Reflections on China

One thing you notice immediately upon landing in any of the major Chinese cities is the intense smog and pollution. Some days I never saw the sun (I never saw a sunset.) and nightfall came at about 5:30pm because the sun likely couldn’t penetrate through the thick, hazy clouds. Also worth noting is that the whole country is on the same time zone, which seems quite ridiculous given the country’s immense size. Clean air is something I’ve always taken for granted. With the smog, you could almost see the particles hanging in the air and feel a tightness in your lungs. Companies claim to be making great strides in becoming “green” companies, but I’m unsure how much of that is action vs. lip service. Aside from the pollution, there are many unique things about China which I've come to appreciate through this trip.

The people of China. Most seem very pleasant and welcoming, though not always very smiley, particularly as they move about their daily lives. They are, however, a very quiet people. When we were in shopping areas, the Shanghai airport and Super Walmart to name a few a places, it was surprisingly quiet.

The traffic. The traffic, with VW Santana cabs, tour buses, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles and pedestrians, is horrendous. I would never drive here, and I was so amazed that I never saw more than one accident during the trip. I thought for sure I was going to have a front row view to a car crash, in several of the cabs I rode. My considerate friends seemed to always give me the front seat (for more leg room), but really, it’s surprising I never barfed from riding in the front seat of the cabs. Seriously. Never have I seen a country that loved car horns so much.

Smells of China. I never could quite place the smells, but there are definitely unique “aromas” in China—part of that is differences in diet and how they prepare foods. Others were pollution, fish, and freshly slaughtered animal smells, dirty river, etc. The many bakeries near our hotel (5-7!) did smell very good, however.

Tastes of China. Most of the food was quite good and not much different than some of the Chinese cuisine food in the U.S. My favorite was the Szechwan spicy food and the dumplings, hot and sour soup and tomato-like soup, kung pao chicken, beef/potato/carrot stew, and noodle shaped BBQ pork. Also of note was the fried corn cakes. Some food was "out there" and I did not eat much fish, nor join the Eyeball Club, no mushrooms and nothing that jiggled or was gelatinous (an often-used word on this trip) and no duck head.

Sights of China. Beijing had the most tourist hotspots and represented the traditional architecture you’d expect in China. Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, etc. I thought Suzhou was going to be a small, agricultural-based city, but it turns out it has 6 million people and was a "backwater" big city. Suzhou Industrial Park was sanitized and uniform…lots of buildings and development, but very few people milling about doing daily activities. I found this a bit weird and very much like a ghost town, but brand new. Shanghai was crazy with its size (16 million), old historic areas and nearly 6,000 buildings over 24 floors tall that had all been built in the past 15 years. Lots of commercial developing (housing, too) and luxury shopping malls, but not all is full nor is the working class buying the luxe goods.

Summary. It was great to experience China and it’s been fascinating not only to understand their business practices (capitalist attitude in doing business, but a Communist government). The first day, our speaker mentioned that “it doesn’t matter the color of the cat, so long as it catches the mouse.” It’s been enlightening to vist a country that is so completely different from what I know and a people with whom I can’t readily communicate with. However, I saw only cities and areas where the wealthy (and “wealthier poor”) live—I did not see the 80 percent of rural, agricultural China and I’m sure that’s even a completely different world.

It will be interesting to see how China develops in the next 20-25 years. It’s becoming more prosperous and in some ways more Westernized but as a country, it has many things yet to address. China has 1.2-1.3 billion people and the most significant thing I learned is that China as a country is more of a concept. Regional differences abound and people identify with the regions where they grew up. Also, how will China continue feeding itself—a very small percentage of its inhabitants are farmers and they’re feeding a MUCH larger population of Chinese city residents.

Who knows if I’ll every visit China again. Right now, I don’t foresee a reason for a return trip. But, one of the main reasons for traveling abroad is to learn about different cultures and blend that with your existing knowledge and thoughts to better understand the world and its people. After this 15 day trip to China, I’d say mission accomplished.

30 Hours in the United States

So, what does one do with 30 hours in the U.S.? A lot and not much, all at the same time. We ate at Chili’s in the airport and I had a juicy hamburger with cheese and lettuce, tomato and onion. We boarded our plane to South Bend at 9:30pm and actually arrived ½ hour early at 10:30pm. We got our bags by 11 (mine made it across the Pacific, thank God!).

Got back to my apartment and my aunt/uncle were watching TV. Good to see some family-they are here for Saturday’s ND vs. UCLA game. Called home briefly and I started to do laundry, dump, sort, repack from a fresh packing list for Chile. Decided last month that I couldn’t pack only a hiking backpack (as I did for China) for a two month stay. Second I’m bringing about 25-30 pounds of textbooks as well as school supplies, so I’m using one mid-sized suitcase with my hiking rucksack backpack, bookbag and a day bag.

I uploaded all 1,200 of my China photos to my computer and archived them on DVD. Transferred my 5 CD purchases to iTunes and updated my iPod song list. Then, I repacked all my packing cubes and new toiletry kit and Gap pants that I had ordered while in China and shipped to Minneapolis. Went to bed at 4:30am (!) and woke up at 8am. Finished packing and printed out the several dozen disorganized emails for our program and tried to make as much sense of them as I could. At 9:30am, I did a whirlwind shopping tour to Sears for a shirt, Wells Fargo for cash, Dick’s Sporting Goods for quick drying T-shirt and Target for meds, cheddar cheese and Caribou Coffee granola bars (hey, when you can’t get the Caribou Coffee turtle mocha, this is the next best thing!) Back at 10:30am, Julie R. stopped by with game tickets and my aunt packed a Panera Bread bagel breakfast to take on the bus. My friends picked me up and dropped me off at the airport bus stop on the Notre Dame campus, so I could make my 12:10 Coach USA bus to the Chicago O’Hare airport.

Bus ride was 3.5 hours and arrived at the airport at 2:30pm (time change to CDT). Weeded through my photos at the airport and of the 1,200, I still have 1,100 good ones. Yowza.

Boarded an American flight to Miami. Slept through most of the flight and completely missed the snack cart even though I had an aisle seat. It sucks that you can’t bring your own beverages on board. Landed at 10:30 pm and my connecting flight was supposed to begin boarding at 10:35pm for my 11:20pm flight. I got my connecting gate info and learned that it was a 15 minute walk away and with no tram or moving sidewalks, I hauled a--. Fortunately, things are already in Latin time and boarding didn’t begin on time. Found Clemens and Lana (classmates) at the gate waiting area.

Got to the gate and my boarding pass was rejected. After a brief heart palpitation and going to the ticket counter, I learned I had only swapped aisle seats. Boarded plane and am on the window next to a Chilean man, who offered the window seat, probably because I looked like a train wreck.

It was good to be back in the U.S., if only very briefly. It’s interesting the things we take for granted or are very commonplace. The driving in South Bend is MUCH better, for one. Gas was about $2.10. My bed was glorious, and I felt like I was floating on clouds. With Serta, you certainly aren’t counting sheep. Thankfully, I had done a lot of planning and prep for these trips, so I only needed to execute the game plan. Asia yesterday, North America today and South America tomorrow. This is WILD!!!!

Photos: Maglev (431km) and Airport

 

CarreFour and back to the U.S.

Woke up at 8am and left on my own for CarreFour, the French equivalent of Super Walmart or SuperTarget. Fascinating shopping experience. Nestled in the basement levels of the Jin Mao tower, the first floor had food—saw fresh fish “market” area, also a person who takes fish out o fa live tank and prepares it right there in front of you. Saw hairy crabs bubbling (still alive) on ice. Chefs were preparing fresh dumplings in a cooking demonstration area. Instead of our rotiserrie chicken, they had small cooked birds with head and feet. Whole aisle of rice and another aisle of just cooking oil in two gallon containers. Saw red grapes from the U.S. I bought some bananas, Lays (really was Ruffles) BBQ rib flavored chips, mini Snickers, Wrigley’s Cool Air gum (mentholated) and a bottle of water. One strange thing I saw was people putting 2 dozen eggs in just a plastic produce bag…no box to protect the eggs from cracking. Lower floor had clothes and general merchandise—nothing really fit me. The checkout lanes had about 65 registers but employees were not all that fast in checking people through. There was a register just for pregnant women and disabled people. Returned to the hotel on a 20 minute cab ride for less than $3.

We checked out of our hotel at noon and watched our luggage in the hotel lobby until our van driver arrived to take us to the Maglev station. (The Maglev is a superfast elevated train that is run with magnets and computers…there’s no conductor.) I had front seat in the van, which was less scary than some of our cab rides in the past week, until we ran over an ajar manhole cover on the highway. The Maglev was cheap (40 yuan or $5) and it went 431 km/hr, arriving at the airport in seven minutes. Crazy.

At the airport, we hauled around 10 pieces of luggage between the six of us. (I had one piece of luggage.), checked in, had to go through a Chinese declaration area, next went through China customs, then through security. Whew! In the airport, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant where I had ham and cheese club sandwich. There were no typical fast food restaurants in this mall. Bought some postcards, Mentos and Skittles to use up my remaining yuan.

Flight was fairly uneventful (thankfully). We flew under South Korea this time instead of the North Pole and North Korea. Wonder if that had anything to do with current events and nuclear testing in North Korea. Arrived in Chicago a full hour early (how often does that happen!!?) Went through U.S. Customs and 5-6 guards asked me what my musical instrument was (érhu) as they thought it looked like some kind of drug paraphernalia. Good Lord!

Photos: The Bund and Nan Jiang at night

 

Walking The Bund at 8am

Adam & I got up early and left the hotel at 7:30am for The Bund. We walked Nan Jian Road to see how close we came earlier in the week to reaching the Bund. Then, we walked the Boardwalk section from beginning to end. We were there before the street hawkers, which gave the place a serene and different experience. At the end of the walk, we saw several older gentlemen flying kites, which a long way away. They weren’t selling anything but just doing it for their own enjoyment. Kind like seeing retired men fishing at the river.

We found the I Love Shanghai store and took photos. Returned to hotel at 10am and I found Dee (Gem contact) to ask if we could have a round table to discuss the trip. Dee agreed with us and we “circled the wagons.” But, Dee was stuck on the format and talked with the group, which became like a Oprah episode. Had pizza Hut for lunch but most of the boxes were seafood pizza—different. We settled on a Curry flavored supreme pizza with ham, pork and beef, chicken and veggies. Our tour guide Cassandra then ordered more pizza with U.S> traditional toppings (e.g. pepperoni).

We had 10 people’s luggage in our hotel room, and the U.S. return group left at 2:15pm. Went to a DVD “store” and got 7 DVD’s at $1/piece. Credit cards are not used much here, or anywhere else for that matter. Kathryn, Solstice, Nicole and Mike T. and I went to the Shanghai Art Museum and then walked down Nan Jiang Road. Had a snack at KFC (I never eat here in the States.) The lights on this road were quite flashy and similar to Las Vegas and Broadway. Shopped the Shanghia No. 1 Dept. Store Which is the worst designed and merchandised store I’ve ever seen. This supposedly is the place for Chinese to shop and is an “anthropological visit.”

While we waited by the Samsung building for Mike S. and Hyun Su. We saw a toddler, just squat in the middle of the sidewalk to go #2. Toddlers here have clothes similar to the posterior region of Lakes Region. The mom used a street cleaners broom and dustbin to clean up the deposit. What was interesting is that a) the kid knew what to do b) the kid knew to stop vs. go I the stroller and c) no passersby even flinched at the sight. Then, the kid went #2 again. Good God!!

We took cabs to Xian Tan Di and headed to an Italian restaurant, Ven Be. Waited for an hour and had drinks (Tsing Tao, a Chinese beer). I ordered black noodles with crab, lobster & peppers and a side of roasted potatoes. Good food, especially the bread with butter/hummus, and when I returned to the hotel, I began packing up my luggage.

Photos: Formula One racetrack, McD's and karaoke

 

Volkswagen Shanghai and Karaoke (Party World)

We began with a drive to An Ting, to tour the Volkswagen Shanghai factory. Here they make the VW Passat, Gol (Golf), Santana, Touran (Toureg) and Polo. We watched a short video and then rode a golf cart trolley through the factory. The manufacturing line was very quiet and people appeared happy. Factory seemed to have more manual labor than U.S. plants, when I visited the Ford Ranger production line in St. Paul, Minn. The company history on the wall made it seem like the Chinese made VW knockoffs in the past, but now “with the joint venture, Volkswagen cars are no longer manufactured in the back room,” the sign read. Saw much of the VW Passat manufacturing. My cousin Robert, who owns a VW Passat, would have liked it. Then, we visited a Formula One racetrack. Huge place that included 20 some lodges for drivers to stay in. Seating area had multi-colored seats, so that it would always look full (orange, yellow, red, white). Shade was provided by lotus-like petal looking discs that looked like giant satellite dishes and weighed 52 tons apiece. Visited the press box which can hold 500 reporters. Ate lunch at a place, where for the first time, there was no lazy Susan to pass the food. Had multi-colored noodle dumplings with different meat and veggie fillings. Really good but it wasn’t very filling. The servers performed some songs and doily spinning; we also received decks of cards. It’s worth noting here that fortune cookies after Chinese meals is completely an American thing.

Went to the Old China Hand Reading Room in the French Concession. It was what you’d think of in an old bookstore with somewhat dim lighting, dusty shelves, one-of-a-kind tables, chairs, and other furniture and quiet nooks for sipping tea or coffee and writing or reading. Tess Johnston gave an hour talk on the Old Shanghai history. Very interesting stuff with discussion of the initial city formation by foreigners. The influx of white Russians and Jews and incoming Communist Party in 1949. Tess then gave us a bus tour around the French Concession neighborhood. She was probably 65-70 years old and had been in China since 1981. Saw lots of fancy homes but she didn’t have many positive words ab out the renovations or current state of the neighborhoods yards. She was hilarious and like listening to the Fruitcake Lady on Leno or Letterman (I think it’s this one).

We had some free time, so a group of us headed to the Bazaar. Adam & I walked around for 90 minutes while we waited for the girls to make their purchases. Took a cab from there to T8, an Asian/Italian fusion place, in Xian Tan Di to celebrate Megan’s birthday. The ambience was quite nice with a small brook and tiered granite steps as the front entrance. We started with raspberry sorbet, bread with butter, and zucchini sauce.

From here, we cabbed to Party World for karaoke. About 25-30 of us went and we had our own room. It was lots of fun, though initially the karaoke competition made it too serious and not fun. Eventually, we just plugged in whatever song we want to watch. Eventually, we just plugged in whatever Sony we wanted and that was much better. Adam did the ‘worm’ again. Left at 1AM and cabbed to Xian Tan Di again to go to the Paulaner for a ½ liter of beer before bar close. The German restaurant started playing American songs and the sax player took a short video of us singing (On a YouTube channel, coming to you soon!) Went back to the hotel and arrived at 2:30am. Other people were trying to find the next party place.

Photos: French Connection area, CHIPS and dinner

 

Scenic walking route in Shanghai

Today was filled with presentations in the conference room of the hotel. AmCham, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, talked about doing business and living in China. They help Americans set up businesses in Shanghai and to develop networks. They have many different international locations—will be interesting to see if they have any offices in Latin America. Laurie Underwood, who wrote China CEO, and an ND alum from Hawaii gave the presentation and Q&A. We ate lunch at the Mei Lin Ge (Motel 168) motel, Merrylin restaurant. Afternoon, we had a presentation by Dr. Harvey Chen from First Light Academy, GEM group, who talked about the changing dynamics of China and the business climate.

We then had 1.5 hours of free time so Adam, Megan, Solstice and I took a walking tour to find a nearby temple. Never found the temple and we learned that you can’t just make 4 left turns and return to your originating point in Shanghai. We walked through a small city park and saw people practicing ballroom dancing. We ended up getting lost and thought we could just hail a cab to return to our hotel. But, the major flaw was that it was 5:30pm and every cab was full. We must have seen 75-100 cabs go by. I chased a cab dropping some people off in a hotel alley, but tunred out the cabbie was from the suburbs, and didn’t know our hotel location. Fortunately, a man and his 4-year-old son came up to us. He knew English and wanted to try to help us talk to the cabbie. After the cab didn’t work, he volunteered to walk with us to get us on track back to the hotel. Very nice man and it was almost like he was an angel. We had 15 minutes to return to the hotel and board the bus. The fact that it was not just an older man by himself, made it less suspicious of any other motives than genuine altruism.

Went to dinner at Si Chun, which had a lot of spicy food. Yum! No one really ate the bowl of small fish with heads on. The shrimp here are served whole. They didn’t look very appetizing and they taste very fishy. The Chinese opera performance was actually a dancer that magically changed masks while he danced. About 25-30 different masks…it was amazing.

Rode the bus back to the hotel and Gabe, Megan, Adam, Pauline and I went to the Crystal Bar next to the hotel. Was about ready to leave when 5 others arrived at the bar and we stayed another 75-90 minutes more. Megan thought maybe she was served a knockoff liquor.

Photos: Yellow River and The Bund

 

Steel and plywood

After a hotel breakfast, which I swear was more of a lunch/dinner than breakfast food, we decided on having peanut butter and bakery rolls instead. Boarded bus for Bao Steel. The company is the 3rd largest steel company in the world (after Japan and Korea). Capacity is now at 14 million tons per year with eventual planned expansion to 40-50 million tons. It was great to see the piping red hot iron ore at the beginning stages and follow it on skywalks to the end. It was about a 10 minute walk on the platforms and we wore hard hats. The steel kept getting thinner and longer. It would roll down the line as water poured on it and then periodically it ran backwards. The final steps (after much flattening) was when the hot steel was coiled into large bundles as an insane amount of water was dumped over the machines to keep them cooled down. We weren’t sure about their safety levels since the general manager only said their death rate was low and they recycled 100% of waste, which is not possible. We stopped at the Yellow River, which was indeed quite yellow from barge traffic and industrial pollution from factories such as this one.

Went back downtown near The Bund and had an hour to kill on the ‘boardwalk’ of The Bund. Adam and Megan made quite the team, haggling prices for some novelty gifts. Lots of people selling roller skates also, which you strap onto your shoes. Then, we went to the Astor Hotel, the building of the first stock exchange in Shanghai after 1949. Attended a presentation by Air Products Asia, which sells different gases they extract from the air and then purify. And, given the air quality here, I’d imagine it costs much more to purify the air here than at Air Products HQ (USA). We also heard from one employee, who spoke about his life as an ex-pat. This was followed by a reception hosted by Air Products on the rooftop of Bund No. 3, overlooking the river. Walked to a French restaurant, T sens, on the river and had a Bloody Mary and a white fish on potatoes and rice. Was 1/3 of a fish for $25…a bit pricey, but we had gorgeous views of the river and a gentle breeze. Some stayed to go out to Bar Rouge (nightclub), but I was worn out, so took a cab with several others back to the hotel.

Called home at 10:30pm (9:30am Central) after I figured out how to place an international call from our hotel room. The front desk at the hotel knows me quite well since I’ve been playing “Cranium” with them, charades, drawing pictures, etc. Did some laundry in the hotel sink.

On the first night in Shanghai, I thought my bed was incredibly hard and told Adam it felt like plywood, because, it turns out, it WAS plywood!!! The mattress was on upside down and indeed had plywood on one side. We flipped the bed and re-made it. Our room is pretty decent compared to other rooms, since we have a corner room with large windows overlooking a street intersection.

Music to "Crown Him with Many Crowns."



















Black market warehouse, selling knockoffs and products that "fell off the truck"



















Bazaar
 

Chinese church and a bamboo sax

Woke up at 5:45am to get to church by 7am. It was about 10 minutes from the hotel and seven of us went—Adam, Katie, Katie M., Maggie, Marie, Victor and I. We got there and found a pew on the main floor, but were asked to move because the service was for 80+ year olds and they were all sitting on the main floor. So, we went to a corner in the balcony. The church filled up quickly and there was 20 minutes of music rehearsal. Recognized Crown Him with Many Crowns, but it was sung in Chinese of course. As we sat down, a Chinese man a few rows ahead of us called out God Bless You. Someone helped get us the Bibles and hymnals (in Chinese). Interestingly, there were no notes in the music book. Each song gave the starting pitch at 1 (e.g. Eb = 1) and then the book listed the words with intervals 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 6 etc. to indicate the tone. We started to wonder if we were in a Catholic Church (though we were previously assured by our tour guide three times the previous day), because the song was a familiar Protestant tune, the cross in the front of the church wasn’t a crucifix, and the minister was a woman. Still, we thought maybe it was an Eastern Orthodox Church. When the sermon lasted 45 minutes, we realized we were probably at a Protestant service rather than Catholic because there was also no Communion. Not that that was bad, but there weren’t any familiar traditions with which we could follow along, and we basically sat through a two-hour service and didn’t understand a thing. Still, it was an interesting experience. The all-Chinese congregation was very welcoming, and even sang a song and clapped for us at the end, which we didn’t realize was for us till the end of the song. There are 140,000 practicing Catholics in Shanghai, based on the Jesuit teaching. Religion can be practiced here, but relations with the Chinese government and Catholic Church in China are strained because the Church recognizes the Pope as its highest leader rather than the Chinese Communist Party.

We returned to the hotel at 9:15am and decided to walk to McDonald’s for breakfast, a 15 minute walk from our hotel. Though our hotel isn’t great (we think it doubles as a brothel, which is not too much of an exaggeration), there is a silver lining in that we are able to witness the everyday life of Chinese people in the city…opening their shops, cooking breakfast to sell from their storefront windows, riding cabs, bikes and buses to work and bringing their kids to school. We stopped at the Post Office (which was open on a Sunday) to get stamps for postcards, but they had run out of stamps! Incredible! Back to the hotel: the reason we think it doubles as a brothel is because 1) there is a 3rd floor “spa” that apparently is only available to men (women cannot leave the elevator) and 2) there are women in red robes and little else that stand by their doors in one wing of the 4th floor, opposite the side where several of my classmates are staying.

Since the infamous knockoff market closed this past June, all the knockoff goods have moved to “warehouse rooms” off the beaten path. Because a majority of us wanted to visit these warehouse rooms, the bus stopped at a non-descript building, we climbed rickety stairs with laundry hanging in the stairwell, passing a scary looking bathroom and walked into 3 rooms. Apparently, there are poor knockoffs, and more expensive, higher quality knockoffs. One room had men’s/women’s clothing with labels of Tommy Hilfiger dress shirts, North Face & Burberry winter jackets and Polo clothing. Another room had handbags, watches, luggage and Mont Blanc pens. Watches were large, ostentatious and ugly. The third room had higher quality knockoffs of the 2nd room. I didn’t buy anything.

Next stop was the Yu Yuan Market/Bazaar, near a Buddhist temple. The market typified the alleys and Chinese architecture that one would expect at a Chinese market/bazaar. I bought a Chinese bamboo saxophone. A man was playing at a portable stand with a case of “saxophones”/recorders and he had made them himself. List price was 188 yuan and he offered 150 yuan and I countered with 120 yuan ($15). This guy has done some PBS appearances and I’m looking forward to trying out the instrument. It’s two pieces with a blue plastic reed.

Back to the hotel and Adam and I made a mad dash to the nearby grocery stores and picked up Skippy chunky peanut butter and because we couldn’t find any bread in two grocery stores, we bought chocolate wafer cookies for dipping and that was our dinner. Next was an acrobatic show. Nearly all 40 of us went. It was a great performance and the Chinese showed incredible strength, flexibility and balance. Show was about 2 hours long and many people were whispering “Oh my God” as one unbelievable formation followed another. After the show, we headed for dinner in the neighborhood. Went to Malone’s American bar, but not before three little tykes tried to latch onto Adam in a park space and presumably were trying to pick our pockets by creating distractions. The bar was GREAT and a popular ex-pat place. They were showing the previous weeks’ American football game. Ordered beer, double cheeseburger with spicy potato wedges and it was incredibly awesome. Just the ticket after all these Chinese meals. Since it was about 11/11:30 when we finished, we just headed back to the hotel.