History Comes to Zhuzhou, Or Almost Did

Those of you who have seen Disney’s 2001 film, Pearl Harbor, may remember the America’s retaliation raid on Japan led by Lt. Col. Doolittle. Like the bulk of the movie, the depiction of this raid, which was executed on April 18, 1942 by 80 members of the US Air Force, is based heavily on the reality of the actual raid.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 21, 1941, the US government and military began to plan a retaliation attack to be carried out as soon as possible. The planning committee quickly discovered that it would be impossible for US planes to take off from the closest American landing strip and fly safely to the Japanese homeland. Plan B dictated that pilots be trained to fly B-25B bombers off of air craft carriers. This was a feat had never been attempted before and was planned to allow the planes to take off only 400 miles from the Japanese coast, much closer than the nearest air force base on land. After bombing several targets in Japan, the pilots would then fly on to China, with little remaining fuel they had.

On the scheduled day of the attack, everything was going according to plan until the USS Hornet, which was carrying 16 B-25B bombers 201 pilots and crew members got within 650 miles of Japan, 250 miles from the intended take off location. The ship and those escorting her were spotted by a Japanese picket boat, which radioed a warning to land. Rather than risk the entire mission, Lt. Col. Doolittle ordered planes take off immediately.

The operation went well and all the intended targets in Japan were successfully hit. However, because they were forced to take off 250 miles too soon, the air men were unable to reach their intended landing location and were forced to land in rice patties throughout the Chinese countryside. The Chinese people were very helpful to the lost US pilots and most were able to return to America unharmed. The mission was considered hugely successful, and although it did not do a substantial amount of damage to the Japanese targets, it boosted American morale greatly. Furthermore, the attack shocked the Japanese government and public and caused the Japanese military to recall several fighting units back to protect the homeland.

The real shame of the story is that the US Servicemen were unable to reach their planned landing site: Zhuzhou! American history almost made its mark in this city all those year ago.

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I was happy to learn about the raid’s planned landing site from this article on Coloradodaily.com, which is itself an interesting read. The article provides far more details of the Doolittle Raid from a pilots who survived the raid himself.

It's Not Too Late

I recently had the honor of visiting Lingyuan, a city in the Hunan countryside, with my friends, June and Rock. The visit was billed as the opportunity to visit Meishan Dragon Palace, a cave near June’s hometown, but my favorite part of the trip was far less exciting for everyone else.

Hundreds of years ago June’s ancestors began work on a family compound that still stands today. The large, traditional home was build so that there would be adequate room for the entire, extended family to live comfortably together. June’s family must have been wealthy when the home was built, as it is very intricate and ornate. Each door is adorned with a carved relief depicting some aspect of daily life. Carvings were used to decorate other parts of the home as well. Needless to say, the home is beautiful.



Time, however, has definitely taken a toll on the home. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s government demanded that the heads be removed from all the reliefs and so nearly every door has been defaced. Additionally, many of the other carvings have been exposed to the elements for sometime and show considerable wear.

Years ago, the Chinese government purchased the home from June’s family to protect and restore it. The family hadn’t actually lived in the home for some time, so they were happy to sell it. Unfortunately, the government hasn’t actually done any of the promised restorations. A 300 year old, traditional bed is simply sitting in a moldy, dusty room, more than likely on its way to ruin. Other aspects of the home and quickly falling into disrepair and likely won’t last much longer.

Like many other historical relics, the Chinese have fallen far behind on their upkeep. During the Cultural Revolution, many beautiful and time-honored Chinese buildings and temples were lost forever. Therefore, the Chinese can’t afford to lose any more of these pieces of history. If the government doesn’t quickly step up and take action, we could have nothing left for future generations to enjoy. As I don’t see government and popular opinion changing anytime soon, this is a real fear. But it's not too late, a change could still happen.

Do a Deer...

This Sunday my students participated in a singing competition sponsored by the school. Each class sang a common song as well as an additional song of their choice and was conducted by a fellow classmate. To separate themselves from the other classes, some classes chose to incorporate choreography or dancers into the act. Below are a few photos from the day. I’d love to share some of the video I took during the competition, however, due to current blockage of Blogger by the Chinese Firewall, I am unable to.

吸管

Oh, and for those of you who are interested, the Chinese word for straw is 吸管 and is pronounced "xīguǎn". I'll have to see if that will work as well for me the sucking sound has. Somehow I doubt it.

创造力. Creativity. Die Kreativität.

According to a recent study, I may just be more creative than you for having lived abroad.

I came across this interesting post in the Economist’s Business Travel blog, Gulliver, a few weeks ago and wanted to share it with you. According to the blog article and the referenced study, living abroad seems to make people more creative.

I can’t say for sure that I’m more creative than you, but I can say that China has made me think outside the box more often when communicating with non-English speakers than I’ve ever have before. For example, every few days or so I decide to treat myself to a soda after school. China is super dirty and as a result, you won’t see me touching the rim of the can to my mouth. Chinese people feel the same way, so every small shop has a bunch of straws for the people who buy canned beverages. Sometimes the straws are located on the counter and I can just take one myself. Other times, however, they are stashed under the glass counter and I have to ask for one. The problem is I don’t know how to say straw in Chinese. I could look it up, but I’ve just never done it. Instead I’ve developed a motion that means straw. I say, “have not have” in Chinese and then hold the can up and make a sucking sound with my mouth. It hasn’t failed me yet. The shop owner always knows that I want a straw. My friend, Caroline, has developed her own system for getting a straw that involves a different hand and mouth motion that also works. There are many many non-verbal ways to get a straw.

I’m not saying this is the most creative thing I’ve ever done, but situations like this one come up on an hourly basis in China. As my time in China is drawing to a close, many of my American friends have begun to talk about what it’ll be like to be back in an English speaking country. In China, I’ve danced around the store to get what I want, baked banana bread in a rice cooker, and used hair bands to fasten countless things closed. In only a few months, none of this will be necessary. How strange it will be to have things I want and to be able to communicate with the public using words! I just hope my creativity doesn’t wane.

The Chew of Hunan

During the first week of orientation in China we were sent on a scavenger hunt all around Changsha. Armed with one group member who spoke Chinese, 100 RMB, and a list of items to find, we were let loose on the unsuspecting public. There were many things on the list that were easy to find: a Chinese flag, a Chinese knot, Beisha beer, KFC ketchup, a picture of a younger Mao, and a business card. There was, however, one thing on the list that no one in my group had the slightest idea what it was. It was something called a betel nut. We searched high and low to find that stupid nut. We tried to translate it into Chinese. We asked countless bystanders if they knew what it was. In the end of the game, we never did find out what a betel nut was.

Now, over nine months since that fateful day, I can barely imagine a time when I didn’t instantly recognize the look and smell of the betel nut. Also called the areca nut, the betel nut is chewed daily by any self-respecting Hunanese male. The nuts are harvested from the areca tree in the tropical pacific, packaged, and sold in large quantities in Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Hunan. Oddly enough though, it is rare for betel nut to be found in any other Chinese city out side of Hunan and Taiwan.

The nuts are chewed for their effects as a mild stimulant, causing a hot sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness. Like chew, betel nut is a carcinogen, which releases its drug through the walls of the mouth. According to Wikipedia, the effect of chewing betel nut is relatively mild and could be compared to drinking a cup of coffee. Betel nuts have created an entire generation of people who have ruined their teeth and gums.

I’m not sure what got into me a few days ago, but I decided to try a betel nut for myself. I figured that since it’s only chewed in this area of China, I will likely never live in a place that chews the nut again. And being relatively exotic, I guess I though it would make a good story. I had heard that the nut was minty and “not delicious,” and I’d have to agree. Though I gave it a good go, I was unsuccessful at chewing the nut to it’s fullest extent due my gag reflex getting in the way. I’m not sad that I tried it, but I’m certain that I’ll never need to do it again.

If you, like me, are interested in trying a betel nut for yourself, let me know and I’ll bring a pack back to America. They are an uncontrolled substance in the states and can be purchased at many Asian grocery stores if you can’t wait that long or mine get taken away by Customs officials.

Zhuzhou from Space

I went on Google Maps to look at Zhuzhou for the first time today. Google's satellite images are really quite amazing and I thought I'd share them with you. It's just too bad that there was some mild cloud cover the day the photos were taken.

Below is a picture of Yandi Square and a portion of the campus of Number 2 Middle School, where I live. The orange arrow is pointing to my apartment building. You can also see the top of the tower that I mentioned in my post on December 20th, 2008 about pollution.



This is an image of the area surrounding Jing Yan Middle School, where I teach. As you may have guessed, the orange arrow points to the school. In the center you can see the "playground" where you've witnessed students "exercising," playing basketball, and putting out fires.