Since my last entry I have:
-Had more stuff stolen (purse, bike batteries, bank card)
-Had two thanksgiving meals
-Been on a great trip to Qingdao
-Suffered my first food poisoning!
-Paid my next bout of rent
-Forgot to top up our electricity card and left poor Anna cooking rice by candlelight for a few hours....
-Been given a weeks vacation for no real reason
-Had mulled wine in the hutongs
-Made origami advent calendars with Anna and Dani
-Done more extreme christmas decorations than I've ever bothered with in the UK
-Helped run an art show of my friend Bethany's amazing watercolours for the weekend.
-Started doubling clothing when I go out. Two pairs of jeans, two scarves, two jumpers...it is freezing.
-Got my bike brakes completely replaced for £1.20
Universities in Beijing
There are over 70 universities in Beijing, and a large amount of them are in the area of wudaokou where I live, which gives it the student centred feeling and also makes it a hub for internationals. As I meet more people from different universities I'm finding out how the dynamics are different in each, and also learning more about what traits of Chinese universities are pretty consistent throughout.
The first thing you'd find strange is probably their names, most of which are named after very specific fields and many of which you wouldn't really associate with higher education. The Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) and the Geosciences University which are across the street from each other probably don't sound very catchy but the Forestry University and the Mining University down the road are probably a bit more confusing. They do live up to their titles in many ways as well, BLCU has so many foreign language students, and the forestry university is full of beautiful tree lined avenues, as well as a large number of landscaping majors. It's origin is from the communist era when they really only taught one field, now they all teach a much wider spectrum but with their own specialties.
Another pretty difference which is pretty alien to us is that Chinese students don't get to choose what university they go to, nor do they get to even have complete say over their majors when they get there. The whole Chinese education system is geared towards the infamous GaoKao exam (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6727143.stm) that all tiger mothers are pushing their children from the moment they can talk (my flatmates are being made to teach English to two year olds, it's not an exaggeration), and then their point score decides what university if any they can get into. To get a place is extremely difficult, particularly for the prestigious ones like Peking University and Qinghua, the Oxford and Cambridge or Harvard and Yale of China.
But once you get offered a place, you are quite often told what you are going to study by the university itself. I met a student who's major was English at the Forestry Univerisity last week, and after she had asked me why I chose to study Chinese I asked her why she wanted to do English. She said she didn't, she was told that if she wanted to study at the university, it had to be English. She didn't think she'd ever have the opportunity to go abroad, and she didn't really care about talking to foreigners, but her plan was to do a masters and then teach because that was the path she'd been started down. I know other people at Peking University who applied wanting to do Chemistry and got moved to doing Biology by the university, without having any say in the matter. Even if your preference did get taken into consideration, your choices are very often decided by your parents based on what their future plans. Several I've met are studying business or management even though they hate it because they are expected to take over their parents company.
For a lot of people I've met university degrees here aren't to help you discover yourself but rather for being told who you are, and where you have to go next.
Also, in case my blog titles are confusing people they are all just Chinglish I've seen here that's made me laugh, and I wanted to preserve! In my next entry I will write in more detail about some of the unique traits of the universities I know better, I find this topic really interesting so one entry isn't enough! I'm trying to stop writing reams of random information like I have been doing, it's overwhelming and no doubt pretty tough to follow!
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