I have had some trouble accessing blogger.com, but now I'm finally here to tell about the culture week performance! Among the 12 programs in the show I was the opening one. My song "I Love You China" was supposed to set the theme; students performing Chinese cultural programs. I am very happy with my performance, it went well and the audience seemed pleased. I was wearing my new red qipao, and I had two background dancers from Georgia, two girls I know from class and my old dorm.
The other programs were performed by students from all over the world. There were singing, dancing, skits, Chinese traditional instruments etc. What was interesting was a skit about the Beijing Olympics 2008 that the Chinese loved. I wonder how long China will praise that event, we are reminded about it every day; commercial on television, logos all over the city and now as a play in school.
After all the performances we were called up to the stage. The headmaster and officials from the school management handed out certificates to some performers. My name was called last, and I received the "最高艺术奖", the "highest skill award", or as google translate would put it; "top art prize". It is a beautiful certificate, a silk-covered red book with the certificate on the inside describing the award. I am very honoured, this is a wonderful item to bring back home as a memory of my participation.
Now it is back to studying, next Friday is the last day of class and then the exams start. These are the final exams here in China, so I really want to perform well. On the 8th of July there will be some sort of "graduation" ceremony where we will receive our results and certificates.
7 June 2011
31 May 2011
The Culture Week has begun
Yesterday was the first day of the culture week and the opening show was a program of traditional Chinese performances. It was Beijing opera, acrobatics etc., and it was, as always, amazing to watch. I was nervous throughout the whole show, maybe the the guy who did a handstand on top of five chairs might fall or maybe the girl who balanced a giant urn with a man inside on her feet might collapse from the weight.
The pictures from my mobile camera are not that great but you will at least get a feeling of the performance. It was a great opening ceremony and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week!
25 May 2011
Qipao Hunting
Suddenly it's all about the Culture Week performance and all the teachers are very enthusiastic. They asked me what I was planning on wearing, and I said that it was up to them to decide what was appropriate. Half of them thought a long dress would look nice, while the other half considered a qipao to be the only appropriate outfit for that song.
A qipao is the traditional Chinese dress that women wear at special occasions. I already have two back home, one that I purchased for my participation in the Chinese Bridge competition in 2009, and one I got in February this year when I sang the same song (I Love You China) at a Chinese Spring Festival celebration in Stockholm. None of them are really fitting or well-cut so I didn't bother to bring them with me to China. I have been planning on tailor making one here instead. The problem is that I haven't found any reasonable tailor, they are all extremely "touristy", the fabrics are of no good quality and the prices are ridiculous.
Anyway, today after trying on 57 different dresses (all extremely hideous) the teachers agreed that a qipao would look much better. It is only about a week until the performance and I told the teachers that I need to tailor make one if it should be worth buying one. "Okay, go to the tailor at campus" they said. I tried to inform them that I already had and that the tailor wanted 650 yuan (ca 650 SEK ca 100 USD) and I was not willing to pay that much for the fabrics he had. "No, you have to go to Mr. Lu at the West gate!" the teachers replied. I was very sceptic. However, I did as the teachers said and started walking to the opposite end of campus. There is only a fruit store there and then the gate, so I thought I would have seen it before. But behind the fruit store in a little room without windows sat Mr. Lu among half-finished garments, fabrics and sewing cotton.
Ten minutes after I entered the store Mr. Lu had taken my measurements, I had picked a fabric and told him what type of qipao I wanted. I could see a few samples of his work and the qipao:s were beautiful. Outside the door he had hung pictures of previous customers in their tailored garments, the pictures on the top were in black and white, which indicates that he has probably had his shop for many many years. The price came to 380 yuan, which seemed much more reasonable. I paid half of it and will return on Friday to try the dress. Within three days Mr. Lu finishes any garment ordered. I love you, China.
A qipao is the traditional Chinese dress that women wear at special occasions. I already have two back home, one that I purchased for my participation in the Chinese Bridge competition in 2009, and one I got in February this year when I sang the same song (I Love You China) at a Chinese Spring Festival celebration in Stockholm. None of them are really fitting or well-cut so I didn't bother to bring them with me to China. I have been planning on tailor making one here instead. The problem is that I haven't found any reasonable tailor, they are all extremely "touristy", the fabrics are of no good quality and the prices are ridiculous.
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| Qipao |
Anyway, today after trying on 57 different dresses (all extremely hideous) the teachers agreed that a qipao would look much better. It is only about a week until the performance and I told the teachers that I need to tailor make one if it should be worth buying one. "Okay, go to the tailor at campus" they said. I tried to inform them that I already had and that the tailor wanted 650 yuan (ca 650 SEK ca 100 USD) and I was not willing to pay that much for the fabrics he had. "No, you have to go to Mr. Lu at the West gate!" the teachers replied. I was very sceptic. However, I did as the teachers said and started walking to the opposite end of campus. There is only a fruit store there and then the gate, so I thought I would have seen it before. But behind the fruit store in a little room without windows sat Mr. Lu among half-finished garments, fabrics and sewing cotton.
Ten minutes after I entered the store Mr. Lu had taken my measurements, I had picked a fabric and told him what type of qipao I wanted. I could see a few samples of his work and the qipao:s were beautiful. Outside the door he had hung pictures of previous customers in their tailored garments, the pictures on the top were in black and white, which indicates that he has probably had his shop for many many years. The price came to 380 yuan, which seemed much more reasonable. I paid half of it and will return on Friday to try the dress. Within three days Mr. Lu finishes any garment ordered. I love you, China.
23 May 2011
文化周 - Culture Week
The first week in June our school hosts a "Culture Week", a week where both Chinese and foreign students and some other Chinese performers show, perform and experience Chinese culture. There will be performances, exhibitions etc. My participation in the Culture Week is singing in the final show.
Every class had to present one performance of some sort for the Culture Week. Last Thursday the teachers held an audition for all the performances and chose twelve for the final show. My performance was one of them. I am going to sing "我爱你中国", "I Love You China", a famous Chinese folk song. Today was the first rehearsal in the university auditorium where the final show is held. I am the first performance in the program and I hope I will make a good start!
Every class had to present one performance of some sort for the Culture Week. Last Thursday the teachers held an audition for all the performances and chose twelve for the final show. My performance was one of them. I am going to sing "我爱你中国", "I Love You China", a famous Chinese folk song. Today was the first rehearsal in the university auditorium where the final show is held. I am the first performance in the program and I hope I will make a good start!
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| The Auditorium |
7 May 2011
Debate and Mid-terms
Yesterday in class we were all fully prepared for our first debate. Our Laoshi had told us the structure, there were two groups debating and one observing. Every group chose a leader who started every argument topic. I was elected leader of the observation/commenting team, and that apparently made me the debate leader. I had to start the debate, control the time and comment on the arguments. It is a pretty cool feeling to lead a debate in Chinese when you see the teams divided in the room arguing and opposing. I learned a lot of new words thanks to this hour-long debate and it definitely improved my talking skills speaking in front of a large group.
Also I realized I haven't written anything about my mid-term exams. This time I had four of them, and I got over 92% on all of them. Best was the listening comprehension result, believe it or not, with 97/100. I'm very happy with that and can only hope that I will perform that good on my finals in June as well.
Also I realized I haven't written anything about my mid-term exams. This time I had four of them, and I got over 92% on all of them. Best was the listening comprehension result, believe it or not, with 97/100. I'm very happy with that and can only hope that I will perform that good on my finals in June as well.
18 April 2011
Xi'an
好久不见！
A couple of weeks ago Robin and I visited Xi'an, the city where the famous Terracotta Army is located. It is a very old city with more than 3000 years of history. Before the Ming dynasty the city was called Chang'an (the long peace) and was previously one of China's capital cities.
The biggest tourist attraction in Xi'an is obviously the terracotta army, which is located about one hour from the city. We took a bus straight from the train station to the terracotta army for 7 yuan = 7 kr = 1 dollar. It is an amazing experience to stand before the massive figures facing you. Today the figures have a brown/grey colour, but 2000 years ago they were all painted in bright colours. We were told some of the warriors still had fragments of paint on them, but we never got to see that. It is impossible to describe the layouts of the pits (there are three of them), so just scroll down and look at the pictures!
Besides visiting the terracotta army, we also watched a famous fountain show and biked around the whole city on the city wall, which was build in the 14th century. At 8 am we rented two bikes and started biking, and about two hours later we had completed the tour.
A couple of weeks ago Robin and I visited Xi'an, the city where the famous Terracotta Army is located. It is a very old city with more than 3000 years of history. Before the Ming dynasty the city was called Chang'an (the long peace) and was previously one of China's capital cities.
The biggest tourist attraction in Xi'an is obviously the terracotta army, which is located about one hour from the city. We took a bus straight from the train station to the terracotta army for 7 yuan = 7 kr = 1 dollar. It is an amazing experience to stand before the massive figures facing you. Today the figures have a brown/grey colour, but 2000 years ago they were all painted in bright colours. We were told some of the warriors still had fragments of paint on them, but we never got to see that. It is impossible to describe the layouts of the pits (there are three of them), so just scroll down and look at the pictures!
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| Terracotta Amry Pit 1 |
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| Close-up of "The Kneeling Archer" |
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| Me on the City Wall |
28 March 2011
Chinese people
Chinese people are interesting. They are outstanding at everything that has to do with their own culture, for example if you start humming a Chinese folk song every Chinese person present starts to sing with you, no matter what song it is, because they know all of them.
The Beijing I live in is very two-sided. Sometimes I walk around in hutongs (small narrow alleys) and chat with real Beijingers and eat street food, and sometimes I eat pizza with my Western friends at the pizza place in Wudaokou, the centre close to our school. Beijing is becoming a modern multi-million city with skyscrapers, international business and luxury stores. However, the common Beijing workers still live in their hutongs, drive their flatbed mopeds and shop at the outdoor markets, and that's the way they want to keep it.
Still, the young generation has more and more access to Western culture with music, tv, internet etc. New Western restaurants are frequently opened and especially around Wudaokou where several universities are located. Last Sunday Robin and I decided to indulge ourselves breakfast at an American restaurant. Usually my breakfast consists of cereal or jian bing, an egg pancake with spices that street vendors cook on the back of their bikes. Anyway, at the restaurant there were several Chinese couples ordering food, and they ordered omelettes, steak, pasta and they shared all the dishes. The Chinese way of eating is to order several smaller dishes to share, and so the Chinese eat Western food that way too. If you would see it, you would realize how strange it looks when a couple split a steak with mashed potatoes, a seafood pasta and a ham and cheese omelette, and all they use is one fork each.
Chinese people at the gym are also an interesting sight. The majority are not wearing sport shoes, and the treadmill is only used for walking. When you think about Chinese sports and training you think about Kung fu, Tai chi (Taiji) and Qigong. It is common to see Chinese people training in parks, they do different types of simple exercises. At many places there are small outdoor gyms, with some tools and easy machines that the Chinese earnestly use. At the school gym however, I sometimes wonder how much physical training they really get. Every time I'm there I see some guy using the machines completely wrong, definitely without effect.
Most Western articles are still quite new in China, but the more the Chinese are exposed to it the more they learn, especially from contact with Westerners. However, this makes me quite sad. Of course I want China to be open to the outer world and for us to be able to get to know Chinese people, but I'm afraid that it might be too much Western. I'm here to learn about China and the Chinese culture, not for China to become what I have back home. Globalisation makes it easier for us to explore other countries, but it also makes us all more the same. I want China to preserve their own culture and old ways of cooking food, play music and live in hutongs. That is what is so unique about China; the amazing ancient culture.
The Beijing I live in is very two-sided. Sometimes I walk around in hutongs (small narrow alleys) and chat with real Beijingers and eat street food, and sometimes I eat pizza with my Western friends at the pizza place in Wudaokou, the centre close to our school. Beijing is becoming a modern multi-million city with skyscrapers, international business and luxury stores. However, the common Beijing workers still live in their hutongs, drive their flatbed mopeds and shop at the outdoor markets, and that's the way they want to keep it.
Still, the young generation has more and more access to Western culture with music, tv, internet etc. New Western restaurants are frequently opened and especially around Wudaokou where several universities are located. Last Sunday Robin and I decided to indulge ourselves breakfast at an American restaurant. Usually my breakfast consists of cereal or jian bing, an egg pancake with spices that street vendors cook on the back of their bikes. Anyway, at the restaurant there were several Chinese couples ordering food, and they ordered omelettes, steak, pasta and they shared all the dishes. The Chinese way of eating is to order several smaller dishes to share, and so the Chinese eat Western food that way too. If you would see it, you would realize how strange it looks when a couple split a steak with mashed potatoes, a seafood pasta and a ham and cheese omelette, and all they use is one fork each.
Chinese people at the gym are also an interesting sight. The majority are not wearing sport shoes, and the treadmill is only used for walking. When you think about Chinese sports and training you think about Kung fu, Tai chi (Taiji) and Qigong. It is common to see Chinese people training in parks, they do different types of simple exercises. At many places there are small outdoor gyms, with some tools and easy machines that the Chinese earnestly use. At the school gym however, I sometimes wonder how much physical training they really get. Every time I'm there I see some guy using the machines completely wrong, definitely without effect.
Most Western articles are still quite new in China, but the more the Chinese are exposed to it the more they learn, especially from contact with Westerners. However, this makes me quite sad. Of course I want China to be open to the outer world and for us to be able to get to know Chinese people, but I'm afraid that it might be too much Western. I'm here to learn about China and the Chinese culture, not for China to become what I have back home. Globalisation makes it easier for us to explore other countries, but it also makes us all more the same. I want China to preserve their own culture and old ways of cooking food, play music and live in hutongs. That is what is so unique about China; the amazing ancient culture.
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