Adventures in Guangzhou!

In one of Shenyang's nicest parks there is a tomb for Huang Taiji, final resting place for the founder of the Qing Dynasty. The description in my guidebook sounded intriguing so I wandered off in search of the place. At first I was unimpressed, entering the complex. Not too sound too jaded, but it simply seemed like any bunch of old-looking Chinese buildings. But as I investigated further, the place really grew on me. There was a whole room detailing the significance of all the architectural features (such as the animal statues guarding the tomb, a la Ming Dynasty, and the tomb stone, which actually does not sit by the grave).

The tomb area is surrounded by fortress walls and guard towers, and has a cool tunnel under one of the main buildings. One of the most interesting things for me was that the bodies (the emperor and his family) where not entombed in any of the ornate man-made buildings. Rather, they were placed under ground in something called the Luminous Mound, a large circular piece of earth with a single towering tree at the top. Very cool.

The park itself was actually a great place to spend as well, as there were lots of trees, lakes, and benches. I ambled around for a while and eventually found myself staring up at the sky, at the dozens of kites. Now usually when I think of flying kites, I think of being in 3rd grade and running as fast as I could with string attached to a popsicle stick, in order to get a cheap, crappy kite to take off. This was the polar opposite. The guys flying kites there were all on the older side and had really nice kites with shoulder straps to stay in control when the kites reach the stratosphere. They brought chairs too sit down on. They performed small tricks. They even did their best to convince me I needed to buy one. Not from them, mind you, but just in general, because it's apparently the most fun thing you can do. Who knew?

One my way back towards the university, I stopped by one of the main public squares in Shenyang to see what is purported to be the largest Mao statue in the northeast. I can't make any judgements on that, but I can say that the thing was *huge*. What makes it appear even larger is the fact that it is placed above a surrounding group of statues that include passionate intellectuals, soldiers, peasants, and workers. Pretty wild.

Back at the school, Vivian and I headed over to see Jason give a lecture to grad students about the history of advertising in the U.S. Having worked in the industry for a few years, he was well-qualified to talk and I was excited to not only hear the talk, but also see the quality of students. Jason did not disappoint, having spent countless hours putting together a massive powerpoint. I learned more than a few things about branding and about different strategies, but the highlight of the lecture was probably in the section about spoof advertising.

Jason was explaining how customers have started to "fight back" and have created their own ads spoofing some of the more famous icons and slogans. He showed a number of examples, including one with a rather droopy cigarette hanging out of the Marlboro Man's mouth, with the caption, "Impotence." At this point he paused and asked the crowd, "do you guys know what impotence is?" He was met with blank stares. "You know, when you can't get it up." Blank stares. "I mean, can't get it up down there ." More blank looks. "You know, when you're trying to..." Nothing. Finally, he exclaimed, "it's when you can't get an erection in your penis when trying to have sex!" Vivian and I almost fell to the floor laughing so hard.

After some decent hotpot, we headed out in the bitter cold to explore the Shenyang bar scene. I was quite impressed that they had a whole street near the university with small, cozy bars, some even with live music. Heading home after a fun evening, we were hit with a scary dose of reality as we passed by a dead body on the street, hit by a car. I won't go into the gruesome details, but it wasn't pretty. What was worse was that our cab driver just laughed and said it happens all the time. Does that make it any less wrong?