Wuhan - Hot One Day, Stinking Hot The Next

30th September 2008

Ni hao: Renzo "The Red" reporting:

A variation on a Queensland saying, to describe Wuhan: "Hot one day, stinking hot the next...". Wuhan is known throughout China as one of the "Three Ovens" cities along the Yangtse river. However, the weather has turned and it did it overnight: last Friday everyone was wearing short-sleeved shirts - on Saturday morning I went out in my usual light T-shirt and 3/4 pants and everyone else was wearing winter clothes! As if I didn't look conspicuous enough as the only "Westerner" in the district! Of course it would help if the TV news had given me a hint... all I see is Chinese characters for all the major cities.

"Inflation is rampant on the streets of Wuhan": I was told that only a few weeks ago, a street-side shoe-shine only cost 1 yuan (17c), now it's 2 yuan (extortion!). Talking about extortion, whilst food and clothes are relatively cheap here many branded goods are not. I've been trying to buy an iPod Touch and a decent compact camera and both are appreciably more expensive than purchasing through eBay in Australia - even when my Chinese colleagues looked into the Chinese eBay, the camera is $200 cheaper in Australia. One Chinese English teacher wanted to buy a similar Oxford Electronic Dictionary to the one I bought in Melbourne, only to find they don't sell them here. Guess where it's made? Yep, 'Made in China', so naturally I ordered one for her from eBay Australia!

Another oddity: there is no second-hand market in China - old things are either passed on or thrown out. I was looking for a second-hand bike but absolutely not possible (including bike shops), until the word got around and I was approached by a suspicious-looking guy who spoke some English. "You want to buy bike cheap" he whispered, "I find you one". I was later warned that it meant "I'll steal one for you".

At University I've gained a reputation as being a good bargainer because all the goods I've bought from the local department stores have been at a discount from the ticket price (apparently it's a not the done thing at department stores). I decided to try my hand at a small little shop selling DVDs. I picked out the first English DVD: Tom Cruise in "M:I:III" and asked "how much?". The young lady signalled 9 yuan (a whopping $1.50). But desperate for some English movies I selected 6 DVDs and cooly made an offer of 50 yaun. The girl said "no, no!", and as I began to prepare to demonstrate my bagaining prowess she continued with "no, no - you pay 42 yuan!". Apparantly the first DVD I had chosen was a "blu-ray" version (which my HP laptop will play), some of the others were only 5 yuan (85c).

To finish with a Chinglish, I've had to mark 61 Critical Essays in one weekend for those students who will be continuing their Business studies at RMIT next year. When I complained to the acting Deputy Dean (herself an English teacher) about the amount of effort I would have to put in, especially given the unintelligible writing of some of the students, she sympathised with me by saying "I really appreciate your hard work. I fully understand that marking essays will make you feel headache".

In my inimitable way I am questioning many things about the way in which the English programme is being run - I'll either raise the bar or they'll throw me out, over the bar!

Until next time, Zai jian from the "Hot Centre".