Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 150

From our accommodation in HK, we jumped on the KRC and took it north to the last stop. After a 20 minute ride we exited the train and after another 15 minutes we had cleared passport and customs. We were in China. Shenzhen is one of the wealthiest (from what we heard) cities in China but there is not much to see except for one attraction. When you exit from customs immediately to your right is a huge complex. The complex must be the pirated goods capital of world. In this building are hundreds of stores on 6 floors selling fake Marc Jacobs, Gucci, DVDs, golf clubs, northface, and more. No one had prepared us for this. Anyway, we had some fun negotiating as we purchased a couple handbags, DVDs and T-shirts. On a normal vacation, ... read more

We have now begun our fourth week here and the routine remains “dynamic”. We have a teaching schedule, which has me in class on Monday and Tuesday and Ellen in class on Monday and Friday. We each have some additional responsibilities that require a fair amount of additional time during the week. For Ellen, it is supervising the students who are working on the Chinese Working Women’s Network (CWWN) bus, which each Saturday parks in an industrial area about an hour from here. She has some social work students, for whom this is a field placement and some staff and volunteers for the CWWN. This is important work, one that nourishes the tendrils of an independent labor movement here in the PRC with Ellen’s considerable experience and acumen. She has also been going with the bus ... read more

We are on a five-month professional leave to teach in the School of Social Work at Zongshan University, Guangzhou, Guandong Province, PRC. Since arriving on the 16th, we have met with students and faculty and have visited a number of social service agencies here in Guangzhou. The past two days we have been accompanied by a group of Hong Kong social workers, people who have had close and ongoing ties to the efforts at establishing non-governmental organizations (NGO) here on the mainland. Today, we first visited a program that serves as an outreach and center based program for those with mental illnesses. Everything we saw was largely consistent with the North American approach to these problems, although their resources were considerably fewer. The days of consumer empowerment have only begun and when I shared the experience ... read more

Bec To start off I feel like I should offer you some interesting facts about Guangzhou, as for David and I it was three days of being in one place for the first time is ages, sunning ourselves and applying for vietnam visas! So here we go.... in the 1700's all Chinas foreign trade was restricted to Guangzhou. The British were busy shipping tons of opium over and quickly getting the Chinese well and truly hooked. So there the history is a very old trading port (the Lonely Planet describes it as a massive shopping mall) I think that's more interesting. When we arrived we decided to head to a small sand island called Shamian Dao which is noted for its colonial buildings left over from the British and the French. Its a really pretty place ... read more

Homeward Bound Tuesday, December 13, 2005 It’s 7:45 PM on Tuesday and we are packed and ready to fly. We leave for the airport at 5:45 A.M. on Wednesday (4:45 Tuesday afternoon Charlotte time) and will land in Charlotte at 7:30 P.M. E.S.T. on Wednesday. Please pray that Abby will have a peaceful flight. She doesn’t have a regular seat - only a “lap” pass.  pray that we will have a peaceful flight also… Today was a wonderful day in Guangzhou. We had a group picture early that included about half of our group. This afternoon we went to the American consulate for our oath taking and to receive Abby’s immigration papers and visa. Her immigration is complete when we pass through the passport station at Newark tomorrow! She will be an American Citizen! At ... read more