Trip to Shaoxing

     Thursday after Terry finished a day of training with a group of 15 in Shanghai, I tagged along with them in the 3-vehicle caravan to the city of Shaoxing, about 3 hours southwest of Shanghai.  In the van I chatted with a couple young fellows from Qingdao, a coastal city north of Shanghai, who told me all about the charms of their city:  mountains, ocean, fresh air, great seafood, a cherry festival, and German architecture.  Qingdao was under German rule for 99 years after it was ceded to Germany in 1898 following the murder of 2 German missionaries. Only a few years after taking over the city, the Germans started brewing Tsingtao beer, the ubiquitous brand here in China.  I'd read about this unique city, and their descriptions further convinced me that this would be an interesting city to visit someday.  They also asked me what I thought of Obama and the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

     After we arrived at our hotel, the group gathered in a private dining room around two large round tables and the wait staff filled our goblets with a special Chinese beverage, warm and thick corn juice.  We enjoyed a dinner of all sorts of very Chinese dishes:  pickled vegetables, cold duck tongue, cold shrimp, marinated dates,  fried fish, poached fish with vegetables, stewed fish bladder, crab with cabbage and onions, chewy beef short ribs in a brown sauce with onions, marinated dates, marinated tofu, stinky tofu (that's what it's really called in English), 2 kinds of dumplings, broccoli, rolls of deep-fried duck skin, a savory dark vegetable soup with duck liver, a potato and dark ruffly mushroom soup, chicken soup with bok choy, a tofu soup with large tubular chunks of a very fibery green stem, and a sweet soup with egg and marble-sized tapioca pearls.
     Have I mentioned that the Chinese enjoy eating?  The communal aspect is as much a source of pleasure as the food itself. Above is part of the group at our table.  There was much laughter and friendly ribbing at our table, and some of it translated for Terry and me, and some not, which was fine at least for me so that I could focus on all these new tastes.  I think that I tried everything.  The one thing that I really did not care for at all was the stinky tofu.  I can't compare it to anything I've ever eaten.  It tasted like a very specific smell on a farm that I have always disliked.  When I mentioned this to Terry, he laughed and said that was exactly his first impression, too, but that he's come to like it.  Another of those acquired tastes, one that I think I may not ever acquire which will leave more of it for the Chinese to enjoy.

     Today Terry and his group spent the day at a mattress factory just outside Shaoxing, applying the energy efficiency training from yesterday, a very full and worthwhile day.  Terry says that this is just about the most satisfying part of his many-faceted job:  training and working with these smart, well-educated and diligent young Chinese.  They want to learn from him, and they're very eager to help make things work better in their country.

     I spent my day wandering around Shaoxing, which was an ancient capital.  It's picturesque in the old parts and famous for its canals and arched bridges.  I saw several women down close to canals in several places, washing clothes murky water like this.
     Although Chinese people like to visit this city, not so many Anglos do, especially now in the chilly early spring off-season.  Besides Terry, during all my walking around during day day I saw exactly one other Anglo, a businessman-sort in the hotel in the morning.

      Across the street from our hotel was Fushan Hill, where I spent an hour or two wandering up and down stairs and pathways through beautiful quiet forest.  A thousand years ago during the Song dynasty there were dozens of pavilions, towers, halls and gardens on the hill.  Nowadays there are remains or reconstructions of 10, such as this one.
     After spending so much time in polluted and congested Hong Kong, the relatively clean and cool air and the quiet on Fushan Hill was a pleasant change.  On the van ride back to Shanghai Friday night the 2 Chinese with us said that they both noticed the calmer atmosphere in Shaoxing.  I noticed a number of people whistling Chinese music both in the park and on the streets, fun to hear.

     This bell was located on the high point of the hill next to Fei Yi Tower, which means "Suppressing the Enemy Wu"--a military watch tower during the Yue dynasty 2500 years ago.  These young guys rammed the red cloth-covered timber into the bell to ring it a couple times, maybe to warn the city about the Anglo invader with a camera.