Guangzhou - Xiaozhou Village

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Today was our first Chinese breakfast in Guangzhou. We had noodle rolls with mushrooms and carrots, and a seafood porridge. It was all right, not exactly my favorite breakfast ever. Our first lecture was given by Dr. To on the history of the Pearl River Delta. He showed us a few maps and explained the provinces to us, he showed us where we have been and where we will be going. I did not realize how well the provinces did in the Pearl River Delta. Tomorrow night we are going on a Pearl River Delta cruise. I am excited!

In the middle of our lectures we were able to hear from, and speak to, the editor of the editorial page of the Nandu Daily newspaper. From what I gathered, it sounds like the severity of censorship depends on which province the newspaper is located in.

Our second lecture was on the Economic and Social Transformation of China. It was interesting to hear about the reforms, mostly under Deng Xioaping. (Agricultural, Opening up the Economy, Fiscal, and State Owned Enterprise Reforms)

The field trip to Xiaozhou Village was one of my favorites yet. We visited the village and National Government Organization (NGO) that provides social services to the community, especially those under 30. I am very surprised that social work has only been available in China for three years. The statistics about what people think about social work in China, that were presented to us, were eye opening. Most people seem to disagree with the services, and believe that social workers should not be paid, while in the village that we went to, there are 500 members of the organization and they actually had to stop taking applications.

For dinner, two of my travel buddies and I ventured out in Guangzhou. We went to a restaurant were you cook your own food. We had two types of noodles, vegetables, potatoes, beef, eel, and duck kidney. I tried it all! I’m not sure I would have duck kidney or eel again, but I am glad I did it!

I am looking forward to tomorrow as we are going to a toy factory that makes transformer toys.

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