The difference between bravery and stupidity is not so much seen in the action you take, but in what you allow yourself to realize before you act. It’s amazing what you will be “brave” enough to do if you simply don’t think about what you’re actually doing. It’s actually not hard at all to deliberately not think about what you’re doing because you know that if you do think about it you won’t do it.

That’s how I was able to tolerate a hot soak in a certain crowded 6元 bathhouse the other weekend — a bathhouse that easily had the nastiest water in the history of nasty bathhouse water. And I’m no germaphobe — I’ve eaten cockroaches in Thailand and danced around fresh, green cow patties to wade through a bathing heard of east African longhorns for a swim down a chocolate-milk-coloured river in rural Uganda — but that bathhouse water was thick with floaties, like watery oatmeal. It’s a week later I’m still getting shivers just thinking about it, which, of course, is something I didn’t do at the time.

We nixed the original 12元 bathhouse after discovering it was basically a brothel and moved to this cheaper one, but I’m thinking we have to scratch this one off the list as well. It’s too bad, cause the head 师父 who did my guasha (刮痧) and fire-cupping (拔火罐，拔罐子) was really nice and fun to talk to.

Anyway, this post isn’t actually about how I’m still cringing at the memory of that dead-skin-soupwater even as I write this. It’s about a traditional Chinese health problem called “getting wind” (受风), and what your fire cup hickey dots (印) look like a couple days later if you’ve “got wind” really bad:

When the guys in the bathhouse saw how dark my marks were, they said, “Whoa, you’ve really got wind.” The darker the marks, the more “wind” you have in your body, and having wind in your body is bad. I wish I’d taken a photo that night when they were darker; this photo is from two days later after it’d started to fade.

The “wind” of Chinese medicine isn’t exactly the same as the wind you’re thinking of. You can “get wind” (受风) and “dispel wind” (祛风). (When people talk they mean 祛 but usually say “qù”, so it’s often written “去” because that matches their pronunciation, even though it’s technically not correct.) Fire-cupping (拔火罐，拔罐子) is supposed to help dispel “wind”. Another very common ailment is having too much “fire” in your body (上火). You’re supposed to have some “fire”, but you have to keep it balanced and under control. You can get guasha (刮痧) to lower your body’s “fire” (祛火).

See our Chinese medicine category for other adventures down the mind-bending rabbit hole of traditional Chinese medicine.

The NYT outlines the tough choices faced by China’s yuppie women, all of which I see among my Chinese coworkers and students, and all of which my wife, thankfully, takes issue with (“Who says stay-at-home moms can’t be strong and foxy?!”):

“The main issue we face is confusion, about who we are and what we should be,” said Qin Liwen, a magazine columnist. “Should I be a ‘strong woman’ (女强人) and make money and have a career, maybe grow rich, but risk not finding a husband or having a child? Or should I marry and be a stay-at-home housewife (全职太太), support my husband and educate my child? Or, should I be a ‘fox’ (狐狸精) — the kind of woman who marries a rich man, drives around in a BMW but has to put up with his concubines (妾，二奶)?”

China’s more well-to-do women, she said, are expected to tolerate a husband’s multiple mistresses. Concubinage, outlawed by the Communists after they took power in 1949, has re-emerged. “Most women just assume that sooner or later it will happen,” she said. “Men have power. Women are weak, and they have too much to lose.”

See: For China’s Women, More Opportunities, More Pitfalls

In another recent anecdote, female job applicants literally have to strut their stuff on a catwalk for their potential future bosses.

Ph.D candidate and pastor Andrew Hong writes about how Chinese do conflict while prizing harmony and the impact of the intense in-group/out-group dynamic on conflict tolerance and conflict response:

there are particular mechanisms that the Chinese have developed for expressing that hostility in a way that preserves the semblance of harmony.

See: How Chinese engage in conflict

Ph.D candidate and pastor Andrew Hong writes on how Western and Chinese cultures approach the concept of law from very different perspectives:

In Confucianism far from being blind, it is expected that the law will in fact differentiate between persons on the basis of their circumstances and status.
[...]
On the one hand Westerners are appalled by the corruption and nepotism that seems so widespread. It is simply unjust. And on the other hand Easterners cannot imagine not bending the rules to benefit a trusted and respected colleague. It is simply inhumane.

See: Confucianism and the application of the law

Pronounced: bíti chóng
Literally: “snot bug”
Means: slug

There are both political and cultural reasons for why, in China, they won’t just come out and tell you: “The air pollution is so horrible it’s off the scale. Stay inside and try not to breathe too deeply this week because the air is actually killing you.” Telling people upsetting news is not considered a cultural virtue in China. For example, doctors and family members will usually not tell a terminally ill family member that they are in fact terminal. And you don’t need me to explain the political reasons.

This week has seen a string of worse-than-usual-but-certainly-not-unheard-of bad air days. Now, to put that in perspective, we’re talking air that maxes out the re-calibrated scale at 500. In North America the scale only goes to 300, before which point they would declare an emergency and cancel all outdoor activities for everyone. Here’s what’s been said about the air the last few days, in English:

From the U.S. Embassy: “Crazy Bad”

this week, the depth and murkiness of the haze was so appalling that the automated system briefly entered the realm of black comedy with a “crazy bad” analysis of our air.

The “crazy bad” terminology … appeared to have been a joke embedded in the embassy’s monitoring program and triggered by a reading that was off the normal scale.

US officials quickly deleted “crazy bad” and replaced it with the term “beyond index”, but not before the original message was widely retweeted by shocked Beijingers.

It looks like they’re having trouble with their monitoring equipment now. I guess either they messed it up when they “fixed” it, or the equipment has collapsed under the sheer weight of accumulated airborne particles.

From MyHealth Beijing: “This is not a drill, people…”

This is not a drill, people: the Beijingair website (http://iphone.bjair.info) for three days has been recording air pollution levels in the highest levels far above 300 AQI, and as of 7am Friday is 477 AQI. Peaks each day have tilted the machine at 500 AQI. This is indeed considered “emergency conditions”, and all schools and other places should be putting forward their action plans — clearly this would include cancelling all outdoor activities. That includes no outdoor recess, especially for toddlers.

We have a toddler — should we just buy a sun lamp and keep her inside?

Compare that to what’s been said in Chinese weather updates automatically sent to one of my coworker’s cells phones from his phone company:

Soft & Fragrant brief: Today the sky is subjected to the effect of relatively strong winds, scattering sand has appeared in our city; wear a face mask as much as possible when you go out, after coming back inside promptly wash your hands and face.
温馨提示：今天白天受较大风力的影响，我市出现了扬沙，建议您减少室外逗留时间；外出时尽量带个口罩，回到室内后及时清洗手和脸。

Weather Office 6:00 Announcement: Downtown today day and night clear with occasional clouds, 3rd-grade north wind changing to 4 or 5-grade, temperature will reach 1 degree below zero. Weather will get cold, reinforce warm protection of the head, head and chest; the indoor temperature difference increases, promptly put on and take off your coat.
气象台6点发布：市区今天白天到夜间晴间多云，北风3级转4-5级，到零下1度。天气干冷，头脚胸部的保暖需加强；室内温差加大，及时穿脱外套。

Soft & Fragrant brief: Currently our city is pervaded with fog, visibility is lower than 500 meters, when you go out pay attention to traffic safety. In foggy weather, you should decrease outdoor activities as much as possible. This afternoon, the fog will gradually weaken, the sky will turn clear.
温馨提示：目前我市雾气弥漫，能见度低于500米，外出注意交通安全。在有雾的天气里，应尽量减少室外活动。今天午后，雾气逐渐减弱，天空转晴。

That’s right folks, nothing to see here, just clouds and fog, not that you could see anything with visibility at less than (a very generous) 500 meters.

It’s no secret that BJ spins the public numbers when it comes to monitoring air pollution. I’ve compared the actual numbers before:

• Tianjin: where jogging is bad for your health

For a visual comparison of a clear day vs. a “foggy” day, see:

• Behold the power of China’s weather gods!
• Chewing Tianjin’s Air
• Putting the OMG! in Smog

For basic information about air pollution and air pollution monitoring:

• Everything you wish you didn’t know about air pollution in China
• Tianjin: where jogging is bad for your health

See our Pollution category for the rest of our pollution whining.

In China, some bugs are for eating, others are for fighting, and still others are for raising as pets. This is your pictorial introduction to north China’s most commonly found edible insect offerings.

No doubt there are more insects than these on restaurant menus in northern China, but these are the ones I’ve innocently stumbled across during my three years is Tianjin. These are also the ones my students and coworkers say are most common, and the ones they admit to eating.

Insects aren’t the kind of thing people eat everyday, but they do occasionally appear on restaurant menus; they aren’t just tourist food, and this isn’t Guangdong province (广东), where southerners eat freaky stuff for fun. Most of my students have eaten at least one of these. In a large class, and among my coworkers, responses usually range from people making disgusted faces to “Those are delicious!”

(Mouseover the Chinese text to see the pronunciation.)

1. 蚕蛹 Silkworm chrysalises

蚕蛹 means silkworm chrysalis/silkworm pupa — the internet says a chrysalis is a hard-shelled pupa, while a cocoon is a protective covering around a pupa. Picky picky. Anyway, what you need to know is that when they’re deep-fried (炸) or BBQed (烤) you eat the whole thing. At least according to one class of adult students. Another student’s dad fried (爆炒) them at home for the family, but they didn’t eat the outside. They ate the yellow stuff inside, which this student said tastes like tofu and smells like raw meat or fish. Apparently there’s also black stuff inside that you don’t eat. 蚕茧 means silkworm cocoon.

We’ve found these at the Muslim sidewalk BBQ places in our area (pictured above) and at a nearby north-east peasant family style (东北农家) restaurant (below):

2. 知了猴儿 Cicada larva

In Tianjin people call these 知了猴儿，or you can just say 炸知了 (“fried cicadas”). Cicada larva, as an animal, is 知了幼虫。Cicadas, as animals, are also called 蝉。

You can see some fried scorpions in the background.

3. 蝎子 Scorpions

When it comes to food, these smaller scorpions are more common than the big gnarly black ones (shown in the second picture at the beginning). My students have also had 蝎子 in soup, and said it was really good.

4. 蚂蚱(儿) Locusts/grasshoppers

As food they’re called 蚂蚱; in a restaurant or at a vendor’s stall you can buy “fried locust” (炸蚂蚱). As an animal they’re also called 蝗虫。Everyone I asked said these two words were the same thing, but they weren’t 100% sure and there was disagreement. I checked four dictionaries and got conflicting answers depending on both which dictionary it was and whether I was searching the English or the Chinese. But whatever — I probably couldn’t distinguish a grasshopper from a locust in English. The important thing to know is that the thing in the pictures that people eat is called 炸蚂蚱。

These aren’t the ones used in cricket fighting (斗蛐蛐儿, also 蟋蟀), or the katydids (蝈蝈(儿)) that people raise as pets for their song.

P.S.
I think I’ve got these straight; let me know if any names are inaccurate or if I’ve left out anything important!

P.P.S.
Contrary to the expectations of friends and family, I haven’t actually eaten anyone of these. I sort of got the self-challenge adventure-eating stomach-over-mind insect-consuming impulse out of my system with the cockroach in Thailand, but I suppose if I had an excuse I’d go sample this stuff with someone, just for kicks. Plus, my younger sister’s boyfriend really upped the ante this summer when he ate his way through southeast Asia, so I need to reassert my superiority.

All these photos except for the silkworm chrysalises (蚕蛹) were taken at the Ditan Temple fair in February 2010. The 蚕蛹 photos come from our neighbourhood, taken last week.

Two critical but sensitive topics have been left out of China’s national census: minority languages (mother-tongue) and religious affiliation. How many homes you own and how many rooms there are in your house, however, are still included. See China’s disappearing languages deemed ‘not that important’

It’s rare, but not entirely unheard of. Here’s a story translated from the Chinese media about some former Red Guards who have finally tried to apologize to their victims — 40 years later. See A Letter From Deep Inside History: Forty-four years later, finally some red guards apologize publicly.

Pronounced: cán yǒng
Means: 1) silkworm chrysalis. 2) what they sell at the Muslim BBQ a block away.

Click the photo to see the large size. I took this picture tonight.