By MEI JIA CHINA DAILY New Yorker Greg Lepkoff, 24, found his future and the chance to realize his dream a er a two month driving trip across China. “I know what I would be and what life I’d lead if I stayed in the US,” Lepko says. “But I want a di erent life, and the trip answered how.” Born in a Jewish-American family, Lep- ko feels connected to China through food, and the Jewish and Chinese people’s shared emphasis on education and family. He became a student of Asian Studies at Binghamton University in 2005. There he spent one year nishing a 30-page research paper on China’s agriculture a er joining the World Trade Organization. However, his extensive reading only made him confused about the country he was study- ing. “From the books I learnt of a country with a great history and the capability of preserving the historical heritage,” he says, “but from the media around me I saw only bad images.” To see the reality with his own eyes, Lepko arrived at Beijing two months before the 2008 Olympics. In October that year, while staying with a Chinese family to re ne his language skills, Lepko was thrilled to learn in the news that farmers are ocially allowed to transfer their land-use rights. “That probably meant large scale farms would be on a rise,” he says. Hans Galliker, a 30-year-old Swiss IT engineer, met Lepko in Beijing, where he was studying business at Beijing Union Uni- versity. “Our qualities complement each other,” he says. A former farming apprentice, Galliker shares Lepko ’s passion for sustainable agri- culture. In November 2008, they began to think about a car trip. “ As questions accumulated, we felt the need to explore and find out more about rural China in person,” Lepko says. With a budget of $10,000, they rented a car, hired two Chinese girls as translator and driver, and prepared questionnaires and small gi s. “We didn’t spend even one minute sight- seeing,” Lepkoff recalls. “We were driving and talking with farmers, o cials and com- panies.” As the journey progressed, they aban- doned their questionnaires, as they realized a machinery business was not such a good idea, as replacing the c ountry’s huge farming popu- lation with agricultural machinery would only create problems, Lepko says. Instead they concentrated on gaining a rst-hand understanding of the condition of the farmlands, the soil, farmers’ income and education, the crops, food culture and the new developments. Lepko says that they made many friends along the way and that in a way they traveled by following people. Both believe they found the answers to thei r questions about establishing an agriculture business in China on the trip. Lepkoff believes the nation’s agricultural policies encourage the growth of an enormous amount of organic farmland. “China’ s policies are really helping the people,” he says. “The Chinese countryside offers huge potential for development,” Galliker adds. ey both agree that the real potential is in sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming, and the pair have begun trading organic fertilizers. Now they are planning to expand the business. Lepko says that he plans to stay in China for at least ve more years. “I know China will be a part of me for the rest of my life,” he says. 20 lifepulse CHINA DAILY THURSDAY, MAY 13, 20 10 Cantonese tongue twisters turn into plot-twisters HOTPOT By GUS TATE FOR CHINA DAILY Standing on the peak of Taishan, hold- ing a camera for a newlywed couple from Shenzhen, I heard the woman suddenly yell to me in Cantonese. “Excuse me?” I shouted over the wind. We had been chatting for several minutes already, but only in Mandarin. “So, you don’t understand Cantonese, then?” e woman looked unimpressed as she took the camera and put it back in her purse. “I thought you said you lived in Guangzhou!” I was unprepared for this response. Chi- nese people are usually abbergasted that I can speak even a word of Mandarin. I managed a meager excuse about it being too di cult, but the couple had already turned to leave. Cantonese is infa- mous among foreigners for its inscru- tability. Judging from cadence alone, an overheard conversation in Cantonese could easily be construed as a heated and potentially violent argument. Cantonese slang is also notoriously prolific and idiomatic. And the tones — are there six, eight, or nine? How am I supposed to learn a language whose native speakers can’t even agree on the number of tones? Still, the woman’s remark was an unpleasant reminder of how little I had learned during my first year in Guang- zhou, so I enlisted my roommate as a study buddy. We found a tutor, bought a textbook, and our journey began. As it turns out, Cantonese is hard. Barrels of fun, but mentally exhausting. Despite the noble e orts of our teacher, we’ve only succeeded in internalizing a few fun-to-say but way-too-speci c sentences and structures. My roommate, for instance, is an expert at assuming an air of exasperation while asking: “How can you say such a thing here?!” (Lei hai dou gong maai di gam ge je ?!) I, meanwhile, have mastered the frivo- lous outburst of a restaurant patron when asked if he would mind sharing a table: “Sitting with others? No way!” ( Tung jan dei maa toi aa ? Ngo dei m dzai gaa !) Problem is, the opportunities to use these phrases in the presence of native Cantonese speakers are relatively rare. It wasn’t until my dad came to visit that I nally had a perfect opportunity to ex my skills. After meeting my father at the Hong Kong airport, we decided to grab a quick dim sum before taking our train to Guang- zhou. e restaurant was full, so we took a number, nervously checking our watches as we waited. e hostess called our num- ber. I leapt toward the desk. She gestured toward a large table already occupied by several diners. “Li dou dak m dak aa?” (“Is this table alright?”) I was torn. Of course we didn’t mind sharing a table. Besides, we were in a rush and couldn’t a ord to be picky. But every ber of my consciousness wanted to blurt out the phrase I had already honed to perfection. I couldn’t help myself, so I sang out, practically exploding with false indignation: “Tu ng jan dei maa toi aa?!” (“Sitting with other people?!”) e hostess blinked. “Super!” I chirped merrily, sitting down in a huff, motioning frantically for my father to join me before the hostess had time to consider what a weird, bipolar customer I was. Like I said, barrels of fun. In all seriousness, I don’t regret spending hours lling my head with Cantonese. At the very least, it has taken this dialect that I hear on the streets and transformed it from mere static obstructing my Chinese education into music enhancing it. I highly recommend studying the local dialect, at least casually, especially for those look- ing to expose themselves to a whole new dimension of embarrassment. B efore May 12, 2008, Fang Dong- sheng’s dream was to nd a job in an international trading company and build a cozy home in a well- developed coastal city. But all that changed aer the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province. “My attitude toward life changed forever aer the devastating earthquake,” says the 20-year-old junior at West China Normal University in Dujiangyan, a city close to Wenchuan, the epicenter of the earthquake in Sichuan province. “I’ve come to see the importance of famil- ial love and found it vital to open my heart and reach out to help others, ” he says. A native of Wenchuan, the single chi ld of a working class family le his home city for the rst time in 2007 when he enrolled in university. Life went smoothly until that fateful day, May 12, when he le his room on the sec- ondoor of a three-storied dormitory for an aernoon class. Fang soon realized that he was experiencing an earthquake, but did not know what to do. His roommates shouted and dragged him to the door. “As if waking up from a nightmare, I stum- bled along with fellow students to the stairs,” Fang recalled. “I guess I was scared and found it hard to move my leg s and to breathe.” He and hundreds of schoolmates gath- ered on the sports grounds. ere he tried to call his parents who worked at a post oce in Wenchuan and his grandparents in Dujiangyan. When he couldn ’t reach any of them, the young man says he was “sud- denly engulfed by panic and despair” , and he burst into tears. at night, he learned that the epicenter was Wenchuan, and rescuers were trying to reach the devastated area. “My mind went totally blank. Panic, despair, hope, they all disappeared for a moment. I felt like I was on the brink of breakdown and did not pay attention to what was going on around me,” he recalls. It was three days a er the major quake that Fang nally heard the tired voice of his mother Liu Hui who had been busy with relief work in Wenchuan. Luckily, all his family members were safe and sound. Instead of going back to Wenchuan, Fang decided to do something to help others, and he joined volunteers building tents in Dujiangyan, distributing food and nursing the wounded. “I had no time to think about my family. We were ghting against the disaster like we were in a battle eld, ” he recalls. His parents nally made it to Dujangyan, traveling amid the frequent aftershocks along damaged mountain roads. “e reunion struck me dee ply. I realized how much my parents loved me,” says Fang, adding that he became a true grown-up dur- ing this time. Two years later, Fang can speak candidly about his experiences during and aer the earthquake, although some of his fellow students still nd it very di cult. Fang is preparing for post-graduate studies, but he is determined to return and work for his hometown as he believes it is the responsibility of the younger genera- tion to help re-build the local economy and infrastructure. With this in mind Fang seized the chance to study at t he State University of New York (SUNY) in August 2008, where he was one of 150 Chinese students who attended a program at SUNY which aimed to “build a team of young leaders” who could serve the quake-a ected areas aer they graduated. e students, primarily sophomores and juniors, were chosen from over 2,000 appli- cants aer a careful review of academic per- formance and English language pro ciency. ey studied for nine months as full-time students at SUNY’s state-operated and com- munity college campuses. “I’m so grateful for what everybody did for me,” Fang says. A major of international business, Fang enjoyed the courses in liberal arts the most. He read English poetry and Shakespeare. “at was my rst time to read an original English novel, I enjoyed it so much! ” Fang says. He noticed that most American students knew little about China. Whereas most Chi- nese students he knew had already “accu- mulated so much knowledge about America before they even set foot on foreign soil” . Recalling the happy days with his Ameri- can professors, fellow students and some American families who held welcome par- ties for Chinese students from the quake-hit region, Fang says: “ is brief but eye-open- ing exposure to society and people in a developed country changed my mindset a lot. I have learned to look at the bright side of life and become more condent. Now I nd it less dicult to speak my thoughts although I used to be an i ntrovert.” Nonetheless, Fang admits he is still trau- matized by the experience. One night last month a minor earthquake shook Dujiangyan. “I thought I had fully recovered from the painful experience,” Fang says. “But I could not help but cry loudly at midnight and run wildly while my roommates were sound asleep.” Fang says he knows that it will get better. e university has psychological coun- selors stationed on campus. Fang and other students oen seek advice from them. “I think it is natural that wounds deep at heart take a longer time to heal... I am always expecting a better tomorrow to come,” Fang says. Finding new meanings The Sichuan earthquake was a life changing experience for student Fang Dongsheng. Zhu Linyong reports PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Swiss IT engineer Hans Galliker — who has joined American Greg Lepko to explore China’s countryside — enquiring after the price of piglets in a rural market. W estern duo cultivate interest in organic far ms PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Fang Dongsheng signs his name with other Chinese students who attended a special program in New York to help rebuild their devastated hometown in Sichuan. Fang Dongsheng (left) with teachers and students at the State University of New York.
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8/9/2019 Western duo cultivate interest in organic farms - Agrachina Travel_Media Clipping_China Daily -Page 20 - By Mei Jia
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By MEI JIA
CHINA DAILY
New Yorker Greg Lepkoff, 24, found hisfuture and the chance to realize his dream aera two month driving trip across China.
“I know what I would be and what life I’dlead if I stayed in the US,” Lepko says. “ButI want a di erent life, and the trip answeredhow.”
Born in a Jewish-American family, Lep-ko feels connected to China through food,and the Jewish and Chinese people’s sharedemphasis on education and family.
He became a student of Asian Studies atBinghamton University in 2005. There hespent one year nishing a 30-page researchpaper on China’s agriculture aer joining theWorld Trade Organization.
However, his extensive reading only made
him confused about the country he was study-ing. “From the books I learnt of a country witha great history and the capability of preservingthe historical heritage,” he says, “but from themedia around me I saw only bad images.”
To see the reality with his own eyes, Lepko arrived at Beijing two months before the 2008Olympics.
In October that year, while staying with aChinese family to rene his language skills,Lepko was thrilled to learn in the news thatfarmers are ocially allowed to transfer theirland-use rights.
“That probably meant large scale farmswould be on a rise,” he says.
He thought his opportunity had arrived andcontemplated opportunities to trade farmingmachinery and equipment.
Hans Galliker, a 30-year-old Swiss ITengineer, met Lepko in Beijing, where hewas studying business at Beijing Union Uni- versity.
“Our qualities complement each other,”he says.
A former farming apprentice, Gallikershares Lepko ’s passion for sustainable agri-culture.
The friendship led to the two becomingbusiness partners and the pair set about turn-ing their ideas into reality.
In November 2008, they began to thinkabout a car trip.
“As questions accumulated, we felt the needto explore and find out more about ruralChina in person,” Lepko says.
With a budget of $10,000, they rented acar, hired two Chinese girls as translator anddriver, and prepared questionnaires and smallgis.
Having selected 16 provinces, the team seto in February 2009, intent on covering 40cities and counties.
“We didn’t spend even one minute sight-seeing,” Lepkoff recalls. “We were drivingand talking with farmers, ocials and com-panies.”
As the journey progressed, they aban-doned their questionnaires, as they realized amachinery business was not such a good idea,as replacing the country’s huge farming popu-lation with agricultural machinery would only create problems, Lepko says.
Instead they concentrated on gaining arst-hand understanding of the condition of the farmlands, the soil, farmers’ income andeducation, the crops, food culture and the newdevelopments.
Lepko says that they made many friendsalong the way and that in a way they traveledby following people.
Both believe they found the answers to theirquestions about establishing an agriculture
business in China on the trip.Lepkoff believes the nation’s agriculturalpolicies encourage the growth of an enormousamount of organic farmland. “China’s policiesare really helping the people,” he says.
“The Chinese countryside offers hugepotential for development,” Galliker adds.ey both agree that the real potential is
in sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming, and the pair have begun tradingorganic fertilizers. Now they are planning toexpand the business.
Lepko says that he plans to stay in Chinafor at least ve more years. “I know China willbe a part of me for the rest of my life,” he says.Galliker thinks that he will stay for ten.
In 2011, the pair will begin another tour of the country, this time for six months.
20 lifepulse C H I N A D A I L Y T H U R S D A Y , M AY 1 3 , 2 0 1 0
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LI MIN / CHINA DAILY
Cantonese tongue twisters turn intoplot-twisters
HOTPOT
By GUS TATE
FOR CHINA DAILY
Standing on the peak of Taishan, hold-ing a camera for a newlywed couple fromShenzhen, I heard the woman suddenly yell to me in Cantonese.
“Excuse me?” I shouted over the wind.We had been chatting for several minutesalready, but only in Mandarin.
“So, you don’t understand Cantonese,then?” e woman looked unimpressedas she took the camera and put it back inher purse. “I thought you said you lived inGuangzhou!”
I was unprepared for this response. Chi-nese people are usually abbergasted that I canspeak even a word of Mandarin. I managed ameager excuse about itbeing too dicult, butthe couple had already turned to leave.
Cantonese is infa-mous among foreigners for its inscru-tability. Judging from cadence alone, an
overheard conversation in Cantonesecould easily be construed as a heated andpotentially violent argument.
Cantonese slang is also notoriously prolific and idiomatic. And the tones— are there six, eight, or nine? How am Isupposed to learn a language whose nativespeakers can’t even agree on the numberof tones?
Still, the woman’s remark was anunpleasant reminder of how little I hadlearned during my first year in Guang-zhou, so I enlisted my roommate as astudy buddy. We found a tutor, bought atextbook, and our journey began.
As it turns out, Cantonese is hard.Barrels of fun, but mentally exhausting.Despite the noble e orts of our teacher,we’ve only succeeded in internalizing a fewfun-to-say but way-too-specic sentencesand structures.
My roommate, for instance, is an expertat assuming an air of exasperation whileasking: “How can you say such a thinghere?!” (Lei hai dou gong maai di gamge je ?!)
I, meanwhile, have mastered the frivo-lous outburst of a restaurant patron whenasked if he would mind sharing a table:“Sitting with others? No way!” (Tung jandei maa toi aa? Ngo dei m dzai gaa!)
Problem is, the opportunities to usethese phrases in the presence of nativeCantonese speakers are relatively rare. Itwasn’t until my dad came to visit that Inally had a perfect opportunity to exmy skills.
After meeting my father at the HongKong airport, we decided to grab a quickdim sum before taking our train to Guang-zhou.e restaurant was full, so we took anumber, nervously checking our watchesas we waited.e hostess called our num-ber. I leapt toward the desk. She gesturedtoward a large table already occupied by several diners.
“Li dou dak m dak aa?” (“Is this tablealright?”)
I was torn. Of course we didn’t mindsharing a table. Besides, we were in arush and couldn’t a ord to be picky. Butevery ber of my consciousness wanted toblurt out the phrase I had already honedto perfection. I couldn’t help myself, so Isang out, practically exploding with falseindignation:
“Tung jan dei maa toi aa?!” (“Sitting withother people?!”)e hostess blinked.“Super!” I chirped merrily, sitting down
in a huff, motioning frantically for my father to join me before the hostess had
time to consider what a weird, bipolarcustomer I was. Like I said, barrels of fun.In all seriousness, I don’t regret spending
hours lling my head with Cantonese. Atthe very least, it has taken this dialect thatI hear on the streets and transformed itfrom mere static obstructing my Chineseeducation into music enhancing it. I highly recommend studying the local dialect, atleast casually, especially for those look-ing to expose themselves to a whole newdimension of embarrassment.
Before May 12, 2008, Fang Dong-sheng’s dream was to nd a job inan international trading company and build a cozy home in a well-
developed coastal city. But all that changedaer the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuanprovince.
“My attitude toward life changed foreveraer the devastating earthquake,” says the20-year-old junior at West China NormalUniversity in Dujiangyan, a city close toWenchuan, the epicenter of the earthquakein Sichuan province.
“I’ve come to see the importance of famil-ial love and found it vital to open my heartand reach out to help others,” he says.
A native of Wenchuan, the single child of a working class family le his home city forthe rst time in 2007 when he enrolled inuniversity.
Life went smoothly until that fateful day,
May 12, when he le
his room on the sec-ondoor of a three-storied dormitory for anaernoon class. Fang soon realized that hewas experiencing an earthquake, but did notknow what to do. His roommates shoutedand dragged him to the door.
“As if waking up from a nightmare, I stum-bled along with fellow students to the stairs,”Fang recalled. “I guess I was scared and foundit hard to move my legs and to breathe.”
He and hundreds of schoolmates gath-ered on the sports grounds. ere he triedto call his parents who worked at a postoce in Wenchuan and his grandparentsin Dujiangyan. When he couldn’t reach any of them, the young man says he was “sud-denly engulfed by panic and despair”, and heburst into tears.at night, he learned that the epicenter
was Wenchuan, and rescuers were trying toreach the devastated area. “My mind went
totally blank. Panic, despair, hope, they alldisappeared for a moment. I felt like I wason the brink of breakdown and did not pay attention to what was going on around me,”he recalls.
It was three days aer the major quake thatFangnally heard the tired voice of his motherLiu Hui who had been busy with relief workin Wenchuan. Luckily, all his family memberswere safe and sound. Instead of going back toWenchuan, Fang decided to do something tohelp others, and he joined volunteers buildingtents in Dujiangyan, distributing food andnursing the wounded.
“I had no time to think about my family.We wereghting against the disaster like wewere in a battleeld,” he recalls.
His parents nally made it to Dujangyan,traveling amid the frequent aftershocksalong damaged mountain roads.
“e reunion struck me deeply. I realizedhow much my parents loved me,” says Fang,adding that he became a true grown-up dur-ing this time.
Two years later, Fang can speak candidly about his experiences during and aer theearthquake, although some of his fellowstudents still nd it very dicult.
Fang is preparing for post-graduatestudies, but he is determined to return andwork for his hometown as he believes it isthe responsibility of the younger genera-tion to help re-build the local economy andinfrastructure.
With this in mind Fang seized the chanceto study at the State University of New York(SUNY) in August 2008, where he was oneof 150 Chinese students who attended aprogram at SUNY which aimed to “build ateam of young leaders” who could serve thequake-a ected areas aer they graduated.e students, primarily sophomores and
juniors, were chosen from over 2,000 appli-cants aer a careful review of academic per-formance and English language prociency.ey studied for nine months as full-timestudents at SUNY’s state-operated and com-munity college campuses.
“I’m so grateful for what everybody didfor me,” Fang says.
A major of international business, Fangenjoyed the courses in liberal arts themost.
He read English poetry and Shakespeare.“at was my rst time to read an original
English novel, I enjoyed it so much! ” Fangsays.He noticed that most American students
knew little about China. Whereas most Chi-nese students he knew had already “accu-mulated so much knowledge about Americabefore they even set foot on foreign soil”.
Recalling the happy days with his Ameri-can professors, fellow students and someAmerican families who held welcome par-ties for Chinese students from the quake-hitregion, Fang says: “is brief but eye-open-ing exposure to society and people in adeveloped country changed my mindset alot. I have learned to look at the bright sideof life and become more condent. Now Ind it less dicult to speak my thoughtsalthough I used to be an introvert.”
Nonetheless, Fang admits he is still trau-matized by the experience.
One night last month a minor earthquake
shook Dujiangyan.“I thought I had fully recovered from
the painful experience,” Fang says. “But Icould not help but cry loudly at midnightand run wildly while my roommates weresound asleep.”
Fang says he knows that it will get better.e university has psychological coun-
selors stationed on campus. Fang and otherstudents oen seek advice from them.
“I think it is natural that wounds deep atheart take a longer time to heal... I am alwaysexpecting a better tomorrow to come,” Fangsays.
Finding new meaningsThe Sichuan earthquake was a life changing experience for student Fang Dongsheng. Zhu Linyong reports
Action star’s softer sideIn his new lm Ocean Paradise, kungfu star Jet Li
takes on his rst non-action role as a father whoseson su ers from autism.elm is written and directed by rst-time
director Xue Xiaolu and was made on a budget of 7million yuan ($1 million).
Although the lm is a departure for Li, as itfeatures no action scenes, the actor reassuredhis fans that it does not mean he is giving up hisusual action roles.elm will be released thissummer.
Subverting a cultural iconCross-talk comedian Guo Degang stars in a
lm callede Love of ree Smiles. Yu Qian, Guo’scross-talk partner, plays an old lady in the comedy.elm tells how ancient poet/painter Tang
Bohu courted the beautiful Qiuxiang, a maid in arich family.
Known for his talent, Tang has been frequently portrayed as a handsome and smart young maninlms and TV. Guo’s Tang, however, is a middle-aged rocker with feather ornaments and a Chineselute instead of a guitar.elm opened on May 7.
Never too late to be a starChina’s older generations have also got talent.
2010 Sunshine Health: Senior Citizens Talent Com-petition began recently, aimed at providing a show-case for people who are over 65 years old. Any seniorcitizen in the country could sign up to demonstratetalents in singing, dancing, or playing musicalinstruments. erst rounds are being held in Bei-
jing, Shenyang, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Wuhan.Just 50 competitors will make the nals, which willbe held in the capital this October. In Beijing, thereare already 1,300 people participating.
Sequel for pop teen showe actor Li Yapeng is better known as the hus-
band of diva Faye Wong, but 12 years ago he was apopular idol, thanks to the TV teen drama CherishOur Lover Forever . He is likely to repeat his earlierglory in a big screen sequel to the show, which willstart shooting soon.
Li will join hands with Xu Jinglei, the leadingactress of the TV show.e story is set 10 yearsaer the story ends in the TV series. elm is duefor release on Valentine’s Day next year.
CHINA DAILY
PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Swiss IT engineer Hans Galliker — who has joined American Greg Lepko to exploreChina’s countryside — enquiring after the price of piglets in a rural market.
Western duo cultivate interest in organic farms
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Fang Dongsheng signs his name with other Chinese students who attended a specialprogram in New York to help rebuild their devastated hometown in Sichuan.
Fang Dongsheng (left) with teachers and students at the State University of New York.
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