Monday, November 23, 2015

Vegetable and Fruit Bleaching


Part of the daily routine in Guangzhou is a trip to the vegetable and fruit market.  Thank goodness they are both in the same location! So off we go to purchase whatever is for dinner.  We have a very small refrigerator and our capacity to carry much back isn’t overwhelming either so it all works out.

All produce must be scrubbed in bleach water.  The irrigation system here leaves a lot to be desired and requires that everything must be scrubbed with bleach before it can be consumed.  I will leave the rest of that piece to your imagination!  Two drops of Chinese bleach in a bowl of water pretty much takes care of  the issues and has managed to keep us healthy while we are here! 

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Lotus Mountain


On the far south of Guangzhou is a treasure indeed!  We took the metro to the most southern tip where the metro that serves 20 million people runs out.  Then we took bus 93 for a few more miles and ended up at a park called Lotus Mountain.  The lotus is significant in China, every Buddha that I have seen, and I have seen a few dozen, either stands or sits on a lotus then projects to many different heights and width.  We have seen the sleeping Buddha, the jade Buddha, the tallest Buddha, Buddhas in Thailand, VietNam, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and across China all with their accompanying Lotus bed. 

Lotus Mountain has its own Buddha and lotus but there is much more to that park.  Part of it was once called “The Quarry.”  There are great tall rock slabs with greenery growing out of the granite rocks.  It is really a sight to behold. 

This late November day was 100% humidity with intermittent rain and constant fog and mist at 86 degrees.  Hot rain is a concept that my brain must adjust to; I always associate rain with cold temperatures. This was a rainforest day that provided cover and drizzle perfect for this park.  An umbrella was a must during parts of the visit, when it rains it is a water deluge that cannot be avoided. That may have contributed to so few people at the park.  We literally enjoyed the park without the massive crowds that usually are ever-present on a weekend in Guangzhou.


















Saturday, November 14, 2015

Shenzhen


For some reason that we ware unable to determine, our Visa to China this trip is a F- Visa with only two entries.  Neither BYU or SCUT seem to want to take responsibility for how this happened. What it really means to me is that we are not able to leave China during this semester.  So given those circumstances we have focused our weekends on interesting places to visit inside China.  We ventured down to Shenzhen right after our classes ended on Friday.  We have really never spent time in Shenzhen before.  My first trip to Shenzhen was in 2000 with Garrett and his friend Archer.  We crossed the border to find we were about the only people there.  At that time Shenzhen was a created city, newly built and sparkling clean, already for occupancy, just a few street sweepers keeping debris off the streets. 

We had a few opportunities in 2013-2014 to pass through Shenzhen on our way to Hong Kong but never stopped to spend any time in this city.  This weekend we changed all of that.   I must say Shenzhen has really grown into itself and then some. 

We spent time in the art district.  Most of the bulk art, we see in the U.S., we are told, originates in the art district of Shenzhen.  They are absolute masters at coping and mass producing art pieces.  Hotel size and numbers, business building size and numbers line the streets of this area.  Artist at work in the streets and on the corners; pretty amazing but not to surprising. 




Next stop was Splendid China, a park that is dedicated to the history and culture of the ethnic groups all over China.  Each area was represented in native costume, dance and typical skills from that area.  It was an interesting synopsis and representation of China’s culture.  The shows ranged from small and entertaining to a regular Las Vegas show, costuming and glitz included.








Thursday, November 12, 2015

TED Style Talks at SCUT


Craig and I were asked to prepare a TED-Style talk in English to present to students in an evening lecture.  We were allowed to select our own topic but it needed to be approved before we could speak.   We must have made good choices because our topics were approved!  I selected “American Education” and Craig selected “The Changing American Family.” Needless to say we were a little surprised to see the introductory  slide when we arrived! We weren't told  that the group of students were the International Office "Communist Youth League Committee"  at their meetings on November 12 and November 19. 

The first presentation only had one glitch; the power went off about midway through the first presentation. We had about ten minutes of down time waiting to IT to arrive and get things up and running again.  The students had a five-minute Q&A after our presentations that didn’t seem to be adequate.  Many students were still standing and wanted to ask questions but the moderator was working very hard to keep things on track. 





There never seems to be a dull moment both the expected and the unexpected keeps us focused!

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Foshan



A day trip out of town seemed to be in order after reading papers for days!  Sixty-eight minutes on the Metro puts us in Foshan to see the sights and take in the culture just outside of Guangzhou.  Zumiao Temple, Shunde Qinghui Park, NanFeng Ancient Kiln and Qiandeng Lake kept us busy.  Most of the Chinese porcelain is made in Foshan and it is an exquisite rival to Lladro. Very fine detail but the colors are all vibrant unlike Llardo. 

The Dragon Dance at the Zumiao Temple is exercise for a week, all performed by young Chinese men.  The drums, the costumes and the audience were all part of the morning entertainment.












A boat ride on the Qiandeng Lake at the end of the day was the perfect ending to a change of pace for us.

Wisdom from Confucius!


Sunday, November 1, 2015

A Few of my Favorite Things.......


I just received papers from the PhD. Engineers!  Check out the titles of the articles they hope to publish! Now take a guess, what do you think my job might be?

1.     The Current Status and Research Progress of Spinodal Decomposing Cu-15Ni-8snAlloy
2.     The Present Research Situation and Development of High Nitrogen Nickel-free Austenitic Stainless Steel
3.     Super Plasticity of Magnesium Alloys Prepared by Submerged Friction Stir Process
4.     Analysis on Chemical Industry Park Emergency Drill Escape Paths Based on Web GIS
5.     Functionalized Grapheme Sheets Filled Isotactic Polypropylene Nano composites
6.     Formation of Shish-Kebabs in Isotactic Polypropylene (iPP) by Application of a Dynamic Sheared Field and Morphology of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Fiber
7.     Study of Recycling Technology for Spent Lithium ion Batteries
8.     Risk Assessment of Multi-State Bayesian Network in an Oil Gathering and Transferring System
9.     Heat Transfer Characteristic on Expanded Graphite Paraffin PCM-heat exchanger used in instant heated HPWH
10. Fabrication of a AINiFeCoCr High Entropy Alloy by Spark Plasma Sintering
11. Effect of Thermal Frequency on AA6061 Aluminum Alloy Double Pulsed Gas Metal Arc Welding
12. Leaf Spring Analysis
13. A Review of Discrete Element Method
14. Parameters Identification of Viscoelastic Constitutive Model and Error Analysis for Uncured Rubber
15. Enhancement of Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Resistance of Titanium Alloy by Deep Burnishing Processing
16. Vibration Mechanism of Spur Gear Pair in Healthy State
17. Resolver-Based Rotor’s Position Detecting System Design of Motor
18. The Influence of the Cutter Installation Structure on the Quality of Cut Sugar Cane
19. Research Progress of Zirconia-based Ceramics Toughening Mechanisms
20. Application of Supercritical CO2 in Biomass Material Processing
21. Study on Three-Dimensional Characterization of Microcosmic Pores and Its Effect on Fatigue Performance
22. Effect of Rheological Property on Microcellular Injection Foaming Behavior of Propylene/organic Montmorillinite Composite
23. The Challenge of Stereotypical Child Care Role of Women in Child Care Policy
24. A Journals review of the Research on the Historical Origin of Marxism in China
25. Initial Reactant Concentration Controlled Synthesis of Double Layered Titanium Dioxide on FTO Substrate and Characterization of its Optical Properties
26. Oxidation Mechanism of Dibenzothiophene Compounds: A Computational Study
27. Enrichment of Large Diameter Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs) with Metallo-Octaethylporphyrins
28. Coal t Methanol Water Footprint of a Product
29. Hydrothermal Conversion of Lignin to Substituted Phenols
30. Conceptual Design of Coke-Oven assisted Coal t Olefins Process for High Energy Efficiency and Low CO2 Emission
31. Carbon Nanotubes Modified for ZnCo2O4 with a Novel Porous Polyhedral Structures as Anodes for Lithium ion Batteries with Improved Performances
32. Synthesis and Performance of Pour-Point Depressant of Vinyl Imidazole-2 Acrylamide-2-MethylPropane Sulfonic Acid-18-Methacrylate Terpolymer for High Wax and High Viscosity
33. Metal Free Electro catalysts for Oxygen Reduction
34. Solar-Powered Membrane Distillation Humidification-Dehumidification Desalination System Research
35. Amphiphilic Multiarm Star Triblock Copolymers 4/6AS-PCL-b-PDEAMA-b-PPEGMA for Controlled Anticancer Drug Delivery
36. Research Progress in Novel Antifogging Coating
37. Discuss the Impact of Globalization on China from Culture Perspective
38. Cellulose Nano whiskers Brushes by Surface UV Grafting with Poly (Acrylic Acid)
39. Inorganic Compounds @n-tetrad cane Microencapsulated Phase Change Materials
40. Naphthalene Acrylonitrile Dyes: Facile Synthesis, Structure, and Application as Fluorescent Probes for pH
41. Novel Phase Change Composites with Alkanes Stabilized in Ordered Mesoporous
42. Synthesis, Characterization and Application of Carbon Nanotubes
43. Plugging into Proteins: Poisoning Protein Function by a Hydrophobic Nanoparticle
44. Recent Study Sinicization of Marxism
45. Discussion about Music Theory in “New Folk Song”
46. Catalytic Reduction of Nitrogen Oxides with Carbon Monoxide
47. The States of Electrostatic Spray and Particle Size Distribution of Different Voltage
48. Ionic Liquids as a New Platform for Fiber Brittleness Removal
49. A Fast Way to Evaluate the Solvent Penetration Resistance of NFC Film
50. Influence of Viscoelasticity on the Performance of a Wet Clutch Friction Material
51. Synthesis of Dextran with Low Molecular Weight by Immobilized Dextransucrase and Dextranase
52. Synthesis and Characterization of AG Nanoparticles Decorated Mesoporous Sintered Activated Carbon with Antibacterial and Absorptive Properties
53. Combining of Acid and Enzyme Treatment Modification to Characterize Structure of Starch Octenylsucccinate
54. A Robust Method for Determining Water-Extractable Alkyl phenol Polyethoxyates n Textile Products by Reaction-Based Headspace Gas Chromatography
55. Migration of Ti from Nano-TiO2-Polyethylene Composite Packaging into Food Simulants
56. Influence of SorbinTrioleate on Crystallization Kinetics of Palm Oil
57. Study on Preparation and Performance of Cationic Guar Gum in the Ionic Liquid
58. Optimization of Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction of Phenolic Compounds, Antioxidants, and Anthocyanin from Sugar Beet Molasses
59. Characterization of Tofu Prepared fr0m Dehusked-Soybean Seeds
60. The Influence of Brine Concentration and Curing Time on Pig Elbows During Brine Salting and Vacuum Environment
61. Synthesis of Organic Polymer by Artificial Photosynthesis
62. Research on Preparation and Properties of Chemi-Mechanical Pulp from the Waste Poplar Wood
63. Effects of Hornification of Softwood Fibers on the Characteristics of Acid Hydrolysis Products
64. Hydrous Ferric Oxide (FHO)-Load Granular Activated Carbon as Catalyst to Reduce COD and Color of Eucalyptus CTMP Pulping Effluent by Ozone

Thursday, October 29, 2015

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!