Libsyn Directory

China 8687-010 - Meeting the Crew

China8687

The China8687 podcast, Episode 010 - “Meeting the Crew” is released. "...The Foreign Affairs Department oversaw foreign students in every school in China. They watched and controlled us, which was challenging for them. China was a hierarchical culture; leaders were used to being obeyed. We were American college students, not used to obeying authority. The rules in Chinese universities were different from the US. Chinese college students all lived in dorms, weren’t supposed to date, couldn’t drive cars… They seemed like high school kids to us. We were not interested in playing that...

China8687-009 - Entering the Gate

China8687

"...Shanxi Teacher’s University (STU) had been founded as a three-year teacher institute. It was upgraded to a university in a big push to increase the quantity of college graduates dramatically in China. The Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s and ‘70s closed all the schools, so they were playing catch up. Every province and almost every major city had a teacher’s college. STU President Tao Benyi was from Shanghai; he was considered a progressive administrator. He welcomed us, though not everyone else seemed to. Schools like ours and almost every kind of organization I saw in China had...

China8687-008 - The Beijing Train Station

China8687

"...Our first week in Beijing wound down quickly and soon it was time to board the steam train to Linfen City in Shanxi Province where we would study Chinese for a year. I had no idea what to expect, Beijing already seemed very foreign and undeveloped in some ways to me, what would Shanxi be like?... The Beijing Train Station was a door to another dimension of travel. We crowded through the main front portal with thousands of others pushing to get on the train like bodychecking in a hockey game. I wondered what all the fuss was about; I figured we all had assigned seats, so what was the...

China8687-007 - Capitalism Starts Again in China

China8687

The China8687 podcast, Episode 007 - “Capitalism Starts Again in China” is released. . "...Soon after I arrived in China I started hearing the word “geti hu”. I thought it meant an individual or couple who made their own small stand for selling something. It was the most basic unit of capitalism starting up again in China. Though Mao Zedong really didn’t like capitalism, Deng Xiaoping’s policy was “Black cat, white cat, a cat that catches mice is a good cat.” If micro-capitalism could employ people and stimulate the economy, then why worry about the name? He set the good times...

China8687-006 - Tourist Photomania

China8687

"...Before the mid-1980s photos in China were for weddings and family portraits, and government propaganda. They were carefully arranged and posed. In the late 1980s many people started to get more expendable income. A camera was an optional thing that few people owned, but some could afford one, and people who were really taken with photography started buying local equipment and learning how to use it. Very few had the money to buy foreign cameras. My Nikon was often admired but seldom matched... " Find the China8687 podcast on Apple Podcasts... and Spotify... ...

China 8687-005 - Upgrading Tiananmen

China8687

"...When we first arrived in Beijing in 1986 the reviewing stands were undergoing a big renovation. Bamboo scaffolding contained the stands, and Mao Zedong’s portrait stared solemnly down on the masses walking below. Mao’s image and the wake of his passing were a strong presence in China, recent enough to make people think they might go back to the horrible Cultural Revolution, but far enough back for people to feel hopeful of change. The economy was under renovation, too, as Deng Xiaoping introduced policies to allow Chinese people and private companies to make money... " Find...

China8687-004 - The Temple of Heaven

China8687

"... All around Beijing we saw hints of how old China was. There was a 300-year-old building here, and an 800-year-old temple there. All over Beijing there were buildings and even some restaurants much older than my country! .. " Find the China8687 podcast on Apple Podcasts... and Spotify... About the China8687 podcast... A 15+ year China student, teacher, traveler, and expat businessman describes China as she developed from the 1980s to now. This is important to you because everything is changing now as China moves back toward that time. I went to China earlier,...

China8687-003 - People Milled About

China8687

I was stunned by how many people Beijing had, and it was just one city. In America you couldn’t see so many people in any one place, and the ones you saw on the street looked like they were going somewhere. Going to school, going to work, on an errand… doing something. I remember my impression of Beijing was that there were so many people just milling about. Find the China8687 podcast on Apple Podcasts... and on Spotify... About the China8687 podcast... A 15+ year China student, teacher, traveler, and expat businessman describes China as she developed from the 1980s...

China8687-002 - The Friendship Hotel

China8687

When we arrived in Beijing, we stayed at the Friendship Hotel. It was one of the few hotels authorized to accept international guests in Beijing. Right away we found out that many parts of China were off limits or restricted to foreigners. We couldn’t go to this place; we couldn’t stay in that hotel. Whole cities were off limits to us, with no hotels authorized to host foreigners. Most importantly, we shouldn’t criticize the leaders in China. Criticizing leaders is a national pastime in the US. I was not used to holding my tongue when I saw something I didn’t like.

China8687-001 - Boston to Beijing

China8687

In 1986 Hong Kong and Europe were well known to Americans, but few outsiders had been to China when I first arrived. It was as mysterious as 100 or 200 years before. People knew it was there, but China had been closed to foreigners for 30 years. Few knew much about what had gone on during that time. That's when I arrived, at the start of China's story of growth and change.

TOPICS