My blog is back! That is, I can see it again. Sometimes, I think China is governed less by law and more by whim - we were actually discussing in class today the difference between 法执 and 人执 - authority exercised by rule of law, or rule of whoever happens to be in charge at the time. In studying intellectual property, it's become clear to me that the laws are haphazardly enforced, if enforced at all - and if one court happens to take up an intellectual property case, it's for political expediency, legal window-dressing - nowhere near the serious crackdown that, ideally, a complete rewriting of the legal code should lead to. Along the same lines, China currently has a constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech and expression of religion. That China is anything but a free and open society goes without saying - yet, it's all there on paper. I've always been fascinated by trying to figure out what Chinese characters stand for - there is the character, and then there is the idea it represents. When you study the Chinese legal system, you come up against 空话 - literally, "empty words" - again and again. Characters that have no meaning, because they represent nothing. Laws that have no meaning, because there is no one to enforce them. There's some sort of metaphor I'm totally missing here, and I keep trying to think of it - but anyway, being in China has made me realize how cool the rule of law actually is (and that's just me being way too dorky) - but I wish there were more of it here.
On a completely different note, when I was leaving the computer lab the other day, I saw a chicken. Seeing a chicken in and of itself is not that remarkable an event. I've seen lots of chickens before, most of them confined to farms, where chickens are supposed to live. Chickens are not supposed to roam freely around college campuses. I looked around the courtyard where I spotted the chicken to see if I could find a chicken coop which this chicken might have escaped from - no luck. No signs of any other chickens at all. The chicken seemed not at all disturbed by my presence, and continued strolling across the courtyard as if I weren't even there at all. For some reason, I've spent a lot of time wondering where that chicken may have come from - mostly, I think, because I haven't had any opportunity to talk about it with my classmates - I haven't really felt like translating the chicken story into Chinese. I tried telling one person, but by the time I managed to convey what I had seen - namely, a live chicken, walking around - and where I saw it - right outside the computer center - ten minutes had elapsed, and I really didn't feel like getting into the whole "what was a chicken doing outside the computer center?" especially when I feared the answer was going to be "well, you said it was just walking around, right?" yes, of course - but why?
In other random news, my roommate and her colleagues decided to get drunk at work yesterday afternoon - just when you think you can predict the course of events that things are going to take in China, you are proven wrong again and again - and she came home determined to practice her English, which she is usually too shy to do. Northeastern Chinese have a legendary tolerance for alcohol, the women being no exception, and I am very worried that my roommate could drink me under the table - actually, not only worried that my roommate COULD drink me under the table, but that my roommate is GOING to drink me under the table, and soon. She threatened me with Chinese red wine this afternoon, after I told her I didn't like drinking whiskey - "Red wine is red wine - how could Chinese red wine be any different?" I don't know, but if there's a way, the Chinese will find it. I seriously think alcohol is the best promotor of cultural exchange, for better or for worse. Last night, my roommate learned how to conjugate the verb "to drink" - "I drink so much I got drunk?" "No no no! I DRANK so much I got drunk." "D-r-a-n-k 吗?" "对了!" and I learned... I learned that drinking on a Tuesday is generally not the best idea - but it can be a lot of fun!
