china: day four

Today's lecture on Chinese history was delivered well, but it was almost a perfect echo of Park Coble's course at UNL. The biggest difference is that Professor Coble spent much more time on Chinese philosophers than our professor here did; Coble spent two full classes on the philosophy of legalism, which the professor here didn't even cover.

In the evening, we took a bus to the Muslim quarter. It was the perfect, stereotypical image of the Chinese street market. Vendors hawked everything from spices to dumplings to Chairman Mao pocket watches. Everything except pork, of course. It was a strenuous exercise in Chinese language, barter, and keeping track of your wallet. Rickshaws, bicycles, and the occasional Mercedes plowed through hundreds of pedestrians. It seemed like a miracle that nobody got hurt. We then ate at a nearby restaurant famous for its soup-filled dumplings. They were fantastic, if a challenge to eat.

There was a Starbucks Coffee not far from the restaurant. To put things into perspective, I've been paying RMB1.00 to RMB3.50 for most of my meals. A 600ml bottle of beer costs RMB2.50. The drinks at Starbucks cost anywhere from RMB15 to RMB30. Even though that's on par with U.S. prices ($2-$4 for a cup of coffee) they stood out from the entire meals I'd been getting for $0.50. The look of the place reflected its prices--arched wooden beams formed the ceiling, soft jazz played, and artsy light fixtures washed customers in a gentle golden glow. It was an atmosphere more fitting a hotel lobby than a coffee house.

I continued to experience cognitive dissonance at KTV Party World, a karaoke, well, place. I'm not sure how to describe it. You walk in, and marble pillars rise from a marble floor to a twenty-five-foot vaulted ceiling. Brass adorns everything. The receptionist then directed us to our room, where we sang the night away. Now, when I said "our room," I hope I adequately implied that there are other rooms. There were at least a hundred tiny rooms with soundproofed doors scattered throughout the building, and a different party was going on behind every door. It was unlike everything I had ever seen, and I could only wonder what could have created the economic demand to support such a place.