Parenting
The Art of Mothering
Muralist Jiang Zhuqing on creating art and family
On a recent Tuesday, painter Jiang Zhuqing had yet to put the finishing touches on work that would soon be on public display. As part of Common Ground, a digital art festival that takes place at the Huan Tie Art Museum from November 9 to 19, Jiang plans to show an abstract creation that use cassette tape ribbon and black hair clips to embroider a human shape.
Titled Li Yue (礼 乐), or “Etiquette, Music,” these works are part of a series Jiang calls Tian Ren He Yi (天人合一), or “The Combining of Humans and Nature.” She says she hopes to make people think about the important relationship between human beings and the world.
In a few weeks time, more than 40 artists from around the world will present works on the theme of the environment. Jiang, an associate professor at Tsinghua University’s Academy of Art and Design, decided to take part in Common Ground after she saw how innovative the other artists’ works were.
Mum's Identity Crisis
Elsa goes to kindergarten
One of my earliest childhood memories is of my mother carting me around to various playschools in the neighbourhood, trying to find one I’d stay at without bawling. So it was disconcerting to find myself introducing Elsa to her local kindergarten last week. My daughter is now doing things I can recall experiencing myself. So if she’s taken on my old role, I must be … the mum.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that I’d have noticed this earlier. Childbirth is not exactly something you forget. But until my faded memories collided with Elsa’s current reality, I had somehow remained in denial. Mothers are responsible. They know how to fix things. They are old. I’m definitely having a delayed identity crisis.
Are We There Yet, Dad?
How expat life made our kids great travelers
My kids trudged through the passport control line sleepily but without whining or stumbling, and I realized I was giving myself way too much credit.
I sat in the dark room, rubbed my eyes and tried to psyche myself up for the monumental task in front of me. It was 12.30 at night and I was in New Dehli, propped up in the guest bed of dear friends who had recently relocated from Beijing.
My kids were sleeping all around me but in 15 minutes I would be rousing them and carrying them to a waiting car to drive to the airport and board a plane with the ridiculous departure time of 3.15am. And I would be doing it on my own, as my wife was staying in India for a few more days.
Giving Thanks
A new kind of Thanksgiving, far from home
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. What’s not to like? There’s no need to spend weeks in overcrowded malls buying presents for uncles and siblings and kids. Instead of exchanging gifts, we gather around a table piled high with turkey and trimmings. We surround ourselves with loved ones and, after we’ve finished bickering about who forgot to bring the wine last year, after we’ve remembered that it’s never safe to talk politics with relatives, after we’ve told the kids for the thousandth time that no, they may not use the turkey drumsticks as light sabers, we take a moment to give thanks for all that we have.
We’re thankful for our health, of course. We’re thankful for our families. We’re thankful that it’s someone else’s tablecloth about to get covered in gravy.
Trick or Treat...and Trust
Learning to let go
He was a puppy in Russia and a bird in Armenia, back when he was too young to choose his own costume. He was Bob the Builder in Kazakhstan, and he refused to take the costume off for a full week after Halloween. Back home again in America, he discovered superheroes and Star Wars, so he struggled with the choices before finally settling on Batman.
We’ve celebrated Halloween all across the globe, but nowhere is the holiday quite as popular as right here in Shunyi. Last year, on our first Chinese Halloween, we ran out of candy within an hour. Witches, skeletons and other frightening creatures overran our neighborhood, proffering goody bags in tiny hands as they darted from house to house.
History Comes Full Circle
Daniel and his great-grandfather
Even before I got engaged to my now wife Su, I had heard horrible things about how much Chinese families “welcome” laowai interlopers to steal their daughters. Luckily, in my case, I found this to not to be true. Not only that, but I also soon discovered that there was actually a cosmopolitan streak in her family: my wife Su’s granddad (Laoye) came from a cosmopolitan upbringing in pre-war Shanghai. Moreover, back in the days when ganbei was about the only word of Chinese I knew, it was an unlooked-for blessing to find that I could even communicate with him directly – after a fashion, at least. Laoye spoke French, a language I used to mangle at school.
In Sickness and in Health
Straight talk from a family doctor
It’s not always easy adjusting to a life in a new country, and parents are right to have many questions when it comes to health and living in a new place. This month, American Marie Shieh, a family doctor at Beijing United Family Hospital and the BJU Shunyi Clinic, answers beijingkids readers’ questions about staying healthy in Beijing.
beijingkids: How will the air affect children? Especially children under 2 years of age?
Dr. Shieh: There was a study on kids aged 5 to 18 in the United States. They tested children who grew up in Los Angeles, a polluted area, against kids who grew up in cleaner air. The results showed that the children in Los Angeles had a slightly lower lung function, but that doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean they can’t run or do sports any better or worse than other kids. As for living here for a long time, we’re not sure how that translates for children. We don’t have any research on that yet.
Celebrity Style: Jennifer Garner
Finding your natural beauty
From the dispirited wife in the movie Juno to real-life mom, Jennifer Garner looks equally gorgeous on screen and off. As for her daily style, she prefers a more natural and sophisticated look. On a sunny day out to the beach with her 2-year-old daughter Violet, she dresses casually in a low-cut V-neck dress in a vivid coral color, with a silver wristwatch and a diamond pendant to emphasize her beautifully toned skin. Fashionably oversized shades help block the glare of the sun, as well as those pesky paparazzi! Below, find out how and where to copy her style right here in Beijing.
Donna Karan crystal studded sunglasses,Price TBD
B-2901, Soho New Town, 88 Jianguo Lu,
Chaoyang District
(8580 3288)
朝阳区建国路88号
Soho现代城B-2901
Fading Away
The slow disappearance of Beijing’s hutongs
When entering a Beijing hutong, it often feels more like the site of a temple fair. The narrow alleys are full of ringing bells from bicycles passing by, and all around there are hole-in-the-wall restaurants, fruit stands, tiny shops, snack vendors, barbers and peddlers of all sorts. It’s also common to see groups of elderly citizens playing mahjong or Chinese chess.
For many local residents, hutongs are more than clusters of intricate lanes and courtyards. They record the memories of the rapidly disappearing lao Beijing lifestyle.
Because of the close-knit way hutongs are laid out, with many families sharing the old siheyuan courtyard houses, neighbors tend to have strong relationships and bonds between each other. They help each other take care of their children, make collaborative renovations to their shared space and celebrate festivals together.
Changing Tides
The ebb and flow of expat friendships
This June, each of my three kids is waving goodbye to at least one of their best pals
When we were deciding whether or not to move to China from New Jersey, the requested three-year commitment was the last great hurdle to clear. It just seemed like such a long time to agree to be away from home. That was a little more than three years ago. As the time to make a final decision about extending our stay drew close last winter, it was painfully obvious that those three years which once loomed so large weren’t nearly long enough. We signed on for another year.
Had we stuck to our original plan, we’d be packing up to head home to the U.S. right now. We clearly weren’t ready to make that move – it was an easy decision that I haven’t looked back on. It became clear, however, that when moving trucks started filling the lanes of our villa compound once again, our neighbors who had also faced the same decision had decided otherwise.
