Days 5-8, Will -Shandong University, Mt Tai Shan and Qufu

hey

 Last time i blogged i talked about my home stay experience, we moved on the next day we went to the shandong university, we toured and had a look at how the chinese differed from our university system, they all were very positive and happy to see us.

 We started by having a talk from one of the tutors at the university then got shown around by the english students, the university was very similar to our own except for the fact that they work alot harder than most english people, because it is a great honour for the chinese to get into uni. We visited there dining room which we were told was the largest in asia, it was 5 floors tall and very large and busy. We finished the university tour and then just stayed at our hotel for the night.

 

Shandong University 2

 

The next day we visited mount taishan which is a very tall mountain near a town called qufu, most of us climbed the mountain which was incredible steep and harsh to climb, around 3500 steps, we got some amazing pictures and had some amazing experiences. That night we went to the town of qufu and visited the local market and walked around the streets and saw alot of poverty in the back alleys.

In the morning we visited confucius’ birth place, which was a very large temple with many gates and important looking buildings. After the temple visit we visited qufu university which was smaller and poorer but still all the people were very happy to see us and very welcoming, we saw some interesting pictures all round campus of the students who all have to do 2 weeks of military service, it is quite shocking to think that everyone in china can be conscripted for military service it means that they can have an army of over 800 million people if they need it, seeing these pictures in the university really brought that home.

 

Qufu University

 

That night we drove back to jinan and visited a very impressive water fountain show, and went into a huge underground shopping center that was a chinese wall mart. Overall its all going great and i dont really want to leave, i probably wont blog before we come back so i will say we are going to tour quingdao and then go on to maybe another university for the next day, after that we spend two days in beijing then we will come home.

 see you then.

Will

Days 7 & 8, Jeremy – Qufu and Qingdao

Thursday

Visited the home of the great Ancient Philosopher, Confusius, which was just around the corner of the hotel. It was interesting to see how highly they regard him and the emphasis they place on him as being the father of Chinese culture. Compared with the attitudes of, for example, the West towards Plato or Socrates, Confusius seems to really impact on Chinese lives, or at least they believe it does. When we were being shown around the home a tree was pointed out to us. We were told that it was planted by Confusius himself. We were then told that the tree was actually only 200 years old as the tree that he planted died centuries ago and this one was growing from some of the same roots. This didn’t seem to bother them at all although kind of defeated the point of admiring it to us.

 

Lunch back at the hotel accompanied by a very community-style concert of Chinese culture. A dance by the waitresses, a man playing a Chinese instrument; a dramatic reading of the poem, ‘Albert and the Lion’ wouldn’t have looked out of place. After lunch we visited the local University. This was a really interesting experience as the student that Bren and I were shown around by was extremely frank when talking about certain issues. It was interesting to compare what we were told by the students in Jinan and here. Talking about the compulsory ‘military-service’ was a real eye-opener.

 

Today we had a five-hour coach journey from Jinan to Qingdao. Arrived here at about one, had lunch, and went straight to the home of Haier, the world’s fourth largest producer of white-appliances. The trip really was as exciting as it sounds. The highlight of the visit was the chance to see the very latest in home technology. From a dishwasher that can be controlled via the internet (rather pointlessly in my opinion as you have to stand next to it to put the things in, while you are there why don’t you just press the button) to a fridge with a built in video camera and television screen, something every home has been lacking. The most enlightening part of the tour was not the floors we were shown around but those that we weren’t. Coming up in the lift we could see from the signs that there was a ‘Labor Union’ as well as a Party Office and Members’ Room. The thought that an office in Britain would have a room especially dedicated to members of a Political Party seems bizarre.

 

This evening has been spent eating the ever diverse Chinese cuisine and going for a walk down to the Yellow Sea. Tomorrow we are having a tour of the town and hopefully a trip to the Olympic Sailing Venue.