A China Conversation

Naseem: It’s good to be back in Hong Kong after nine eventful days in populous China. Our hosts in Beijing University, Shandong University in Jinan and Nankai University in Tianjin were so hospitable, generous, and ever so respectful. I know you’ll find this embarrassing but I just have to say this because it was something that I observed at all the three universities we visited. I know you have an international reputation in aesthetics, but they treated you like a superstar!  

Bob: It was interesting that the first two universities had institutes of aesthetics and all three had faculty receiving government funding for aesthetics projects. There is a perceived connection between aesthetics and environmental issues.

Each university was so different from the next. Beijing University had lovely old Chinese style buildings surrounded by more modern, non-descript ones. The Center for Aesthetics was in an elegant house with a Chinese garden within. The floor was a glass enclosed fish tank, the walls and tables were covered with art. Shandong University was a sprawling campus of fifty thousand students still partly under construction. Nankai University, like the city of Tianjin itself, looks spanking new and well built. The city was destroyed by a devastating earth quake thirty years ago. This campus feels most like one you could find in the American Midwest.   

Naseem: I liked the fact that we almost always had someone, either a professor or a student to guide us in the cities. With our very, very limited Mandarin skills and tight schedule, it was a godsend. Since we spent the most time in Beijing, we had many opportunities to talk with the students and to hear about their issues and concerns. These centered mainly on: jobs, a place to live, and social issues like the increasing gap between the rich and poor. They all love American basketball with a passion – true in all three campuses. In Jinan, the 12-year old son of our host was a walking, talking, basketball statistician! I notice the Chinese also love to dance – something akin to ballroom dancing. We each had a twirl on one moonlit night in Jinan, with the giant statue of the Buddha smiling broadly on us!

Bob: I liked that our hosts rarely let us eat alone. What delicious food is found in northern China. Each province, sometimes each city, has its own cuisine and special dishes. Many of these we had never encountered before. When walking outside the gates of Beijing University in the morning, hawkers were making fresh bread much like roti prata, which could be purchased for 1 Yuan (15 cents). Such a simple breakfast was a prelude to a banquet later in the day. Jinan, a city of springs, is known for fresh water fish dishes made in countless ways, but also noodles made from soybean, and tasty greens.  In Tianjin we were introduced to Shanxi cuisine with such treats as spicy lamb ribs that fall off the bone and honey combs of wheat bread that one pulls apart and dips in a spicy concoction. At another banquet, we also tasted the tiniest cucumbers and their flowers.

 Naseem: I was excited by the range of art works that we encountered –from a museum tour of some of the rarest and most exquisite art of ancient China to folk art and the more contemporary offerings that we saw at 798 – the famous Beijing art district. It contains hundreds of art galleries. We only had a few hours to check this place out and were really impressed with the variety and energy of the Beijing art scene.

Bob: We should mention the professors who were our hosts in the three cities: Peng Feng, Cheng Xiangzhan, and Xue Fuxing. They were not only extremely generous in the time and hospitality they devoted to us, but they each became a good friend.      

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