Here I am, in an internet bar (wangba) just across from the south gate of Beijing University, my old, old stomping grounds.  Just came from doing a class with Jeremiah's students.  It was a good session.  I presented the ideas from one of the chapters from my book manuscript and the students brought up some good questions.  Some of the women in the class found my Confucian-derived arguments on abortion to be gendered, from a male perspective.  This has not come up before from any of the women who have read that chapter, and it made me think: was it me (i.e. my own male biases coming through) or is there something in the Confucian principles themselves that brought forward this response? Or was it a misreading on the part of the students?  Whatever the case, it make me think, and that's all for the good.

The more I present this stuff, the better. In a way, this was a first draft of the presentation I will give at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center on Wednesday.  I have a better feel now for the flow of the ideas….

This place I'm in now is interesting from a sociological point of view.  Almost all young men playing various video games.  The controls here are tighter than in 2006, the last time I was in such an establishment.  This time they asked for identification (which embarassed me since I did not understand what they wanted at first).  They took my passport and electronically scanned it and photographed me.  Guess this is part of the closer surveillance of internet users.  Also, I can't get to my webmail account, perhaps because its an "https" site and those are restricted here.  I was able to access that page from Jeremiah's office and classroom. It is the internet cafes where the restrictions are tighter…

Before going over to Jeremiah's class, I stopped in at the Confucius temple.  It was serene; not many people there and the buildings were newly rennovated and comfortable.  I'll post some pictures later when I can upload them.

I guess a Confucian view of my day would see me going from the sublime to the profane.  From inspecting stele pain-stakenly inscribed with the Thirteen Classics to a room full on young men pretendint to kill each other and shouting elaborate curses.   An interesting day….