西安, and inspired thoughts

Because this past weekend was midterm weekend, DSICP gave everyone the option of going to Xi'an, Shanxi, or a Shaolin temple for a long 旅行 (sorry, I'm too tired to think of the English translation at the moment). I, like 90% of the students, chose Xi'an, despite Zhao Laoshi's insistence that it has nothing interesting besides the Terra Cotta Soldiers. In retrospect, he was largely correct, but I had a good time nonetheless.

First things first: the train ride to and from Xi'an was pretty awesome. It was a 13.5 hour ride, so our car had 硬卧 (hard beds) to sleep on. All the rooms were connected by a narrow hallway, where a lot of people hung out, drank, or just talked. We departed pretty late on Friday night, so after watching Il Mare with Eileen and Sunny, I pretty much knocked out and did not wake up until late the next morning, when the laoshis began taking pictures of me with my panda doll. (So not cool.) The train ride back was a little more eventful. First, I did some magic for my friends and ended up teaching them a simple trick, which they have yet to master. Then we played Texas Hold'em for jelly candies, and I won by a fluke. Afterwards, my friend and I tried checking out car #8, which was supposed to be a restaurant, but we found out that they had absolutely no food left. Most unfortunate. Since we had nothing else to do, Sunny, Eileen, and I ended up watching Taegukki, a very sad but excellently made movie about the Korean war. Then I slept, of course. I haven't taken a sleeper train since my trip to the UK in tenth grade, so this was definitely an interesting experience.

Now, on to Xi'an itself. The hotel we stayed at, besides being remarkably close to the train station, completely exceeded my expectations in terms of quality and service. The buffet style restaurant on the fourth floor had both Chinese and American food, in addition to... wait for it... fresh fruit! Our rooms were enormous, and the bathrooms had real shower stalls, though the towels' drying ability left something to be desired. We also got free (fast) internet service; unfortunately, I couldn't find the time to upload my photos, so that'll have to wait until my next trip to Yolanda. After arriving, eating at the restaurant, and freshening up, the group went out to visit a few tourist attractions, including the ancient city wall, Big Wild Goose Pagoda (or something like that), a terra cotta factory where we got to make (but not keep) our own miniature terra cotta soldiers, a huge Muslim temple, and a specialty jiaozi restaurant with seventeen different kinds of jiaozi and a Tang Dynasty theater show. That night, a bunch of people went out to visit the night market or check out Xi'an's nightlife, but my roommate and I just slept. I know, sort of lame, but sometimes it just happens.

The next day was the main event. We went to the 兵马俑 (Terra Cotta Soldiers) site and spent several hours visiting the various pits while listening to the tour guide explain the history and significance of the discovery. It's one thing to learn about the terra cotta soldiers in history class, and another thing entirely to see them in person. It still blows my mind how the ancient Chinese had the technology or the patience to create so many statues with such detail. It's a feeling that can't really be described with words, I suppose. I wish we could have spent more time looking at the figures and checking out the various exhibits, but there's only so much you can do in a weekend. After 兵马俑, we visited a cave house, which was not at all like the primitive dwellings depicted in dinosaur movies. The actual cave part of the house consisted of a bed, a small TV, and limited furniture inside a half-cylinder shaped room carved into the earth. To be honest, it looked rather cozy. Could I actually live in such a place? Who knows.

One thing I noticed about Xi'an is that the number of beggars seems to be much higher, particularly in proportion to the population. In addition, many of the beggars are crippled, some to the point that I can't imagine how they get by with even just everyday life. For example, at the ancient city wall, I saw a man missing his right arm and right leg, with just an old wooden cane for support. This in itself took my breath away, but afterwards I saw that he had only collected enough donation money to carry in one hand, and that most people didn't even give him a second glance as they passed by. If China's socialism couldn't address the existence of such huge disparities between the quality of life for the rich and for the poor, what happens to the disadvantaged now that China is becoming more and more capitalistic?

On the other hand, as I go about living in China, as it were, I often catch myself feeling sorry for the Chinese people that I encounter on a day-to-day basis, simply because they don't make as much money as I do, and therefore can't afford to buy as any luxury products. This is incredibly arrogant on my part. Who am I to assume that because they can't afford luxuries, their lives are not happy? Sometimes I feel like this is a consequence of me not being able to really connect with them, which is easily possible given my relatively nice living conditions and painfully artificial Chinese language environment. I would love to be able to spend time living among common Chinese people, learning how they live, what they live for, and whether they're really all that different from me after all. Unfortunately, I realize that I won't have this kind of opportunity this summer, which is why I've seriously started to consider coming back to China in the future, or maybe even after I graduate.

Which brings me to my last point of interest. Having already spoken to several people who came to China after college, including an investment banker, a pastor, and, today, the CEO of McDonalds in China, I'm starting to realize that the opportunities for a foreigner looking for short-, medium-, or even long-term work in China are growing exponentially by the day. This may just be a fleeting fantasy, but seeing as how I'm aiming to earn a technical degree at Yale anyway (astronomy and physics, to be specific), I might come here to work at a company that needs people with critical thinking and problem solving skills for however long seems appropriate, and then return to America to continue on the traditional researcher route.

But for now, I should stop fantasizing and study for tomorrow's quiz. Thus, after a long and fruitful weekend, I sign off until the inevitable Xi'an photo post. Bye bye!

Edit
Ah yes, I forgot to mention one thing. On the train ride to Xi'an, my panda doll disappeared, which made me quite sad. On the ride back, I happened to find it on someone else's bed (most serendipitous, I'd say) and thus rather happily went to sleep, reunited with my friend. When I woke up though, it had disappeared once again, this time leaving a disheartening note describing the reasons for its departure. I hope it comes back before I leave China.

(Sunny, if you're reading this, I hope you know that you've unofficially declared war. Be forewarned.)