Salty silliness

While it has been heart breaking to read the news and see the clips and pictures of the devastation in Japan, the Chinese’s reaction to what’s been going on has been borderline laughable. Of all the times to get in a frenzy the Chinese chose now? Now, I’m not trying to play down the real and plausible threat of a nuclear meltdown, or make light of the fact that thousands of lives have been lost and there are some still risking their lives to prevent another catastrophe or negate the potential for radiation to make its way over to the big dragon. But latest of “dumb ideas” is sweeping China by storm and taking all the salt with it. That’s right. The country is buying up all the salt.

New sources are now reporting that the radioactivity from Japan could contaminate the food supply, and supposedly a SMS is being spread throughout the country (and possibly Asia) that is saying that people need to buy all the salt they can get their hands on. Other reasons for the stalk up on salt are that these people think that salt will prevent thyroid cancer. But this CNN article dispels that myth pretty assuredly. And here are some pictures to show the mayhem.

What is so ridiculous about all of this is that there have been countless food safety issues in China in the past year (past week even) and people have just gone about their marry way. God only knows what is in the food over here (literally, I think God is the only one who knows) and I just don’t get why now, of all times, there is this sudden need to take precautions – that are useless mind you.

I kind of wonder if the country would be in the same panic if the radiation was coming from somewhere else (like Indonesia). Part of me thinks that this whole uproar doesn’t partly stem from their attitudes toward the Japanese. Now I am not going to generalize and say “the average Chinese person hates the Japanese,” but there is still some clear hostility toward their island neighbor (which can be seen in the paper I work for). So I wonder if these people who are so panicked about salt aren’t subconsciously, or consciously, doing so because this radiation isn’t just any old regular radiation, it’s Japanese radiation; really bad radiation. There’s no report or analysis to back this up. It’s just by passive observation.

Despite the salty silliness, my heart aches for the Japanese, those who have lost loved ones, and those who are putting their health and lives on the line to prevent another disaster.

Eagles...and my 100th post! woot woot!

I’ve only been to a few concerts in China and most of them involved a lot of foreigners. I’ve never been to one of these outlandish concerts where male popstars walk a fine line between tacky and cross-dresser like. I wasn’t sure that Chinese people even liked music where the singer’s sex was virtually indistinguishable, let alone 70’s country-rock.

But then I got to go see the Eagles in Beijing and my perceptions of Chinese and their music tastes changed – for the better.

First of all, I was a little surprised that the Eagles, of all bands, were coming to China. They didn’t start advertising it until about January and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be another hoax (Bob Dylan was supposed to come to Shanghai last year, but someone up in Beijing put the stop to that). I knew I wanted to go see them and knew a few other lao wais who would want to go too. I didn’t really know any Chinese friends who would be interested because frankly, I didn’t know the Eagles were popular among the natives. Sure, I’ve heard cheesy renditions of Hotel California playing in the mall and Desperado is a go-to song for non-Chinese singing KTVers, but I didn’t realize how popular the Eagles were until I asked around about a week before the concert.

I told the mother of the little girl I tutor on the weekends that I wasn’t going to be in Shanghai the next weekend because I was going to Beijing to see my brother. She asked what I had planned to do and I told her we were going to the Eagles concert. “Oh we’re going here in Shanghai.” Oh really? I was surprised this conservative-looking family (who is definitely racking in the money) knew about and even liked the Eagles. She went on to explain that her husband was a big Eagles fan in college. “He used to want to be in a band like the Eagles. He used to play the drums.” Ok, I thought. So maybe this guy is like Chinese 30-year-something-old version of my dad.

Then I was talking about the concert with some coworkers. While the post 80s generation (those born after 1980, younger than 30 and are only children), might not be too keen on the Eagles, a lot of the 70s-born are it seems. My coworker was telling me that she and her classmates learned English in high school and college with help from the Eagles. “A lot of us grew up listening to the Eagles, and it brings back happy memories of younger years for me.” I told her that I also grew up listening to the Eagles – not to improve my English but from my dad playing on the stereo all the time.

After learning that the Eagles do actually have a significant fan base in China, it was time to go to Beijing. The concert got off to a slow start with the Eagle’s playing some stuff from their “new” album, which I equated to my mom was “Grandpa music.” But about three songs in they really got going. Now, I’ve been to about 5 Eagles concerts in my life and this was by far the most unique. The band is getting on up there in age, but it was neat to be sitting with a bunch of Chinese people who appreciate the same music I grew up listening to. They cheered, danced and were a pretty energetic crowd! And boy did they go crazy for Hotel California and Desperado.

My brother, who has been in China for going on 5 years, said it was the best concert he’d seen in China. I was glad to not only see a really good show, but also share in an important part of my culture and my home country’s culture half way around the world.

From NYAFC to CD

There are many, many times when I look at my life and think “Wow, how did this happen?” – both good and bad. And luckily this post is all about the good. I’ve been holding out with telling you few readers about my life plans, but I’ve got a column being published on Sunday that I’m kind of proud of and think it’s time to let the cat out of the bag.

Well, dear readers, yours truly will (eventually) be co hosting a TV show here in China… and for now, I'll have a weekly column pertaining to the show’s topic. I secretly have always wanted to do broadcast journalism, but just thought that my passion and interest in writing would be better fulfilled in print media – although I also never saw myself working at a newspaper! But when my psuedo boss told me about this new opportunity I was all over it. It's not exactly "journalism" (but what in China is?) but it is TV experience and something that is one step in the right direction for me to achieve my goals.

Not only am I excited about a potential break in to TV, I’m also really excited to have what will soon be a weekly column. I’ve enjoyed posting on NYAFC because I feel like it’s kind of column like and I can make it my own. When I got started writing this new column, I had a little trouble with the first few though. I mean, I'm young and what could I possibly have to say that is that original and interesting? But after some advice from the editors up in Beijing, I think I’ve found what can be my “voice” for this CD column.

The TV appearances have yet to start, but you can be sure I’ll let y’all know when I make my TV debut in China. Actually, it will be my second debut as (I’m told) my appearance on Wheel of Fortune also aired in China.

By the way, if any of you are interested in seeing past articles I’ve written go here and you can see what yours truly has been up to. I realize that this kind of gives up my attempt to be “anonymous” but whatever. This blog really isn’t that popular anyway. The list is a little slim, but keep in mind, most of my job is rewriting what the Chinese staff have (usually poorly) written.