Guangzhou has this ethereal sense of being caught between two worlds. In certain neighborhoods, traditions persist and the "old China" remains the star: old ladies playing mahjong, hair cuts on the street, fruit vendors clog the roads offering baskets of durian, watermelon, and fresh corn. There are no cars, the roads are too small to accommodate anything larger than a bike. Houses stacked one top of the other, with skyscrapers looming in the background. And then a few blocks away, a modern explosion of steel, glass and LED lighting takes the stage. The roads are wide, black audi's and toyota's are more common than any sort of bike or rickshaw. Shops selling high-end chinese clothing and lots and lots of chinese spirits line each side of the street. It is this hodgepodge of neighborhoods that gives Guangzhou the sense that is constantly cross-examining itself: where is the new and how has it taken over the old? Where is the old and why has it not become the new? Yesterday I spent 2 hours at an old temple called the "Six Banyon Tree Pagoda," it was a calming, ancient courtyard of temples and one very large pagoda in the midst of Guangzhou's hustle and bustle of emerging concrete towers and shopping malls. The temple was where Chan Buddhism first emerged and later became what is now known as "Zen Buddhism" when an analect left the temple several thousand years ago and began to spread his teachings in far away places-as far away as Japan. After 2 hours of reveling in such a calming and redeeming landscape, I really didn't have any desire to go back to any more malls or shopping streets (really Guangzhou's main attractions), and so I found a bookstore that sells an arrangement of english books and I got lost in the diatribes of I Ching and the tale of "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck.

If Allen Toussaint and Dr. John sing the song of New Orleans, then surely Eddy Grant sings the song of Guangzhou in "Electric Avenue."

पेस्तो नेवर तस्तेद सो गुड

Pesto never tasted so good: Friday night we made dinner and it was fantastic. I've moved into my new apartment where I will stay for the rest of the summer. It's almost like living in a resort. I live on an island in the middle of the city. It is very green and very fenced in. The apartment complex is gated, has a huge pool, clubhouse, gym, restaurant, laundry and western store. Our apartment is on the top floor. It has a rooftop terrace. Really great views and its far too big for me and my roommate Elizabeth, another intern here for the summer. Neither of us have lived in a place this nice before. We are being treated really well, it will be hard to come back to China and not have a sweet deal like this. The rains have stopped and blue skies have arrived. It feels great but it is damn hot. I suppose its hot throughout much of the world today. Or the world that I know, everyone seems to be sweating. This morning I went to a market and all of the products there were specifically sold for the kitchen. They had everything from blenders to plastic containers to industrial size pressure cookers. That's something about China that never ceases to amaze me: the fact that markets here operate in clusters. And each stall sells the same thing. It's a wonder how any of these vendors make money. You would never see, for example, a cloth seller at the electronics market or visa versa. You have to go to 2 separate markets. Unless you go to Wal-Mart...which is everywhere here!!

लैंड ऑफ़ थे फ्लू एंड थे बरवे

South China: Land of the Flu and the Brave

A friend here recently told me that the flu virus originates in south China each year before it spreads around the world and that this area is often referred to as "ground zero for infectious diseases" by foreigners who work here. I feel pretty naive not learning about this before I left, since I take public health risks very seriously. So, naturally I developed a flu/fever over the weekend and my throat go really sore. So I went to the intl. clinic here and was diagnosed with abscess tonsillitis. The doctor said I caught it simply because of the poor air quality and the amount of pollution in the area. Having puss coat your tonsils really sucks!

Work is going well though, despite the fact that I have been stuck in my apartment trying to get better.

द्रगों बोट फेस्टिवल होलिदय

Ok, so we're back. Very rarely can I access this website, but I kept trying, and sure enough it sent me through today. Today is China's first national holiday to celebrate the Dragon Boat Races. In an effort to slim down the length of China's week long holiday breaks, the government has added a few additional holidays occurring on Mondays to get people to take 3 day weekend holidays instead of jamming up the trains and planes during Chinese New Year's etc. So a lot of people have today off, even though most races don't start until next Saturday. Legend has it that ancient imperial courts would race against one another and thus, the dragon boat festival began. But you can get a better run down on it here

It was pretty sunny this morning, the first time we've had sunlight that lasted more than 20 minutes. Amazingly, for all the rain that this place gets, it goes dry so fast because water demand is astronomically high.

I've been off to a good start doing research on water issues, land use, and the state of the manufacturing industry here, interviewing people and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I had great help the other day when I met with a retired official from the local environmental protection bureau. He sat with me for 3 hours and discussed (while his daughter translated) the basic run-down of what REALLY happens in terms of environmental protection here. Suffice to say, I left the meeting with my head spinning and a really pessimistic outlook. Most people here say that things are getting better-the air quality, the water quality, the quality of life, etc. but I think, as in most places throughout the developing world, the economy is growing so fast that the government simply can't keep up to meet it with basic services like wastewater or sewage treatment for example.

I traveled to Dongguan yesterday-which has China's largest source of Taiwanese investment and is also the world's biggest manufacturer of PVC pipe!!!! :)

The "town" (which has a population of some 2+ million) is covered with factories, small supplier shops, and high-end western hotels that house legions of business travelers that are here to make sure the "world's factory floor" keeps the boilers hot, and the prices low.

First Glimpses from Guangzhou

Starbuck's on the island. Qing Ping Market. The garden that rolls through Sha Mian Island. View from my apartment of the Pearl River.

I don't know whats up with Chinese firewalls but they are wacky. I can post an entry to my own blog but they don't allow me to actually view my blog or any others. I've been in Asia for a week now and in Guangzhou for 5 days. The weather so far has been hot, really muggy and humid. It rains just about every day. It's a strange rain-it will come down really fast all of a sudden and just last for 20 minutes or so and then dissipate. An hour or so will go by and then it will rain again. So, I've bought an umbrella-a large one that is covered in ads for 7-11. I live on an old island that was built for foreign embassies back in the 1800's. It is called Sha Mian Dao and it is full of beautiful old European architecture, coffee houses, souvenir shops, and western food. Many Chinese couples come here to have wedding photos done so there are several outfits on the island set up for that. I haven't walked through the island once during the day without seeing a Chinese couple getting wedding photos done. Most of the grooms wear cream colored tuxes and a lot of the brides are into Victorian-era dresses. Very interesting to check out. Next door to the Consulate is a large hotel called the White Swan where many American families stay when they are over here adopting. Guangzhou is the only city in China where foreigners can adopt children from. The children come from all over China but this where they are first introduced to their new families. So any stroll through Sha Mian is not complete with a Chinese wedding shot and an American family pushing a stroller with a Chinese baby inside. Sha Mian sometimes reminds me of the French Quarter in New Orleans albeit without all the bars, good food, and trumpeteers. But it has that feeling of being the OLD part of the city-kind of secluded and in of it self. Although by all means, Guangzhou is over 3000-4000 years old, people have been living here forever. It's an interesting time to be here in Guangzhou to witness first hand the changes China is going through. The economy is booming and you can see it everywhere you look-at the corner magazine stand with magazine covers full of high fashion and high-end electronics, looking up at the sky and having your view clogged by construction cranes everywhere, and riding taxis through the city-passing new car dealerships block after block after block.