Tsinghua 大學

      I've spoken some about China and Beijing, the interesting place that it is, and some of my ethnocentric thoughts concerning it. Now this next post will look through the microscope and I'll tell you about the university I am at: Tsinghua.
   To throw in some more ethnocentrism and egotism, I'll start with the history of Tsinghua University, which begins with the Western powers stretching their fingertips into the east. The Boxer rebellion in the late 19th century began as a cry against foreign spheres of influence and fear of colonization (which western powers would never do something like that in that specific time period...). The Qing Dynasty government supported the Boxers, and declared war on the Eight Nation Alliance (Britain, France, US etc.). The Chinese were beaten, and forced to pay an unimaginable amount of money to the foreign powers. The States decided they would reduce the debt to them if they set up schools prepping Chinese to be schooled in America, who then would return to China in hopes that they would spread the glorious, eternal light that is believed to be America. In 1911, a Qing prince's garden in northern Beijing was taken from him by the then newly formed Nationalist Party, and thus began the legacy that is Tsinghua.
   Closed during the Cultural Revolution due to student in-fighting of anti CR and soon to be Red Guards, and an active participant of the student protest of Tiananmen, Tsinghua now boasts the largest selection of the most stereotypical nerdy Asians you could imagine. The only thing is they are all smarter and more diligent than every student at every ivory league, science school, or military prep academy in America. Their ability to study, study, and only study astounds me, and to a point of jealousy almost. My friend Mia who goes here, I've mentioned a few of her achievements already, is now going to D.C. for the international speech contest in June. Another friend is an international student who studies law here, and while she is at the top of her class amoung the foregn law students, she is not so near the summit once the Chinese students are accounted for. What's the price for all this hard work? Well a suicide occurred this week, and not one student was shaken by it. As a matter of fact, this is the second one this semester (you read that right) and is apparently long overdo for another one. Bbut the ones that do pull though add to America's universities: Tsinghua is the number one undergrad school that produces the most Ph.Ds in America (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/321/5886/185.full).
   The campus is an interesting mix of 1950s buildings and the more not-the-exact-same-color-and-style modern buildings. The gym would be a tragedy for us used to TRECS, as it is a room no bigger than a classroom, and not even open until 5p.m. Treadmills are non existent here, but there are ample amounts of tracks here on campus. these tracks are all made of revolutionary technology called concrete, which absorbs all the impact from your knees. But inside every track is a soccer field, and where there's soccer, I'm happy.
  Inside the buildings, only one door is unlocked:the south facing one. This is because of Beijing's fengshui, the mountains surround Beijing save for the south.(Another reason is that we believe Chinese buildings are built to herd people, but let's be optimistic) This is all very cultural interesting, but annoying as hell when trying to find a shortcut to the outside. Not only are all other doors closed, but they are also bolted, with metal covering the doorknob. This makes for a fun imaginary scenario if something like a fire happens. And speaking those, there have been several in the dorms. Due to mostly the AC power supply is like the energizer bunny from hell, and leaving your charger in for too long starts some sparks. I always see the notices for these fires, saying nothing was harmed, or luckily the maids managed to get to it, and then realized, I never heard anything at the time of these fires. A quick inspection around my room and sure enough, no fire alarms.
   All of this happens on a large campus, that as I said before, was a dynastic garden before the acquisition of it by the government. What this means is the campus in incredibly beautiful. That is easily seen even in the winter. Here are just a few picture.

Gotta love ice

This week we have a short break, which I'll be using to visit the coast, and some parts of the Great Wall!