Open Mouth and Insert Foot

The other day in my Chinese class I successfully completed the most complicated sentence I have yet to form using the language, which translates into "I studied history at the University of Missouri, I think that history is very interesting but some people do not think that history is very interesting." Ok, so maybe it is a run on, or maybe it is two sentences, if you know me then you know I am not to concerned with all that. I know that some people do not find history the most exciting thing but, the other day in class I let something slip that resulted in a interesting conversation. To help set the context I feel that I need to go into some brief history. If you don't care or you are very familiar with the Taiwan issue then you can skip the next paragraph.

In 1912 the final Dynasty was overthrown in China, which resulted in the forming of the Republic of China. Civil War against the Communist, along with a Japanese invasion caused a state of constant struggle for the new country. By 1949 the Communist had driven them onto the Island of Taiwan. Since then the Republic of China has still functioned on the small Island of Taiwan. The government on Taiwan still claims mainland China, and the Communist government in Beijing asserts that Taiwan is part of the Peoples Republic of China (The Communist Leaders). Ok to recap, today there is a Communist government called the Peoples Republic of China that operates out of Beijing, and a nationalistic government called the Republic of China that runs out of Taipei, Taiwan. Officially to every country in the world, Taiwan is still part of mainland China, and no country formally acknowledges it as a country. Unofficially Taiwan has their own currency, their own government, their own military, and a very strong economy. The Communist government in mainland China probably would have went over and took Taiwan back several years ago, but with help from the United States mostly during the Cold War, they have built up an impressive defensive army. It also helps that the United States keeps a fleet of ships around Taiwan.

Moving on, I was teaching a class the other day and one of my students ask me how I got a job teaching in China. I told him that I got online and looked up job postings. There were jobs listed for South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, and Taiwan. About half of the students jumped up real fast shouting, "Taiwan is part of China!" I tried to cover myself and told them that it was just under a different listing. One of the students replied, "Why is it under a different listing?" I turned the question on them and ask, "Why do you think it would be different?" They didn't have a good answer. I quickly discovered that most of the students have little or no knowledge on the issue of Taiwan. To them it is just another province that is part of China. One of the other teachers was watching Toy Story with his class, and there is a part when Buzz Lightyear opens his ray gun and discovers that he was made in Taiwan. His students ask why the sticker said Taiwan, and not just China.

Censorship is kind of a big deal here. I have noticed that there are certain things that aren't allowed. For example, I can't go to websites like Wikipedia.com, worldnews.com, or even caucasianinasia.blogspot.com. That's right! I can't even check my own blog. I can get on to the site to update it but I can't go look at it. Another thing that is a little more humorous is how the movies are edited. Recently I went to a movie theater to see Mission impossible III. I went with another foreign teacher who saw the movie in the states before he came to China. About half way through he starts freaking out because they edited part of the movie. I guess there is a part where Tom Cruise is shooting some Chinese people. Which means that someone decided that Chinese people shouldn't see Tom Cruise shooting Chinese people. I do not know what the problem is maybe they have a problem with Scientology. Also, I bought Forrest Gump to show to a class, and they edited out the part where he beat the Chinese in Ping Pong. I think it is more funny than anything.

Everything has been going great here so far. I have been working lots of hours so I haven't had a lot time to do anything exciting. That's alright though because I will be making more money that will help me out when I travel later. I would rather not take a trip that is similar to the one that my roommate took to Beijing this last week. He went for the weekend because he is only here for the summer and is leaving next week. He flew to Beijing on Friday night and walked around the city till 3:00, before falling asleep on a park bench. He woke up and went to the Great Wall and Tianamen Square along with a few other hot spots. Later that night he went bar hopping before he ran into some other Americans that gave him a place to stay that night. I like to think that I am a pretty adventurous guy but I might have to draw the line there. Although it might be a little to fun to take a trip like that. (I put that line in just to make my mom worry)

One last thing, I put a picture up top of one of classes. I meet with these students once a week. I was thinking that it would be cool to have them send some letters to some people back home, and have people send letters back to them. They are very curious about the states and are full of questions. It would also be a good chance for my friends and families to ask some native Chinese people some questions. If you are interested in getting a letter from one of them send me your home address. You can post it as a comment on here, e-mail me, facebook, couchsufing.com, or any way that you might know me. If you post it on here I will not publish your comment so that I will be the only one that will read it. If you all are interested it would be awesome. I mentioned it to them last class and they seemed very excited about it. Anyway, it is really nice to hear from all of you. Thanks for reading my BLOG!

Quote of the Week:

"Ryan, I thought you would be the first one to flunk out of college"

-Lee White

Cerebral Palsy Lawyer