EASTER AND THE POPE PASSING AWAY - I guess it’s as good a time as any to talk about my thoughts on the church. I’ve never been religious, and I really mean never. One of my earliest memories is being at church when I was 5 or so, and wondering why the Bible was any different from cultural myths. By the time I was 12 or 13, I would have told you straight out that I was atheist. I don’t have any problem with others believing in religion if they so choose, but I’ve never had a doubt in my mind that what we can directly sense and experience is all there is to the universe.Nonetheless, I confess that I don’t really mind a good Christmas service. It’s in some ways a cultural tradition, right? I also consider myself to have grown up in New England - I lived there until I was 14 - and New England is filled with those white steeple, traditional, Rockwellesque Catholic churches that everyone loves. Great buildings. My other problem is that I think the church serves a critical position in society as an arbiter of morals, and I don’t see what will replace it in the secular world.

Now, I don’t believe the morals of the church are God-given, or natural, or anything of that sort. But, in general, the major religions tend to share the propogation of moral society as a major goal. Many concepts that allow society to function without major tension, such as a ban on adultery, are concepts central to the major religions. Now, individuals can certainly choose to respect these morals without religion - I consider myself to be a moral actor, for instance - but it’s more difficult in a secular society for two reasons. First is that practices and morals formed as a child tend to last through to adulthood - there’s a type of path dependence. Second is that children don’t always listen to their parents; a priest or imam can provide the role of a teacher that a parent cannot. It’s BS to say that secular individuals can’t be moral, but I certainly buy the argument that a secular society is potentially less moral on the whole than a religious society. Is the solution to have schoolteachers provide the priest/imam role? I don’t know.

I took the train 12 hours out to Xi’an last weekend (a couple pictures from the trip are up on the right now). Xi’an, if you can believe it, was once the greatest city on the planet. Called Chang’an in the past, the city was the capital of China during two dynasties, and was near the center of power in two more. As far as I know, Xi’an was the first city in the world with a population of one million. A dusty backwater in the late Qing, Republican and Maoist periods, the city found gold at the bottom of a well in 1973. A poor farmer was prospecting for a well at his commune 50km outside Xi’an when he hit a massive cavern. Local authorities came to take a look and found what appeared to be a cavern filled with lifesize terracotta warriors. Archaeologists then found three massive underground caverns - one the size of a large airplane hangar - filled with these guys. The estimate is 6000 (!) lifesize warriors in all, all different, and nearly all preserved. The mythical grand memorial of Qin Shihuang (221BC), China’s most famous emperor, had been found.

Despite this incredible find - unquestionably the archaeological find of the 20th century - Xi’an isn’t a very interesting city. It’s a bit tough to get to, so it’s really only worth it if you’re a Chinese history buff. The city has quite a few important historic sites, including a very important Buddhist pagoda (Big Goose), well-preserved city walls, the Terracotta Army and the Huaqing Hot Springs, a summer retreat for a number of emperors. Or if this is how you roll, every guy I know who’s been to Xi’an has been approached by hookers. You really have to unplug your phone at night or you’ll get nonstop calls asking if you want the tebie anmo, the “special massage.”

Who are the most famous Westerners in China? I’d say it’s a close race between Bill Clinton, Michael Jordan and a tall, goofy Canadian who goes by Da Shan, Big Mountain. Da Shan has been in China for more than a decade, and you see him all the time on TV and on advertisements. The guy is known for speaking perfect Mandarin, slang and all. Chinese people adore this guy, while Westerners all consider him a sorta quirky poindexter. Hey, it works if you work it.

We headed out with some people to a Karaoke bar the other night. These places are both ubiquitous and considered upscale in China. You can rent a “VIP room” - big enough for 10 to 12 - for anywhere from 80 to 200 kuai per night, or 10 to 25 bucks. At the high end, that includes food and soft drinks on the house. Though karaoke here in mainly the Chinese kids singing god-awful Taiwan/HK pop, one of our Chinese buds broke out this rock song (”One Night in Beijing” by Shin) like you don’t know. It was ridiculous. The dude was into it - we had to give him a standing O afterward.

I can’t believe it’s already opening day for baseball. Sox-Yankees on opening day? Fantastic. But really, isn’t this season like meeting a nice girl at the club when you slept with Natalie Portman the week before? I mean, how can you top last season? The greatest comeback in the history of sports, between two teams with the greatest rivalry in American sports. ESPN.com just listed Game 4 of the Yanks/Sox series as the best game (in any sport) of the last 10 years.

Man, am I looking forward to playing some hoops when I get back to the States. I have picked up a nasty jumpstep here in -China, and I can hit that 8-footer from the baseline now, so when I drive people are guaranteed to leave themselves open for one or the other. I’ve got to get the timing on the jump down a bit so I get enough lift to flick up a layup when I jumpstep around bigger guys, but other than that, it’s solid.

I’ve got one more week of class left before I head down to Shanghai for a business seminar, and then 4 days of quick, cheap travel. My Uncle happens to be coming to Shanghai on business that week, so I’m going to go with him on Monday to negotiations with Huawei/3COM and basically spy on them because we’re not going to tell them I understand Chinese. Should be fun. It’s also my first time to Shanghai, which is skyscraper filled and twice as rich as Beijing, so I’ll be sure to get some cool pics. I also had an interview for my internship which I start when I get back here from Shanghai. It looks like I’ll be at the American Chamber of Commerce - Beijing. They have some damn plush offices: plasma in the lounge, full-glass windows on the top floor of a skyscraper, ambassadors and the like visiting all the time. Should be sweet.

Beijing may seem modern on the outside - my roommate was reading Chinese FHM the other day, and it’s exactly the same as the Western one - but it’s still a human rights disaster, and we shouldn’t forget that. I had the chance to talk with a gongmin, a migrant worker from the countryside, the other day. She came here five years ago, and has worked with her husband as a garbage collector ever since. By that, I mean she collects cardboard, bottles and the like, and brings them to this massive dump on the city outskirts where she’s paid. I believe she said she makes 300-600 kuai/month, which is 37-75 dollars. The city can kick her out at any time - she’s managed to dodge two raids - and she’s not allowed to enroll her kids in Beijing schools or use Beijing hospitals without a massive fee (on the order of 20000 kuai, so clearly unaffordable). Nonetheless, she says she would never go back to the countryside, and that her life is much better than it was when she lived in her village. She claims her salary now is beyond her wildest dreams.

Now for that, I say good for her. I’m not one who romanticizes farm life. I think sweatshops are, in general, a good thing. Here’s what infuriates me, though. This woman’s husband was arrested for not having proper hukou (a card that indentifies what city or village you’re “allowed” to live in). Since he didn’t have money to pay off the police officer, he was forced to work slave labor for a week in construction. He was not paid a penny, nor was his wife told where he was or what happened to him. This was not 1980. This was last year. This was not in a rural area. This was in Beijing, the capital. I asked her why they didn’t complain to the government. She said it was her understanding that this was a government policy, not that of a rogue cop.

There was a famous story last year in Shenzhen, the richest city in China, about police brutality. A rural worker was beaten to death by police, certainly not an isolated incident. A brave newspaper reporter for the South China Daily reported the incident, which sparked nationwide interest. What was the result? A few officers were demoted. One person lost his job and was sent to a hard labor camp. Was it the chief of police? No. It was the Editor of the newspaper which reported the story.