The Ji Village News

季庄新闻–Haidong Ji’s Blog

We saw Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier a few days ago. It was a Chinese circus show with a lot of great acrobatic performances.

I enjoyed it. For my son, since he was a little tired, the performance was long to him. If I recall correctly, the show lasted for about 1 hour and half.

Growing up in rural Ji Village, once in a while, there would be travelling troupes performing kung fu and acrobatic stunts in the village. They would first beat gongs and drums to get villager’s attention. When a sizable crowd gathered, they would start performing, usually at the square in the middle of the village, with somebody collecting money from the audience during and after the show. I don’t think they earn much. Some kind villagers would offer the troupe a meal. I only remember one performance, where a small monkey was involved with some stunts. Not sure how old I was then, but I had a secret crush with a young girl about my age in the troupe for quite a while.

I also remember I saw a couple of puppet shows growing up. When the artists or troupes are here, all the children are excited. I think most adults are excited too. For adults, once in a while there are travelling story tellers in the village. Performance usually starts after dinner. The story tellers, sometimes a couple, do some singing with Er Hu (二胡) and/or Yang Qin (杨琴) first, then proceed with that night’s chapter of the story. The story is delivered in different ways: singing, speaking, accompanied by traditional music playing. You can get a very good glimpse of those travelling artists’ livies from one of my all-time favorite movies, To Live. It takes days, sometime weeks, to finish a story. I remember a blind couple story tellers who stayed in my village for at least a few weeks. The stories are mostly traditional Chinese classics, such as 水浒传 or 三国演义.

Anyway, I recommend the show highly if you are interested. Here is the URL to Navy Pier, where you can find the link to Cirque Shanghai performance. The run will be over by the 3rd of September.

Here are a few more pictures. More pictures can be seen here.

我最近开始在芝加哥西郊上班，没有火车可坐，所以只能开汽车。从英语借个句式来用：好消息是可以听NPR（美国国家公共电台）的节目。在我看来，NPR是美国少有的比较客观、不哗众取宠的媒体之一。坏消息是工作地点离芝加哥公共图书馆较远，所以想借中文书读就不如以前方便了。

开车来回一个小时左右。有时收音机也会听腻了。好在我的1997 Dodge Neon可以放磁带。遗憾的是，车里没有光盘机。看来我离腰缠万贯的资本家还有一段距离。所以我便从我的大约20盘的磁带里拿几个听。黑豹乐队1992年的《黑豹》专辑就是之一。

想来那是十二、三年前的事了。90年代初的厦门，要买风花雪月、歌舞升平的港台音乐很容易。但那对于当时的像我一样愤世嫉俗、忧国忧民、以治国兴帮为己任的傻B来说，那种音乐都觉得浮浅。像什么四大天王、《你看，你看，月亮的脸》、《咖啡屋》，这等垃圾，何其可笑，岂能配得上我等志士仁人！我需要的是深度，震撼，另类。换句话说，我需要的是摇滚！

但我在当时的厦门很难买到摇滚，真是气煞人也。

应当是93年的暑假，我坐火车回山东，途经上海。当时的黑豹乐队正红得一塌糊涂。我在南京路上终于看到了他们的新专辑。囊中羞涩的我咬咬牙买了这盘磁带，很是兴奋。在上海火车站与南来北往的人流为伍的十几个小时里，在北上山东的火车上，我用着我的三洋牌的不到100元的只进不退没有倒带功能的主要用来学英语的单放机，就着歌词，压着嗓音跟着磁带怒吼了几十个小时。歌词当然是背得滚瓜烂熟，到了随着旋律悠然而起，就能下意识地唱起来的地步。

95年来美时，我把这盘磁带打包带了过来。算来这十几年间听得次数两只手肯定数得过来。唐朝乐队的《梦回唐朝》也在我的包裹之内，但我几年前把它给扔了。那里的大部分的尖叫硬摇滚听着实在是受不了。其中只有一首旋律还不错。歌名忘了，但开始的一俩句好像是“多年以来，一直感觉匆匆忙忙；想法太多，希望多少，岁月反复无常。。。”

本来如果没有窦唯最近的事件和他对唐朝乐队的丁武的指责，这盘磁带极有可能还会尘封下去。但这些新闻引起了我的一些兴趣，所以这俩天在车里把它听了几遍。

平心而论，窦唯的嗓音很不错。这部专辑里的几首歌曲也很上口。但十几年前的我自以为的另类和愤世嫉俗，在今天看来只不过是年轻人的“为赋新词强说愁”的娇情。

反过来说，大学时代是一个人成长的重要时期。豪情万丈和远大理想，都是年轻人的特点。喜爱何种音乐也无可厚非。现在听以前爱听的音乐，还会忆起大学时的天真和温情。

也挺为窦唯觉得可惜。他是有一些才气和音乐天分的，但却显然适应不了音乐及社会的转型和成名之后的压力。他是成年人，应对自己的言行负责。但很多的事通过媒体来谩骂，调停，和渲染，最后受苦的还是自己。至于去报社里闹事儿及烧汽车，这显然是过头了。

几个星期前读完了《远征北极纪实－极地心路》。作者沈爱民是中国科协的工作人员。他在1993至1995年间策划并参与了我国北极科学考察工作。这本书描述了这一科学考察的筹备、培训、及实施过程。该书经中国文联出版公司1997年出版，很值得一读。

很多人都知道我国在上世纪八十年代就已在南极设立了永久科学考察站，而对北极却缺少系统的研究。但也有不少人认为到北极插上国旗最重要。这确是本末倒置。按说插国旗是应该的，但科学考察应是主要目的。更何况不少个人、团体多年以来到过北极，所以单到那里并不是什么新鲜事儿。可由于最终目标的摇摆性、不少人的虚荣心和个人主义，最后的成果不如预期。该书对此都有很详尽的描述。作者也用不少的篇幅讲述了这一过程运作中的组织、管理、及资金筹备的问题，其中谈到了他与位梦华的矛盾。位梦华是该活动的另一位组织参与者。我没有读过位梦华的书，所以不能妄下结论。但从字面上来看，沈爱民的分析是客观、理性的。

读完这本书我也感到我们不少人对国际惯例和商业运作的不熟悉及幼稚。像是和美国旅行社签合同时不能对一些看似微不足道、但实际上很重要的合同细节的落实；科考队员在没有签证的情况下凭运气直闯加拿大海关入境。而这些都是到过西方、住在大都市的白领阶层所为，读来真是好笑。好在这都是发生在10多年前的事情，想必现在一定改进了不少吧。

沈爱民的文笔非常好。他在书中娴熟地穿插了自己的经历和很有品味的诗作。再加上幽默的文笔，这都给该书增色不少。

书中多处流露着对大自然之美的赞颂和热爱。我很欣赏这种态度。我们以前的教育充满了“人定胜天”、“征服大自然”的态度。这个态度不是我们的专利，它从19世纪工业革命后盛极一时，对我们的环境破坏巨大。自然界是我们所有人赖以生存的基础；节约、有效的利用资源，保护并改善我们的环境应是我们着力解决的重大问题之一。

我对作者对李乐诗的介绍也很感兴趣，虽然篇幅并不多。李乐诗是来自香港的女探险家和摄影家。我在厦大时(1990-1994)，她曾到我校演讲及办摄影展。我对她很敬佩。演讲时她幽默地说她的长相在中国人中吃不开，但外国人却经常赞美她的容貌，给我的印象很深。

这本书闲适时读起来不错，我想把它作为MBA的个案分析教程也很好，因为这个科考过程涉及到组织、管理、筹资、沟通、合同、对外合作、团队精神、和集体主义的方方面面。这一切对在校的MBA和工作中的管理者都会很有启发的。

I rented and watched The Year of The Yao from Netflix recently. It was a documentary of Yao Ming’s rookie season. We all enjoyed it.

I have great admiration for Yao Ming. When he came to the NBA, he was just 22 years old, with language, cultural, and social barriers to overcome, not to mention the pressure of NBA life, the media, and great expectations of a lot of people from China. Yet he seemed to take everything in stride, and handled all of those with grace, humility, and a great sense of humor. I was very excited to see him coming to the US and play for the NBA. And, frankly, as a fellow Chinese, I am very proud of him.

Most of the details, games, and background information are not new to me anymore, since I followed reports of Yao Ming pretty closely during his rookie year. However, I think it is going to be a great movie for people who generally do not follow the NBA, or people who are interested in this interesting cultural exchange between US and China. Strangely, one thing that still surprised me was how tall he is. The footage of him at a Bestbuy store and the airport really struck that point home.

Someday I’d like to see one of Yao’s games live. My son is a big Yao Ming fan now and would like to get his signature. I planned to go see the game between Houston and Chicago in January, but Yao was injured and did not play, so we didn’t go.

Yao, by the way, is his surname / family name. Ming is given name. It means brightness in Chinese. I wrote some explanation on Chinese names here.

我正在读团结出版社于1996年编版的《胡适自叙》。用该书的话来说，胡适（1891－1962），“是中国现代有影响的学者和思想家，是传统中国向现代中国发展过程中继往开来的一位启蒙人物”。从我有限的阅读和其他我所尊敬的作者对胡适的态度来看，对这位启蒙人士的评价，是很难说过头的。我个人对于他的“多研究些问题，少谈些主义”的观点非常赞同。

在国内读书的时候，我读到的东西都一直称他为胡适。也可能我当时不在意忽略了。但在我最近读的林语堂、季羡林和李敖的文章里，不少提及他的地方，有的称其为胡适，有的称其为胡适之。我对此一直搞不明白。现在我把《胡适自叙》读了一大半，才明白了原因。

胡适原名嗣糜，学名洪骍。在1906年左右，胡适在上海上学。当时严复的《天演论》及社会达尔文主义非常流行。一天他请二哥代想一个表字。他二哥就说出了“物竞天择适者生存”的适字。他很欣赏。胡适的二哥和三哥的字分别为绍之与振之。所以他就为胡适之。他与1910年赴京考赴美留学。在另一文中，他写道：“我怕考不取为朋友所笑，所以临时改用胡适的名字。从此以后，我就叫胡适了”。胡适的率直自此可见一斑。（见该书第77页及114页）

在我看来，出版、介绍胡适、蔡元培、林语堂、梁实秋、周作人等其他很多人的文章与传记是非常有意义的事情。这些人大都是新文化运动的领导者与推动者。他们中很多人亲历过中西文化，生活在不稳定的政治、经济和社会环境里。当时国内有很多挑战，国际形势也不稳定。而他们在那种大环境下，尽其所能，写出了不少比较客观的分析与评论，引进了不少新的观点和思维方式。这些文字，今天读来，仍有不少感想和共鸣。

我最近读的这些人的选集与传记，都是后人选编的。这倒无可厚非。读过之后，我感觉有以下方面可以提高。但暇不掩玉，总的来说，这些书对我都非常有启发：

一、所选的文章，都应标明初始的出版或写作年代。如可能的话，写作地点也会有帮助；
二、对原文和题目，不要作删改或调整。还是原汁原味最地道。

几个星期前读完了龙应台的《人在欧洲》。这是北京三联书店1994年出版、1997年再版的。我是从芝加哥公共图书馆借到的。

龙应台的作品我不是太陌生。记不太清什么时候读了她写的《中国人，你为什么不生气？》及其他评论文章。那时我深为她犀利的文笔、透彻和精辟的分析所吸引。当时读她的文章，有一种痛快淋漓的感觉。

十几年前读她的书觉得过瘾，现在倒是未必。其主要原因是我觉得她的文笔太狂，不少的时候偏激。总而言之，就是太“生气”。所以当我拿起这本书时，是有一些犹豫的。但当时我刚读完毛毛的《我的父亲邓小平》，所以想找一本内容和风格不同的书来换换口味；加上媒体上又有报道她炮轰中宣部的关闭冰点的决定（我个人对冰点基本上一无所知）和我个人对于东西文化比较的兴趣。所以就拿来读一读。

读完之后的感觉和上面所写的并无太大变化。她的笔锋依旧锐利，一针见血。在我看来，不少情况下她的分析都是切中要害，毫不留情。她的不少观点我也会鼓掌赞成的。

但不少时候我也觉得虽然她的出发点是好的，但她的结论下得太早、太快，有以偏概全、格式化、笼统化的嫌疑。举例来说， 她的关于瑞士人的有计划及刻板的描写，关于瑞士幼儿园的描写，都是单维及单向性的。还有更多的例子，这里不好一一列举，因为书已经还掉了。

对于一个文化、一个社会的观察，管中窥豹的评论只能给人简单的、模式化的理解。这对于文化交流的意义不会很大。

但如前所说，龙应台的文笔和类比确实不错。现引她的《思想栏杆》的两段话做结。在《思想栏杆》里，她从反面描述了一个公正、客观媒体的重要性：

一个渺小的个人的文字，一旦成为铅印，就罩上了一层“权威”的外衣，以新闻为媒体，就更加上了“客观”的金冠。几百万人读这篇报道，几百万人中有多少人会注意意识形态的诱导而有所警惕？

你见过养猪的人如何把几十只肥猪引导到同一个出口吗？只要用栏杆围出一条长长的窄路，连到出口，猪就会一只一只排队走向你要它走的地方。无形的思想栏杆，也是如此。

I talked about Muzzy Chinese program in this post. It’s a great program. We loved it.

Another children’s Chinese language material I recommend is a game series called Wawa Yaya. These games are very interactive. All characters speak great Mandarin Chinese and they talk a lot, which is good if you want your kids to learn Chinese. The game, music, and interactive activity help to get your little ones engaged. It is also educational in that each game focuses on one particular area, such as painting, music, reading, math, etc..

Another good thing is that the graphics are done using DirectX, which is part of Windows. So no installation is required on the computer. Pop in the CD and it will start playing.

If neither of the parents knows Mandarin Chinese, then it may be somewhat difficult in the beginning. But overall, it is not difficult to figure out how it works. Plus, the game interface is pretty consistent, so once you know how to get around in one game, it is not difficult to play others.

Since I listed some of the Chinese books I read in this post, I made a list of some English books I’ve read in the last 3 years or so for completeness. The books are not listed in any specific order. I highly recommend most of them.

I am currently reading a Chinese book, 我的父亲邓小平，(My Father Deng Xiaoping), written by Deng’s daughter. I usually alternate English and Chinese books for reading.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Great book. Highly recommended. Funny I can relate to Frank McCourt’s Irish experience, growing up a country boy in rural China.

Soul Mountain by Gao XingJian
Great book. Great, great translation by Marbel Lee. It helps if you know some of China’s recent history.

One Man’s Bible by Gao XingJian
See comment above.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Great book and very entertaining. A great blend of culture, religion, history, and geography.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
See comment above

Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes by Steve Olson
Excellent book, highly recommended for people who are interested in understanding more of our common ancestry.

Waiting by Ha Jin
Excellent, excellent book. Ha Jin writes individual’s longing, helplessness, kindness, cruelty with beautiful and compact language. I am deeply impressed by his mastery of the English language.

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
Good book. It helped me to contemplate and organize a lot of thoughts I already have on the subject of globalization. I don’t necessarily agree with all his conclusions, especially his discussions on the Middle East and the Muslim world. Nonetheless, the author provides good background and interesting anecdotal evidence to put globalization in perspective. I wish he did more research on China, though.

Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
A classic. Pete Jackson did a great job adapting the trilogy to the big screen.

Getting Things Done by David Allen
A great book full of practical tips on how to prioritize, manage your time, and enhance productivity. I followed the principles for a while but kind of fell off the wagon, so to speak. I’ve got to re implement most of the ideas again.

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Interesting book. One takeaway is to remember many so-called experts are biased when giving you advice, especially when the expert’s own interest is at stake. Think your real estate agent and financial adviser.

The Importance of Living by Lin YuTang
A best seller in the late 1930s, this book is a classic. I haven’t finish it yet, but so far I love it a lot. I will borrow it from the library again and read it in its entirety soon. Lin YuTang is a true great author that bridges East and West, and I think he deserves more credit than what he gets. Frank McCourt also talked about his reading of Lin YuTang’s work in Limerick, Ireland.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
I brought this book to Sweden in summer, but didn’t finish it. I read probably 2 chapters and loved it. I will read it in its entirety soon. The novel was made to a movie of the same title. I remember seeing it a few years ago and loved it.

After living in the US for more than 10 years now, I feel that I am also looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I am not religious, but I like the joyful, harmnious, and just plainly nice spirit these holidays bring. The Chinese equivalent version would be the lunar New Year holiday.

On Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve/Day, there is usually a feast for the whole family and people eat a lot. Therefore I thought it is a good time for me to share my favorite Chinese restaurants in Chicago with you.

As you can see from my first post, I grown up in a small rural village in Northern China. Nobody had refrigerators at the time, even for city folks. So to preserve food longer, we pickle vegetables and stir-fry meat, usually pork, with a lot of salt. Having pork in a meal was heaven on earth to me at the time. So I like salty, hot, and spicy food. I actually eat and enjoy the red, dried chili pepper that people use to cook a good Kong Pao chicken. However, the places I recommend all have many choices of different dishes. So don’t worry if you have mild taste. All places below offer authentic Chinese food, in my view.

1. Ed’s Potsticker House
3139 S Halsted
Chicago
312-326-6898
This place is located outside the center of Chinatown on Halsted. It serves a lot of North and Northeast Chinese dishes.

2. Mandarin Chef/Lao Sze Chuan
2172 S Archer Ave
Chicago
312 326 5040
Located in Chinatown, across the street from Walgreens, this place specialize in SiChuan cooking. It can be pretty hot and spicy. It also has one in Downers Grove.

3. Spring World
2109 A.S. China Place, Chicago, IL 60616
312.326.9966
http://www.springworldrestaurant.com/
Again, located in Chinatown, not too far from the square where they have statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, this place specializes in Southwest China cooking, YunNan and SiChuan style.

4. Dragon King
Dragon King Restaurant
2138 S. Archer Ave.
312-881-0168
Again, located in Chinatown, not too far from the square where they have statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, this place specializes in North and Northeast Chinese dishes. One particular thing I like is called Lao Hu Tsai. Consider it as a vegetarian salad with a punch.

I’ve heard from somebody that Muzzy, the BBC foreign language program, is great. She bought it for her grandson for German learning. Unfortunately, at the time, there was no Chinese Muzzy program.

Due to popular request, Muzzy finally got a Chinese program. I got it 2 weeks ago and it has been great. My son loves it and is learning.

I am a native Chinese speaker. Mom is a native Swedish speaker. So we speak English at home. Due to the lack of good Chinese program within close distance of where we live (10-20 minutes drive), we enrolled him into a bi-lingual Japanese Montessori program. Chinese and Japanese are somewhat close.

He loves the Japanese program. Yoko sensei is absolutely wonderful. I don’t know Japanese myself but I think Benjamin is pretty good at it. Yoko, please let me know if that is not the case;)

The good thing about Muzzy is that it is age appropriate and engaging. It tells a story of a few characters in a fictitious kingdom. Muzzy is an alien that is kind and good natured. The gardener of the kingdom falls in love with the princess, who is also courted by the evil butler(?) of the royal family. The story sort of revolved around that. It is full of repitition of important words and funny sketches to get the kids engaged. My son is learning but don’t even know it;) It also helps that the program has a lot of songs to help along.

I highly recommend it if you want your child to learn a second language. Other than Chinese, I believe they have German, Italian, Spanish. Rick, if you read this, they have it available in French;)