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Hello Friends, Family, and Rotary Family!
I have now been in Beijing, China for a year tomorrow, and have been studying under the Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship program for almost 6 months. I wanted to send you all an update on my experiences, and I recently finished the semester at Peking University on January 9th, and I just finished the final for my winter course. I decided to sign up for further courses to make sure I stayed busy over the winter break…. And let me tell you, I have been busy. As my Master's and extra Chinese courses overlapped with each other, I was pulling 12 hour days for 3 weeks, because of my term papers and tests on top of the Chinese courses….. I am really glad that time is over, my wife Sarah and I are really enjoying seeing each other again.
I have also been really active in the local Rotaract club on top of my studies and have been able to interact with people from all over the world through our varied weekend activities. Summarizing this time is almost impossible, though I would describe it as incredibly exciting, challenging, life-altering, belittling, and yet empowering. The experiences I have had here will certainly stay with me for the rest of my life!
The language studies, work with Rotaract, and my Master’s program studies have all given me different access to the surrounding country, and the culture around me. The language studies have allowed me to access the people I see on a daily basis, the international studies have given me an understanding of the “big picture” of China, and my work with Rotaract has allowed me to have access to people and cultures outside of my normal daily contact.
As an elected board member in the Rotaract club, I’ve been able to lead and partake in many of the events, including a club funded trip to a local Science Museum, a (huge) food drive at Carrefour grocery stores around Beijing, and a Halloween Party for the orphanage and school we sponsor, Guang Ai (光爱). Other projects such as an art auction for a school for mentally handicapped, cooperation with an organic farm for mentally handicapped, and a clothing drive for a clothing distribution charity, (my apartment is packed full of clothing to be donated to the distribution organization, since Sarah and I volunteered to be the collection point for donations in our part of town). I’ll be sure to send pictures of that project when we are all done.
The orphanage in particular has been a powerful experience for me, and I am looking forward to working with the organization and its children again soon. Guang Ai orphanage is located at the northeast limits of the city, a two story building, with nearly one hundred abandoned, homeless, orphaned, or lost children due to issues ranging from poverty, catastrophe, or physical disability. The majority are under the age of twenty, with the leadership roles being filled by the few teenagers and older students who are nearing twenty. The ability and leadership skills I saw within these teenagers at the school were astounding, as they managed and solved problems within their own organized social structure, without the need of adult management. However, the way their teenage curiosity broke through their hardened leader façade was fun to see, as they used their broken English and my Chinese to ask questions about all sorts of things; from my workout routines, to my life in the U.S. These kids were some of the toughest and most capable leaders I have seen, and held powerful skills that adults I know don’t have, and yet their childhood curiosity was still a part of them.
On top of the Rotaract activities, I have been pursuing my studies like never before. Where in the past I conducted my studies at my leisure, I have come to China on a mission, and I don’t want to waste the time I have. Both the language studies and international relations studies have been amazing. I have been told before that ‘true wisdom’ comes from knowing how much you don’t know. In that case, I am sooooooo incredibly wise…. Repeatedly in my time here, I have been reminded of how little I know. After having a wide and deep conversation with someone in Chinese, I’ll turn the corner and not understand a word the next person says to me. As soon as I feel like I understand an aspect of Chinese culture, a new piece of information is given to me that changes everything. Here are two examples that I want to share.
The first is regarding the economic situation of China, and its comparison to the U.S.A.: As I walked home from my language school one afternoon, I found myself walking alongside a weathered older man, who was taking part in his self-employed job of sifting through public trash bins to collect recyclable material to sell at recycling sites. We began a light conversation about the weather, and my thoughts on China. After I told him I was from the U.S.A., he replied with a positive comment about the development of the US, and the wealth available there. I made a complimentary comment, noting that though my country was developed, our economy was in hard times, and his country was still growing at an incredible pace. At this, he stopped looking through his current trash bin, and looked at me in the eyes and noted, “Fast growth is fast growth, but you are going to school, and I am looking through garbage for work.” This quickly straightened me out, and brought some clarity to the definition of a developing country versus a developed country.
Though China’s economy is the second largest in the world, if you were to divide it by the immense population, it only allots less than $8,000 US dollars to each person per year, almost 1/6th of the amount of money available to Americans per capita. Another example that I came across, was that the U.S. and China spend roughly the same amount of cash going to the movies, however that allots each person in China less than one movie ticket per year. This sort of stark comparison brings reality and sheds light to the complex political and economic situation in China. As large as the country is, it is far from being able to afford broad government projects or risky policies; a lot of people would just like the chance to study a little more, or go see a movie once in a while. Though I have read countless articles on such topics, first-hand experience etched the idea in stone.
The second example is in regards to the complex and deep culture of the Chinese society. During my readings for one of my classes at PKU, I came across an analogy that struck me for its implications. When describing the Chinese society in the 1900’s, an author described Chinese society as equal to the Egyptian Pharaohs around the year 0 AD. The political, religious, and cultural systems in China had also continued without major changes for over 2,000 years, until the turn of the 20th century, when the system was still based upon a divine emperor with complete sovereignty over the entire population through Confucian doctrine and traditional religious institutions. It would be almost as though the visitors to China in 1900 arrived in Egypt and they still believed in Ra, Horus, Isis, built pyramids, and believed their Pharoah as a not only being chosen by the gods, but a god as well.
Soon afterwards, the events of the Republic of China, WWII, the Chinese Civil War, and the development of the current People’s Republic of China, all happened within a brief fifty year period that now lies like a thin rind on top of a 2,000 year thick watermelon. The language, customs, habits and dominant thoughts, all exist far beyond the modern China, and our understanding of it through the Sunday newspapers, and brief newsflashes on the TV can hardly scratch the surface. As I learn more information about the Chinese history and its relations with the world, I continue to learn that I am only catching a small bite of a pizza with a thousand toppings, and the variety of flavors available would take far too long to witness. The further I delve into my studies, the more topics I discover I know little, to nothing, about. And don’t even get me started on the language… There are hundreds of dialects in China, and it is well known that a Chinese person has a hard time understanding other Chinese people from different parts of the country…. My head nearly explodes when I start speaking to someone from the Northeast, or Southern regions.
It is for these reasons that I continue to be fascinated, belittled, and empowered through my experiences in China. I have learned so much of the language, the history, the culture, its policies and its relations with the world; and yet there is still so much more to learn. I am continuously challenged to improve my language skills during my time here, and to have a more comprehensive understanding of the society. My time thus far has been an immense joy, and continues to push me to work harder, study more, and give a greater amount to those around me. This country is nothing less than enchanting and incredibly complex, and I’m looking forward to continuing projects with the inspiring children from Guang Ai orphanage, and possibly another orphanage in southwestern Beijing, that my wife and I discovered which currently has a man from Prescott, Arizona on staff!
If you have any questions, or comments, please contact me, or just let me know what is going on in your neck of the woods! I hope all is well, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and (soon) Happy Chinese New Year!
Warm Regards,
Ian Curtiss
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