Some of you might wonder why I would report about Huang Ming receiving the 2011 Right Livelihood Award (a.k.a. alternative Nobel prize). My blog is usually about Oberursel, tourism, and my own trips.

But one of those trips took me to Mr. Huang’s home in 2005.

Starting fall 2003, I started tutoring his daughter who, at that time, was attending a boarding school in Switzerland. As half of her education was conducted in German, along with English, she then spent most of her school breaks with me in Oberursel learning English and German, respectively.

Mr. Huang had enrolled his daughter with HB.Language, a Swiss language agency, which places students for language studies in various countries. I am one of those teacher/host families.

During her first visit, her dad would call everyday to check on her progress.  With each further Study and Homestay program she enrolled, the phone-calls became fewer.

C. (name withheld) eventually left the Swiss boarding school to attend Frankfurt International School (FIS) in her final years, while being hosted by an FIS family.

Because of C., our son became interested in learning Chinese. After six years of private lessons, he had to give it up being a senior in high school now.

In 2005, with a little pressure from C. and our son, I agreed to visit the Huang family in China. Of course, we were splendidly hosted, but frankly speaking, I only learned about C.’s dad’s business/entrepreneurship while we were there. Yes, I was a little surprised to learn of  his 40 patents he holds in inventions, being a member of congress, the factory tour, and many other things.

During this time, we stayed in an apartment in Beijing. Then we were carted off to Dezhou (hometown), where we stayed in one of those worker hotels. The remainder we spent in a big beach house in Qingdao.

We were given many guided tours, served the best food, and were treated like special guests. Well, the Asian way.

The last leg of our time in China, we spent in Shanghai on our own. I like Shanghai the best, even though I learned there how polluted these big cities really are. While we were guests of the Huang family, we were driven around by a private chauffeur on every occasion. So we hopped into the van and out.

But in Shanghai, we walked everywhere. Each time we returned to our hotel to take a shower, we had blackened feet. We actually had to scrub our feet to get the dirt off.

Anyway, we got to see Mr. Huang a couple of times after that. This was usually while he was passing through Frankfurt on his way back from meetings in other parts of Europe.

Article in German: Alternativer Nobelpreis für chinesischen Solar-Unternehmer

Another article from news.xinhuanet.com

Congratulations to the Huang family!

On July 17th, I read this interesting article, The Enemies: Heat and Humidity, in the International Herald Tribune, describing the potential issues facing athletes at next month’s Olympic games in Beijing.

I sympathize with the athletes who will have to compete under such dire conditions. The subtropical climate creates a stifling heat in summer and, coupled with the high humidity, sometimes makes it too unbearable to move around. And then having to race about at peak performance makes me think I would want to crawl back into an air-conditioned room – on all fours, if necessary.

In the summer of 2005 I spent two weeks in China. We had very generous hosts who accommodated us in their 28th-floor apartment in Beijing, their workers’ hotel in Dezhou, and finally their vacation home in Qingdao. We were shepherded through all of the must-see cultural sights, mostly taking in the grander side of China. We also caught a few glimpses of its poverty while taking a bus trip to the Great Wall of China, but this was not an intended part of the tour …

A back road

The writer of the above article, Gina Kolata, mentions not only the heat and humidity in her article, but also the pollution. Whether it is in the air, ocean, rivers, streets, nostrils or ear drums, this pollution is omnipresent.

Noise pollution is rampant in China’s big cities. Maybe I am a bit more sensitive towards this issue as I am from Germany, the land of whispers (Germans are known to whisper in elevators and waiting rooms) and somber thinkers. Germans like to stroll through forests in search of peace and quiet. While walking down a shopping street in China, thinking and communicating becomes impossible as automatic doors sense your unassaulted body and release a blast of music into your ear. This could be the reason why Chinese visitors to Germany often remark that it is too quiet on our streets.

A busy arcade, where stores turn up the volume to capture shoppers’ attention.

On the last leg of our journey – Shanghai – we were without our generous hosts and their chauffeurs. We checked into our hotel and took our own walking tours through the lovely city of Shanghai, both old and modern.

Shanghai on a hazy afternoon

After our first excursion of the day, we returned to the hotel and noticed that we all had blackened feet. While we had been driven around by our hosts’ chauffeurs, we never had to bother walking in regular street traffic where the cars’ exhaust pipes would leave their mark on our feet. And of course, we foreigners walk around in bare sandals, whereas the locals know better and always wear socks.

Air pollution in China adds another twist unknown to most western countries – the smell of human feces. I come from a farming family and therefore am used to the summer smell of cows and pigs, its manure leaving a hearty reminder of agriculture. Well, on one of our rare drives through the country side, we smelled this very unusual odor and had to inquire about it. Available in mass amounts, human feces is a very practical fertilizer. But my senses will never quite be the same.

I will be watching the Olympics, not so much for its performances and medal-winning competitions, but more to see the athletes weather the heat, humidity, and pollution.

The two most useful Chinese words this summer in Beijing will be…..

Thank you and water

…especially once you start climbing the Great Wall of China in July.