Beijing

Beijing was our first stop in our Chinese adventure. Seeing the capital of China to kick off the program was eye opening because it was nothing like I had ever seen in my entire life. Some parts of it reminded me of New York City, but it makes any city in the United States seem so tiny. We first went to the Red Theatre. This theatre was built because a political leader was fond of an actress and wanted a beautiful theatre for her. This was the first time the Chinese people took pictures of us so I immediately felt like a celebrity. After this we went to the Forbidden City. There are 9,999 rooms here and the 10,000th is considered in the sky for the emperor. The yellow signifies the sky and the royalty of the emperor. There are no nails at all in the Forbidden City; we attended a Kungfu show and attended a traditional Chinese dinner where we ate my favorite, Peking Duck, and various dishes that were new to me. The following day we bussed to the Great Wall of China. We hiked up the stairs, which were very uneven in most cases to the top. Once we reached the top, we took lots of pictures of us and of the amazing view. Seeing the wall on all of the mountain peaks in the distance really put into perspective how difficult this wall was to make. The wall is a little over 13,000 miles, which is about 13 trips from Pittsburgh to Florida. In the afternoon we visited the Bird’s Nest and Olympic village, and then bargained for clothing and shoes in Silk Street. We definitely bought some cool stuff to up our clout. The next day we visited the National Museum of China. This was really cool, especially The Power of Truth exhibit because there were a lot of communist displays, such as Karl Marx’s philosophies and other communist ideas. This was really eye-opening because these ideas are praised in China and we are taught that a lot of these people, one being Joseph Stalin, caused lots of violence and death. This really shows a huge difference between our countries. After this we went back to Tiananmen Square to take pictures and walk around. We then went to the University of Mining and Technology and met some of the students. The students were very nice and we talked about life on campus. The next day we went to the Summer Palace. There were many interesting structures here such as the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, the Great Opera Hall, and the Tower of Buddhist Incense. We then road a marble boat across the lake after some of the students got their arms tattooed funny quotations. One student’s quotations, JP Pluck’s, said, “My wife beats me.” We then went to the Temple of Heaven Park, which was reserved for the emperor. He would always go there once a year to pray for a good year of good harvest. I even got to step on the marble for good luck!

Dalian

Our first morning we arrived in Dalian and immediately went to the hotel after arriving to the train station. We visited the Rockwell Automation Facility where we looked at some of the major and minor cultural differences that we have noticed in China so far. Some of these differences are the squatting toilets, the lack of personal space in public, and warm beverages. We presented out findings to our peers and to the staff at Rockwell to show them our thoughts at this point. After the presentation we got a tour of the office where we got to see the various types of automation hardware that they make for manufacturing/assembly lines. It was pretty cool that they could monitor each assembly line to high detail so they can see how efficient the machines are producing the good. After lunch, we went to Xinghai Square where we looked at the beautiful views around the many amusement rides. At this location we had a great view of the city, a view that I would consider one of my favorites so far. In the evening, we had the best dinner at Xinli’s friend’s hotel where we were treated some very special food, including a high valued sea cucumber. I had a great time at the dinner and then also after the dinner when I had the opportunity to meet and talk to some of Xinli’s friends. The next morning we visited Number 7 middle school where some of the students performed some music from the play, The Sound of Music. We then toured their school and learned about the history of Mother’s Day in one of the classrooms. We learned how to say “I love you” in Chinese and I also learned how to write my name using Chinese characters. We then went to lunch where we ate some of the best foods I have had in China so far, including sticky rice wrapped up in seaweed. This has been one of the coolest experiences because we could really compare our cultures and learn how education works in China. It was amazing getting to meet the kids and talk to them about school and life. We flew to Xian in the afternoon and at night we saw a water show in the fountain. Xian is one of my favorite cities so far because of how lit up it is at night. I have never seen a city this bright and I wish the United States had cities like Xian.

Xian/Cruise

Our first day in Xian was really cool because we took a bus tour to Lintong and saw the Terracotta Warriors Museum. We only visited 3 of 36 discovered pits; I had no idea how many are still being discovered today. Even when we visited them there were workers still carefully excavating the warriors from the ground. These warriors are so special because of how unique each one is. They were modeled from the real warriors so they have their facial features and are also 1.5 times larger than the warriors’ actual sizes. Another interesting thing I learned is that their hairstyles tell you the rank of the soldiers. After this we visited the Ming City Wall where we biked around the outskirts of the city. This wall is the world’s best-preserved fortress wall. At night we got to visit the Muslim Snack Street where we saw and tried some really exotic foods, definitely one of the most memorable streets I have seen so far. We boarded a hard-sleeper train where we went to Yichang to board the Century Legend along the Yangtze River. We embarked on our cruise ship the next day and visited the Three Gorges Dam project, where we got to see the massive structure in all of its glory. It was truly amazing to see such a structure keep all of the water from bursting through. This is definitely one of the most incredible engineering feats I have seen with my own eyes. The next day we got off the cruise ship and boarded smaller boats for the Shenlong Stream excursion. This became one of my new favorite views of the program so far just because of how beautiful the cliffs and mountains are on both sides of the river. I was surprised that the river was 30 meters deep for how narrow it was. We learned the culture of the indigenous people and gestures such as stepping on a woman’s foot to indicate that you are interested in marrying her. We also joined in some dancing with the locals and learned the subtle changes in tone can change the meaning of a word entirely. Today we visited the Shibaozhai Pagoda, which also means, “Precious Stone Fortress,” and the Fengdu Ghost City. This was a really interesting stop because of the various images we saw on the walls of the structures that signify hell and the underworld. I learned that according to Chinese beliefs, the dead have to pass three tests before passing to the next life. We got to see the three stone bridges where people today cross the middle one with their loved ones for good fortune.

Chongqing

We made it to Chongqing and headed straight for the zoo where we saw lots of animals, but especially pandas. I noticed that the security at the zoos are not like in the United States, where there is a larger divide between walking area and the animal’s enclosure. The exhibits were also very small and not realistic to their real living environment in nature. After the zoo we visited the Three Gorges Dam Museum where we saw tools and other influences from ancient Chinese civilizations. I really liked the exterior structure of the museum, it is definitely one of Chongqing’s finest architectural projects. We had a free today so we used this time to explore the city. After eating Chinese food all the time, the first time that we experienced American food was when we went to Pizza Hut. We actually ordered a Peking Duck pizza so there was still a little bit of local culture in our meal. It was really interesting because in China Pizza Hut is a nicer sit-down restaurant while it is known for being cheaper and less of a sit-down restaurant in the USA. In the evening we walked along the amazing skyline of Chongqing, by far the best skyline I have seen in my entire life. We visited the Ford-Changan factory today where we saw manufacturing efficiency at its finest. The Ford-Changan factory completes a car every 45 seconds. When putting that into perspective of how many cars can be completed in a 7-hour work day, it is almost one thousand cars per day! My favorite part of the factory was seeing the robots work so precisely when placing the windshield and rear window into the exterior of the car moving down the line. This made me think of how much coding and exact measurements had to be made to make these robots work so well. It was also cool learning that some Chinese car models are slightly different than in the United States. For example, some Chinese models are bigger and have more seating to accommodate for people transporting their elders.

Shanghai

In our first full day in Shanghai we were supposed to visit the Dongtan Eco-city Project, however, it was closed so we went and walked around some cool streets in Shanghai. There were a lot of interesting shops, similar to old street, and I purchased a really nice silk shirt for only 30 yuan. After we walked around for a little and ate a good lunch, we went to the Shanghai tower. It was amazing to go all the way to the top in just 69 seconds. My ears popped on the way up and I thought I would be pretty scared of how high up we were. Once we got to the top and I saw the amazing view of the city I felt at ease. All of the skyscrapers seem so tiny compared to the Shanghai tower, even the financial building with its blue lights at the top. We went to Disney the following day, a place where I initially did not know how it would compare to the Disneyworld in Florida. It was really interesting to see them sings the songs in costume in Chinese rather than English. This made me realize how similar this component of our culture is. I think Disney movies and characters bring our nations together because of a common interest and that is really awesome. We spent a lot of time exploring and eating various foods. By the afternoon we found a nice American restaurant where we drank drinks during happy hour and had great burgers. In the morning we took a bullet train in the morning to Suzhou. It was really cool to experience because of how smooth the ride was. It did not feel like we were going over 100mph because of how smooth it was and I did not realize that the train actually leans when it banks around curves. I took some pretty good pictures of the gardens and plants in Suzhou. I also successfully asked a lady where the bathroom was in Chinese so that was really awesome for me to show off what I have learned. The farewell dinner was very tasty and I got to tell Xinli and his family that I enjoyed learning the language very much and hope to continue to learn it in the future for when I return to China. We finished our last night off by going out to the club and having a great time! It then came for our time to leave China. I know I will return again though! It has been an unforgettable experience!