We were able to sleep until 7 am this morning since we don't leave the hotel until 9:20. We had breakfast in the Horizon Club which is located on the floor of the hotel where our room is. Tim ordered one of the special breakfast dishes available - Meat Dumplings in Spicy Soug - it was very hot but he enjoyed it. We are having a dumpling lunch so this starts the day off right for him.
We both did our computer updates using the PC's in the Club and then met our group at 9:20 in the hotel lobby. The bus took us to Shaanxi Normal University to meet with Professor Qin (pronounced chin) and students. Each person on our trip had a student. There was only one male student as these are people studying to be teachers and not many boys want to teach. I had Hou Can (pronounced how-(long)Z-aan) - she spoke such good English and explained to me why English is such an important subject in Chinese education. We talked for 1 1/2 hours about education, freedome of speech, human rights, American TV (the Chinese love Friends and Prison Break), and American movies. All of these are bootlegged from the internet but they get them with Chinese subtitles on them. We had an animated discussion about so many topics. The Chinese in general don't like President Bush (he wants to be the emperor of the world) but they think nicely of the American peole. They don't understand why the US invaded Iraq. I tried to explain invasion for the purpose of conquering versus invasion for the purpose of liberating. I think she got it.
Many Chinese want to live in the US but they can't get visa since many Chinese who have come to the US don't ever leave. My student didn't have an English name so she asked me to give her one. I gave her 2 to pick from - since her family name was Hou, I suggested "Holly" but she wanted a name based on her given name so I also suggested "Candy" based on her given name being Can. I told her she could pick the one that she liked or find another one.
We had a very open discussion. She invited me to go to a performance tonight to hear her mother sing in a Tang Dynasty production. He mother is an accomplished singer and teaches musice in the university. We already have plans for tonight so unfortunately I had to decline.
Candy explained that men and women are paid the same but the selection for jobs is biased(just as in the US) based on gender. Women aren't selected because employers know that at some point they will get pregnant. Lillian had a young woman who worked part time in a candy store and she was told that the girl made 2.5 yuan / hour - about $.32. Wow!
The entire group enjoyed this experience. Professor Qin was paired with Tim. She asked him to help her get an art student a job with DuPont - that would be mission impossible. Also she wanted him to help her get a job teaching Chinese in America. She taught at a university in Illinois previously and apparently really like this. Professor Qin is now retired - she graduated from university in 1964 but was sent to work on a farm during the Chairman Mao regime. She stayed on the farm working for 10 months and then eventually moved to teaching in the university. She has taught students English and works in a language school. All of the students we met were training to be teachers. Hou Can is majoring in pshchology. She tole me the examination from college is in 3 parts - English - Politics - and Knowledge. I was amazed that English is such an important part of this examination. We exchanged email addresses and Hou Can promised to write to me. That would be fun to stay in touch with her.
We left the University and went to the DefaChang Restaurant - a dumpling restaurant. Tim was so excited. The dumplings were fabulous - so many works or art in food. The most favorite dumpling at our table were the walnuts - Susan from Dallas ate most of these on the second order that we placed for them! The dumplings were fabulous but so filling. They truly were works of art. We couldn't eat them all - and we wondered who ate the leftovers!
Ling told us that there are hot pot restaurants and we hope to go to one tonight. But other hot pot restaurants specialize in fish heads. Ling told us that the most cherished parts of the fish are the fish lips, cheek meat (which Tim loves) and fish eyeballs - all specialties in China. We also learned that KFC is the most popular fast food restaurant in China - they love it - it's more popular that McDonalds since they eat more chicken than beef.
After lunch we went to the Historical Museum of Shanghai to view a private exhibit of the mural paintings from the walls of the emperor tombs from the Shannxi Province. The tombs were built over 1300 years ago for emperors, their wives, the Prime Minister, and other officials. There have been 80 tombs discovered starting in 1962 and others unearthed between 1962 and 1982. The murals were all in special chambers to protect them and the Chinese are trying to determine hw to display them for the public. What we saw was for VIP's only and Curator Qui has been working with these for years and has recreated many and colored them since the colors have faded since the tombs were underground and subjected to a lot of moisture.
After the musuen we went by bus back to the hotel for a free afternoon. I saw a bus and car collision on the way that must have been only one of many. The way traffic moves is truly amazing.
We rested a short time and took a taxi to the Bell Tower in the middle of town close to where we had lunch. They had a gong (bell) you could ring for a fee. We watched others ring the bell with a huge wooden striker. We walked to the top and took pictures. It was a very good view but I keep wondering how much more beautiful this place would be if there were no smog. It is truly sad.
We waled through the underground walkway to the Drum Tower. There were 3 Starbucks at this one intersection! We walked to the Drum Tower - not as big as the Bell Tower but interesting. A Chinese man walked up and struck the drum only to discover that he had to pay to do this - it was funny. He then got to strike the drum 2 more times after paying. We laughed.
We went to the top and viewed a furniture exhibit inside. We also saw a display that shower the drum as the oldest Chinese musical instrument discovered. They had many different kinds of drums from minority groups, etc. We saw a Yao drum from the Yao tribe we had visited, and elephant foot drum that looked like is name, and many others.
We left the Drum Tower and went into a huge market area next door that had vegetables, fruits, and tourist items. They had wanred us of the pickpockets and their ability to cut the bottom of your carrying items to extract the contents so we were very alert. We then walked to the other side of the busy road to find a taxi. We found lots of taxis but no drivers so we were puzzled. Finally a man walked up and asked if we wanted a taxi. I showed him my hotel card and he gave me a price of 50 REM to take us there - it should be about 10 so we walked away and went to the East Road, South exist of the underground walkway where there was another taxi stand. We immediately got a taxi - he knew where we wanted to go and off we went. I can't believe we made it back to the hotel safely but we did. We tipped the driver even though they don't tip taxis in China. I asked the bellman to tell the driver that he was very skilled and we appreciated him getting us back safely. He liked that.
We went to the Horizon Club for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and to share stories wtih others in our group. At 7:45 we left in a taxi with David, Belinda, and Paul to go to the hot pot restaurant. It was fabulous. We had a private room that David had arranged and each of us had our boiling pot in which to cook various food - vegetables, lettuces, melon (!), beek and lamb. Tim, David, and Paul got spicy boiling pots while Belinda and I had regular ones. The hot pots got better and better as the cooking went on. I tried to pay for dinner for all of us but David had already taken care of this. This was a great experience. I noticed my hands are a bit swollen so there must have been a lot of salt.
We took a taxi back to the hotel and went to bed since we need to get up early. Bags ready inside the door by 7 am. Another fabulous day on this fabulous trip.
Larry
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