J-term in Shanghai: Sara Pooley’s entries

SARA POOLEY (photography) writes:
I was looking out the bus window at rows of identical high-rise housing. The repetition of shapes and the way they rose against the gray, smoggy sky reminded me of the scenes in The Matrix where human beings are literally being grown in columns of pods.

These buildings are all around the city, mingling with debris and new construction. Gigantic cranes bend over buildings like the machines in the movie do as they pick pods off of the human-cultivating towers. These cranes are appropriately symbolic of the people who have been displaced to make way for these enormous new developments.

New projects go up by way of government order, and the people have no say in what happens to their homes. They are not free to really do anything about it here. In fact, they are not free to think for themselves at all.

The government censors all the information they possibly can before it reaches China. We cannot even access Wikipedia here. Like the motionless bodies The Matrix feeds off of, the citizens of China have a reality constructed for them. They know only what they are programmed and allowed to know. They do not have the basic right of information.

Some people are painfully aware of this fact, as characters like Morpheus or Trinity were aware of their construct, while other people seem to have no concern about this issue whatsoever. I suppose when you have to worry about where you're going to get the money for your next meal you don't have time to think about the fact that your government is ruling not only your providence, but your mind as well. It is clear that not everybody is ready to take the red pill, but I guess I always thought that I would at least like to have the choice.

I think about the things we take for granted back in the States and wonder if sometimes it seems our lack of appreciation will help our own government put similar constraints on us some day. And I wonder if the majority of people would notice because some people here do not seem to care.

Sara Pooley is a photography/art history major.

SARA POOLEY (photography) writes:
It’s interesting to imagine what the equivalent of Columbia College would be in China. Could there be a school controlled by communist regulations echoing the mantra, “Create Change”?

Sure, Tongji University may not be making the same lofty claims with their slogan, but their curriculum seems similar enough. Our visit with students from Tongji left me with so many nuggets of revelation to digest, even long after our short encounter was over.

After watching a few student video productions we were prompted to start interacting with the students. Everyone had stories about who they ended up talking to and what they learned, but I really think my guy was the most interesting. We first discussed our obvious similarity, photography. He expressed his disappointment with the program he had just started and his worry for the future of his work.

Of course I could relate to having felt this way at various points in the last four years. I wanted to know how he felt about the censorship on art and especially on information. He said that censorship affected the work of artists in China because they were forced to try and "see with blind eyes." This was the first person I’d talked to who seemed to actually be aware of the extent to which these constraints were affecting them. Then again, I guess it was the first Chinese person around my age I’d encountered who spoke English. I had expected to relate to a photo student on at least that base artistic level, though. Surely we were worlds away from each other in every other way, right?

We started talking about music like Slayer, Metallica, black metal, and specifically about Norwegian and Swedish metal bands. He was wearing an England jersey so I filled him in on my British heritage and my family’s insane passion for the team. About halfway through our conversation I realized that if we’d gone to high school together, we would still be good friends today, so it was incredibly appropriate that we ended up sitting together. I asked if he’d ever been to any shows in China or if they even had shows like we do in the U.S. He said that it was not allowed because the government doesn’t want anybody to hear those messages. It makes sense that a communist government wouldn’t be too partial to music with anti-establishment and free-thought themes. We agreed that we’d email each other about music and art because his exposure in China is limited.

At least he is seeking out new and different things. He said that a lot of the kids he goes to school with just do whatever their parents tell them and whatever the school deems appropriate without questioning anything. It is dangerous to question these things in China. It made me wonder how different I would be if I’d grown up anywhere else. I’m so convinced that it is my right to question everything and anything. What if I’d grown up without that right?

The whole encounter reminded me of the bird and cricket market in a strange way. This place was basically a warehouse full of animals in cages. There were crickets, rabbits, birds, cats, and dogs amongst others. All of these creatures are intended to be pets. As such they are paraded around the city and shown off. Birds in cages have always really upset me because I just imagine that if I had a set of wings I’d sure as hell wanna fly! That’s kind of like the students at Tongji. From what the student said, parents just want their kids to follow the rules and be successful and well respected. They don’t want their children to spread their wings, but rather they want to keep them in cages so they can show them off to all their friends. I would really like to see the cage door left open for this kid so he can one day liberate himself. Caged artists are as sad as caged birds to me.

Sara Pooley is a photography/art history major.

SARA POOLEY (photography) writes:
I have grown up traveling. My father is from England, so we went there almost every year until I was a teenager.

Even after that, my family and I traveled throughout much of Europe. It was always a big part of who I was and I felt like I had a different perspective on life and more specifically, life in the United States, because of it.

I remember being eight years old on a playground in Whitehaven, England. A girl several years older than me came up and asked me if I was from America. I said yes and she simply replied, “Lucky bitch,” and walked away. I always remembered that, but didn’t know what to make of it at the time, being so young. Things are a little different this time around, though. The biggest thing America is associated with now is our moronic president.

One Chinese student said that “people in China think he has brain damage,” to which you can only laugh and agree. It seems like people in China know that our president is not supported by the people either, though. They know that making fun of the president doesn’t mean they are making fun of all Americans. But I must admit, I feel like a dumb American. I don’t remember ever feeling so aware of being so obviously American in all my life or in all my travels.

On the Shanghai underground I looked up to see my reflection in the window. There I was, a blonde-haired, light-eyed American girl in a sea of dark hair and eyes. I stood out like a sore thumb!

Ironically, it’s kind of easy to continue being so obviously American on this trip. For all the elements of traditional China we’ve encountered, there’s another equally prevalent Western element. China is a strange place in that way. You’ll be walking down the street and find a McDonald's next to a street market where they sell live eels and whole chickens. At the Jade Buddha Temple I saw a monk in mostly traditional garb wearing Nike socks, and a woman wearing designer clothing praying to a Buddhist god. We’ve exported our corporate culture all over the world and it’s infiltrated even the most sacred traditions.

While I find that kind of sad, I also found that BigMac to be the tastiest thing in the world after a week of nothing but Chinese food. I don’t even eat fast food at home, either! Although this place is so different and strange in some ways, it’s totally familiar in others.

Sara Pooley is a photography/art history major.