HBA Field Study Week

So for the past few days of this week, I have not been stuck in my room memorizing Chinese or in class because it's field study week!! three cheers for that!

Anyways, for my field study topic, I chose to focus on the education system in China, because 1) I am interested in education in general, esp. that of the high school and college and 2) I think it would be interesting to compare the education system of the States and China. So far I have interviewed two high school graduates who had just taken GaoKao, which is Chinese version of the SAT, except it's much harder and meaningful. This is a test that you take when you are a senior in high school and it's takes place in the middle of June for three days. It's an extremely rigorous process in that it kind of determines what your life is going to be, and you only have one chance per year to take it. Students in China start to prepare for GaoKao starting in elementary school since from the day they entered school all their parents and teachers start to drill in their heads about the importance of GaoKao and how much does their score on GaoKao matter for their chance of getting in a good college, which translates into a good job, which then determines a good life. And this is true to some extent as there is no college application process as we know it in the States, in China, the determinant factor for whether a college will accept you or not is your GaoKao score. Different schools have different score requirement, so for example, QingHua or Beida, which are like the Harvard and Yale of China, obviously will have really high score requirement. But anyways, to show how important GaoKao is to the Chinese population, when I was in Beijing during the time of GaoKao, one of the taxi I took had to go around some streets because GaoKao was taking place at that location, and the government has this regulation that there cannot be cars near the place of GaoKao to provide the best testing environment for students. And taxi drivers have to take students to their testing places anytime during the time of GaoKao as long those students have a testing ticket, ensuring that all students will have the transportation tool to get to the place of GaoKao. There are these red banners encouraging students to study hard and perform well, and of course, there are these count down things that are along the lines of counting down for the Olympics. The two students I interviewed viewed GaoKao as something not the most ideal college application tool but a necessary one. Their views are shared by many of the college students and professors/teachers I have interviewed.

Independence Day..or not....

So July 4th was Independence Day, and our teacher announced that in light of the national holiday, we would not have homework on Wednesday night. Well, that sounded really good and we all cheered in Chinese, but it actually did not work out that way. So instead of the writing an essay on Wed. night, we had to do it Tues. night, and of course, none of us wrote an essay on Tues. night and waited until Wed. night to write it. So there goes our holiday relaxation time. And even though we did not have homework, we still had a quiz the next day, which means we still had to preview the chapters and memorize all the vocabularies - what a bummer!

Beijing Opera

So last Sat. night, HBA organized a trip to see the famous Beijing Opera. I was really excited because I have only heard my grandma sing some random parts of Beijing Opera to me when I was little and heard some those old radio channels. After a 30 minute bus ride, we arrived at Beijing Opera Theater (or something similar to that name) and I was immediately struck by the grander of the place. It was nothing like an old Beijing Opera house - it was gigantic, magnificently light with chandeliers hanging down from the high ceiling, and decorated with various posters, draperies, and other symbols of the opera tradition. Our seats were close to the center of the room, so we got a really nice view. There were these really fancy, traditionally designed Chinese tables surrounded by 6 or 7 matching armchairs. In the center of the tables, there were plates of fresh peaches (something very Chinese...I think...like it's a fruit of luxury...I am not sure...), these sesame/peanut/I don't know what they are candies and snacks. There were also teacups with a bit of tealeaves on the bottom, and this is the most exciting part of this whole opera experience (and I am sure many HBA students would agree with me...) - there were these guys who would carry a tin teapot with a really, really, really long spout (it was like 2/3 of my height!) and they would use those teapots to pour water for your tea. Like that was not hard enough - they would actually perform some hongfu-ish looking tricks and then pour your tea. For example, they can flip the teapot up in the air, twist it around a few times around their waist and arms, make it go in all directions, doing all these tricks with grace, agility,speed, and professionalism, and at the same time, not dropping one single drop of water on the ground!!!

After we "wooed" and "ahhed" over these tea, the curtain opened and the opera began. There was an ensemble of traditional Chinese instrument in the background, and a women dressed in a colorful, sparkling custom entered the stage. She sang in a really, really, really high voice, and thank goodness there were these screens with the lyrics and English translations, or else I would never have understood a single world she had sung. I was actually a bit disappointed in her performance because I remember the Beijing operas that I have heard when I was little were much better, but I guess that's because it was a long time ago and more talented people were interested in working in such an old job field (and also maybe the mic was too loud...). But either way, it was really cool.

The first act was followed by a more exciting performance because this time where was wushu or hongfu involved. I think the story was about a goddess falling in love with a mortal and the divine army got really mad and started a war or something like that. But there were many more characters this time with faster beat in the background. All these actors are flipping in the air and doing all types of trick with their fake weapons. There were also some funny parts with a person acting as a turtle (also part of the divine army...I think the goddess was from the sea or something..) and he was horsing around stage and could not flip himself over on his back (or shell). After this act was over, it was also time for us to leave.

(Oh, forgot to mention this, but there was an opportunity for us to go backstage (such VIP treatment!) and watch those actors put on stage makeup. It was really scary how much makeup they have to put on, and it reminded me of those 18th-century (or was it 17th?) French operas (the funny ones). One of the actors told me that there are lots of lead in the makeup they use, so they have to put on a layer of protective cream to clog up their pores before applying any stage makeup. Or else, the lead would seep through the pores and go into their body system, which will not be a good thing at all!)


Our delicious tea snacks....I felt very cultured...


Backstage observing the actors applying makeups and such..


And she sang beautifully...