Probably write this up at some point but until then these are my notes:
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- Changsha airport late night arrival again; bus to city center, then taxi to:
- Staggering number of hotels (brothels?) along road
- 楓林賓館 hotel w/lobby full of cheap cigarette smoke odor
- 1st day conference mildly interesting
*heard a panel on senses/affect in Chinese lit. - 2nd day me/sci-fi people…great!
*smog/霾 of life; smog smothers; alienates
*Xia Jia: sci-fi and community probs…should have talked to her 🙁 - 3rd day sickness, only attends keynote; wanders streets like zombie
- (Orange phlegm..inflamed mucus membs – my soar throat/cold is pollution allergy?)
- it occurs to me: poison air, but no face masks! (unlike .tw/Beijing)
- few chain or convenience stores..funny knockoff brands
- No noticeable foreigner anxiety/老外恐懼症 toward me (unlike .tw)
- Far fewer foreigners in this city, almost none
- construction happening everywhere…
- old guys driving deadly silent scooter-taxis BEEP!
- Strange, semi-abandoned low-rent shopping malls
- old neighborhoods remind of E Berlin
- fewer tattoos..piercings…not as colorful
- women in long summer dresses
- women in feathery flats and bright 口紅
- smart, sensitive women…with opinions
- Xia Jia’s funny ”young Chinese girl” tattoo anecdote
- 公安 guys filming student clubs in park
- beautiful girl gamer on subway playing
- old man writing sutra in water on sidewalk
- so many kangaroo scooter delivery guys
- asked by a girl to buy some pens
- next day a boy asks “is there a Chinese bank nearby?” in perfect English
- Starbucks guilt ..their prices relative to local salaries
- Am I a cosmopolitan or nomadic subject? Expat or immigrant?
- 誰最代表中國人? Old socialist/young consumer?…How can nationalism survive this?