! 6 hours, with one 5-minute break and a 2-language rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Dave), guiding them through the motions but more importantly, helping each actor find his or her own dramatic identity, we finished strong with Act V's "bloodbath!" I don't know if I will ever see the final line of Hamlet read, followed by an uproar of laughter, again! 哈哈!


I regret not recording more of our productive afternoon; all the actors were so good, especially Hamlet (English name, Nemo, red shirt), who has so many lines to memorize...in his second language! This feat, sophomore undergraduates performing original English-language Shakespeare in China, combined with my infinite struggle to read, write, and speak in Chinese, boggles the mind. All in all, I drank about 4 bottles of water, peed twice, and at one point - around hour #5: "the gravedigger scene" - thought I was going to pass out (and die? - how appropriate!).
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I wrote Dave an e-mail this afternoon, thanking him for inviting me to participate in this incredibly rewarding experience. I told him that as this crazy 2-year performance continues its final act, I try to make every day in China special, and this past Saturday, with his amazingly motivated students and Billy Shaky's Emo King, I felt like I really helped some students not only understand Shakespeare, but feel it too. The pleasure was all mine.
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I love and miss you all,
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Phil
蓝麦飞

Testing a new way to post videos...

你们好!

With Youtube.com still blocked in mainland China (see previous posts), I continue to experiment with new websites and methods to bring you video glimpses into my life in China as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Below are three videos from a recent Waiban-sponsored outing to Diaoyucheng and Laitan, Chongqing. All these videos (and more) are on my Youtube channel thanks to my wonderful sister in Canada, but if you live on the Chinese mainland, I hope the following videos load on your screen. This is only a test:


Diaoyucheng, Chongqing Part 1 from Philip Razem on Vimeo.


Diaoyucheng, Chongqing Part 2 from Philip Razem on Vimeo.


Laitan, Chongqing from Philip Razem on Vimeo.

I love and miss you all,

Phil
蓝麦飞

Concrete Poems, Debate Contests, Anticipated Video Blog Explosions...

你们好!

It's been about 2 weeks now since the CCP decided to shut down Youtube.com in mainland China. I've had many conversations with students about this move, and though many wish Youtube was alive and thriving in China (the website is a window into the outside world, educational resource, freethinking portal, and helped ME become Time's Person of the Year a few years back), a surprisingly high number justified the block with the trite, Party-line "If China is to respect the world, then the world must first respect China." I always ask these students to consider the vice-versa of this indoctrinated statement, which among many of their defenses include the assumption that I "can't possibly understand" because "I don't understand Chinese culture and tradition" (Are both Chinese culture and tradition advocates of government oppression? I hope not!) and their repetitive stating of the Chinese saying "稳定压倒一切 wěndìng yādǎo yī qie" which translates to "Stability is of overriding importance." Their rhetoric, which is repeated over and over again in (antithesis-longing) Op-Eds throughout the Chinese state-controlled media, scares the bejeebes outta me, especially how it comes out of their brains so fast and definite and with no flexibility, as if they were trained to "block, block block" incoming fists of criticism. To those who educate young, creative people this way - reminiscent of GWB's "You are with us or you are a terrorist" quotation - I say, "Join the real Party." There is a wealth of Truth out there that no government should "protect" you from. To quote Dr. Seuss: "Oh, the places you'll go..."

But the inflexible, iron fist of the Chinese Communist Party will not defeat Phil Razem. The Youtube block never discouraged me from pulling out my video camera (摄像机shèxiàngji) and recording my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Middle Kingdom. This evening I will meet my younger sister on Skype, and send a fresh batch of videos to her in Canada for uploading. Check the Youtube page (link on the right-side column) in the coming days! If only the CCP knew of the inconveniences they cause a foreigner who only desires to bring his experiences with beautiful (real, 1st-hand) Chinese culture to the people around the world...

(Update! www.youtube.com/philiprazeminchina )


On the topic of freethinking, Kristen and I were among the judges of a debate contest on Thursday evening. I really enjoy judging debate compared to the endless speech contests. Debate, which I will teach my students after they finish their TEM-4 exam, is a combination of strategy, logic, creativity, critical thinking, and drama - the latter three I try to incorporate into my classes every meeting. The students impressed me, and without writing you a novel, the most interesting part for me was how Chinese Generation Y'ers are willing to say the things their parents generation would never say loud (and proud!) into a microphone, i.e. "The 1-child policy is a miserable law, and the government should change it at once!" Bravo! They are my Chinese optimism...

My students composed Concrete (visual) Poems for homework last week, and like the Adaptation Poems from the week before, I took pictures of my favorite examples. Concrete Poems are poems that use words and lines of poetry to create an image that represents the subject, tone, mood, or theme of the poem.

Read all of my favorites! (click!)

Here are a few of my favorites:

If you need proof of (sometimes strange/excessive) Chinese nationalism from the 90's generation, this would do (larger print on the Flickr page link above:
And my favorite, because nothing says poetry that a steaming pile of SH*T! Don't ever let someone stop you from expressing yourself. In our dreams and creations, we are truly free...

I love and miss you all,

Phil

蓝麦飞

Testing a new way to post videos...

你们好 ！

Testin' a new way to post videos.....

Jiaozi! 饺子! Chinese Dumpling Adventure!

Thanks, sis (我的妹妹), for your assistance! Cross your fingers, ya'll!

I love and miss you all,

Phil

蓝麦飞

English Composition class connects students with Chinese counterparts (SUNY Fredonia Campus News)

你们好!
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Before I became a Peace Corps Volunteer in China, I taught English Composition as a graduate student to mostly freshmen and sophomores at SUNY Fredonia. It was a wonderful experience. Besides facilitating a university-level writing class, I was given the opportunity to closely interact with the Department of English's amazing faculty. As an undergraduate, these professors were my heroes (they still are!), and then suddenly, I was able to sit next to them in department meetings, like a kid who comes of age watching the Red Sox, and then one day being drafted and hitting a home run over the Green Monster. One of these "heroes" was Bill Boerst, a fellow ENGL100 instructor and former Peace Corps Volunteer (Liberia III, 1963-65).
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Bill and I started talking about doing a project with our university students about a year ago. Just this Spring Festival, the idea took shape and BAM!, before we knew it, 15 of his students and 15 of mine were communicating through e-mail, sharing stories, asking questions, and most importantly, improving their English-language/writing skills. The SUNY Fredonia Campus Report did a story on it: (click or below)
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English Composition class connects students with Chinese counterparts
Monday, April 06, 2009

Fourteen students in an English Composition class at SUNY Fredonia have stumbled upon an opportunity to not only interact with students seated across the classroom — they're getting to know some from across globe as well.

Phil Razem, a former SUNY Fredonia graduate student now teaching English to college students in the People’s Republic of China, enjoyed sharing his experiences with friends and family back home in Western New York so much that he decided to find a way to incorporate it into his classroom.

While corresponding with SUNY Fredonia English professor Bill Boerst, they decided to create a similar experience for their students by developing a modern day pen pal element to one of their courses. Their students have volunteered to become "e-mail pals," corresponding regularly with each other to learn about one another's lives and cultures. So far, indications show that both sides are truly enjoying and benefiting from the experience.

Melissa Cummiskey, a freshman at SUNY Fredonia, said of her exchange, "I really enjoy learning about my e-mail pal's college experiences, family, friends, and the events that are happening in her life."

"America, to many Chinese (citizens), remains a place that only exists in their history books and through Hollywood movies," said Professor Razem. "This experience will help them gain a better understanding of our country and, likewise, help young Americans gain a better understanding of the future of China."

By the end of the semester, Fredonia students will hand-in what Professor Boerst calls "cycles" of emails: five printed pages each of e-mails from the U.S. students to their Chinese counterparts, as well as return correspondences from their e-mail pal.

"The opportunity to chat with a real American is worth a lifetime of 'A's,' Razem asserted. Not only are the students learning about the other culture, there are some practical English lessons in it as well. One of those is the concept of understanding one's audience. "English teachers love to talk in terms of audience," Professor Boerst said. "For whom are you writing? And how can you best reach that audience?" He says that, for these students, an audience is built into the project.

Both professors hope that this exchange will be a lesson not easily forgotten. These days it is common to make light of texting, instant-messaging, and e-mailing, as if such pursuits lack depth," Boerst added. "For these students, bridging miles and languages and customs may be a way to change that popular perception."

To learn more about Professor Razem's experiences in China go to the blog at www.philiprazeminchina.blogspot.com.
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I can't wait to read these "cycles" of e-mails! "Professor" Razem sounds nice too....it only it was true! Someday...
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Tearin' down the wall and buildin' the bridge!
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Bill deserves all the credit; it was his idea, and without his students' participation, 15 Chinese university students would still only have Hollywood...and their lowly Peace Corps Volunteer teacher (wink). Thanks Bill! And Thank you SUNY Fredonia!
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I love and miss you all,
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Phil
蓝麦飞

This just in: Another public CCP message on Southwest University's campus...

你们好!
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The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is not earning points with this 老外(laowai, foreigner) with its blocking of Youtube (Update: no update - it's still blocked. Chinese [students] who desire the outside world are the victims) last week - not that it had earned many in the past with creating an education system in which my students constantly tell me they are "powerless" and feel ignored by those of power. This from a country's government that (secretely, but every now-and-then, deafeningly) claims its political and social ideologies are far superior to those of the West (see the new best-seller in China: 中国不高兴 Zhongguo bugaoxing "Unhappy China" for some interesting [jingoistic] opinions). A (powerless) foreign teacher who only stays in China for his (self-identified "powerless") students can't help but feel a little down when his students need to eat so much bitter - and worse, some don't even know that bitter is the only dish on the menu.
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Speaking of power and ideologies, I noticed a new sign around campus and snapped a picture. I translated one of these suspicious-looking signs in a previous blog entry from January, and since I am in a Chinese-language kick in preparation for my final Chinese-language exam at the end of this month, I decided to translate this one too. Let's take a look:

在新的发展阶段继续全面建设小康社会,发展中国特色社会主义,必须坚持以邓小平理论和“三个代表”重要思想为指导,深入贯彻落实料学发展欢.

zài xīn de fāzhǎnjiēduàn jìxù quánmiànjiànshèxiǎokāngshèhuì fāzhǎnzhōngguó tèsè shèhuìzhǔyì bìxū jiānchí yǐ dèngxiǎopínglǐlún hé "sāngedàibiǎo" zhòngyàosīxiǎng wéi zhǐdǎo shēnrù guànchè luòshí liào xué fāzhǎn huān

Translation (approximately):

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At this new stage of development, we must continue to construct an affluent society and develop China's unique socialism by firmly upholding Deng Xiaoping Theory and "The Three Represents,"* placing special importance on direction, guidance, and persistence in order to achieve harmonious material development.

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* socio-political ideology credited to General Secretary Jiang Zemin which became a guiding ideology of the CCP at its 16th Party Congress in 2002. The official statement of the ideology stipulates that the Communist Party of China should be representative to advanced social productive forces, advanced culture, and the interests of the overwhelming majority. The ideology is important that it attempted to transform the Communist Party to become a ruling party representing the majority of the people as opposed to its old image of a vanguard revolutionary party driven by the proletariat. To a certain degree it legitimized the inclusion of members of the business class, i.e. capitalists, into the party. It has been criticized as a political legacy project by leader Jiang Zemin with no practical application, with the main purpose being to equate him with former leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, who each had their ideological vision enshrined in the party constitution. (wikipedia)

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The sign blazons its message louder than any other permanent signs on campus, and like the previously mentioned sign, it acts as a simple reminder of what to believe. Orwellian? perhaps. It sure doesn't feel like an advertisement...

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I love and miss you all,

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Phil

蓝麦飞

April Fools! and integration...

你们好!
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It's April Fools' Day (愚人节 yúrénjie - literally "fools' festival"), and surprisingly, my students only mildly attempted to trick me. I strolled into my 8am class and they all giggled, so I was braced for a mutiny, but then it never came...or at least I think it never came! I did get a few text messages today from fellow foreign teachers that "Oh my gosh! Obama was shot in London!" (not funny) and a few from students who wanted me to go to a specific athletic field at a specific time because they claimed that it was haunted and needed me to "hunt ghosts" with them (funny).


I just finished reading "The Unheard" by Josh Swiller, a hearing-impaired Peace Corps Volunteer's memoir of his service in Africa during the mid-1990's. It was a great read, and since the only other real PC memoirs I have read were written by PC China's [infamous] Peter Hessler, this perspective was a breath of fresh air, full of honesty, insight, and humor that made Pete's first two years in China (no offense, Pete!) seem...well, prude.
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But the defining difference between PC China and PC Africa is that of "integration" - a word that is repeated to PC volunteers all over the world as if it was the only word that mattered in a Chinese-style English pronunciation class. Integrate Integrate Integrate! In Africa, it seems like volunteers are placed in villages where they can have direct contact with (a smaller number of) villagers, work with them directly, help and plan with them directly. In China, PCVs are little fish in a ocean stocked with billions of curious eyes, and if we do not create little microcosms of China, we never really learn who anyone really is! So whenever I "integrate" in a new way, it's worth mentioning. The latest success (if you are a past/present PC China Volunteer and you are reading this, please don't laugh!) is my mastering of QQ. (Okay, stop laughing so I can continue...)

QQ is to China what AIM is to America - a chatting service that allows people to, well, chat. However, in America, I would guess that only Gen. X and Yer's have/had AIM, but in China, it seems like everyone has it, from high schoolers to Chinese who felt the wrath of Mao before his death in '76. Whenever I receive a business card from a colleague, it have his/her QQ number directly under their telephone number, sometimes ahead of their e-mail address. To have a QQ number (not a username) is to be a part of something bigger...

I have had QQ for about 2 weeks now and already I have 87 friends (Okay, stop laughing!). About 95% of them are my students who send me English-language questions, questions about culture, books, movies, or current events, or most importantly, need advice about life and it endlessly complicated mysteries! Since many of them still feel nervous calling me, and texting can be time consuming, QQ provides a quick window into my world/mind. In addition, I post a "weekly topic" to consider, this week's: YouTube.com has been blocked by the CCP for several days now. Is "stability" more important than personal freedom [of expression] in China? Your opinion?
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Some students have already answered, and, well, it doesn't look like the CCP really understands the next generation of "Communists." I have optimism...
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...and pessimism. This is truly scary -- read the comments that follow the story.
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It sounds funny, but if you are a PCV in China, I recommend diving into the world of QQ. You will learn so much more about your students' lives and [real] opinions....

And if you do have QQ, and you want my number, shoot me an e-mail: philiprazem@gmail.com
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I love and miss you all,
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Phil
蓝麦飞