The National Holiday at the White Swan Hotel

The 66^th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the People’s Government of Guangdong Province held their celebration at the fourth floor Grand Ballroom in the White Swan Hotel. We were fortunate enough to receive an invitation. 

 

Located on the historical Shamian Island, overlooking the famed Pearl River and facing the White Swan Pool, the White Swan Hotel remains an oasis of tranquility from the hustle and bustle of this busy city.

 The main building has the height of 34 stories. The exquisitely beautiful Atrium lobby is an indoor microcosm of the famed landscapes of Southern China. Here waters abound, with a veil-like cascade and a spectacular rockery. Atop the rockery sits an elegant Chinese pavilion, octagon-shaped, with its richly ornate gold top, and a profusion of luxuriant vegetation and flowers.

White Swan Hotel own 843 guest rooms involved standard rooms, deluxe suites and executive floor. Any of them been designed with full consideration to let our customers feel the thoughtful and comfortable during the stay.

Restaurants in White Swan Hotel offering a wonderful variety of Chinese and Western food spread over the public areas from the first floor to the third floor. The Jade River Restaurant, Banquet Hall, Coffee Shop, Grill Room, Provincial Restaurant and Japanese Restaurant serve excellent dishes in an elegant ambience with river view. The International Convention Center is equipped with sound and recording facilities as well as simultaneous translation equipment. This is the ideal venue for international conferences, meetings, receptions and exhibitions. The hotel also offers a chain of hardware and services from laundry to the entertainment.

White Swan Hotel keeps the constant international standard high level service from the very beginning till now, that makes hotel become the first choice for the customers no matter with business or leisure in Canton.

Since opening on February 6, 1983, the Guangzhou White Swan Hotel has received over 40 heads of state and government, including Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, President Bush of the United States, and Chancellor Kohl of Germany.^[1]

The hotel closed down for renovations during three years and reopened on July 15, 2015.

All of the hotel's 520 rooms and suites are equipped with full-size desks, color televisions, refrigerators, and individual climate controls.

The White Swan's Jade River Restaurant, with its garden decor, is noted for its Cantonese cuisine.

Many American families who adopt children from China stay at the White Swan while in Guangzhou awaiting visa paperwork. A children's story book THE WHITE SWAN EXPRESS is based on this.

The hotel was accepted as a member of "The Leading Hotels of the World" on July 1, 1985, and awarded five stars by the Chinese Government in February 1990.

The White Swan Hotel topped "China's 50 best hotels" in 1996. It was named "China's best well-known hotel' in 2008.

 Lobby Decor

 Lobby

  Ice sculptures in the ball room

 Official  Chinese Government Delegation

Guangzhou Experiences

We are fortunate to have two other couples sharing this experience at University Housing with us at South China University of Technology. Sue and Rick Parker are from Pocatello, ID and Michelle and Larry Cooke are from Laramie, WY.  Both couples are fun and ready for this adventure.  We have dragged them around the city this weekend to experience all the sights and sounds of what 15 million people look like in one location. Not one of us can speak much more that ten words of Mandarin but we are able to navigate the metro, the bus system and the streets to get where we set out to go.  That is not to say it is without incident and many “charades” to entertain the local Chinese population! We did lose The Cookes the first day on the metro; Larry’s arm got caught in the subway door as it slammed shut.  Thankfully he was able to back out and not be dragged down the track.  He did complain later about his fingernails.  Larry is a classical guitarist and takes very good care of his fingers.  He chipped a nail on his first trip on the subway, so we spent the next day trying to find a salon he trusted to repair the chip so he could continue to play his guitar and mandolin, both of which he hand carried to China!

We are in for an interesting experience again this year.  I have to say it is the people you march along with that have the impact on your experience. 

 Rick and Sue Parker, Michelle and Larry Cooke

 Shamian Island Concert in the Park

 Canton Tower between the Guangzhou Opera House

Former Students

   

Thank you Gary and Michael

 

 

 

As we started our exercise routine, a 3.5-mile walk around the lake in the middle of the campus we ran into several of our students from 2013-14.  It was great fun to see them and hear about their academic success.  In China it takes three years to complete a Master’s Degree.  First year was the year we worked with in 2013-14, they have classes scheduled all day long, second year they are required to spend seven hours every day in the lab with their research, third year they use to actually write their thesis based on the course work and the results of their laboratory evidence.  The students we worked with in 2013 are now in their third year beginning to assimilate their research into a thesis document. Some are madly trying to finalize their research, some are writing and some are in the last phase of submission to their Master’s Committee. 

They will begin the job interview process in late November.  They are beginning to realize that they could become employed by early spring.  Gary, one of my students wants to continue his education and is applying to university in the U.S and U.K. for a PhD. Michael hopes to get a government job close to Guangzhou.

Michael and Gary took us to the university faculty canteen for Cantonese Saturday Dim Sum.  It was really quite delightful.  We were told to just order what we liked, so we browsed through the offerings and returned to the table with six steam baskets.  Michael promptly got up and went back to pick up two more baskets, one his personal Dim Sum favorite, chicken feet and a second one we didn’t ask about.  Just the appearance made me think I didn’t want to know what it was. 

What a great way to begin 2015, our classes begin on Monday!

A Return to China -2015

When the question came to us in January 2015, would we consider returning to China, I think we were so flattered that we would be asked to return we hastily committed to one semester at South China University of Technology.  It didn’t take but a couple of weeks to begin questioning our decision! We quickly moved from “we can do this” to “what were we thinking!”  We spent the spring and summer preparing both emotionally and physically to return to China. 

There is a certain advantage and confidence knowing when you arrive you can get water, ramen noodles, watermelon, and saltine crackers. Guangzhou, China is a mere 15 million people and navigating the metro is a fete to accomplish, we already have that down! Recognizing the faculty and staff at SCUT is a huge advantage. We are ready to hit the ground running!

In the process we discovered that we would be assigned the same faculty apartment of 350 square feet, two burners plus a microwave, beautiful yellow brocade drapes in each room, a small washer that takes at least two hours to wash a load and no dryer, 90 degrees with 88% humidity! What’s not to like about that?

With experience under our belts this time the packing process was quite different!  We made several Costco runs and for the first time really appreciated the large quantities we were able to purchase.  Microwave popcorn, protein bars, hot chocolate, almonds, cashews, Nutella, beef jerky, Acai berries (dried), all the goods that we could think of for a luxurious China experience. This time one whole 50-pound suitcase was devoted to food.  Life will be better this time around.