Yang Jie is from Guizhou - from a small ethnic minority group - she had to leave her home to make $ so she came to Beijing. I met Yang Jie while I was walking around in Wudaokou. We’ve been talking over the past few days and slowly we’ve become friends as I stop by each day to talk to her.

She sells textiles from her home village - where the women hand-weave beautiful cloth items. Here is a pic of some of the stuff that I have bought from Yang Jie.

Today I saw the local security guard trying to tell Yang Jie to leave the grounds - he said it was illegal for her to be selling in the parking lot. I watched him push one of the other girls down on the ground. As I watched this unfold, she said to the security guard

“you must have compassion for us migrants - for us ethnic minorities - we have no way to make money back home - just let us sell our stuff - we all have to eat - you have to eat - please just understand our plight.”

When I bought my stuff from her I told her that she was brave - she said that she wasn’t doing anything wrong - that she is also trying to make a living like the rest of us. When we talked more she told me about all the changes that were happening in the rural areas - the positive changes - like health care and improved schooling. But not all of these changes had reached her village yet so she has come to Beijing to make money. When i asked her how she deals with these local cops that just harass people like her - she essentially was saying that they are not reflective of the central’s government’s policies.

I am amazed by people like Yang Jie - who are very aware of the government’s process of improving the countryside. She knows how to place these bottom-tired local cops, like the one she dealt with today - and she can articulate that these local cops do not reflect upon the policies of the central government.

With all the migrants that I have spoken to - none have complained about the government’s policies in rural areas. All of them have been very happy with the recent changes. They will quickly list all of the changes that still need to be made - but they always say - we need more time - China is BIG. In many ways - they are more understanding than urban people of how government policies are implemented.

Yang Jie also has a son who is 3 years old now. She already has 20 years old daugher, and at 40 years old she gave birth to her son. When I took the photo he was going poop on the sidewalk so I didn’t want to disturb his process. I was amazed that the 3 year old child could just squat in the middle of the busiest sidewalk in Wudaokou and just go poop without any problems! People were walking past him and some almost stepped on him! He did it right in the middle of the sidewalk - he didn’t even step-off ot the side! Kids in America take forever to learn how to poop on their own - we take care of their pooping process with books and special toilet seats and raised steppers.

Children of street working migrant families in China cannot afford diapers or any of those excrement aiding materials. They just use the streets.

After I took the photo, the father scooped up in poop and put it in the garbage can. No one stepped on it.

it’s lovely tonight in beijing - just quiet - willow trees are lovely - I am happy to be away from the US

I am in Houhai in the Nanlougujie Hutong - with Graham Webster - he is an internets friends who i just met for the first time after 3 years of communicating online! We are in houhai - underneath a willow tree at a rooftop restaurant - enjoying our last day together before he starts his Mandarin classes and I start work.

beautifully produced - simply lovely

Everyone needs an alter-ego animal personality that they chose. I was born in the year of the metal monkey - so naturally I am already a curious, urban, vivacious creature but I also have other sides of me that are not captured fully in my Monkey zodiac sign.

Tricia the Wolf as an altar ego is connected to my Chinese upbringing in America as a Taurean Metal Monkey.  My Grandmother always encouraged me to like water -  reflecting the Chinese culture of don’t rock the boat - don’t speak up - don’t bring attention to yourself - it’s better to remain visible than seen - don’t wear bright colors - don’t be loud——essentially - blend in! On one end this has served me well because my grandmother always emphasized that it was more important to focus on the work at hand or on others than on myself.

But I’m a metal monkey - and monkeys are jumpy, loud, playful and tricky. We metal monkeys are the jumpiest of all monkies!  We are metal - we are stable -  but we REACT! Look at my wolfish grin that started emerging when I was 4 years old - that’s tricia baby wolf.

Now I tried my grandma’s philosophy -  be nice - be passive - blend in. But when we moved from the diverse SF Bay Area to the homogenous all white gated communities of Sacramento around age 11 - this whole “be quiet and blend in” philosophy didn’t work so well for me. I was getting beat up for being Chinese. Kids would make fun of me - telling me to go back to China - yelling at me for being a Communist.

Something switched in my after 4th grade because I think the Monkey in me realized that we weren’t returning to San Francisco and that I was officially stuck in racist-ville. SO in fifth grade I started beating kids up who would try to harass me. I think I enjoyed it. That was another step of Tricia Wolf.

At the same time I was getting the “be like water” philosophy from my grandma, my grandfather was telling that I should never trust anyone and that only after 10 years of knowing someone do you really come to find out if they have your back. So I grew up with this in my head- that essentially I was and still am very wary of people but at the same time I basically want to disppear in social situations.

So now that you understand the formative years of Tricia the Wolf -let me tell you how I came across Tricia the Wolf’s famous wolf hat!I found my wolf hat in Soho with Tymeisha. A woman was selling animal hats on the street and I found a wolf hat that fit me perfectly! I bought it and since then I’ve been wearing the hat! I brings out the don’t mess with me side of Tricia - and it’s also the side that says It’s ok that i don’t blend in - i wear this hat for myself, not for others.

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I posted lots of photos of me as Tricia the Wolf with my new hat. One day DogWelder found my photo on flickr and rendered this photo of me on Adobe illustrator. This rendering fully cemented Tricia the Wolf. Ever since then I’ve been drawing upon Tricia the Wolf as my altar ego. I loved seeing the picture of me as a  fierce, red, cannibalistic, meat eating (i’m 99% vegetarian as a human except for when I eat duck and lamb at restaurants) fire producing WOLF  - I just knew that the angels of buddhaland had brought dogwelder to me from lotus world. I have no idea who Dogwelder is - except that he’s my flickr contact (only after he made this), appears to be fierce and may live in Canda. He is a mysterious force that was brought into my life - thank you for seeing the real me DogWelder - it took a internets stranger to fully bring out my altar ego - with the hat and your artist work the Tricia Wolf transformation was cemented forever.

My red fire Ticia the Wolf photos declares to the world that blending in is boring, eating humans is more fun!  it’s the side that says being nice is not being yourself, rather being wonderful and playful is being your true self. Tricia the Wolf challenges the culture that we are raised in to be drones in a capitalistic economy and to be another statistical input - Tricia the Wolf challenges the bureacratic ways that wear us down in everyday life. And by putting this up online - it shows that I have no shame in being playful.

Some people say - oh Tricia what if an employer finds your Tricia the wolf pictures? well DUH I have tagged them my name so they SHOULD find my pictures if they do a proper 30 second background check to confirm my identity. My point is that if a company discriminates against playfulness and fun - then I don’t belong there - no Wolfism please! I would like to add that I have a healthy resume and cv and never have had a problem with any employer questioning my wolf identity. If they can’t handle Tricia the Wolf as an altar ego then it’s not a place I should be hired. Same thing goes for putting up my Pussy Power manifesto - I twant it to be found and read. I want people to re-think how we talk about women because it manifests itself in how we treat women. Same thing goes for Tricia the wolf - how we talk about our altar egos or the concept of play among adults manifests itself in how we play and how we life. Having an animal totem is a wonderfully psychologically releasing act - it allows you to draw upon a source of energy that is not reinforced in our culture - the energy of pure, innocent fun - no drugs, no stimulation, no consumption - just simply your IMAGINATION. just find your way to be inspired by life - my way is to talk about Tricia the Wolf sometimes - you gonna judge me for that? if so then then run away for I shall eat you alive.-

In addition - the wolf draws on many important qualities of wolves that I actually identify with, such a having a metabolic rate

Wolves are very social. They live in packs. I live in a pack - I absolutely love my support network - I believe in having amazing girlfriends and guyfriends - I believe in weaving myself a strong social fabric - and most importantly I believe in my grandparents as my pack leaders.

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in addition  - one of my favorite and most creative friends is also a woolf - Steve Woolf - the other half of Epic Fu the most amazing blog in the world! He is the only person I would marry in the world only so that I could take the last name  - yah zadi I want your husband’s last name! :)

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I am a fashion loving obsessed creature. I document fashion titillations and titicacas. Well guess who else got on the Wolf train too late? Bergdoff Goodman! (thanks alaina brown for that tip!). YES! BERGDOFF loves wolves too - they featured the Wolf manniquins in their 2008 Winter window art display! So keep in mind I was a wolf before the fashion world declared it was haute couture.

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Oh and one of the most coolest stop frame videos  is about a wolf and his piggy friend in Japan.

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Also one of the greatest geniuses of our time is a wolf - Stephen Wolfram - the founder of Mathematica and the brains behind the most super galactical computer software of our time  - Wolframalpha! Stephen rocks because he named his most personal product after his last name - that is soo cool - and his name (wolf + ram)  destined him to be a wolf of the computer software modeling/computation world and now Wolframalpha he’s just pure legacy beyond the business world - this truly is amazing. HAve you tried Wolframalpha - play with it! Here’s my previous post about it.

And can we acknolwedge please that one of the leaders of wireless technologies, Qualcomm, also draws on the power of the wolf for delivering wifi technologies around the world! They helped me find my relatives, the Wolf-Pigeon! Check out this video where they demonstarte how they implant wifi base stations into their wolf-pigeons - Qualcomm has fused animal genetic engineering and mobile technologies (this is not joke, believe what you see). Qualcomm I love you - this is why I study cellphone technologies - you get the power of the wolf!

and yes I do wear my wolf hat everywhere I go - it makes me happy. you will find me often on my foldable bike in my wolf hat. I eat pedestrians when I am riding.

and you know what’s the best think about being a wolf? GEtting all my friends (of all ages) throughout the years to participate in my playful world - thank you - the wolf hats always brings out the best in everyone:

I am amazed at how everyone is constantly hustling in China - it’s the same energy in NYC - where you cannot be sure that no one isn’t trying to find a way outside of the set boundaries. I love that kind of energy - it requires play and risk.

Ms. Guan reminds me of the energy I feel every time I land in JFK - where you get to the cart dispenser at the baggage claim and just as you’re ready to give in and pay $3 to roll your 3 pieces of luggage 300 feet - someone for sure will always come up to you and mutter - “2 bucks.for a cart, 2 bucks for a cart”

When Jinge and arrived at the Beijing Rail STation from our luxurious train ride - there was no way after 8 hours of sleeping on the train we were going to make 2 subway switches, cross two major streets and walk up and down 4 stairways with no escalators while carrying our luggage to get to Hepingjie Bie kou -

Yet the official cab line was at least 50 people long - at least a 45 minute wait. I knew that if we walked down do the side of the station we would find the black cabbies - our ride should only cost around 30 yuan - but prices would be a little higher for people like us who just wanted to get in a cab. WE walked to the side of Bejing Railway station and our first offer came at 150yuan. second offer was 70yuan. We ignored and laughed at both of the offers that came from men who looked like black cabbies - probablly migrants - a bit dirty - a bit shady.

Then Ms .Guan walked by with her off professional office looking outfit on a sunday morning - she said 50 yuan to Hepingjie - I knew I could get it down to 40yuan but at times I don’t like to drive the price down when in reality it’s only a matter of $1 to a $1.50 for me and it’s a much greater difference for them. I was just happy that someone legitimate had made a decent offer. We took it. She led us to the family parking lot - where friends and family wait with their cars.

she said if anyone asks us on the way out how we know each other - we just say that she is our friend picking us up.

On our cab ride, Ms. Guan told us that she was retired. She worked at a plastic factory for 30 years. Her husband worked at a textile factory for over 20 years.

I asked her if they had to pay an under the table fee to operate their cab service - she said no because her husband used to work at the rail station so he has his contacts. Their daughter is now in a unviersity studying to be a doctor. They live in Chaoyanqiu - in a remodeled tall highrise where the government gave them money to leave the building that their danwei (company/factory) gave to them. The government often does this so that they could remodel these old buildings and then make a little $ by allowing people to buy back their apartment. Then people who were paid to leave have the option to buy an apt with the money they were given - but that money is never enough to buy the apt back completely.

Ms. Guan is 56 years old. She says that she can run 2-3 customers a day if lucky. It’s just a side job - to make a little extra money - maybe 30-40RMB a day - so that means she is making the most $8 a day. She was explaining to us how the police often come by unexpectedly to monitor the parking lot where she waits for customers and in that case she has to leave if they stay around all day. The police hours are unrpredictable. On some days, she has to leave right when she arrives because the police are there. During SARS, 6 years ago, she bought a new red car so that she could find customers more easily.

Ms. Guan is very representative of people who are now retired in their 50’s in urban China - especially those who have been working for their Danwei for around 20-30 years. People like her can retire when they are 50 years old - very early retirement right? And they make around 1000-2000RMB a month in pensions. For those with higher managerial positions - they recieve around 3000RMB a month. That’s decent retirement money in China if your apt is arleady paid for and your one child has grown up.

Often I talk to urban people who have retired - and they don’t understand how people work until they are in their 60’s or 70’s in the US - they don’t understand how you could work so hard all your life and then have to work through yoru 60’s. Retring at 50 years old is a pretty good set up - now the entire system in china is resting on the backs of young people and migrants to keep this entire process stable. Will future generations be able to reitre at 50 years old - will people WANT to retire at 50? As more and more people become attached to their job - as they start assocating their job with their identity - a new kind of relationship emerges with the retirement process - delayed retirement.

Well for Ms. Guans’ generation - urban retirees in her age group are doing things to keeping themselves occupied - some buy dogs - some buys birds - some do tai chi in the park - some open up side businesses - some pressure their child to give them a grandkid - and some likeMs. Guan make a few extra dollars finding some little loophole outside of the system.

So go Ms. Guan for being gangster in her professional office outfit on a sunday morning at 8am.

AFter dropping us off, she is going to go home, take a nap and have lunch.

That sounds like a good life to me.

now I am on a super of my superist luxury of more luxurious train ride - it’s the D103 - the super quick soft bed train!
this is 700RMB - about $100 from Shanghai to Beijing - an 8 hour ride with personal tv’s that work on each bed!
they also give you headphones and a bottle of water. i am watching some movie with Will Smith and his son - something about finding Happiness? Don’t know the title.

Jinge and I thought we could splurge a little since I have been on 4 other train rides in the last 6 days

june 4th - Sacramento to San Francisco
june 6th - Bejing to Shanghai
june 8th - Shanghai to Wuhan
June 11th - Wuhan to Shanghai
June 13th - Shanghai to Beijing

- so on this special 5th train ride I figure that I should go out with a bang before I settle down in Beijing for 2 months. I was excited to be on a super clean train with no bugs and mosquitos.

I am so looking forward to arriving in Beijing - to having a place that I can call home.
I haven’t been in one city for more than 1 week at a time. Actually the longest since October 2008 was when I was in in NYC for 2 weeks in early march. other than that - I’ve been moving and flying -

so beijing here i come!

Doggy Cellphones, Culturally Relevant Technologies, and Doggies in China: Dog Bark Sensing Collars and Sensors: Ok this news may not seem relevant to Cultural Bytes but there are two very important reasons why I am writing this post:REASON #1 - I want to conduct doggy human ethnography - please please will someone with a dog volunteer to pilot this technology! I want to know the doggy and the owner that tries this out - and then I would love to interview you - and then I would love to come and watch your doggy and you interact with the doggy collar! This is my dream ethnography project - watching technology interaction and emotional communication among doggies and humans! Bio-Sense if you read this - hire me as your US ethnographer - this is a dream job! I can help you better understand how doggies and humans use your technology to ensure a successful uptake of your product in the US market.REASON #2 - Bio-Sense’s Electroic Doggy Collar Cellphone is the perfect example of a culturally relevent technology. Bio-sense receives the Cultural Bytes Relevant Technology Award! Eyal Zehavi, Founder and CEO of Bio-Sense Technology in TelAviv Israel spoke to NPR’s on their audio segment, From Genes To Growls, Decoding The Modern Dog. Eyal explained that the cellphone application and product, Tele-Dog, to NPR and he specifically said that this product is developed for the “US dog owner market.” This is cultural technology genius because Eyal’s product understands that in the US familial structure, dogs play an important social role - they are seen as an integral part of the family. The well-being of the dog is important to the well-being of the family.

setting up fieldwork site in China: I visited the school while the students were sleeping - i will be returning today to chat with some of the youth during non-nap hours. you can read more about the school and see more photos on my personal blog post about the school visit.

sheeeet I didn’t think it could have lived in a more ignorant suburb during my teenage years in the 90’s but “The East High Orientals” sign up in 2009 at Rochester beats Oakmont High School. Orientals - Indians - Redskins - all part of the same history of racist america that we have yet to rid - fight LUMBADA MUBATA ZAPOWATTA!

i wrote about why I visited the school here on my academic blog, cultural bytes - Setting Up Fieldwork Site

I visited a school for children of migrant families in Wuhan, China. This school is government certified and currently has 800 students from 1st to 9th grade. Fees are 300RMB ($50) every semester (two semesters each quarter). The students are children of migrants. These students pay to go to school because their parents have taken them with them out of their village where school would’ve been free to the city where they are working without an official identity registration (hukou card). Without the hukou card, their children cannot gain access to any of the social services provided to residents of a city. Therefore several hundreds of these schools have been started independently by migrants throughout these migrant-receiving cities in China. These schools must charge a fee so that they can hire trained teachers, buy books, rent a classroom and perform administrative duties.

Here are some pictures below from my visit yesterday. I went during nap time so many of the students are sleeping in the photos. but once they woke up they couldn’t stop jumping! well maybe I couldn’t stop jumping :)

(writing from internet cafe, must write quick - lots of cig smoke)

I’m in Wuhan, China. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province. It is not an internationally known city like Shanghai or Beijing or even Shengzhen - but it is a city on the rise - a mega-city in the making.

If you were to go to a port city in China - you would hear lots of stories about how exports have totally fallen - shipment containers are empty - the whole world economy has slowed down. But if you come to the middle of China - you would hear a slightly different story. Industries are now moving inland, away from port cities. Inland cities in Wuhan are part of China’s transition away from being a primarily export country. There is a strong sense here the Chinese people are producing for the Chinese.

Wuhan is crass - Wuhan is noisy - Wuhan is changing - VERY quickly.

right now the entire city is under construction. A new subway system will be running by the end of 2009. China’s subway construction teams are world famous for their expertise in building entire subway systems in 2 weeks :) In Wuhan - the sidewalks are ripped up with food vendors selling boiled eggs and stinky tofu with twirling pink ribbons to keep the flies away (stinky tofu is the official name of the tofu because the smell is unbearable). Workers old and young, from government firms to rural village are working away 24 hours a day remaking the city.

Wuhan i’m in love with you!

for the past 2 nights i’ve been sleeping on trains. I’m exhausted. and in two more days I’m taking another train for 2 nights in a row.

The first night was a hard-bed train ride from Beijing to Shanghai. This hard bed rise has 3 levels of bunk beds with 6 beds in each cubicle. The Hard bed tickets cost 300RMB and the beds are definitely hard and the toilet is the kind that you have to squat to use. I\

good thins is that I love hard beds - so that was no big deal. It’s just more crowded in the Hard Bed Trains - but I didn’t have too many crying babies so not too bad. But as you can see in the picture above - it was super croweded. The attendants selling food would just roll over my foot at times - I guess I would do that too if I had to roll a cart in a 2 inch wide aisle!

The top bunk is so high that you can’t even sit straight up - this is where I slept - the very very top! it was a very cramped 12 hour train ride to Shanghai. I was only awake for 2 hours - so it wasn’t that bad. I am scared of heights but had to get over that! the train was full so this was my only option. Good thing is that I love sleeping on trains- the minute I lay down i usually
pass out.

In this picture above - I’m on a luxury train ride from shanghai to wuhan! a no squat toilet + minor bug/bed bites = happy tricia on luxury train ride from Shanghai to Wuhan!

This is super luxury, 400RMB - and best of all jinge and I had the whole bed compartment to ourselves!
I only take the luxury train ride if I am with a male friend - otherwise i ride the hard bed with the 6 bunk beds in a open cubicle. This luxury ride with 4 beds is a closed cubicle - so if I were by myself and 3 males that would be NO BUENO for me.

could I just live on the trains in china! why can’t the US have a wonderful train system?

WOOHOO I made it past the Beijing Intl Airport H1N1 Flu health checks!
These new checks involved 3 extra steps before you go through customs.
The first was when the health officials entered the plane with forehead temperature zappers. As seen in the picture, they held the zapper 1cm from forehead to test for temperature. When every single person was cleared of a temperature on the plane, we were allowed to exit the plane to Step 2.

Step 2 is when we handed over our health cards stating our self-reported health conditions, itinerary for the next 7 days, emergency contacts and all lodging addresses. After this card was stamped, we were alllowed to go through the 3rd step - which was a temperature check. After these 3 - then we stood in line at customs.

Now these extra 3 health checks may sound really intense, but it was not a long process. It was rather quiet efficient. China is not always known for being efficient, but i belief this could be reflective of a new China. . I can’t even imagine the levels of bureaucracy that would happen if all US airports had to health checks on all international flights ( which the US SHOULD be doing on all departing intl flights with the H1N1 flu being more of a problem in the US than any other country). My entire deplaning time from landing to luggage retrieval took 53 minutes - which is how much time it usually takes without the additional Health and Quarantine check system.
All the lines were short - no more than 7 people in front of me for the longest line. And the most pleasant part - all the health officials were really lovely! Some were even smiling! It felt more pleasant entering into China than crossing into the US from Mexico - sometimes the US immigration officials are rude. So keep up with the lovely presentation China - it’a a great image to keep up!

I am just so happy that not a single person was sick on my plane- because if one person EVEN tested for a high temperature, than we all would’ve been quarantined.

I don’t think I could’ve ever been more excited to see this happy sign RELAX - gonna get your luggage!