Language Tasks
1/14/19
The first day of language class presented a variety of challenges that I both appreciated and feared. Class itself wasn’t too intense - the only issues stemmed from slight communication and comprehension issues, as all the teaching material was delivered in Chinese. The main obstacle came from a fear of actually having to utilize Chinese outside of the simple “我要这个“ (usually accompanied with pointing of some kind) that I had predominantly been using, knowing full well that my year and half of Chinese language study had granted me a speaking ability at least slightly more complex than the grunt and point.
For the first day, my group’s task was rather simple – go to a place of interest, survey the environment, inspect the architecture, and interview someone asking their opinion on the area. Marco, Ellen and I, the fairest of the groups, decided to go to the French Concession. We had a little trouble getting there, as we didn’t actually know where it was, but after asking for help from a service kiosk, we found it with relative ease. After arriving we walked around a bit surveying the area before heading to 长乐路 in search of places related to the book we read in the fall, The Street of Eternal Happiness. We didn’t find anything specifically pertaining to the book, but we garnered a good appreciation for the area during our walk to and throughout 长乐路 - taking pictures and making observations along the way. Content with our progress thus far, we decided to find someone to interview.
After considering where we should try our luck, we went to a nearby park, and after a failed first attempt with an older gentleman, hit the jackpot with a middle-aged woman walking her dog. We asked her what she thought about the architecture in the area, to which she answered she thought it was the best in all of Shanghai, along with additional information on her relation to the area and what she thought of it as a whole. We also inquired about the history of the area, specifically what she thought of it, and were greeted with an interesting response. She told us she thought the history was fine, but then proceeded to inquire about our opinion. We were wondering if this was due to her not knowing the history of the French concession (which seems unlikely), or if she was holding back her true opinion because she was being interviewed by three white foreigners. Overall, the experience was a success and we were able to explore a new, very different area of the city while completing our task.
1/15/19
While my group did quite a bit of exploring and thorough investigation related to our task, after reflection, I don’t believe we actually completed our main objective for the day. Our task was to take a subway or bus line that we hadn’t previously used and go to a random location to explore a park, restaurant, or other attraction near where we’d gotten off. Instead of taking the subway or bus though, my group ended up walking to 长风公园. Our disregard of the objective was not intentional however, as we happened to walk right by the park on our way to look for a subway or bus stop. Instead of just walking past the park though, we decided to walk through it to have a look around. Once we were inside, we quickly forgot about the first half of our task, and just focused on the “explore a park” aspect. We managed to complete that half of our task rather well though.
We went all throughout the park, walking down paths, watching old men gamble, listening to karaoke, looking at the “amusement park” area, and almost going into an aquarium. We also rented a boat for an hour and interviewed an elderly gentleman asking what he thought of the park compared to other parks in Shanghai. Out of everything we did, what stands out the most is the boat – more specifically though, how easy it was to rent it. After deciding we wanted to rent it, the process of paying and getting out on the boat took less than a minute. We signed no papers and were given no instructions, much to our chagrin. We laughed the whole time, wondering if the boat was going to sink and what we’d do if it did, while also trying to figure out what would happen legally if the boat actually did sink. Comparing it to procedures in the U.S., we figured there would be large ramifications. However, being unfamiliar with Chinese law and regulations, we weren’t sure if that would be the case – for all we knew, nothing would happen.
Near the end of our time in the park, we realized we hadn’t really completed the first half of our task. However, having already spent about two hours in the park, we half-heartedly went to a bus station right outside of the park, took a picture with it, and then walked back to campus. In our presentation the next day, we recognized our lackluster attempt but tried to justify it in some way by showing we’d at least found a bus stop. In the end, while we didn’t accomplish our task entirely, what we did do we did well. As such, while it wasn’t a total success, it was not necessarily a failure.
1/16/19
My group today consisted of Janeve, Nina, Dez and me. Our task was to observe a 店 and then compare it to another Chinese store or a comparable American store. We decided to go to West Nanjing Road as none of us had been there and we knew it was a shopping hub. Getting there was rather easy – we just took line 13 to the 南京西路 stop. However, finding a store to observe after arriving was not as simple.
The four of us planned to meet up at the gigantic Starbucks right outside the station exit as Janeve and I were coming straight from an Ethnographic observation and thought that would be a good meeting place. Upon arriving, we were shocked at how big it was. It made me realize just how important Starbucks is to some people. After walking around and gawking for a good 15 minutes, we decided to look for a place to observe and find a place to get some food, as Janeve and I had not yet eaten. We came across a wall displaying restaurants just outside the Starbucks and quickly found the section dedicated to Western Style cuisine. Intrigued, we decided it’d be fun to try some western food in China. However, we quickly discovered that Western food equals Western prices, and we were not in the mood to pay hundreds of yuan for food we normally consumed. As such, we decided to try and find somewhere cheaper to eat.
We ended up wandering down into the subway area, which was filled with all different kinds of shops. While we didn’t find anywhere we wanted to eat, we did find the store we ended up observing. At first glance, we weren’t actually sure what the shop was. Out front, a large squirrel was perfectly posed for pictures and beyond that an array of balloons and other decorations framed a variety of snacks. However, we passed it by without too much attention, as we were searching for something to eat. It wasn’t until after finding food and realizing that we needed to find a place to observe that we decided to use it as our shop.
Going back a second time, we were much more thorough in our observations. We noted an abundance of fake plants contributing to an overall nature theme of the shop and a tv playing a children’s show that seemed to be featuring the same smiling characters plastered all over the shop’s decorations. We also sat at a small table surrounded by four little chairs, all made to look like tree stumps. We asked a clerk what the store was, and she told us it was the Three Squirrels Snack Bar. Still slightly confused, we took that information and went back to campus.
For comparison we focused on how one would be hard pressed to find a similar store in the U.S. While it would be very possible to find a snack bar of sorts, finding one so heavily themed outside of an amusement park or similar attraction would be very difficult if not impossible. While we took a while to find a store to observe, the one we ended up using turned out to be rather interesting and fruitful in cultivating our understanding of Chinese culture.
1/17/19
Day four of language tasks turned out to be one of my favorites. We were tasked with going to one of two supermarkets and observing what about them makes them special. My group, which consisted of Lissie, Janeve, Rhea and me, went to 盒马鲜生. We took line four to 宜山路站 and then proceeded to wander about for a good half an hour before finding the store. One of the first things we noticed upon entering the store was a track running along the ceiling carrying bags full of groceries throughout the store. We weren’t really sure what it was and it wasn’t until after our presentation the next day that we learned it aids in delivering groceries to customers that order on their phones by transporting groceries to the shipping area. We also saw multiple self-service checkouts that only allowed for payment via phone transactions. However, they only had one checkout manned by an actual employee, and it was the only place you could pay for your groceries with actual cash (unsurprisingly, credit cards weren’t accepted).
Regarding the actual goods for sale, they offered a wide variety of products ranging from Doritos to turtles. Going off that, possibly the most interesting part was the seafood area, as it was almost akin to an aquarium. There were numerous tanks, all full of different kinds of live seafood for sale. Comparing it to U.S. supermarkets, I’ve never seen anything like it. We all got some snacks and helped ourselves to the numerous samples placed throughout the store. One particularly interesting observation was that there seemed to be a disproportionately large number of employees when compared to the number of in-store customers. However, after learning that customers can order groceries online, the number of employees made sense, as they’re needed to fill orders.
Before we bought our snacks and left, we interviewed one of the workers asking what they thought of their job and if there was anything special about 盒马鲜生. The worker we interviewed said they thought their job was okay, and that all stores have their own differences. This was particularly interesting after we learned what makes 盒马鲜生 unique, as the employee must not have thought there was anything too significant or different about the store compared to other supermarkets. Whether this was due to desensitization from working at the supermarket, or because of some other factor, we couldn’t figure out. After that, we bought our stuff at the singular cash checkout and walked back to the subway station – which was only about a 7 to 8-minute walk when we knew where we were going. All in all, the experience was engaging and enjoyable, while also granting us some insight into everyday Chinese life and innovative new technology.
1/21/19
When compared to the other tasks, today’s language task was a bit different. Instead of going to a certain place or using a certain mode of transportation, we focused on Chinese culture more directly, honing in on three different areas: Product, Practice, and Perspective. Our task was to focus on one thing from two of the three areas, see what we could learn, and then make a presentation showcasing our findings in class. My group, which was comprised of Janeve, Mai, Duyen, and me, decided to focus on the Practice of Chinese New Year, and the Product Chinese Gardens.
To get a better real-life understanding of both, we decided to go to 豫园 and do some field observations. I had already been to 豫园 about two weeks prior, so I was rather surprised while walking towards the main area at the abundance of Lunar New Year’s decorations everywhere and the dramatic increase in the amount of people. What had been a crowded tourist attraction had transformed into a heavily decorated mosh pit, packed full of frenzied consumers high on the approaching New Year. Doing some research later that night, we found that Chinese New Year is lauded as a time to come together with family, wish for good fortune in the coming year, take some time off work and school, and to eat and be merry. What we saw were crowds, consumers and extravagance.
Not to be intimidated, however, we continued onward towards our destination: the garden itself. To our dismay, upon reaching the entrance to the garden, we found that we were five minutes too late and that admission had just closed. After a short deliberation, we continued on our way, resolute in trying to glean as much information about Chinese New Year as we could. We then walked around for quite a bit, taking in all the decorations and people, before deciding to go souvenir shopping. After buying some trinkets, we decided to head back to campus and figure out how to proceed. Since we were not able to go into the garden, we decided to change our product, instead focusing on something we could learn about purely through online research. As such, we ended up choosing Chinese Brushes as our Product, instead of Gardens. Mai and Janeve tackled that aspect of the presentation, while Duyen and I did some additional research on Chinese New Year and presented that part of the presentation. I thoroughly enjoyed this task, as it differed from the other tasks we had to do, and I feel I learned more about broader Chinese culture than with the other tasks.
1/22/19
Cold hearted, ruthless revenge was the topic of our task on this day, and to tell the truth, I had been looking forward to it since the beginning of the trip. However, I unfortunately wasn’t feeling too well when the day finally came, so my grandiose plans of vengeance had to be toned down just a tad. Luckily, the task itself granted more flexibility compared to others, as it was meant to be completed alone. Thus, I was able to do it while going at my own pace.
When trying to figure out what activity to exact my revenge upon, I had a little trouble coming up with anything to choose as I couldn’t really think of any time or event that I felt I had failed in. While there were obviously times that I had floundered while talking to someone, or instances where I didn’t find something I was looking for, each of those times I viewed as a positive experience that helped me to grow and better understand myself and the society/culture that I had submerged myself in. As such, I decided to focus my revenge on something I hadn’t experienced: I wanted to get lost.
Hence, after lying in bed most of the afternoon trying to get some rest and feel at least a little better, I walked to the subway, got on line thirteen, and started transferring at random stops to random lines. After spending about an hour purposefully trying to confuse myself, I realized I wasn’t making too much progress. While I was visiting stations I hadn’t been to and riding lines I hadn’t ridden, I still knew where I was. The subway system was so easy to use, that all I had to do was look at one of the subway maps and I knew exactly where I was and what I had to do to get back to 金沙江站. Realizing I was never going to get lost by riding the subway, I went out of a random station and walked down a street for about thirty minutes.
I ended up walking to a park in 浦东 right on the river. I was quite a bit upstream from the main downtown area, but I could see the buildings in 浦西 a decent way downstream from where I was. It was a beautiful night, the air was brisk and clear, I could see the sky, and it was very quiet. It was so quiet, actually, that I was slightly confused. The area looked brand new, and a decent amount of people were walking around the park. However, as soon as I stepped outside of the park, I was surrounded by beautiful new buildings that were virtually abandoned, save the occasional security guard scanning the area. My best guess would be that the construction was so new that people had not yet moved into the area. Regardless, it was a very cool experience, as the area looked as though it would be a rather popular place, but it was almost entirely vacant.
After walking around that area for a little while, I decided that I should probably head back to campus. By that time, I’d been out for well over two hours and it was starting to get late. Not wanting to head back to the same way I came, I decided to try and find another stop to enter and return on. I walked about searching blindly to try and find one, but ended up looking at navigation on my phone to see if any were in my vicinity, as I was still in the vacant area. Surprisingly, I found one almost hidden at the bottom of one of the buildings. It was the emptiest stop I went to the whole time I was in Shanghai by far. I saw a handful of other passengers, and two workers manned the pre-entry security while one worker stood staring blankly in the service kiosk. Finding my way back to campus was, as I had expected, as simple as glancing at the subway map. While I don’t think I truly got lost, I took an opportunity to explore an area of Shanghai alone I would not have otherwise seen, without specific intent or planning. In that sense, I believe I was successful in exacting my revenge – not against an incomplete language task or failed conversation, but against a potentially missed opportunity.
Overall Reflection
The Language Tasks were something that I looked forward to almost every day. While they took up a lot of time, it was spent out in the city exploring places or carrying out actions we would have otherwise not completed. I do feel we could have done things that were more relevant to what we learned in the fall semester. That being said, I did enjoy how the tasks forced us to investigate aspects of life that were, to be frank, rather mundane. I say that because I would not have come away with as thorough an understanding of everyday Chinese life if it weren’t for the language tasks. However, it would have been nice to engage in activities that were more interesting and promoted greater usage of our language abilities. If there was one fault with the trip as a whole, I would say it was the lack of language utilization throughout.
I’m not sure how to go about fixing this without completely restructuring the program, but I was expecting to come away from the program with at least somewhat improved Chinese abilities. Instead, I think I learned more Japanese during the one week I was in Japan than Chinese during my three weeks in China. Being language tasks, I feel they would be a good place to start in upping the amount of target language being used. I understand that Asian Conversations focuses more on understanding Asia and its place in the greater context of society - but as language is integral to any country, the reliance on our environment to cover that aspect of our learning felt misplaced and not fully thought out. Even with all that in mind, I would still say they were an overall positive endeavor. They took up a lot of time, didn’t necessarily pertain to what we learned during the fall semester, and suffered from a lack of target language usage, but they provided guidance to our explorations while forcing us to look into aspects of society we wouldn’t have otherwise investigated. As such, bearing in mind what we went on the trip to accomplish, they were a success.
