Fact or Myth about China, You Decide!

Before I set my feet in China two years ago, I tried to do a lot of research on just about anything I could possibly find useful upon my arrival in the foreign land. Unfortunately, I came up with nothing, perhaps I didn't do a thorough research. And so, I decided to just go with an open mind and well, with the background knowledge I already had about the country. But I made sure I left some room to take in the experience the country had in store for me.

*source*

So, what were the knowledge I had about the country before going and what did I come across during my research? I have listed below most of my findings from what I can remember. While most of them turned out to be a myth, but many of these findings turned out to be facts.

1. Fortune Cookies are commonly eaten after a meal in China

2. They still practice foot binding

3. They live in Traditional Chinese Hutongs, you know, the ones you see in movies?

4. Because China has a 5,000 year civilization history, it's people must be well civilized and well-mannered

5. They eat with chopsticks

6. Everyone is so skinny and fair skin

7. There is no religious freedom, Christians are still being persecuted

8. Main religion is Buddihism

9. The only food they eat is rice

10. Everyone rides a bicycle

11. The national language and only language is Chinese

12. Chinese are very smart and innovative individual

13. Since China is thought to be "The Factory of the World", brand name and electronics must be realy cheap over there

14. They eat dogs

15. They are so short and petite

16. Everyone fights kung fu

17. It must be crowded in China since it's the world's most populous country

18. There is a disporportionate ratio of Boys and Girls

19. Every family has only one child

20. Since there are so many ESL teachers in China, they must be able to speak basic English.

21. They are racist and close minded

22. Chinese are cheap, they like to save money and overcharge customers

Now which ones do you think are actually true or just a myth? You can simply identify the facts and post them in the comment box. Later, I'll differentiate between the facts and myth and talk about them in a later blog post or may be a series of them since it's quite a long list. Also, i'd like to hear some of your facts vs. myths if you've ever lived in a foreign land.

What I'll Miss & Sending Postcards

So what are some of the things I'll miss about China? To prevent this post from becoming a book, I will only briefly list some of the things i'll miss along with some personal pics. Drum roll please...............

1. Cheap food, as long as it's in a Chinese restaurant. Foreign owned restaurants are very expensive.

Gong pao chicken, tofu, rice, tea and cold water for less than $3

2. Hospitality of locals. People dine out very often here and so it's very common for them to treat each other or a guest at one of their favorite restaurants. Since a lot of business deals are done in restaurants, most of my first meetings with a potential student or employer are often in a restaurant. And because I leave soon, many friends have been "treating" me lately :) 

Hot Pot in Xi'an with Aiesecers

3. Having fun can be free or cheap!

African Village at World Park Beijing

4. Interesting people you meet. Expat community in Beijing gives you the opportunity to meet professionals in different fields from all parts of the world. You also meet people from countries you didn't know existed.

5. BIG multi-floor restaurants with creative (traditional or modern) interior design. I also like the fact that you can try different kind of restaurants from all parts of the country.

4 storey traditional restaurant. I never ate here, so I don't know the kind of food served there.

6. Cheap phone cards. a $9 phone card can last me about 1month if I don't send international text or talk for too long.

7. Cheap public transportation (buses, subways, trains and taxis). Cost of buses 40cents, subways-2RMB.  Also, China's extensive and cheap railway system makes it convenient and economical to travel across the country on land.And so it's common for travelers to take a weekend trip to a nearby city and be back by Monday morning. Also, the bullet trains travelling between major cities makes a long trip such as Beijing to Shanghai just as fast as taking the plane.

China's railroad map

8. My churches. I go to two  international churches for different fellowships, I have met christian friends from across the world at these churches. 

A  Chinese church which I only attended once or twice.

9. My two favourite shopping websites; amazon.cn and vancl.cn

10. Funny things the locals do and say here

"The Beijing Belly", only visible in the summer

11. Novel foods, fruit, vegetables and spices. I only try "interesting looking" foods at the restaurants as I wouldn't know how to cook them if I were to buy them raw at the supermarkets.

Dried goods

12. Teaching English to my students, both young and old as well as cultural exchanges through class discussions and talking to parents.

Kids with their moms and grandmas learning their ABCs before preschool!

***

From China with love, Postcards giveaway: To thank my readers over these past few months, I have decided to send postcards to 10 lucky readers or less.

How to enter

1. Be a follower, I currently have 15 followers, so chances of receiving a postcard is quite high

2. Leave a comment below about this post 

3. Comment by Tuesday, July 17th (China Time +8GMT)

I will contact randomly selected winners by Wednesday to ask for the address you would like the postcards to be sent, I'll then send the cards by Thursday.   

I look forward to reading your beautiful comments.

Culture Shock 4: Black in China

First things first, I am not the only black person in China. Infact, there are hundred thousands of us from all walks of life. Some of us are students, teachers, professors, ambassadors or a foreign delegate of some sort, business men and women, tourists, entertainers, professional workers and the like. You already know which group I belong to :)

It's difficult for many locals to accept this fact, since nothing comes to their mind when they hear those two words - black people. Who can blame them? I mean media reports on Black people is mostly negative. From AIDS and Corruption in Africa to criminal activities by Black men in North America. And so since they are limited in the amount of information they receive from the outside world, most just sit back and passively take in what their government present them.

                                                 Advertisement poster on the subway train

I like to take photos of black men and women in the media because it shows that not all locals are close minded and it's possible to make it big in the country despite popular believe.


Some popular stereotypes of black people in China
1. The men are drug dealers while the women are prostitutes. Oh, I forgot to mention that some of us (Nigerians) are also drug dealer and prostitutes. Infact, this has made it nearly impossible for Nigerians to get Visas to the country. As a result, many schools and businesses are forced to reject a Nigerian applicant due to visa laws.

2. Every black person is from Africa. Most times I just tell people i'm from Africa, since they won't believe that I can be from another continent. This is a very stupid misconception since many male Chinese absolutely love basketball and they keep up with various teams and games religiously. So although they are aware that Black people are living outside Africa and the president of a White country is even Black, somehow being a Black American still sounds foreign to them.

                                                    Adidas poster on the subway

Ignorance is a disease. On some personal experiences
1. Having many locals asking me how I styled my hair, if my hair is fake and then wanting to touch it.  Now when they ask me such question, I simply relay the question back to them and ask them if their hair is fake and if I can touch it. I mean they don't ask me if my skin color is fake, so i don't see why they are so curious about the structure of my hair strands

2. Looking for teachers from Canada and the U.S, only  WHITES will be considered. Most jobs will ask for teachers to send a picture with their application.. Sometimes I will send a resume without my photo and will then immediately receive an email saying they liked my resume but i need to send a picture before they ca n schedule an interview. After sending it in, I then get no response. Luckily since there are more demand for teachers than there are supply, I eventually get jobs

3. Blacks are clowns or masquerades: it's common for people, particularly men to point, stare and laugh at every black person they see, i'm yet to figure out what they specifically find funny. Some babies on the other hand will cry when they see a black person or sometimes a while person.

NBA stars. Many Chinese LOVE basketball

P.S: not ALL Chinese are ignorant, I have met many who just see me as a human and don't ask me dumb questions as to why I am not so dark or why I am Black but claim to be from Canada.

Study Abroad: For Losers or Winners?

A few weeks back, I was assigned a VIP class with a grade 11 student to prep him for the TOEFL test. After two attempts at the test, the student decided to spend his summer holiday and may be the next school year studying for the test as this is his priority at the moment.

I immediately interrupted him to clarify if he meant he was going to drop out of high school just to study for the TOEFL test or he meant he would study after school during his own time. He replied he would drop out of school to focus on something more important rather than wasting his time in the private international school he goes to.

I then asked him how he would get into university without a high school diploma which is even more important than the TOEFL scores. He smiled and said to me "oh, don't you know you can  pay some people for the diploma? it's not a big deal, it's very common here in China"

Lazying about
*source* 

In a land of fake designer bags and tainted food products, it's no surprise to hear and read about business executives and professionals with fake degrees as well as Chinese students enrolled in foreign universities with fake high school diplomas.

Students who plan to go study abroad will often flunk their way through high school because they know there is no need for them to spend countless hours buried in their books all for the sake of Gao Kao (university entrance exam). Some on the other hand will choose to go study abroad after an undesirable result.  So these cohorts of students are considered to be losers who don't put in the effort required to achieve best results and to be academically successful in their native country. Statistics of Chinese students studying abroad with fake credentials are unknown. With hundreds of thousands of Chinese going abroad to go study every year, it's easy for their credentials to go uncheck. I mean who has the time to verify a high school diploma and TOEFL scores when there's so much money involved. Many schools are mainly after overseas students deep pockets and cares very little about the authenticity of every student's information package. In the end, you can't blame them, especially when a university has a large number of students coming from countries with foreign languages and foreign school systems, which can make background checks nearly impossible. 

So do I think study abroad programs are mainly for students who can't handle the competition in their home countries that they have to take the nearest exit? NO! But I think students who don't put in the required effort to achieve authentic credentials because they know mummy and daddy can pay their way out of high school and into an American/English or Canadian schools are losers. 

Why are Chinese kids so smart?

Chinese and other Asian students are often stereotyped as being smart, particularly in math and science. So I took it upon myself to look into what makes these kids perform better than their non Asian peers and why some American universities have to set SAT scores higher for International Chinese students in order to control the number of Chinese students enrolled.

Good bye high school, Hello LIFE!

After almost two years of living in the country, teaching in various schools and other academic settings, as well as talking to many locals both young and old, I have come up with possible reasons as to why Chinese students are so smart and therefore, over populating universities overseas.

So I wonder, could it be because Chinese students spend about 8-10 hours in school daily? A typical school day would start at 7.30am and end at 5.30pm. For boarding school students who live in school, time spent studying is often prolonged with an extra 3-hour study time in the evening. Many schools from primary to high schools offer boarding services for students who live far from school and might not make it on time for the early start time. Also, boarding schools can be for kids with busy parents or out of town students. 

-OR-

Could it be because high school students go to school on the weekends as well? I first found it strange seeing students in uniforms on a Saturday or Sunday, but now I can see the reason why.

-OR-

Could it be because they start writing final examinations right from grade 1, making them good test takers by the time they get to high school?

students pouring out their "brains"

-OR-

Could it be because they are heavily burdened with after school academic activities such as English classes, TOEFL, SAT prep courses, music and sports lessons?

-OR-

Could it be because they are taught lessons that are a grade or two higher than their current academic level, thus making them more advance and intelligent than other students in other countries? It's often common for Chinese students to be bored in their first year of college because they have learned everything already in high school. So some students will instead catch up on "Life" by enjoying the privileges their high school years had robbed them. And of course enjoy freedom from parents.

A student buried in her books. Students usually keep all their books on their desk for convenience

-OR-

Could it be because they spend practically their entire high school years prepping for the Gao Kao (High Exam), a college entrance examination which is written by all high school students around the country at the same time? Student's from all social, political and academic background will gather under one roof to pour out all they've learned over the past 12 academic years. The pressure to succeed is even greater for students whose parents had spent lots of money on expensive kindergartens, primary and high schools.

Students writing the make it or break it "Gao Kao"

-OR-

Could it be because Chinese students have been trained on the "art of memorization" from an early age, which makes it easy to pour everything out on the exams, especially on math and science exams? I once asked a grade 5 student to read a short passage out loud, which she read quite well without looking at the book. My immediate response was an outburst of laughter because I was following along in the book, but she was just staring blankly in the room while "reciting" the passage. It turns out her other English teacher had asked them to read the passage over and over for about 3hours until they had memorized the passage.

-OR-

And finally, Could it be because parents have high expectations on their ONLY child which makes them put great pressure on the child to achieve his/her best?

And so the next time you might start to wonder why Chinese students are so smart, you should think about one or two reasons above, and hopefully everything will make sense :)

What do they have in common?

I thought I come on here for a quick post and may be a brain teaser for you guys ;)
So here is the question.

What do Artical, Izellah, Guess, Louis Vuitton, Ghost, Canada, Moon, Star, Sun, Apple, Dodo, Puma, and Curtain all have in common?

I might give a hint or two later on if no one answers the question correctly.
Happy Guessing.

Monthly Teaching Inspection

In China, as in many other Asian countries, it's typical and mandatory for another teacher and/or the head teacher to sit in their colleague's classroom as a student and an inspector.

I had my class inspected today, and I couldn't help but laugh behind the flashcards as I murmured how ridiculous the whole thing was. You see, I only had about 25 students in the classroom, but due to the Inspection, I had over 30 pupils in the classroom, including 6 teachers. The students were on their best behavior alright!

Last term, my grade three class of only 7 students was inspected by 3 other teachers. So we had 5 teachers and 7 students in total. I felt very crowded and uncomfortable during the whole "demo" as it wasn't natural.

Can you imagine giving a "normal' class with this many people?

I asked my co-teacher why the school does this, she said she doesn't know. But I think the reason behind it is for the teachers to point out the strengths and weaknesses of their colleague, maximizing the students learning experience.
I think it's a completely waste of time, because different subjects requires different teaching skills and methods. So, a math teacher can't be instructing a music teacher on how to do her job, the same way a music teacher cannot be giving a language teacher teaching tips. Also, each teacher has his/her own way of teaching. But when a teacher has to give a performance like what I had to to do today, he/she will prepare the most entertaining and amusing show the best he/she can. And on days when she doesn't have to "perform", she will simply go back to her old routine that might not be amusing to the other teachers and head teachers. I'm sure the school is aware of this, but I guess they enjoy being entertained by their colleagues performances. 

Back to School

After weeks of lazying about, I am excited to go back to school tomorrow! The second school term for Chinese schools this year starts in February due to the Chinese New Year being in the last week of January. But I think second term usually starts in February. As much as I am excited to see all of my students and get back to routine, I am not looking forward to a few things, for instance;.
- waking up early in the morning
- taking two buses to get to work. Luckily, I work in a village, so I go against traffic and don't have to worry about getting stuck in traffic.
- wearing my winter coat, hat and scarf all day long even when i'm teaching or  in the staff room. The heater in a lot of buildings are on very low, so it's effect is barely felt
- Always being the last person to be told anything, since i'm a foreign teacher
- Not having a set plan and schedule. I can say my school brought out the "freestyler" in me. My classes and teaching schedules are changed without notice, and sometimes I don't even know what i'm teaching until minutes before walking into class. Although the uncertainty can feel like a roller coaster ride, most times, it's just plain frustrating.

At least I look forward to...
- My students always greeting me each time they see me, no matter how many times they saw me on that day
- Funny things the kids say and do
- Improving my Chinese through teaching English!

Regardless of how I feel about going back to school, I just have a feeling that this term will be better than last term!