words and images
christmas in jinzhou - 1998
In 1998, the Mayor of Jinzhou held a Christmas Party at which I was asked to give a speech (sorry no picture but Jinzhou TV has the video).
Christmas Speech
1998 Jinzhou Mayor's Christmas Party
GRAFFITI ARTIST?
Chen Jiaqi, an FAO (Foreign Affairs Officer) at Jinzhou College caught in the act of spray painting subversive Merry Christmas greetings on the windows of the Foreign Teachers' Apartment Building.
By the by, these are also the easiest two windows to climb into after curfew when the doors are padlocked. But don't tell anyone. It's a secret!
SHENG DAN KUAILE
("HAPPY" CHRISTMAS)
A couple of Santas grace the front door of the Apartment Building along with Chen's graffiti. In China, Santa is called "Sheng Dan Lao Ren" = The Christmas Old Man. Here, Tina (Class of 1998), sporting 2-inch platform shoes and standing on the first step, poses with another old
man.
ICH TANNENBAUM, ICH TANNENBAUM
The picture above is what passes for the Christmas tree that they put up in the Foreign Affairs Dept. building. Barely visible at the top of the picture happens to be 2 of the 3 clocks on the wall as one walks into the building. The clock on the left is Tokyo time (there are 6 students and one teacher from Japan living in the building), the middle clock-Beijing
(China time) and right New York (which runs an hour behind for half the year as they have yet to figure out how Daylight Savings Time works). It is, apparently, very cosmopolitan here to have three clocks in the lobby.
THE GANG OF TWO AND A FOREIGNER
Above are (L to R): Me, Ren, and Chen. Ren is the boss of the Foreign Affairs Office among other things (the details are still too murky as yet). Chen was the guy I have dealt with from the day I began my journey to Jinzhou. He's the son of the college's Party leader, which is how he got his job (that's the way things often work here in China). He's known among the
foreign teachers as "the village idiot".
Incidentally, the silk suit coat I am wearing here is my Christmas gift from Jinzhou College (though they don't know that). The College gave me a gift certificate for 100 Yuan to Zhong Bai Dept. Store. At the department store, I saw the coat and liked it but it was 240 Yuan. I bargained them down to 180 Yuan even though this is a big
store and bargaining supposedly isn't allowed. So with the gift certificate it cost me 80 Yuan out-of-pocket or $10. Kauffman's would charge $130 in Cleveland. Thanks Ren. Thanks Chen. Thanks Zhong Bai.
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