A Caldwell China Summer

But what about Mongolia??

2009-06-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yes. We were there . . . and the account of those days are trapped on my (heretofore) trusty netbook in technology never-never land. In trying to upload pictures to post (a continuing battle on this journey) a malfunction occurred that even my go-to-guys for all things computer (Zach and Quint) couldn’t fix. Alas.

So for now I yield to the whims of technology and the ‘no-promises’ that comes with travel. It’s all good . . . and all a lesson in not being too attached to ‘stuff’ or to the illusion of control. (Also a lesson, perhaps, in backing up your work.) So come back later for the chapter on Mongolia. Meanwhile, thanks to the services of an internet cafe (1000 kip for every 10 minutes); let me tell you about Laos.

Only 16 of us continued for the week in Laos after the end of our China trek. At the Beijing airport sad good-byes were given to the eight who were catching flights back home to summer school, jobs or other travels: Anna, Andrew, Amy, Court, Katy, Victor, Riley and Katrina. Our group seemed suddenly small with tangible holes in our fabric filled only by the distinctive personalities of our missing travel mates.

Laos, or Lao, as those who live here actually call it, is China’s land-locked neighbor to the south. The entire population of this country (6 million) is less than half the population of the city of Shanghai where we began our journey. I like the lessons that come through contrasts and from Shanghai to Laos, the contrasts are profound.

It took three flights to get us here: First, from Beijing to Kunming in the south of China. Second, from Kunming to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. In Vientiane we boarded a small propeller plane (another ‘first’ for most of this group) for a fanciful flight over thatch-roofed villages, rice fields, jungled and mountainous countryside into the town of Luang Prabang. It is hard to fathom what this tiny county did to earn the sad distinction of being the most heavily bombed county in modern history. More bombs were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam conflict than on all of Europe combined during WWII.

We have come here at the invitation of Vansana Nolintha and his family. A Caldwell Fellow, Vansana heads this fall to graduate school in Ireland. He attributes the influence of growing up in post-war Laos as a compelling force for his choice of graduate studies in peace and conflict resolution. It is my second time here, having come at the end of our Fellows trip to Thailand, three years ago. I have happily anticipated a return visit to the graciousness of this country and the Nolintha family.

CHINA and LAOS: A STUDY IN CONTRASTS
Some snapshots of the contrasts between the two countries of this journey seem a most fitting way to describe Laos.

Food: We were content enough with food in China, especially the dumplings. The family style meal we shared each day had its own special charm. Twelve of us each around a circular table, typically with a ‘lazy-Susan’ style tray in the center. Dish after dish of food trickled out in the arms of servers until the center would heave with dishes of all manner of Chinese concoction. It was a challenge to eat even half the food put before us at each meal; bounty of food simply seemed to be the norm, it wasn’t that we didn’t eat with gusto. Aside from the occasional dish or our journey into Mongolia where we literally sweated over Mongolia hot-pot, Chinese food did leave some of with a longing for spicy food.

Food in Laos met that longing and exceeded it. Aside from the fundamental similarities of a prevalence of rice and the continuing scarcity of dairy foods, Lao cuisine much more resembles Thai food than Chinese, complete with a bounty of fresh herbs and hot peppers.

A small book with blank pages has been making its way around our group during our final week. We call it The Book of Firsts with each page an entry of a ‘first time’ experience someone has had on this trip. Thanks to a memorable lunch of beef basil and its generous portion of hot peppers, Quint can now claim his first experience of literally crying his way through a meal.

‘Lao Coffee’ would be another first for most of us. Strong dark coffee is only half of it. .. the distinctive ingredient is a layer of sweetened condensed milk in the bottom of the cup. It is usually a sweet surprise at the bottom of a first cup, after that you learn to stir before you drink.

We all find ourselves strangely missing chopsticks here. They had become second nature and using a fork now seems odd.

Transportation
One can easily walk most of Luang Prabang. For farther distances, ‘tuk tuks’ are the taxis of this town, a three-wheeled motor vehicle with covered extension on the back and two benches facing each other. Like China, motorcycles and bicycles dominate. While Laos gets my vote for best food, China wins hands for efficient transport in the rain. Drivers on a rainy day in Laos are hunched forward with an umbrella at 45 degrees to shield the on-coming rain; backsides are often wet. In the event that two people are on the vehicle, the driver has choice of two luxuries: either one umbrella and two hands on the steering wheel, or two umbrellas and a drier ride.

As for China, I loved a rainy day just to see the sea of purple, green, blue and yellow ponchos that emerged . . . and not like any ponchos I’d ever seen. Someone stands to make a small fortune to export the Chinese rain poncho, designed big enough to fit snugly over the front and rear of a vehicle, with slits for the side view mirrors and a clear strip of plastic for the headlight. Tucked underneath are a dry driver and his parcels. I had fun searching traffic to spot a pair of little legs dangling beneath a rain poncho, the only sign that an otherwise invisible child was onboard.

Religion
China, particularly in its urban centers, has a striking absence of religious structures and influence. While religious practice is now tolerated, it is not prevalent. In contrast, Laos is distinctly Buddhist. Orange-robed monks are a picturesque and common site and temples, or ‘wats,’ are numerous. Our deep immersion into Buddhist ritual came with the correlation of our visit with a grand twice-in-a lifetime ceremony at the Nolintha home. It stretched out over two days. The three hundred guests included a cadre of monks, our group, countless family members and friends and even the Governor of the province and the country’s cultural ambassador to Vietnam. The Laotians looked elegant in their traditional dress and our guys broke out the new suits which each had tailor-made while we were in Beijing. Two meals were part of the festivities. We dined under white tents erected on the Nolintha’s lawn in front of their spacious home. Laotian dancers preformed to the band playing traditional music. In due time, we were all dancing . . . Laotians and Americans together. They sang for us . . . we sang for them . . . toasts were made . . . language barriers became incidental.

We leave Laos with the artifacts of the final ritual of the two days, a baasi ceremony. For three days we will wear the many bracelets of white string which adorn each of our forearms, the bracelets tied there by the Nolinthas, their friends and family. Each strand represents the blessing of the person who tied it there, and with it their wish for our safe travel, our good health and happiness, and their wish that some day we return again to Luang Prabang.

Snapshots from MongoliaThe ladies pose for a picture after arriving at the Mongolian Yurt-Ranch.

The China Fellows exploring the Gobi Desert.

Brian wrestling a Mongolian herdsman.

Snapshots from Laos

The Fellows with Van at his family's ceremony.

Vansana's family and our hosts in Laung Prabang

BEIJING: "Oh the Mei Geo Ren. . ."

2009-06-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Great Wall. . . . The Forbidden City. . . . The Summer Palace. . . . The Ming Tombs Tiananmen Square. . . . The 2008 Olympic Village. . . . So many images of China are connected to this city, and we did them all. Beijing gave us our immersion into Chinese history and if one common adjective had to describe all these sites, the word ‘immense’ easily applies. The grand and imposing feel of these places so representative of China, parallels my larger sense of China in general.

These vast spaces held countless fellow tourists, predominantly Chinese seeing their own country. Faces of westerners stand out in the hoards and we were surprised to find ourselves also a featured spectacle as we moved through the sites of Beijing. Many would call to us, practicing their English greeting, “Hello! Hello!” Perhaps it was the size of our group, large enough to be noticed, or perhaps it is the youth, attractiveness and exuberance of the students, but it became our own amusement to observe how often the cameras of tourists were turned towards us. Some folks would pose at the edge of our group so as to get themselves in the picture snapped by their companions. The boldest would single out one just one of us and request that they pose for a photo. There were repeated targets so it was a fun side-line to keep score of who had the most photo shoots of the day. Among our guys Riley, Wren, and Quint had the height and the looks that drew the attention of many Chinese women, who also relished posing alongside them. Who knows how many tabletops or bulletin boards in China now hold pictures of our guys.

Katie and Anna were the favored female targets. And because Anna speaks Chinese fluently and has the fair skin so coveted in China, she received a few marriage proposals as well. (She is returning single to the States however, having declined all offers.) In this country we are Mei Geo Rens . . . Chinese for Americans; it is what we laughingly all now call ourselves.

The Great Wall
Somehow it’s June 13th. Somehow I’m in China, and by some great miracle I am going to see the Great Wall of China today. As a 19 year old girl, I am seeing things some people couldn’t dream of seeing. And those who dream so heavily of seeing may not, while I have never dreamed of such and then this opportunity was dropped at my doorstep. How do I process this? How do I conceptualize this opportunity? I will soak it up and feel the greatness.

This excerpt from one of the trip journals captures the excitement we felt heading out of the city to spend a picture perfect day hiking the Great Wall. The only shortcoming is that it just wasn’t enough time so when Andrew, one of the seniors in our group who had earlier spent a semester in Beijing, told of his prior experience of camping on the Wall, half of our group was determined to do the same. I opted out. It seemed responsible of me to stay available if the authorities called me to come deal with a bunch of Mei Geo Rens discovered on the Wall in the wee hours. I thankfully never got that call.

The campers had chosen a remote stretch of the Wall and set out in two teams. After a bus and taxi rides, the groups arrived, unknowingly, at opposite ends of the targeted stretch of Wall and each began their hike thinking the others were in front or behind them. Then in the dimming light of sunset each team spotted another group cross the great expanse of wall. They suspected these could be their buddies. One group used a telephoto lens but couldn’t confirm any identities, except for a glow that resembled the neon green mohawk of Ben. Then one group initiated a call across the wide expanse. Together they hollered, “Wolf!” and listened to their voices echo out across the hills. A pause, and then it came back to them, the response they had been looking for . . . “Pack!” Back and forth they then carried on . . . Wolf . . . Pack . . . shouted across the distance in what was surely the first NC State pep rally on China’s Great Wall.

The Night Market
Night Markets are quite the deal in so many countries . . . life and liveliness abounds where stalls sell all manner of street food, handcrafts and everything from batteries to bullfrogs. The Beijing Market has the feel of the fair to me . . . colorful lights are strung above our heads and down different alleys one can find various styles of music performed, dancing women, and a man telling stories for which you can pay to look inside a large box and see paper cut figures that enact his words. In the Beijing Night market, Katrina potted the small candied apples on a skewer that are so popular in China and, as she reminded us, that we had learned about from the key role they play in the film Farewell My Concubine which we watched together in preparation for this trip. (A film I highly recommend for capturing China’s history in the twentieth century and the influential role of Peking Opera in the culture. . . and if you’re ever in the Night Market try the apples as well. I especially recommend the ones that have been cored and have a walnut tucked in the center. Such deliciousness.)

While I was relishing apples, others were in such of more adventuresome fare and the Beijing Market can deliver. Some of the ‘foods’ and smells we encountered were far beyond appetizing , but we are mesmerized with the range of options. We had a kick with one vendor who looked like a character out of Mario Brothers (it is odd to see a Chinese man with a mustache) who jovially banters with us the news of what he is selling . . . the parts of a sheep unique to only a male of the species. Quint opts for something a bit more tame . . . and skewer of scorpions.

The Temple of Heaven
It was my favorite and most surprising place in Beijing. I was prepared for another Temple, and what I got was an experience of Beijing community. This is where the locals come to do their thing . . . whatever it may be. Walking through the grounds you move from dynamic experience to the next, each right into the next. The crowd are middle aged to older adults but the air is alive with ageless energy. We walk through Tai Chi ball (a variation on the disciplined moves of Tai Chi with racketball sized rackets and a ball), line dancing, ballroom dancing (one of the favorite forms of exercise here and they are good ), salsa dance lessons with a striking male teacher with a headset microphone and white dance leotards, a choir practice, games of dominoes and cards, flute players, opera singers, and clusters of instrumentalists in what resemble American bluegrass pick up bands. Under a grouping of trees I com e across people gathered around postings of paper hung on the trees or laid about underneath. The folks are bartering and I have obviously come across some kind of exchange, I just can’t figure what is the market item. Back on the bus our tour guide answers my question.. . oh that was the Marriage Mart, he reports. Parents go there to post notices about their eligible children and to arrange potential meetings. Jason also wandered through the Marriage Mart where a broker took him for a good eligible candidate and offered to be his agent for finding a wife. So far Jason is still with us.

The Bird’s Nest
Something magical happened when we visited the central site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. There in the midst of other tourists and large figures dressed like the Olympic mascots, mega screens playing highlights of the Olympics, and a ground crew erecting staging for an upcoming performance at the stadium . . . we played. Out of pockets came the feathered hacky sack like game toy that many of our group now carried with them, having learned to play from the local folks who come out each night near our hotel for several hours of skillful competition. Just as our guys had joined in playing the game with the neighborhood locals, other tourists join our guys to play. Play is a universal language.

We pass a delightful hour and a half giddy with the awareness that we are jumping and playing in a space that has seen such athletic greatness. Another journal excerpt captures it so well: We are in the Olympic Stadium. It’s a happy, happy place. Caldwell Fellows need an open field so our playful hearts can just let go. I believe all of us are children at heart. Maybe it’s because we work so hard and are so efficient at our lives that letting go is equally important to us all. It was effortless for us to just start turning cart wheels, making pyramids, laughing and singing. We were HEAVILY photographed by the Chinese tourists and that is an understatement. Oh, the Mie Geo Rens.

Katie, Van, Lauren and Dane climbing the Great Wall of China.

The view from the Great Wall

Kris & Amy at the Beijing Night Market

Andrew & Dr. Odom at Tienanmen Square

A Glimpse Into the Fellows' Travel Journals

2009-06-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

One of the common denominators of this trip (and all Caldwell Fellows trips) is that everyone keeps a journal, each in one’s own style. In one of our pre-trip sessions, we explored how to use journaling as a means of reflection, more than a simple record of activities. Folks have taken the recommendation to bring unlined journals and not to be confined by the routine of filling in lines of text. What has emerged is a collection of well-worn books of various size and style tucked under arms and into backpacks as we move through our days. They bulge with mementos (ticket stubs, receipts, random artifacts) pasted in among written words and sketches. We have a fair number of design students among us whose propensity to fill their books with sketches has rubbed off on everyone else. We talk about sketching as a vehicle to paying attention to detail and to “being present.” Being in a place of such grand sights, we cannot escape the fact that part of who we are here is being tourists. So, we strive to redefine how to be a good tourist.

Here are excerpts from a few journals:

***

What is autism? More importantly, how does one cope with a person with autism? How does a child or adult with autism cope and interact?

I sat there with four Caldwells, four children and five teachers. The teachers wore matching pink polo shirts, standing out against the brightly colored walls, tables, chairs and bookshelves. The tables had scars from previous battles against an array of colored markers. Each child was 4 or 5 years old and wearing a navy blue uniform, reminding me of what a sailor would wear. We sat among the kids as they trained their hands and eyes, making bracelets with bright colored beads and turning dough and a mixture of vegetables and pork into the tasty art of dumplings.

The children would talk, some more than others, yet not to each other. The teachers are like mentors, mothers, guides. They are playmates and providers of comfort. Tiny hands push into the dough, feeling the inside of the wet, floury ball.

I helped one kid with his bracelet, handing him beads. He would grab them out of my hand and say “sank you,” one of the few things he would say along with his numbers 1 through 10. “Sank you,” he would say in his soft little voice. He would repeat it again, “sank you.” “Sank you.” He loved the phrase, repeating it primarily for his own ears to hear. Each time he would say it a soft giggle followed, just a small one, a soft one, before another bead fell down the string.

What was the point of a day with these kids . . . . an experience for them? . . . . or an experience for me? -Wren

***

When I first arrived, I was placed with the least responsive child, a 5-year-old boy with severe autism. My initial reaction was to want to be with the most responsive, alert child – maybe I thought I would get the most out of it and feel accomplished and warm inside from all the interaction. After two hours by the side of this child, making bracelets and dumplings (he wanted to eat the raw dough and apparently my finger), exercising and feeding him lunch, I felt blessed to be able to work so closely with this child. His hands, they always wanted my hands. His voice only produced one word. His face was serious and poised, until it began recognizing my face. His little hands and voiceless presence gave me so much more. -Katrina

***

“The first time we meet we are strangers, the second time we are friends.” -old Chinese saying quoted to us by members of the Hangzhou Charity organization.

***

Experiences are like stars. They shine on their own with their own light, but it is not till you start to connect them into constellations that they really start to mean something. -Van

***

The Chinese college student I am having tea with is a real leader on his campus. He is doing a lot of service but coming from a sense of duty and obligation to his country and to his people. What a different and interesting framework . . . . How do I perceive myself in these China experiences? I hope to understand better my relationship to myself. China takes me out of my usual context . . . . to breathe new life. – Dane

***

Shanghai possessed an unprecedented energy. Maybe it was the lights or the constant bustle of people, 24 hours a day. Maybe it was the vertical race the skyline participates . . . . Whatever it may be, this city is experiencing a monumental time in history. I felt it in the streets, in the contrast of beggars and businessmen who represent the economical gap in society as communism fades and market forces take over. I felt it as I looked down from 88 stories high into the foundation going up of the tallest building yet for this city. At this turning point, I am blessed to be present to observe all of this.

As I ride past villages in rural areas, it is important to recognize that in China, just like other parts of the world, there are different ways of living. The metropolitan lifestyle in the cities may be “civilized” or “materialized,” but that alone does not constitute happiness or quality of life. -Kristin

***

While language appears to separate humans across the globe . . . . I attempt to defray that gap through drawing. (Written in the journal under a sketch of a Home Sweet Home resident, with his signature beside it). -Kristin

Kristin Cunningham

The (Mid)Night Train to Beijing

2009-06-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

Oh where are Gladys Night and the Pips?? If you have the good fortune to be old enough (age is revered here in China, you know) you may recall “Midnight Train to Georgia” (one of Motown’s greatest hits). Since I occasionally think it would be hilarious if life were actually a musical (I hold out as a defender of musicals among the front table crowd at Cup a Joe). . . Gladys Knight would have been on board the night train to Beijing with us, with some lyric variations, of course.

Gladys was the only missing feature on the otherwise surprisingly charming ride from Hangzhou to Beijing. A splendid rule for ensuring good travel is the Rule of Low Expectations. Practicing low expectations means that anything ‘more’ that comes along turns into a delightful surprise. My other experience on a night train riding across Thailand had already set a very low bar of expectation: a night of little rest on a sparse and rattley train. In stark contrast, here I sit in the early morning after an excellent night’s sleep. The ride is smooth enough that I sit with laptop resting easily on a linen topped table next to the window (the curtain sheers pulled aside for the view). The table also holds a thermos of hot water (standard fare for your tea drinking needs), a flower filled vase, a cut-glass plate, and a small collection of glossy magazines. Katie is still sleeping on the bunk above me; Kris and Lauren are nestled into their bunk across the small aisle in our private 4-sleeper car.

In fourteen hours we have traveled from Hangzhou to Beijing. The third city of our China venture approaches outside my window.

"Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil!"
Dane, Kristin and Dr. Odom on the train to Mongolia.

The Hangzhou Cultural Scene

2009-06-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Our stay in Hangzhou is our longest time in one place on this trip, time enough to sample a variety of cultural experiences.

WEST LAKE

For a mere 2 yuan, (about 30 cents) the city bus will take you to West Lake for a stroll on the scenic walkway which winds its twelve miles of shoreline. Benches and cafes tempt you to just hang out. The second floor of a coffee shop overlooking the lake became a favorite hangout for our group, particularly on one of the several rainy days in Hangzhou. Once folks discovered the secret to renting bicycles, sunny days were given to bike rides around the lake.

TAI CHI

Her name is May and she is about 4 inches shorter than my towering 5’3”. She looks like a China doll and intimidated every person in our group. May is a Tai Chi Master.

May gave us a two hour introductory Tai Chi lecture and demonstration. We learned of its roots in the warrior culture, its transformation to a spiritual discipline by Buddhist monks and its popularization in the west by Bruce Lee and the epic Kung Fu movies. (May is clearly a Bruce Lee fan. . . she even showed us footage of him as a young martial arts competitor before he became a film star, along with some favorite films clips). We practiced basic moves which were surprisingly more difficult than they looked, giving us even greater respect for Bruce Lee. . . and for May.

At the end of our lesson, May graciously invites any of us who wish to join her for Tai Chi practice at 6:30 each morning. Five of us: Dane, Ben, Candis, Van and I took on the challenge, some of us for a sample, some of us every day. Dane and I hung in for the duration. For five days May coached us through the same basic moves. For two days we talked about how difficult and humbling it was. My mind and body felt disconnected as I struggled with the elusive task of moving with the discipline and artistry May embodied. Gradually, with repetition, at the end it finally happened. . . the ability to coordinate the alignment of all parts of the body , each part in its given way, while gliding across the courtyard, peacefully. We had only managed one basic move but the words of ‘good job’ coming from our Tai Chi Master for a week in China were a sweet reward.

KARAOKE

You may think you know Karaoke. . . but anything in the US that passes as Karaoke doesn’t count. You have to do it in China. Far more than a bar room pastime, Karaoke is its own destination. KTB is a large Karaoke franchise and the one where we spent an evening in Hangzhou. It was one of several outings we shared with the other NC State group and a collection of Chinese students from Zhejiang University.

KTB consumes a space equal in size to the main floor of one of those anchor stores at the mall. In the glitzy lobby you purchase rental for one of the many private rooms in this complex. Our crowd of 50 or so folks rents 5 rooms. Each seats 10 to 12 folks on one grand couch that rings three quarters of the room. The fourth wall is reserved for the large screen television monitor that plays your selection from the consol of seemingly infinite choices from traditional Chinese opera to the more favored popular music of both Chinese and American genre. Subtitles give translations in whatever language you select (Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean being your choices). Changing colored lights in 1970s style pop design add further inspiration to those with performer fantasies. And yes, there is a microphone.

The couch encircles a coffee table which provides ample space for the trays of food or beverage you can bring to your room from KTB’s expansive cafeteria or bar. We have come at 5 pm for the early bird special price which gives us dinner tickets and three hours of room rentals, far below rental prices from 8 pm until 2 or 3 in the morning when the Karaoke joint is packed out.

Many of the American tunes are noted as ‘popularized’ by a certain artist, with a different voice rendering the song. Sometimes a look alike of the artist is the performer. (John Lennon’s double convinced one of our group that he was the real deal; I attribute this affront to the Beatles to the misfortune of her youth.) Some songs do feature the original artists, but are accompanied by random video footage, most often of an attractive western woman posing in some variation of sumptuous or love-lorn, in a scenic location. My favorite random match is a stylish blond in an ostentatious European palace matched to John Denver’s "Thank God I’m a Country Boy.”

In the room where our faculty group has cloistered a discussion carries on about these techniques as a skirting of copyright and piracy issues. Not that you think us total dolts, we do pitch in together for belting out our favorite classic rock tunes.

WEST LAKE IMPRESSIONS

Our last night In Hangzhou we set out with for an evening at “West Lake Impressions.” The show is outdoors, literally on the lake, so the threat of rain throughout the day has me distracted by the idea that the performance would be canceled and we would miss THE acclaimed experience of Hangzhou. The show is the by the artist who created the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With memories still powerful of viewing the ceremonies from a perch on the edge of my couch, I would willingly eat a platter of chicken feet, in the rain, to see more. . . and in person.

I am not disappointed. Holy Smokes. I cannot do justice to the imagination, color, artistry, and wonder of it all. The cast of hundreds, together with staging and lights and music transformed the lake’s expanse into a multi-dimensional panorama. A stage set just under the water’s surface, gave the performers seemingly magical powers to walk on water. There was a story being conveyed about two star crossed lovers (a universal theme). The program book contains the story line, with the awkward English translation to which we have become accustomed; but we get the gist of it.

Suffice it to say I’ve never witnessed anything quite like it.

As for the rain? It did sprinkle on us a bit but for a water experience it somehow seemed appropriate. Anyway, thanks to the packaged ponchos given us upon arrival we were dry in our sea of green, pink, blue and purple plastic. Of great amusement (and yet another juxtaposition of cultures at this very Chinese event) were the smiling faces of models wearing ponchos on the packages: photo shopped faces of none other than Tom Cruise and Britney Spears.

Lauren, Katrina, Riley, Quint, Brian, Kristin, Victor, Vansana and Kris
stop for a picture while on a bike trip around West Lake.

Some of the students in a music class the China Fellows
helped to teach on a trip to a rural Hangzhou school.

The China Fellows pose for a picture with a organization in Hangzhou that
specializes in helping professionals get involved in the community.

Celebrating Amy's Birthday at Grandma's Kitchen in Hangzhou.

More Photos from the Shanghai Alumni Dinner

2009-06-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

Janice Odom and Yipeng Yang

Vansana Nolintha and Xinbing Wang

Amy Stepp and William Arnold (son of Jim Arnold)

Miranda speaking with a group of Fellows

More conversation at the alumni dinner

Fellows listen to a speaker at the Shanghai dinner

Another speaker at the alumni dinner

Another speaker at the alumni dinner

More conversation at the alumni dinner

NC State Alumni Gathering in Shanghai

2009-06-15T12:32:00.001-07:00

Caldwell Fellows and the Shanghai alumni

Janice Odom with the Shanghai alumni

Quint Reid and Tao Liu

Jim Arnold and Zach Clawson

Caldwell Fellow Victor Brozovsky and China Fellow Candis Shiflett

Jeff Song, Ph.D. Corporate Vice President and President China for Ingersoll Rand, addressing the group in Shanghai

The Best Way to Travel

2009-06-15T12:31:00.001-07:00

I find myself contemplating a business venture where I would run a travel agency pairing up folks who want to see the world with a team of the folks I love traveling with most: young adults in their late teens/early twenties. You can’t beat ‘em for openness to new experiences, energy and flexibility. I can’t say enough about what fine travelers this team is. I have yet to hear a complaint, a whine, even a snippet of conflict and they have innate capabilities to find the cheapest way to have the richest experience possible. Best of all, I get to be reminded through their eyes every day how exciting new adventures are. From a first air plane ride to first time operating a Chinese washing machine (with no instructions in English, of course) it’s all a treat. And what will be the impact of this trip in their lives? Watching that unfold will be the most interesting part of all.

Our alum Jim Arnold in Shanghai, reminisced with us how the Fellows program had been his ticket as well to new adventures and a life path of greater depth and diversity than he had ever imagined for himself. As a freshman at NC State in 1970 from rural Virginia, it was the Fellows program that took Jim on his first airplane ride to Washington, DC. “I don’t think I’d be living here in Shanghai, having the experiences I’ve had, except for the Fellows program.” In an email after our week in Shanghai, Jim wrote: “I was curious to meet the group, perhaps subconsciously to compare them to my old Fellows Group, of whom I had the highest regard. After meeting your group, I am reminded in some ways of mine. I can see that the Fellows Program is still a vibrant and creative program with a lot of special people. That makes me feel very good to see the program doing so well.

CHINA TIME

I missed this little detail before arriving in China, so was fascinated to discover that in terms of area, I am in the largest country in the world with only one time zone. This single time zone is China Standard Time, or Beijing Time, which is Greenwich Mean Time, plus 8 hours (GMT+8). (We are twelve hours ahead of North Carolina time.) Once upon a time, back in 1912 under the Republic of China, the country was divided into five time zones. These were done away with in 1949 with the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the Communist People’s Republic of China (PRC).

This explains why sunrise here in the eastern part of China happens around 5:00 am and sunset comes about 7:30 pm. In western China, the sun may not rise until 10:00 am, and it sets much later than normal as well. The uniformity of time allows for a single unified national news announcement, programmed simultaneously all over the country, which serves to eliminate confusion or conflicting elements in hearing the daily news. Aside from the craziness of adjusting time of day to sunlight, I find myself imagining the appeal of one time zone for the US. It would be a win for those of us who detest resetting digital watches when we travel, who wonder what would be the impact on that tricky timing of ‘closing of the polls/reporting the voting outcome’ thing when we have a national election, and who miss seeing David Letterman because we are already asleep...

The China Fellows

Service Snapshots

2009-06-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

I could write a chapter on each of the service experiences we have undertaken, but it is better that these perspectives come to you by way of the students themselves. Stay tuned for excerpts from their journals that I will be posting in the days to come. Meanwhile, here’s a little context for what we did at each of our service sites.

WORKING AT THE MORNING STAR REHABILITATION CENTER FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

We divided our hoard into small teams of four or five and dispersed through classrooms where we sat in tiny chairs (less a challenge for me than for some of our 6’3” guys) among uniformed preschoolers. We engaged in a well orchestrated schedule of activities to draw the children into sensory and social interaction. We strung brightly colored wooden beads to make bracelets; did movement activities; made Chinese dumplings and shared lunch. The number one thing we did was to be impressed. On every front, Morning Star left us with great respect for the adults who worked lovingly and skillfully with these special children.

I got to work with a mischievous four year old who figured out that making dumplings with me was more interesting if in doing his job of placing filling onto the little circle of dough I held, he overloaded what was needed, each time working up to a bigger spoonful. With each larger portion he scooped, his laughter grew proportionally and his laughter fed mine. I’m not sure our shared hilarity fit into the structure on which a classroom for autistic children thrives, but it was one of the more memorable moments of this trip.

ATTENDING AN ART SHOW BY HANDICAPPED ARTISTS

An umbrella organization for handicapped services in Hangzhou arranged the various visits we are making here. They provide a network for support and services to their members. They arranged for us to meet a group of Hangzhou artists, each with some form of physical disability, and each one a gifted visual artist. They prepared us a show of their work that filled a sizeable conference room. The purchases we made support the livelihood of the artists we had the privilege to meet, and will surely be treasured among the souvenirs of this trip.

Riley Huston taking in the art at the Art show by handicapped artists in Hangzhou.

Artists at the show

ACCOMPANYING AND AIDING IN TRANSPORT FOR A TOUR OF WEST LAKE BY A GROUP OF LOWER-LIMBED HANDICAPPED PEOPLE

West Lake is, by far, Hangzhou's most prominent feature. The large lake sits in the middle of the city and is surrounded by ancient temples and gardens. Within the lake itself, there are multiple islands to visit and a causeway that is lovely for walks. It is not so lovely, however, if a wheelchair is your means of mobility; handicap access is non-existent. This made for the perfect pairing, our team of able bodied young adults with a group of lower-limbed paralyzed men. (Some of whom were artists we had met the day before at the art show.) We provided the manpower to lift wheelchairs onto a boat, up steps, and across embankments otherwise impassable. Together we shared the wonder of West Lake, as it was the first time there for all of us. Hard to believe, but true, that these men, having lived all their lives in Hangzhou had before our shared excursion never been around the most prominent feature of their city, all for the lack of means to do so.

WORKING AT A RURAL SCHOOL ALONG WITH VOLUNTEERS FROM THE HANGZHOU CHARITY FEDERATION

Together with members of the Hangzhou Charity Foundation, we traveled three hours into the rural area. Our trek took us past rice fields and oxen and around a reservoir created by a hydroelectric power plant. There were several close encounters between our bus and other vehicles on the final portion of narrow winding road leading to the school. The school itself was a startling sight; In the middle of seeming nowhere, a gleaming new, state of the art facility. Money for this school (11 million) had been raised by charity efforts.

The Hangzhou Charity Foundation comes to this school to provide adult support for children whose families in this community have been disrupted by the common phenomenon of change in rural China: adults leaving the poverty of the rural areas to pursue employment in the cities, leaving children behind in the care of grandparents.

We spent our day teaching English, music, and movement games. We also observed a masterfully led intergenerational workshop designed to address the stress on relationships between children and their family members caused by the social disruption of migrant labor into the cities. The skill of the workshop leader, a professional from the department of education in Hangzhou, impressed us, as did the foresight of the educational system to offer such intervention.

Fellows and members of the Hangzhou Charity Federation having lunch at the rural school

MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF THE HANGZHOU CHARITY FEDERATION FOR DIALOGUE ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES IN ATTITUDES ABOUT SERVICE ACROSS OUR TWO CULTURES

It is an understatement to say that China and the US have different ideologies about the relationship between the individual and the larger community as well as different ideas about the concept of service. We have been wearing our anthropological hats in trying to be adept cultural observers on these issues. One of our richest exchanges came through time spent with the young professionals who belong to the Hangzhou Charity Foundation. (The same group that we accompanied to the rural school.) They remind me of a group like Rotary in the US. They devote a portion of their free time and means to address social needs in their community.

In an office building several stories above the streets of Hangzhou, we shared an evening of honest and deep dialogue that dispelled many stereotypes of each other’s culture. We discovered in each other a parallel community of well educated, warm and humorous, service-committed peers.

We left heartened. ... and with gifts: CDs of Chinese opera and ball caps with the organization’s logo. (For every meeting and visit we have made, in Chinese tradition, we have left with gifts. I’m threatening to make our group wear their hats when we travel so we can fit in with the Asian tourist groups we encounter who typically wear matching hats and follow their tour leader who carries a flag and a megaphone. ... Now where can I get a flag. .??)

Of Swine Flu and Service Learning

2009-06-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

HANGZHOU

Southwest of Shanghai, about three hours by bus, is the provincial capital city of Hangzhou. The city stands at the foot of a range of hills, the Xitanmu Shan (“Eye of Heaven Mountains”), and on the shore of the famous Xi (“West” ) Lake, historically celebrated for its beauty and carefully preserved as a scenic district and tourist attraction. The silk industry, a major hydro-electric project southwest of the city, a Caterpillar tractor plant, and the industries of tea processing, grain-milling, and cotton and hemp manufacturing, all contribute to the vibrancy of Hangzhou.

Hangzhou is also home to Zhejiang University, one of the top-ranking research institutions of higher learning in China. With 331 academic and Master’s programs and 283 Doctoral programs, it has a student body of 39,000. It is also the University where for the past three years NC State has had a summer study abroad program. This connection and Hangzhou’s appeal as one of China’s most beautiful cities are the reasons it is the second stop of our expedition.

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE QUARANTINE ROOM

The concern that we Americans might be carriers of the H1N1 virus (no one calls it swine flu here) did not end once we got past our welcome at the airport by the temperature-checking, spacesuit-wearing SWAT teams. Our arrival in Hangzhou and Zhejiang University brought a whole new level of scrutiny about our health. Since we, thankfully, had been in the country more than seven days once we came to Zhejiang, we were spared the practice that new arrivals to the country have been getting at the University: reporting for daily temperature checks. We are relegated, however, to eating in a special dining room in the company of other westerners, of which there are quite a few here in the International College section of the University, which hosts summer study abroad programs. Our students wryly refer to it as ‘the quarantine room.’ In addition, one of the service agencies with which we were to have worked in Hangzhou has cancelled on having us with them, due to their concerns about H1N1.

If you want to create a little space for yourself as a westerner in this very populated society, just dare to sneeze in public. The Chinese scatter from you like dandelion fluff in a strong burst of air. Why this level of caution? While it may seem like over-reaction (much the way I feel about certain airport security measures, but that’s another topic), one need only remember the devastating impact of the SARS epidemic in China to respect their high level of caution. Deaths from SARS and the government’s denial of any problem during that time resulted in terrible press for the country. China’s density of population, combined with their less than adequate infrastructure to deal with a major infectious outbreak, gives understanding to the prudency they are practicing around H1N1. Given our otherwise close quarters at Zhejiang, ‘the quarantine room,’ by the admission of our Zhejiang host, provides nothing other than ’psychological comfort’ to the Chinese. We have mused what might have been the terrible indiscretion of the young Chinese staff member we see each day in ‘the quarantine room’ whose apparent punishment has been to be relegated to spending all of his working hours serving food to potentially infectious westerners. . .

The "booties" we wore as a precaution while visiting a Dair

TELLING OUR STORY

The H1N1 segregation, along with the reputation that westerners are excessive drinkers (created by the unfortunate prior behavior of guests from some other study abroad programs) made for a somewhat somber arrival to Zhejiang for our group. Coupled with these distancing factors has been the fact that ours is the only program here that rather than attending classes each day is engaged in ‘service learning,’ a concept new to the Chinese and somewhat confounding even to our fellow westerners. George, our primary host at Zhejiang, said that when he was first told about a service-learning group coming, he googled the term to see what it meant. Under Chinese sources, he found nothing. ‘So I looked under English sources’, he said, ‘and there I found plenty.’ This is how new the concept is in China and how interesting the opportunity we have to be an example of service learning at work.

Ever the diligent diplomats, in a group reflection session on our second night in Hangzhou, our students proposed offering a presentation about the mission and methodology of our trip for those outside our program.

What resulted was a seminar prepared and led by our group to leaders of Zhejiang’s International College, Chinese students in the ‘3 Plus 1’ program (who will have three years of their education at Zhejiang and one at NC State) and faculty from our own campus who are here with the NC State Hangzhou study abroad program. Their content included history of the Caldwell / China Fellows and explanation of the theory and practice of service learning. They explained the academic work in which they have been engaged, which gives intellectual grounding to the cultural experiences provided by our hands-on engagement in the community.

The group shared their reading list, the outline of our seminars and the model of our trip writing project, and read aloud excerpts from their journals and essays. Accompanied by PowerPoint slides, they shared photographs of each of the four service-learning sites were we have worked.

The Chinese were fascinated and impressed with what our group is undertaking, and our own NCSU faculty gave validating feedback to our group. Perhaps one of the most telling responses was made by one of the Chinese students, Marshall, who told of accompanying us to our service sites as an interpreter and in the process becoming quite taken with the new experiences he was having as a volunteer. He now dreams of this kind of community engagement when he comes to NC State for the coming year. Our group has promised to make him an honorary Caldwell for the coming year and to include him in the various projects in the Raleigh community where they are volunteers.

“SHOWING UP”

It has become one of the mantras among Caldwell students. “Showing Up” is perhaps the most important aspect of offering service. “Showing Up” means that simply valuing enough the lives of others to invest in spending time with them can be the most significant contribution that service volunteers make. We don’t believe in showing up with any agenda to ‘help’ or to ‘fix’ (the typically American perspective); rather we show up with an attitude of respect for how a local community is addressing their social issues. We show up to work alongside and to learn from and with them. Service learning is a reciprocal process. Frankly, “showing up” matters a great deal as well in places where the option to travel outside of where residents are is simply not an option. Economic or political reasons aside, it is the same. Our coming (as long as it is with equal regard) is validating; this is a place and a people where we want to invest and learn from. It also provides a broader world to those who are prohibited from having that broader world through the opportunity of traveling firsthand. Yes, we must contend with the responsibility that comes with having the means to be the ones who can travel, and to show up with the awareness and humility of that privilege.

Through our connection to Home Sweet Home by way of Jim Arnold, meeting needs of the handicapped became the social issue around which our service-learning efforts in China are centered. In Hangzhou, we have been spending our days across a number of projects. While our practice on other trips has been to immerse deeply in one project for at least two weeks, this trip has been about showing up for a number of ventures, all related to understanding and serving the special needs of the handicapped. This broad versus deep approach has been dictated by the norms of the agencies we have served and the fact that we are in a community where Americans showing up to volunteer is still a somewhat peculiar notion.

Here’s what we have been doing:

- Working at the Morning Star Rehabilitation Center for Children with Autism

- Attending an art show by handicapped artists arranged especially for our group by the Commission of the Handicapped People and spending time with the artists

- Accompanying and aiding in transport for a tour of West Lake by a group of lower-limb-handicapped people

- Working at a rural school (three hours outside of Hangzhou) along with volunteers from the Hangzhou Charity Federation

- Meeting with members of the Hangzhou Charity Federation for dialogue about the differences and similarities in attitudes about service across our two cultures.

Culinary Adventures

2009-06-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

One thing that makes this group an ideal traveling team is that there is not a picky eater in the bunch. In fact, these folks will try anything. This has resulted in some new culinary adventures for us all. Here are a few new tastes from my last few days: chicken feet (seems like a lot of work for not much), eel (more benign than I expected), glutinous rice ball (the name is terribly off putting and the reality rather like a big lump of super-slimy tapioca), and roasted cicada (which if you can overlook having little cicada legs stuck in your teeth, is actually quite tasty. Roasted means crunchy and rather chewy with a rich flavor of garlic.)

This group is also great at tracking down local holes in the wall for authentic and inexpensive food. Needless to say, these venues do have English translations on their menus. Not to be daunted, we have mastered the fine practice of pointing to whatever dish looks good on someone else’s table and taking our chances. This in turn provides interesting meal conversation as we play the ‘what are we eating?’ game.

I find breakfast food in different countries is particularly intriguing. The food we begin our days with typically has a narrower range of menu than other meals and seems to thrive on routine. In China noodles and dumplings are the fare for three meals a day if you like. Throw a fried or boiled egg on top of those noodles or wrap it in a crepe and voila! China breakfast. Fruit and some sweet sesame crusted balls (whose name I have yet to learn) are also common. You can, of course find other variations including, to my surprise, a nice array of pastries. I have tried to start my day with the green tea that is in available In my room, but my propensity to coffee has had me on a quest in each of our locations. Downtown Shanghai was easy . . . coffee shops are part of the diverse westernized scene. Here at the University there is a coffee shop a few blocks from my room . . . with good coffee and good pastries, but which sadly doesn’t open until the late hour of 8:00 a.m. Have I mentioned that the sun is up at 5:00 a.m here?

A Place of Elaborate Contradictions

2009-06-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

China is a complex place and like the traffic that I still walk through with trepidation, it seems that opposing forces are propelling towards one another from all directions. In near collision are the ancient social ideology of Confucianism, the control of a one-party government, and the embrace of economic reform that is transforming China into a capitalist society.

After four days of seminars with Jim Arnold on the history and current issues of China, along with our readings and seminars prior to coming, our last seminar with Jim on the future of China was a fitting capstone. Joined by a panel of business leaders in Shanghai, friends of Jim, we listened and debated the complex questions facing China at this time of huge intersection:

Will China evolve to a two party democracy?

What will be the primary belief system / ideology in the future of China?

What will be the key drivers for China’s future foreign policy?

One of the panelists, Jeff Song, Ph.D. is Corporate Vice President and President for Ingersoll Rand China. Earlier in the week he had been to Beijing to join a team of Chinese business leaders in conversation with Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry about American/Chinese business and environmental issues. He and fellow panelist James Wu, former General Manager at Honeywell, had both been the age of or students during the Cultural Revolution. They had sobering stories to share of that era when among other upheavals in the society, all universities were shut down. Jeff went from being a university student to working on a farm near the Chinese/Russian border for a decade. These two were exceptions to what happened to most of their generation, they survived the upheaval, returned to finish their educations and become successful businessmen.

Jin Dai and James Wu, both in their late thirties or so, represented the perspective of a younger generation in the conversation. All four spoke frankly about the “superficial harmony but underlying tensions” of China today. The timing of our trip corresponds with the twentieth anniversary of Tiananmen Square in June of 1989 which makes these particularly sensitive days in China. Police presence is up in sensitive areas, we are told, and blogging spots have been restricted or shut down to discourage the exchange of ideas and social organizing. Thus the limits on my access to Blogspot. China is clearly in the midst of huge economic reform. This reform has not yet extended to politics and since Tiananmen, some feel, the country is less tolerant and social unrest has increased.

The Woes of Blogging

2009-06-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

If you are following this blog, you have surely noticed the infrequency of my posts. Time for some explanation. For a few years I have maintained a trip blog as a fun sideline to traveling. This year the NC State Alumni Association upped the ante with the challenge that I keep this not strictly as a personal blog but as one for the program with a link from the AA website. This in turn also upped my expectation on the frequency and rigor of my postings as well as my intention to master new technology skills in order to post pictures and have regular computer access.

Setting high expectations is the perfect set-up for frustration. Or in a more Zen sense, to be reminded of all that we do not control . So this post serves to explain the obstacles and my inner journey in reframing expectations.

The biggest challenge to blogging from China is the simple fact that blogging sites, such as Blogspot, are inaccessible here. (More explanation on that to come.) I knew this before leaving the US and arranged to send documents as email attachments to the communications staff at the Alumni Association. Thanks to them (Chris and Cherry and some interns), you are reading this. I cannot see the final product here.

I came to China with a new tool to master my blogging task: a ‘netbook’ personal computer. This would surely be an improvement over my prior dependency on internet cafes. In part it has been . . . when the computer is working (some glitches with that) and access is available (more limited than I expected) and when it is available, to have my computer configured correctly to meet the demands of our changing locations. At the University in Hangzhou, a technician had to reconfigure my IPN address to sync with the university system (a two and a half day process.) These hurdles have meant intervals of several days with no access. Finding time in our schedule to sit and write has been the other obstacle. So here is my official reframing of expectations about this blog. While I continue to strive for frequency, the reality is that you are likely to see hunks of entries posted sporadically vs. a neat calendar of daily posts. This experience provides yet another chance for me to practice one of traveling’s best lessons: be in the moment, be flexible to accept whatever may come. And don’t let the obsession to document the experience get in the way of having the experience itself.

And fittingly, I am off to a Tai Chi class. . . .

“Where the Winds of Dixie Softly Blow, O’er the . . . Streets of Shanghai”

2009-06-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

If one were to imagine a slight alteration to the opening line, the NC State Alma Mater took on new meaning Saturday night. It wasn’t the hills of Caroline, and we were eight thousand miles from Raleigh. Still, Wolfpack pride was tangible as the Caldwell and China Fellows were joined for the evening by Shanghai area NC State alumni. Over dinner and the sharing of stories, common ground was found around favorite Raleigh hangouts, shared courses and professors, and a bit of Wolfpack sports.

Quint Reid, a junior in biochemistry discovered that he had professors in common with Tao Lin, who did his graduate work in Chemical Engineering and now works for Bayer Technology Services as Head of Redaction Technology . One name they had in common was Lisa Bullard, faculty in chemical engineering as well a Caldwell Fellow alumni .

Yipeng Yang completed both his Master’s in Financial Math as well as his PhD in Operations Research at NC State. That meant 27 graduate courses. Another product of the NC State math department was Jin Dai, now an Underwriter with Cologne Reinsurance Company Shanghai Branch. I was lost in the conversation when they both met Zach Clawson, a junior in Mathematics and they began chatting higher level math lingo but was amused with the chatter over how many professors they had shared. Yipeng spent five years in Raleigh, and he wistfully adds, "I have a lot of feelings there." He also has warm and wistful feelings for Raleigh weather and for North Carolina beaches. . .

The alumni dinner had been one of the much anticipated events of our trip; our group was enamored with the idea that we could travel this far and find NC State folks. With the exception of Jim Arnold, who received his undergraduate degree from NC State in statistics (class of 74) , others at the Alumni dinner had all attended NC State for graduate school. Each of these alumni is now in some significant leadership role in Shanghai.

Ping Liu who completed her PhD at NC State in atmospheric sciences is a faculty member at Jio Tong University. She works with a team designated to improve Shanghai air quality, specifically for the 2010 World Expo to be held in Shanghai.

Xinbing Wang is the spouse of Ping Liu and is an Associate Professor at Jio Tong in the Electrical Engineering Department, teaching about wireless communication. He earned his PhD in electrical Engineering at NCSU.

Miranda Yue Dai, an Associate Professor in the Department of Management Science at Fudan University is also the organizer for NCSU alumni activities in Shanghai. Miranda exudes pure enthusiasm when she talks about NC State. “We are very proud of NC State and hope NC State can be proud of us." she says. Miranda wrinkles her nose a bit when she admits her husband graduated from Duke, then her eyes twinkle as she adds, "The NC State Shanghai alumni are more connected than the Duke alumni!"

I get very emotional when people mention NC State, Miranda says. "That was the place where I changed a lot; I rebuilt myself."

“We hope you can visit us many more times in the future,” Miranda tells us several times. Then she enthusiastically adds: “When Is NCSU hosting the global reunion . . ?!”

Touching the Sky in Shanghai

2009-06-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

Shanghai sits at the confluence of the Wusong and Huangpu rivers. The area along the east of the Huangpu is widely known as The Bund. West of the river is Pu dong, an area that twenty years ago was countryside and now is home to a truly stunning mass of skyscrapers. The tallest of these is 102 stories, but only until one under construction, even taller, is completed. On our next to last day in Shanghai, we took on Pu dong, lunching along the river in one of the numerous outdoor venues and then ascending skyscrapers to catch our breaths over views the city that is China’s largest. Shanghai is home to 18 million people. When we leave here we downsize to Hangzhou, only 6 million. If that doesn’t blow your mind, maybe this will: China has close to 200 cities with over one million people. The US has nine.

As rapidly as Shanghai is changing, regions of the city still remain distinctively shaped by history. Following a humiliating defeat by Great Britain in 1842 China signed the Treaty of Nanjing and Shanghai was surrendered which opened the city to unrestricted foreign trade. The British, French, and Americans took possession of designated areas in the city within which they were granted special rights and privileges. Parts of the city are still identified by these former ‘concessions,’ the French Concession being of particular note, an area of Shanghai that is now distinctively affluent and whose architecture and tree lined boulevards and cafes leave you wondering if indeed you’ve slipped through a wrinkle in the world map and found yourself in France.

The opening of Shanghai to foreign business immediately led to the establishment of major European bands and multipurpose commercial houses. The city’s identity as a leading center of trade was also determined by its strategic coastal location, propelling it to becoming China’s leading port. Shanghai’s port is now the largest in the world.

Our group transportation through Shanghai has been via occasional taxi, considerable walking, and countless miles on the (excellent) Shanghai subway system. It was darn exciting to celebrate with Candis that she was having the first subway ride of her life in China.

Shanghai's skyline from one of its tallest buildings.

Photos from China

2009-05-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Caldwell Fellow Kristin Cunningham with a resident of Home Sweet Home.

Jim Arnold '74 leading our group on an excursion in Shanghai.

Our group being welcomed at Home Sweet Home. Jim Arnold '74 is at the far right.

If it weren’t for chicken feet in the convenience store

2009-05-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

A few days before I left Raleigh, a friend sent a message suggesting that we have a meal “before I head off for my diet of chicken feet.” When I went this evening to buy batteries at the convenience store down the street, there among the assortment of beverages and snacks, right next to the bags of peanuts and cashews were snack portions of chicken feet. I drew the culinary-adventure line there and opted for an evening fix of chocolate. I write this with all due respect to any fans of snacking on chicken feet who are reading this post . . . but aside from the novelty, it seems a fitting snapshot for the mix of old and new China, which meet in Shanghai. In this city, the new is winning. Shanghai: the most modern city in an every modernizing China.

Faces on the street include a high proportion of Europeans and Americans who have moved here to be part of the phenomenal economic growth, opportunity and excitement of this evolving place with 10 percent economic growth in the past year. It is a high-paced, skyscraper skylined, glitzy shopping centered, multicultural cuisined, artsy city. In numerous moments I have looked around thinking, “This could be New York.” As much as I love New York, this is still wonderfully and uniquely Shanghai. Along with chicken feet in the convenience store, countless turns also remind me that this is still China. The scaffolding we walk under for the every prevalent building improvements is made of bamboo. Parks are filled with early morning tai chi groups and older Chinese who waltz to classical music for their daily exercise. Street vendors sell grilled, skewered squid. Aside from the occasional (and often amusing English translations) signs with Chinese characters are everywhere, unintelligible to my alphabet oriented brain.

Our host, Jim Arnold ’74, says when he first came to Shanghai 20 years ago the only transportation was bicycles. The streets of Shanghai still feature many bicycles but now they are joined by motorcycles and cars, taxicabs, buses and trucks. For the life of me, I can’t figure how a culture so prideful of order and adherence to rules dismisses all rules when it comes to traffic. Maybe it is having surmounted the numerous obstacles necessary to drive (a lottery for license plates, the considerable testing to be a licensed driver along with the requisite bribe of the testing official, and the expense and availability of an automobile) that gives drivers an I’m Not To Be Stopped mentality, but pedestrian right of way is a nonexistent concept here. Stoplights are somewhat optional. Four- or-two wheeled, the same nonchalance of road rules applies. You are as likely to be taken out by a bicycle as a car. Street crossing is an exercise in nimbleness, faith, and adrenaline.

This need for nimbleness doesn’t daunt the high fashion of Shanghai’s hip twenty and thirty-somethings. High heels dominate the feet of the young women negotiating the crosswalks of Shanghai.

Home Sweet Home

2009-05-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

Service to the greater good is a core value of the Caldwell Fellows program. The servant-leadership model has long been its philosophy of leadership. Our alumni host, Jim Arnold ’74 is true to this ideal. Not only is his planning, teaching and leadership for our group an act of considerable service, his schedule for us includes working with him at the organization, where he is a weekly volunteer. Home Sweet Home provides a home to physically handicapped and homeless adult men and women. Founded by a most amazing leader, Norani Abu Bakar, HSH two years ago with literally nothing. Today it provides a home and meaningful work to 14 residents with plans for two new locations and an ever-widening engagement with the community. HSH trains its residents as skilled seamstresses and embroiders to create the shopping bags, bed, dining and specialty items sold to support the home.

Residents are referred to as brothers and sisters and share the care of helping one another meet the challenges created by physical handicap. It’s hard to tell who is staff and who is a resident of HSH, the spirit of community is so very tangible. At HSH our students saw not only a highly effective model of social entrepreneurship and visionary leadership but had yet another experience in how shared work and food is a bridge that transcends language, culture, and differing abilities. We tended the garden together and worked with HSH residents to sort donated clothes for the larger community (and having great fun trying on many of the items, particularly hats). In addition, the folks of HSH patiently guided our hoard of unskilled folks in the fine art of making Chinese dumplings and wrapping sticky rice. The food we prepared together was a closing feast to a most fulfilling day.

As is our practice on these trips, an hour at the end of each day is devoted to group reflection. Tonight’s reflection on the day at HSH was a rich experience in why service-learning is such a powerful avenue for education and human development. More on that to come. Later you will learn about the refection model we are following for this trip and I will share some of the writing they produce as we move through these coming weeks.

Home Sweet Home's Sign

The China Fellows sorting second-hard closed with the

brothers and sisters of Home Sweet Home.

Why China?

2009-05-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

The historic 40-year mission of the Caldwell Fellows to develop leaders has been stretched in recent years to meet the needs of a changing world. Along with NC State, the program has expanded its vision to include the development of global leaders. Cultural immersion and service trips have become one of the Fellows’ avenues for meeting this mission. The destination and theme for each trip (three summer and two spring break trips so far) have been initiated and planned by a team of students. This year’s trip had a new impetus for its destination: one of our alumni. Jim Arnold ’74 has been a businessman in East Asia for over 20 years. Shanghai has been his home for the past 12. Jim is retired from business and is now co-director of the China Leaders for Manufacturing Program, an MBA/Engineering dual degree program between Jiaotang University and MIT. Jim has maintained strong connections to NC State and to the Fellows program and initiated the vision for a Caldwell trip to China.

Our first week of the trip is in Shanghai and Jim has planned an agenda of seminars, service work with local charity where he is a weekly volunteer, tours to different parts of the city, and dinner with local NC State alumni.

Here are some of the things we’ll be doing:

A walking Tour to Confucian Temple and Yuan Gardens.
A visit to Home Sweet Home, the charity Jim volunteers with, to work with residents in the garden and in a clothes warehouse.
A tour of Taikang Lu.
A visit to the communist party museum.
A dinner with Shanghai area NCSU alumni: Malone’s American Café.
A panel discussion with Shanghai ares business leaders.

Across the World in 24 Hours

2009-05-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

If it weren’t for the sense that you are having an empathy experience with one of those poor chickens in a crate, stacked between other crates of chickens, all being hauled from A to B. . . the fact that you can wedge into an airline seat and after 14 hours plus 2 plus another 3, have yourself transported from Raleigh, NC to Shanghai, China. . . well, it’s quite amazing.

I departed Raleigh at 10:15 am on Sunday morning and arrived Monday night in Shanghai. I lost a day but traveled in constant daylight. My traveling companion, Quint, and I met Kris in Tokyo and the three of us arrived together in Shanghai. Since Quint and I arrived without luggage, there was plenty of room in the taxi and the three of us shared a cab for the 45 minute ride through a cool and misty evening into what felt like a scene in a futuristic thriller: our entry in the metropolis of Shanghai.

The taxi driver dropped us at a little alley at the end of which we could see the sign for our accommodation for the coming week in Shanghai: Baolong Homelike Hotel. Having traveled on student budgets for many a trip, I am quite used to what economy can look like. And this is why we travel: to find the surprises that shatter stereotypes and expectations. Imagine my surprise and deep delight to find that Baolong Homelike Hotel is a little oasis of Asian beauty and simplicity. At the end of that alley, we turned into a small bamboo-lined walkway into the cozy space of this little haven. Tucked away between high rises, this little four story guest house with winding corridors could be the poster site for great feng shui. Spot lighting through the lobby and hallways illumine the discrete, ‘just enough’ adornments of pottery and traditional blue painted china. A rock garden transforms the corner where two hallways meet.

Perhaps it is a Chinese parenting technique for raising well-behaved children that the beds are so very firm here; no child would ever think of bouncing on one. One simply cannot work up a bounce on these mattresses. . . but one can get one blissful night of sleep. (I do profess to love a firm sleeping surface so it suits me quite well). Being horizontal after 24 hours was pure heaven and this little hotel, tucked into its little alley, is a haven of quiet. (Hmm. . . I do suspect this could change when tomorrow evening our group of 24 will all have arrived to inhabit Baolong Homelike Hotel). I will grant you that my younger traveling companions would happily trade all this tranquility for a more social setting. That is coming; our next stop will be two weeks at a university dormitory.

A delicious night’s sleep later, our group of now four: Quint, Kris and I were met last night by Andrew, converged over the breakfast buffet that comes with a night’s lodging at Baolong. And no, it’s not my usual yogurt and fruit breakfast here. . .

It is now Tuesday late morning and I have found my way around the block from Baolong Homelike Hotel to Park Center, a mega plaza of upscale western shops, to a Starbucks (yes, of course they are here) because the word was that here I could get internet access. I do have a pretty good cup of coffee sitting here (and it is appreciated in my jet lagged state) but alas, the rumor of access here was a false lead. Thanks to my nifty ‘netbook’ I am writing anyway and will eventually find a way to post these entries. Internet cafes seem not to exist in our part of town. Keeping in touch may be more of a challenge than I had expected. . .

Tuesday evening 10:00 pm

Early afternoon was reunion time today as our little traveling teams arrived (some who set out a week ago and have been adventuring their way to this location). The final four should be here within the hour. With the majority of us here, we set out for the Shanghai Museum for the afternoon and then took advantage of perfect (!) weather to loll about in People’s Park and then find our way to “Yang’ sfry dumpling” (that is exactly how it is written on the sign). Featured recently in the New York Times’ “36 hours in Shanghai,” Yang’s is dumpling heaven. Testimony to this is the line of locals who line the street to place their order at one window and then move to the next to pick up take-away boxes of four gracious-sized Chinese dumplings (which you can also observe being made as you wait for your order.) Way off the beaten path for most tourists, our group of obvious not-locals sitting on the street consuming boxes of dumplings provided amusement of our fellow native dumpling eaters.

2:00 am Wednesday morning

It’s time to get some sleep. . . but our last group member has yet to appear at the hotel; it is 2:00 am and he should have arrived at least three hours ago. The fellow traveler he was to meet at the airport was told his plane had landed but he didn’t arrive at their meeting place to share a cab to the hotel and no call came from him until an hour ago. So where has Jason been for the last three hours?? In quarantine on his airplane. That’s right. The Chinese are taking great precaution against H1N1 and all flights landing in China are currently being boarded by teams in (as one of our group says) ‘spaceman suits’ to read the temperatures of all passengers, which they do by having you close your eyes while shooting a beam at your forehead . (I’m sure there’s a better medical explanation out there for this procedure but I lack the lingo and was amused anyway with feeling that I was in one of the memory erasing scenes from ‘Men in Black’ (a movie worth renting for those who don’t know what I’m talking about.)

Jason’s cab should arrive any minute. I’ll hear his saga and get him checked in. His arrival makes us complete. We are now all in China: twenty-four NC State Caldwell and China Fellows and five weeks of adventure ahead.

Lauren, Katrina and Ariel rest outside of the Shanghai History Museum