yesterday morning, I walked along nanyou road from the west gate of shenzhen university over the binhai expressway access ramp pedestrian overpass to the k204 bus stop, where my 25 minute trip to tianmian would begin. exhaust fumes, irritated honking, and instinctive jostling usually characterize this short trip. consequently, i normally rush from the university gate to the bus stop with little sense of how i arrived, or rather, without actually experiencing where i am. however, yesterday, i started out at 6:30 a.m. only a few cars and busses grumbled past and the pedestrian overpass itself suddenly opened. i sensed more than met the eye, and thus compelled, looked and saw otherwise. that vision now (and until the firewall envelops us all) shimmers online.

footnotes to previous entries (can be accessed either under recent entries by title or under archive by date).

(1) an answer to the question, where have all the qilou (骑楼) gone? the hong kong government mandated that all buildings downtown needed to be linked in such a way that pedestrians stay dry in the rain and cool in the sun. a laudable reinvention of local knowledge to contemporary architectural norms (see reflections, may 16, 2006).

(2) two examples of 陪 (pei):

yesterday, i bought tickets to see the mabou mimes production of “a doll house” in hong kong. i invited a friend to go, and another said, “don’t force her to pei you, she’s too busy right now.”

at dinner later that same day, we were talking about how much wait some of us had gained since college (roughly 20 years ago). one of the officials at the table said, “well it depends on whether or not your boss/department head (头头) likes to drink or not. if he’s drinking, then everyone at the table will pei him to drink. and of course, if you’re drinking you’re eating lots of small dishes that just happen to be fatty and unhealthy.”

from this it can be surmised that people like to be pei-ed, but don’t necessarily like to pei. why then would anyone voluntarily pei someone? because pei-ing is usually characterized as something 无奈: it can’t be helped. individuals have socially defined obligations to pei certain kinds of people: guests, parents, friends, but also bosses, visiting dignitaries, ranking officials, relatives of friends, classmates and their relatives… i’m starting to make a list to see if in fact pei obligations can be exhausted. (see there are also good people in hunan, may 8, 2006).

shenzhen