#mattatchina

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(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.  

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(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

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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)

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(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.

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(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

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I took some more shots of Shanghai Jiao Tong campus today.  (click to enlarge and see caption)

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(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

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(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