2006-10-09 Monday

Today, for the first time in months, I felt the thrill of being a Law student again.
My Mondays are always gruelling – I have class 8-12, a break from 12-3 PM, and then class again 3-5 PM. The classes themselves were fine – my minimally prepared presentation on the history of Harbin (for my Spoken Chinese class) turned out to be the best-researched presentation of them all, considering that most people had forgotten entirely and thought up the presentation on the spot. Also, strictly speaking, only three other people stuck to the subject, which was the history or culture of a place we’d visited. The teacher cautioned us specifically not to do a presentation of our own trip, since we’re supposed to be an Advanced class and be able to say more than “and then I visited x, and it was really pretty and I liked it”.
What do you think happens? Yup, you guessed right. Granted, all presentations were engaging, interesting or at least amusing, but I still heard phrases like “and there was a really long queue and the entrance tickets very expensive” and “we went to a restaurant but I didn’t like the food there”. Though kudos to one guy for an interesting, improvised mini-lecture on symbolism and traditions regarding Chinese paintings, where even the teacher professed to learning things. (our teacher knows everything and is awesome, so that’s quite a feat) Also, he did it on only an hour’s sleep.
The places people visited sound really interesting though, and they’ve given me lots of inspiration for my China trip during the winter and summer holidays. Xiamen, Qingdao and Shaanxi are some new places of interest now. Xiamen is reportedly very clean and pretty – “like a European city” – and right opposite to Taiwan, with all sorts of fun, sensitive state issues arising. Qingdao has a beach and is famous for its beer, a legacy from the time it was a German colony. (The Chinese continued using the brewery after the Germans left.) Shaanxi has lots of historical sites, and the poverty is apparently quite striking, despite it being relatively close to Beijing. One guy did a presentation on Xinjiang, where he stayed two weeks last summer, and it sounded fascinating. Hannah has vouched for Kashgar as well, but I think that’ll be one of the places I’ll keep on my to-do list because of the sheer distance. Also, it might not be the best idea for me to go there on my own, since the Uighurs (the minority people of Xinjiang) are quite opposed to being part of China, and almost all of them want Xinjiang to become an independent state. My Chinese History teacher in Uppsala mentioned that Han Chinese are cautious about going out in public, and often have security guards of some sort around them.

It was during my Chinese Media Reading class that the opportunity to feel like a Law student again presented itself. I started talking to two people – one of them was a Law graduate from Australia who’s in another of my classes, and the other was a Law student from Ireland. Also, both were like me; second-generation Chinese. Turns out the Irish guy took actual Law classes, where the lectures are open to all, and both me and the Aussie seized the chance to listen to a Chinese Law lecture. I’ve wanted to before, but the timetables are only accessible to the students in the actual year, and so practically impossible for me to come by.
The lecture was on Chinese Constitutional Law, this specific one on the history of Chinese Constitutional Law, and it was amazing. Maybe not just the lecture itself, but with the thrill of the whole experience, it definitely was. I went into that kind of hyper-conscious mode where you take in and remember every little detail, and they’re all fascinating.
Being in the lecture hall itself, felt like home. It was quite similar to Swedish lecture halls, with a working mike (thus surpassing Magistern) and computer slideshows. Despite the lecture time (7 – 9 PM), the hall was full of people, and that was pretty much the only thing radically different from a Swedish lecture. Everyone had black hair. =)
And then the lecture began. And oh my God, what a lecture.

If there were more Chinese people like that Law Professor, China would be a better place.

He spoke of China’s long history, China’s past greatness and advanced civilization, and how it’s still very much present in the Chinese’s daily lives and culture today. How much the Chinese have achieved in the past. He spoke of the pride Chinese have in their country and its history.
And then he likened it to listening to a person only capable of glorifying his past, unable to look forward.
“And what do we call people like that? Losers. Do we like listening to them? Not really.
So why do we Chinese keep doing it?
Think about it.”
I was completely floored. Here was a professor at China’s top university who probably has it all – a good salary, a prestigious title, and a CV a mile long. And yet, he spoke with a humility I’ve never encountered before in a Chinese, encouraging self-criticism and focusing on the future. I don’t know how much he influenced the other students, but I was hooked from then.
His lecture was about the history of China’s Constitutional Law from the Opium War (1850s) till today. He was funny, entertaining and engaging, and above all, he spoke with a casual, objectively self-critical view on China’s past, present and future problems. He made offhand remarks about Communism, the Communist government and stated that all revolution is bad. He theorized what it would’ve been like had Yuan Shikai remained in power, or Guomindang won the civil war 1946-1949. There was never any outright “blasphemy”, but he made it very easy to read between the lines, and the things he left unsaid spoke volumes. And even then, it was the most blatant criticism of the Chinese government I’ve heard from a Chinese. For godssake, several slideshow headlines contained the word “tragedy”, regarding the development of Chinese Constitutional Law! But he wasn’t overly critical either, just frank, matter-of-fact and objective. And he didn’t just judge and condemn, he proposed solutions, asked questions that encouraged critical thinking, and presented new aspects of historical events.
If this is how China’s scholars are today, I have high hopes for the future.

Other highlights from that lecture was the sheer fact that I could understand most of it. I kid you not, I could even read about 85% of the slideshows! I never thought that would be possible. And when I understood basically the entire Table of Contents in their course literature, I felt positively giddy. Maybe there’s hope for me after all! (I did use my dictionary, but it wouldn’t have made much difference had I not understood at least most of the words.)
Also, some of the differences between Chinese and Swedish students are quite amusing. You’d never see a serious, studious Swedish guy writing meticulously in a baby blue notebook with big puppies on each paper, and the words “Baby Cinnamon” in big bold letters. Also, Swedish students would never talk as much as the Chinese students did.


Notes:
- Having your teacher give you the finger is a quite special feeling. Having her do it for almost a minute doesn’t make it less so. (She was talking about a fancy word for glittering, and pointed to her ring. Also, using the middle finger isn’t something charged amongst most Chinese.)
- The Beijing weather is annoying me. Yesterday I wore long sleeves, boots and jacket, and today I was sweating in a sleeveless top.
- I’ve realized I look slightly ridiculous on my bicycle. It’s really small and I can never bicycle with straight legs, making me feel like I’m a paddling clown at a circus. My thighs are getting a great workout though.
- Spoken Chinese Class: Girl does presentation on the sights of a city, even showing pictures of her in front of one. Teacher tells everyone he wants focus on history and culture next time. Second girl does her presentation on the sights of another city. I could almost see the teacher mentally smacking his forehead.


(out of context)
“SHRIMP DRAGON!”
(said in a perfectly serious tone)
“… there is a difference between movie stars and South Koreans, don’t you think?”

(Chat between Hannah and Patrik, with me next to Hannah)
Patrik says: (6:57:57 pm)
do you want a thing?
Patrik says: (6:58:04 pm)
to know a thing?
h says: (6:58:08 pm)
always
Patrik says: (6:58:37 pm)
you are the worst leier ever
Patrik says: (6:58:49 pm)
lieer ever
h says: (6:58:53 pm)
you're the worst speller ever
h says: (6:58:55 pm)
liar
…
Patrik says: (7:05:34 pm)
lieer
h says: (7:05:44 pm)
liar
Patrik says: (7:05:44 pm)
how the fuck do you spell that
Patrik says: (7:05:46 pm)
lier?