Guangzhou - Day 1

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The first official day of our trip to Guangzhou began with breakfast. I learned, more than ever before, how difficult it is to get by without knowing the language. I know a few key words (hello, how much, thank you, etc.) but not enough to order food. I just ended up having to point to what I wanted and luckily I had the help of two professors from Bridgewater State. The students from Taiwan are lucky, because they speak Mandarin, which is the dialect that is spoken here. Most things are also written in Kanji, unlike Beijing and Hong Kong where most things were also written in English. For breakfast I had an assortment of bread items. One piece of bread was like a Danish with lemon on top. The second was circular, covered with coconut, and had some filling on the inside which kind of tasted like peanut butter, but I am thinking it was bean paste.

After breakfast, we had a lecture on cooperation between Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau. I learned about which areas specialize in what. I was surprised at how well Guangzhou, and Guangdong province in general do economically. Guangdong province, and the Pearl River Delta area comprises a great amount of China’s GDP. The Pearl River Delta is comprised of 9 different places including Macau, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou. Macau is known for gambling, Hong Kong for Finance, and Guangzhou for manufacturing.

After lecture and discussion we had “lunch boxes.” Mine was comprised of chicken, rice, tomatoes, and eggs. I thought it was good, but many other people are having difficulties adapting to the food on the trip. After two weeks I think I may have a good handle on using chopsticks.

Something that I am having difficulty adapting to is the heat. Apparently in all government and educational buildings the air conditioner can not go any lower than 25 degrees C. Our classroom today was very hot. Last night we also experienced acid rain.

The students from Sun Yat-Sen University were nice enough to take us on a campus tour. Their campus is beautiful with a lot more grass than many other campuses I have been on in China and the United States. It is very large! They even have a grocery store on campus which is helpful to pick up snacks and other miscellaneous items.

Tonight my professor is taking us to a shopping center to get something to eat. Tomorrow we have lectures and a field trip to see “work shops.” I have been warned about my own safety, and have been apprised of the insufficient working conditions.

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