More China...

Today we went to the city of Suzhou, China.  It was about an hour and a half drive from Shanghai.  One thing I noticed about the drive was how similar the highways in China are to those in the U.S.   If I didn’t know I was in China and had just woken up on the highway, I could’ve been on any old highway in the U.S.A.  It really just speaks to how globalized the world is. 

The city of Suzhou was nothing like anywhere in the U.S.  The city is nicknamed “the Venice of China.”   Canals run through most of the city.  We got an awesome canal ride through the streets and also some more amazing gardens.  The canal ride was interesting- I’ve never seen so many boats in one little area.  I also can’t imagine living right on the river.  The whole canal experience really made me want to get to Venice ASAP.  (I do think the entire SAS experience is going to give me the travel bug.) 
Another really fun thing we did in Suzhou was visit a silk factory.  We were able to see silk being made from start to finish.  We saw the silk worms, the cocoons, the threading process, and then finally the coloring/adding details.  There is so much work that goes into to making anything silk.  I don’t think I’ve ever going to be able to look at it the same.  I got a silk tie, and I was really tempted to but a silk shirt, but I held back. 

However, I did do a lot of shopping.  I got tons of really neat stuff for just about $45.  In the U.S. everything would have ran me about $150.  The best thing is the merchants haggle with you, and you can get them to go about 80 Yuan lower then the original price.  (The exchange rate is roughly $1= 7 Yuan).  The best tactic I found is to just walk away, or only have a certain amount of money in your hand.  I can’t wait to hit the CDs/DVDs (Avatar is a $1) tomorrow on Nanjing Road…

I’m really glad I’m spending a few more days in Shanghai.  There’s so much to do in the city- it’s incredible.  The Chinese New Year is also right now, which makes it 10x better.  This past night was the “Night of Wealth”   (or something similar) and the Chinese set off fireworks in hopes of appeasing the gods.  The belief is that one of the fireworks will be caught by a god and the person who se it off will be blessed with a year of wealth.  The fireworks we saw this past evening were simply amazing, puts Disney World to shame. 

The tour guide told us the information about the wealth tradition, and she also told us some really interesting things about the Chinese way of life, particularly about the one child policy.  A married couple may have one child, really one free child.  Any child after one you have to pay a fee for.  The rules do differ from ethnic group to ethnic group.  Certain ethnicities may have as many as they want, while others just have to stick to one.  Basically, the rule isn’t as black and white as many Americans perceive it to be.  It’s rarely ever just one child.   There are loopholes and numerous ways around it. 

I also realized today while walking around how much of a melting pot the U.S. is.  Everyone in China is, for lack of a better word, the same.   I really never thought much about the whole “melting pot” aspect of the U.S., even though I’ve been learning about it since I was in grade school.   The people here are all Chinese; they may have different Chinese backgrounds, but if asked their nationality, they’d say “Chinese.”  You wouldn’t hear, “Irish,” “Italian,” or “German,” which is commonplace in the U.S.  

I still have three more days in Shanghai and then off to Hong Kong…