The Horror of Xizhimen Subway Station

Everyday I commute to work on the subway and I have to transfer from Line 13 to Line 2. Normally a transfer is an unpleasant part of the subway, exasperating but not too horrific. However, Xizhimen station is not a normal transfer station, and its ease of transfer is clearly on the ‘horrific’ side of things. It’s pretty bad. Every time I go through the station I want to pull my hair out and maim the management behind the station. You see the reason the station drives me crazy so much is not really because the transfer is bad, its because it could be so much better with minimal work. The infrastructure is there, so why have there not been any changes?

Let me explain through a series of photos (these will have to wait until I get home) how you are supposed to transfer from Line 13 to Line 2. Line 13 is an elevated line, and Line 2 is underground. When I first came to Beijing they were changing parts of Xizhimen station to improve the transfer and to add another line to the station, Line 4 (which I don’t use very often). While they were building a corridor to transfer from Line 2 to Line 13 (and presumably vise-versa), they built a ‘temporary’ way to transfer. Temporary is in quotations because they still use this transfer route! The temporary route takes one outside of the raised portion of the station, down a sidewalk and into underground section. The sidewalk area has been fenced off so people from the street can’t sneak on. It is very slow and, and they have inexplicably built what I like to call a ‘cattle corall’ for everyone to walk through to make it even slower.

Before the indoor corridor was completed, passengers transferring in both directions (13 to 2, 2 to 13) had to use this outdoor abomination, and it was very slow going indeed. Presumably, with the completion of the corridor, the outdoor transfer would be abandoned. It has not been! Half of the corridor is used for Line 2 to Line 13 passengers, while the other half is not even used! It sits empty. Line 13 to Line 2 passengers must still use the nightmarish outdoor transfer. Why, why, why? I would love to have a good talking to with the sadistic managers of the station to hear why perfectly good infrastructure sits unused while passengers are subject to daily torment.

I have however found a way to prevent myself from being subjected to such daily pain. I now jump over a barrier in the raised part of the station to go use the corridor to transfer from Line 13 to Line 2. No one seems to care that I do this, and it makes my day so much better!

Finding an Internship in China

When I graduated from university I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do: go to China (specifically Beijing), study for a bit and then find a job. I had no idea how actually go about finding the job, but felt that with my qualifications (a history degree) that I would be better-off finding something in China rather than Canada. I’m not picky, and all that I wanted was a job in business. After I started working I could decided whether I liked it or wanted to find something else.

According to recent media reports, many recent graduates have been departing the west to search for opportunity in China. A New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/business/economy/11expats.html) describes this phenomenon indicating that China is a ‘land of opportunity’. Opportunities may abound, but how does one find them, especially without connections? This was the problem that I was confronted with after completing my Chinese studies in Beijing in January. I didn’t want to study anymore because I felt I needed to get going with my life. I wanted to be self-sufficient.

I met a couple of people who were studying in my program who were also looking for internships. These two girls were looking for internships in PR. Now, I didn’t really know what PR actually was (something to do with the media?) but I decided to look in the same field after doing some research. The work seemed well-suited to me, as it involved a lot of writing and critical thinking, both things that I could do.

I went back home to Canada in February to get a new visa and researched companies while there. I sent some emails directly to companies and was delighted have arranged an interview for the day after I got back. The day of my interview I was very tired, but I thought it went quite well. I was only interviewed by the lady in HR and given an exam. She assured me that someone would get back to me. The following week, I got a call from another HR manager about doing an interview. Since I had been rejected from the first place, this was a welcome development. I did an interview with the HR manager and then another interview with a senior person in the company. Finally I had an interview with three Chinese people, which did not go well. A week later I was turned down. However, the failed interview was a valuable experience for me. I learned that the way to be successful in interviews is to tell the interviewee what they want to hear. I did not follow this, and said some things which, in hindsight, someone hiring would not want to hear.

At this point, I had no more leads and was in a difficult position. I had already emailed most of the PR companies in Beijing. I decided I would have to more aggressive. However, I had not yet contacted Chinese companies, just multinationals. Instead of emailing into a black hole, I decided to go directly to a company’s office. I chose one company quite randomly based on its location.

I was extremely nervous, but persisted, and visited the company’s office. I had some difficulty communicating with the receptionist about what I wanted (I didn’t know the word for internship), but I managed to get a meeting with the HR manager. She was very nice and she told me she would arrange an interview for me. A few days later, I had an interview with a foreigner who worked at the company. He was very young, but was nice and seemed very professional. His interview went well, and then I had a second inverview a week later with another person, a guy from Hong Kong. This interview also went well, and I was hired as an intern with a small salary.

The whole process took two months, but it does show that even if you have no connections in a city you don’t know, it is still possible to find an internship, or (hopefully) a job.

Weird request at work

Today at work I was whiling away the time by watching Chinese music videos when, to my surprise, someone came by needing my assistance. She did not speak any English, and while I understood she wanted me to make a phone call the England, I did not know why. One of my coworkers who speaks great English helped me. Apparently she wanted me to call Guinness World Records to inquire about having a new record established for most number of people with joint replacements walking together. Yes, people who have had their knees and hips replaced. Thankfully when I called the lady was not in the office.

A typical day at work

9:20: I arrive at work and see only two other employees have arrived. There are twelve people working in my section. I begin surfing the internet to pass the time.

10:00 By now there are seven of us. Where is everyone else?

10:30 I ask one of my co-workers if there is any work. He says that there might be some later after he had talked to some people

10:35: The phone rings repeatedly at the desk of someone who is away after about twenty rings I walked over, lift up the receiver and put it down. If they don’t pick up after a couple of rings, no one’s there!

11:00 I just found out there is a male employee here who is called Fish! Along with Orbit, Citrus, and Stoner, Fish is yet another on a long list of poorly chosen English names.

11:40 My first bit of work today. My coworker ushered me over because she couldn’t figure out how to write tone marks in Microsoft Word. It took me a minute to help her, and now I am back to browsing the internet.

12:15 I went to lunch with a fellow intern. We went to the cafeteria in the basement where we both got Korean food. The basement cafeteria is very poorly ventilated, and is quite smoky. I suggested we go to the nearby Altar of the Sun Park to eat. We had a lovely lunch in the tree-filled park.

1:15 Returned to work. I still have nothing to do.

2:25 My coworker begins cutting her hair. Apparently she needs to get rind of the ‘split ends’.

2:50 Another coworker gives me something to do. He forgot that I finished the work on Friday.

3:00 My boss has left already for the day!

3:15 My coworker (the same one who was cutting her hair) needs my help. I help her come up with an English slogan for an ad campaign for our company. I do most of the English work she gets.

4:00 My coworker sitting next to me is reading a magazine and watching videos. Her name is Vita, a bit of a strange name. I really want to go home

5:10 I’m pulled over to do some more English work. It takes me a few minutes.

5:30 Since my boss has left and there is no work, I leave half an hour early.

Dingzhou

Only thirty kilometers from Quyang is Dingzhou, a city on the railway that links Beijing to Shijiazhuang. The minibus from Quyang dropped me off at the train/bus station in Dingzhou, both on opposite sides of a chaotic square. I immediately got in line for train tickets at the station, and tried to buy tickets for the evening, but alas, they were sold out. I settled for a 7:45 morning train back to Beijing. Since I had to stay overnight, I found a hotel that was right next to the train station. It was a real shithole, the second-worst hotel I have ever stayed in. The bathrooms were dreadful and had no partitions. However, they were at least clean. The room was clean, but very basic. The owner, an old man, was very friendly to me. He obviously had little contact with foreigners; as he was taking me up to my room, we passed a guy who said ‘hellooo’ is a mocking way. This is typical Chinese behavior towards foreigners. The old man asked me if I knew him. No, I explained, I do not. But a lot of Chinese people like saying hello to foreigners.

My whole reason for going to Dingzhou was to visit the Liaodi pagoda, China’s tallest premodern building. The ride through the city to the pagoda showed that Dingzhou looked the same as every other Chinese city: dusty and ugly. Featuring horrible bathroom tile buildings of grotesque dimensions, Dingzhou was not easy on the eyes. Even in the ‘old quarter’ where all the historical attractions were, the city was hideous. In the hutong area behind the pagoda, I counted one building that looked more than sixty years old. As usual, it was in an appalling state of repair.

On the bright side, the pagoda was delightful. It was beautifully restored, and you could climb to the top. I enjoyed looking down on Dingzhou at the top, and saw some historical sights from the air. In a display of historical pictures in front of the pagoda, I saw that in the 1880s, a quarter of the pagoda had collapsed, revealing an interior ‘core’ pagoda. Very interesting.

Next I went to the Confucian Temple which was new, but nice. While there, a group of soldiers walked in and wanted me to take their picture with them. When I finished in the temple, I heard an old man outside ask someone about me. “That’s a foreigner, right? Not Korean or Japanese?” This is what you get in the boonies of China.

Quyang

I wanted to visit a town way off the tourist path, and Quyang was that town. Unlike Zhengding and my next destination, Dingzhou, Quyang is not even connected by railway. Apart from a large temple and a crumbling pagoda, Quyang has nothing for tourists. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Quyang, but was moderately surprised to see old-style buildings in the temple area. Apparently the local government wishes to attract tourism.

Quyang is not very well developed. Unlike the massive apartment towers in Zhengding, Quyang, had squat little apartment blocks, and I didn’t see a KFC there. Having a KFC is the mark of a city in China. Quyang’s claim to fame is its sculpture industry. Before I left on my trip, I did a quick internet search of Quyang and found a reuters article about the sculpture industry. It seems as though the economic downturn has severely affected Quyang, with orders drying up for the Greek style sculptures. Not surprisingly, there is little domestic demand for these kind of sculptures, so they sit in the workyards of Quyang. On my way out of town, I passed tons of these workshops filled with garish statues.

Overall, I quite enjoyed Quyang. The Beiyue temple was spectacular, and it was kinda fun stumbling across a decrepit pagoda in the midst of hutongs. People were very friendly to me in Quyang, which was nice, and no one tried to cheat me. I got a lot of stares but thankfully no hellos.

Zhengding

This weekend I visited Zhengding, a town located in the central China plain, just fourteen kilometers north of the Hebei capital Shijiazhuang. Nevertheless, Zhengding feels like a town in the countryside, far removed from the modernity of Shijiazhuang. I would estimate that massive development only began here a few years ago. In the north part of the city, four massive apartment buildings were under construction. A couple of other apartment buildings have been completed, along with a mall. I'm not entirely sure what the main industry is here, apart from tourism.

Happily for the town’s historical preservation, the massive development is quite removed from the old quarter. Development is so limited in this part of the city, that farmland is still present within the walls. Even so, there was actually very little that was actually ‘old’ in the old town, apart from the pagodas and temples. The main street in the old town was built in old style, but none of the buildings were really that old, including the dwellings in the many hutongs. Unlike the beautiful courtyard houses in Beijing, these hutongs had ugly brick houses. The city wall has not been pulled down, but is crumbling away.

I saw three other foreigners in the time I was there, but Zhengding still has a lot of work to do to make the city friendlier to tourism. It felt more like a frontier town than a real city. Pains should be made to beautify the surrounding hutong neighborhoods, and not build ugly modern buildings. Better hotels should be built that are up to international standards.

The historical sights within the city are very well-preserved though. Perhaps a few halls could be reconstructed to create an actual temple with worshipers. The Kaiyuan Temple, in particular cries out for a reconstruction of its two destroyed halls. Having a living, breathing temple with monks and incense creates a better atmosphere than a sterile historical site. This can be seen in the comparative popularity of the Longxing temple over all the other sites, despite its higher admission cost. I think Zhengding has a lot of potential to become a premier tourist attraction, but more work needs to be done to beautify the city and expand tourist’s amenities.

Beijing's Dilapidated Temples

Beijing has a number of very beautiful temples that have been restored for public viewing, after being largely ignored throughout the 20th century. A good example of a restored temple is the Temple of Successive Emperors, which was neglected for over fifty years, before being re-opened a few years ago. If you were too look at all the temples that are in Beijing in tourist guide, you would probably find about twenty, but in reality there are many more. The temples you don't read about are the ones that have been transformed into housing or other buildings, and that have escaped the destruction that runs rampant in old Beijing. Although many of these temples have already been torn down, there are still some remaining.

I had an encounter with one of these temples yesterday when I attempted to visit a restored temple called the Temple of Longevity. It turned out to be closed on Mondays (but curiously was open for tour groups), but next to the temple was a neighborhood of hutongs. Many of the ones right next to the temple wall had recently been torn down, but one complex of housing still stood. Facing the street was a closed, temple-style door, and a small, very old plaque, saying that this was the Yanqing Temple, which was under protection from the local government. I went inside and saw that it was filled with small buildings. Instead of there being a wide open courtyard, surounded by buildings, the courtyard no longer existed, and ugly brick buildings stood in its place. I confirmed with a lady that this was indeed a temple at one time, although who knows how long ago. The temple halls still remained, converted to housing. I hope the temple is restored at some point. I am a bit concerned though, because those knocked down hutongs right next to the Yanqing temple could be what happens to it in a few years.