21 (and 22) September 2007
So, what's wafting down the hall as I write this time? Earlier in our Shanghai stay it was a cello playing Beethoven's Fourth. Tonight, the words “grasslands” and “deforestation” and “dams” float to my ears. Tomorrow is the final for the classroom portion of the Environmental Studies course and students are working hard to prepare. We had our Thank You Banquet earlier this evening to show our appreciation to Dr. Lin (who taught the ES course), the International Programs Office, and the other Oles at ECNU who taught the group how to navigate environmental protection, the campus, and the greater world of Shanghai . It was a traditional style feast with six appetizers and 10 main dishes including a sweet soup for dessert. Several thank you speeches led off the festivities, including two excellent ones by students, and students carefully spread themselves around the different tables to make sure all the guests felt welcome. A very nice evening; a good foundation for a night of pulling together all the ideas they've been considering in their ES course.
And what a course it's been. In addition to an excellent overview of the issues faced by China and the accomplishments in cleaning up the environment as well as a frank discussion of the remaining challenges, we've been to (among others):
The Urban Planning Museum with its futuristic views of the new Shanghai being built and to come; any model train buffs will be blown away by the size of the model city in place here http://www.frommers.com/destinations/shanghai/A25938.html
Suzhou Creek History Musuem http://wikitravel.org/en/Shanghai_for_the_first-timer [can't open the site here but this may tell you more]
an e-waste recycling plant ( http://www.tes-amm.com/ and http://www.tes-amm.com/regional.asp?id=4&rid=13 ), where the students first had trouble understanding that companies paid TES AAM to take care of their waste… until intellectual property protection was detailed. The gold bars that result from the precious metal reclamation were a hit, as was the fact that the factory is totally self-contained and its processes result in no industrial wastes.
the Suzhou Industrial Park ( http://www.suzhou.gov.cn/english//Invest/19.shtml ) (in actuality a new, planned city of 70 sq km with sectors for industry, commerce, electronics, education and residences done as a cooperative venture between the Singapore and Chinese governments adjacent to the old cultural city of Suzhou, the “Venice of China.” The city has its own Environmental Protection Agency and is able to dictate standards for incoming firms to meet. There are wide avenues and plenty of green space. They have wonderful and whimsical public sculptures throughout – butterflies, fish, crows on a rock, mathematical structures, a protractor, etc.)
The SIP was followed by a visit to two of the traditional and famous gardens in Suzhou . It was raining steadily during the first and I took a picture I'll title “Umbrellas in the Humble Administrator's Garden .” It was actually quite lovely to wander in the rain and see everything freshly washed and fragrant. [ http://www.suzhou.gov.cn/English/Travel/5.shtml ]
By the time we reached Tiger Hill , however, everyone was cold and wet, the temperature had dropped and the wind had picked up as the result of Typhoon Whimpa moving toward us. Any pictures from here would have been titled, “Sopping Wet on Tiger Hill.”
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/tiger_hill.htm
I am finding that my years at Wolf Ridge ELC [ http://www.wolf-ridge.org/ ] are probably the best preparation I could have had for the job of field supervisor. As we were tromping in the rain on Tuesday I appreciated the views concurrently with thoughts like “Are people getting too wet? Are they getting too chilled? Is there so much rain that the rock pathways are getting slippery and dangerous?” And so, when one or two began to shiver from being wet and cold, we offered an early return to the bus for those who needed it. On Wednesday morning, trying to decide whether or not to continue with our program to Wuxi before returning to Shanghai late in the afternoon with a typhoon scheduled to “hit” at 5pm, we took the more conservative response. Since tall buildings in Shanghai break up the winds, things there would be windy and rainy (according to our local hosts), but driving through the open countryside to get there might have been challenging. So we ditched (!) our plan for Wuxi , and headed back in the morning for Shanghai and the dorm, comfortable that this was the right decision for the group. So the decision-making process of a canoe trip leader or camp counselor comes into play on a bus trip with college students in China as well.
The camp director role was more in play last week… After a wonderful gathering arranged by Dr. Lin's graduate students to make and eat Chinese dumplings, a soccer match and Frisbee game were organized. Unfortunately the head of a Chinese student connected with that of a St. Olaf student, and our student suffered a broken nose. Patient care, hospital visits, note-taking, parent contacts and insurance consultations were familiar (albeit undesired!) routines. The good news is the nose has been re-aligned and the pain is abating.
I was writing the above while zipping along the turnpike between Suzhou and Shanghai on our way back to avoid the typhoon. Let me put it in present tense since that is how it was written: One or two pairs of eyes meet mine as I glance back, but most everyone is asleep. I am watching the farm plots as we drive – rice, veggies in hoop houses and not, beans or squash up on tripod braces of bamboo. The plots grow smaller as we reach Shanghai and I remember the guide saying that since they had been able to develop rice that doubled productivity levels, they didn't need to worry about taking farmland for the industrial park. Not that we are doing very well in protecting our farmlands, either, but I still wonder.
As you may have heard, the typhoon slowed and was only a tropical storm by the time it came through Shanghai . I listened for it during the night, but slept through whatever winds came.
Well, it's currently Saturday night and we leave Shanghai in just a few hours for Jinan and then Beijing . Students took the exam and have been packing and many have gone out with the Term in China students for one last time. Bob and Lin went to see the Jade Buddhas this afternoon and I went birding this morning [see separate entry]. I had dinner with the Bodmans and Peng LiPing, an old friend who was an exchange scholar to St. Olaf in 1995/96 and with whom Craig Rice and I traveled through China on Term in Asia last time. A special time, but it's definitely time for some sleep rather than more writing. There will be more later – the next time we have good access to the internet.