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Hello! So the last two days have been spent really focusing on class. The amount that we are learning about China and the culture here is truly amazing. To be honest, as much as I could have read a lot about China in the US you really have to be here to "get" the culture and I have to say that I am slowly beginning to understand why China makes many of the social and political decisions that it does. One thing we talk about in class is the immense cultural communication divide between the US and China. It's pretty amazing and we have such a diverse group of professionals in the class who really add a lot to our debates. Last night we all got out of class mentally exhausted from all the discussion and debate.
So, as you can tell my touring has been minimal thus far. It doesn't help that it's been grey and rainy for the past two days. I was hoping the rain would wash away some of the Nanjing dust - but that hasn't happened yet. I did go down to the Fuzi Temple (ancient Confucian temple). The area around the temple is
surrounded by loads of shops, restaurants etc. It's pretty touristy but loud and fun with people singing karaoke on the streets and lots and lots of bright lights.
Yesterday, I also went to the Heaven Dynasty Palace, dating back to the Ming dynasty the palace was a school that taught aristocratic children. The palace also had a temple and a market outside. We got there and for some reason they refused to sell us tickets to go into the structure. We figured out it was because there were set tour times to go in, but since they did not speak English and we spoke no Mandarin we ended up not getting in so we wondered the outside area of the palace and the market. I've heard it's different in Beijing but in Nanjing, nothing is in English and very few people speak it, so you really have to work hard at communicating in Mandarin as best as possible. We see very few western tourists around Nanjing although there are many foreign students. At the Nanjing University/JHU campus all the students have to be fluent in Mandarin just to get into the school which means they have no problems.
A few more random facts I learned today:
- 80% of the all construction cranes in the world are located in China, talk about development!
- little kids here are taught to pee on command when their parents whistle. Many foreigners living here have adopted this technique with their children as apparently it makes life so much easier.
- An important quality for any Chinese leader is that they must have superior handwriting to be respected by their people.
Tonight a group of us head off to Beijing for three nights so should have some more pics for you in a few days. Someone asked for more pics of food so I've added a few here. I have yet to get my cute baby butt photo but am working on it!
Take care!
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anonymous
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Oye mongasa, eso de "my camera has been taking pictures crooked, no se lo cree nadie" . Ustedes locas han estado chupando! Glad to hear you guys are having a good time, love the random facts!!!!!