A Chinese Thanksgiving

One of the most iconic scenes from the movie "A Christmas Story" has got to be when the family ends up eating duck at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas because the Bumpas's dogs ate their turkey. I got to have a similar experience here this past week, only it was a Chinese Thanksgiving instead of Christmas. I'll have to report on Christmas next month.

My Chinese Thanksgiving was split into two parts. I'll start with the part that happened on Thanksgiving day. My first thing that I was grateful for that day was that I only had one class at 1:00 PM, and I had already finished all my homework for the week, so I had a lot of free time to relax and enjoy the holiday. I slept in, watched some TV, read my book, went to my class, and chatted with the other Flagship students all day. In the evening, I went to celebrate with some friends. We got together and headed to the most American restaurant we could find: a burger place called Momentum. It was a little more expensive than eating at the cafeteria for 10 RMB, but I indulged and got the "Hell Spicy Burger." (It wasn't very spicy, unfortunately. I had to add Tabasco sauce.) We sat, ate, and talked for a solid two hours, and it felt great. We even went around the table and said what we were thankful for like true Americans. Even though there was no turkey -- or any poultry at all, for that matter -- it still felt much more like home than China usually does.

The second part of Thanksgiving was on Saturday. Our branch is awesome, and they set up two activities. The first activity was Turkey Bowl in the morning. Even though I am not at all a football player, I headed out to the Nanjing Foreign Language School and played with them. It felt really good to actually be outside exercising; it's been a little chilly lately, but it was a beautiful day. The second activity was the real showstopper. The Relief Society worked with the Nanjing University cafeteria and cooked 13 turkeys, buckets full of mashed potatoes and more than three gallons of gravy. They naturally invited the whole ward, and the ward members invited a lot of people as well, so we had upwards of 150 people there. As is tradition, we stuffed ourselves with food, and then we had a little variety show and spiritual thought. Although the food was plentiful and delicious, I think my favorite part of it all was seeing everyone getting along, members and non-members alike. It was especially great to see a lot of my non-member Flagship classmates there with us. It was a time that will remain in my memory forever.

In conclusion, even though I wasn't in the US to celebrate one of the most American holidays there is, and even though I didn't have roast duck at a Chinese restaurant, this year's Thanksgiving  is certainly one to be thankful for.

-小强

I forgot to take pictures at the Thanksgiving activity, so here are some cool clouds.

More Student Life: Midterms

I mentioned before that Chinese students have an incredibly hard test that they have to take to get into college. That test is one of the many differences between the Chinese and American education systems. This week, I experienced yet another one of those differences, but this time it was first hand.

Midterms at American universities (or at least at BYU) can be a big hassle. They generally occur more than the one time that the term implies, and they make things even more busy than they already are. They also tend to conglomerate together into little one or two week periods, making time management seem impossible for a while. However, most teachers usually give at least a three-day window to take their test, cramming happens, and everything eventually blows over. Such is not the case for Chinese universities.

First of all, midterms at Chinese universities truly are midterms -- they occur at week 9 out of the 18 total. They also happen only once per semester. Unfortunately, these tests do all happen at the same time no matter what you do, and the weight they pull a lot of weight on the grade side of things. Because of this, all the students and teachers kind of freak out about midterms. Starting about a month ago, all of my professors suddenly brought up midterms and told us to start preparing. My American classmates seemed pretty calm about the ordeal (because they didn't know what was coming), and my Chinese classmates started reviewing almost immediately. Both groups of people were right to do as they did in their own respects. Of course, the Chinese students were right to study, first of all because it's a good idea, and second of all because the tests are very hard. The American students were only partially right. On the one hand, the tests that the Flagship Center administered weren't very hard, and on the other hand, there wasn't much that we Americans could do to be in any way prepared for what the Nanjing University professors were going to throw at us.

My testing experience was like this: Last week, I had two tests for my Flagship Center classes. I had to prepare a fair amount for them, but they were pretty simple, so I wasn't to worried. This week, I had four more Flagship Center tests, and on top of that, I had my Signals and Systems midterm. The four Flagship tests, once again, were a little time consuming, but in no way hard. The Signals and Systems test, however, was another story. I prepared for that test for about two weeks, logging probably more than ten hours of pure practice problems and formula memorization. I got to the test and found that I could do almost all of the problems, but there simply was not enough time. Even though there were only five questions, they were either split into parts one through seven or chock full of different little tricks and brain teasers. I finished most of the test, but not all of it, and I definitely didn't have time to go back and check my answers. I'm scared to see my final score, to say the least.

Regardless of my grades, all is well. On Saturday, I went to a park by the Yangtze River with my roommate. It was pretty cool.

-小强

My roommate, Shengju, and me at the Yangtze River with a sweet pagoda in the background

Fortress Besieged

For one of my classes here at the Chinese Flagship Program, I'm required to read at least one Chinese novel. My tutor suggested I read a book called 《围城》-- "Fortress Besieged." It seems that most Chinese people have read this book, or at least heard about it, and the teacher of my class, who is a modern Chinese literature teacher here at NJU, was ecstatic when I told her I was reading it. Seems like I made a good choice. Anyway, I finished the book about a month ago, and I liked it a lot, so it is to this book which this post is dedicated.

First of all, here is a bit about the author. Qian Zhongshu was one of the leading professors of literature at Tsinghua University for a long time. He lived through some of the more notable events in modern Chinese history, such as World War II (or the "War Against Japan"), the beginning of New China, and the Cultural Revolution. He also studied in Europe with his wife (another famous Tsinghua professor) back in the 1930s. All of this experience went into the writing of "Fortress Besieged", his most famous book.

"Fortress Besieged" is primarily about a young man's love life. This young man's name is Fang Hongjian, and the story starts when he is on a boat headed back to China from studying abroad in Europe. Over the span of a few years, from his time on the boat to his time back in his home town, then on to his experience teaching at a newly opened university, Hongjian meets several young ladies that either want to marry him or that he wants to marry. His smooth talking generally keeps conflict at bay for a while, and then it all storms in at once, leading to some cringe-worthy confrontations and either Hongjian or the girl leaving the city where they met.

The above description probably sounds like a bad "Pride and Prejudice" knock-off, but the book is actually very well written. The author's intention in writing this book was to satirize Chinese culture and society from multiple angles, and he did just that. He pointed out the flaws in everything from the actions of Chinese intellectuals (which are, coincidentally, full of pride and prejudice) to family relationships. Qian Zhongshu is also a master of metaphors, and he uses metaphors from Asian and European culture for a more diverse effect.

In short, "Fortress Besieged" is definitely worth the read. I would highly recommend it!

-小强