blogging from Beijing 北京

Reading through my Insider's Guide to Beijing, a feature on the Underground City caught my eye one Saturday. Anna and I decided to abandon our lesson planning and grading for the day and we set out to find it. We weren't able to find it on our first try, but we did find this Catholic Church, built during the Qing Dynasty.

China opened the City to foreigners in 2001, but I haven't talked to a Chinese person yet who's heard of it. That made it very difficult to find because no one knew what we were asking about! The first try was unsuccessful, but we did get to wander about Beijing and Tienanmen on a pretty day.

Second try: Qing Ming. We made our second attempt today two weeks later, but this time we brought Andy (a teacher at Renmin University) and Mark with us... and found it! If you didn't know it was there, you would never find it. After walking through hutongs and wondering if we were desperately lost, we entered through what looked like a storefront and descended through tunnels similar to the subway. Here we are, elated to find it at last:


Built during the Cold War and Sino-Soviet conflict in the 50's and 60's, the Underground City is 85 square kilometers. It has passages to the Western Hills and Tianjin and could accommodate 40% of the city's population in case of Soviet nuclear attack. Before it fell into disuse in the 70's, it had cinemas, hospitals, and libraries. There was also a silk factory, mushroom harvesting, and an underground chicken farm.

We took some students from China's Xinjiang Province out for their first T.G.I. Friday's experience later this evening.

Some notable internet pranks:

Gmail Custom Time

Send e-mail from the past and never be late again!

"I just got two tickets to Radiohead by being the 'first' to respond to a co-worker's 'first-come, first-serve' email. Someone else had already won them, but I told everyone to check their inboxes again. Everyone sort of knows I used Custom Time on this one, but I'm denying it." -- Robby S., Paralegal

Virgle: The adventure of many lifetimes

Google and Virgin Group collaborate to launch the first permanent human colony on Mars. Take the questionnaire to see if you qualify to be a Virgle pioneer.

Apple logo can make you "think different"

"Whether you are a Mac person or a PC person, even the briefest exposure to the Apple logo may make you behave more creatively, according to recent research from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and the University of Waterloo, Canada."

Stretching Sarkozy

Doctors will stretch French President Sarkozy to 5'10" to shape up next to his wife.

Mile-High tower in Saudi Arabia

This one, however, does not look to be a farce.

April Fool's Day: "A notable day marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, enemies and neighbors, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible."

The foreign teachers are taking advantage of this unofficial holiday! Loren will be inviting his students to witness his marriage to a Chinese colleague on Saturday, Melanie is giving her kids a fake exam instead of a promised movie, Anna went to class wearing a wedding band, and I will be having some exam fun with my two classes this afternoon.

We're having a real exam today over historiography, early civilizations, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire, but the top of the exam reads "Read all of the directions before you begin your exam." If they follow directions, they'll find this message at the bottom of the fourth page: "If you followed my directions and read the entire exam before writing on the test, you have a choice. You may bring Miss Hull your unfinished exam and accept a grade of 88% or you may choose to take the exam in hopes of a better grade. Happy April Fool's Day! :-)"

Can you pass my 10th grade history exam?

Which Roman emperor built many roads?

Which Greek discovered the famous triangle formula?

Which civilization developed along the Indus River?

Discuss the changes Constantine brought to the Roman Empire.

Which is a more ideal government: Sparta or Athens? Why?

In other news, the weather has reverted back to winter and we've been wishing the radiators were still on. There is a heat line in China - if you live above it, you have heat. If you don't, buy lots of blankets and long underwear! The government turns everyone's heat on around November 15 and it goes off around March 15, no matter how hot or cold it might be. Brrr! Beijing also had a sand storm last week!