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Tag: China

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Some things I've learned about Shanghai so far:
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Life here can seem like one huge contradiction.
  1. Society runs at its own pace. Lateness is accepted and rather common in some facets of life. Nevertheless, public transit arrival and departure times are always right on the dot and I've never been to a more punctual, streamlined hospital than the one I go to in Shanghai.
  2. Bikes. Are. Everywhere. So much so that massive bicycle graveyards stretch on for miles and miles, piled up with broken bikes and overproduction, but at the same time, bike sharing is generally a very time efficient and cost effective way to travel around the city.
  3. City street cleaners work almost entirely by hand with a broom made of leaves and a shovel, which seems extremely unproductive and inefficient, but the majority of streets—even in less-populated areas—remain relatively clean.
  4. Traffic culture is chaos. Move it or lose it. On top of that, everyone honks at everyone for no apparent reason. However, there seem to be very few accidents—at least none that I've seen.
  5. There is absolutely zero rhyme or rhythm to the way people walk in the streets. You cannot get around anyone. I think people walk at about negative 0.5 mph, but when it comes to catching the bus or metro, everyone runs like they're being chased by a chainsaw murderer down a dark alley at 3am.
But hey … at least you know you've got something really good going on in your home away from home when the only things you truly miss from home are blue skies and fresh air.

...continue reading "Shanghai is…"

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By maxleo43

It’s funny; I remember thinking about China before I left and wondering what the society would be like. Would the communist government’s rule of law keep everyone in check? Would I have to be worried about accidentally committing a crime because of obtuse laws?

I arrived and found nothing of the sort. While China, and Shanghai, have many of the same laws as the U.S. that govern day to day life, there is still a lot of freedom and lee-way. For example, it is pretty much acceptable to ride a bicycle anywhere. The bike lane, sidewalk, and even a busy road are all allowable places to ride a bicycle. While this may seem rather minimal, there is something pretty fantastic about riding a bike down a main road in Shanghai and passing luxury sports cars.

This sense of freedom has pretty fully inhabited my life while here in Shanghai. I have class three days a week, Tuesday through Thursday, but I get out of class at noon on Wednesday and don’t start until 1:30 on Thursday. This leaves me with a four-day weekend and a lot of time to explore. On any given day, I can wake up, ride an OFO bike to the metro, hop on and end up in any part of the city. I can spend the day searching for the best dumplings in Shanghai, studying at a café in the French Concession, exploring the location where the Chinese Communist Party was founded, or getting my hair dyed blonde (I did this yesterday). ...continue reading "Freedom"

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I have always been fascinated by education. In America, it is not only looked upon as a necessary service, it is required by law. American Children must be educated, at least until they are 16 (around 10 or 11 years of required schooling). The majority of millennials or younger have or will receive a high school diploma, and around 40% will continue on to receive a bachelor’s diploma. In many communities, it is the norm to continue on to college after high school. Since being in China, I have realized that education is not looked upon in the same way.

While it is compulsory in China to go to school for 9 years (only 1 or 2 less years than in America), traditional education is very different than western education. The Chinese education system is very much based on memorization. Critical thinking skills are widely skipped over in favor of regurgitation of facts. Students in China will all partake in this type of education up until high school, at which point they have to choose to either attempt to go to college in China or choose to attempt to go internationally. If they choose China, then they will spend 3 years studying for the Gaokao, the Chinese university entrance exam. The test is extremely difficult and almost completely determines which colleges you get into. If they choose to go internationally, then they will either go to a private school or the international version of a public school. These schools will have either AP or IB curriculum and teach students in a similar way to the American education system. This past week, I got to visit several of these international public and private schools to meet students.

On Monday, I visited three schools for Chinese national students. All three offered an international curriculum, either AP, IB or both, and were preparing to send students abroad for their college education. Many of the teachers were American or Canadian and instruction was completely in English (with the exception of language classes). Despite this international curriculum with a focus on critical thinking and creativity, there was still a big push for STEM and memorization heavy subjects. For example, one of the college counselors was telling me about a parent who had told her that her daughter was interesting in studying art in college. Instead of encouraging this, the college counselor suggested that she study engineering and go into the artificial intelligence field. Despite the excellent education that students at this school were receiving, they are still only given a limited number options when it comes to choosing a field of study in college.

...continue reading "Education in China"

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By Maya Haziza

Classified – located in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island is the perfect place for a Saturday brunch with friends and family. There are tons of healthy options especially if you are vegetarian. I came here a lot when I wanted some good western style food or a quiet place to work with Wifi.

The Cupping Room Roastery – located in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island is an amazing coffee shop with the best food. Similar to Classified but much quieter and less frequented. Great place to work on essays or come for an avocado toast.

Why 50 – located in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island is a smaller coffee shop with amazing coffee. Similar style food to Classified and the Cupping Room, but a smaller space and dimly lit. Excellent Wifi.

Sweet pea – located in Central, Hong Kong Island this was my mom’s favorite café I took her to when she visted me and is also the best cakes in Hong Kong. This café is all gluten free and vegan. No wifi. Cash Only.

Pici – located in Central, Hong Kong great Italian style food when you are simply missing home and want some good pasta!

The Optimist – very hip and cool restaurant in Wan Chai. Try the tunatarte and enjoy the good vibes! Vegetarian friendly restaurant

The Pawn – best macaroni and cheese in Hong Kong! This restaurant is kind of hidden in the upper levels of the building, but is great service and very good food.

Winstons Coffee Bar – I stumbled upon this coffee bar one night after dinner and it is simply some of the best coffee I have had in Hong Kong and the people that work there are ridiculously nice. Located on Queens Road West.

Chom Chom – probably one of my favorite restaurants in Hong Kong. It is a very small place that does not take any reservations so you have to get there right when it opens around 5-6 PM to get a table. I would best describe it as gourmet Vietnamese food – so so good.

Ho Lee Fook – the best Asian fusion style food I have had in Hong Kong. A bit pricey, but well worth it. There were also plenty of vegetarian options here.

Mrs. Pounds – here is a restaurant that is a bit of a secret! From the outside it looks like a locksmith shop, but it is actually the best Asian fusion restaurant with plenty of vegetarian options. Located in Sheung Wan, good luck finding the way inside!

Man Mo Café – a French style restaurant that has brie and spinach dim sum, ratatouie dim sum, and a lot more. Great options for vegetarians or people who are interested in trying dim sum, but French style!

Seoul Bros – located in Central Hong Kong Island, this is the best Korean fast food I’ve had. Definitely worth the try.

Caliente – for when you are craving Mexican Food! This restaurant is located in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) and has the best nachos ever.

Wooloomooloo – Go to this restaurant rooftop if you want to see the best view of Hong Kong and for the light show, every night at 9 PM! 

Browhaus –  for the ladies: go here to get your eyebrows down or for any other spa services you might need. It’s definitely hard to find a reliable place but I’ve done it for you!

Victoria Peak – it is as touristy as they say, but the view is remarkable. If it is your first time in Hong Kong – you must come here and eat at the café near by as well!

Dragon’s Back Hiking Trail – an intermediate style hiking trail with an incredible view of the ocean and of Hong Kong Island. There are many entrances and start points to this hiking trail so google the ones that are closest to you.

Happy Valley Racecourse – the legendary horse races that happen every Wednesday in Hong Kong. This is an event that is very unique to Hong Kong and is fun because you can go every week!

PMQ – a huge, semi-open building filled with artisan boutiques and cafes. I went here for a Coco Chanel exhibit at the beginning of the semester and it was absolutely amazing. They hold a lot of cool events worth checking out.

Repulse Bay – My favorite beach in Hong Kong, there are many events that go on here throughout the year and during April and May it is the perfect place to go for a quick sun tan.

Enjoy!

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By maxleo43

This weekend, my program took me and my 26 fellow classmates to Beijing to explore China’s capital. People will often times compare Shanghai to New York City and Washington, DC to Beijing. The comparison is mostly made because Shanghai and NYC are flashy, financial hubs and DC and Beijing are more calm capital cities. However, despite these basic similarities, there are drastic differences between Beijing and DC. For example, Beijing is about 40 times the size of DC, in regard to population, and over 10 times the size in terms of area. Beijing has its flashy moments but is still much quieter and newer than Shanghai. There is no glamorous skyline in Beijing. However, what Beijing lacks in modernization, it makes up for in history. We were lucky enough to be able to experience this over the course of three days.

This past week was the Qingming (Grave Sweeping) festival, and so we did not have classes on Thursday or Friday. Because of this, we left for Beijing on Wednesday night. We took a bus from our apartment complex to the train station and then took a high-speed train from Shanghai to Beijing that left at 7 PM and arrived at 11:30 PM. We then went to the hotel, got checked in, and passed out.

On Thursday, we were introduced to Jasmine, our tour guide who would show us around for the next two days. She spoke good English and was full of knowledge, some pertinent and some not (she spent twenty-five minutes talking about wedding dresses). Along with Jasmine, our group drove for an hour and a half to the Great Wall. We got to see it in a very unique state. It had snowed all of the previous day, and so the wall was covered in two to three inches of snow. While this made for a very pretty backdrop, it also made the walking surface very slippery and, at times, dangerous. Despite having to walk with caution, it was very cool to see the wall in this state, and it made for less tourists, which was great. We were able to explore for about two hours, taking pictures and reflecting on the historical significance of the wall. After this, we returned to Shanghai and had the evening free. Twelve of us headed out to a Southern Chinese restaurant for dinner. We got very lucky and they had a private loft to accommodate us which ended up being the perfect setting. We shared dishes like truffle mushroom’s in egg, fried goat cheese and spicy pork. Post-dinner, we walked around and explored the part of the city that we were in. We then returned to the hotel.

...continue reading "The Great Wall is Pretty Great"

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By Maya Haziza

I wish that I had done a solo travel trip sooner. Traveling alone is one of the most liberating and incredible experiences I have done while studying abroad. For one weekend I explored Taiwan and got to see the city life of Taipei and also the coastal town of Jioufen, Taiwan. The first day I visited Longshon Temple which is a famous temple that serves as a shelter for residents in Taipei to pray to over 100 gods on a daily basis. One thing I didn’t know about Taiwan before travelling there is that there are a lot of earthquakes and therefore many of the architectural plans of buildings and temples are created to support these structures in the case of an earthquake or natural disaster. In this temple people gathered around to burn incense, give fruit and flower offerings, and drop half-blocks that are supposed to signal a “yes” “maybe” or “no” from the gods in response to questions they come to ask. One funny thing I learned here was that Dutch people colonized Taiwan in the 17th & 18th century so then incense burners are pictures of them, and are meant to burn their butts for their occupation. The next place I visited was the Presidential Office which the Japanese built for their president at the time when Japan controlled Taiwan. The architecture of the building is not actually Japanese, but is western because the Japanese are highly influenced by western culture and preferred to build it in a Victorian style. I also visited the thermal valley of Taipei and Yangminshan national park in the northern part of Taiwan. It was a really interesting experiencing seeing the natural hot springs and steam in the middle of a city, while also smelling the heavy stench of sulfur. There was one hot spring where a bunch of elder people gathered around and sat to soak their feet – so I did too, but little did I realize how hot this water actually was. My feet and calves were bright red by the end of the soak, but surely felt so much better afterwards. This was a very busy day running between locations and museums, including Taipei 101 (the tallest building in Taiwan) and historical artifacts museum, but it really was the perfect way to see the city of Taipei in the most encompassing way. The following day was my favorite in Taiwan as I explored the coastal town and area of Jioufen, which was originally a place where gold miners were located to labor. The small town in the middle of the mountains of Taiwan is filled with huge natural waterfalls and orange colored rocks that you simply wouldn’t believe are real. When you go farther up into the small town, there are tiny streets selling street food and souvenirs and other kinds of local goods. I purchased some golden colored oolong tea that I am so excited to share with my friends and family back home. I met two girls who met each other in Bali on a yoga retreat and sat down with them for lunch (one was from the Philippines and the other from Vancouver in Canada). They said that even though they’ve known each other for such little time, they are best friends and feel so close to each other. The one from the Phillipines just recently got married and the woman she met was one of her maids of honor. The woman told me about her experience recently marrying a Chinese man whose family did not approve of his marrying a Philippine and did not attend the wedding because of this. This example truly highlights the traditional culture of marriages in Asia which I found really interesting to hear about directly from this woman. I finished the day at a really cool and trendy area in Taipei eating at a local restaurant and wandering the streets that were filled with Korean designers and Japanese vintage shops. Taiwan was an incredible place to travel to – from the city life to the coastal nature, the city is calm and people are very calm. I can’t wait to come back here at some point to explore more than just a weekend!

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By mahaliasmith

In Shanghai, if I am with a group of other international students—especially American ones—, I am typically the individual who appears the most ethnically Chinese or Asian; therefore, whenever a local attempts to speak to the group, he or she generally singles me out and begins speaking (or shouting) energetically in Mandarin, all the while I stand there, hands up in the air, shrugging with confused facial expressions for as long as necessary until a friend steps in who knows slightly more Chinese.
The most enthralling thing to me is how (9.999 times out of 10), even after locals discover I cannot speak almost any Mandarin, they continue to talk (or shout) at me in Chinese. I am not the lone soul this has happened to/continues to happen to, which is even more fascinating in my opinion. I wonder: how many times can you yell at me in Chinese, after which I reply loudly in English, and you yell in Chinese, and I in English, before anything of substance is accomplished? Honestly, probably a lot—I haven't tried that exact method out yet; Google Translate can be one handy tool.
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Since I am constantly surrounded by millions of Asian people who relay a vague sensation of biological familiarity, yet am also a complete foreigner, I am persistently bound to this intricate feeling of belonging, synchronic to a slight feeling of alienation—unlike anything I have felt in my life—and, I believe it surprisingly makes me feel more human and especially more "American" than ever before.
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...continue reading "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

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By maxleo43

Any time I travel, I always take notice of what people wear. Fashion is an excellent representation and states a lot about the culture of an area. For example, Street wear is very popular in Shanghai, and despite there being hundreds of Chinese fashion designers, people prefer to wear American and European designer brands. Supreme, Off-White and Balenciaga are a few of the most common brands worn here. While these are popular in the U.S., they are nowhere near as big as in Shanghai. Regardless of income, the people here seem to be well dressed and have a pretty decent grasp on style and fashion.

This week, Shanghai hosted Shanghai Fashion Week, complete with runway shows and a trade show for industry professionals. One of my roommates and I attempted to get tickets to a runway show (we had no preference) but despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to make any progress. We even sent emails saying that we were journalists (My roommate wrote for a Journal in Buenos Aires for a few months and I have written for a food blog) who wanted to cover Fashion Week (We were actually planning on writing an article). We had almost given up hope until we found out that we had a connection who could get into an official fashion week after-party on Friday night. We thought we had finally made it.

In our minds, we were going to mingle with fashion professionals who would help us create a diverse network. As such, we needed to look our best, and so we set off to the South Bund Fabric Market. We set out with the goal of getting well-tailored, bespoke suits in slightly less common fabrics. We had done some research and knew which stall to go to to get suits made and went into the experience feeling pretty confident. We showed up at Kate&Kevin and explained our situation to Kate. She told us that despite our short timeframe (3 days), she could get two suits and two shirts tailored and even include a fitting. We were surprised, but she was incredibly nice and just seemed accommodating. Due to this, we ordered suits. I ordered a lightweight olive-green two-piece suit and my roommate got a heavier wool purplish-brown suit. Kate took around 15 different measurements and told us that we could return on Friday morning for a fitting.

...continue reading "Fashion Week"

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By Shannon Fitzpatrick

Last post, I described the role that passion plays in fostering a sense of community. To build off of that, I’m going to talk a little bit about letting passion drive service. As I previously posted about, I have found an amazing yoga community here in Shanghai and am incredibly grateful to have met so many individuals with similar passions to my own . With almost three months down, and about a month and a half left of my time in China, I have been starting to think about my plans after my time in Shanghai.

In July, I will be heading to Uganda, Africa for the summer. In Uganda, I will be working with an organization called the Giving Circle, which is a non-profit organization that assists with educational and health development in poor regions of the world. In particular, I will be working with midwives in the African village called Kagoma Gate Village. In Kagoma Gate, I will be observing and assisting with health practices in an underdeveloped region of the world. The work that the Giving Circle does is incredible, and I am very excited to be a part of their efforts. The organization has been expanding and making unbelievable transformations in the Kagoma Gate community. As an entirely non-profit organization, the more money that is raised, the more aid the Giving Circle can provide.

Living in Shanghai, I have experienced life in a developed city where most of the population is relatively well off. Thinking about my near future, I will be living in a location vastly different from my current one, transitioning from a global city to an underdeveloped village. I began brainstorming how I can use my time here in Shanghai to help the individuals in Uganda who I will be working alongside for the summer.

One of my friends here named Sarah is currently a PhD student at the university where I am studying. Sarah was the yoga instructor at a yoga class I attended on campus, and we began to talk about yoga and have been friends ever since. A few days after I met Sarah, she invited me to an outdoor yoga class that she was holding at a nearby park. I had such a fun time with Sarah and her friends, and got an idea for a fundraising event to benefit the giving circle.

Now that temperatures are rising in Shanghai, I am hoping to host a fun night time yoga session outdoors. As of now, I am planning on co-teaching with Sarah, who speaks Chinese, so that she can cater to the Chinese speakers and I can cater to the English speakers. Between the two of us, we can spread the message about our event to our friends here in Shanghai, and by creating a suggested donation for the class, we will be able to raise some money for the Giving Circle. If all goes well, we can maybe even hold more than one event. It will be such an incredible feeling to be surrounding with new friends for a night of yoga for a great cause and I am looking forward to sharing more details on the event to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A photo recap of our previous outdoor yoga session!

 

 

 

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By Maya Haziza

Its crazy to think that I arrived in my apartment in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong just 5 months ago. I remember sitting in the back of my taxi from the airport and seeing the city lights of Hong Kong from and feeling so much excitement about the unknown journey I was about to embark on. I have now visited so many countries in Asia, but there is something very, very special about living, studying, and now working in Hong Kong. Most people who are unfamiliar with China and Asia in general can’t exactly picture what it is like to live in a city like this and little do they know that Hong Kong is also an island. The reason I love this place so much is because it is the most fast paced, dynamic, disorganized, exciting, and beautiful place in the world. It was easy to transition to living here because most people in Hong Kong speak English in certain areas and the city is filled with expatriates living and working abroad. After noticing the amount of international expats who are now so synthesized into the city, it showed me that being outside of your comfort zone is sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself. Many people are not brave enough to pick up their things, move to a foreign country, and start their lives from scratch. But I think that this exact challenge is what makes the people in Hong Kong different than any other city. In Hong Kong – there is comfort in discomfort and there is a ceiling for possibility higher than you can imagine. I have met people from all over the world simply by sitting at cafes and starting up a conversation and even landed an interview for a company based in LA, when meeting someone in Hong Kong. The connections are endless and I strongly urge people studying abroad or planning to – to take advantage of every single moment of every single day and to talk to as many people as possible, no matter where you are. Casual and professional connections are the greatest assets a person can have and can get you very far if you are genuine and trust in people. Be kind to others and be open, because you never know where it will take you.

Unless otherwise indicated, the content and opinions expressed on this web site are those of the author(s). They are not endorsed by and do not necessarily reflect the views of the George Washington University.
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