Dr. Eric Freeman writes from China
Pictures from China by Dr. Eric Freeman05/26/08 6am
Weekend in Nanjing and Shanghai ?
This was my weekend free of any lectures and meetings so it was time for me to be a tourist. An early morning rise on Saturday and I was off to explore Nanjing. Another humid day with the temperature in the mid 90’s. I had my essentials: money, iPod, camera, and directions back to the hotel should I get lost. My first stop was to Confucius Temple. This temple in Nanjing was originally constructed in the year of 1034 during the Song Dynasty.
It was a place to worship and consecrate Confucius, the great philosopher and educator of ancient China. It is also known as Fuzimiao in Chinese. There are many temples dedicated to Confucius all over China with the largest and oldest one being found in his hometown, the present-day Qufu in Shandong Province. In front of the temple was the Qin Huai River. This river and surrounding scenery provided a great photo opportunity. There were so many tour groups of Chinese tourists getting in my way and preventing me from taking stellar pictures. Maintaining patience, I was finally able to snap away.
My next stop was Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum. I decided to buy a map of Nanjing determined to find this historical site all on my own. I was doing well for a while but then my head started to spin from trying to read the street signs and match up the Chinese characters with the ones on my map. Additionally, having a few close calls with some mopeds, it was time to hop into a taxi.
Covering an area of about 20 acres, Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum is located in the Zhong Mountain Scenic Area in the east suburb of Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. He was the father of the Republic of China, and was great forerunner of the Chinese democratic revolution.
He helped to bring down the corrupt rule of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and ended 2000 years of the feudal monarchy system, which led the Chinese peoples into a new age. The mausoleum is considered the holy land of Chinese people both home and abroad.
I was told by a few people before-hand that the mausoleum is a “must see” when traveling to Nanjing. Maybe equivalent to one checking out the Statue of Liberty when visiting New York City. I must say that I was extremely impressed. The construction began in 1926 and ended in 1929. Surrounded by beautiful scenery, I looked in front of me at the hard work of three years in the making.
Water in hand, I was ready for my ascent of almost 400 stairs to the top of the mausoleum where Sun Yat-sen laid to rest. It was midday with not a cloud in sight. Probably not the smartest time of the day for me to go but it was too late. With a few breaks along the way I finally made it to the top. I took many pictures and also some great shots of the city of Nanjing. After making my descent and sweating quite a bit, it was time for a frappachino break at good old Starbucks.
As I was fine tuning my frappachino with extra sugar, I glanced up and saw one of the few Americans I have come across during my month here. But what was even more shocking were the words coming out of his mouth. Fluent Mandarin Chinese. It was actually pretty funny and I was quite impressed. I went over and said to him, “Not too bad” in English. This guy was originally from New Jersey, of all places.
Small world. He has been living in Nanjing for almost one year. He was working on a masters degree in Chinese politics at Nanjing University, which has some affiliation with Johns Hopkins University where he went to undergrad. He told me about his thoughts on Nanjing, where to go, what to do. He confirmed how difficult it is to learn to speak, read, and write Chinese.
He minored in Chinese in college and more or less became fluent after 3 intensive years of study. He said how it is especially funny to be surrounded by the Chinese and they think you have no idea what they are saying, particularly when they are speaking about you. I asked him if he missed New Jersey. He said “at times, but not really.” Laughing, I grabbed by drink and said goodbye.
A bit more walking for me and then I decided to call it a day. I bought a watermelon from a street vendor. Watermelons here are quite different than those back home. I have eaten red and yellow ones. Both are quite tasty. What is even more interesting is the size of these watermelons. They are quite small, about half the size of ones grown in the United States. I am really not sure why. Maybe it is a special seed they have here. I will have to “google” it someday. Well, another busy day awaited me on Sunday as I was off to Shanghai so I decided to get alot of rest to be completely refreshed.
Another early morning up as I had to catch a train to Shanghai. I grabbed another taxi and headed to the Nanjing Train Station. Ticket in hand, it was easier than I thought. Just had to find the same train number on my ticket. Of course, even though it was 8am on a Sunday, the station was hopping with activity. I slept the majority of the 2 hour ride and before I knew it, I was in the most populous city in the People’s Republic of China.
I think the population of Shanghai is almost 20 million. This massive size makes New York City look like Topeka, Kansas in comparison. Attempting to walk through the enormous train station was quite annoying. I did not get very far, and managed to step on a few people’s heels in the process. Finally, I made it outside. Breathing the air in, I knew it was going to be another hazy, hot, and humid day.
Shanghai is located on China's east coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Originally a fishing and textiles town, today Shanghai serves as one of the nation's most important commercial, financial, industrial, and communications centers. Shanghai is widely regarded as a future global city and as the showpiece of the world's fastest growing economy.
Shanghai has a rich collection of buildings and structures of various architectural styles
Now I don’t mind eating food from street vendors as long as it appears sanitary. Cooking outside is a common occurrence all over Asia. Today was a first for me as I saw one guy selling meat off the back of his bicycle. Attached to the seat was a little charcoal grill with meat skewers roasting on top. I found this to be a great opportunity for a picture yet this guy refused to be in it. Moments later he jumped on his bike and took off quickly with the police in pursuit. Guess he did not have a street permit. I walked down a street with multiple department stores and got constantly harassed to buy fake rolex, gucci handbags, and bootleg DVD’s.
My last stop of the day was to the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum. I knew taking the bus was out of the question as I read that Shanghai also has the world's most extensive bus
I hailed another taxi and it took a good 20 minutes to get to the museum since the traffic was so congested. During World War II, Shanghai served as a place of refuge for many thousands of Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany. The museum had many poignant displays. I found it interesting that that there are over 250 Jews living in Shanghai at the present, with the amount growing by 30% each year.
It was time for me to head back to Nanjing. I had a ticket for the last train back of the day, so I could not be late. I was getting hungry. There was no shortage of noodles at the station so I bought one of those pre-packaged cartons. Large tins of hot water were located by the bathrooms to heat my noodles up. All I needed to find were some chopsticks. As I was riding back on the train I thought to myself how I have yet to be served any fortune cookies with slices of pineapples when I receive my bill….