A fish cart, a porkstore, a restaurant

Date: Saturday, July 10 Sorry if any of you worried that your faithful corespondent dropped off the face of the earth. I am fine, and for those concerned about Neddi, she is fine. She ended up back in New York, where getting a new passport took longer and was more complicated than getting a new visa, but she is on her way back to China right now. When last I wrote I was sitting in the Internet cafe at Beijing University. From there I went to lunch with an economics professor I had met earlier when she lectured to my group. She told us a story about a family she knew that had started out with a fish cart, and then a pork store, and then a restaurant, then a barber shop and then two more restaurants. We went to lunch at restaurant number three, which was indeed excellent and inexpensive, catering to a lively university crowd. The wife then posed for photos with us and then took us to the definitely upscale barber shop, with a separate "beauty salon" for hair coloring and more expensive processes, and then to restaurant number one, which had itself expanded with two additions over the years. Considering that restaurant number 1 was started in 1991, this is a remarkable story. When I asked Professor Wang how they were able to do it, she offered a gentle smile and said that once, years ago, when she bought fish from them she had only a large bill and they were unable to make change, so she said no problem, she would get the change the next time. Well, it took almost a year to get the change back. Perhaps, she suggested gently, they did this with other customers, too. In which case, methinks, there should be a little profit-sharing for the neighborhood! After lunch I went back to the professor's apartment which was commodious by Chinese standards, including a tiny garden. It is university subsidized housing, so she stays there, even though she could afford something nice now that both her son and daughter are working in Tokyo. Her husband (whom I met briefly) had been fishing in a pond on the university campus. He teaches in the aerospace department. We then took a tour of the university. She wanted to assure me that in the economics reading room you could read Business Week, the Economist, and Fortune Magazine. The most recent issue was April 1, but considering the date that American Universities get foreign periodicals, that is probably understandable. We also went to a huge brand new campus library which had lots of space, computers, etc., but since this was the week before exams, there was so much demand that even the gracious front lobby had temporary tables to make space for more students. Campus rooms hold six students, so studying in a room is a virtual impossibility. Luckily, the campus has lovely spaces for study in good weather, reflecting its colonial heritage. Wednesday night Elene arrived, and after my morning confrontation with the Beijing immigration police, it was good to see her safe and secure. We took a long walk through a night market over to Tianamien square, which was not open on my previous visit. The scale of the place is amazing, definitely designed to send the message of power over the people more than power to the people. The next morning we sauntered back so that Elene could see (as I told you) that Mao is dead, dead as a doornail. Then it was on to the Forbidden City where we ambled on our own, spending more time in the living quarters and gardens, and less time with the formal temples. We took peddi-cabs to Beihai Park -- their equivalent of Central Park with a much larger lake, and then back to the hotel for a delicious swim. Thursday night we discovered the upscale life in China. We were invited to the home of the woman whom I had met on the plane when I first arrived in China. She lives half the time in Flushing New York, and half the time in China -- she and her husband have an import business focused on automobile testing equipment. They had recently bought a fancy new apartment in one of the high rises going up all over the outskirts of Beijing. Her mother lives there with a 17-year-old girl who acts as cook and caretaker. Everything in the house was so new you might think you were in a showroom of a large furniture store. The television was the biggest I have seen in a private house. The 17-year-old comes from the countryside. When their former cook was going to leave to get married, she said she would find a replacement from her village. But when Yue arrived, she was only 14, had no understanding of city life, or how to cook or clean. So the Li family drove her back to the village and tried to explain she was too young for the job. Oh no, the family begged, she needed the job. They explained they had no room for her, and she would learn. So for the past three years Mimi's mother has been "raising" their cook, who still seemed like a shy country girl to us, but who cooked up a fabulous dinner including many spicy dishes at my request. We spent a good part of the evening watching China's favorite soap opera, which was obviously the highlight of the grandmother's day. There are two episodes on each night, and I confess I have little patience for soap operas in any language, although this one is more interesting because it is set in the imperial palace in the Ming Dynasty. Elene was much better -- taking an interest in who was in love with whom, and what the scheming maid was up to. We were driven back to our hotel in their Audi -- no small feat considering that the tax on imported cars is 100%....

Fishing in a pond on the Beida campus