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Tag: Max Leo

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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 maxleo43

You will oftentimes hear people talk about the difference between a house and a home. From my experience living in cities, I have found that the turning point occurs once there is a community surrounding your house. It becomes a home when you have people you care about around you, and a physical environment that you appreciate. At GW, I found this very quickly. I made fast friends with my neighbors in my dorm and fell into a rhythm within a few weeks of arriving on campus. Despite living in three different buildings during my year and a half on campus, I found continuity throughout and always felt a sense of attachment to my house. At GW, my house was almost instantly my home. While it took a little longer, I had developed a similar feeling here in Shanghai, until last week when my community changed.

I live in an apartment complex that is slightly down the street from Fudan University’s campus. My building has 12 stories, with no one living on the first floor. The backside of my building faces a two-lane street called Wudong Road. On the backside of the building, there were several businesses including two convenience stores, a western food stall, a cell phone stand, a Korean restaurant with a to-go window, a wonton soup stall, a fried rice stall, another Korean food stall, and a sit-down restaurant. These are the only businesses within a quarter mile of our building, and so they were always popular with all of the international students who lived in the apartment complex. Essentially it would be like living in Potomac Hall and having four or five additional restaurants next to Carvings. It created a community and was just a part of everyone’s lives.

Then it all came to an end this week when the police shut all of the food stalls and restaurants down, with the exception of the final sit-down restaurant listed above. It first started with the police showing up on Sunday night and telling all of the businesses to close up and hanging tarps over their entrances. Then on Monday, the police came and destroyed all of their equipment. Then on Tuesday, several men showed up and piled cinder blocks in front of the stands and completed closed off the restaurants with blocks and mortar. I have heard several rumors as to why the food stalls got shut down but have yet to actually find any solid evidence.

...continue reading "Sense of Community"

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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 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 maxleo43

I never quite understood the idea that someone would need to “get out of the city.” I had always heard about it in regard to people in New York City being too overwhelmed by the city and having the desire to go somewhere quieter. In DC, I never felt this. I had come from a rural area and wanted to be in an urban location, that’s why I chose GW! It wasn’t until I got to Shanghai that I truly understood this notion. So, this weekend I decided to get away and travel with a group of seven friends to Guilin and Yangshuo, two towns that are a three-hour flight south of Shanghai. It was absolutely amazing.

In order to maximize our vacation, we decided to fly out early on Thursday morning. We had a flight that left Shanghai at 7:10 AM. We took Didi’s (Chinese Uber) to the airport and then caught a direct, three-hour flight to Guilin. Flying in China is a unique experience. The airport security is different than from the U.S. In China, you can keep your shoes and jacket on, and liquids do not have to be removed from your bag. However, the security guards seemed to be pretty unfamiliar with some of the liquid products and confiscated them as a result. For example, one girl had her contact solution taken, and another lost two bottles of Tabasco. Once you get on the plane, you almost guaranteed to be greeted by a completely full plane. It seems to be rare to have open seats. During the flight, regardless of its length, you will be served a meal. It is almost guaranteed that you will have the choice between noodles and rice, both with some kind of meat (sorry vegetarians). Once you land, it is a mad dash to get off the plane. Then you will all depart, grab your bags and try to find out how to get a public bus ticket to get to your destination. For our trip to Guilin, this process went well once we got through security and we ended up getting to our hostel smoothly by taking two different buses.

We only had one night in Guilin so we spent the full day exploring. We went and got Korean food for lunch and then took a bus to the reed flute cave. This cave was very large and pretty, but also very touristy. There were colored LED lights everywhere that gave the cave a very odd glow at times. Regardless, it was still a cool visit and there were several areas that were very pretty.

...continue reading "Exploring China"

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By maxleo43

When talking to other people living in Shanghai, I frequently get asked if I like the city so far. This is an easy question to answer. Shanghai is amazing. It has a few flaws, but those are significantly outweighed by its amazing amount of culture, social scene and landmarks. I want to showcase a few of the things that I have found in this city so far, which perfectly illustrates what Shanghai has to offer.

  • Langxiao Jiutian: There are a ton of great restaurants within a ten-minute walk of where we live. This place definitely takes the prize for best meal. They roast whole lamb legs outside on a charcoal grill. You simply order a leg and then pay by the weight. They then bring it to your table and carve it in front of you. This has been one of the best meals I’ve had so far, and it comes at a great value, about $12 per person.
  • Yuyuan Gardens: These gardens provide a lively refuge in the middle of a busy city. It was mostly destroyed during the first opium war but was rebuilt in the 1960’s by the Chinese government. The garden can be very busy, but it features traditional Chinese architecture and a wide variety of different plants. It is a great way to step back in time while staying in the middle of downtown Shanghai. I went with the other students in the Global Bachelors program and we were all surprised by its beauty.

 

  • Epicure on 45: This restaurant is on the 45th floor of the Radisson Blu hotel, and has panoramic views of the whole city. While the menu is pricey, the views of the city are incredible, and it’s a much quieter atmosphere than some of the other viewing platforms in the city.

  • Starbucks Roastery: This is the largest Starbucks in the world, and they roast all of the beans in house. It is over 30,000 square feet and just opened last year. I personally don’t like the atmosphere of most Starbucks locations, but this one was very well decorated and just chill. The music was solid, and it is definitely a place I would consider going to do work. They also bake fresh bread and have a completely different menu.

  • French Concession: This is a very broad one, as the French concession is a very wide area that includes many of the top restaurants and bars in Shanghai. It is very popular among expats. The one thing that sometimes gets overlooked though, is the art. I was walking down a side street the other day and found an alley that was completely covered in murals. At the end of the street was a baby blue loveseat with a Michelangelo bust on it. It was one of the coolest things and could have been easily overlooked.

  • The Tipsy Fiddler: This is an Irish restaurant I went to for St. Patrick’s Day. They were showing the Ireland-England Rugby game and had a live band playing traditional Celtic music. It was a great environment and I met so many interesting people. Shanghai is full of people who are doing big things and so anytime I go anywhere, I like to talk to the people around me. I met a group of students from NYU Shanghai, another group from Fordham, and a woman who was in Shanghai for four days as a consultant for Deloitte. Overall, a very interesting group of people and a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

I hope that this can show at least some of the variety that Shanghai has to offer. It’s a great city for everyone because it truly allows for as much cultural immersion as you are comfortable with. They sell western food everywhere, and you can easily go to establishments that are full of foreigners. At the same time, it’s also very easy to immerse yourself in Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean culture, which is what makes this city so special.

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By maxleo43

Up until this past week, I hadn’t been to class in three months. The thought of school was not something that I was particularly excited about. Yet, after completing the first of sixteen weeks of classes at Fudan University, I am happy to say that I’m still alive.

It’s weird to be at Fudan because they have an actual campus. As normal as that should be, I am still not used to walking around and only seeing other students. There is a tower in the middle of campus that is 30 floors high. It can be seen from everywhere on campus and essentially serves as the campus’ north star. The rest of the campus consists of academic buildings that are about five stories high, several cafeterias (canteens) and some dorms. I live right off campus in an apartment building that houses international students. While there are international student dorms at Fudan, those are for degree-seeking students. My apartment is pretty nice and includes three bedrooms (there are three of us in the apartment), a living room with a TV, couch and dining table, bathroom, kitchen, and laundry alcove. It has definitely seen better days, but two weeks in, it feels like home.

Classes at Fudan are only held once a week (with the exception of languages) and most Chinese students will take around twenty-six credits (credits are calculated similar to how GW does it). I even talked to a student who is taking thirty credits this semester. School pretty much dominates students’ lives here and many that I talked to were not involved in any student organizations or off campus activities.

...continue reading "And Classes Begin"

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By maxleo43

My last week has truly been a whirlwind. I arrived in Shanghai on Saturday by high speed train and met up with the other students in the Global Bachelors students. Besides the seven classes that we had together last semester, and a handful of meetings, we were all mostly strangers to each other. At the same time, we all became fast friends and ended up spending a lot of time together. Together, we explored the city, going to museums, visiting landmarks, and eating an excessive number of dumplings. Through all of these, we made several observations about Shanghainese culture. Here they are:

  1. Health is treated much differently here. You rarely see people running and when there is the option of taking the stairs or the escalator, everyone will choose the escalator. Gyms are too expensive for most people to afford ($150+ per month). Despite a culture that doesn’t seem to specifically exercise, nearly everyone is thin and eats well. Most meals consist heavily of rice and vegetables and will often include meat. The people value health, but have a different approach than the U.S.
  2. The contrast between the rich and poor is truly stark. I was walking to dinner the other night and was in an area that did not appear to be particularly nice. While most of the buildings appeared to be rather rundown, one of them looked brand new. In front, there was easily $5 million worth of ultra-luxury sports cars. There is an incredible amount of wealth here, but there are also people who are homeless.
  3. The city is so clean. In my last blog post, I compared it to New York City. Shanghai is unbelievably clean for how big it is. There are constantly street sweepers driving down the street. The Chinese government also pays people to sweep the streets. As a result, you rarely see trash or even dirt, despite the age of the streets.
  4. It’s hard to find people who speak English. I kept hearing how everyone hear will speak English and I won’t have any problem not knowing Chinese. While I have been able to get by, very few people speak any English, let alone good English. Most people working in retail or at nice restaurants will speak English, but other than this it is pretty hard to find anyone. As a result, picture menus have saved my life another time. I’ve also been relying on my roommate pretty hard since he speaks fluent Chinese.
  5. Things don’t always make sense, but it works out. For example, classes start at Fudan tomorrow at 8 AM, yet we don’t register for classes until tomorrow at 1 PM. I’m not sure why we can’t register yet, but I know that it will be okay. Things may seem stressful, but in the end, I will have a schedule full of classes and everything will be okay, because it always is.

...continue reading "The First Week"

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By maxleo43

I am still trying to understand why someone would not want to come to China. If you love cities, Shanghai is one of the most metropolitan areas in the world. Like culture and history? Try Xiamen where historic architecture meets the modern world. Prefer the mountains? Wuyi Shan is the perfect mix of quiet town and picturesque national park. These are simply the different settings of China that I have experienced in only twelve days. I know from talking to people who live here that there are so many different landscapes to experience. The point being, China is as diverse in its offerings as the U.S., if not more.

Shanghai reminds me in many ways of New York City. While I am sure that over time I will find them to be very different, at first experience, I found some similiarities. They both have areas that are full of high rises and incredible expensive apartments (Manhattan and Pudong). This area is separated from the rest of the city by a river (The East River and the Pu River). The area immediately on the other side of the river is very trendy, but not as showy (Brooklyn and French Concession). Both cities then have a huge influence from other cultures and feature restaurants showcasing this cuisine. Finally, the pride that people have for these cities is very similar. Both cities give their residents bragging rights that you will hear people touting, even within the city. There is one big difference however; Shanghai is much more modern.

Xiamen is a large port city in Southern China. Many of its buildings are original and it feels very authentic. With the exception of two very large hotel towers, the city is relatively low. This makes the city feel smaller and more personable. It reminded me of Charleston, SC in its pleasant and welcoming atmosphere. Xiamen is heavily influenced by Taiwanese culture (They are only about 100 miles from each other) and has a number of street markets with fresh produce, handmade trinkets and tasty food. Xiamen is a warm southern escape from the cold of the north.

...continue reading "It’s Not What You Think"

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