At about 10 am on June 19, 2003, in the western Chinese city of Wuwei, a man named Ma Guoxing was walking across town, intent on a pending business appointment.

But as he neared the Wei’an Health Center, he noticed a crowd of people at the front gate, and he interrupted his journey to go and see what had so captivated their interest.

On the ground was a newborn baby, a girl, crying loudly.

2 Students are missing in my class and nobody knows where they are. Suddenly, during the short break, they come in to the classroom and they do not look happy…. They were out by the reservoir since 6 o’clock this morning; why? I can’t believe what they tell me next, 2 boys, sophomores from the English Department, drowned there. A third one couldn’t swim and was therefore unable to rescue them… I really don’t know what to say, I’m speechless……

After we move to another classroom, I ask my class if they want to continue or talk about it. They decide they want to continue class, it will take their mind off things. As I cannot let this pass by without saying anything, I feel the need to somewhat comfort them, tell them it’s okay to be sad, its’ okay to cry but also tell them that they should take this as a warning. Don’t go swimming if you cannot swim! It’s something I’ve had so many discussions about with SC and some other students. They tell me stories about students who have drowned in the reservoir, even though they could swim. When I ask them what happened, the situation doesn’t seem serious enough for an avid swimmer to drown and that’s just the problem…..many of them think thay can swim whereas they can’t!! No one here has ever had swimming lessons, no money, no need, as long as you can keep your head above water or just stay out of the water. But then you go to College and it is so hot and dry and the water in the reservoir is so tempting and your friends are with you………

After class I had a talk with ‘my’ 2 boys, they were completely overwhelmed by what had happened. What worried me most though, was that they were called in by the College to go to the reservoir, together with some monitors, the class teacher, the vice-dean and the dean to help with getting the boys out of the water! What is the College thinking?! That’s not THEIR job, that should be done by the police or God knows who, but not by College boys. It’s traumatic enough to hear that your friends, classmates, or whatever they were to them have drowned. You shouldn’t have to watch their dead bodies and help getting them out! You should get the opportunity to talk about it, with other students or a councellor, but NO! I am worried about them, I tell them they can always come to me and talk about it or that they should find someone else to talk to IF they feel the need. I wonder……..

Meanwhile, the College has to pay big bucks to the parents because they are responsible. I ask HM if there will be a memorial for the students, but it seems that that is not done. It would probably do harm to the College (more the opposite in Holland I guess) and that is something we do not want to happen. So far, none of the colleagues (except for 1), the vice-dean, the dean or even my waiban talk about what has happened. All I know, I have heard from my students and only for about a day or 3. After that it seems the world has gone silent and the boys are forgotten……..

Many things about the above have made me sad and angry and have raised questions with me. Perhaps I should start giving swimming lessons, although I do not think the College will let me do that in the reservoir. Maybe just promoting swimming lessons would already be a good thing. Perhaps I should ask the College whether or not they have written in the school regulations that students are not allowed to swim in the reservoir, in that way the parents cannot claim money. Perhaps I should ask the College whether or not they are insured for ‘accidents’ like this, but maybe that’s so very Dutch…. Perhaps I should try to talk to my students about this after summer holiday and have them write down their feelings or a goodbye letter or whatever they want to write about this, this……’accident’. Perhaps I should let go and accept the way they handle this at our College, but that is so not me. Perhaps……….

China targets bad tourist behavior ahead of Olympics   

 

For Chinese who habitually travel during the weeklong May Day holiday, they may find this year’s itinerary involves as much etiquette education as sightseeing, delicious food and shopping. “On our first day in Beijing, we were repeatedly told by the tour guide not to litter and spit and given pamphlets about what to do and what not to do,” said Luan Hong, a tourist from southeast China’s Fujian province. Posters telling travelers how to behave appear in almost every train station, bus stop, hotel and scenic spot. “We are treated like little kids,” Luan said. Tourists’ grumbles mean little to officials who are anxious to correct the embarrassing habits of Chinese travelers ahead of next year’s Olympics Games. And there is no better opportunity of doing it than the May Day travel spree, when an estimated 150 million Chinese will be on the road. 

The China National Tourism Administration has issued a circular, making travel agencies and tour guides responsible for correcting tourists’ bad behavior during the holidays. Jumping the line, spitting, littering and clearing one’s throat loudly in public are some of the frequently observed practices among Chinese travelers, according to a guideline prepared and released last year by the Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee (SCSC) of the Chinese Communist Party, the official etiquette watchdog. “We are supposed to remind people constantly throughout the tour, and also lead an etiquette discussion at the end of the tour,” said Huang Xiaohui, a tour guide with a Beijing-based travel agency. “The Olympics are coming, and we don’t want to get disgraced,” Huang said, summing up the purpose succinctly. 

Beijing expects to receive 550,000 foreign tourists during the Olympics and an estimated 2 million domestic tourists will also visit the capital city. “Promoting civilized behaviors among Chinese travelers is a long-term task. To harvest short-term results before the games, we need to focus our resources on the main problems,” said Zhai Weihua, SCSC deputy director. “Tens of thousands of reporters will come to China to cover the Games next year, which means both China’s positive and negative sides will be amplified. Once bad impressions are made, they last, ” Zhai said. “That’s why we should grab the opportunity to change uncouth behavior,” said Wu Jianmin, President of China Foreign Affairs University, in a TV interview. 

The Olympics are now only about 450 days away. This is only one of the many articles about the Beijing Olympics, one can read in the newspapers nowadays. The Chinese government really wants to make a good impression on all the foreigners visiting China, next year and thereafter….. In cities like Beijing, HongKong, Shangai, Xi’an and so on, I think they will succeed. But when I walk the streets of Yulin, many of the habits described above occur everywhere around me. It could just be the people in the North, it could just be that most of the people here are actually peasants, it could be that the people here represent the real spirit of China,  it could also be that they really do not care. Let’s just wait and see what happens in 2008.

Anyway, the volunteer group had already done an event in town on the big town square just after Mid-Autumn holiday, as it would be too cold to do it on the 1st of December. They handed out information leaflets, had a big cloth signed by as many people as possible, sold Red Ribbons and showed a movie on a huge screen. Local television came to interview as well as the Yulin Daily Newspaper!

Last week some other events were organised, such as a bonfire and lighting candles, a human Red Ribbon, ofcourse a stand where the volunteers informed students, teachers and passers-by, a special ceremony in which the best volunteers were praised and received a certificate and a Karaoke party (yes!) to round it all up. Some of the events were well attended, others less. Many people still think it’s none of ther business or not something they should be concerned about….unfortunately. Perhaps because in this area, there are so few known cases of people with HIV/Aids. Henan province has many HIV/Aids victims due to blood donation and the south-west of China also has many victims, mainly due to unsafe sex. It is said that over 50% of the HIV/Aids cases in China nowadays, are amongst sex-workers due to unsafe sex, many other cases are due to sharing needles (drug users). Something people don’t seem to realise that Aids in China is mainly due to TB. The latter is a serious problem all over China; in our college all the first graders were medically tested when they entered the new term and almost all of them had TB! We are fortunate not to have (?) HIV infected people in this area, but just think about what goes on in other parts of China. Not only should we (VSO volunteers and other HIV/Aids trainers) focus on HIV/Aids, but also on the TB problem!

As to my teaching about HIV/Aids in class, I was happily surprised at times about what they DID know, but my students also surprised me in many other ways. They have heard about it, they know it’s spread through blood, ’s and mother to baby, but that’s where their knowledge stops….most of the time. Sharing needles???? Wow! That’s new! Mosquito bites are no problem? Pfeeew, glad you told us Marlies! Safe sex????Oh, eeh, hmmmm…..using a……YES!….. say the word…using a condom! This is where everybody (boys and girls) starts giggling and refuse to say “condom”, but they keep focused and most of them were very interested in what was told, the movie I showed, the game we played and the talks we had. All of them said they had learned a lot! Let’s hope they will remember…

There’s one thing I especially want to mention. The Chinese are very touchy people, girls hold hands and fiddle around with each other, boys hang around each others’ necks or even sit/walk hand in hand, they like to hug and be close to you and each other, without any sexual meaning or so. Talking about HIV/Aids also involves talking about sex, especially taking the western way of living in mind. Our students, no, younger even, high school students (and younger even..) have sex, no doubt, and most of them are probably well aware of the fact that one should use a condom when having sex; to prevent HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases. Many students, boys and girls, carry condoms on them, ‘just in case…’. This is where things are totally different here. When asked if it is okay for college students to have sex, everytime the answer was something like ‘it’s not necessary’, ‘we don’t do that’, ‘we are Chinese’, and believe me, they are serious! I also talked to some of my students in private and the answer was the same. Even though some of them have been in a relation for more than 2 years now, they don’t have sex, for different reasons. This will probably save many of them from getting HIV or any other s.t.d.. What I liked most about it, is that first; they are really honest about it and feel it’s absolutely normal, and second; how wonderful AND refreshing it is to live in a society where not everything is sex related, focused, or oriented! As I said before, they are very physical, but without any sexual thoughts to it. That makes me appreciate and love them even more….without any sexual thought to it!

 raising awareness downtown candles and bonfire

 HIV/Aids movie in class human Red Ribbon

 Doctors and nurses from the Home of Love, a ward for HIV/Aids patients in Xi’an, where part of our collected money will go to. The other part of the money will go to an orphanage for HIV/Aids orphans.

That’s all folks! Hope to see you again soon on my blog…….

Enjoy the (true) story, written by Colin, about the day of their departure when Mr Qingwas lost and had to catch a train together with Colin. Have fun reading it and do appreciate the cultural differences…

Carole was right. That Monday night could become a potential case study for
VSO. There were some interesting cultural differences which resulted in the
“very exciting evening which was just like a movie”, as Mr Qing described
it.So here goes with what happened…Mr Qin came to watch me swim in the pool after the session on Chinese Middle
schools. On the way we talked about swimming. He said the only time he had
been in the water was when the rowing boat he was in turned over in a
boating lake. He found this great fun even though he got his new birthday
shoes wet… when we got to the pool Mr Qin saw me off into the changing
rooms and said he would go up to the balcony and wait for me . He said I
could swim for as long as I wanted.