Shangwai 上外 (Shanghai waiguoyu xueyuan 上海外国语学院) 1984-1985

Johannes Kurz January 2024

One of the conditions for majoring in a Chinese Studies MA in the 1980s was a year or better even two years abroad in either Mainland China or in Taiwan. As today, a number of grants were offered by the DAAD, but since Heidelberg had a cooperation with the Foreign Languages Institute in Shanghai (now Shanghai International Studies University/Shanghai waiguoyu daxue 上海外国语大学) I opted to go there as a zifeide 自费的 (at my own and my parents expense) in 1984.

Since we had enjoyed taking the train to China in 1982, we thought of taking it again, for the scarce information we had, said a one way ticket would cost around 400 DM (German mark~200 Euro). There was no agency in Germany that would sell the ticket, but there was a ticket office in Budapest, Hungary. One good friend, who himself was going to study in Taipei, offered to drive there (yes, he had a car) if everyone chipped in for the petrol and three more guys would accompany him. We made this happen and it only took us two days to reach Budapest, where we discovered, that tickets for the Transsiberian were only available from late spring 1985 again.

There being no alternative, and once back, we finally purchased airplane tickets (return) from TAROM (“the flag carrier and oldest currently operating airling of Romania”) for 1,200 DM. That was then the cheapest way to fly to China.

The flight was scheduled from Frankfurt to Bucharest, but it touched down in the middle of nowhere – also known as Timisoara – where some business people with live chicken embarked. After an endless wait in Bucharest (no aircon, no cold drinks), we finally thought we were on our way to China, but landed in Karachi, Pakistan.

Imagine the face of the friendly German embassy person who expected to meet four DAAD scholarship holders, but now was confronted with more than a dozen German students. Some of us then were housed in the ambassador’s residence, while we others somehow managed to get to the Beijing 2nd Foreign Languages Institute (di er waiguoyu xueyuan 北京第二外国语学院, now Beijing International Studies University (BISU)) where we had stayed in 1982 as well. The people there would not give us rooms (it was by now 8pm or so), until we went on a strike then and there. That changed their mind and they showed us rooms, saying they were not fit for us because they were plain and simple, and added – the first whiff of common discrimatory practice -, that they were actually intended for African students.

The next day (or one thereafter) we caught the train to Shanghai and were invited by a film crew to star in a commercial for beer. We did this, but they did not allow us to drink the beer (maybe this was a sign of things to come??).

Once in Shanghai, some paperwork had to be done. Among the first things was the student pass (xuesheng zheng 学生证) with which to prove your status. More important, was the huzhao 护照 ( of which I failed to take a picture), the green identity card.

With the huzhao you could apply for a bicycle. As far as I understood this was dependent on the quota given to your school, but our school’s quota was ok, so everyone could buy one. With the bicycle came a license plate that was fixed on the bicycle and an ownership card. Those of us who had been lucky enough (three students from higher semesters, and one from our group) were handed a baika 白卡 (white card), that allowed you to use the renminbi 人民币 (rmb) currency for purchases, while everyone else had to pay in waihui 外汇 (foreign currency).

Paying in rmb made life more affordable compared to paying in waihui, and at the time black market rates started to appear. Whenever we could, we paid in rmb, but some businesses insisted in seeing our baika, such as the bar at the Heping fandian 和平饭店 (Peace Hotel), a favourite Saturday night hangout, for they had live music, the famous jazz band.

Generally, the entertainment accessible for foreign students in 1984 was a bit underdevelopped (a situation I found myself in again during my stay in Brunei). I remember having dinner at an “Italian” restaurant in Huaihai lu 淮海路 and ordering spaghetti bolognese. The dish that was served consisted of fangbian mian 方便面 with ketchup.

As for the accommodation we were lodged in the same foreign students residence (liuxuesheng lou 留学生楼) as before. Sexes were segregated floorwise, and each floor had a sort of large bathroom, separate showers, and toilets.

We were handed a booklet with a set of rules (that I only read recently).

Two persons shared a room. Here you see my tongwu 同屋 (roommate) looking out the window of our room.

The rooms had two beds, two writing desks, a large wardrobe, and a big wooden stowage rack. What you see here is the summer bedding, in winter thicker duvets were provided. To the left is a hot water bottle (filled with hot very chlorinated water from the hot water tank), on the desk the Xiandai hanyu cidian 现代汉语词典, in front of it the Xinhua cidian 新华词典, and on the right the Zhongguo mingsheng cidian 中国名胜词典.

Note the swing doors on the cubicles. If you were in there and potentially late for class, the teacher would come check on your well-being (“are you ok, are you constipated?”), by sticking his head over the door.

At the end of our floor (2nd floor, that is the German 1st floor) was a larger room where we received instruction (tingli 听力, huihua 会话, lishi 历史, wenxue 文学 …). Classes started at 8 am and ended around 12. The afternoons were officially dedicated to zixue 自学 (self-study). In the beginning we had breakfast and lunch in a canteen for foreigners only on campus, but as we discovered the noodle canteen in the other campus across the road (that served a vicious lasanding 辣三丁 (hot spicy noodles)) and small restaurants around the school and especially in Sichuan beilu 四川北路, we preferred to eat there.

The main entrance to Shangwai on the right hand side.

The rear exit/entrance being closed for security reasons.

Occasional calls home could be made from the fuwutai 服务台(reception) in our building, and we were convinced that someone was always listening in, as there was some audible clicking going on once the call went through. Similarly, envelopes showed small cuts and the theory prevailed, that a penlike tool was inserted through the slit to roll up the letter for the censors to read, before returning it to the envelope. Therefore, we sometimes posted letters in the city, or sent them through the friendly support of the German consulate with the diplomatic mail. There was also a building next to the Heping fandian on Nanjing donglu where you could make international calls for which you had to register first, and when the connection stood, were called into a booth.

Since the rear exit had been blocked, in order to reach the small department store and restaurant of the Quyang qu 曲阳区 (Quyang neighbourhood) you had to leave the campus via the main entrance and then follow this path. There were still some people living in the huts to the right.

In summer we were given electric fans which did not help much to lower humidity and temperature, in winter the heating system warmed our rooms from 6-7am and 7-8pm. That is you woke up drenched and sweating, and then spent most of the day in winter clothes although the temperatures in winter were moderate.

Yet, in early January we had snowfall for one day. I had always longed to see palm trees in snow.

Shanghai was growing fast and so was Quyang. Old houses were replaced by new buildings that promised to offer better comfort. The two pictures below, taken from our building, show buildings to the north of it, one taken in October 1984, the other one in about January 1985.

I attempted to live like the Chinese students and ate food from the local student canteen. It was a test, that I failed after a week. You went there with your can, received a rice brick, something green, and some bones (see below). The Chinese students managed to study on this meagre diet, without even temporary heating, and six or seven pax to one room. I found and still find this highly admirable.