Marie in Shanghai

My dear friends,

I know I left you high and dry for the past few weeks, but I´ll try to make up for it with this report. I don´t even really know where to start. Since it´s almost the end of the semester I´ve had to do a lot of work for my classes at Fudan University: writing papers, doing case studies, preparing presentations, and next week we will even shoot a movie in Chinese class, for which we had to make up a story, write the dialogues and think of costumes etc...This plus working 2,5 days a week and traveling has kept me so busy, that I couldn´t find time to let you know what I´ve been up to lately, so here´s my chance.

One night we had a traditional Chinese dinner with our course coordinator and language buddies: Hot Pot. It is like a kind of Chinese fondue, except really, really (and by that I mean REALLY) spicy. For me it was difficult to eat even one bite without breaking out in sweat. Luckily, there was also a non - spicy version, which was mostly eaten by us Westerners. Here´s how it works: you have a bunch of different meats, vegetables, tofu, fish, dumplings etc. and just throw them into the cooking liquid. Once you think it´s done, you fish it back out and voilà, there´s your first bite :) Getting the food out with chopsticks actually is quite hard, so we were provided with soup ladles to make it a little easier for us.

One of my tours lately lead me to Shanghai Zoo. It really is bautiful, has an amazing park - like outlay and makes you forget that there are 23 million people around you. It´s an oasis of peace and quiet and: it has pandas!! I´ve always wanted to see one and since they are not allowed in German zoos, I took my chance and saw one in Shanghai.

The conditions the animals are living under actually aren´t that bad, probably comparable to German zoos. I heard that´s not normal for Chinese zoos though. Beijing zoo for example is said to be close to animal torture.

Another day, I went downtown to Pudong, to discover the World Financial Tower. It has the highest viewing platform in the world (100th floor) and is partly floored with glass. You have a beautiful view over the city, if the air quality allows it of course. But see for yourselves:

The following weekend I was invited to a wonderful 2-day trip to closeby Nanjing. We took the high speed train (over 300 km/h --> about 200 miles/h) and so the ride took us only about an hour. Since it was my first time on a Chinese train, I didn´t really think about what the train station would look like and I was really surprised to find myself in an airport - like situation. Before entering the building, everyone has to put their luggage and himself through security (metal detectors, scanners, the whole program). Next you end up in a big hall, similar to the waiting areas in an airport and when wanting to board your train you have to show your ticket in order to get to the platform. Everyone on the train has an assigned seat, so if a train is full, you have to wait for the next one. Quite different to Germany, isn´t it? Also, the trains are pretty comfortable and offer a lot of leg space. And all of that for a very reasonable price! Train schedules are the same, no matter if a weekday or the weekend, a holiday or a normal day, and a 5 minute delay would cause an uproar without compare. It´s your turn, Deutsche Bahn!

Nanjing itself is a very nice city with lots and lots to see, since it was the capital of China for a few dynasties. The most popular tourist spot are probably the mausoleums that are built in the hilly area surrounding Nanjing. Visiting them involves a lot of walking, but it´s definitely worth the effort!

Last weekend, we joined some sociology majors of Fudan University for a field trip to Wujiang, a small village about 2,5 hours outside of Shanghai. The students were doing a field research there, interviewing locals about their daily life, and asked us to come along. The trip turned out to be really interesting, because we were able to get to know Chinese life in the rural areas and were invited for lunch. Most of the people in the village are growing their own food, so we were able to try a real, Chinese homestyle meal. Take a guess, which part I passed on ;)

During the interview, we were given tea with sesame seeds, leaves and carrot, a tea that is only offered to special, honorable guests and we felt very flattered. Also, the tea was delicious and although it was a hot day, it was perfect. We were also provided with a snack (self-grown, dried, salted beans), and the interviewed family even gave us a bag of them to take home, because they saw we really liked them.

We also visited a silk factory that day. So if you´ve ever been wondering where those nice silk shirt come from and how they are produced, here´s the answer!

While I am writing this, I am sitting in a hotel room in Beijing, where I am spending a 4-day trip. It will be my last trip in China, since I´m leaving in 3 weeks. Although Beijing is one of the dirtiest places I´ve ever been to (not only the air, everything seems to be covered in dirt...) I like it a lot more than Shanghai. The people here are a lot friendlier, patient and in general just a lot less ignorant than the people in Shanghai. I realized this right on my first metro ride: Unlike Shanghainese, people in Beijing are actually able to wait until everyone gets off the train at a stop and then enter the train in a line, like they´re supposed to. I love it here.

Yesterday, I visited Lama Temple, right outside of my hotel. Today, I got up at 5:30 am to catch an early train to Badaling, a popular entry spot to the Great Wall. Back in Beijing, I visited the Olympic Stadium in the afternoon and had the obligatory Beijing duck for dinner. It was a wonderful day.

So far for today,

I have a busy visiting schedule tomorrow. I will keep you updated and see all of you soon,

Marie