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Sarah in Shanghai
Since arriving in Shanghai last September I have been self indulgently sending long emails to my friends about life here. It's such a fascinating fast changing place, as people who have accompanied us on our International Working Group Study Tours have found out for themselves.
I came at two weeks notice to fill an unexpected vacancy at Yew Chung International School, which is one of a 'chain' with its headquarters in Hong Kong. We follow the English National Curriculum and years 12 and 13 do the IB. Our students are from all over the world, though the majority are from SE Asia (mainly Koreans, Japanese and the children of overseas Chinese). Chinese citizens may not attend an international school.
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The students are a delight to teach and we are in awe of how they cope with learning in what is for most of them their second or third language. So I am back with Waugh et al. because their books suit our students. Asian students are not accustomed to enquiry based learning so it has been a challenge to find ways to teach to lead them gently into it. It's interesting to work with staff from all parts of the English speaking world, with their different teaching styles and attitudes. Most of them are amazed at what is expected of teachers in England.
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The school has provided me with a pleasant furnished flat with a fitted kitchen (including 2 gas rings, a microwave and lots of choppers), a washing machine (cold water only as is the norm here), 2 TV sets (cable) and a DVD player. I did add a few items from IKEA. Receiving BBC TV or radio is not permitted officially- my colleagues have access to many satellite channels but I have only CNN. I get my news over the internet, at least the topics that are not 'blocked'. 'Golden Elephant Apartments' is low rise, only 8 stories high.
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Gubei has many ex-pat residents, mainly from Korea and Japan, so there are many little grocers and cafes around for them (as well as Starbucks and McDonalds). There is also a huge Carrefour, with Chinese, other Asian and western goods. I can get almost everything there I can get at home, though the wine is more expensive and almost everything else (including Gordon's gin) cheaper. Shanghai now has a huge ex-pat population from all over, so it's very easy to live here and eating out is cheap so we do it a lot.
I have an ayi (maid) who works 6 hours a week for about £27 a month! She is a migrant worker, of which there are now millions in Shanghai. She cooks for me, local food which is usually delicious but very often fatty (especially bone soup, a regular feature). I have to put away all my clothes before she comes or they will go into the cold washing machine with fluffy bathmats or whatever.
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In all sorts of ways the Chinese approach life differently and this takes some getting used to. Lots of funny stories here, in retrospect. Here's one - to work in Shanghai you must first have a thorough medical, and the report said I had a fatty liver with lumps. I did not want to share this upsetting information with people I had just met (or my husband in UK). When I finally got up enough courage to consult a doctor about this (several weeks later) I found out that they say this to all the westerners because they disapprove of our eating and (particularly) our drinking habits! Queuing is an alien concept, especially for taxis.
Despite everything, I love it here. I feel appreciated when my tax advice slip for the end of the financial year says 'Thank you for contributing to China's flourishing and prosperity'.
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I went with a school party to Lijiang in the mountains of NW Yunnan. The school has a policy of offering every child an educational trip in the last week of Feb while years 11 and 13 do their mocks. Some go as far as Tanzania or California, but the majority go somewhere in China. 31 year 10 students and four teachers (an Aussie in charge, a Canadian, a Chinese and me, the oldest by 25 years at least) flew to SW China to one of the most beautiful areas in the world. Our students of many nationalities were fantastically well behaved, we didn't even have to patrol the hotel at night.
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We stayed in Lijiang (UNESCO World Heritage Site, visited on the GA Study Tour 2001) in the old town in a hotel built in the traditional style, and, being Chinese, with a tea shop but no bar. A third of the old town's buildings fell in the earthquake of 1996 but have been rebuilt in the old style. Since the GA tour nearly seven years ago the prosperity of the area has increased visibly - and the 'old' town has expanded. The total population of the old and new towns is 200,000 and last year there were five million tourists, 90% of them Chinese. In the low tourist season the place was beautiful. The local Naxi people still wear their blue and white traditional costume and farmers' wives and daughters dance in the restaurants in the evening. I would not like to be there from March to November.
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Our students visited an old peoples' home – a new development in China where traditionally the families look after their older relatives. Naxi elders with no relatives are keen to come to the modern home where they are accommodated in smart double rooms with shared sitting room and washrooms (with a shower and western style loo). They get few visitors and were keen to show our students where they lived. Our kids were supposed to do jobs for them like cleaning but there was no need. They all wear their traditional Naxi clothes.
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We went up to the Yak Meadow, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. To try to preserve the area numbers of tourists are now limited (a relative term) and you have to get a bus run by the local authority from a bus station part way up the slope. We made the last part of the ascent by the same cable car that we used in 2001 but the scenery at the top was different as it was covered in snow and the tourist stalls were closed.
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I spent my birthday in the most idyllic guest house (centre of pic above) at an altitude of 2345m on the mountain side above Tiger Leaping Gorge in the upper reaches of the Yangtze. The teachers were OK with simple en suite accommodation and electric blankets, the kids were in 1960s style Youth Hostel dormitories with no heating and a partly screened trough for a loo! Good character forming stuff. We trekked up and down. The path was scary at times but the worst bit was the drive along the road beyond Tiger Leaping Gorge main tourist area.
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To make matters worse our coach was stopped on a ledge by 3 local microbuses. Local drivers believe that they should control transport in the area. Our guides got out to negotiate with the 6 drivers who wanted all our passengers to get out and take their busses. Our wonderful guides negotiated for about 20 minutes and eventually paid the locals off (100 RMB, under £7, reduced from the original demand of 900 RMB). There is no point in calling the police in such areas. We had not included that in our risk assessment!
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| Beijing and Shanghai - March/April 2008 |
This semester has been so hectic, and unlike schools in UK and other international schools here, we haven't had an Easter holiday, except Good Friday. For those precious 3 days holiday I went to Beijing, stayed in a beautiful courtyard hotel (Bamboo Garden) in the hutong (old lanes) area. Some colleagues were in the same hotel but I explored alone, except for much of Friday which was spent with Geographer friend Bruce of Radio Beijing and guest 'guide' of GA tour fame. I introduced my colleagues to the 'Pass-By Bar' in the hutongs (long time haunt of Bruce, now in the Lonely Planet), which they loved. Beijing is more sophisticated than Shanghai, and cheaper!
On the advice of Janice Dickson (travel agent for the GA Study Tours) and Bruce I went to the new 798 Art District out near the airport, a huge area of old (armaments?) factories where the space is being imaginatively converted to display art, along with bars/cafes. There are some newish arty areas in Shanghai in warehouses or old houses, but not so chic or extensive.
I tried to look at the Olympic buildings but they are still fenced off. There is still a lot to do, but they had cleared even more areas than when the GA group were there last July. Almost everything else of tourist interest in the city is screened off with green netting as it is being 'done up'. If anything goes wrong with the games it will be awful for the residents of Beijing who are putting up with so much and really looking forward to them. I hear that there are news reports in UK about all the problems here caused by the Olympic but there are a lot of good things too- some Beijingers and farmers round about have suffered but many will benefit from the income and the environmental improvements. It's a bit worrying that so many are relying on recouping their losses and traders making profits in such a short time.
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On the way home I called in to the new Beijing Airport Terminal 3 – impressive but a long trek to get there from the other terminals, including along the public motorway.
We are beset with propaganda about Tibet on the local media. Lots of sad stories about people killed or injured in the riots. Internet material concerning Tibet is blocked.
Shanghai is preparing for the Expo in 2010. Recently, the elevated highway entrance to the south end of the Bund (see image to right) was demolished as they are going to build a tunnel for the traffic below the existing road.
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A historic metal bridge the other end of the Bund has also been removed for renovation, but it will return within a year. Hundreds of homes have been cleared in the stretch of riverside where amazing new buildings will arise in less than 2 years. The residents have probably got much better flats now, but not necessarily where they want them! In Shanghai you never know whether a landmark (or a bar) will be there next time you arrive.
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| The Bund with elevated highway now demolished |
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| The Earthquake - a view from Shanghai |
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Sichuan in China on Monday 12 May 2008 at approximately 14:28 local time.
We are 2192 km away from the epicentre yet the quake was felt by those in tall blocks, which were evacuated as a precaution. There are an estimated 8m migrant workers from Sichuan in other parts of China, many of them in Shanghai. City governments have been told to locate and help them, and in some cities they have been given leave to return home. But now the authorities are saying they should not return to the worst hit areas as it increases the number moving around and needing aid.
Shanghai prisons have launched a programme to help inmates from the stricken areas to contact loved ones and to receive psychological help. In Shanghai companies, local people and expats have been collecting money, giving blood, attending benefit concerts and other fund raising events. Firefighters, medical teams, engineers, food and equipment have been sent to the worst hit areas. We can make contributions to the Red Cross through school (tax deductable).
The picture of China that has been shown to the world in the past week is so different from what many people in the west have previously imagined. It also indicates how the government has changed its attitude to domestic and foreign media coverage. About a month ago several websites, including BBC News were 'unblocked', so now my sources of information are much the same as yours!
The 2,000 year old Dujiangyan irrigation system, the world's oldest (and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) sustained minor damage. The GA Study Tours visited Chengdu and Dujiangyan in 2000 and 2001. The Ministry of Water Resources organised the safe discharge of the reservoir's rising waters so that there was no threat to Dujianyan City and the Chengdu Plain. However, other dams may still pose a threat. The ancient project built in 256 BC was apparently designed to withstand earthquakes! Over 666,000 hectares of densely settled farmland are currently irrigated by the project. For more about this see ShanghaiDaily.com.
We had three minutes silence nationwide today. It must have been the biggest number of people holding a silence together at the same time ever. The whole school was out on the sports pitch, it was a very moving event. As there is public mourning for 3 days, all public entertainment due to take place has been postponed or cancelled - concerts, cinemas, theatre, karaoke, public video and audio broadcasts. Even the Olympic torch relay (including a student from my school) due this Tuesday and Wednesday has been postponed.
View the GA's Earthquake page.
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(updated 19.05.08) |
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