Southwest University in Beibei (near Chongqing)

My stereotypes and second-hand ideas about what life would be like at a Chinese university have been shattered after just a week at Southwest University--and my classes have not even begun. Colleagues are friendly; administrators far more positive, knowledgeable and helpful than any in my experience; and everywhere there is a sense of building for the future. The streets are clean, children are spoiled (I mean that in the best way!), and -- at least here in the Sichuan area -- the vegetation is lush.

My positive impression began on day 1 when I met the Southwest University Waiban (the administrator who looks after foreign faculty, visitors, and guests), Mr. Wang "Frank" Yougui, at the Fulbright orientation last week in Xiamen:

Optimism for the future begins with the infrastructure. I'm moving into a beautifully refurbished apartment in a week or so, Frank showed me his new office in one of the many comfortable high-rise buildings on campus, and even the computer and printer in my office are new. This investment in education is at every level of detail even with the appearance of older buildings:

Dr. Wang Yong, a young instructor, showed me to my office in Teaching Building Number 9:

Here he is at my office door:

My two classes will be in Teaching Building Number 10, accessed via this pedestrian bridge:

The campus spans several kilometers and slowly I'm figuring out the lay of the steep, terraced land with no straight streets. Students tend to stick to the smooth, paved roads, but I like the by-paths with their often steep steps (It's not called "The Mountain City" for nothin'.):

A Montessori Kindergarten is next door to my temporary apartment (and immediately outside the window of my soon-to-be apartment):

It gets light here about 8 a.m., a weird artifact of the single time zone Mao established for China. Each morning I have my coffee and breakfast to song, as the kindergarten children gather in their courtyard for exercises and singing. It's really delightful and I hope I do not tire of it (or arise hungover some morning):

The college campus is dotted with statuary and stele. Here is some nice engraving at the little park near my apartment:

On a warm afternoon herw, a few students sat talking and reading on the benches while waiting for a few items of laundry to dry:

This professor was an important someone, once disparaged during the Cultural Revolution but now recognized as an intellectual hero:

Water and time smooth all things, and Chairman Mao welcomes students to campus at the main gate:

This old horse seems ready to succumb to the weight of time and the moss growing on its back:

Confucius, though he looks to be the eyes of age, never seems to tire. Like the good professor above, his reputation suffered during the cultural revolution when statues like this one were often toppled or beheaded. There are several statues of Master Kong around campus, but this is my favorite:

In unravelling the lay of this enfolded landscape, it's nice to have many pleasant places to rest. Places like this terraced garden:

Or the many tables and stools/benches in the courtyards around most of the teaching buildings:

These I especially like as an example of art imitating nature:

A steep ravine with a creek runs through campus. There seems to be restoration work going on, I hope it doesn't disturb some of the old walkways and pavilions along the creek bed:

Alas, the old often gets tossed out for the new. A colleague showed me a shortcut to a pedestrian bridge leading to a market area. He told me there were recently homes here, but no one I've asked seems to know what became of the residents or what is to be built here:

Outside of young people on campus, very few local residents seem to have any knowledge of English. Sadly, my knowledge of Mandarin (spoken or written) is nil. This makes bargaining with street vendors an interesting experience. Despite my ignorance, an older woman was very kind in helping me buy a few kilos of her oranges at a very good price (9 oranges for 6 Yuan--about 1 dollar; this, after I gave up in frustration in dealing with several previous vendors). Positively the best oranges I have ever eaten. Unfortunately the Number One orange lady is on the right behind the two guys:

I eat breakfast and sometimes lunch in my apartment, but my main meals are at one of the excellent campus cafeterias. This one is close by and the 2nd floor dining room serves great stir fry selections and dim sum (dumplings) for around 7.50 Yuan. Thankfully, two students practicing their English skills helped me figure out to order, pay, and make the menu selections and I've managed with minimal help since then:

The one (and only) thing I don't like so far is the air quality. You can smell the coal and a fine layer of soot settles over everything outside. If China can solve this problem as it has so many others, it will be an even more amazing place.

Xiamen City, Orientation Week (2)

(continued from the preceding blog entry)

On a somewhat clear day, you can see the hills that dot the Xiamen skyline. All, it seems, have a monastery atop them:

Tianzhuyan Temple

I walked to this monastery a few miles from the hotel. At the entrance and attractive temples I found locals also out for a pleasant weekend stroll:

 Some also offer prayers at the various shrines, some benevolent looking and some quite fierce:

The bonsai dotting the courtyard walls were lovely, though surprisingly the crowds stuck to the temples and largely ignored the landscaping:

I was more interested in the "backcountry"-- trails leading from behind the temples and monks housing quarters to the hilltop. The monks went about their work and prayers, doing their best to ignore the Laowai intruder:

Many happy well-fed cats (that's probably redundant?) hung out near the monks' quarters, including CatBuddha:

And CatPeekaboo:

An entrance to the many paths of the Buddha began as a smooth, wide, well-developed walkway:

And soon narrowed to several forking paths:

Some leading through low, dark spaces:

And grottos full of little shrine figures:

Everywhere there were reminders of harmony with nature and the propensity for time to wear away all things:

This looked very much like a body bag, cached away off an obscure side trail in among some rocks. I did not investigate further:

Gulang Yu

Gulang Yu is "Walking Island," a smaller nearby island where cars were traditionally banned. Even today, only small electric tourist wagons operate. White dolphins are the totem animal, deriving from a legend that they once saved a child from drowning. The dolphins are now practically extinct though there are efforts to save them:

Gulang Yu was long controlled by colonial powers including Japan, England, and Germany. [Given the history of colonial efforts to subjugate China over the past 200 years, China's defensive posture in foreign policy is understandable!] This foreign occupation led to a strange mix of architecture, from very European (classical):

To European-Asian hybrid forms:

I'll suspend judgment about the Japanese compound and say that they did create a lovely Zen garden and walkway. Embedded in the walkway are contemplative geometric forms:

As a centerpiece, the garden has a naturally-sculpted limestone "dragon:"

Despite the ever-present new construction and sense of change, much of Chinese tradition remains, as I was reminded by this fishing boat we passed on our short trip back to the main island:

Orientation Week in Xiamen City (1)

Xiamen is an urban island on the Fujian Province coast. Often touted as "the most beautiful city in China," it is lovely for its hilltop monasteries, parks and gardens, and excellent beaches. My first impression, looking out my hotel window, was the seemingly ever-present haze of coal smog:

Without clothes dryers, apartment dwellers hang laundry wherever they can to dry it:

Many canals run through Xiamen City, some with lovely landscaping and habitat for egrets:

It's a nicely landscaped cities with many small parks and attractive sculptures:

Like most coastal cities of the world, residents have the benefit of fresh fish--including eel, one of my favorites:

Everywhere you look, there is construction. Cranes dot the skyline and buildings get taller everyday:

[continued in Orientation Week (2)]

Skywatch Friday: Venus in Montana?

Here in southwest Montana, one is seldom bored with the sky. Well, except perhaps for those seemingly endless bluebird days of July and August when it can be weeks between clouds. Even then, the happy feeling that one gets from clear air and the distant viewshed makes it hard to complain.

It's a mile-and-a-half walk from my college office to home. Some days, especially if I've been dealing with faculty union or administrative issues (instead of engaging with my friendly colleagues or teaching my beloved students), I really need that 30-minute walk to relax. A sky like this really helps (view is looking up Missoula Gulch from Montana Tech; not "gallows frames" or mine headframes):

Seeing this band of clouds pushing eastward, with clear skies to the west, made me hope for good colors in the east as the sunset. I was not disappointed. As reached my home in Walkerville, the cloud band had reached Butte's east ridge of the Continental Divide and the sun was low:

It's a great color and effect. My childhood friend, physicist Gary Robertson (Oh, the miracle of FaceBook!) tells me it's in part a belt of Venus effect as the pinkish sunset glow is highlighted by the lower dark band caused by the earth's shadow. Within minutes, the color shifted to red and soon it was dark:

Dave Carter and I got out for a hike in the hills along the Big Hole River and were welcomed by this familiar view of Browne's Bridge. Though it's been well below freezing at night and a lot of ice has built up on the river, the hills at this low elevation (c. 5,000 feet above sea level) are bare of snow:

After cross country skiing most mornings on the hills just north of my home, it's nice to hike around on bare ground. A bald eagle rose up from its roost along the river, making a nice contrast against dark clouds:

It wheeled around in a wide gyre before catching a wind current and gliding out of sight:

The dogs too found happiness in the day as we came upon a pronghorn antelope carcass, perhaps having been wounded by a hunter (and poor marksman) before the coyotes found and ate it:

Though no meat remained, MollyTheDog was perfectly content to carry a leg along for the next mile or so before finding greater interest in the scent of a jackrabbit or some mule deer that we jumped from a coulee (note cactus at lower left--tough on doggy feet!):

The mineral laden soil and desert climate result in salt deposits in low lying areas where water collects after a storm. Here, patches of saltbush, greasewood, or the spiny Shadscale ( Atriplex confertifolia) grow (note some sort of red blister rust or fungus, probably from last year's exceptionally wet, snowy spring):

Back to our parking spot and one last view of Browne's Bridge, as seen under the arms of a cottonwood tree, before we're on our way home:

Alas, dear readers, this will probably be my last post from Montana for c. 5 months as I leave next week for my Fulbright in Chongqing, China. I am strengthening my legs (and the software on my MacBook) to leap the Great Firewall, so hopefully once there I can access blocked sites such as FaceBook and Blogger.