Two days before we leave to China!!!

Sofia Cortes and Stacey Belyaeva

May 21 – 2 Days Left!
Over the weekend we had to write a two page paper analyzing an advertisement relating to our research topic and today we began class by showcasing our findings through an informal presentation. Our class groups have chosen to research very distinct topics so it was fun to examine a variety of images ranging from Starbucks products to Chinese fashion, medicine, and nightlife. The example below is of a Chinese Nike advertisement presented by our classmate, Ron, who plans to study sportswear in China.

This exercise demonstrated how far globalization has spread to transverse international boundaries, while at the same time often assuming prior global knowledge. Professor Sheehan was right in saying that “after this class we will never be able to see advertisements in the same way again.” I learned that all the components and positioning within an advertisement has a strategic meaning or purpose.

After a short break, we were informed that we got a new TA! Unfortunately, our old TA is not able to accompany us on the trip and since there are a few people (like me!) who can’t speak any Chinese I was a bit worried about fighting over Professor Sheehan’s time. But luckily the problem was solved and it will be very nice to have another person to help!

We then continued our lecture about Chinese history, focusing on the time period from 1975 to the present day. Specifically, the transition from Maoist Socialist rule to Deng Xiaoping’s leadership and introduction of capitalism. What I found most interesting was the movement towards the “four modernizations” which looked towards a more global future in industry, agriculture, science, and military post Mao rule. This new addition to the Chinese mentality strove for better international relations and openness, helping to accelerate China’s economic growth to eventually become a world power.

Towards the end of the lecture, Professor Sheehan also talked about how globalization leads to Chinese consciousness of international culture and news. For example, the slide above shows a Chinese citizen holding a banner with the phrase “Clinton, we’re not Monica” after the US bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. This is a perfect example of a newfound Chinese understanding that with globalization there is access to an international audience and knowledge.

We wrapped up our class today by discussing the last few chapters from Consumption in China by Lianne Yu who writes about topics such as censorship, morality, consumer rights and more. Her book helped highlight the significance of “neo-tribes” and the “virtu-real” world whereby in China the crossing over between the physical and virtual world has become seamless.

May 18 – “It’s Friday!”

Leah King and Carolina Souza

It’s Friday! Only 4 more days till we are off to China. Today we discussed our main course text, Lianne Yu’s Consumption in China and global connection from 1945 – present. We had very interesting discussions regarding the Lifestyle and Commodification chapters. Some interesting points from the chapters discussed the lifestyles of the younger and older generations and how that influenced their consumer behavior. Specifically, we learned a lot about the extent of the one-child policy to modern day Chinese consumer culture.

Discussion and Finalization of Group Names *Snacks as a courtesy of Papa Sheehan and Jadon

Planning our research method together with our groups

In addition, we came up with our group names and continued researching our topics. One group name is called The Caramel Macchiatos because they are researching about Starbucks and coffee shops in China. Another group called  保健品(baojianpin) is researching about Chinese traditional medicine and Western medicine. After finalizing our group names, we met with the rest of our group to come up with a straight-forward, clear research plan and design. By planning ahead and making sure that the research plan is easy to follow, we save time in the field.

Lastly, we wrapped up the first week of classes with a very engaging lecture about Global and Chinese Interactions in the period of 1945 to present. Learning about Maoism and a global movement with student and revolutionaries and the cold war world gave us an important background to analyze China’s upcoming cultural revolution and class structure. We now only have two more lecture days before boarding to China, and can’t wait to apply our new skills on the ground.

Say No to Expat Bubbles

Jenny Cheung & Sarah Bourek

Today during lecture, Professor Sheehan talked about the global connections forged from 1850 to 1925. After the Age of Exploration came the colonization of African and Asian countries by Europeans. Manufactured goods were exported from Europe, and trade in precious metals, slaves, drugs, and food-drugs was facilitated by globalization. The Gold Standard also helped standardize currency conversions, but excluded India and China from the world trading system because they used silver. In addition to trade, global connections were also forged through wars such as the First and Second World War and the mutiny in Bengal India. Technologies also helped improved the way people communicated and traveled. For example, the Steam Engine allowed for people to travel faster by steamship or railroad, and the building of the Transatlantic Cable revolutionized the way people communicated. The results of this global connection was felt when the Great Depression destroyed the gold standard. Previously, an economic recession may only affect the country it takes place in, but due to this interconnectedness, the Depression affected many countries outside America, causing for protectionism to increase and for the world to divide into competitive economic blocs.

After some lecturing, we started our class discussion on the first readings in our main course text, Consumption in China by Lianne Yu. Much of our discussion centered around consumer habits of “Singletons,” generations of Chinese people who were born during the One-Child Policy and grew up in the economic reform period. The “Singletons” are socially unique as all of their family’s resources are focused solely on them. Our discussion continued to elaborate on the marketing implications for these generations of Singletons. Another major point of discussion was Yu’s commentary on the role of the Chinese government in the supply demand relationships of China’s increasingly Capitalist economic model. The CCP has released some control but not too much. Our class discussion lead to remarks on government censorship in China, exploring why and how it’s implemented.

We then had time with our groups to develop our project ideas and find a picture for our papers due Monday. Some of the group project topics are athletic footwear, coffee shops, Chinese medicine, alcohol advertisements, and Meter/Bonwe- a Chinese store that positions their brand as Western. Regarding the development of our research project, we decided to narrow down our research topic from simply Fashion to street wear sold by a Chinese clothing company called Meters/Bonwe. We are interested in investigating how they market themselves as a foreign company through analyzing their advertisements, the design of their clothing, and the layout of their stores when we arrive in China. Fortunately, we were able to locate at least one Meter/Bonwe store in each city in China that we will be traveling to, so we will also be able to identify the types of customers that shop in Meters/Bonwe stores. Through analyzing the way they advertise themselves as a foreign company, we hope to draw conclusions about the impact of globalization in China as well as what the ads reflect about China’s consumer culture.

Last but not least, Professor Sheehan shared stories with the class about mishaps in past Global East Asia trips. He advised us to be weary of people wanting to “practice their English” with you, they may take you to a tea house and a bar and you could be left with a hefty bill. Follow the golden rule: don’t do anything to freak out Professor Sheehan and be conscious of ‘expat bubbles’ in China.

Picture found by Jadon Joyner: “The toxic expat bubble”

Day 3 May 16 – Delicious Treats

Ron Dardashti & Adam Johnson

We started our class with Adam’s SnackAttack! (Thank you Professor Sheehan for the policy.) He brought an interesting combo (Pineapple and Wasabi Peas)…they were of course a palatable pair.

Adam: 
Professor Sheehan began by introducing us to post-Columbian exchange trade and a newly formed colonial culture. During this time the Spanish and Portuguese dominated much of export of new world resources such as gold, silver, slaves and a variety of food drugs. They imported things such as disease, earthworms and religious oppression. The new network of trade was largely grafted onto pre-existing networks, with the Spanish trade networks outlasting the Portuguese. These networks did not only extend into the Americas but also into Asia, with the example of Macao in China as one of the remaining Portuguese trading posts, and remaining under their control until 1999. The introduction of food drugs such as coffee, tobacco, sugar, and opium gave rise to the creation of Corporations, including the Dutch and British East Indies companies. Interestingly these corporations strove for monopoly status with protection from the governments of their countries of origin. The repercussions of colonization and corporatized structure are being felt to this day.

Ron:
After Professor Sheehan’s lecture on post-Columbian exchange trade ended. We all finally downloaded WeChat! We spent about fifteen minutes getting acquainted with the app and then started to add each other to our Global East Asia Groupchat! Then after we all had each others contacts, we broke into our research groups to further think about and analyze our intended research topics. In addition, we all started talking about out group names! So far we have not all decided about our topics but my group (Ron’s group) decided that our team name will be “Athletes Foot” because we are researching athletic footwear.

 After we finished meeting with our groups we got a chance to use our “Toolbox” through our analysis of a Chinese Lay’s Chips ad. We practiced our thesis building skills in addition to using evidence driven arguments. Finally, we wrapped up with a quick lecture on the Ming and Qing dynasty. Interestingly enough, China’s culture is much less isolationist than we all previously had thought. Professor Sheehan portrayed to us how open minded of foreign cultures the Chinese people really are by showing the Qing dynasty palace that was replicated to look like Versailles.

Day 2: May 15th – Just Getting Started

Leah James & Ana Lucia

Our second class began bright and early on a great note with Jadon bringing in a cheesecake for the class, and Adam assigning himself for snack duty due to the late-to-class bring a snack policy. We began our day confirming everybody’s flight plans, since many are flying on their own instead of on the group flight due to their own travel plans after our time in China.

Right after we wrapped up the flight details, Papa Sheehan finished his lecture on the geography of China. We learned about “China Proper” and how to differentiate the north from the south and the east from the west. We learned that the north is characterized by flatter land and produces wheat whereas the south is known for producing rice and silk. Professor Sheehan tested our knowledge, at first with easy pictures but then used pictures with more complex possibilities. Through the exercise, not only was he able to trick us, but he was also able to exemplify that, like most things in life, there are always exceptions and nuances to the rules and everything is not as straightforward as it seems.

In terms of our research projects, we all went around the table and shared our possible interests in order to form groups. A range of topics were discussed like coffee shops, footwear, toothpaste, public restrooms and more. Professor Sheehan gave us two useful ways of thinking about our potential projects. One, that the issues we are looking at have enough similarities so that the differences are meaningful, and the other, that there are so many differences that the similarities are interesting. We were all able to find groups with similar interests, with some compromise, and planned rough ideas for what our topics will be about.

After our group meetings, we discussed the readings that were due today, which led to learning helpful terms like hybridization, but also led further questions such as the actual relevance of acculturalization and the existence of true authenticity, since we often forget there is more than one way to look at any particular situation. One of our main takeaways from the discussion was that in this class we are not trying to define globalization, instead we are trying to analyze situations and ask ourselves “what type of globalization is this?” We concluded our second day with a practice quiz examining a bike advertisement in order to understand how to use our tools while analyzing an ad and how to properly form a thesis statement.

Day 1: May 14, Beginning of A Journey

Jadon Joyner & Sabrina Hsu

The class started with a sense of hesitant excitement, where our classmates sat next to each other, fully aware that we will be spending our first month of summer together, but still weren’t comfortable enough to make small talk. However, Professor Sheehan’s mini introduction activity – what he called “twitterographies” – allowed us to get to know each other better. His emphasis on remembering everyone’s names by Wednesday (or else we have to bring snacks for the class) also helped us pay more active attention to our classmates. Professor Sheehan also went over some rules and basic orientation topics, such as the importance of being punctual (again, threatening that we’ll need to buy snacks) and general safety precautions once we get to China.

On the academic front, we discussed Eriksen’s Globalization: The Key Concepts and Hobsbawm’s The Invention of Tradition. Not only did we learn more about globalization, but also started assembling our “toolkit”, where we will carry with us to dissect evidence during our fieldwork in China. This toolkit consists of things we should be aware of and concepts that we can use to better understand and analyze what we are presented in support or contradiction to our arguments. In the case of Hobsbawm’s article, we learned that nothing should be taken without an ounce of skepticism, and critical thinking is key in any knowledge intake. We also have a list of things we should look out for when analyzing visual evidence, and it is a useful compilation of items we can use for our quizzes and for a deeper understanding of advertisement or visual evidence in general. To use this visual evidence tool, Professor Sheen had the class analyze every aspect of this image in order to understand the message, intent, and meaning of this advertisement.

This exercise helped reinforce the concepts we had just learned while also preparing us for our field work in China. On top of that, we were repeatedly exposed to the fact that globalization is not one, simple concept or phenomenon, but rather one that is complex, multi-directional and multi-dimensional – this makes the topic harder but infinitely more interesting to explore and dissect.

The Final Chapter

By: Connor and Michael

It’s time for us to go. After two amazing weeks in China, we are heading back to the US. Shanghai has had so much to offer us, and everyone found something great to do during our free time in the city. From the tourist shops of Nanjing Road, to the real shops of Huaihai Road, to the cafes of the former French Concession, to the skyscrapers of Lujiazui, Shanghai was not short of fun places to go, and these few days were definitely not enough to see the city. So for many of us, Shanghai will be a repeat destination.

Michael and Piper say hello to the window-washers at the Shanghai World Financial Center Observation Deck, more than 1,500 feet above the ground

Throughout the trip, the China that we found was not always the China we expected. But everywhere we went, we found something worthwhile and new. The mud of the farming village we visited seemed a long way from Shanghai, but we had been there only a few days ago. All of us saw so many different sides of the same country. For those of us who have been to China before, we all leave with a new appreciation for its true scope and diversity. And for those of us who had never been there before, this trip was a whirlwind introduction.

The students of GEA China 2017 raise a toast at the final banquet in Shangha

On our final night, in the cosmopolitan metropolis that is Shanghai, we ended the trip the way we began it. Our GEA team, including Professor Sheehan and his wife, had a banquet consisting of just an absurd enough amount of food to satisfy an army, including dumplings, duck, and a variety of other Chinese dishes. Everyone at the dinner took turns praising one another and toasting Professor Sheehan, culminating in a major group toast at the end. During this intimate dinner, we were offered the opportunity to reflect on our time in China, and in doing so, simultaneously reflect on the growth we experienced, ultimately coming to the conclusion that our growth was fueled by the diversity and adversity we faced together. From the alleys of Shanghai, to the Paul Witt Hotel, to the 100th floor of the world financial center, I can confidently say that Global East Asia China was an experience that we will all never forget.

Shanghai style Shengjian Bao at the final banquet – a (delicious) local specialty

Unfortunately, leaving Shanghai was not quite as easy as getting there. As we split off to go to our various destinations, most of us encountered some sort of weather-related delay. After two weeks of spectacular weather in China, our luck finally ran out, and the Shanghai wet season decided to begin on the day that we were due to fly out of Shanghai. The group headed back to Los Angeles was even stranded on the tarmac for almost three hours — enough time for a movie or two.

This trip has given us a lot – places I never thought I’d go to, friends I’m so glad to have met, and the most satisfying Popsicle I’ve had since I was 6 or 7. But now, as we arrive home and our jet lag begins to do battle with our exhaustion, the only things we can do are to thank the East Asian Studies Center and its incredible staff and teachers for creating such a mind-opening trip for us and to hope that next year’s group has just as great a time as we did.

Signing Off

-Michael and Connor

6/7 and 6/8: Last Day in Zhengzhou and First Day in Shanghai

By: Brianna and Erick
June 7, 2017

In the morning, we went to the Yellow River Scenic Area. It was an interesting experience and we got to ride a hovercraft as a parting gift from our awesome tour guide Johnson and the tourist agency! Thanks! Some members of the GEA team group decided to ride horses and buggies but we got into some heated arguments with the vendor over how much money to pay. Afterwards, we went to lunch near the Zhengzhou East Station before finally saying bye to Henan. Many thought that our last lunch in Zhengzhou was fantastic and tasty! We then headed towards the Zhengzhou East station for our 5 hour long high speed rail ride to Shanghai. During the 5 hour long train ride, everyone found interesting activities to do to pass the time. A good chunk of the team decided to turn the seats around and play card games like Tonk and Sushi Go together, while some of us decided to chat and relax while others watched movies. At around 9:00PM, we finally arrived in Shanghai, the last leg of our amazing journey!

Top: A delicious lunch in Zhengzhou before we leave Henan for Shanghai! Thanks Johnson!

June 8, 2017
The Beginning of the End, or the Start of My Love Affair with Shanghai
As we settled in to our final destination, the reality that our time together was coming to a close started to sink in. Unlike our last stops, Professor Sheehan served as our tour guide of Shanghai, taking us to see the sights of his second home. We visited the iconic skyline of Pudong and the Bund, conducted the last of our fieldwork in the surrounding mall, and visited the massive City God (“Epcot-isized”) temple area with lots of tourist shops and the City God Temple used by Shanghai locals. While honestly, the names of individual locations and stops were difficult to differentiate for this non-Chinese speaker, my overall impression of Shanghai through Professor Sheehan’s eyes is one of a fiercely thriving intersection of culture, history, and economic power that I sincerely hope to return to someday. Many of us concluded our Professor Sheehan-led day in Shanghai by proceeding to follow him into the hotel gym for a GEA workout session. Post-workout (and nap), the GEA squad went out to explore Shanghai at night, returning to see the iconic skyline of the Bund and visiting other local spots. After our introduction to the city that day, we were left to plan how we wished to spend our next (and final) full day in Shanghai. 

Gym selfie with Professor Sheehan (and half of Katie)

The Pudong from the Bund

The Pudong from the Bund that night!

Halfway Through !

Welcome! Biajani and Piper here giving you the lowdown about halfway through our trip! We are loving it!

June 4th, we left Hebi and spent the rest of the day in Zhoukou. On the way out of Hebi, we toured a “ghost city,” a group of tall buildings at the edge of the city which are not occupied yet. The photo below is a few of us at a convention center type of structure in the “ghost city.” Posters on the building indicate they actually had an event in 2013! So, it’s been unused for four years.It was raining when we got to Zhoukou, REALLY raining, so that made our fieldwork and exploring ten times more exciting to navigate as we jumped over massive puddles. After we completed our fieldwork for the day, most of the team met up at the Guandi Temple and it was quite impressive! And they had a student discount which was great 😀 The photo below features HUGE statues, which were very impressive!

The photo below is a shot of the temple, you can kind of see the concrete glisten as the rain poured down! Oh taking this photo is where I found a nice pile of mud, my shoes really liked that!

And finally, the most important photo is us posing like a Korean Boy Band!

June 5 in Zhoukou
Professor Sheehan took us to another popular shopping area where we got to do some more fieldwork. Katie and I, the soybeans, were finally extremely successful in finding both Chinese and western food chain brands in this area. We also almost got run over by two buses while trying to cross the street. There are absolutely zero traffic laws or regulations in Zhoukou! After everyone’s fieldwork and a little shopping, we found our own way back to the hotel and all napped before our class presentations. Everyone has made so much progress on their research and has begun formulating formal theses. Then we had arguably the best group dinner yet! The Piranhas below certainly would agree.

Ursula, Katie, and Edith attacking the best fish we had in China.

June 6
Today we piled on the bus to head for Zhengzhou. But before our final city in the Henan Province, Papa Sheehan showed us the side of China that no tourist has ever seen. We visited a small village where all the people waiting for the fields to dry came out to greet (and take pictures of course) with the foreigners. Some of them were kind enough to let us into their homes. Just like Papa Sheehan acknowledged, their lifestyle was by no means a simple one, and their living conditions validated this truth. After a long-ish drive, we did a lot of fieldwork and walked around the shopping areas. Zhengzhou is interesting because it used to have one of China’s most famous ghost cities with hundreds of unoccupied sky scrapers! Now, though, it is starting to fill up! We had two major examples of globalization today as our whole team ate dinner at McDonalds (and enjoyed it) and I had my usual at Starbucks, a chocolate croissant heated up with a grande whole milk latte (which I loved of course)! You honestly can’t even tell I am in China just by this photo, even the picture on the wall behind me is in English!

GEA China Students with Village Residents

After a great day of fieldwork, exploration,and shopping we went home and packed to get ready for our journey to Shanghai! Woo hoo!

Our First Days in China

By: Edith and Katie

On May 28, at 6:30 in the morning, EASC 360 students started our journey to China! First stop: Beijing. We had a quick layover in Vancouver and some of us enjoyed some delicious A&W root beer floats along with a quick workout!

After that, we finished the longest leg of the trip–a ten hour flight to Beijing. When we landed, we went straight to dinner and enjoyed our first meal in Beijing! Restaurants host large parties with Lazy Susans. That way many plates are served at once and people can easily access them!

After dinner we went to get checked into our hotel. Most of us were ready to unpack and pass out!

Even though everyone was exhausted from our long flight and lack of sleep the night before, we couldn’t just go to bed for our first night in Beijing. We all decided to instead go out enjoy the night! We took the subway to Nanluoguxiang. It was basically a mile long alleyway lined with small shops and cafes. Everyone got ice cream and we all relaxed in an LA-vibin’ place.We were all pretty exhausted after that so we decided to head back before anyone passed out (a few of us almost did!). That night set a high standard for us–to go out and enjoy China as much and as often as possible. We’ve only got two weeks in China, so we have to use every moment we’ve got!

So after we got a full night’s rest, we embarked on our first full day in Beijing. We started the day with a trip to the Forbidden City. We spent an hour walking from the front gate of the city to the back garden, with many stops at the residential areas of the Ming and Qing royal family.

The big group was separated into a few smaller groups to tour the city. One group took a hilarious photo in the garden by the sign that reads “Caution Wet Floor” posing as if they were falling. This group’s great sense of humor was very much appreciated by a group of middle aged Chinese women who asked to take the photo together. And hence the following photography:

In the afternoon, after a mediocre tasting of a tourist meal at a restaurant that is 80% occupied by foreign tour groups, we got dropped off at Wangfujing, which is a famous shopping street at Beijing. At the Apple store, we met our China Normal University students who are helping us with each of our groups’ research for the first time.

For team Soybean, the duo who were assigned to assist our group are both Chinese history majors. They took us to some western chain fast food places and informed us about the perception of these fast food for Chinese people.

After we were done with field work, we met up with the other 2 groups and went to a hutong, which are small alleyways in Beijing. After that, we kept walking and got to the park right across from the Forbidden City where we climbed up a hill to see the whole Forbidden city from above. The building that was built on the top of the hill was also the center point of Beijing.

After the arduous journey of 5 minutes of hill climbing, we went back to Wangfujing’s APM mall for a hot pot dinner. The soup was plain and the sesame sauce that we dipped everything in was delicious. It was a nice ending to our first full day!