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A New Year in China

15 February 2009

The Chinese Year of the Ox is officially in progress now.  A lot of the Chinese are worried that it is not going to be a lucky year for them, and rightfully so given the world wide economic crisis.  It seems to be hitting a lot of industries.  The number of foreigners in Nantong even seems to have dropped down noticeably, which of course means that Chinese workers have lost their jobs as well. 

Asians believe that shooting off fireworks will help to chase away the bad spirits that can ruin good luck.  As a result, the sound of fireworks has permeated the air day and night for the last two weeks.  Shooting off fireworks at night is tolerable and quite entertaining.  Shooting off fireworks during daylight hours is hardly entertaining as all that can be seen are white flashes.  Without the entertainment value, the noise becomes rather redundant.  No evidence that this superstition works, but it would be nigh unto impossible to convince the locals of that. 

It is back to work again on Monday as school will be back in session then.  It has been a nice six week vacation, but even vacations can become boring.  For The Old Codger, this term will be pretty much the same as last term, though hopefully it will be a bit easier.  It is presumed that the students now understand how important the classes are and will be a bit more willing to partake of the knowledge being imparted.  The class schedule of course could be better -- especially on Fridays.  Classes are scheduled for the last period of the day, which will cut into The Old Codger's weekly happy hour by at least 30 minutes.  There is an extremely strong possibility that he will be rectifying that untenable situation.

There are some stray cats that live at the campus.  During the school year, when the cafeteria / canteen is in operation they appear to be quite well fed.  However, during holidays, they are left on their own to scrounge for food and typically do not seem to be finding enough.  As a result, The Old Codger feeds them regular dry cat food during those periods given that he has a soft spot in his otherwise steely, cold and unfeeling heart for cats.  Surprisingly, despite being wild cats that no one can get close to, they do seem to appreciate the free meals.  Cats are known for bringing "gifts" in the form of dead mice, and these cats are no exception.  The Old Codger has been finding a few mice with their heads bitten off from time to time next to the feeding area where he puts food out for them.  Something that was totally unexpected to say the least. 

A Story From a Student

The Old Codger has a student that audits one of his classes.  Her name is Emily, a sophomore physics major, who is extremely ambitious and is always wanting more knowledge and experiences.  Over the last year, her English has improved greatly and she has proven to be the best in the class - when she takes her time on a writing assignment. 

A couple of days before the Chinese New Year on January 26th, Emily contacted The Old Codger to ask for some ideas of what she and her cousins could do for her Grandfather who was to turn 80 years old on the day after New Years.  She wanted to do something in both English and Chinese.  She was given a couple of ideas that she liked.

The day after her Grandfather turned 80 years old, a drunk driver hit and killed him when he was sitting in the front yard of his home.  Needless to say, it was a shock to everyone.  In the aftermath, Emily shared her thoughts and feelings with The Old Codger.  He obtained her permission to share everything here on the Letters From China.  The only editing that has been done has been to correct some spelling errors and to add information where necessary.  This is Emily's story, and The Old Codger does not feel that it would be appropriate to editorialize on any aspect of it.  Hopefully it will provide a small window into an unfortunate event and situation.

Text message:  29 January:  "Was worse today.  Killer showed no sympathy to the death.  Escaped the spot, also no trying to take the responsibility, nor making up.  Now all flared up [family members] rushed to the killer's house with grandpa's photo frame [picture].  It's not good, but for the sake of all, no other choice.  Sorry."

Note:  Emily has a habit of getting involved in things that she should not be involved in -- part of her ambitious nature.  The Old Codger advised her not to get involved in those things and to let the adults deal with the problem, situation and hopefully solution.

Text message:  29 January:  "OK.  They went there while we grandchildren and grandma stay in home, still with grandpa."  [In China, the deceased lies in state in the home.  This is a common practice throughout Asia.]

E-mail:  2 February:  "Decided tomorrow, grandpa's body's going to be burnt. Then a big mourning comes by. Life can be quite easy sometimes, and fragile. Right, the negotiation didn't carry out smoothly. The other side tried to escape part responsibility. I think, best of all is to honor the death and comfort the living. Grandma's life, no matter in mental, or  economic must have large effect on. As far as i know, adults tried to handle this case in a private way instead of all by law. If the other side would rather take out more money, we might probably consider excusing him from being put in prison. I am not sure, but fact seems that, if getting more money, it will certainly benefit more to grandma and uncle's family, cos' until now all of them depend on grandpa's income every month. So, for any sake, my papa busily went around getting everything ready since he's the only son-in-law right now. Grands merely have one son and three daughters.

"Last time, as I typed you that most of adults went to murder's house, to repel, or say, protest for their ignoring their responsibility in this case. Was afraid then, cos' some suggested placing grandpa's body in that house. Too terrible a journey, and I was too frightened so. Whatever happened, it's unfair for him to suffer anymore. Later that evening, we few remained in grandma's house. I kept asking grandma about their earlier marriage. I guess I was mistaken for some time, that actually grandpa, though not a party member, he's been in battle against American, (i wasn't boasting) in North Korea for six years, in around 1954... I am not clear, but for six years. He was a real solider, more than any of those volunteers. When returning home, he always expressed his good luck for surviving from the battle.

"Here is grandma and grandpa's story. Sweet? Could be. Grandma was born from a better family, and in Junior school, when grandpa's finished his soldier life, fell in love with grandma. He's seven years older than her. He chased after her all day long, whenever and wherever. Grandma remember that when she gave a performance on the stage, for some celebration, grandpa always showed up. If flowers were popular at that time, she probably would have countless flowers. Grandma was intended to be arranged into a geological survey as long as she was qualified for it, which needed physical examination that she's 100% confident in it. However, since grandpa's so idle and, in some way, crossed out grandma's name on that sheet of paper. She even didn't take the physical examination. Instead, in her early career, she chose to be a mathematic teacher in primary school. That's the story grandma married grandpa. I saw grandpa's teenager's pic in army clothes, OMG, so handsome! No wonder grandma gave in finally.  Grandma, sounds proud and beauty at younger age. She loves taking pics every much. She said with a  watermelon in arm, she would like to take one. No wonder last winter, when Cait [teacher at the University last year] asked if she could take a pic with grandma, grandma refused at first. Anyway, she gave in after being explained and persuaded many times over, i did, lol, she went in and changed in her festival best and agreed to take one with Cait. That is really a good story to tell. To satisfy her, I tried PhotoShop, adding a background to the pic instead of the white wall.

"Still, life will go on. May everybody a joyful future. It is not a very nice beginning in 2009 so to speak, however, fighting, and fighting, to earn a better life. Think a lot this time. (actually, each time think a lot, but, failed to carry out all the determination, etc. Life's fragile, whatever."

Text message: 3 February @ 9:46 AM:  "Is being burnt now. Almost last process. Holding a bunch of flowers, will dedicate when we arrive at tomb, but seems never ending."

Text message:  3 February @ 1:10 PM:  "Lunch over. They went to driver's house not far away, full of anger and breaking the door there.  Insist taking ash box into it. A way to threaten and revenge.  Delayed time to bury. War started again, cos' no guilty, no mercy from murderer.  Me watch grandma's house and hold the key."

Text message: 3 February@ 1:30 PM:  "Turned out no conflict. Murderer here never showed up these days.  Unreasonable.  Now another round of negotiation set up.  Result is unknown. Whether to place in tomb [ashes from cremation] depends.  Still waiting."

E-mail: 6 February:  "Was in video games last two days. Today went to grandma's house, cos' rest of the work. It is not easy to accept in the beginning, that we often send money to the dead in another world by burning tin paper. Usually, a rectangle paper is made into a kind of pavilion, or a boat, i think. About the amount, it is quite huge. For each date, I mean, the special days the whole process, require differently. The last date should be "Wu.Qi", like "Five.Seven", the daughters of the death [deceased] would send about 3,5000 ones in my family. Actually, these paper doesn't cost much. But it takes so much time to shape, almost. Well, we can pay some seniors for taking over the job this time, just grandma didn't agree, so we together do the job. Anyway, it does not much bad except sitting straight too long hurt my back.

About the accident, i think, everybody has come to an end. Yes, it is, after all, an accident, and was past. The peace breaker [the drunk driver] happened used to live in the same village as grandpa. Now that his mistake caused grandpa's death, that's the point, we are thinking about forgiving him, if he could take an active in solving all the stuff and make up for. well, money will work some a bit. As long as he can pay for the bill, a reasonable one, and apologize sincerely to the family, he may probably be excused from prison life. In the message, i told you an uncle, ie grandpa's ex-son-in-law, both strong in dark and white, and especially, the peace breaker has to take full responsibility, we are waiting for them to come, talk about it, instead of rushing to their house, and damaging the door with anything concerning grandpa. To a level, people clam down somewhat.

Because of the incident happened on This Tuesday, his, the body ash box, hasn't been buried yet. It will be 20 days later, namely Tue.25th. Right now it is being placed on a table, with a big grandpa's photo. I think grandma right now needs people to keep accompany. She wants to cook supper for her Junior 3 grandson for the next half year at least, so she won't live with any of her daughters. She urges aunt to stay with her since aunt's  retired already. Yah, she's come to become stronger. Just like the retired aunt, she lost her husband on Christmas day of 2007 in a traffic accident. Transportation can sometimes become really awesome, and terrible.

Around 10 days left for new term, decide to take a ride in Wuxi [Woo-she] New Development Zone. It earns most of Wuxi's profits. Quite a few Industrial Parks have been set up, and it may have my future. Should spend some time, like exploring dream or myth, take a good look at it. I doubt these places will let a stranger in, but whether a student card will help or not.

Life goes on and time does heal wounds. One can only wonder how long these types of attitudes here in China will last in today's world.  Certainly different than Western culture... 

Over the holiday, The Old Codger got to take a walk down memory lane by watching all eight seasons of M*A*S*H plus the original movie.  Pleased to report that the old memory is still pretty good -- remembered most of them within just a few minutes.  Now, where in the hell are my glasses...

This year, so far, the weather has been quite decent.  The temperatures have been going up and down like a yo-yo, but no snow and no prolonged cold weather like last year.  It is much different than last year.

Well, that's about it for this time around.  Hopefully The Old Codger will get a chance to get out and see more of China this year. 

The Old Codger

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