Friday, May 22, 2009, 9:24 PM (Nanjing, China)

One week of class down!

So it's Friday evening and here I am writing a blog post. I guess I'll find something to do eventually- I think someone mentioned ping pong.

But before that, it's only right that I should update everyone on the week in Nanjing. We've had 5 classes, the equivalent of about 9 weeks of class during a normal semester. Our first test was Thursday and focused on questions regarding traffic in Nanjing. What is the background growth rate? 10-15%. Would light rail work on Beijing Rd (next to our university) and why? Determine the trip assignment for Hunan Road shopping area. It's actually been very interesting.

Dad will be proud because we briefly touched on Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements. Naturally, I remember writing a mock EIS for scouts... good times, good times. I've also enjoyed class because life in DC and travel to various international cities has given me a great perspective on modes of traffic. Peds, Bikes, subway, busway, bus lanes, light rail, heavy rail, street cars, cable cars, people movers (monorail!) etc etc etc... I wonder if I've seen it all?

Never fear, I have also done other things this week too. Since I don't remember what I discussed in Monday's blog (and blogger is still blocked), I'll just start there. Monday afternoon, we heard from Mr. Wei Xia, Vice Director of Jiangsu's DOT. One notable fact was that Jiangsu has the highest population density of any province in China, and consequently has 60,000 bridges and almost 90,000 miles of roads! In addition, the DOT here has adopted a philosophy that "A driver's mistake should not cost his/her life." I think that's a bold statement that goes beyond roadway design- can technology be developed to make up for stupidity? If so, is that foresight or dumb luck? In addition, can it be done without overdesigning a road or structure? I don't know, but it's an interesting idea.

Tuesday afternoon's guest lecture was by Mr. Huang Kai, Dean of International Students (I think) here at Southeast University. He spoke to economic development in the province, but more interesting was his travel experience. Since he earned his PhD in Connecticut and is a world traveler, I asked him what we should gain most from our trip or what we should tell people at home. In his response, he said that this is a time of globalization. He said to tell people to travel abroad and meet someone from another culture. And most significant to me, he said to come back to China. This made me recall a part of my trip to Ecuador in which the Maestro (construction supervisor) said, “Remember Ecuador. Remember the people, remember the country, come back again.”

So I really got to thinking, what do these two experiences have in common? Why should people in Ecuador and China want us to return? Is it that we Americans pump money into their economies? (well, yes, but bear with me..) Is it that they want us to have pity on their living conditions? Or maybe it’s something more meaningful. Maybe we provide a glimmer of hope that not all foreigners look down on these countries. How cool is that?! Here in Nanjing, the population is 99% Chinese. We have been asked on multiple occasions to be in pictures simply because we’re Americans. People point, stare and laugh at us. They shoot photographs when they think we’re not looking. Why is that?

Well let me examine the corollary. Pick any block of any street in any metropolitan city in the United States. I guarantee that during the busiest part of the day, you could walk down the street and count people of at least three different races. And people think there’s no diversity in the US! Those people should come to China! I went two days without seeing a foreigner as far as I could tell. So, maybe we as travelers do bring money into the economies of countries such as China and Ecuador, but we bring something else too. We bring the hope that there are people around the world who care to learn what life is really like behind the façade of government.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that governments don’t represent their people very well. Therefore, don’t read FoxNews, BBC, or your favorite newspaper and say, “Oh, the Chinese Communist party just restricted trade with the US; their people must be dumb.” It’s not true. Furthermore, don’t let the French (or anyone else) make judgments about Americans because of Bush, or Obama. How do you accomplish both? Go to China! Go to France! Go somewhere! That’s the only way to do justice to learning about a country.

Whew. That was a long soap box, but I think it was necessary. At any rate, after Tuesday’s talk, Mike and I tried out the city’s bus system by taking a trip to the Yangtze River Bridge. The bridge, with its one mile main span, was the first bridge to cross the Yangtze River and the first double deck bridge in China (if I’m not mistaken). The top deck (4 lanes + 2 sidewalks) stands approximately 200 feet above the water and the second deck (2 railroad tracks) about 120 feet high. In addition to the main span, the bridge has over one mile of approach ramp on each side of the river. Most stunning was the high quantity of traffic on the bridge. Trains ran every couple minutes. The lanes were constantly busy with cars, trucks, and mopeds. Even the pedestrian walkways served as (dangerous) travel lanes for mopeds, bicycles, and pedestrians. It was intense!

On Wednesday, our own Dr. Hummer gave an afternoon presentation on Unconventional Intersections which proved to be quite interesting! I think I’ve become a fan of the Median U-Turn (or Michigan Left Turn). Look it up on Wikipedia! Wednesday evening was devoted to studying, dinner, and studying. Sad!
Thursday afternoon and this afternoon were both very enjoyable. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to visit Nanjing’s Tunnel Management Center. Big room, lots of video camera monitors, people with buttons… you know the drill. Next, we took a quick run through Nanjing’s Urban Planning museum, where they had a 1:850 scale model of the entire city! The model filled up an entire room and the viewing was best from the second floor. In addition, the museum had a video with light display to point out Nanjing’s many highlights on the map. It was really REALLY cool! Finally, we took a boat ride on the mother river of Nanjing (an inlet off of the Yangtze). While on the boat, we enjoyed eating yummy lychee nuts (no one knew what it was… except me. I said, “It’s a lychee!” “A what?” “A lychee!!” Anyway, look it up on Wikipedia if you need to.), bananas, sunflower seeds, and tea (they drink tons of it here- it brings good luck). In the mean time, we listened to someone play the pipa (I had to ask what that was… so look that up on Wikipedia too)! It was really beautiful-sounding and I now want to hear more traditional Chinese music. From what I understand, however, it’s hard to come by since the Cultural Revolution (you may need to look that up on Wikipedia if you’re under 30) did away with a lot of that. ANYWAY, it was a fun afternoon!

Today, we went for a tour of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s Mausoleum. Located on Purple Mountain, the mausoleum is located at the top of an epic 400-step staircase. It’s really interesting how Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (yeah, look him up on Wikipedia too) is revered like George Washington is in the States. Of course, the strange thing is that the Nationalist party he established in 1912 was the party overthrown by the Communists in 1949. Nonetheless, he is revered. His mausoleum was decorated in simple blue and white (Nationalist colors), and his coffin was carved in his likeness out of granite. It was really quite spectacular!

So, I suppose that’s about all for now. Tomorrow, we’re going to be soccer hooligans for the afternoon. I’ve never been to a soccer game as spectator before, but the game tomorrow is between the Jiangsu Sainty (Nanjing’s team; see Wikipedia) and Chongqing Lifan. The 3 pm game will be held at the Nanjing Olympic Stadium, on the southern side of town. I understand the Sainty is pretty bad, but hopefully it will be fun all the same. I’m interested to see what stadium food is like here in China. My guess is noodles and corn on the cob. Man, they love some corn on the cob on the streets. I haven’t had any yet, but tomorrow might be the day.

Next anticipated post: Monday or Tuesday.

Homework: Before next class (next post), look up the following terms on Wikipedia:
-Median U-turn
-lychee
-pipa
-Cultural Revolution
-Dr. Sun Yat-Sen
-Jiangsu Sainty