Opinions on Beijing

At the end of this month, I will have been in China for one year. I have officially declared the weather in Beijing to be crappy. Based on my experience 5 out of every 7 days in Beijing the sky is cloudy or hazy and the air is bad. There have been some nice days during the fall and spring, but not enough.

Where does the bad air come from? Well, Beijing is surrounded by mountains. That was done on purpose to help protect the city and the emperor from invaders. So like Los Angeles or Phoenix, the smog and dust is generated by cars, construction, manufacturing, and the like and has no place to go. It takes strong winds or rain to clear it up.

However there are plenty of reasons to like Beijing too. This city is thick with culture. From the monuments, temples and palaces dating back hundreds of years, attractive Chinese style gardens and parks, to the attitude of the people, Beijing is the government and cultural capital of China and will never give it up and proud of it. Even Chinese people say when Beijingers meet people from other cities they always show interest and curiosity like an official from the capital going out to keep tabs on the provinces and keep the country unified. Beijingers are famous for being pretty generous too, which I have found to be true. That is in comparison to the people from Shanghai who are renown for stinginess and business savvy. Beijingers will welcome lots of guests and treat them well. I have been treated by many people for meals and entertainment. It makes me think customs learned by how the emperor and officials treated their guests.

Another big reason for liking Beijing is that the people speak standard Chinese (Mandarin). From my experience in some other cities, many people can speak Mandarin, but usually speak the local dialect among themselves. This makes for learning Mandarin much more difficult. So for students of Chinese, Beijing is the best place to live to have an environment of the target language.

I was back in school this past week after a week vacation. That vacation time was really good, I felt rejuvenated and ready to go back to school. Especially going to the Botanical Garden and smelling the flowers, breathing the fresh air, and walking through the hills was refreshing.

I have an idea to make an 80 year plan. When I am 113 years old and look back, what will I have wanted to accomplish, what will I have wanted to see and do, what will I want my life to have been like, what kind of legacy will I have wanted to leave, where will I live, what kind of house will I live in, what will my family be like, my children, my grandchildren, my health, my hobbies, my spirituality, my education, where will I have been, etc. Having a far-reaching, thoughtful plan will make everything I do have purpose and meaning. I will be able to check off items on my plan, making the most of each moment and use my time efficiently and effectively, and I can make adjustments along the way as necessary. I like the idea of a long-term plan because I can make my short-term plans with greater objectives in mind. This is along the lines of what I had in mind in creating an exciting vision for the future.

My classes will end at Renmin University on July 7th. My current plan is to go to Hong Kong the week after school is out and renew my visa then return to Beijing and work through the summer while I stay in the dorm. I am still waiting to hear back on my scholarship application.