07.16.08
Arrival in Yanji…and Pursuit by the Olympic Torch
I arrived in Yanji at 6 am this morning, and am now roughly a mere 15 miles from the North Korean border. All signs and storefronts here are written in both Chinese and Korean, and there are a fair amount of Korean restaurants as well. So far, all I’ve heard spoken on the street is Chinese, but I haven’t had much chance to explore around yet. From what I’ve gathered, once I get out of the city area there will be considerably more Korean influence.
During my overnight train ride from Harbin I found out I wouldn’t be the only visitor in Yanji today. At 2 pm, the Olympic torch is coming through. I arrived at the scene of the torch route at 7 am, a large crowd of mostly college students was already congregating, cheering, and sporting China spirit gear. Local entrepreneurs seem to be having a field day as the streets are lined with peddlers selling Chinese flags, stickers, and 15 RMB “Beijing 2008” and “I Love China” T-shirts.
As a side note, I really hope the Chinese come up with a few more original cheers before the end of the Olympics. I think I am going to be hearing 加油 (jia1 you2) in my sleep tonight. A little variety would be nice. May I suggest “Rock Chalk China, Go PRC!”
Jason
said,
July 16, 2008 at 11:59 am
Yeah, those T-shirt and flag sellers follow have been following the torch around. The news was saying that some people were making upwards of 10,000 RMB a day! (Which I highly doubt…but you never know, I suppose it is a big market)
Oh, and I’d give up on hoping for a new cheer. There is even a government created ’standard cheer’ for during the games. If I can remember right, 2 claps followed by 2 thumbs up while singing 中国加油 and then 2 claps followed raising your hands in the air saying 奥运加油. Man, that’s original!
Jiang
said,
July 16, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Hey Ben, are you in 延吉(Yanxi)? I think I will go there if I’m learning Korean instead of English. By the way, would you type some Chinese characters when you mention some small place manes? It would be more helpful.
Benjamin Ross
said,
July 16, 2008 at 3:56 pm
@Jiang
Yup, it’s 延吉. Usually I try to post Chinese characters, because like you say it’s much more helpful, since so many places have the same pinyin. I must have just forgotten on the last post. Thanks for pointing it out. It definitely seems like it would be the place to be to learn Korean, although 五道口 in Beijing probably wouldn’t be too bad either. Sometimes I feel like there are more Koreans than Chinese over there.
James
said,
July 16, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Sounds like an interesting and different world than what I’m used to down here in Zhejiang. I wish I could do some Olympic type stuff but alas this is not the time for me. Being in the country is fairly exciting though, and I hope we can help provide the Western world with some perspective in the future for China in this time (particularly your blog which must be one of the top 3 English blogs on China out there).
Alan
said,
July 17, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Ben, I am in Fuzhou, China this week. The last time I was in Fuzhou was 5 years ago. I am looking for a barbershop to get a haircut. I am wondering if I can get some discount if I stop by the barbershop that you used to work at and mention your name.
Benjamin Ross
said,
July 17, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Alan-
You won’t get a discount (even I pay full price), but you can get a good haircut, and they’ll probably get a kick out of it if you tell them you know me. Just go to 鼓西路达明路口 and walk east for about 1 minute. The name of the shop is 红太阳and it will be on the north side of the street. If you’ve walked more than 2 minutes and can’t find it, just ask somebody. They should know where it is. Haircuts are 30 kuai. For 12 kuai you can get the hair wash/facial, which is normally included in the haircut. The facial is the best part. They run a stream of cool water over your face for a few minutes, then clean you off with special facial ointments. This normally isn’t the kind of service I go out of my way for (to put things in perspective, I haven’t showered in 3 days, and the only toiletries I have with me are toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant.), but I still love a good facial every now and then…especially for 12 kuai.
Chinese learner
said,
July 18, 2008 at 3:15 am
I met word 加油 before but was puzzled with translation. How would you translate it?
Benjamin Ross
said,
July 18, 2008 at 10:56 am
加油 is the generic Chinese cheer. There is no way to directly translate it, but it means something like “let’s go!” Basically 加油 + team/country you support = “Go (team/country)” It also means “add oil.”
Alan
said,
July 20, 2008 at 12:08 am
Ben, thanks for your info on the barbershop that you used to work at in Fuzhou. I didn’t make it there due to my time constraints. I did get a hair cut in Fuzhou for 10 yuan. I am leaving Fuzhou tomorrow (only stayed here for 5 days, mainly for family affairs). I am going to Xiamen tomorrow and will stay there for 4 days. For me, China is like a certain kind of women – so attractive from far away but so ugly at a closer look. Maybe that’s like what some laowais have said – ignorance is a bliss. Since I speak and understand Chinese so well, I just hear so much negative stuff from local Chinese folks about the system here. The entire country seems to be so corupt. I am convinced China won’t be the next superpower soon.
Benjamin Ross
said,
July 20, 2008 at 9:28 am
Alan-
Too bad you didn’t make it to the Red Sun. Technically it’s a 中等 (mid-grade) salon, which actually means pretty snazzy. Most of the clientele are pretty affluent. If I didn’t have my connection there, I would be getting the 10 kuai haircut too. The barbers’ ability is basically the same. You’re mainly just paying for the atmosphere and face which comes along with a 30 kuai haircut.
As for your view on China, it’s always interesting to hear things like this from ethnic Chinese. I think as non-ethnic-Chinese, we often get jaded views of China because we can rarely communicate with locals without them donning the “laowai goggles.” Jane Wong wrote an excellent book called “R3d China B1ues,” and one of the reasons the book has such an insightful perspective is that she is a Canadian Chinese. She grew up a Western lifestlyle and learned to speak Chinese later in life, but because she physically was Chinese, she was able to fit in to society much more than she would have had she been of different ethnicity. Makes me jealous of my 香蕉 friends.
By the way, I have occasionally been ‘harm0n1z1ng’ comments in order to prevent some of the problems we were having befoe around here.