Pat's Summer in Asia

It has been a little over a week since my last update, and since then, I have spent a weekend in Beijing and have completed the first week of my internship in Shanghai. I am also wrapping up the third week of my stay in China as part of the USC Global Fellows Internship Program. With five weeks left in Shanghai, I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed. Before I left for Asia, a two month internship seemed to me as if it were an eternity. I found it difficult to believe those who said that my stay in China would fly by. Being in the midst of a foreign environment with a completely new culture to experience, however, has really made me lose track of time here. It is tough to think about the big picture when everyday activities - such as finding dinner or making the commute to work - bring with them both excitement and challenge. I look back to my first post (while I was still at home) for some perspective: "I will be happy with my experience if I can say that I approached everything with an open mind and made a conscious effort to learn from the people that I met." I will add one more thing: I hope I can appreciate the little things and recognize how they make my life in China different (or the same) compared to my life back home.

I will recap last weekend's trip: Stephen, Kent, and I left for Beijing from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport around noon last Friday. Beijing is only a two hour flight from Shanghai, so after having endured consecutive thirteen and four hour flights from Chicago to Tokyo to Shanghai, two hours seemed like nothing. By the middle of the afternoon, the three of us had met up with Dylan and Adam, the two Beijing Fellows, with whom we were staying. Their apartment is in the Chaoyang District, a pretty ecclectic area that includes Sanlitun Road, big businesses, and the sweet new CCTV building. Having spent a few weeks in China, I could easily identity the differences between Shanghai and Beijing. If I were to make an analogy, I would say that Shanghai is like Manhattan (on steroids), while Beijing is somewhere in between San Francisco and Los Angeles. With high-rises and skyscrapers for miles, Shanghai is so densely populated that life is fast-paced and, at times, a bit hectic. While equally as large in population, Beijing is more spread out and seems to be more easygoing. A visit to Beijing and you can tell what an enormous impact the Olympics had on that city. New highways, a new subway line headed to the Olympic Green, and clear skies are just a few of the major changes from 2008.

We devoted Saturday entirely to the Great Wall of China. There are several sections of the wall that are open to visitors, some more touristy than others. The three of us decided to make the hike from Jinshanling to Simatai, about a three hour drive from Beijing. I had read that while it is farther away than other parts of the Great Wall, the Jinshanling-Simatai stretch offers visitors a glimpse of the wall in both its restored and unrestored states. In addition, the hike was supposed to offer a tougher and more adventurous wall experience. We were up for it - but we arrived in Beijing without any means of getting there. Friday evening rolled around, and we learned that local taxis do not go to Jinshanling and a hired driver would cost us a whopping 2000 RMB. A little disappointed, the three of us were about to pay for a driver when Stephen's employer called: He has a friend in Beijing that would drive us to the Wall for less than half the price. We went for it.

The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling

After a long night out on Sanlitun, the three of us woke up at 6 AM on Saturday to meet our driver outside. There he was, decked out in a pink polo shirt and happy as a guy could be that early in the morning. I guess our trip to the wall was just another part of the adventure. With no means of transportation just twelve hours before, I would not have thought that we would end up with a private ride from a Beijing local. We arrived at Jinshanling around 8:30 in the morning and began our hike east toward Simatai. The Great Wall of China is something that everyone learns about, but I never had imagined that I would ever see it. Needless to say, it was amazing and a bit surreal to walk across the wall and look out on the Yanshan Mountains spread across northern China. Five hundred years of history were beneath our feet. Three farmers joined us for a portion of the hike. They loved to point to one side of the wall, say "This is China," point to the other side of the wall, say "This is Mongolia," and then pretend to shoot at enemy troops on the ground. The hike itself was pretty intense. Six miles - most of which was spent climbing up and down steep hills and staircases. I have no idea how ancient Chinese armies were able to march across that thing. We made it in one piece after five hours and then scarfed down lunch while overlooking the Simatai wall. The Great Wall - probably the high point of my trip so far.

We spent Sunday morning at the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Both the Forbidden City and the square were packed with tourists, but nevertheless, they were cool to see since both locations are so iconic of Chinese history and culture. I was born during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square. My parents saved the front page of the Chicago Tribune from my birthday. Tiananmen Square was the top news story that day (along with the Bulls losing to the Pistons in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals). So I suppose me standing in Tiananmen Square last weekend was sort of a "come full circle" type of thing. I think my presence in the square was probably more of a big deal for older Chinese citizens. While walking through the square, an elderly Chinese man asked if I would take a picture with him in front of the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. I did. Looking back on that picture, I wish I would have taken it more seriously at the time. It would have been impossible for an American to stand in Tiananmen Square during the Mao period, a time in which this man probably lived in China. For this man, my presence in the square was probably great proof of the change that China has undergone. Stuff like that really makes me appreciate this opportunity.

Tiananmen Square

We flew back late Sunday night and arrived in Shanghai around 1 AM on Monday morning. I went to bed as soon as I got back to my apartment, only getting a few hours of sleep before waking up for my first day of work at BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Limited. The office is about an hour south in ZiZhu Science-based Industrial Park, so I have a pretty solid commute every morning. The easiest way for me to get to work is to take the company bus which stops nearest to my apartment at 7:15 AM in Zhongshan Park (If I miss the bus, I am stuck with a trip that involves walking, four subway lines, and a taxi. I made the trip on Tuesday, and it sucks.). Overall, my first week of work was pretty slow. I spent a lot of time sitting in my cubicle, surfing the internet, and generally wondering what was going on. I can tell that I have never worked a desk job. I am also probably the only foreigner out of a couple hundred employees at the office, so by now I am used to having no idea what my co-workers are saying to each other. By the end of the week, however, I was assigned a project by my supervisor. I will be working on their AC-DC team, learning to design power converters. My project involves a lot of circuitry and some lab work, so I should be pretty busy for the rest of my internship.

I will hopefully write more about my job and co-workers in my next post, including what it's like to play basketball with Chinese engineers...since you are dying to know.

Pat