Welcome to China

I do apologize for the long overdue blog post. Internet has taken awhile to be set up here and it finally is. My roommate Spencer has been gracious to lend me his laptop to type up my exploits.

My flight was a bit over 13 hours long. I probably got about 30 minutes of sleep in but the flight did not seem too monotonous. I enjoyed viewing the in-flight GPS updated map on our current location and that helped pass the time as I watched myself inch across Canada, the North Pole, Siberia, etc. My seatmate rotated between a large family. Originally the father, and then the step-son and step-daughter and their two kids. Gained some decent information about what to expect in China and was glad to spend 13 hours with them.

I have strong mixed feelings about China. The economic boom is obvious from all of the modern urbanization that is flourishing here. However, I've noticed as I take the elevated rails that brand new high-rises dwarf shanty towns that you would expect to see in rural China. It is definitely something that arises discussion and reflection.

Overall, China thus far has been amazing. I can't recount the amount of times that I am with my new friends from Purdue that I feel like I am walking around California or a similar climate and vegetation in the United States. I had pictured China as some exotic, dragon-infested foreign land that would be totally unrecognizable, but I see the same friendships, families, hardships, and success stories that I would expect to see in the United States. It has shaped my perception on the world. I recounted the Korean Airlines flight that was shot down over Russian airspace I believe in the 80s(?) as I was flying over similar airspace. All of the distant events that I read on the news that are so far away from me are in the same areas that I am in presently. It is a great awakening. I can't just roll over and swallow that news anymore knowing that it is some distant place that I will never see nor care about since I am in that very same place.

The food has been an experience. I have been craving a hamburger for quite sometime. Some friends and I went back to a Japanese restaurant (our new favorite Beijing haunt) for a second meal and as delicious as before. The prices are shocking compared to American standards. Still trying to get used to the local cuisine. I imagined China as the "world's largest Chinese Restaurant," however its nothing like the Americanized Chinese food (which I apparently have been accustomed to).

The lectures at Tsinghua so far have been great. The first lecture on Monday was over Ancient Chinese history, language and religion. I gained a few insights on the Chinese individualistic principles and cultural expectations. It seems the Chinese are much more communal instead of the American "looking out for numero uno" mentality. This has its pros and cons. I have felt extremely safe in China, more so than in metropolis American cities. I am not sure if this is a result of their communal beliefs or of extreme fear of the Chinese law penalties.

The second lecture today (Tuesday) was over the economic situation in China, which I was very enthusiastic to hear about. There has been a lot of foreign investment in China lately which has lead to a large boom, but since the global financial crisis, a large number of SME companies have had to close. It is kind of a double edged sword. The lecture today reflected what I had learned in my International Trade class last year on how China is still a labor intensive producer. The high-technology and research/development is still supplied by wealthier nations while China acts as the "go-to guy" to produce according to the design and plans. Most of the input for such products is labor intensive instead of technology, so China still is the best option for these products. I feel it will be an extremely long time before China can turn this around for the majority.

Anyway, we saw the Olympic Park today. We went inside the Bird's Nest arena that featured many of the events in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I did a visual reenactment of the dude who ran around the edge of the stadium in the opening ceremony. Also, I couldn't imagine seeing the 1000+ drummer group. Phenomenal. We then went to the Water Cube where Michael Phelp's famously earned all of his gold medals. It was very tempting to try to jump into the pool, but I did restrain myself.

Tomorrow, we are doing an official visit of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City even though we saw a bit of it from the outside on Sunday. I cannot wait to see the inside of the Forbidden City since they have (if i remember right) 800 original buildings dating back from the 1400's. They have been refurbishing them, but the architecture is a staple of the ancient Chinese dynasties.

I will try to blog more frequently. However, we have a VERY busy schedule here at Beijing and in Shanghai. This is not friendly for updating the blog, but its very friendly to me soaking in many memories here in China. Thanks again for all of those who have been e-mailing me! I'm usually awake from 6PM-11AM Eastern time.