South China Botanical Garden

We are fortunate to have the South China Botanical Garden in Guangzhou!  Two Bus connections, a metro and about an hour will put you five miles North of Guangzhou and right at the entrance of the amazing garden.  It was hard to believe that you could be on the loud busy city street then walk into a beautiful peaceful garden.  We left early in the morning to catch the 7:30 bus so the garden would be cool for our morning walk.  The road around the perimeter was lined with tall beautiful trees that threw shade all along the walkway.  It was easy to spot Chinese groups of senior citizens gathered to do their morning Tai Chi, accompanied by their recorded Chinese music.  Most of the flowers were past their bloom but we did capture a few that were still glorious for the end of October!

FIRST Robotics at South China University of Technology

I have great memories of working with the five Canyons District High Schools in the First Robotics partnership.  The high school teams and their dedicated advisors were able to create  A-1 class robots that competed well in the region as well as Hillcrest High School and Brighton High School moving to the National Competition the first year they competed.

Last week as I finished my classes on the seventh floor of teaching building #31, I could see a gathering of students on the main floor.  As I made it down the stairs students were managing computers outside a secure area.  It was the lunch break so many students had stopped by to watch the exhibit.  Soon there were small plastic balls flying outside the area and students were excited about what the robots were doing.  The sound of Chinese students watching the demonstration echoed all through the building. 

There were two sets of robots, three robots were a blue team and three were a red team. The students on the exterior of the netting were driving the robots around the jumps and lifts, on two wheels at fast corners and all sorts of stunts were being performed.  I was unable to read the Chinese sign but my best guess is First Robotics has arrived at SCUT!

Phantom of the Opera at the Guangzhou Opera House

The Phantom of the Opera, a hit musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, staged its first show in Guangzhou city in Guangdong province on Sept 22. The southern Chinese city is the second location on the mainland, after Shanghai, to host the show that is scheduled to be staged in Beijing in November.

The Guangzhou Opera House has a giant chandelier and takes the look of 19th-century Paris while hosting the musical that is being staged through Sunday.

The investment on the show in the two Chinese cities cost 90 million yuan ($14 million), a record for the country's market for musicals, according to Tian Yuan, general manager of Beijing-based One World Culture Communications, a subsidiary of China Arts and Entertainment Group that organized the tour.

"The Chinese market for musicals has grown a lot in the past 10 years, which is part of the reason why we dared to introduce such an expensive production," Tian says. "Theaters have also sprung up across the country with heavy investments from the government."

The Phantom of the Opera is regarded as "the diamond on the crown" of Webber's musicals, Tian says. It debuted in London's West End in 1986 and has been staged more than 74,000 times in 27 countries, attracting at least 130 million viewers, before coming to Guangzhou.

"The show is magic. I mean that both literally and in terms of the emotional involvement of the audience while watching the incredible story," says Philip Godawa, the musical's director.

And, it isn't far-fetched. The stage setting, for instance, suddenly changes from the dressing room for Christine, the musical's heroine, to a subterranean "lake" enshrouded in mist.

Six large candelabrums rise from the stage floor, making for strong visual effects. The Phantom and Christine sail across the lake on a boat to his lair beneath the opera house.

It took 22 days to assemble the complex stage at Guangzhou Opera House with 23 containers of props and clothes. The stage floor with 150 "secret" doors was specially made and delivered to Guangzhou by air.

Shanghai Grand Theater was the only theater that Really Useful Group, the producer of The Phantom of the Opera, could find in China to meet the demands of stage setting when the musical made its mainland debut in 2004, Tian says.

The musical returned to Shanghai in 2013, and chose Guangzhou Opera House this year as it was willing to modify its stage for the show, while the newly built Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center seemed like another good venue as the country's only theater designed for musicals.

I couldn’t have said it any better than THE CHINA DAILY. This performance was breathtaking.  I saw “Phantom” in NYC on Broadway at least ten years ago,  I still remember that feeling of seeing it for the first time!  The Guangzhou Opera House did well for itself.

Campus Construction

There appears to be heavy growth at South China University of Technology.  There is an increase of students, bicycles, scooters, long lines, cars and new construction everywhere.  Campus buildings are beautiful, solid granite and marble are on the floors and walls for seven or eight floors with very large vestibules on the main floor that accommodates a great view of the classrooms. 

We walk daily, usually after our morning classes, around the lake on the upper north campus where most of the growth is visible.  Massive machinery does most of the work, however there is still much of the work done by hand.  The new curb and gutter is solid granite and hand installed by Chinese laborers.

 Hand installed granite curb and gutter.

 New teaching building on upper campus

Shopping in China

First of all I need to confess that I am not a shopper, and shopping is never high on my list.  I prefer going with a list or a project get the things that I need and checking out, pay my bill and get on with life. Browsing and checking out what is new is never something I like to do.  Both Kaci and Ashley have nurtured shopping as an art and can spend time enjoying shopping for hours, they did not learn that skill from me.

Shopping in China however has added a few more layers to that adventure.  Grocery shopping doesn’t take a long list, largely because we usually walk to the store or ride the metro or subway.  All three are limiting on how much you are able to purchase. You can only buy what you can carry.  No Costco runs to load the car and be done for a month, two shoulder bags that won’t damage your spine just about does it. 

The next layer of adventure is labeling.  Nothing is familiar even colors on Oreos are different.  Then everything is labeled in Chinese, if by chance it is an American product they are over labeled in Chinese.  I know that isn’t surprising but it makes grocery shopping a treasure hunt.  Even with my iPhone translator up and running I have become a pantomime expert.  My favorite was trying to fine spray starch. 

Chinese laundry is an American Myth.  There are no Chinese laundries anywhere near my apartment, or anywhere I have traveled.  As a result of that, I needed to iron shirts for Craig. Since we don’t have a dryer, the shirts are all wrinkled coming from the spin cycle of the washer then hung outside, starch became a necessity.  Off to the local grocery store to find starch. The nice Chinese ladies in the market really do try to be helpful but they do not speak any English.   After my iPhone translator pulled up the Chinese characters, I was escorted to the potato section, then the corn section, then my pantomime skills kicked in and I demonstrated ironing, off to the ironing board section, then to the steamer section and last of all to the iron section.  It must have been very entertaining to watch me with my iPhone in one hand and my best effort pantomiming spraying starch and ironing.  Suddenly I felt just like Carol Burnett!  I never found the spray or liquid starch and Craig walks around campus and church with water sprayed on his collars and cuffs and my best attempt at ironing sans starch! (Don’t invite me to a Charade party, you will looooose!)

Shopping at the mall is more entertaining than going to a movie.  Loud speakers, Christmas carols, barkers, demonstrations on all levels, Chinese people yelling “hello, hello” as you try to absorb the whole event, and mobs of people wandering the walkways.  I will never complain about crowds of people or long lines in the U.S. again.  Overwhelming but so entertaining! I might become a shopper after all.

Chinese Internet

Chinese Internet is a source of continual frustration.  It is censored and distributed only by the government; it makes me smile every time I get a message to “contact my internet provider.”

Accessing the Internet is a feat all by itself.  The university provides our server.  In 2013 when we were here it was a struggle to use the Internet, two years later it is near impossible to use the Internet.  The university has increased in size more that 20,000 students and professors to cover that increase in population without any change or upgrade in the server that provides Internet access to both professors and students. When the students are not in class and trying to research or write papers “good luck” with using the Internet.  If I really need to get something done I set an alarm for 3:00AM to use the Internet.

Think of the worst Internet service you can imagine, Comcast, Time Warner, or Cox Network are the services I have experienced. All are a thousand times better and more available that the Internet service provided in China!

Enough said, that is Chinese Internet in a nutshell!

Typhoon Linfa lands in Guangzhou 2015

GUANGZHOU - Typhoon Linfa made landfall on Thursday in South China's Guangdong province, where trains have been suspended, schools closed and thousands of fishing boats recalled to port.

Linfa made landfall in Jiadong township of Shanwei city at 12:15 pm, packing winds of up to 35 m per second, according to the provincial meteorological station.

From Wednesday night, gales and torrential rains hit Shantou city about 100 km away from the landing point. Trees in the city were brought down by strong winds while three main bridges to Shanwei city and an offshore island county have all been closed as of Thursday morning.

With a complex route and changing intensity, Linfa was earlier expected to make landfall on the coastal regions stretching from Shantou city in Guangdong to Zhangpu city in Fujian province.

About 10,400 fishing vessels returned to ports in five cities in Guangdong.
The province issued a yellow alert for Linfa on Wednesday, closing kindergartens, elementary and middle schools in 15 counties.

Meanwhile, another Typhoon, Chan-Hom, is approaching East China fast.
As of 11 am Thursday the center of Chan-Hom was located 1,000 km southeast to Wenzhou city of Zhejiang province, packing winds up to 40 m per second. It moved 70 km northwest in the last three hours maintaining the intensity, according to Zhejiang Meteorological station.

Chan-Hom is expected to land in Zhejiang on late Friday night or Saturday morning as a super typhoon, according to the station.

All 7,672 fishing boats in Wenzhou city were called back to harbor as the city issued a yellow alert on Thursday morning. Torrential rains are expected in the city from Friday night to Saturday.

Zhejiang suspended its direct shipping route to Taiwan on Thursday for safety reasons. Travellers who have bought the tickets can reschedule for free or get a full refund, according to the county government of Yuhuan.

Railway authorities in the eastern city of Shanghai plan to suspend all passenger trains along the coast on Friday and Saturday.

On Wednesday, the China National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the Ministry of Civil Affairs urged Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shanghai and Zhejiang to set up dedicated teams to track the two typhoons and disseminate information.

South Korea

On October 1 through October 7 the entire country of China celebrates their national holiday; similar to the fourth of July in the U.S.  All schools, K-university are closed, government offices, banks, post office, most everyone gets one week off to celebrate the implementation of communism in China.  As a result of that, China is very crowded everywhere when 1.35 billion people all take vacation at the same time.  We elected to leave China and the maddening crowds for this break in our classes and travel to South Korea. 

Seoul was a breath of fresh air-literally- the skies were blue and pollution free, the temperature was 75 degrees the leaves were beginning to turn colors, it seemed for a minute we were back in SLC.  One of the benefits of military service is the opportunity to use military facilities; we took advantage of that benefit in Seoul and booked a week at the Dragon Hill Lodge.  Plush towels, carpet on the floor, overstuffed furniture in the lobby to sit down, elevators, flowers, all the amenities, we were ready to live it up! 

We booked some tours and tickets to events in Seoul and walaa we had a week planned in no time. 

 DMZ

 The Royal Palace

Michael and Rosy Cragun were assigned to the Consulate in Guangzhou last time we were here but have since been transferred to the Embassy in Seoul.  Interestingly enough the Embassy housing is on the same base where we were staying, we were just a short walk to the embassy house compound. We had such a great time spending time with Michael and Rosy again.  They took us to some really great Korean Hot Pot spots and gave us direction for the high points of the city. We attended church with their family and shared FHE with their six children. We were able to do sealings and an temple session in the South Korea Temple on Conference weekend.  It is so much fun to have international friends!

 

We were planning to do some Christmas shopping while we were in Seoul but quickly discovered it is hard to beat China for shopping.  Our shopping consisted of Oreos, Ritter Sport, tuna fish, nuts, crackers, room deodorizer and soap. Just a few things to make life easier in Guangzhou.