Vance's CALL resources page | esl_home index
Return to Papyrus News Archive Main Page

Papyrus News
China report 2

July 6, 2001: This message was distributed by Papyrus News. Feel free to forward this message to others, preferably with this introduction. For info on Papyrus News, including how to (un)subscribe or access archives, see <http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/papyrus-news.html>.

Another quick report on China before I leave for the airport. This note is being sent via Webmail--let's see if it gets through OK.

Beijing is booming with energy. Though I've never been here before, one can only imagaine the incredible growth and development that's gone on here the last 20 years. It's not quite "first world" yet, but doesn't have the feel of a third world city either. Perhaps something like a larger, more commercial version of Warsaw. Of course there are all the usual complications that come with rapid development--especially traffic jams and unbelievable pollution. At time, I felt I was in a nuclear war zone. (In fairness, though, the pollution is said to be worse in summer, and it may not be quite so bad in fall and spring).

The Chinese state is obsessed with getting the Olympic games, and the people are behind it as well, at least here in Beijing. They're hoping that, if the government gets the games, it will spend lots of money to clean up Beijing, which seems likely. This is the kind of situation in which central control comes in handy--it's a lot easier here for the government to make things happen quickly than in a place like Los Angeles.

A few more thoughts on Internet access. The types of control are interesting. From my hotel room (dialing up 169 in Beijing, similar to the 990 service in Nanjing), I could access MSNBC and salon.com, but not CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the LA Times. I guess the big name sites are blocked, but there's lots of holes, obviously. Earlier, I said that university students pay only 1 yuan (14 cents US) for Internet access, but that's apparently only for CHINESE sites. International sites are access on a pay-per-content basis (a few yuan per million bites, or something like that.) Another effective way of discouraging international communication.

One of the people who hosted us here, a recent PhD from Beijing Normal University, told us how he grew up in a small village (100 people) some 2000 km away. His village didn't have electricity until 1995, so he grew up without television, tape recorders, etc. Now he just received his PhD. There are apparently a lot of similar stories around. (In 3 years in Egypt, I never heard a similar story).

In short, though China is becoming more unequal at a rapid pace, it also still has a fair amount of social mobility, and that's one of its real strengths.

I spoke to another recent MA graduate who's soon leaving for a doctoral program at Columbia University. She received a score of 2360 on her GRE (Graduate Record Exam, out of a maximum possible of 2400). That's a phenomenal score for a native speake of English, much less a non-native speaker. Many Chinese are incredibly conscientious about studying, and have been known to memorize the dictionary in preparation for the GRE. This particularly woman of course is also brilliant (but she's aware of many people who scored higher). What an (unfair?) advantage it is for the US to be able to skim the cream of the crop of the most brilliant Chinese (and other international ) students for admission to graduate school in the US--especially since many end up becoming US professors.

We also went to the Great Wall (my wife joined me here in Beijing). A great experience, of course. It's quite hilly, at least the part we went to. (The whole thing is 40,000 km, so you may see a different part! :-)). A word of advice--come visit it early in the morning, at least if it's in summer; avoid the crowds and the heat.

A note on the G4 Titanium. I simply couldn't get it fixed in Beijing, and it appears that I won't be able to do so in New Delhi either. It's quite frustrating having a great machine that I can't see anything on, but if I hold it up to bright light I can make the screen out a little bit. (Another word of advice; travel with a small, powerful flashlight. It might be needed to help you read your laptop screen!)

I'd better catch my flight to New Delhi. More later, insha allah (an extremely useful and common Arabic expression meaning "God willing" or, in this case "I hope" :-))

Mark Warschauer



Use the navigator at the top of this page or your browser's BACK button to return to a previous page

For comments, suggestions, or further information on this site, contact Vance Stevens, webmaster. Regarding content of Papyrus-News, contact Mark Warschauer.

Last updated: July 7, 2001 in Hot Metal Pro 6.0