You know summer is here when. . .

Exposed Belly, originally uploaded by nataliebehring.com.

. . .the menfolk start rolling up their shirts and exposing their bellies. Today I saw many a pale belly leading the way for its owner on the sidewalks from Wangfujing to Wudaokou. I've yet to see this hot look on the streets of New York (yet).

In contrast the womenfolk keep their bodies under wraps. Despite today's 86 degree F weather, I saw women wearing shorts with tights and socks with high-heeled sandals. Women of China, it is way too hot to be modest and layering up. Be free and be cool! Let your sweat run free.

First Impressions

When I travel to a new city, I first notice these things: cleanliness of public areas, transportation options, pedestrian-friendliness and amount of dog poop on the sidewalk. The quality and quantity of these items make an immediate and hard-to-shake impression on me, a fan of walks and public transportation.

Paris? Surprising amount of dog poop dotting the sidewalks, which somewhat marred my appreciation of the city's beauty. If you spend most of your time looking down wending your way through them, you spend less time looking up at the architecture, soaking in the personal style of your fellow pedestrians.

Istanbul? Hilly which makes walking as my primary mode of transport a bit tough. I also noticed that women tend to travel in groups and couples, which also made traveling as a lone woman in some areas a highly interactive experience.

Beijing? Surprisingly tidy, under the persistent layer of dust that coats everything. In my neighborhood an army of street sweepers remove debris in the daytime. Decent subway system, which is great for me as the sloooow pace of local pedestrians drives me nuts. However the frequent trains and cheap 2 RMB fare is offset by some poorly designed subway stations (try exiting a station with 234234 people crammed in two narrow exit hallways or walking up, down, up again, down again, outside and inside and down and outside and inside trying to transfer at Zhichun Lu).

Qingdao, not Beijing, was the site of my first pigeon-spotting in China.

Beijing also stood out because it is a pigeon-free city. I haven't seen a single pigeon here. Other birds fly about, but not those flying rats that infest New York and many urban areas. Were they rounded up by authorities in an attempt to clean up the city, like they tried to "deal with" stray cats before the Beijing Olympics? I don't miss them, but their lack strikes me as odd (but welcome!)

Chinese Texting Growing Pains

Sending texts in Chinese takes me three times as long as it would take my sending texts in plain old English. Why? First I must type the pinyin of the Chinese character. Of course there is some sort of T9 function that tries to predict which character you want based on only one or two letters of the pinyin. T9 in English drives me nuts because it usually predicts the wrong word for me, so Chinese T9 drives me twice as crazy. I usually have to delete whatever erroneous character my Nokia mobile predicted and start over. This happens multiple times until I finally have my simple message ready to be sent to whomever freaking insists on texting in Chinese. Ahhhh.

I'll get the hang of it eventually. In the meantime expect a delay in response time, my Chinese language texters.

Where the Boys Are

Last week a study published by two Chinese university professors and a London researcher in the British Medical Journal declared that societal bias in favor of male children resulted in 32 million more boys under the age of 20 than girls. I know, I know -- China has 1.3 billion+ people, but 32 million is a big gap.

Caused by sex-selective abortion in a one child policy country, this gap has the government concerned “about the consequences of large numbers of excess men for social stability and security."

Honestly I haven't noticed the gender imbalance in my two months here. Coming from a city where there are more women then men, you would think I'd notice the difference when riding the subway, walking the streets, eating in restaurants. . . nope. Of course, I don't hang out with many under 20 year old's (I am way older than that age) in my day-to-day life.

No Voicemail, No Problem

I've sent and received over 500 text messages the past month. Woah. Back in New York, my text messaging rarely ventured into the triple digits each month.

When you can't reach someone via a phone call here, text seems to be the preferred method of instant communication over e-mail and voicemail. Who leaves home without their mobile on them? Since voicemail is an added service for most mobile phone plans, it seems like most thrifty Beijingers rarely pay for it especially when sending texts are so cheap. Plus who wants to hear long-winded voicemails anyway?

Having made the mistake of trying to make last-minute plans via email (silly when everyone is on the go and many folks lack wireless Internet access on their phone), I see the appeal of texting. However my Nokia phone's text appeal fails to completely win me over since lacks a full keyboard. Until the day comes when I spring for a iPhone, my thumbs will suffer and email will still have an edge.

Birth Control for Gerbils

After learning about yesterday's US judicial ruling about access to Plan B aka morning after pill, this eye-catching headline from the AP caught my attention: "China uses abortion pill to cut gerbil population."

On a somewhat related note, I've noticed that personal care stores like Watsons stock baby supplies right next to condoms -- a deliberate decision stemming from their consumer research?

(Notice how my mind bounces from thought to thought to thought. . .)

Do Women Really Hold Up Half the Sky?

Last week Barnard College hosted the Kang Tongbi Commemorative Symposium: Women Changing China at the Park Hyatt, a pretty swanky hotel in the Chaoyang district. The symposium brought together leaders in business, government, media, arts and academia following in Kang's footsteps. This group includes Yan Geling, Yang Lan, Ruby Yang and Professor Wu Qing, who was the most passionate speaker by far. I recognized Yan Geling's name since she wrote the book upon which the film Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl was based. The other names were new to me.

I've been told that sexism is a serious crime in this country. However, one notices social conventions that prove it's alive and well even linguistically. For example, when listing people in Mandarin (i.e. My family has 4 people: my ...., my...), you list the men first before listing women (i.e. My family has 4 people: my father, my mother...). Listing a woman first is "not the Chinese way," so I've been corrected.

While the tone of most of the speakers was generally "yay, we've come so far, isn't this great? let's work harder to further the position of women here," Professor Wu was one of the few who didn't perpetuate this message. Some of the statements that linger in my mind a week later:

Wu Qing:
"Some people are more equal than others. This is a bad thing."
"China has the highest suicide rate for rural women in the world."
"This is what we lack in China--social responsibiltiy. We need to be global citizens."
"In government, you see fewer and fewer women higher and higher."
"I'm a verb. An active verb." (I love this statement!)

Yang Lan:
"More women start their businesses out of passion and hobby than men."
"More women are willing to give back to society than men."

Audience member:
"Yes, women hold up half of the sky, but men hold up the other half, too. I think that men are the problem in China." (this statement caused a bit of a stir)

I don't know enough about sexism here to comment in a meaningful way. Give me time. This symposium has made my eyes open wide.

Pile it on

This organization system for the Lan Club's coat check had us all whipping out our cameras. Hey, it works -- the staff pulled our coats out of that pile in a jiffy.