An Afternoon with a Balloon in Changsha

The other day I saw a balloon seller in Changsha, Hunan province.

One of his balloons caught my eye. After some negotiation I bought it, and we then had a brief chat. I was surprised to learn he is from Luoyang, Henan province, which is about 510 miles (820 km) away (map). And he was surprised to learn I had been there before. He asked if the balloon was for my kid. I told him I didn't have any kids, but I planned to give the balloon to someone else. He bid me farewell as his friend, and I did the same in return.

I didn't pay much attention to the balloon as I walked around Changsha that afternoon. However, I did notice other people paying attention to it, whether with a puzzled or humored expression. And in a few cases it opened up opportunities to meet new people like the man from Luoyang.

Towards the end of the day I stopped by a large convenience store that I have been frequenting during my time in Changsha. I always have at least a brief chat with the staff there so I know most of them. I asked a young male worker if he was dating anyone. He said he wasn't and asked if I could introduce him to an American woman. I told him I'd keep an eye out and advised him to start saving up for an engagement ring. He expressed confidence that would not be a problem.

I had planned to give the balloon to a kid on the street or whichever receptionist happened to be working at my hotel when I returned. But the shirt of a young worker who was cleaning some containers made me smile. So I decided to give her the balloon.

I think I found it a good home.

That balloon had led to several moments which may not have happened otherwise. I wasn't out to make any grand discoveries, although you never know what can happen. Just meeting a few more people was enough to make it a good investment.

Plus, it was a pretty nifty balloon.

Product Placement, Dyslexia, and Censorship

Now seems to be a good time to share a variety of links to stories that touch on subjects found in previous posts here. In no particular order...

1. Earlier this year I shared the story of a young man who traveled from his home in mainland China to Macau so he could purchase New Zealand baby formula. Due to past formula scandals in China, he and his family did not trust locally produced formula. If he could have purchased imports in mainland China from trustworthy sources at a reasonable price he would not have needed to make the journey to Macau. In addition to high tariffs, as Wang Shanshan reported on Caixin there is another reason for the inflated prices of imported formula (H/T C. Maoxian):

One reason is supermarkets force dealers to pay large commissions to put their products on shelves, Yao Wenhua, senior executive of a Beijing-based trade company, said. This has forced dealers to raise retail prices to make a profit.

Read the article here for more about the commissions and how they are driving grey market online sales of imported formula through sources such as Taobao.

2. I recently posted about China blocking The New York Times in reaction to a story about the wealth of Prime Minister of China Wen Jiabao's family. Similar to my comments last year about an example involving YouTube, Evan Osnos in The New Yorker mentions that the blocking is not only an issue of censorship:

China has now blocked two major American news organizations (Bloomberg has been blacked out for four months, after a similar story on the incoming President, Xi Jinping), without official explanation. They are large American businesses, with substantial financial investments associated with their operations in China. At a certain point, the United States Embassy will have to weigh in, which will only ratchet up the pressure.

See here for more from Osnos about the "fallout from Wen Jiaobao's family fortune".

3. In a non-China-related post I considered whether tennis player Andy Murray's dislike for reading could be connected to a cognitive deficit. I pointed out that having such a deficit would not necessarily prevent a person from being successful. Kate Rix on Open Culture shared an interview revealing how a long unidentified reading deficit not only did not prevent director Steven Spielberg from achieving success, it may have helped lead him to his passion:

What no one, including the DreamWorks co-founder himself, knew until recently is that all those 8 mm shorts were more than just a pastime. In a recent interview Spielberg revealed that he is dyslexic and that he was only diagnosed five years ago. “It explained a lot of things,” Spielberg told Quinn Bradlee. “It was like the last puzzle part in a tremendous mystery that I’ve kept to myself all these years."

Always two years behind the class in reading, Spielberg was teased by other kids in school. He dreaded having to read in front of the class. He never lacked for friends, though looking back on it several of his friends were probably also dyslexic.

“Even my own friends who were just like me, we didn’t have the skills to talk about it,” he recalled in the interview for Friends of Quinn, a site for people with learning differences. “I got bullied. I dealt with it by making movies. That was my cover up.”

See the post here to watch a video of the interview and read Rix's summary of it.

College Dormitories in China: Zhaotong Teacher's College

Before moving on to some broader dormitory-related issues, I want to share a look inside one more dorm room to provide a comparison with the previous examples from Dalian, Longzhou, and Changsha.

This male dorm room holds eight beds.

I visited it at the Zhaotong Teacher's College in Zhaotong, Yunnan province. Zhaotong is about 20 hours by car from either Changsha or Longzhou, but it is 227 miles (366 km) closer to Longzhou (map of the route from Longzhou to Zhaotong to Changsha).

Like the dorm examples from Dalian and Changsha, it did not have its own bathroom. A closer look at the photos will reveal signs of issues related to storage space, mosquitos, and so on. One feature of this room that I have seen in some others is its lack of desks. This can be one of the reasons why it is not uncommon to find students studying in college classrooms when they are not otherwise in use.

That's all for this dorm room. Again, I will touch on some broader issues soon. In the meantime, you may want to take a look at an example of a dorm room in Zhaotong at a less common type of school. It can be found amongst the photos in the post "Islam in China: Some Scenes from Zhaotong, Yunnan".

More Halloween in Changsha, China

On Sunday morning I posted about my Halloween weekend experiences in Changsha, Hunan province, which were minimal compared to my experiences during the same weekend last year in Taipei. But of course, Halloween day had yet to arrive. During the next few days I saw far more signs of the holiday around a popular central shopping district. To provide an example of American culture's growing impact even in China's interior regions, I will share some of what I saw.

Several shopping centers at or near the popular Huangxing Road Commercial Pedestrian Street were in the Halloween spirit. For example, the New World Department Store had some typical Halloween decorations.

The Fashion Time mall was spruced up for the holiday as well.

In addition to the decorations, the female staff wore eye masks.

And some of the staff in individual stores dressed in other styles.

Yesterday, one shopping center even had a Halloween Cosplay Party. During my few minutes there, I saw a couple of dance routines.

Although I saw no examples of kids trick-or-treating, I did see two kids dressed up.

Despite the fact they were not seeking candy, I felt guilty I had none to give them. Fortunately, they had no eggs.

Halloween night was rather busy at the clubs and bars near the pedestrian street. For those who did not come equipped, there were a number of people opportunistically selling Halloween supplies.

Of the people who dressed up, most seemed to be wearing the face masks or other items that could be purchased on the street. But not all...

Several of the larger clubs were decorated for the holiday and packed with people dancing and drinking. Although the staff typically wore costumes, most of the customers did not. None of the clubs I saw charged a cover fee (making it easy to take a quick look), and the song Gangnam Style was playing when I entered several of them.

Although many of the bars on a popular bar street were decorated for Halloween, the one I like to call "Kobe Bar" did not.

Instead, it appeared to be decorated for another holiday.

I don't know, ask Kobe.

Finally, although the above may provide a feeling that much of Changsha was in the Halloween spirit, it certainly didn't feel that way to me. Even around the pedestrian street many stores had no Halloween decorations. And farther away I did not notice a single sign of Halloween.

Or Christmas.

That's all. At least until next year, this likely concludes the Halloween theme. I likely won't be here to observe it, but I expect the Halloween spirit will be found in even more Changsha places next year.

A Smoking Break in Changsha

I could imagine that the previous post about the Middle-Earth-themed Air New Zealand flight safety video might have felt like a jolt for some readers given possible expectations for China-related topics here. It's likely to happen again (note the text in this blog's header), but if you're feeling a little disoriented and looking for something to rekindle the China mood, I'm happy to help.

Just four guys I saw today taking a break from their jobs at a shopping center in Changsha, Hunan province.

More non-hobbit-related topics soon.

Middle Earth Air Safety

I have done more than my fair share of being a passenger in commercial aircraft. I think it is safe to say that I have long ago stopped paying much attention to the pre-flight safety instructions.

Well, I just spent four minutes watching a new safety video produced by Air New Zealand and WETA Workshop. Not only did I pay close attention, but I am about to watch it again.

If you ever doubted that hobbits could fly, then watch this video:

Physical Education at Colleges in China

The above scene in front of the library at the Hunan First Normal University in Changsha, Hunan province, represents something I have seen many times at universities in China: students participating in "physical education" classes--though sometimes they seem to involve rather light activities. There has been growing concern in China about the physical fitness of its students. As China Radio International (CRI) reports on a recent attempt to address this issue:

A circular, recently published by China's State Council has proposed an assessment system for middle school students' physical health, including a compulsory PE exam for students being recruited to universities or colleges...

Recently, increasing study pressure has forced Chinese students to spend more time at their desks rather than on playgrounds. Obesity and poor nutrition are quite common, as described by Qu Guoyong, a middle school PE teacher at east China's Shandong Province.

And the China Daily reports on new policies for colleges:

Experts have praised new policies that encourage physical education at universities, which will see students being tested on their fitness levels...

The policy will see students' physique and fitness added as a factor in evaluating their performance at the university, Wang Dengfeng, director of physical, health and arts education for the Ministry of Education, told China Youth Daily.

[Mao Zhenming, dean of Beijing Normal University's sports college] predicted that student fitness levels will become part of the evaluation system for universities.

The current evaluation system looks at physical education programs, including investment in sports facilities, recreation areas and the rate of students reaching the national fitness standard, Mao said.

He hopes there will be more ways to measure physical education, such as the number of sports clubs, involvement in dormitory sports, and opening hours for recreation centers.

Random inspections from authorities are also necessary, he said.

If you are skeptical any of these methods, you are not alone. CRI reports that some experts have expressed their doubts about their effectiveness:

Cheng Fangping, a senior researcher on education studies with Renmin University of China says the plan is not feasible since the promotion of students' physical health cannot be achieved through PE exams alone.

"Students would take physical exercises just for the purpose of passing the exams rather than developing a healthy lifestyle. They would have no incentive to pursue more sporting activities after they finish the exams. They may have high exam scores but poor health conditions. So, teachers should encourage students to take exercises as an effective way of improving their learning efficiency."

But further change is possible. And some professionals in the field appear to be seeking ideas from outside of China. A press release from the U.S. Department of State describes a recent example:

Chinese physical education professionals will travel throughout the United States from October 15-23 to exchange ideas and experiences with their U.S. counterparts, as they look to achieve the shared goals of ensuring that all sectors of the population have access to sports and recreation, and the opportunity to learn physical fitness skills.

I will refrain from any jokes that could be made about Chinese coming to the U.S. for advice about physical education. Instead, I will positively note my support for cross-cultural exchanges such as this one. They can open up each side to new ideas--on the topic of improving the physical fitness of students, both China and the U.S. could probably use some.

Advertising a Pole Dancing School in Changsha, China

The other day in Changsha, Hunan province, I met this college student at a large shopping center:



It proved to be an experience that led to seeing a side of China familiar to me and a side I had not yet seen.

Like the student I had earlier met elsewhere in Changsha, she was handing out printed advertisements for a part time job. Unlike the other student, she was not earning 40 yuan RMB for working four hours. Instead, she was earning 30 yuan RMB (approximately US $4.80) for the same amount of work. However, if she chose to work a full day she could earn 50 yuan RMB--the same as offered to the other student.

What most caught my attention, though, was what she was handing out:

Front of the printed advertisement

Back of the printed advertisement

Yes, Changsha has at least one pole dancing school, and it was seeking new students. Given the many clubs in Changsha and what I have seen at some clubs elsewhere in China, this made perfect sense to me. However, I had never seen a pole dancing school before.

On a later day, I met another student handing out the same printed advertisement. After I asked her a few questions about the school, she offered to bring me there. So we went up to the 7th floor of a large building which also includes several clubs. Not surprisingly, inside the school next to the lobby was a dance room full of poles and pole dancing students. While there, I had a pleasant conversation with a manager, and he proudly told me about one of their graduates who now dances in the UK.

If you're curious to learn more about this school, their website (in Chinese) can be found here. It includes a variety of photos and a video which can also be watched on Youku here (probably will begin with an unrelated ad). In case you are concerned, I would consider it all safe for work (the video is similar to what is displayed above but with movement). As they say on their website, the school believes it is about being "专业 Professional", "健康 Healthy", and "自信 Confident".

I will refrain from explicitly making any deeper points--just sharing more of what I have seen in a country that has surprised me in a variety of ways, including in how it is both different and similar to a country such as the U.S.



*Updated link from currently dead www.rooduu.com to currently working www.rooduu.cc on May 31, 2015.

Hanging Clothing at Dormitories in China

In the post about the dorm room at the Central South University of Forestry and Technology in Changsha, I mentioned that it was common to see clothing hanging outside of college dormitories in China. For example...

Clothes hanging outside at a Guangxi University male dormitory in Nanning, Guangxi

Clothes hanging outside at a Qingdao University female dormitory in Qingdao, Shandong

More soon about water-related topics, such a showers and drinking water, at university dorms in China.

Fake 'The Body Shop' Store in Changsha, China

Today in Changsha, (mainland) China, I saw this store:

And now a relevant piece of information from The Body Shop's online site for Hong Kong:

Does The Body Shop operate in Mainland China?

No, The Body Shop does not currently operate in Mainlaind China. We have no stores or online shopping presence. The Body Shop cannot guarantee the quality or authenticity of any products purchased in Mainland China.

So I paused for a few moments as I was passing by. And then, of course, I went inside.

One column of shelves was dedicated to products from The Body Shop. The rest of the store featured similar products mostly from German and Australian companies.

On the side, one of the Australian products was "Essence of Kangaroo". I wondered why anyone would want this type of essence. After a quick online search I found that some brands claim it is an aphrodisiac (with an extra kick?) made up from ground meat and other items such as kangaroo sperm. I am unsure of the trustworthiness of some of the stores so I will not bother linking to them. However, maybe it is worth noting a short article on The Guardian titled "Essence of kangaroo among scams to fleece Sydney tourists".

Anyways, a saleswoman in the store confirmed one of my suspicions. She claimed that The Body Shop products were originally purchased in Hong Kong, where there are numerous legitimate stores. Although it is conceivable that the products in this store are counterfeits, the containers showed no obvious signs of this. Plus, my familiarity with the extensive grey market that exists between Hong Kong/Macau and mainland China* makes the bought-in-Hong-Kong story rather plausible to me. However, I am not an expert in identifying fake cosmetic products, and as noted above there is no guarantee from The Body Shop regarding the products' quality or authenticity.

Like the many "fake" Apple stores I have seen in China, there may be improper uses of trademarks, but the related products being sold appear to be genuine. Given its use of The Body Shop trademark and the placement of the name were a store's name typically appears, I think it is fair to call this a "fake The Body Shop store".

How to characterize the Essence of Kangaroo is another issue, though.


*Some examples of the cross-border grey-market transport of goods in a post here.

Lakeside Tea on Yuelu Mountain

If you are ever in Changsha I recommend a visit to the picturesque Chuan Shipo Lake (穿石坡湖) hidden on the scenic Yuelu Mountain (岳麓山).

I also recommend sitting at the lakeside and enjoying some green tea.

One final piece of advice: if possible, avoid the weekends when it might not be as peaceful as it looks in these photos. And that concludes this relaxing post for a Sunday.

Halloween in Changsha and Taipei

[Update at end]

Although the Halloween holiday is becoming more popular in some parts of Asia, I haven't seen much signs of it in Changsha, Hunan province. While stopping by a bar that brews its own beer (an extreme rarity in Hunan) on Friday night, I could not avoid noticing the ongoing Halloween party. But it seemed to be mostly comprised of foreigners who are working in Changsha. I heard there was a pricey Halloween party somewhere Saturday night and there may have been something happening in an area with many clubs, but walking around a popular shopping district yesterday during the early evening I saw no signs most people or businesses were aware of the holiday. However, I did feel a bit of the Halloween spirit when I saw this spider that had made its home next to a construction site at a pedestrian shopping street:

Since I have no other Halloween-themed photos from Changsha, I will share some more from last year when I was in Taipei where I saw signs of Halloween in several areas. These scenes are all from near Taipei 101, Taiwan's tallest building, where a number of clubs had Halloween parties during the weekend:

For more scenes of Halloween in Taipei see my post from last year here.

UPDATE: There's much more Halloween spirit in Changsha than the above. For the Halloween scenes I saw in Changsha during the next couple of days see my more recent post here: More Halloween in Changsha, China.