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@mattatchina-blog
(Photo: Finals/Midterm Time at SJTU Library)
I've been busy lately, and the above picture explains why. The Joint Institute students, like myself, have just finished midterm week, and many of the other SJTU students just finished finals. This picture is the bike parking lot outside the SJTU Library during Finals/Midterm week.
(Photos: Nick and I exploring Temple Gate, the East boundary of Jiāo Dà (交大) campus.)
飲水思源
"Yǐn Shuǐ Sī Yuán", "Drink from the Source", this time in Traditional Chinese.
Out on the East side of Shanghai Jiao Tong University campus, there's a traditional chinese gate called 东大门, ("dōng dàmén") meaning "Eastern Gate", but nicknamed "Temple Gate" among the students.
Just inside the gate is a statue of Shèng Xuānhuái, the founder of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, then called 南洋公学 ("nányáng gōng xué"), and over time expanded into five different cities:
1. Shanghai Jiao Tong, which remained in Shanghai through multiple revolutions, wars, and over a hundred years of Chinese history
2. Xi'an Jiao Tong, which moved northwest to promote higher education in Xi'an during one of Mao Zedong's early Five-Year Plans
3. Beijing Jiao Tong, which separated from SJTU after the Revolution and is now in Beijing
4. Southwest Jiao Tong, which moved to Sichuan Province in the southwest, and lies near the base of the sacred Buddhist mountain Mt. Emei (峨眉山）
5. National Chao Tung University, which was founded in Taiwan after SJTU students and faculty who supported the ROC followed Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan.
Also just inside the gate is a few relics from the original Shanghai Jiao Tong campus, including the original fountain centerpiece with the SJTU crest and the school motto: "Yǐn Shuǐ Sī Yuán", "Drink from the Source".
飲水思源
(Not My Photo: "Southwest Shanghai Some School")
I met a guy with this shirt today, poking fun at Fudan's description of Shanghai Jiao Tong University as "Southwest Shanghai Some School". If you didn't read the explanation post, it's here (near the bottom of the post).
上海西南某高校
Some of the other blogs kept by Michigan guys here in Shanghai. Here are the ones I know about:
Joe: china-josephfinkel.tumblr.com
Neil: neilhemin.tumblr.com
Nick: zuishuang.tumblr.com
Chandra: qian-de-mo.tumblr.com
Check 'em out!
(EDIT: And mine is mattatchina.tumblr.com, so five in all)
(Not-My-Picture Caption: $15/day expressed in Lincolns.)
Just had time for a little post about the cost of living in China. So today we have reached the one-month mark for our study-abroad program, and I totalled some of the expenses I've accumulated since I've gotten here, including food, clean bottled water, numerous Metro trips and taxi drives, round-trip fast train transportation to Nanjing, a one-night hotel stay in Nanjing, three college textbooks, a new bike and bike-lock, a new SIM card, a number of souvenirs from Nanjing and Xitang, 2 new hats, a wireless router, a month's supply of hot water for the shower, a mattress pad, and many, many trips downtown, that usually involved eating at nice restaurants in Shanghai. I've spent about 3100 RMB during the past month. This doesn't include the tuition cost of studying at SJTU, so I'm just calculating the normal day expenses.
3100 RMB in a month works out to around $15.70, which is pretty cool. Back in Ann Arbor, you could go through 20 bucks a day just by eating lunch and dinner in the dorm cafeteria (it's about $10/meal). Plus, this includes a lot of sightseeing and other expenses.
I've actually began thinking about my money differently. 10 kuai (~$1.57) is too much to spend on a meal in the canteen, and 5 kuai (~$0.87) is much too much to spend on a cold bottle of water. Even on hot days, I've turned down store-owner's offers of bottled water for more than 3 kuai ($0.52)
I feel perfectly fine walking around with less than 100 kuai (~$15.70) in spending money to get me through the day, and 300 kuai (~$47.10) is fine for being downtown or travelling around the country (not that I'd spend that much, just in case of emergencies).
The Chinese cost of living will definitely be something I'll miss when getting back to Ann Arbor.
(Photos: Our trip to Nanjing and the surrounding mountains/rivers. As usual, click to enlarge and see captions (might take some time to load high-quality shots).)
第一旅游: 南京
"Dì yī lǚyóu: Nánjīng", "First Trip: Nanjing"
So last weekend we went to Nanjing, and I've finally found the time to make a post about it. We took a fast train there (about 1.5 hours), and spent the weekend exploring the city and the surrounding countryside. Nanjing is a decent-sized city (~7.2 million) with things to do inside the city, but the best sights in Nanjing lie outside the ancient city walls.
To the East is Zĭjīn Shān (紫金山), literally meaning "Purple-Gold Mountain", which houses remnants of Nanjing's past, including the Tombs of the Ming Emperors and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. To the West is the Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia, which flows from the Tibetan glaciers all the way to Shanghai.
Nanjing was a capital of China three times - two in ancient times, and once during the Chinese civil war, when the Communist forces were centered in Beijing, literally meaning "North Capital", and the Nationalist forces were centered in Nanjing, literally meaning "South Capital".
The trip was a great weekend excursion, though there was a lot of walking. We walked 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) during our sight-seeing day, which included walking up to Zĭjīn Shān and down to the Yangtze.
Also, before we left, I sent a few emails to the University of Michigan alumni association in Asia and they agreed to donate a Block M flag to our group so we could take pictures of Michigan in China, resulting in some great photo opportunities. Check them out by clicking on the pictures above!
第一旅游: 南京
I took some more shots of Shanghai Jiao Tong campus today. (click to enlarge and see caption)
(Photo: The Shanghai Jiao Tong University's own Olympic Torch)
一片草叶
"Yī Piàn Cǎo Yè", meaning "A Single Blade of Grass"
So I got back from Nanjing earlier this week (more pictures from that will be uploaded later), and had some time to wander around SJTU campus some more. I happened to find - of all things - the Olympic Torch! This torch was carried through Shanghai Jiao Tong leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and SJTU was the first university in China to receive it. The picture shows one of the SJTU students who were chosen to run the torch around Shanghai. This particular student was an American-born Chinese who came back to China to study, and on the base, a poem she wrote in Chinese and English is written. I can't remember all of the English part (or any of the Chinese part!), but I remember the last line was asking how she could possibly thank the whole world for such a great honor:
"How does a single blade of grass thank the sun?"
一片草叶
A small evening meal in Minhang. That center dish is squid, and the greens on the top-right are seaweed.
(Photo: A college basketball championship game at SJTU. I attended it with my Joint Institute buddy, Lai Xingjian.)
比賽規則
"Bǐ Sài Guī Zé", Rules of the Game.
So basketball is big in China. How big? Think "bigger-than-Yao-Ming" big. Really big. It's probably the most played sport on campus. Some students play soccer, some play tennis, but everyone plays basketball.
Speaking of Yao Ming, he happens to be studying at SJTU as well:
Spends his free time towering over professors:
I can't really express the feeling of being at the game in words, but even though the school gym was small and lacking bright lights, flashy scoreboards, and large space for crowds, the people there were electric, cheering every block, bounce, and bank-shot. People who got there early (or, like me, got lucky and had a crowd of Joint Institute friends around me) were able to get a place in the stands. Across the other end, people lined the tiny edge around the court to get to stand for the entire game. A crowd gathered outside the open windows, and a few students even climbed trees to catch glimpses of the action.
Banners waving, megaphones blaring, fan signs in Chinese characters - the whole scene was amazingly surreal.
比賽規則
(Photos: Some scenes around the classroom buildings. Click on each photo to enlarge it.)
东中院
"Dōng Zhōng Yuàn". Don't be fooled by what Google Translate tells you, this translates as "Eastern Central Classroom Building". There is also a 东上院 ("Eastern Upper Classroom Building") and a 东下院 ("Eastern Lower Classroom Building").
So I should mention that during this study-abroad experience, classes still are a major part of my time. I'm taking three courses at SJTU - Engineering Thermodynamics, Mandarin Chinese Language, and Chinese Culture.
The classes are taught in English, and I'm enjoying the Chinese classes a lot. Plus, every class has a short 10-minute break halfway through, so students can get up, stretch, and step outside for a moment (something that is very much a luxury in an engineering class!).
Occasionally, Neil, Rachel and I (the three Michigan students in Thermodynamics) will pass the time by playing hacky-sack on the grounds outside or getting fruit drinks from the canteen across the road. And playing frisbee always seems to garner some double-takes. Not many people here play frisbee, or even own one (I actually don't know if they are sold at all in China), so it's a bit of a culture shock when I talk to SJTU students who mention that they've only seen things like "frisbees" or "Halloween" in American movies.
东中院
(Photo: A bit of (slightly-fading) Block M graffiti I found on campus. Note the Chinese Flag-style stars on the top left in Maize.)
美国密歇根大学 or 美国密西根大学
"Měi Guó Mì Xiē Gēn Dà Xué" or "Měi Guó Mì Xi Gēn Dà Xué", two variants of writing the University of Michigan's Chinese name. Literally, it would mean "America, Michigan's University".
One odd, though comforting, thing about SJTU campus is the number of times the Block M is represented around campus. You see more people wearing Michigan-branded gear than people wearing SJTU clothes!
SJTU students from the UM-SJTU Joint Institute can apply for an intense program in which they spend their Fall and Winter semesters in Ann Arbor to get a degree, and spend their summers in Shanghai to get another degree at the same time. About a hundred SJTU students come to Michigan every year to get a quality engineering education in the States. I played basketball with some of these Joint Institute students a few days ago (they were great!) and half of the team had some type of Michigan-apparel on, including things like basketball jerseys and (my personal favorite) a "Rudy is a Hobbit" Maize-colored shirt. Plus, the ball was a Block-M branded "The Rock" basketball, the same type the team uses.
However, American football is not played at all here, so I had an interesting time explaining the rules of the game, and some Michigan football lore to prospective dual-degree students. There's no real concept of Notre Dame, Michigan State, or Ohio (State) as rivals to Michigan, but they do have a type of sports rivalry in SJTU! Fudan University, the "other" major school in Shanghai. According to some of the students I talked to, "Jiao Da" students have been feuding with Fudan students for ages, leading to various shenanigans. For example, there was a major stir among Fudan students when SJTU was chosen to be the first university to parade the Olympic torch around campus (I've actually seen the torch, it's held behind glass in the library). Fudan students took it as a slight against them, implying that they were only the second-best in Shanghai. After that event, a Fudan alum working as an editor for the Shanghai News removed all mentions of SJTU from the Olympic torch coverage, just saying that Fudan received the torch after "Some Southwest-Shanghai School".
So, SJTU students began mocking the jab by referring to themselves as "SSSS" (Some Southwest Shanghai School), or "SSSSS" (Some Southwest Shanghai School Students). I have yet to see a major sporting event between SJTU and Fudan, but I can only imagine the fans would be passionate!
上海交通大学
(Photo: Typical Canteen Food. Those dumplings are great.)
交大食品
"Jiāo Dà Shí Pǐn", Shanghai Jiao Tong University Food
Thought I'd be a bit touristy and take a picture of the typical canteen food on campus. Depending on where you go, the food changes, but this stuff if some of my favorite. The top-left is Dàndàn miàn, or Dan Dan Noodles, one of the few foods I know how to order in Chinese (otherwise, you mostly point and hold up your fingers to say how many you want). On the right are Shanghai-style dumplings, which are filled with some delicious chicken broth and meat filling, served piping hot in a wooden bowl.
And of course, no meal would be complete without some Soy Milk:
I've seen students (and professors!) get angry when the soy milk at the canteen runs out, so I suppose it's pretty important to a good meal!
交大食品
(Photos: Scenes around Jiao Da Campus. Click to enlarge.)
交大校园
"Jiāo Dà Xiào Yuán", SJTU Campus.
So, I don't think I have yet done justice in explaining just how beautiful Minhang Campus can be. A semi-tropical environment with lush gardens and lakes is hard to accomplish so close to a major city like Shanghai, but I think they have pulled it off fairly well.
First, however, there are a few Chinese characters I should teach you.
交大: "Jiāo Dà". This is a short nickname for 上海交通大学, "Shànghǎi Jiāotōng Dàxué," or "Shanghai Jiao Tong University". In Chinese, it's similar to saying "U of M" or "Umich" as shorthand for "University of Michigan".
饮水思源: "Yǐn Shuǐ Sī Yuán". This is one of the mottos of Jiāo Dà. It can be translated as "Drink from the Source", but literally would mean something like "When you drink water, remember the source." On the original Jiāo Dà campus in Xuhui, Shanghai, this was inscribed on a fountain. The students liked the motto, which reminded them to never take things for granted, because everything we do or study today is only possible because of what happened in history up to this point.
Our dorms are located on Sī Yuán road (see the middle picture), and that road traverses most of campus and leads out into the city, forming the main bloodline of Jiāo Dà. In fact, the old library on campus is located on the intersection of Sī Yuán West Road and Sī Yuán South Road, overlooking Sī Yuán Lake. Remember the Source indeed.
(click on the pictures to see them and the captions below)
饮水思源
(Photo: A Chinese Wal-Mart in Minhang, Shanghai)
在沃尔玛
"Zài wò ēr mǎ", meaning "At Wal-Mart" I think.
So a couple of us got on our bikes, sped out of campus, and took a while exploring all of the streets around Minhang. After getting fairly lost, we happened upon a Chinese Wal-Mart. Even though it had the familiar blue-and-white logo, there were a few key differences (note the stone lion statue flanking the entrance).
We explored the shop, and I bought a beginner's book of Chengyu (which I talked about earlier). Oh, and we got some weird looks for checking out all the kids-level Chinese language books and toys and stuff. Kind of like this:
在沃尔玛
(Photo: A view of the shops just outside the Yu Yuan Garden of Shanghai.)
上海豫园
"Shàng Hǎi Yù Yuán", The Yu Garden of Shanghai
So our entire group went on a trip to the Yu Garden in Shanghai, and the Shanghai Museum of Urban Planning. It was raining, and we sped through most of it, but we learned a bit about history of Shanghai. Apparently, during the Ming Dynasty, Shanghai was just starting to become a major trade port, subject to occasional pirate attacks. The Yu Garden was built by the Ming Dynasty, and, along with the Chéng Huáng Miào (a major temple built in Shanghai), showed the Chinese world that Shanghai was becoming a powerful city. I couldn't get a very good picture of the garden itself, but I took a decent picture from inside one of the main structures:
Very cool traditional-looking China stuff. At the Museum of Urban Planning, the tour guide explained the history of European and Japanese colonialism in China, as well as the various "concessions" which cut up the city among its conquerors. Also, there was a cool model of the entire city, which took up a whole floor in the museum:
Plus, the lighting dimmed occasionally so you could see a birds' eye view of Shanghai at night!
上海豫园
對不起 (我的中文不好)
So I've got a lot of posts planned, that I haven't yet found time for (between classes, exploring Shanghai, making cross-country travel plans, and actually doing things like studying for tests and finishing homework, my schedule is pretty filled up), but I thought I'd share this music video, basically describing my daily language interactions with the local Shanghai people! 對不起我的中文不好 means, "Sorry, my Chinese is not very good".