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Published: December 17th 2010
Today we had our tour and meeting at China Pharmaceutical University. We started out morning with the key lab opening ceremony on the Xuanwumen Campus. Dr. Gu and Dr. Floriddia exchanged some opening words and each of them gave a presentation on China Pharmaceutical University and University of the Pacific respectively. Listening to Dr. Gu's presentation about China Pharmaceutical University was mind blowing. China Pharmaceutical University was established in 1986 and was incorporated with the Nanjing College of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy. CPU has a lot of school departments which was quite impressive. They have a school of pharmacy, traditional Chinese pharmacy, life science and technology, international pharmaceutical business, high vocational education, and continuing educations. CPU offers research programs in medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutical analysis, microbiology and biochemical pharmacy, and pharmacology. There are over 14,000 full time students (11,000 undergraduates and >3,000 postgraduates & PhD candidates). CPU's pharmacy program is ranked #1 in China and their Traditional Chinese Pharmacy program is ranked #3. CPU has 3 first class novel drug patents for acehytisine hydrochloride, gatifloxacin, and epristeride.
After the presentation we visited the Key Laboratory for Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics. The walls were filled with posters on drug metabolism research which
had fascinating diagrams. The rooms had a lot of chemical equipment such as mass spectrometers, chromatography, etc. One of the assistant professors took my group around. At the end of the tour of the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics floor, he and I exchanged QQ numbers. We were then taken to the Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicines. This floor looked very similar to the Key Laboratory for Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics. I was very impressed with all of the equipment and technological support that their labs had. Their facilities would be great for pharmaceutical research which put our pharmacy schools in California to shame.
After lunch, we had some free time to change into regular clothes. We were told to meet the bus near the city wall which was about a block away from the Xuanwu Hotel. We took some pictures by the lake. While we were there a bunch of cars with Sina.com.cn on them pulled up near the gate. A lot of cute girls in plaid skirts carrying baskets came out. It looked like they were taping a TV commercial or something. I couldn’t stop staring. Finally we were told to meet the bus near the hotel since
it was too crowded near the city gate.
We took the bus to China Pharmaceutical University’s Jiangning Campus. The Jiangning campus was a lot larger than the Xuanwumen Campus. Shi started giving us a tour and he asked if anyone wanted to drive his car around. Markham volunteered, so Sam, Jennifer, Clara, and I hopped in since we had to go to the bathroom. After we found a bathroom, we decided to drive around campus in Shi’s car. A lot of banners welcoming University of the Pacific were around campus which was quite impressive. We found the bus and started to follow it, but then we lost it. I called Shi on my cell phone telling him we were the foreigners with his car and we were lost. His response was “Hi, I’m with some foreigners right now. I have to go. Bye” O.O!!!!!!!!!!!!! We eventually found them and there we were introduced to some students from CPU. After we talked to the students for a little bit they took us to the cafeteria to eat dinner. I tried to practice my Chinese with some of the students and they were impressed with how much I knew for the amount
of time I actually studied Chinese. They were really nice and interested in learning about where we were from and what school is like for us. They even grabbed the food for us and carried it to the tables for us!
We had about an hour to eat dinner. The students at CPU prepared a performance for us called a Gala which was the equivalent to us having a Rho Chi talent show. They prepared various performances such as singing, dancing, opera, a skit from the international students, traditional dances, calligraphy demonstration, and various games for us to play. The theme of the Gala was “Hand in Hand” and it started out with a song and dance performance. I remember we all looked at each other with the “oh my god what are we going to do?” face. They had 2 games for volunteers to participate in. One involved doing sit-ups, hula hoops, spinning around, and hitting a gong. The other game involved eating a cake, moving beans from one bowl to another with chop sticks, jump-roping, and spinning around and hitting a gong. Each participant had a different role. For one of the games they wanted a professor to
participate. We wanted Dr. Flo to go up and play but he did not want to. I started to chant “Flo, Flo, Flo” and everyone followed. He was finally convinced to go up HAHAHA. Before the Gala we were told that we had to prepare a performance as well. A couple days before we decided to sing “We are the World”. Kin and Chintan prepared a rap song to go along with it. The crowded liked our performance which was great.
They had a performance where they taught us the different forms of Chinese calligraphy. Afterwards they asked for volunteers to do Chinese calligraphy. Sam convinced me to go up and try it since I took a calligraphy class at Shanghai U. The girl who taught me showed me how to write the characters 高兴 which means happy. After she took my hands and showed me the strokes she let me write it by myself. She was impressed with my technique. I guess I actually remembered a little bit from USAC.
When the Gala was over, they gave each of us a set of chopsticks. I also got this little egg keychain for participating in the calligraphy performance. I remember
being super impressed with all the work they put into the Gala and how great their hospitality was. We had a chance to take pictures with the students. I exchanged QQ numbers with them. I had a box of Godiva’s from America so I gave a bar to each of the students that I met and they were so appreciative. Hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with them on QQ. CPU did a great job with everything since we’ve arrived in China. I felt bad because I knew that when they send their students over to America, I doubt that the American students will care as much as they did, which is sad. A lot of students from CPU came to the Gala just to see us which made the event memorable. I wish we could have stayed in Nanjing just to hang out with the CPU students and even shadow them for a day to see what their university experience is like.
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