Chinese Takeout: China 603 First day of school, rock stars, & a history lesson.

The kids were up early to get ready for school- some it was the last of the jet lag, mixed with a bit of nerves, and sprinkled with excitement on top. They are on a three day cultural exchange at Jian Hua Experimental Primary School on the same campus as BNDS. Some of these Chinese little ones are boarded through the week, a very different experience from what Ava and Eli know. For those that walk to school each day, the kids noticed right away that it was mostly grandparents walking their grandchildren to school. They also noticed that grandparents carry the kid's backpacks, too. (Um...Mimi is carrying her own backpack, guys!) The morning walk to school provided a teachable moment and meaningful conversation about cultural differences in families and educational expectations from East to West. These are the moments I was hoping for in their visit- to have these kinds of conversations with my grandchildren.

They were assigned together in a Grade 5 classroom, as a compromise for their grade level differences at home. The older Chinese kids should be able to communicate in English somewhat reasonably well with Ava and Eli, and their math education would be similar to what they receive at home. It was also decided to keep them together in case spending an entire day in full immersion Chinese was too overwhelming. Any concerns that the adults may have had were immediately erased the minute Ava and Eli walked in the classroom....

They were greeted with squeals and "Hello's!!!" and "WOAH!!!!" as they were instantly surrounded by Chinese children who felt so excited, and privileged, to have been the classroom chosen to host the American kids for the week. Their welcome was intense at first, and almost frightening for Ava and Eli, but it didn't take them long to slide into accepting their new-found "rock star" status. After a brief conversation with their teacher, I left for work. They were all smiles and chatting it up with their new classmates as I walked out the door and said a silent prayer.

As Mimi fretted the rest of the morning, wondering if
all was going well at their new school in this strange
new world, by lunchtime I happened upon Eli playing
soccer with his new friends...he was more than fine :)

At the end of the school day, we high-tailed it out of there to
beat rush hour and head down to the center of Beijing for an
historical tour- this was to make up part of our agenda that we
missed when I was sick and it was a bad air day on Sunday.
The kids talked a mile a minute on the subway, filling me
in on their first day of school. Eli admitted he got sleepy and
took a short nap, but other than that, they loved Jian Hua.
They didn't eat any of their survival snacks I had packed,
as they loved the school lunch- chicken and shrimp fried rice!
The Chinese kids loved the MiO water flavors that Ava and
Eli brought for them to try :) It is customary here to carry your
own water bottle with you wherever you go, as it is so stinkin' dry
in China. There are filtered water stations in most public buildings
with hot and cold water. The Chinese prefer to drink their water hot.
Getting to drink flavored water was a real treat for their classmates!

On a bad air day, they couldn't have begun to see or
appreciate the vastness of the Forbidden City, so it worked
out even better that we made this trip today. In my
opinion, this is the best view in Beijing- to hike atop the
hill to the pagoda in Jingshan Park overlooking the city.

In the distance beyond the Forbidden City and
the Imperial Palace Museum is Tiananmen Square.
Beyond that is the Great Hall of the People's Republic
of China- their "White House" or House of Parliament.
The Forbidden City was home for five centuries of
Chinese emperors. Gold tiled roofs are reserved for
the Imperials only, and this walled and gated city
was home for tens of thousands of officials,
eunuchs, maids, and yes- concubines! A Chinese
emperor was considered to be the Son of Heaven,
the divinely appointed intermediary between
heaven (yang) and earth (yin). He was responsible
for peace, prosperity, and an orderly life of the world.
The kids were all ears and full of questions...
"Mimi, what's a concubine?!"
I think I let Stephanie answer that one, lol.

Atop Jingshan Park there is a tourist trap to play dress up and
have your photo taken....it was a perfect set up for the kids.
For the second time today, they were rock stars, and all the
Chinese attention toward the kids was less than orderly!

Seriously, how cute are they?!

It was as if the paparazzi descended upon the little
blue eyed white kids- but Ava and Eli took it all in stride :)

I swear to goodness, this Chinese woman in
the orange hat snapped no less than 75 pics
of my grandkids.... I was getting a little
unnerved, but by now the kids were
eating up all the attention, lol.
Just look at Ava who is BEAMING :)))

As we exited the park and neared the East Gate of Forbidden
City, the kids and Stephanie got to do the first bit of souvenir
shopping. I love Eli's hat, though I bought it for his step-dad.
Most of my former military friends all bought a 'party' hat
as soon as they got here, and Andrew served in the USAF.
We didn't walk through the Forbidden City as it is essentially
about 900 empty buildings. Instead, we followed the moat
around the fortress, and I gave them a history lesson about
Tiananmen Square as we made our way there for the sunset
and the evening's festivities.

The kids enjoyed peeking over the ledge to watch the old
guys fishing the moat with their HUGE cane fishing poles.

On each corner of FC sits this 'guard shack,' or watchtower.
It is an impressive sight. They were able to relate after
visiting the watchtowers on the Great Wall yesterday.

They also got a lesson on the strange
phenomena of the Chinese taking
'fake' wedding pictures. So weird.

So, if you remember, Beijing National Day School was founded in 1952, on the three year anniversary of the proclamation which established the People's Republic of China. It was essentially a DoD school, for the children of high level officers in the People's Liberation Army. Since the mid 1960's it became a public high school, but there are still strong party ties to the school. I am proud to work at the #4 high school in all of mainland China, in terms of the numbers of graduates from the International Department that attend top American universities. This is why our kids are so focused and work so hard in school, up to 14 hours a day- so that they can attend the best colleges and universities that the United States has to offer. I share all of this because it is important to understand the history of the school, and to respect their ideals.

Well, the picture below is a photo that appears in my Introduction to Psychology textbook, in Chapter 14 on Social Psychology. Well, it used to appear there....censors have removed it. You see, the events of 6/4/89 are a very sensitive subject, something we are not allowed to discuss in class. There are differing opinions about what happened that day on Tiananmen Square, depending on who you talk to, and which resources you get your information. As we walked around the Forbidden City moat, I gave the kids a history lesson, so that they could appreciate what they were about to see once we rounded the corner toward Tiananmen Gate and the vast Tiananmen Square (which can hold one million people).

In April 1989, seven weeks prior to the 6/4/89 event, an important man in the party, Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang unexpectedly died of a heart attack. He was a man that was very vocal about political corruption, inflation, limited educational and career opportunities, and he called for political and economic reforms. His death sent a shock of sadness to the young people of China, who felt like he was a future leader and a voice of democracy. These college students gathered at TSquare to lay flowers, give speeches about his greatness, and to publicly mourn his death. Within a few days, their grieving took a turn and the gathering become more politically charged. This lead to hunger strikes, sit ins, and demonstrations.

This went on for weeks, and by mid-May, similar
protests of college students and civilians were
happening in over 400 cities across China.

The students built a "Goddess of Democracy"
statue on Tiananmen Square.

Their version of a Statue of Liberty.

The government condemned the protests as a counter revolutionary riot, and by May 20, 1989, martial law was declared, mobilizing 300,000 military troops to Beijing to bring order to the protesters.

To see a gathering of this magnitude, protesting and calling for
democracy, I am sure was an unsettling and frightening scene.

At first it seemed to be a friendly standoff;
there was still some order to the chaos.

Then the tanks rolled in; tore down the Goddess of Democracy,
and all hell broke loose on June 4, 1989.

And this is how it was reported
in our part of the world. The
number of casualties remains
unclear- some say hundreds lost
their lives that day, others say
thousands died. This story is
rightfully a sensitive subject
still today in Beijing.

As I was telling this story to the kids, and we were walking ever closer to Tiananmen Square, there was increased police presence. The kids asked if I felt safe in China with all the police around. I said to them that I felt very, very safe. In spite of the political differences in China, and for it being a city of nearly 24 million people, I very seldom see police anywhere. The most you will see them is during the holidays to manage the crowds, but they are not aggressive by any means. Every one is very respectful of authority for the most part- it is a part of the culture here; from government to citizens, to bosses and their workers, to teachers and their students, and from parents to children. Authority is seldom challenged in any way. In that regard, life here in China is how I imagined it was in the United States in the 1940-50's. We've come a long way in our own culture since then, but some days I question if we are better for it.

As we neared the ten lane Chang'an Avenue, which is the road between Tiananmen Gate and TSquare, there was even more police presence- about every hundred feet or so. I was explaining to the kids that Beijing is like Washington, DC, and we were getting close to what is Beijing's "White House" where China's president and all of the political leaders work and reside. It is normal to have this amount of police presence in any nation's capital so close to the government. I am feeling very calm about it all, reassured by their presence in fact, when all of a sudden we see the police with a drunk man on the ground arresting him.

I told the kids to not look, walk quickly, and mind your own business!

Seldom do you ever see a scene like that in Beijing. I think people simply abide by the rules and laws because they fear the consequences. I can count the number of drunks I have seen in my two years of living here on one hand- and never have I witnessed 'drugged' behavior that has become quite common place in my own country, sad to say. :(

We rounded the corner, went through a security checkpoint,
and soon we were facing TSquare and the Great Hall of the People.
Most days, Tiananmen Square is quite empty in comparison to
the million or so protesters of yesteryear.

We walked closer to Tiananmen Gate, with the
portrait of Mao Zedong. Ava shared with me
some lessons she learned in her Social Studies
class about Mao just a week before she left for
her trip here. She had her facts straight; good girl!

A crowd was gathering and we could not get
closer to the gate. Our timing was perfect; the
sun was setting at it was time for the daily
flag lowering ceremony! We enjoyed several
conversations with many Chinese standing
around us who wanted to practice their English.
As we waited, the kids were stopped repeatedly to
have their photos taken. By now, they would simply
smile and pose for them- like true rock stars, lol.

Soon all traffic was stopped, and a group of
soldiers came marching out of Tiananmen Gate,
under Mao's portrait, across the moat on the
while marble bridge, and across the avenue
to the flag pole. Impressive!

It was like watching the changing of the guard
at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in DC.

Every day thousands of visitors gather at dawn and at dusk
to watch the flag raising and lowering ceremony.

The two columns of soldiers marched back across the bridge,
into Tiananmen Gate, and then the lights all came on :)
On October 1, 1949, Mao stood atop Tiananmen Gate,
above where his portrait hangs today, where he proclaimed
the founding of the People's Republic of China, to thousands
of soldiers and citizens who were standing in TSquare.
The sign on the left reads, "Long live the People's Republic
of China." The sign on the right reads, "Long live the
great unity of all the peoples of the world."