Full of Pride

Apologies for the lack of posts as of late; October hasn’t slowed down for a second with work and the Smith boys were in Shanghai off and on the last two weeks. Family time is great, but coupled with 9-10 hour workdays (and leaving even though there’s more work to do), but it’s nice to have some me time again.

For those of you who aren’t facebook friends with me and didn’t see my shameless self-promotion, I’m going to post my article here, too. It’s really exciting to see your byline in the newspaper (and I realize this gives up my attempts of anonymity on the site so know “big brother” has figured me out).

I was really, really excited to cover this year’s ShanghaiPRIDE festival for the paper. It’s only the second time that a LGBT event has been hosted in China and acceptance of this community has a long way to go, but the reasons are much, much different in the US.

I don’t think I’m going to go out on a limb when I say this, but much of the “debate” over gay marriage and DADT in the US stems from religious reasons. There really is no religion here influencing the attitudes of the Chinese. I think the main issue here is that parents have narrow ideas of what their children are supposed to do in life. Children are supposed to get married (preferably before 25), get good jobs, make babies and then support the parents. Being gay doesn’t fit so well in this picture.

It was really neat talking to some of the people in the gay community, and it’s really exciting seeing an event (rather series of events) in a country that lacks a bit with human rights. And it was even more exciting to be able to cover it for the country’s largest English language newspaper. They’re not covering it in the Chinese media (or so far they haven’t), but as one person I talked to said “as the younger generations who would want to cover this gain positions that can make decisions there will probably be more coverage.”

Whatever your opinions on gay rights/marriage/military service may be, there’s no denying that ShanghaiPRIDE is a step in the right direction for China.

Noble Nobel

Just want to give a shout out to Liu Xiaobo, an important human rights figure in China for being awarded this year’s Nobel Peace prize. I’ll let you know if they run anything in the Chinese media - it’s doubtful.

My new love: Moganshan

Views from Moganshan Mountain. I was in love!

So yesterday I talked all about Hangzhou, so I’m going to devote today’s post to Moganshan, arguably one of my new favorite places in China. Typically, I have fallen in love places here that evoke a sense of culture, history and untarnished, authentic “Chinese-ness” (however, those places are fewer and farer in between). I can’t really say that Moganshan screams “China”, but it is definitely historical and for about 72 hours I forgot I was in China.

Moganshan used to the destination of choice for foreigners living in Shanghai and surrounding areas back in the early 1900s, before the commies came to power. Most of the architecture isn’t your typical Chinese temples or pagodas – it’s actually a lot of Western-style mountain homes. I guess Mao like this area too much to completely rid it of its capitalists influences so the houses stayed intact.

I think the area kind of dropped off the radar for foreigners (but stayed popular for some Chinese tourists) until a few years ago, when the influx of “laowei” really got going. Even with the increasing popularity, it’s still got a small-town, mountain village feel with the restored stone houses that have been converted to guest houses and the few hotels dotted along the one paved road going up the mountain.

We stayed in a bread-and-breakfast type house a little ways up the mountain. It’s run by the wife of a former “mini-media mogul” in Shanghai, Mark Kitto, who started the first series of expat mags in the city - only to have them taken away by the CCP (that’s another interesting story which should make a good blog post later). While his wife is busy with their mini-hotel, he runs “The Lodge”, a restaurant/coffee shop that has AMAZING food. We ate there the first night and loved it so much we were squeezed in for a meal the next night too. The staff (and Mark and his wife) were super hospitable, a nice change of pace from the usual Chinese sub-par service. It was fun talking to Mark and getting his opinion on writing and media, particularly in Shanghai. In a way it inadvertently helped me distinguish which path to continue to strive for.

Being surrounded by blue skies and ever greens on the mountain was just what mom and I needed to escape from Shanghai. At night we could see every star in the sky – most nights in Shanghai or any other major Chinese city you’re lucky to spot 5 (and even then, they could just be satellites). We went hiking (more like walking along paths and up some stairs) for most of the day on Monday and even stopped off at a “tea plantation” for lunch. All the food on the mountain is locally grown and our lunch of farm-fresh veggies and pork was one of the tastiest meals I’ve had in a while. Just to give you an idea of how fresh the meat is we saw a chicken go from walking around with its head on, then with its head off, then with its feathers plucked and then on someone’s plate. Mom was worried about the sanitation, but as I told her, if people aren’t getting sick and its recommended by the house then I’m sure we’ll be ok.

By the time we left on Tuesday afternoon, we were both exhausted. Four days of walking, biking and hiking had done us in. Now, I’m not out of shape (I don’t think) but muscles were hurting in my legs that I hadn’t used in quite a while. Perhaps it was all the hills on the mountain.

Anyway. I’m kind of sad to be back at work and not on holiday, but if there was a time to need a break and a place to go, Moganshan in October was just what I needed!

Weekend away!

Just a glimpse of the crowds in Hangzhou....

But totally worth it for views like this!

It’s amazing what a little time away from work and the craziness of Shanghai will do to the spirit! My mom and I got home yesterday from a great four-night trip to Hangzhou and Moganshan. Despite it being a national holiday, it was the perfect time to go - the weather was, for the most part, great and we spent the holiday walking, biking, hiking, reading, drinking wine and eating. So today’s post will be about Hangzhou because I have too much to say about both places to keep it to one post!

I was borderline paranoid that our days in Hangzhou were going to be disastrous. Hangzhou is probably the most popular place to for the October National Holiday because the fall is probably the best time to go. But for the two of us, we almost enjoyed the hoards of people. As my mom said, “it added another dimension to the experience.”

The most famous attraction in Hangzhou is the West Lake, which is in the heart of the city. Luckily for my mom and me, we were staying at a hotel practically on the West Lake. Despite the fact that it took more than an hour to get from the train station to the hotel, once we were there we could walk (or bike) almost anywhere. Friday night when we arrived we just took a little stroll along a path along the lake, but on Saturday morning we decided to join the, literally, thousands of visitors and try to see it all.

We rented bikes that morning and set off on our journey around the lake. It started out alright with dodging the masses, but by noon the lake and sidewalks were so packed with people we could barely ride our bikes. And then there were all the “country bumpkins” who had most likely never seen foreigners before (at least a blond foreigner). There were countless “hello’s”, stares and people wanting to take a picture with the foreigners. It’s really funny the stark difference between Chinese people who do this kind of stuff who mean it in a polite way, those who can be rude about it and those where you can’t really tell. I think my mom finally gets why most of us foreigners get so annoyed with the shouts and stares.

I tried to mentally prepare for this leg of our trip, but I was worried the plethora of “China days” I’ve been having would get the best of me. I was also worried it would be too much for Mom to handle. Despite the massive amounts of people, we really had a fun time exploring the lake and a little bit of the city. Mom was such a good sport, too. She just kept laughing about all the people. If it was any other person I would have just given up and gone back to the hotel to take a nap - but she kept wanting to go out and see stuff.

And the lake was really spectacular and beautiful. Even with crowds of people, it was calming and relaxing to be surrounded by water a greenery.

After a long morning and afternoon of bike riding and exploring, we went to an outdoor show on the lake called “Impression of West Lake” directed by China’s Stephen Spielberg, Zhang Yimou, that night. We had seen another outdoor waterfront show that was directed by this guy in Yangshou last December, but the one in Hangzhou is much better. For anyone reading this blog in China who is debating whether or not to see the show - go. It was a neat story and the lighting, effects and backdrop were all beautiful! The only downside was that it rained the whole time, but, clad the poncho they gave us, we sat in the rain and enjoyed the show, once again laughing at our uber-Chinese experience.

After an eventful day and half in Hangzhou, the next morning we had a little time to go exploring another part of the lake that we hadn’t seen the previous two days (it’s a big lake) before heading off to Moganshan! We finished off our Chinese holiday with even more people than the day before arriving to the mountain were we would find the isolation and quiet we were ready for!