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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, August 5, 2010

Macau Trading Company - 311 Church Street, NY

***NOTE – On a return back to Macao Trading Co. in October 2011 (just for drinks), no longer on the menu were the to-die-for-lamb-chops. Given that the lamb chops were the best thing listed in the review, it’s questionable if a trip to Macao is worth it. Certainly the ambiance is still there and it would still be a good place for your out-of-town mother-in-law, but the food is only average; edible but average.***

Macau may be a tiny island neighboring Hong Kong, but it has an air larger than life.  The first and last European colony in the Far East (the Portuguese arrived in Macau in 1557, leaving 400-odd years later in 1999), Macau still maintains the romantic feel of its colonial past, where East meets West in the culture, architecture and food.  But with the romantic, there is also the illicit air of Macau’s colonial past.  As the gambling mecca of Asia since the 1850s, organized crime has permeated, controlling Macau’s largest industry – the casinos – and in many ways, its government as well.

But it’s this feel of illegality that makes Macau attractive and the backdrop for some of Hong Kong’s best gangster films.  So when my friend suggested that we have dinner at Macao Trading Company in New York City’s Tribeca, I was excited at the chance to be transported back to the mysterious and dark Macau.

Unfortunately, Macao Trading Company doesn’t exactly live up to its namesake, but not for want of trying.  The bar area of the restaurant could easily be found in the streets of Macau, with strong teak wood elements, Buddha statutes, and iron fans.  But as I sat there, sipping on a glass of Portuguese wine, waiting for my dining companions, I realized that the fault lied more with the customers.  Americans just don’t do colonial sleazy nearly as well as their European counterparts; we are too earnest I suppose.  But in order to help overcome such a deficit, the bar offered a wide selection of drinks, with specialty cocktails starting at $14 each (including a $15 mai tai).  Stick with the Portuguese white house wine.  It was tasty and refreshing on a hot and humid New York City summer night.  As soon as we were seated, we immediately ordered a carafe.

While we were expecting fusion, the menu was largely divided between solidly Portuguese dishes and decidedly

Tortilha do Macao

Chinese ones, with some Chinese dishes oddly of the Sichuan-style rather than Cantonese (which would be the native type of Chinese food in Macau).  We decided to start our adventure with a Portuguese dish – Tortilha do Macao – a lump of crab meat and potato, with a curry dipping sauce.  It was a heavy mix, with a comfort-food type texture but without any of the consoling flavors.  It was too much potato with almost no flavor of the crab and absent the curry dipping sauce, the tortilha do macao would be a dry lump of nothingness.

Meatballs!

The Portuguese meatballs (as opposed to the Chinese meatballs) were equally as heavy but with much more of a taste – a very pronounced meat one.  Mixing ground lamb with ground pork and a juicy mozzarella center, the Portuguese meatballs were hearty but nothing to write home about.

The grilled lamb chops on the other hand were almost divine.  Or at least I thought so.  Initially we hesitated ordering the lamb chops because they were listed on the “small plates” side of the menu,

Lamb chops

and we are three people who like to eat lamb.  But the portion size was good – with more than enough for two servings each.  The on-the-bone lamb chops were perfectly tender with a smokey, barbecue taste.  Flawlessly complementing the lamb was a light and savory garnish of bean sprouts, radish, peppers and mango.  For me, the mix of these flavors is Macau.  My dining companions were a little less impressed, noting that lamb chops are a Cantonese specialty (this I never knew – how many times you go to Hong Kong and see lambs walking around?) and that lamb chops this good could easily be found in Flushing, Queens, at a cheaper price.  While this might be true, any trip to Macao Trading Company is not complete without these lamb chops.

Our next dish was a decidedly Chinese and one of my favorites – Ants Climbing the Tree.  While not an appetizing name, ants climbing the tree is a dish of glass noodles with minced pork and a red chili sauce.  It can be a fulfilling, flavorful dish but Macao Trading Company’s version falls far short of the ideal.  There was no distinction in flavors with the chili sauce overpowering everything else and the noodles too pasty.

Bacalao Fried Rice

Fortunately we ended our meal with a bang, the Bacalao Fried Rice – a very Cantonese dish that one dining companion commented was a dish her aunt would make if she was feeling experimental (note that in traditional Chinese cooking, the key is never to experiment but rather to perfect).  The flavor of the salted cod was perfectly pronounced and the use of jasmine rice was brilliant.  With the lamb chops, the bacalao fried rice was off the charts.

With its Tribeca address and dim lit interior, Macao Trading Company, as one of my dining companions noted, is the perfect place to bring your mother-in-law who is visiting from Cleveland and wants a crazy night out on the town.  But its neither terribly crazy nor terribly good.  At the very least though, the check won’t set you back too much.  With five dishes and a carafe of house wine, the bill came to $114 with tip ($38/each).  Macao Trading Company also picks up after hours, staying open till 3:30 AM.  The heavy food could be good to sop up some alcohol and after a night of partying the lack of flavor in some of the dishes will likely go unnoticed.  But in general, Macao Trading Company is average; if you’re in the neighborhood and want ambiance, give it a shot.  Just know what to order.

Rating:

Macao Trading Company
311 Church Street (just south of Canal)
New York,  NY 10013
(212) 431-8750
www.macaonyc.com

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, July 26, 2010

Visiting Beijing anytime soon?  Or merely just thinking about it?  As anyone can tell you who has ever been, in a city of  close to 20 million people on a land mass roughly the size of New York City, it is a stressful place.  So it is important to know how to remain calm and relaxed in a city that is anything but.  Susan Fishman Orlins, one of the first Americans to live in Beijing after the U.S. normalized relations in 1979, and a notorieous worrywart, offers her suggestions on how to avoid the stress of Beijing and live the imperial lifestyle while there.  Didn’t Puyi ride a bike too? 

What worries me most in Beijing is the air quality. When I view this smoggy city-as though through gauze or an organdy curtain soiled with age-I’m pleased with my choice to get around on a two-wheeler rather than sit in traffic jams, contributing to the pollution. You can rent a bike at any of several subway stations and drop it off at any other subway rental area. Be aware that, traffic-wise, the bigger you are, the more you have right of way. At intersections, cars turn from all four directions, seemingly at once, without slowing down. As for a helmet, don’t leave home without one!…Read More of Susan’s Travel Tips Here.

More of Susan’s worries, and writings on China, can be found at her blog –  Confessions of a Worrywart: Meditations on All that Could Go Wrong.  After reading one or two posts,  you will find yourself happily worrying too.

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, July 18, 2010

Last Thursday marked China Law & Policy‘s first year anniversary, giving us an opportunity to take stock.

When I started this website last summer, a good friend who has his own website told me I should be happy if I get more than 10 hits a day.  And I was.  Things started out slow, but when I was getting a consistent 20 hits a day, I felt good.  But now, a year later, China Law & Policy receives over 1,500 hits a month, with a subscriber list of over 200 people.  In a year, China Law & Policy has published 103 articles, covering a variety of issues, some serious, and some a little less so.  But all with the purpose to offer a different perspective on China and to better inform the U.S. public about issues pertaining to China.

Interestingly, the two most popular articles both involved criminal justice in China.  The article on British citizen Akmal Shaikh’s execution in China at the end of December received the greatest readership (Death Sentence for British Citizen Upheld; Execution Date Set).  But our April 19 article on the Rio Tinto trial in China (Rio Tinto Trial in China – A Miscalculation about Rule of Law?) and Prof. Vivienne Bath’s critique of the article (A Response to Rio Tinto – A different Opinion from Australia) was also extremely popular with our readership.  Rounding up the top three is from the “Just for Fun” section about Lady Gaga’s popularity in China (Oh My Lady Gaga! A Star is Born in…China).

China Law & Policy has also been very fortunate to attract other talent as well.  Marcy Nicks Moody, a regular contributor, has written a series of hard hitting articles about economic policy and trade issues between the U.S. and China.  Her article on China’s response to the Haiti earthquake (In the Aftermath of Haiti’s Earthquake: Where is China?) offered an interesting perspective on China’s soft power and was picked up by many other websites.  We also have had great articles from trade specialist Adam Bobrow, Chinese lawyer and professor Cao Xinglong, longtime China-watcher Susan Fishman Orlins, Gaga expert and Uigher food enthusiast Thomas Cantwell, and Chinese art expert Taliesin Thomas.

One of the goals of China Law & Policy has been to offer an outlet to a younger set of China-watchers, those who have come of age with a China that has always been a friend and never a foe.  The mainstream press is still largely reserved for an older set of “China experts” – those raised during the Cold War and who had to deal with the baggage of Red China vs. Free China (the Mainland vs. Taiwan), baggage that today’s younger China watchers do not have to carry.

In the next year, China Law & Policy would like to increase the number of guest bloggers and further diversify the opinions offered on the website.  We would also like to have more articles from Chinese scholars.  Prof. Guo Zhiyuan’s interview on mental illness and the Chinese criminal justice system remains our most popular interview.

Finally, China Law & Policy would like to thank all of those who have been supporters of the website.  From the beginning, there have been many that have constantly encouraged, provided article ideas and new ways of thinking of issues; this support has truly been invaluable.  Thank you.

But we still want to hear from you. Have ideas about what China Law & Policy should do in the next year?  Have topics that you think China Law & Policy should cover?  Or just general comments?  Please use the comment section to let us know.  Thank you for your continued support!

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, July 9, 2010

Lady Gaga from the Pokerface Video

Originally Posted on The Huffington Post

In just over two years since her debut of “The Fame,” Lady Gaga has come to dominate the airwaves, profoundly impacting pop culture throughout the world.  With her sold-out concerts in New York City this week, China Law & Policy asks the question that everyone wants to know the answer to: yeah, you might be famous in the U.S, but are you big in China?

Mao Zedong once said “the revolution is not a dinner party.”  In China right now, it’s a dance party and Lady Gaga is the DJ.  In malls throughout the country – from cosmopolitan Beijing to the smaller city of Zhengzhou –  the addictive beats of Lady Gaga’s  electro-pop boom incessantly.   And China’s youth adores her, at least the ones I talked to.  They might not understand all the words to her songs but they get her message – “different”, “unique”, “rebellious” – all adjectives used to describe her by the students I interviewed.

Chinese pop star, Da Zhangwei, copies Lady Gaga's Muppets outfit

Lady Gaga’s videos and music are just as popular in China as they are in the U.S.  And as in the U.S., her fashion has sparked imitation across China.  Because it is bizarre, Lady Gaga’s style is copied by Chinese pop stars in a sort of homage to her (click here for a side-by-side comparison montage).  Average people want to achieve her style as well.  On China’s nationally syndicated talent show “Ni Zui You Cai” (“You’re the Most Talented”), dance performances to her music are common (check out this number to “Poker Face”) and when judges on the show compare a singer or dancer to Lady Gaga, the audience explodes in a raucous of cheers, excited just to hear her name.

In fact, Lady Gaga is so popular right now that her name is barely ever translated into Chinese characters, much to the chagrin of Chinese officials (if it is translated, it is usually translated as 雷帝嘎嘎 (“Lei Di Ga Ga”), meaning “Thunder Emperor Gaga”).  Even for Michael Jackson and Madonna, their names are almost always translated into Chinese characters.  But for Lady Gaga, her English name is not only brazenly used by the Chinese youth but has become a part of Chinese slang; nowadays, Chinese young people no longer use the phrase “Oh My God” to express surprise or amazement; instead internet chat rooms and regular conversations are filled with “OMLG!” – “Oh My Lady Gaga!”

I get why Lady Gaga is popular in China.  She’s so deliciously “plasticy” – her music and her fashion – and plasticy is big in China.  The drama that she brings is also attractive to a culture where “melodrama” does not carry a negative connotation. Her music videos like “Paparazzi” and “Telephone,” with their overly emotional acting and vindicated female characters, are more like a Chinese soap opera than anything you would see in America.

But there has to be something more than just the plastic melodrama.  If that is all it took, Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton would be huge in China (they are not).  So what is it about Lady Gaga that she appears to be the biggest star in China right now?  I’m no expert on pop culture, so I sat down and discussed the issue with my friend and self-proclaimed Gaga expert, Tom Cantwell.  “She’s popular in China because she is accessible” says Tom.   Her music is simple-lyric dance music with addictively catchy beats behind the simple words (“bang bang, we’re beautiful and dirty rich” with a beat supporting each word).  That’s the appeal of dance  music – its simplicity – and also what makes it universally loved. Think about it, there is a reason why Wham!, the British dance duo, was the first Western music group to perform in China back in 1985 and why someone like Jay-Z, with his more intricate melodies that are purposely off the beat, is not widely popular outside of a small hip-hop fan-base on the Mainland.

Tom went on to say, “Yes, her music is accessible but so is her fashion.”  Accessible?  She wears no pants half of

Gaga fan with cans in her hair await the Today's Show Free Lady Gaga Concert, July 8, 2010

the time and muppets the other half.  “Of course.”  As Tom explained, someone like Beyonce, who is beautiful and dresses in the highest of fashion, is absurdly inaccessible for the average person in both the U.S. and China.  But Lady Gaga creates outfits, making her fashion style achievable with some imagination.  “I can just imagine a Chinese girl in some factory town, inspired by Lady Gaga, putting tin cans on her head” Tom said.

That sentiment was echoed in my conversations with the Chinese young people I spoke to.  While everyone mentioned Lady Gaga’s music, what they really stressed was her fashion.  Although each mentioned that Chinese culture was still too traditional for Lady Gaga’s fashion to be widely copied in China, there was a tinge of envy in their voices, one young man even commenting that he looked to others to have the “courage” to copy her style.  And that’s what is most interesting about this Lady Gaga phenomenon in China; for all the talk in the West about the Chinese youth not being taught to be “free thinkers,” their love for Lady Gaga demonstrates that they do have an independent streak in them.  One that appreciates and respects differences and the absurd.  And just good, fun dance music.

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, June 20, 2010

Like every other country outside of the United States, China is a soccer-crazed nation and with the 2010 World Cup, employers fear a loss of productivity of their workers.  With China six hours ahead of South Africa, the matches begin at 7 pm local time, with the last match starting at 2:30 AM., giving most Chinese the opportunity to watch the matches with their friends into the wee hours of the morning.  And it appears that many are taking advantage of this time difference even without a hometown team to root for.

Given China’s dominance in recent Olympics as well as its people’s love for soccer, it’s weird not to see a Chinese team at the World Cup.  Especially since even its neighbor – poor and ideologically-suffocating North Korea – made the cut.  China was able to build up its curling prowess to win a bronze in women’s curling in Vancouver – a sport most Chinese, actually most people outside of Canada, have never heard of.  Surely it can train a World Cup-worthy soccer team.  So what gives?

China - Economic superpower but not a soccer one

A recent article in the L.A. Times essential blames China’s “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”  While China’s state-controlled capitalism – where the state programs and controls much of the “free market” – has allowed for success in the economic sphere, it’s destroyed any hopes for soccer dominance.  China’s various professional soccer leagues are managed by the Chinese Football Association, a commercial entity that is overseen by the General Administration of Sport, a government body.  With dueling ideologies, the result is confusion and lack of coordination.  Additionally, China’s professional leagues have been plagued by high-level corruption, gambling scandals, and match-fixing, rotting the sport to its core.  While a recent clean-up of the corruption might have short-term impact, without better checks and balances, expect corruption to return to Chinese soccer and stymie any hope of creating a World Cup-worthy team.

Vuvuzela - Made in China

Although there is no China presence on the field, there is plenty of China presence in the stands.  Those annoyingly loud vuvuzelas that drown out referee whistles and any sounds from the field are mostly made in China.  And China’s wig production saw a huge uptick in demand for wigs dyed the national colors of various nations.

But what has received the most attention is ESPN’s Martin Tyler’s on-air comment that the North Korean fans are in fact paid Chinese actors, an allegation that was also made last month in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph.  As a team playing in the World Cup, North Korea is given a large number of tickets to give or sell to its people.  But for most North Koreans, a flight to South Africa would cost too much, leaving many of the North Korean-designated seats empty.  But supposedly, these tickets have been transferred to China, who is sending 1,000 actors to cheer on its neighbor.

Both China and North Korea remain mum in regards to the nature of the North Korean fans and have neither denied nor confirmed the rumors.  But China has hired “professional” fans in the past.  Most notably the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  In order to fill empty seats, the Chinese government sent groups of enthusiastic Chinese volunteers, wearing yellow shirts and armed with thundersticks, into the stands to cheer for both teams playing.  That’s right – the Chinese sent volunteers to cheer not just for their own team, but for whichever teams were playing.  Essentially, the Chinese Olympic officials wanted to guarantee an enthusiastic crowd for the teams playing.

During the 2008 Olympics and now for the North Korea matches in the World Cup, the Chinese received criticism for

Fans cheer on North Korea at the 2010 World Cup

this “manufactured” support.  But I sort of think this type of magnanimity is cute and I kind of like it.  Imagine if you are the beach volleyball team from Luxemburg – you don’t even have beaches in your country let alone fans of beach volleyball that are going to watch you at the Olympics.  So how inspiring must it be to play in the Olympics and have a cheering section.  Sure it might be manufactured, but sometimes it’s just the cheers that matter for the team.  And for the other people in the stands, having a section that starts to get into the match, makes watching an otherwise boring event fun.  People don’t do the wave during the ninth inning of a tied Yankees-Red Sox game.  No.  They do the wave when they are bored, when the defeat is so obvious that you need a little entertainment to keep you involved.

So Monday morning, when North Korea takes on Portugal, I hope the fans – be Chinese or North Korean – are there wildly rooting for the North Korean team.  China should look to market this thing – a cheering section for hire and an enthusiastic one to boot?  There are a lot of politicians and disgraced corporate executives in the U.S. right now that might be interested.

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, April 8, 2010

Chinese Mirch

Religion successfully moves from country to country by adopting many of the customs and culture of its new host country.  Similarly, so does Chinese food.  The food you find at a local take-out in Manhattan is different than what you would find on the streets of Beijing.  While some sinophiles might turn up their nose to American Chinese food, it is its own distinct cuisine, to be loved and respected for its own separate reasons.  And love it I do.

But the Chinese have gone all over the world.  So what is Chinese food like outside of the U.S.?  Is there sweet-and-sour pork?  General Tsao’s?  Such thoughts blow my mind, sort of like wondering, what is out there after the planet Pluto?

So imagine my excitement last weekend when a friend (and avid China Law & Policy reader!) invited me to join her at an Indian Chinese restaurant.  And that’s how I ended up at Chinese Mirch on Lexington Avenue and 28th Street.

Chinese food is not new to India and in fact likely has a longer history there than in the United States.  With the Chinese first settling in Calcutta in the late 18^th century, Chinese food in India has had the time to fuse some of the best of both Asian countries.  A mix described as “an explosion of flavor, sometimes bold and fiery, but always a delight to the senses,”  Chinese Mirch certainly delivered on the bold and fiery, but at times left me without the delight.

For me, we might have started off wrong.  Chinese Mirch’s appetizer of chicken spiked with curry leaves and red hot

Mirch 65

chilies, named Mirch 65, was intense and not in a good way; more in a “can I have a bigger glass of  water” way.  I don’t consider myself weak when it comes to spicy, but Mirch 65 had way too much chili, overpowering what otherwise might have been a good dish with fresh, succulent pieces of chicken.  Our dish of fried okra though was pretty solid.  Nice fresh pieces of okra with a light fried batter and good and crispy.  But while it was good, it wasn’t spectacular.

But things decidedly picked up with the main dishes.  Vegetable ball Manchurian is a must.  While shaped as little meatballs, it does not attempt to replicate the taste or feel of meat.  It knows better than that and does not need to stoop to that level.  No, vegetable Manchurian rightfully stands alone.  Made of fresh ground vegetables in a minced onion, garlic and cilantro sauce, and lightly fried, the flavors of the fresh vegetables clearly speak for themselves and trust me, what they have to say shouldn’t be missed.

Chili Paneer

The chili paneer, lightly fried cubes of cheese in a hot soy chili gravy, was close to divine.  Outside of a few places in China, cheese does not exist and is not found in traditional Chinese cooking.  So the paneer is much more of an Indian dish than a Chinese one, but the soy sauce and chili gravy allowed the flavor of the paneer to pop.  Likely to the displeasure of my dining companions, I couldn’t stop eating it.  By time I knew it, the whole dish was gone.

After two marvelous dishes, the crispy Szechuan lamb was a bit disappointing.  There wasn’t really anything exciting about it.  It consisted of good pieces of meat, not at all chewy, with good lamb flavor and a nice chili spice aftertaste.  But it wasn’t anything to write home about.

Fortunately we finished our meal on a bang with the Hakka noodles.  The Hakka are a group of Chinese who speak the

Hakka Noodles

Hakka dialect and during the late 18^th and 19^th centuries, traveled and settled in many places outside of China, including India.  While few Hakkas can still be found in China today, remnants of their distinct food can easily be found in Chinatowns that dot the globe.  Hence, Hakka noodles from India.  Hakka noodles are so common and popular in India that most young Indians today don’t realize that the dish is not original to India, at least according to one of my dining companions.  If lo mein is too greasy for you, hakka noodles are a wonderful alternative.  Thinner, flatter and less greasy, Hakka noodles do not leave you feeling overly full and gross like lo mein can.

Overall, Chinese Mirch was a good find and I look forward to exploring more of the flavors of Inidan Chinese food.  The food has all the savoriness of traditional Indian food but with lighter sauces and flavors.  It also makes significantly more use of the chili which in some cases (like the Mirch 65) can be a bit much but in other cases, really makes the dish.  Prices though are reasonable with most dishes around $10.  Do note that Chinese Mirch is a rather small restaurant and given the increasing demand for Indian Chinese food, the wait can be long.  If you would like to try to make some Indian Chinese food on your own, you can find a great recipe here.

Rating:

Chinese Mirch
120 Lexington Ave. (corner of 28^th Street)
New York, NY 10016
(212) 532-3663
www.chinesemirch.com

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, February 13, 2010

Welcome to the Year of the Tiger!  February 14 marks the start of the new year for China as well as most other East Asian countries.   Tiger years are never dull and are often marked by huge and dramatic changes, both for individuals and for the world-at-large.  So if you thought 2009 was a bit of a roller coaster, you haven’t seen anything yet.   It’s generally not a year to be asleep at the wheel and you should seek to take advantage of every opportunity.

But to know what is really in store for you, you need to first know your own Chinese zodiac sign.  Each animal in the zodiac fares differently in the Year of the Tiger.  Click here to learn your sign and learn your fortune for 2010.

The Lunar New Year, also known as Chun Jie (the Spring Festival) in China is a 15-day holiday, when Chinese from the cities will return to their parents’ homes in the countryside and families spend the most of that time together.   The New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese calander.

To all of our Chinese and East Asian friends, Gong Xi Fa Cai (pronounced Gong See Fa Tsai)!  May your new year be filled with family, fortune and luck!

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, February 11, 2010

Curling – a.k.a. shuffle board on ice – is a sport long dominated by Canadians.  But in next week’s Olympic Games, Canada might cede its Olympic dominance to….China?  Yes, to China.  In fact, some would argue it already has – in women’s curling, China currently holds the world title.  So it will be interesting to see China attempt to topple Canada while in Vancouver.  On top of that, China’s curling coach, Dan Rafael, hails from Canada.  Expect the Canadians to fight back with a vengeance.

The Chinese government puts a lot of stock in its athletes’ performances at the Olympics.  During Beijing’s 2008 summer games, China won a total of 51 medals, with the U.S. in second place with less than 35.  China will come nowhere near such numbers in the winter games, but it expects to take home more than the 11 medals it did after the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.  In addition to potentially winning gold in curling, China is expected to medal in freestyle skiing, snowboarding halfpipe, speed skating and pairs figure skating.

In the past 10 years, China has  put a lot of capital – both financial and human – into its Olympic training programs.  Chinese athletes are able to excel because all they do is practice; Olympic training is 100% subsidized by the government with the athletes receiving salaries from the state.  Athletes are chosen at a young age and come of age in the countries sporting training centers.  Usually, their education takes a back seat to their training.

Why?  Why should a country that still has a large number of people living in poverty, put so much money into Olympic sports?  It’s a way for China to prove that it has “made it.”  China’s rise does not come without baggage.  After ruling Asia, if not the world, for much of its 2,000 year history, starting in 1800, China was brought to its knees by the Western powers, first with the British after the Opium Wars and then other foreign powers when China was divided in various spheres of influences.  China has not forgotten this history and often brings it up – Chinese news reports about its Olympics exploits will mention that China is no longer the “sick man of Asia.”  The Chinese government also uses this history to increasing nationalist pride among its people.  It’s this nationalism that helps the Chinese Communist Party stay in power.

While some may be unsettled by China’s Olympic ambitions, others say, bring it on.  Really, the Olympics has not been nearly as interesting in our post-Cold War world.  Who can forget the sight of huge East German female swimmers?  Or judges from Soviet-bloc nations voting against Western athletes?  And the U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. hockey game?  It was a time when people actually watched the Olympics and when medals won was more than a victory in a sport, it was a triumph of an ideology.  Without the drama, intrigue and flaming of nationalist passions, what’s the point?  Maybe now NBC will be able to turn a profit on its Olympic coverage.

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, November 17, 2009

Susan Fishman Orlins, freelance writer and longtime China-watcher, offers some advice on where President Obama needs to go to see the real Beijing. 

Biking in Beijing - perhaps the best way to get around

DEAR MR PRESIDENT:  WHAT TO DO IN BEIJING

By Susan Fishman Orlins

Dear President Obama,

As I bike around Beijing this week, during a short trip to see my daughter who works here, I’ve been thinking about some local attractions you might enjoy during your visit.  I’ve also been thinking about how the ratio of bicycles to automobiles appears to have flip-flopped from the first time I arrived in China, thirty years ago.  When you inhale the acrid smell of motor vehicle fumes and view this smoggy city–as though through gauze or an organdy curtain, soiled with age–you may decide that you too would prefer getting around on a two-wheeler rather than waiting in traffic jams, adding to the pollution.  You can rent a bike at any of several subway stations and drop it off at any of the others.  Just be aware of the rule of the streets:  the bigger you are, the more you have the right of way.  At intersections, cars will turn from all four directions, seemingly at once, without slowing down.

I like starting off my stay here with a foot massage.  Side by side in oversized, cushy club chairs with high backs that recline, you and President Hu Jintao can first soak your feet in a barrel of milk, herbs and Chinese medicine.  Then, in the privacy of a room for two, you can watch CNN on the flat-screen TV or discuss human rights, while young men knead your shins and toes with Healthy Spa Life Cure Professor massage lotion. 

Afterwards, you might want to buy some gifts for Malia and Sasha.  Head to trendy Nanluoguoxiang, lined with coffee bars and boutiques and where you can pick up a couple of Oba-Mao t-shirts with your own image donning a red-star cap. 

Beijing's Hutong Life

I suggest quickly making your way out of there through the crowds of Chinese yuppies and foreign tourists.  To witness something of life as it has been here for decades (try to mentally delete all the cars), head south and turn into any hutong and lose yourself in the maze of narrow lanes lined with low courtyard houses with sloping tile roofs, most of which–unlike in earlier times–provide shelter for several families.  Some hutongs are quieter than others, with maybe only a cat stealthily creeping along the edge of a courtyard wall and a few rusty bikes leaning below.  Then you turn a corner and there unfolds a row of tiny, old shopfronts, many of which are selling dough in its endless forms:  fried, flat, squishy, steamed, noodly.  A bun–that looks like a large cream-colored ball you squeeze to exercise your hands–might be empty inside or filled with bean paste or minced pork.  Or you can get dumplings floating in broth. 

Hutongs are where I most like to watch the bustle.  Watching the bustle is a typical Chinese activity;  they call it kankan renao, literally look at bustle.  I could steer you to the hutong where I talked to a baby and bought striped socks from her grandmother, while a guy in a hard hat working nearby secured a shelf I’d bought to the back of my bicycle with some electrical wire.  But that would take away the fun of discovery.  No matter which way you turn in these lanes, you’ll get a sense of community, especially for elderly folks, whereas at home in the U.S. my sense of life for the elderly is often one of loneliness.

In fact, when I asked a retired Chinese friend what she does all day, she replied, “Wanr,” which is Beijingspeak for play and means hang out.  She hangs out in the park with her friends.  Just north of Jingshan Park, you can experience an inviting “playground” for senior citizens, one of many throughout the city.  Don’t be surprised if the rows of ping pong tables are all in use.  At a small cement table by the fence, some lao touzi, or old men, will probably be playing Chinese checkers with a ring of onlookers that sometimes grows to three-deep.  Meanwhile, lao tai tai, or old women sit on benches chattering.  Try out some of the colorful exercise contraptions:  stand on one to swing front to back, side to side on another.  Some have bars that stick out for leaning against to massage your back.  Ahh, lovely.  Maybe if we provided more recreation like this for our elderly, we could reduce health-care costs.

Another way the Chinese promote good health is by drinking tea.  My favorite teahouse in Beijing is Stone Boat, located in zen-like Ritan Park.  This being an embassy area, the setting is quiet, though you occasionally hear strains of someone practicing Peking Opera.  The teahouse is the shape of a shortened train car painted with intricate designs in which Chinese reds and greens dominate.  The carved wooden window frames open to a pond where a few men may be fishing, bare willow branches weeping over them.  Try for some solitary moments here, an opportunity to think quietly or take some notes, while sipping ginger tea.

If Michelle were with you, and if it were date night, I would suggest dinner at Lan in the business area, more for the exotic atmosphere than the expensive food.  In any case, it’s worth going there just to have a look at how lavish New China can be.  But be forewarned of sensory overload:  there are even paintings on the ceilings.  The blend of contemporary design with baroque and whimsy gives an overall Alice-in-Wonderland effect.  My favorite displays are on glass shelves that line the walls on either side after you enter:  a rainbow of fabrics stacked alongside cones of brightly colored thread, mock elaborately decorated pastries and cakes, Jesus candles of various sizes and shaped burnt down to different heights.  And sprinkled throughout, photographs of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. 

For more down-to-earth dining, I’d have a meal at Liu Zhai Shi Fu, located in a hutong behind The National Art

A feast at Liu Zhai Shifu - ma dofu is on the bottom right

Museum of China.  Though it can be a bit chilly, sit in the enclosed area that used to be the courtyard of this family-run restaurant, where silk vines hang overhead.  Be sure to order ma doufu, a dish of old Beijing and, though it looks like chopped liver mixed with wet cement, it’s the most delicious dish made from a soy bean I’ve ever tasted:  sour, spicy hot, smooth on the palate.

Before you leave Beijing, why not drop in on the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) offices and chat with the young Chinese employees there as well as with Princeton Fellows and other American interns who are doing all they can to safeguard the earth?

I hope you have a great and productive trip.

Warm regards,

Susan Fishman Orlins

Susan’s work has appeared previously in The New York Times and The Washington Post as well as in Moment Magazine, where she is an associate editor.  She received a Rockower Award for excellence in Jewish journalism for her Moment profile of Deborah Tannen. 

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By Elizabeth M. Lynch, November 1, 2009

The capital awoke to a blanket of white Sunday morning for Beijing’s first snowfall of the season.  While the snow was brought by the government’s seeding of the clouds in an effort to end a drought in northern China, natural or not, the scene was still very pretty.