Chinatown Chicago

The Nine Dragon Wall is one of the characteristic features and landmarks of Chicago’s Chinatown. You can find the Nine Dragon Wall on the north side of Cermak Avenue, just east of Wentworth. It is a shortened replica of the famous Chinese Nine Dragon Wall standing in Beihai Park, Beijing. Dragons are sacred and are believed to have magical powers just like the number nine, so it's best not to pass this by without paying close attention. It was built in 2004 under the sponsorship of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. It is made of glazed tiles that were made in China. The purpose for having the Nine Dragon Wall replica was meant as a focus of community pride as well as a tourist attraction.

The Chinese zodiac signs represent twelve different types of personalities. I was born in 1992, which is the year of the Monkey - 猴. People born in the Year of the Monkey are fun and versatile. They’re likely unpredictable, witty and charming, and good at making others happy. They tend to spend a lot of time day-dreaming, and are quite clever and naturally curious. I am also a lot like the water Monkey. Water Monkeys are extremely sensitive and often feel hurt by the things that are said to them. They refuse to show their sensitive side to others and as a result, are extreme jokesters. If they can stay focused, they can succeed, but more often than not, they’re easily distracted from their goals. This description of the monkey describes my personality very well. It shows how I act and who I am. I can notice the similarities between me and the monkey.

The trip to Chinatown in Chicago was really exciting and enjoyable. The tour was a great way to see every thing we did not see on our first trip down there. Meeting our tour guide and having him show us around was really a fun way to do it. We went to the Chinatown Square Plaza where all 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac were on display in the court yard as statues, with their zodiac description on each base. The food we ate at the Cantonesia restaurant was delicious. I had the lemon chicken. If the food in China will taste anything like this food did, I am not worried about eating there. If this is what it is going to be like in China, I can’t wait to go!

Censorship in China

I looked at an article in The New York Times, “Google Shuts China Site in Dispute Over Censorship”; and an article in China Daily, “In quitting, Google misses its chance”. Google in China is different from the Google in America. In the U.S., Google is open and uncensored to everyone who wishes to look at it. Any site they want to look at is available for them. History, science, government, or even food is no secret to the people. But in China, the government there is censoring the information that is released to the public. All information on a topic that would make it to the U.S. is not available to see if you were living in China.
In the Chinese paper, it mostly says that Google should have stayed in China and not left on the basis of morals. It says the way to impact the country is to stay and accept the hardship of censorship. Google has “played a significant role in China’s social transformation in the last decade simply by being in the country and making themselves available to the average Chinese. The impact on the people, society and politics from the fast developing internet service should never be underestimated.” The paper feels Google took the easy road by leaving. Staying would have been a harder road, but they could have made a more positive impact on China in the long run.
While in the American paper, they talk about when Google started four years ago, it was hoped that the search engine would help bring more information to the Chinese, even if it was censored, and loosen the government’s controls on the web. Instead the Chinese government has tightened its grip on the Internet in recent years. The fact that Google “cannot exist in China clearly indicates that China’s path as a rising power is going in a direction different from what the world expected and what many Chinese were hoping for.”
The difference in these two stories mainly is about censorship. The Chinese are use to and accepting of censorship, while the US and the free world do not accept censorship and feel it is a moral issue. It was hoped that the Chinese government would eventually loosen their control, but instead tightened it, and sharpened attacks on Google. While both papers agree that the presence of Google in China could have a positive affect in the long run, the tightening censorship control was too much from the US view point, but considered normal to the Chinese.