Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai

I just returned back from a week of traveling to Guangzhou (广州), Hong Kong (香港), Macau (澳门), and Zhuhai (珠海). Each city was quite the experience! All of them are in the South of China so they use Cantonese to speak, which was interesting to say the least. For those of you who don’t know, Mandarin in most commonly spoken in China, which is what I am learning, but there are still a lot of Cantonese speakers out there. I discovered them last week. (Cantonese is the same characters, just different pronunciations – just like how Shanghainese is.) Though most of them can understand Mandarin, they will reply to you in Cantonese. I had no idea what a lot of them were saying, so I was just glad that most of the week was planned out because I was pretty much helpless. In addition to the speaking, in Macau and Hong Kong, they use traditional characters, meaning the characters are more complex and I am studying simplified so that just made it even more difficult to communicate.

One of the trips was to the biggest sitting Buddha in China during our stay in Hong Kong. This is where I had an encounter with a local Chinese construction man. He was working on the scaffolding, which here in China is always made up of bamboo and some string to tie them together. I look up and was amazed by how they can build it so fast yet gracefully and then I noticed that he just stuck his tongue out at me. Out of shock, I decided to stick mine out back at him. After a series of funny faces, I just start laughing and walk away. Even though, words were never exchanged, I know that I made a connection with this guy by being silly just for a few seconds. These little moments are the ones that I will never forget in China.

Hong Kong and Macau were different than Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and the rest of China because they are special administrative regions of China. That means that China controls the defense and foreign affairs, but everything else is their own responsibility. Hong Kong used to be under British rule, whereas Macau was a former Portuguese colony. You could definitely see the influence of the former rule in each city. For example, Hong Kong still has the double-decker buses and trams, a lot of people there could speak English, and signs were translated into English. Meanwhile, Macau had many people who could speak Portuguese and signs translated into both Portuguese and English. For those of you who do not know much about Macau, Macau is the Las Vegas of China. Gambling is not allowed in Mainland China or Hong Kong, so everyone goes to Macau for it. With that being said, Macau has greatly benefited from this tourism industry. I remember our tour guide, David, telling us (in an attempt to get us to want to move to Macau) that the government makes too much money so they end up giving money back to the residents.

Now for a little bit about guanxi (关系). My resident director was able to get me this internship as well as all of our company visits this last week thanks to his guanxi. What that means is that his past connections with these people have allowed him to have a good reputation in order for them to want him to return (or for them to trust the people they recommend). To them, it is more about the value of the relationships more than the product’s price or quality. Another situation is when people get pulled over in China. If you have the right connections to people or guanxi, you can manage to get away without a ticket or anything by simply calling that person of higher rank, but if not, you have to listen to the policeman. Guanxi can also be applied to wedding culture here in China. Weddings are typically only attended by the bride and groom’s family and close friends. That does not mean that they leave out their neighbors and co-workers though. What they have to do with them is give them a small gift - typically sweets like chocolate - as well as treat them to lunch or dinner. (This actually happened two weeks ago to me since a co-worker got married.)

We had a few field-study visits this last week. One was at a pharmaceutical company, another was at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the last one was at an Italian chemical company. I found each visit to be beneficial, especially the last one. This Italian firm entered the Chinese market, but without copyright laws, the Chinese gave them a shock. Months after opening up their factory, another company selling the exact same product just happened to open up across the street from them. They told us that in China, people feel as though they have the right to copy. It is a different concept, but it is something you just have to get used to and find a way to overcome it.

After all of the traveling and sightseeing throughout the week, we settled down near Zhuhai at the Zhongshan Hot Springs. This resort was more than I could have ever imagined. There were many natural hot springs as well as a variety of other ones like coffee, coconut milk, jasmine, lavender, rose, ginseng, mint and even fish! The fish one was the most bizarre because the little fish would bite the dead skin off of your feet. Eventually, I got used to it but it tickled so much at first!

We left Shanghai in a windy rainy mess, but when we returned the temperature greeted us warmly. Today, it is now 85 degrees Fahrenheit! I am so thankful for this well planned traveling experience, but at the same time, it feels good to return home in Shanghai. And yes, I said home, I truly love this city and have no regrets in choosing it for my study abroad experience. These next few weeks may be a little busy since I have my midterm for Chinese on Friday, and my midterm for Finance next Wednesday, but once it is May 6th, I get to go to Malaysia and Singapore! That is my motivation; I can do it -　加油！(jiayou!)

I've added a few pictures and ill just describe them in order: Baishuizhai (白水寨）waterfall, Hong Kong stock exchange, Hong Kong skyline, big Buddha, the construction worker on bamboo, Bruce Lee's star on the avenue of stars, the Venetian in Macau, and a picture of the streets of Macau.