Back from Shanghai!

(The Oriental Pearl Tower! We did not have to buy tickets, thanks to Gene's cousin getting us in! Tickets were actually 300 kuai to just get in, which would be about $50 in the United States)

(Gene's super nice cousin who helped show us around the Oriental Pearl Tower and gave me an unintentional lesson on Chinese guanxi!)

After an amazing week in Shanghai and experiencing a VERY different part of Chinese culture, I am now back in Xiamen and sitting through yet another bit of a tropical storm. An advice to anyone reading this: before you decide to live a portion of your life in a country by studying abroad, PLEASE do me a favor and check out the weather patterns of that country before you head out! :) I thought I was right in assuming it would be a safe place, that typhoon season had passed, and that all I would be dealing with is heat and humidity. I got the last part right and normally typhoon season would be over, but not this year it seems!


Shanghai was indeed amazing, though – I got to experience Shanghai food, Shanghainese (the local dialect that is VERY different from Mandarin, the dialect that I am learning), a big city culture (the traffic was even more terrifying than New York City’s!), and so much more! I also got a valuable lesson on guanxi, the notion of interpersonal relationships in China, similar to the good old boy system in the United States and present in many other cultures. Basically, Gene’s cousin got us into the Oriental Pearl Tower for free and we got to cut lines, get free drinks, and get preferential treatment all due to Gene’s cousin’s status. It was a lesson on cultural differences, to be sure!


I also received pity from Gene as he took me to a very upscale Western restaurant and I got steak. That was a great experience :) I also got to witness KFC in China, which is much more interesting than McDonald’s! I could write all day about the fast food restaurants here in China and their differences, as well as their similarities – but fortunately, I’ll get to do that in my class this week while we talk about consumer culture in China (and the rise of capitalism). Basically, people are buying more things here and that is changing a lot of aspects on China, especially their purchases of food! America is trying to cash in on this by altering franchises, like KFC and McDonald’s, for Chinese consumers and the products are fascinating.

(A picture of my meal at KFC! The long box had creme brulee pastries in it and the smaller boxes had "chicken hamburgers" in them. They also had fruit juices, french fries, and the normal chicken wings - though it all tasted so different! The little containers also had Chinese variations of coleslaw...it was a learning experience!)