Politics and Microwaves

On Sunday Daisy, Becka and I ventured forth to see the new Harry Potter at the cinema. This involves going into 百丽广场which is Shiny. Embarassingly shiny, when you consider how poor some people are even in Qingdao. I thought Harry Potter, or 哈利波特, Hali Bote, was rather good although Becka's chair, she was sat in front, kept shaking as she convulsed with laughter at various points that weren't supposed to be comedy moments. It was English language with Chinese subtitles and it was rather interesting to read those, or the parts I could take in before they disappeared again. Most of the names were transliterated but Sirius' was 天狼星 which is the Chinese name for the same star-"Heavenly Wolf Star" although weirdly his surname as Black was not written as 黑 but rather 布莱克, Bulaike.

Only one last installment of Harry Potter and then it really is over. Sad :(

After class Becka and I went and helped Anthony in a class he had to give. It was an oral lesson and at first they were rather shy in talking to us but by the end of the hour we had a really interesting discussion going. So much so that several hung around and we talked for a further hour about democracy, heritage, and marriage. We were talking about democracy and they said that China was not one, and I said that the UK wasn't really either. I don't really call electing one MP every 5 years, with councillors sporadically in between, democracy. I asked if they trusted their leaders and they said yes. The lad said he wanted to vote but wasn't actually going to do anything to bring it about. This annoyed Becka, who dislikes apathy :P We asked if they thought a monarchy or a republic was better and they plumped for republic but couldn't quite say why a largely unelected president, who changes only every 8 years, was better than an inherited monarch. They said that if a president did a bad job, he could be removed but history shows that it is actually fairly easy to remove a monarch as well...

Then we talked about heritage and tradition. The Chinese are very proud of their country's 3000 years of civilisation (the lad thought Britain only had 500 years) but we argued that as they completely trashed it during the Cultural Revolution, China was only really 30 years old. 20th century Chinese history is so sad it really is. They just turned on themselves in this explosion of self-hate and ripped down anything precious. That's why antiques are so highly prized here and fakes abound-everything else got smashed. People describe China as a tiger, or even a dragon, but I think it is really a phoenix, rising from the ashes.

Then we talked about marriage. The lad asked if I wanted a Chinese boyfriend and looked hopeful. What I noticed was that although we get married at similar ages, the Chinese are far more likely to stay together. Although their divorce rate is inevitably climbing. One lady's grandmother is still alive and she has bound feet. Apparently they are tiny and you can only make out the big toe. She has to be supported everywhere. When she had them first bound she cried every day. The Chinese always pull up foot-binding and women's rights to justify the revolution, and it's hard to disagree.

Eventually we had to leave but it was very interesting!

Then Becka and I went to Jusco and bought a bag of oats, some milk, and a microwave. In theory, tomorrow, this combination will produce porridge but we shall see. The microwave cost me 600元 and was a bit of a challenge to get home. The original plan had been to get a taxi but when I first hefted it it didn't feel so heavy so we hauled it to the bus. The bus was pretty full but we reached our stop and managed, somehow, to haul it off again. It had got rather heavier by this point. Then we had to cover the 500m home. We did this in relays, with Becka carrying the bags whilst I carried the damn microwave, and then vice versa. By the end our arms were killing! It is now on my bedroom floor. I spent hours peeling the bloody protective plastic off (the Chinese LOVE packaging- even biscuits in packets come individually wrapped). But we heated up Becka's dinner and it works! So finger's crossed for the porridge...

On the way to Anthony's school we walked along the seafront for a while. Today was lovely and clear. The Yellow Sea was sparkling. I love being able to say that I live on the shores of the Yellow Sea. It sounds so exotic!