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Hypocrisy of China at the Paralympics
The athletes performing at the Rio Paralympics are superstars of the highest order. To over come disability to become world class athletes able to outperform most able bodied people is an achievement of commitment, hard work and mental determination beyond what any of us face in our lives.Furthermore, for a disabled person in China to reach such heights, despite a complete lack of disabled facilities, such as buildings with elevators, ramp access to all public buildings and clear paths for wheelchairs across the country, is an even greater achievement.Yet I feel for China to dominate the Paralympics is a travesty of justice. They clearly spend so much money to "be the best" and make China look better than other countries to fund these athletes, but for the majority of disabled people in China they are barely able to leave their home. You rarely see people in wheelchairs or prosthetic limbs. I certainly see a lot of people missing limbs. If you visit orphanages in China they are filled with children who have physical and mental disabilities. The blind walkways around the city run into cars and telegraph poles and even walls. They are clearly not designed for blind people to actually use!At the same time, in 2008 at Beijing the crowds for the Paralympics were low. I watched many events myself and the stadiums were virtually empty except for the Birdsnest and Water cube where people just took photos and left. My students were aghast at the idea of watching the Paralympics and I had at least 4 separate people mention "they are not normal people" as an excuse. I was horrified at the timeSurely if China cared about it's disabled population it would spend less money on dominating the Paralympics and more on making sure all buildings in China and all public facilities were wheel chair accessible. It would promote the idea that people with disabilities can do jobs well and are able to support themselves in life. It would support schools and parents with disabled children and arrest any parent caught "dumping" a disabled baby. The idea of parents dumping their children because of a disability is sickening, and it sickens me to think of a parent not loving their child and just throwing them away or abandoning them at such centres across China. Yet given the lack of support it is hard to blame those who are already poor needing a healthy baby to one day work and help support the family rather than be a burden. Yet children with physical disabilities shouldn't be seen as a burden. As long as they are given a good education I expect they could do a better job than many able bodied staff I have worked with in my time.So when I see China at the top of the Paralympic medal tally I am extremely proud of the athletes, but ashamed by the idea that the government cares more about what other countries think than of making real, life changing policies to improve the lives of all disabled people in China.
I'm Jack's Wasted Life
I am a passionate person. I believe deeply in many causes and try to enjoy my life to the fullest. I encourage my students to try new hobbies, get off their computer and out of their dorms in their free times. To really experience life.Yet when it comes to my mother-in-law it seems there's nothing I can do. She has virtually no hobbies and never travels. She is 60 years old and financially, between her, my wife and I, could live a very comfortable life. Until recently she seemed to do nothing but cook, clean and sit around staring at nothing. So she got a full time job, 6 days a week, cleaning. Washing floors and scrubbing toilets. She'd rather do this than find a new hobby or try to enjoy life. (I get it, to her, this is contentment, but that is such a depressing thought)She is only concerned with the happiness of her daughter and I, which, while I understand the sentiment, believe is a very false outlook. To truly make your children happy you must remove their concern and worry about you. Yet many Chinese people I speak to and see around me fall into a very depressing cycle that I'm sure many of you are familiar with.Be born.Overprotected in early childhood so you don't fully grow and develop.12-16 years of too much study, too little free time and very little room to grow as a person.Get a job.Get an apartment.Get married. (not usually to someone you love)Have a child. (but work too hard to spend time with them and enjoy parenthood properly) I'm Jack's medulla oblongataSpend 25 years working hard to support child.Retire and spend time looking after grandchildren.Die.(children repeat)While such noble intentions are to be lauded in many ways, without teaching your child how to A) support themselves in life & B) Be Happy, you are failing your child. What usually happens is your child follows your life choices and it repeats again.To truly make your children happy, make sure you are physically well, financially well off and enjoying your life through different hobbies and friendships. If your children see you enjoying life, they will do so as well. If your children see you have no real needs in life, they will be happy.I certainly understand why parents want to do everything and give everything to their children, but all I see is a lot of parents making their children miserable.What do you think?
My Two Weddings in China.
There was a recent post about a rural village wedding recently and I thought I would share my experience. After over 4 years of dating my wife and I decided on two weddings, one in her hometown which is a large village/small town in HeiLongJiang where only her family would attend, given the lack of amenities for my relatives and friends, then one in Beijing. By doing this it meant we could let her inlaws control everything in the hometown wedding, then we could do what we liked in Beijing. Let me break it down quite simply: Her Hometown Beijing Time started 10:15 17:00 Time finished (most guests left) 10:45 21:00 Time completely over. 12:00 02:00 Music? Yes, bad disco music we didn’t choose played too loudly Yes, my friend played some love songs, then we had a music list for after the dinner Dancing? No Yes, we danced, our parents danced with each other, all the guests danced then after we went to a bar where we all danced till the morning Host Yes, some woman we’d never met before Yes, the duties divided between several of our closest friends Clothes Traditional Chinese Traditional Chinese for ceremony, then changed into western for dinner and dancing Attendance? 400 people, all Chinese. Never really spoke to or knew over 90% of them. 100 people, 50% foreign, 50% Chinese. I knew about 80% of them. Food? I didn’t eat with the main party, but the guests were eating when we walked in and were finished and gone before we sat down in a small room with close family only. Seemed they enjoyed it. Brazilian BBQ, served hot and fresh with all you can eat salad and pasta bar. Everyone loved it. Location In a big open room in a restaurant with every side room also filled with guests. Quite garish, not very romantic and certainly not that clean by the end. Outdoors in the trees, beautiful decoration and wonderfully romantic environment. Hong Bao/Red Envelope Collected by my mother in law. I think we made about 70,000RMB profit which paid for a deposit on an apartment. I really appreciate this tradition now and always give 888RMB when I go to friends weddings now! Collected by a friend, covered about 60% of the costs of the wedding. Vows/Speeches /Ceremony The host talked a lot, I tried to say my vows in Chinese but don’t think anyone but my wife understood me. My wife and her parents gave speeches. Kowtowed to her parents, poured them tea, exchanged water in bai jiu glasses. Our father’s gave speeches. We had friends read love poems in English and Chinese. Instead of a religious official we had friends read declarations of love and marriage. Exchanged rings & vows in English this time. Pretty sure at least half the people understood me. Kowtowed to our parents and poured them tea. Entertainment Apart from the ceremony and food, none. Lion dancers & traditional Chinese musicians. Wife in a sedan chair, me on a horse. I shot a bow and arrow to kill the sky wolf, ghosts on the land and demons in the earth. My friend playing guitar and singing in English (our Chinese friend was meant to sing but couldn’t make it because of a car accident). Photos I have no photos of people eating, the restaurant or anything off stage. I do have about 300 photos of me posing with family members after the ceremony. We did not do, nor ever plan to do, a wedding photo company wedding shoot. Hundreds of photos of pretty much everything that were taken by family and friends. But sorry to say my wife doesn’t want her photo put on here so just a few small ones for you. Overall Experience A whirlwind and a plastic smile. Not at all for my wife and I but just to meet the needs of the in laws and local expectations. I was the first foreigner to marry in this village. Dozens of people said it was one of the best weddings they had ever been to, both Chinese and Foriegners. Two weddings I went to after copied many aspects from it. I would strongly recommend anyone in China to go with the lion dancer, horse, sedan chair etc thing as it is not actually that expensive and really makes sure everyone enjoys it. Or, as my father said "I'm not coming all the bloody way to China just for a dinner am I?"
China's Football Shame
While I am a very passionate person regarding many things in life, ales and beer, good coffee, travel, reading, swimming, cooking, music, movies etc, my biggest passion is sport. I follow many sports, both watching and playing, and one thing that bothers me a lot in China is the sports fan mentality.When I say "China's Football shame" I don't mean the lack of results by the Chinese national team or the corruption in local competitions. What is shameful to me is the Chinese football fan. To not support your national team and local club is a disgrace. No matter the results, whether you win or lose, you support your local club and country. While I accept you might not watch the CSL because you don't care too much for the quality, you would still watch the occasional game and check the progress of your provincial team. Even if you're country side has lost 50 in a row, you still support them at least in spirit. Not necessarily the players or management, but the team itself. You cannot respectfully support Barcelona or Real Madrid or Chelsea but have no interest in the Chinese team.I spent the first 20 years of my life watching Australia play terrible football, and have been through a lot of misery, but no matter what happens, you still support them. I don't follow the A-league closely, but I still keep track of Sydney FC as much as I do the Premier league team I support or any other club I'm interested in (Aston Villa BTW, not because they are big trophy winning club but because and Australian was playing for them in the mid 90s when I started watching. And once you choose a club, you never ever switch.)Sadly however, I can't blame the fans completely. While trying to find articles on the Asian Cup currently being played in Australia, there is almost nothing. Normally at the lead in to a major tournament you would find a dozen articles on the national team, the key players, the tactics and strategy to be expected etc. But the only article I found was about Chinese people not betting on their national side to make it out of the group stages. 1 article on the Chinese team and it's a negative one. Shame on the media for not getting behind the team and the sport more.And for any Chinese football fans reading this, I don't want to hear lame excuses about how bad the team is, how they make lots of money but don't play well etc. Because after all, there is a much bigger team that spends a lot more money and time on football but has their players fail to turn up at every major tournament for 50 years. English fans will be nodding and grimacing at this. it doesn't matter if your players don't play well, seem spoilt or overpaid or lazy. they are not the Chinese national team. They are just on of thousands of players to put on that jersey. It's the fans that truly create the team spirit and passion. So Chinese sports fans, get behind your team and try sending them some positive vibes for once. I know that they will be my second team at this tournament, so when China takes on Saudi Arabia later today, as massive underdogs, I will be supporting them! 中国! 中国!中国! Oi Oi Oi!Update:well, how good were China? despite being knocked out by my beloved Socceroos, the Chinese won 3 matches, at least 2 more than expected, and played great football against Australia for at least 60 minutes. The support from fans in Australia was huge and the attitude of the team was positive.The fans? as usual it was the media and the fans that disappointed, not really getting excited until after China won the first two games and I hear television audiences were low for the first two games, only picking up after the wins. The bandwagon is a popular ride.As an example, i was watching the game in a small local bar last night, the only person there on a wednesday at 6.30. for 70 minutes there was not a single Chinese fan in the bar. then with 20 minutes to go 3 groups of CHinese "football fans" came in, acted all "i told you so, they are losing!" when they saw it was 2-0 and then proceeded to spend the next half hour complaining about the players while occasionally shouting "hao qiu!" at the screen (most of the time it was not a good ball, but these guys didn't understand the game at all).So I was both proud of my Aussies, and of the Chinese team who I will continue to support as my 3rd national team (my father is Scottish so I support Scotland 2nd) no matter whether they win or lose.
