By Erin McKinley

Whether shuffling among the hustle and bustle of New York City or drifting through the quiet confines of rural China, the art of text messaging has taken over.

Chinese kids, teens and adults alike are using the same technology to communicate with each other throughout their daily routines, but the immensely complex writing system here is throwing typical American texters for a loop.

The American form of text messaging is pretty straight forward: form a sentence and send it, an alluring alternative to a phone call. In a stereotypical American need for speed, avid texters rapidly developed a language for shortening sentences and words for convenience. LOL ("Laugh out loud," generally used to signify something is funny) and G2G ("Got to go," for when a conversation needs to end) are text messaging staples.

China faces a more complicated situation. The written Chinese language has over ten thousand characters, each one a picture representing a thing or an idea. While these characters are a part of a diverse culture and form a unique language, it makes text messaging a nearly impossible feat on an ordinary cell phone. This is where pinyin comes in handy.

According to Pinyin.info, the language is the romanization of Mandarin Chinese. Basically, the writer would use western letters and phonetics to spell traditional Chinese words. By typing the first few western letters of a word, a group of corresponding Chinese characters will appear on the screen for the texter to choose.

"It is very useful," said 21-year-old Chengchun Guo, a sophomore at Tsinghua University, "I send at least 50 [text messages] a day."

China and the United States have common ground in unexpected places. Something as trivial as a text message can be unifying bond between two groups of students a world away from each other.

 

By Eric Scaturro

People flood the streets of ancient Xi’an, many of who stop to view the beautiful architecture of the city’s historic Bell Tower – only to quickly notice the McDonald’s just a few feet away.

The city of Xi’an, one of the four great ancient capitals of China, now displays a unique blend of ancient charm and western modernization, and has gone through intense gentrification.

"In less than ten years, the GDP and average income has more than tripled," said Yoichi Shimatsu, a consultant with Above and Beyond Ltd.

The city, which is still surrounded by the walls that used to protect it centuries ago, features a myriad of architecture that reflects the stylings of the Qin and Tang Dynasties. The buildings preserve an ancient feel that is synonymous with the admired Chinese culture, while clashing with the new gentrified feel of the city.

The gentrification can be attributed to a pouring in of capitol from investors in Hong Kong. The Western Development Plan has sent tens of billions of dollars to western China in order to modernize the area.

The result is a newly formed middle class with a huge demand for foreign cars and fast food – a combination of new and old.

"The last three years have had a massive explosion of global brands," Shimatsu said.

McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Prada and Dairy Queen are just some of the places a westerner could feel at home, even when surrounded by the unfamiliar.

Xi’an, the starting point of the Silk Road, impacted the global economy for hundreds of years, and it appears it will continue to do so whether on camel or luxury car.

By Fendy Lamy

BEIJING, June 27

Ancient Chinese culture embraced a flock of American students entering a small banquet room located on the campus of Tsinghua University, from the array of urns that adorned the high shelves of the walls to the renowned painting of the Festival of China painted by the famous Chinese artist Chien Lo in honor of the Qing Dynasty.

At one table sits 19-year-old Yoyi Wang, who translates a Chinese adage written on a wall that reads, "If you don’t study hard when you are young, you’ll find it’s too late to read books when you get old." On June 27, Wang, along with a handful of other Tsinghua students, welcomed a class of journalism students from the School of Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. The one-year planned event, originally created to welcome the foreigners, became more of a cultural learning experience for Stony Brook students.

The hosting professor, Li Xiguang, a long-time journalist and executive dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, said he expected the students to bond over lunch. "Food is important in our culture when welcoming someone because you can make business and friendship at the dinner table," he said.

Surely enough, groups of students naturally and gradually made friendships. There was laughter across Wang’s table as the Tsinghua students watched the efforts of one Stony Brook student trying to pick up a piece of meat with a pair of chop sticks.

Gao Song, a 22-year-old student at Tsinghua, smiled and insisted on helping the struggling student. Meanwhile, the foreign students began to squint more and more and looked overwhelmed by the amount of food and piping hot tea placed upon the revolving tabletop server. As Tsinghua students from Wang’s table effortlessly picked up their chopsticks to try out the new dishes, 20-year-old Stony Brook student Jason Van Hoven had to think twice before indulging in some of the dishes.

"I was not used to it," Van Hoven said. "I tried to overcome it by drinking water. I tried to eat as much as I can in order to not offend them."

Some of the dishes included eel, baby bamboo, whole shrimp, mushrooms, fungus, duck, vegetable greens, cashews, and to most of the foreign students surprise, rice was the last dish to be served.

As dining progressed, conversation at Wang’s table shifted to sports and education in the U.S. The male students from both groups talked about basketball.

"I like Kobe," said Gao Song, who plays basketball. "I am not that good."

At the same time, Wang expressed her passion for U.S. education with few of the foreign students. "They treat you like individuals," she said. "You are able to develop a personality."

Wang, an industrial engineering major, has never been abroad and hopes to study at Cornell or Columbia one day.

"I would like to learn about the U.S culture and the way you accept people," she said. "The education there is not like China."

Gao Song has also never traveled abroad and expressed interest in learning about the visiting foreign students.

"I am very happy for you guys to come," he said. "We can have a cultural exchange through our minds. We can come together and learn from each other."

As for visiting the U.S., Gao Song stated with a smile on his face, "I would like to visit your campus, and taste what you eat, and use what you use – fork."

A Chinese quarantine official in Beijing checks passengers for fevers on a flight from New York. Photo by Wang Yilin.

By Michelle Trauring and Eric Scaturro

BEIJING, June 26:

As of June 1st, China confirmed 52 probable cases of swine flu, according to the World Health Organization.

Now there are 1,089 – and the country is taking noticeable precautions to protect against it.

Evidence of these past three weeks’ pandemic boost can be seen thousands of miles before travelers even arrive in the country. Incoming travelers from some countries are required to fill out health statements at customs checks at Chinese airports. When visitors land, some are subjected to swine flu checks by government staff.

On airlines traveling from the United States to China, there is an aroma of latex gloves and a consistent clicking of laser temperature testers as quarantine control officials walk up and down the aisles, testing passengers for swine flu.

China natives and foreigners alike nervously eye the uniformed guards as they make their rounds taking the passengers’ temperatures. White masks cover their mouths; their almond-shaped eyes peer through blue laboratory goggles.

American airports have not installed swine flu checkpoints, despite a confirmed 2,272 cases and 35 deaths in New York, alone, while China sits at a zero death count.