Everything that I thought china would be was entirely different once I actually got there. All of my thoughts and expectations of china were completely wrong, but in a great way. People say one can go a new place and either love it or hate the area. When it comes to China, visiting this culture was one of the best weeks of my life and changed the way I view certain things. In this COR class we read two books called China Road by Rob Gifford and Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler. These books were meant to make me knowledgeable about the Chinese culture.
In the book China Road Gifford states how the name of Dunhuang in Chinese means “Blazing Beacon.” This was very interesting and describes the Chinese culture in how it is expanding in population size. When going to China this fact became very true. In China there were people everywhere at all times of the day. However, before I arrived there my assumptions were that China would be worse than Times Square traffic in New York City, but I was wrong. There are lots of people in China, but since the culture is so big it is not like people are running and bumping into each other every two seconds there is space to move.
Gifford also went onto talk about how expenses paid places at schools in eastern China, for good and well-rounded students who have been exceeding the success bar. The United States would never have an incentive like this one. I feel like this is more of an award for the families since they are the ones who pay.
This statement shows how important education is for the Chinese culture. In China I visited two schools and one major fact that stuck out to me is how these students go to school from six in the morning to 10 ten at night. My original assumptions of the Chinese were that they were just real smart. I didn’t think they studied for hours on end to be that smart, I thought it was all luck but it turns out they study much harder than Americans.
Oracle Bones was a book based on the history of China. Hessler pointed out many things to me that I never would have thought of in the first place. For example, he states, how the Chinese believed in order, regularity, and organization. Before I went to China I thought this comment meant probably just as organized as Americans. I was wrong once again, they are much more strict and organized on everything they do in China than how we are here. Everything they do is planned and has reason behind it and the family lifestyle seems as if they do the same thing everyday.
In conclusion, going to China clearly changed my perspective about their culture. Things I learned before I went helped but there was nothing that could even compare to the experience I got actually going to China.
WORKS CITED
Gifford, Rob. China Road. New York. 2008
Hessler, Peter. Oracle Bones. Harper Perennial. New York. 2006
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday March 12th, 2011- Last Day in China
This was are last day in China/ Beijing. We went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and a huge shopping complex. We got to go off on our own, which was a bit odd since we couldn’t really do that all trip.
I kind of wish we had a tour guide for the portion of Forbidden City. I knew a little bit about its significance but not a lot. I feel like it would have meant a little more if I had someone guiding us around, because this place was HUGE!
There were different rooms for everything, changing, bathing, etc. It was insane. Also the architecture of all the rooms/ buildings was incredible as well.
After we looked around Forbidden City we went over to Tiananmen Square. They were all in one straight line, one right after another so it was pretty easy to get to; well at least we thought so. We found out later on that you couldn’t just cross the street to get places you had to go under the road like a tunnel and walk through some other place. I am guessing because the streets were so busy and there were so many people.
Tiananmen Square was really interesting. It was interesting to me because I have watched so many films about this Square itself that it was weird to be actually in it. It was just a square of pavement but its significance was HUGE!
After this we went shopping! My favorite thing to do. Elise, Abbie, and I bargained until our heads fell off basically. I got a lot of gifts for people and then some for myself as well.
The real adventure was when Elise and I were almost LOST in Beijing. We left the shopping plaza around six. We were smart and wanted to be back before dark. What Rob failed to mention was that the route we came wouldn’t be still open when we were walking back. So our intended path that we knew back was blocked. Therefore it messed our whole sense of direction up.
Elise and I wanted to get a cab back, and be done with walking for the day. We went up to two or three cops asking if they knew where we should stand to get a cab, none of them knew English. You would think they would?
So when that plan failed we went up this lady who was selling pamphlets about the Great Wall she knew English. She told us the right direction to go thank god for her. We went over to that direction and still weren’t finding a cab.
This Chinese guy came up to us speaking English and talking about how he wishes to go to the America someday. He then went on to say he does artwork and that he would love for us to see it in his shop. HE WANTED US TO GO INTO THIS BUILDING WITH HIM. Of coarse we didn’t but it totally reminded me of a line from the movie Taken. Finally Elise and I were like no but could you help us get a taxi.
Long story short we got a blue and yellow taxi back to the hotel. When we got back to the room Elise and I were so excited.
The next day we boarded a plane back Burlington VT.
I kind of wish we had a tour guide for the portion of Forbidden City. I knew a little bit about its significance but not a lot. I feel like it would have meant a little more if I had someone guiding us around, because this place was HUGE!
There were different rooms for everything, changing, bathing, etc. It was insane. Also the architecture of all the rooms/ buildings was incredible as well.
After we looked around Forbidden City we went over to Tiananmen Square. They were all in one straight line, one right after another so it was pretty easy to get to; well at least we thought so. We found out later on that you couldn’t just cross the street to get places you had to go under the road like a tunnel and walk through some other place. I am guessing because the streets were so busy and there were so many people.
Tiananmen Square was really interesting. It was interesting to me because I have watched so many films about this Square itself that it was weird to be actually in it. It was just a square of pavement but its significance was HUGE!
After this we went shopping! My favorite thing to do. Elise, Abbie, and I bargained until our heads fell off basically. I got a lot of gifts for people and then some for myself as well.
The real adventure was when Elise and I were almost LOST in Beijing. We left the shopping plaza around six. We were smart and wanted to be back before dark. What Rob failed to mention was that the route we came wouldn’t be still open when we were walking back. So our intended path that we knew back was blocked. Therefore it messed our whole sense of direction up.
Elise and I wanted to get a cab back, and be done with walking for the day. We went up to two or three cops asking if they knew where we should stand to get a cab, none of them knew English. You would think they would?
So when that plan failed we went up this lady who was selling pamphlets about the Great Wall she knew English. She told us the right direction to go thank god for her. We went over to that direction and still weren’t finding a cab.
This Chinese guy came up to us speaking English and talking about how he wishes to go to the America someday. He then went on to say he does artwork and that he would love for us to see it in his shop. HE WANTED US TO GO INTO THIS BUILDING WITH HIM. Of coarse we didn’t but it totally reminded me of a line from the movie Taken. Finally Elise and I were like no but could you help us get a taxi.
Long story short we got a blue and yellow taxi back to the hotel. When we got back to the room Elise and I were so excited.
The next day we boarded a plane back Burlington VT.
Friday March 11th, 2011- Great Wall
Today was the day we hiked the Great Wall! This was by far my favorite day of the whole trip. We went to the non touristy part of the Great Wall which made it even better. However getting to the top was pretty challenging. It was a legitimate hike.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect before getting to the Great Wall. I obviously knew the significance of it but seeing it in person was still surreal to me even before I arrived.
We got there and our guide fed us breakfast. Something in a form of a cinnamon role, which was delicious then, we also got given the option of tea. We started our adventure up the mountain after breakfast.
As we got more and more to the top the view just kept getting better and better. The guide was real good about stopping to let us have breaks for rest and to take pictures. We walked all the way through.
The wall itself was real old you could tell just by the way the rocks were “cemented” together. They were put together by white rice, which I found fascinating. The views were just spectacular so hard to provide emphasis on it.
It was a beautiful day outside. Perfect day to hike a mountain. Or the Great Wall in better terms!
The way down was tough though. It was very slippery and we had to be careful. The ground was a mixture of leaves, mud and snow a bad combination when hiking. I am surprised I didn’t do a face plant.
When we got back to ground level the guide served us lunch. DUMPLINGS! Which is the best part of Chinese food in my opinion. Our group ate the plates so fast. They were so yummy.
After our journey back from the Great Wall we just rested for the night.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect before getting to the Great Wall. I obviously knew the significance of it but seeing it in person was still surreal to me even before I arrived.
We got there and our guide fed us breakfast. Something in a form of a cinnamon role, which was delicious then, we also got given the option of tea. We started our adventure up the mountain after breakfast.
As we got more and more to the top the view just kept getting better and better. The guide was real good about stopping to let us have breaks for rest and to take pictures. We walked all the way through.
The wall itself was real old you could tell just by the way the rocks were “cemented” together. They were put together by white rice, which I found fascinating. The views were just spectacular so hard to provide emphasis on it.
It was a beautiful day outside. Perfect day to hike a mountain. Or the Great Wall in better terms!
The way down was tough though. It was very slippery and we had to be careful. The ground was a mixture of leaves, mud and snow a bad combination when hiking. I am surprised I didn’t do a face plant.
When we got back to ground level the guide served us lunch. DUMPLINGS! Which is the best part of Chinese food in my opinion. Our group ate the plates so fast. They were so yummy.
After our journey back from the Great Wall we just rested for the night.
Thursday March 10th, 2011- Arrived in Beijing!
We got off the cruise boat pretty early. Then took an adventure for the day. We were going to be heading to Beijing later tonight. I couldn’t wait.
We got off the boat and had to hike all the way back up a tons of stairs with all of our luggage. It was a workout for me at least.
Once all of our stuff was on the bus we traveled a bit. I am guessing I was asleep for most of the travel because I tended to fall asleep a lot whenever we were on the bus. While on the bus we found out that we didn’t exactly have a hotel booked in Beijing later that night. So we had to find one, we were almost homeless for a couple of nights, but thankfully, Rob figured it out and we ended up staying at the Green Tea Inn.
One of our stops throughout the day was a shopping plaza. Abbie and I went off and shopped our little hearts out. I ended up getting Brown leather boots. It was very hard trying to ask for different shoe sizes when you didn’t know the Chinese language. When I purchased the boots they even polished them for me before putting them in the box. Also when Abbie bought a coat they dressed her. They took such great care of you in these stores it caught us off guard a little.
While walking around we noticed there was one individual couple all dressed up posing for pictures. I found out that in China, the day before your wedding day the couples go out to historical places in China and take pictures. This fact was pretty interesting to me.
After our little adventure of shopping and lunch we got back on the bus and headed to the Wuhan airport so we could go to Beijing!
The flight was just a short little flight. But a little stressful once we got off. Once we landed we all had to run to a train because it was the last train of the night. We barely made it. We got off the train and all had to take taxis to the Green Tea Inn. This part was interesting. There was 3 people to a taxi. None of us really spoke Chinese. All the taxis were supposed to follow each other to the Green Tea Inn so none of us would stray from the group. The whole way there I remember holding my breath hoping that the taxi driver would follow the rules to follow the rest of the MOJO group.
All the taxis went down this little sketchy little ally way. So narrow. And then got dropped off. It was a little scary when we fist saw it but once we got settled into our rooms I am pretty sure all of us got used to it.
These next two days would be the last leg of our trip.
We got off the boat and had to hike all the way back up a tons of stairs with all of our luggage. It was a workout for me at least.
Once all of our stuff was on the bus we traveled a bit. I am guessing I was asleep for most of the travel because I tended to fall asleep a lot whenever we were on the bus. While on the bus we found out that we didn’t exactly have a hotel booked in Beijing later that night. So we had to find one, we were almost homeless for a couple of nights, but thankfully, Rob figured it out and we ended up staying at the Green Tea Inn.
One of our stops throughout the day was a shopping plaza. Abbie and I went off and shopped our little hearts out. I ended up getting Brown leather boots. It was very hard trying to ask for different shoe sizes when you didn’t know the Chinese language. When I purchased the boots they even polished them for me before putting them in the box. Also when Abbie bought a coat they dressed her. They took such great care of you in these stores it caught us off guard a little.
While walking around we noticed there was one individual couple all dressed up posing for pictures. I found out that in China, the day before your wedding day the couples go out to historical places in China and take pictures. This fact was pretty interesting to me.
After our little adventure of shopping and lunch we got back on the bus and headed to the Wuhan airport so we could go to Beijing!
The flight was just a short little flight. But a little stressful once we got off. Once we landed we all had to run to a train because it was the last train of the night. We barely made it. We got off the train and all had to take taxis to the Green Tea Inn. This part was interesting. There was 3 people to a taxi. None of us really spoke Chinese. All the taxis were supposed to follow each other to the Green Tea Inn so none of us would stray from the group. The whole way there I remember holding my breath hoping that the taxi driver would follow the rules to follow the rest of the MOJO group.
All the taxis went down this little sketchy little ally way. So narrow. And then got dropped off. It was a little scary when we fist saw it but once we got settled into our rooms I am pretty sure all of us got used to it.
These next two days would be the last leg of our trip.
Wednesday March 9th, 2011 - Cruise Trip
Our group was on the cruise ship all day. We had some time to take in the scenery and relax a little which was nice. We were supposed to see the three gorges dam but we ended up passing through it at night, which is a total bummer.
Basically are big adventure of the day was getting off the boat and going on another little boat, called a pea pod boat. We were on these little boats in groups. If we moved at all basically the boat would tip it was an experience. We had a tour guide during this adventure, named Amanda, and told us all about what we were passing along the way.
On the cruise ship we woke up by music every morning. The music would just keep getting louder and louder until it was blasting. The ironic part is, the songs were the melody of Christmas songs but without the words.
I don’t have too much to say about this day other than it was a relaxed and peaceful day. I caught up on some sleep and got to bond with the MOJO clan a little more.
Basically are big adventure of the day was getting off the boat and going on another little boat, called a pea pod boat. We were on these little boats in groups. If we moved at all basically the boat would tip it was an experience. We had a tour guide during this adventure, named Amanda, and told us all about what we were passing along the way.
On the cruise ship we woke up by music every morning. The music would just keep getting louder and louder until it was blasting. The ironic part is, the songs were the melody of Christmas songs but without the words.
I don’t have too much to say about this day other than it was a relaxed and peaceful day. I caught up on some sleep and got to bond with the MOJO clan a little more.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday March 8th, 2011 - Water and Hiking Adventures
Today was one of my favorite days of the trip. I feel like it was a day that was sort of unplanned, but I honestly don’t know. We woke up mad early like usual and drove for about four hours by bus. Our final destination was a cruise on the Yangtze River, however we had many stops along the way.
On this journey we passed farming and lots of construction. The city was all of a sudden very rural rather than the city. There was much open land.
We got off in the middle of our journey. Half way in, 2 hours. We ate some lunch. This restaurant we ate in was probably one of the coolest restaurants I have ever seen. The restaurant looked like a cave inside, the rocks were the walls of the building. Also this restaurant was on a huge water front area, which was absolutely gorgeous.
After we ate all of us as a group hiked up a little mountain to have a better view of this water. Pictures upon pictures were taken and the higher we got the more beautiful the view got. Lots and lots of pictures were taken. In the midst of this little hike of ours it looked like there was once or still was a ropes coarse. However it looked very dangerous and unstable. Of coarse some members of our group wanted to try it out. But our tour guide Linda kept yelling no unsafe!
When we reached the top there were little stores but mainly there was this HUGE CAVE. Yes actual cave not like the restaurant. I have no pictures of this cave but it went on forever it seemed. It was amazing and all closed in. I thought it was never going to end. When a group of us made it out of the cave there was little girl running around, her mother was working at one of the little shops, at least that’s what it looked like. She was flat out adorable.
After this hike up the see the view, we climbed back down. When we got to the bottom of our hike we went on this little boat and got to take it on the water that we were awing over. It was a very short journey but was very exciting! Today was the first day we did a very lot of walking. It was also one of the first days that I began to see a lot of just stray dogs walking the streets. Made me a little sad since I am a total dog person.
Shortly after this adventure we got back on the bus for two hours and arrived to our cruise boat. I remember thinking there will be ramps to carry my luggage to the boats. Um not at all, more like there were hundreds of stairs to bring our luggage back and forth on.
We got on the boat and Elise and I got handed our room keys. They were decent rooms. Hard beds again. I was freezing at all times when on the boat. I wore leggings under armor and my coat to bed, tons of layers and was still cold. This trip was going to be a 2 day travel cruise thing. This was our first night.
This day/ night was the first time I actually felt I was bonding with everyone on the trip. It was a great night. I fell asleep pretty early though.
On this journey we passed farming and lots of construction. The city was all of a sudden very rural rather than the city. There was much open land.
We got off in the middle of our journey. Half way in, 2 hours. We ate some lunch. This restaurant we ate in was probably one of the coolest restaurants I have ever seen. The restaurant looked like a cave inside, the rocks were the walls of the building. Also this restaurant was on a huge water front area, which was absolutely gorgeous.
After we ate all of us as a group hiked up a little mountain to have a better view of this water. Pictures upon pictures were taken and the higher we got the more beautiful the view got. Lots and lots of pictures were taken. In the midst of this little hike of ours it looked like there was once or still was a ropes coarse. However it looked very dangerous and unstable. Of coarse some members of our group wanted to try it out. But our tour guide Linda kept yelling no unsafe!
When we reached the top there were little stores but mainly there was this HUGE CAVE. Yes actual cave not like the restaurant. I have no pictures of this cave but it went on forever it seemed. It was amazing and all closed in. I thought it was never going to end. When a group of us made it out of the cave there was little girl running around, her mother was working at one of the little shops, at least that’s what it looked like. She was flat out adorable.
After this hike up the see the view, we climbed back down. When we got to the bottom of our hike we went on this little boat and got to take it on the water that we were awing over. It was a very short journey but was very exciting! Today was the first day we did a very lot of walking. It was also one of the first days that I began to see a lot of just stray dogs walking the streets. Made me a little sad since I am a total dog person.
Shortly after this adventure we got back on the bus for two hours and arrived to our cruise boat. I remember thinking there will be ramps to carry my luggage to the boats. Um not at all, more like there were hundreds of stairs to bring our luggage back and forth on.
We got on the boat and Elise and I got handed our room keys. They were decent rooms. Hard beds again. I was freezing at all times when on the boat. I wore leggings under armor and my coat to bed, tons of layers and was still cold. This trip was going to be a 2 day travel cruise thing. This was our first night.
This day/ night was the first time I actually felt I was bonding with everyone on the trip. It was a great night. I fell asleep pretty early though.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday March 7th, 2011- Education in Wuhan
After our whole group was reunited for the day we all went into a classroom and interacted with some high school students. Theses students were in the process of learning English and all hoped to go to college in America.
When we walked in we were given a scavenger hunt. There were 4 individual names we each got given we were supposed to find them and start up a conversation. It was very hard to find them for me personally, but I found that the students were very helpful in making the scavenger hunt as easy and comfortable as it could be for me. I found out during this scavenger hunt mainly was their Chinese name versus their English and their dislikes and likes about the Chinese culture. I found that everyone loved the Chinese food. Them loving the Chinese food was very surprising to me. I enjoyed the Chinese food but did not love it. Goes to show food is all about comfort and what one grows up with.
I also found it surprising that their school days are from 7:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night. They put Americans to shame, when they told me that I definitely felt like I should study more. This shows they work hard for what they receive and are so accustomed to this lifestyle they have no complaints. I can’t even imagine how this would go down in America.
Another side note these students live at their high school. We talked to our host student, Cathy, and she said that she only goes home on Sundays. She also stated how she never really misses home. Also another shocking fact is that the walls have lead in them to block cell phone signals.
After interacting with some students individually, we got to stand up in front of their entire high school. The entirety of their high school is around 4,000 people. This was a little nerve wracking. We were actually supposed to speak and introduce ourselves individually but luckily that didn’t happen. The reason why the students were outside all at once was to state the “pledge of allegiance” in our eyes. They rose up a flag and everything. When are class was looking down on all the students from the stairs, all of them were looking back at us full of smiles and excited to see Americans. Like Rob said, we would be like superstars in China. These 4,000 people were amazingly lines up in perfectly straight lines as well. Which fascinated me. I remember in middle school my teachers would make us walk in pairs down the hall, we couldn’t even follow that. It goes to show once again how strict and rule bound the Chinese lifestyle is.
Later that day we went to a college university in China. Now these students were learning Chinese. Very different from the high school. The students were from all over the world, which I found very interesting. It didn’t seem as though there was a minority. In my opinion the college wasn’t very entertaining, but I see why we went there. We went to compare the two schools, but in all honesty I just felt like I was being pitched to come to their college. However, in the class we sat in on, if I stayed I would know so much Chinese, her teaching style was brilliant.
We had dinner at the university and then headed back with our host families for our last night with them. This night was by far more fun and exciting than the first night. We stayed up for a while when we returned and had no problem talking with them this time. Elise and I taught them how to play GO FISH and they taught us how to play one of their Chinese card games. It was a nice bonding experience to teach them something and then they give something back to us in return.
After cards we swapped our house gifts. Before Elise and I went on the trip we each bought the family something. I got them Champlain chocolates, stamps from all over America, and a Boston Red Sox hat. Elise gave them chocolates and something else I can’t quite remember. In return they gave us each a fancy little decorative tea set. Which we both really wanted and loved. It was red also to signify “luckiness” Gift swapping went well they seemed to enjoy/ be thankful for our gifts. The father loved the Boston Red Sox hat, which was my goal! All in all the host families was a great cultural experience.
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