"In Summary" - Marie Richards

While at Furman Jason and I both participated in foreign study programs. As did my roommates and most of my other friends. We all consider those experiences to count among our very best times at Furman, even if we do argue over whose trip was better. This China trip offered us the opportunity to travel again in a similar manner complete with lectures, foreign students, and even a reading list. Our small group also replicated foreign study. People from many different backgrounds, jobs, and ages, but who all had Furman in common.

China has long been on our short list of destinations, but the Furman trip offered many unique opportunities - most of them due to Dr. Kaup. Kate Kaup is a superhero. She provided a historical and cultural context for the places we visited and the people we talked to. She served as a translator, tour guide, money changer, professor, therapist, airline reservation clerk, and fixer. When a question was not answered to her satisfaction, Kate would stare at the person and say, "What is to be done?" In Chinese, of course. Then she would wait until she got the answer she desired. She organized meetings with alumni, university officials, embassy staff, and local villagers. Have an interest in health care? Kate found a traditional Tibetan medical doctor. Like rugs? She located a rug factory to visit...as well as a showroom to buy the rugs. Kate is a renowned scholar on China, but she never acted as though she was too important to answer our basic questions.

Thank you to Dr. Kaup for hosting our trip. Thank you to the many people at Furman who helped organize the logistics. Thank you to Furman for putting an emphasis on Asian Studies and for hiring Dr. Kaup. We look forward to more trips and opportunities like this in the future, although it will be almost impossible to match the majesty of China.

"Child-rearing in China" - Marie Richards

Most people in China do not use diapers. Children have a slit in their pants to allow them to poop when the need arises. Kate said that in some areas the mother whistles in a special way to signal to the child to defecate. And my child won't even use the potty....

The people we encountered on our trip put a personal face on China's one child policy. Our host family described to us how they desperately wanted a second child. Some families are able to have a second child and pay a fine. This was not a possibility for our hosts because they worked for the university and a government agency, and would lose their jobs if they had another child. They expressed hope that the regulations may be loosened in the future.

The policy seems to have great variability. At one time minorities were allowed to have more than one child, but this is no longer the case. Yet our tour guide in Tibet has two kids. Another person informed us that since she and her fiance were both only children, they would be allowed to have two kids. In some rural areas, it is acceptable to have more than 1 child if the first one is female.

There are concerns that China is cultivating a society of overindulged "little emperors" with their one child policy. After meeting our host families, some group members described spoiled kids and rooms overflowing with toys. But as the parent of a young child, I am often ashamed of the excess toy supply at my own home. However, the social consequences of this government policy are likely to be long-reaching. What type of effects result from a society of predominantly male only children remain to be seen.

"Beijing" - Dave Ellison

This is a beautiful city. Wide avenues, lots of parks and flowers, and landscaped. It's also huge with about 18 million people. I like it a lot better than Shanghai as Beijing feels much more open visibly. We are having a great time but tomorrow - last day in China - should be the best with visit to Tiananmen Square, Mao's tomb and The Forbidden City. That is in the morning.

Today, Kate Kaup's sister Virginia, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi (she's the #2 person at a 700 person operation) arrived in Beijing in time for drinks and dinner. And tomorrow she will accompany us in the afternoon to our embassy here for a private briefing. Tomorrow night we have our final dinner together of Peking Duck.

Tonight we went to a delicious meal in a private restaurant room in a quaint shopping district and were joined by Adrian ?, a Chinese-American who is a young lawyer (probably about 30) with the Natural Resources Defense Counsel here. He holds degrees from UT-Austin in electrical engineering and Harvard Law. He grew up in Houston. He explained to us what is going on in China regarding environmental and energy policy. Basically, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is driven to become energy self-sufficient. A coal-dependent country, 2007 was the first year China became a net importer of coal. It was a wake-up call. So lots of alternative energy investment is happening, plus a Chinese Clean Air Act is moving to become law to help on the environmental front. Dinner took an interesting turn. Even though we had two "experts" on U.S.-Asia relations present in Kate and Virginia - we spent time discussing urban planning in the U.S. led by Ron McKinney, Coleman Shouse and Jason Richards who have varying disciplines and perspectives on the subject.

This trip mimics what I expect Kate is trying to accomplish with Furman undergrads: it's primarily about learning rather than pure sight-seeing. We are all ignorant about China, so pretty much sponges every day. A lot to learn, but what a way to learn it!

"What goes up...." - Marie Richards

...must come down!

Our amazing trip to the Great Wall of China (false advertising - it is actually more than 1 wall) began with a lift to the top. A chair lift that is.

Once there, we were able to marvel at the majesty of the Wall. And then begin to climb it!

There were two options to get down from the wall: take the shaky chair lift back down or speed down a chute in your own personal tobaggon!

The racetrack

Go, Dave, Go!

Tobaggon guards were placed at intervals along the track. As expected, the boys were all instructed to slow down, and the ladies were told to speed up!

"Lost in Translation" - Marie Richards

A collection of our favorite signs:

"May we remind you: Please be self-restraint and be a good tourist to mold a well mannered imagination."

Yak Yoghourt? Ewwww.

Public shower? Double ewww.

Do not disturb the relics.

Many signs reflected a fear of liability....

"As the lake is very deep, tourists should not swim as he/she wanted. If you go across this rule then have to accept the consequences by yourself."

Dotice the Notice.

Does anyone ever sue the Communist government?

"Xian and onto Beijing" - Tom Triplitt

We had one full day in Xi'an, and it is a city of contrasts, as is all of China.It is an ancient walled city and was once the capital of China. The ancient wall was our first stop. It is most famous for its Terra Cotta Warriors, discovered by a farmer in 1974. Visiting that tourist side is a bit like Disney World, but still impressive when one thinks of how long ago that massive project was done.

Terracotta Warriors

Terracotta Horses

On the way to the Terra Cotta Warrior site, we passed by people living in caves which are easy to dig due to the soil conditions, a man relieving himself in his back yard which faces the modern toll road and much modern development.

We then went to an old part of Xi'an and visited a very Chinese-looking Mosque which was begun during the times of the active Silk Road trade when people from other cultures came into China. It is surrounded by an amazing shopping area where we further honed our bargaining skills. I got some great knock-off RayBan Wayfarers for $5. They have better optics that my $60 sunglasses.

Tired Group

Xi'an is famous for its dumplings, so we went out for a 20-course dumpling feast. Note the picture of Kate posing by the giant dumpling. A great time was had by all.

Kate, Tom and Coleman visit the Dumpling

We were up at 5 the next day for our flight to Beijing. We had a great flight and landed to sunshine, blue skies and nice breeze. After dropping off our bags at the hotel we went to the Temple of Heaven. It is huge site where the Emperor went to speak with god. It is a beautiful green space in a bustling city. Kate then took us to her favorite pearl market and we bargained some more. Ask anyone of the trip about the physical shopping experience of the second floor. It is the stuff of nightmares.

Lost!

Found

We met Brittany West '09 for dinner and conversation. Brittany is finishing up a year of intensive language training in Beijing and hopes to get her work visa and work for a local developer as his interpreter.

Meeting Brittany West in Beijing

We then all moaned about going to Beijing Opera after such a long day, but eveyone enjoyed the athleticism of the Monkey King as he defeated the warriors who had come to capture him.

We are looking forward to the Great Wall on Wednesday and meeting Kate's sister, who works for the State Department in Vietnam.

"FU One Time" - Marie Richards

Furman Spirit Pervades China.....

Go FU!

Paladins Everywhere

Even a Purple Bus!

And Purple Dumplings!