Comrades, as we all know, Karl Marx taught us it is not a matter of if the workers of the world will unite, but when and when better than International Workers Day, or May Day. In actuality, May Day celebrations were about as intense as Columbus Day celebrations, aka most people just got the day off and sat around. Still Comrades, as we also know if there was no Communist Party there would be no New China, so some friends and I decided to pay our respects to the Revolutionaries who came before us. Shortly after lunch we started off to the Memorial Hall of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China located in the French Concession neighborhood of Shanghai. As the name suggests, the French Concession was formally under French control so it was a bit easier for radicals and, in the words of Chen Kai-shek, "bandits," like Mao and the Communist Party, to have meetings there. The building still stands as a museum to the early days of the Party. While getting in was free, security was actually quite intense. I would put it at one level below Tienanmen Square level of security and around the level I saw at most of the Republican National Convention in the US. The museum itself is OK, but, unlike many other Communist sites, had signage in both English and Chinese. What is interesting is that the museum split its focus on all delegates to the First National Congress, not just Chairman Mao. I would say the building was comfortable but simple, the nicest things were the museum elements put in after the Communist takeover of the Mainland and a tea set the delegates apparently used. Now I know what you are all wondering, yes they had a gift shop, and yes I did buy a both Mao Badge and a Hammer and Sickle pin. After that, we walked passed Zhou Enlai's, the former Primer of China, old home but we couldn't go in since it was closed for renovations. We than took the subway to dinner. We went to a world famous Pyongyang Korean Restaurant to respect the founders of the Peoples Revolution there. While the Pyongyang restaurants are know for their interesting dinner shows, they are most famous for being owned by the North Korean (Democratic People's Republic of Korea/DPRK) Government. The waitresses and chefs are all imported from the DPRK; apparently the waitresses are the daughters of major Workers Party members and Government officials as waitress at a Pyongyang is a very desirable job. While the food was all authentic Korean it all has a northern flair to it. Many of the dishes were Pyongyang specific, including my Pyongyang Rice in Soup and the Pyongyang Kimchi we got for the table. Furthermore, they do the mishmash of little appetizer things at the beginning of the meal, apparently to show off the vast bounty of Socialist Korea, which I read was a common way for foreigners to eat when touring North Korea. The South Korean guy sitting next to us said that North Korean food is overall less spicy than South Korean food. The food actually wasn't bad, a bit expensive but not bad; the South Korean guy must have liked it since it was his second time there. What is funny is that the Pyongyang restaurant served Budweiser and Coke-a-Cola, in addition to a wide array of Chinese beverages, including wine and beijiu. To be honest, I was a little bummed out by their drink selection, I heard North Korean beer is actually very good and was hoping they had some. Also who ever pays 300RMB, 50USD, for a bottle of Chinese wine is just dumb. To be fair though, they did serve the good for export Tsingtao, not the domestic stuff Ellen's Bar serves/gives away on Thursdays. The meal was just preparation for the main event, a musical extravaganza put on every night at 7:30 by our many lovely Korean waitresses. The waitresses are truly multi-talented, all could play one or two instruments and sing in Korean and Chinese while servicing the customers in Chinese, Korean, and English. The South Korean guy we met could understand most of the songs, he had a few problems with the last song and told us he couldn't tell if it was in Korean or in Chinese. The restaurant was actually more subdued than you think a North Korean place would be. There were no pictures of Kim Jong-Un, Kim Jong-Il, or Kim Il-Sung anywhere and the waitresses avoided singing any political songs. From what I read, public events in the DPRK begin with a singing of the National Anthem, Aegukka, and the red anthem of the current Supreme Leader, now We Will Follow You Only but formally No Motherland Without You or the Song of Kim Il-Sung. The South Korean guy said all the songs with words were about welcome and friendship, which I guess makes sense in context. Comrades, I can report to that the East is Red, and there is Peace at the End of our Bayonets. While some of the bourgeoisie would like to tell you that respecting our Party Fathers and eating with our Korean Comrades isn't fun, they are wrong as they are with most things. So tonight, we all exist to Serve the People and to Defend the Headquarters of the Revolution! Good night and Long Live Chairman Mao!
2 Comments
Traditionally, the Passover festivities are a two day affair so I hit the Metro again to return to Pudong for another Passover Seder. This time it was at a American ex-pat friend's house, not the Kerry Hotel, and the Seder was the Rabbi Yonah Bookstein's 10 Minute Seder, not Chabad's 3 hour Seder. Finding the complex was easy enough, the buildings in the complex were laid out strange so it took a bit of effort to find the place but I made it on time (enough). While the Seder wasn't 10 minutes, it was pretty quick. Dinner was very good. I finally got home made matzo ball soup, the one major Passover dish Chabad forgot, with an IKEA smoked salmon. Both were very good, Passover simply doesn't feel right without smoked fish and matzo ball soup. We then did the traditional chicken, potatoes, and vegetables all of which were nice. Finally I had a excellent home made cheese cake, it wasn't too sweet which is how I like my cheese cakes. We all then chatted about the ex-pat life until about 11:00PM when I had to return to Puxi.
I would say my Passover experiences in Shanghai, while different from each other, were both nice. It is always cool to see how similar major Jewish holidays are, even when you are on the other side of the world. It is also nice that if you don't have family to spend Passover with, since you are in China and your family is in New Jersey, someone will invite you to their Seder. The Maggid (the reading of the Passover story) begins with a short paragraph proclaiming "this [matzo] is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat; whoever is in need, let him come and conduct the Seder of Passover. This year [we are] here; next year in the land of Israel. This year [we are] slaves; next year [we will be] free people." It is nice that this sentiment is more than just empty words. Happy Passover all. Last night was the first night of Passover, the two day Jewish holiday commemorating Exodus and Moses's flight from Egypt with the Jewish people. Since Passover is usually a larger affair, Chabad of Pudong usually decides to hold their annual Seder in the Kerry Hotel, Pudong. Getting there wasn't too hard, the hotel's mall and the subway hooked up so it wasn't that hard to find. Some of the nicer Chinese hotels, like the Kerry, end up a bit labyrinthine with malls connecting to restaurants connecting to business centers connecting to ballrooms. I did eventually find the correct ballroom, right on time but still too early. It is actually quite a small world, I met some of my both my American and Chinese neighbors, one guy form Morristown, NJ and another guy who lived in the building across from mine at ECNU (he will only be in Shanghai for a few weeks though). While Chabad does a full Seder they are actually quite efficient with it and there were enough twists to keep it interesting. Since the crowd was so international anyone who spoke a language that wasn't English, Hebrew, or Chinese (the three languages we read the Four Questions in) could read the first of the Four Questions (Why is this night different form all other nights?) in their native tongue; while there were the standard languages of Italian, German, and French we also had people read the First Question in Kurdish, Belorussian, Japanese, and Afrikaans. The food was pretty good and fully Kosher since the Rabbi Koshered one of the Kerry's kitchens and his wife supervised the cooking process. It was the classic chicken, soup, and salmon mix but familiar done well is sometimes nice. I still don't know why Israeli Kosher wines don't sell better in China. The Rabbi has a thing for a Zion Winery of Mishur Adumim, Israel (not to be confused for the Zion Wines of Zion National Park, Utah) which tastes like it could have been made by Great Wall Wines (my preferred Chinese brand of wine). The biggest issue I had was getting back to ECNU. I thought I was good, me and the other guy who was staying at ECNU decided to split a cab. Unforntually, we seemed to have found the one cabbie in all of Shanghai who didn't speak or read standard Mandarin. I ended up giving him my phone with a map just displaying the way to East China Normal. It worked out in the end, even if I ended up back on campus a bit later than I wanted too.
This evening is the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover in Shanghai. I have two Seders scheduled, a Seder at Chabad and a Seder at a local Jewish ex-pats house. I might do two posts or do one bigger Passover retrospective post, don't know yet. I will update you all after I do Passover.
So to those of you celebrating, have a good holiday. To those of you not, have a nice day anyway. Yesterday, April 1st, was April Fools Day and a Saturday. Normally, when someone tells me that classes have been rescheduled for the Saturday of April Fools I would be highly suspicious. At ECNU however, you shouldn't be because classes were actually rescheduled for the Saturday of April Fools. While April Fools is no excuse to reschedule classes in China, The Qingming Festival (清明节) or Tomb Sweeping Day (扫坟节) is. From what I have gathered so far, the Qingming Festival is a time to honor you ancestors by visiting their tombs with your living family, makings sure the dead's graves look alright, and having a picnic in the cemetery. So kind of like Chinese Day of the Dead with less sugar skulls and more burning paper money. Typically, Tomb Sweeping Day takes place 15 days after the Spring Equinox, usually April 4th (like this year) or April 5th (except on Taiwan where it is always April 5th as that is also the day when Chiang Kai-shek died). Because many of the Chinese students want to go home to spend time with their family caring for the ancestors, ECNU canceled classes on the 3rd and 4th. Much to my and many others annoyance, they decided that Saturday should be like a Monday, a class day. I am not sure why ECNU feels the need to do this, none of us were particularly productive since everyone was tired for their week and no one wanted to be working on a Saturday. At least I have a long four day weekend now, that's nice I guess.
As some of you may or may not know, East China Normal University is one of China's major research universities. Thanks to new technology invented by East China Normal's own School of Science and Engineering I have been given the opportunity to study abroad from my study abroad. I will truly be standing on the cutting edge of both physics and history with this opportunity. Dr. Zong (棕老师) of ECNU's School of Science and Engineering in conjunction with Prof. McFly of the NYU-ECNU Institute of Physics at NYU Shanghai have invented a BYD e5 with a built in flux capacitor that, once it reaches 141.62 km/h or 88mph, can travel backwards or forwards in time. Since the BYD e5 is an electric vehicle, only minor upgrades were needed to get the car to accept the new plutonium electric generator in the trunk. Hopefully, I will be going back to 1885 to do research on Shanghai's International Settlement, now called the Bund. Being an American, I should have few problems blending into the multinational community that was the International Settlement. Unfortunately, I will have to put my blog on hold during my time in the past though, if all goes well, you my dear readers shouldn't notice anything since for you it should feel as if as though I was only gone for a few seconds. If something does go wrong, I will be removed from the timeline so you won't be stressed about my issues at all. That's time travel for you, so it goes. For those of you who are worried, don't be, Dr. Zong and Prof. McFly have assured me that everything will be alright and I will be back safely in this time period before you can even finish reading this post. I have also been talking with Juniata, the College is willing to transfer the credits ECNU is giving me for doing this research project back when I return in September. It will be a bit of extra paperwork though, since I will be on a new study abroad experance. I will update you all soon when I get back to the future.
Note: Have a happy April Fools Day all. Every 17th of March is Saint Patrick's Day, a holiday that once had some religious meaning to the Irish but is now mostly an excuse for Americans to drink and eat pub grub. Saint Patrick's isn't actually a major imported holiday in China; unlike Christmas, Halloween, or Valentin's Day there really wasn't any major public acknowledgment of the holiday, even in the corporate way that most foreign holidays are acknowledged. My friends and I didn't let that stop us though, we decided to do Saint Pat's in our own way with our without the Chinese. The best way to do this obviously is with Chinese and non-Irish European food. We did mostly wear green though so that should count for something. We also ended up at a Western style sports bar at the end of the night, Cages, but it was more of a baseball themed type place than an Irish pub. They even had several batting cages open, hence the name. While they looked kind of fun I don't know if baseballs, bats, and beer mix too well. Overall it was a fun night out, even if we didn't do anything too different form our usual weekend it was still cool.
Today is Pi Day (3/14) so I tried to buy some pie at Global Harbor. I am not happy to report I could not find any pie, so I got a blueberry danish, a circle of life, and a brandy & mango from BreadTalk and called those close enough. They are all good I guess but not pie. Next year there will be pie, this year I wait.
|
AuthorI am a junior at Juniata College spending a year studying abroad at East China Normal University. Please feel free to join my on my journey to China and beyond. Archives
November 2021
Categories
All
|