Sunday,
March 7, 2015:
Today
I learned what it was like to be a celebrity and a zoo animal at the same
time. The Forbidden City was quite the
experience, and the first time I recognized the communism in the country. Everyone was taking pictures with the Mao
portrait, and when we walked into the tourist area as a group everyone stared
and took pictures with and of us. You
could see in the people’s faces how excited they were to be in the Forbidden
City because of the nationalism associated.
The Chinese are very proud of their country and their leaders and
watching them worship Mao in different ways is a perfect example of their
pride. The place itself was
gigantic—truly its own city. Reading
about the buildings and their different purposes was interesting, but the
garden was my favorite part. I liked how
that beautiful part was for the empress.
The husband and wife tree was my favorite part just because of its
romanticism. To me, the Forbidden City
represents the transition from empires and dynasties to more modern ways to
rule. The public now has access to the
site, and at the same time the leaders are no longer seen as gods. China is transforming into a modern culture,
but while retaining the respect of the past.
The
Art Zone was different in the sense that it was more free and westernized. Instead of being an example of change with
remaining nationalism, it demonstrates the free spirits of the new era. The art shops and cafes were familiar to me
because of their western feel. The only
unfamiliar aspect was the squat toilets, which I refuse to get used to. I asked Sijia about them and she said that
most houses have western toilets, so I am hoping eventually China will entirely
switch over.
The
Silk Market was a fascinating experience.
I have been to China town in New York before and my mom is experienced
with haggling, but I was still not prepared for what I encountered. It was much harder for me to get the lower
price I desired simply because I was American.
I know for a fact that if I would have had a native with me, I would
have gotten a much better deal. The
people at the Silk Market like to take advantage of the Americans and that was
frustrating for me. I advanced my
bargaining skills and wish we would have had more time there. I bought a Louis Vuitton purse for my mom
(300 RMB), baby slippers for my sister’s baby (30 RMB), and an ox-bone dagger
for my boyfriend (120 RMB). Overall I
could have gone lower on the baby slippers, but it took me forever to get the
prices down for the dagger and the purse.
I want to back and bargain harder, or at least go somewhere in the US
where haggling is allowed.
Lastly,
we had dinner at the Red Rose. What an
experience! Not only did I see my second
China cat, but I also got to watch Trenton, Nir, and Corey make dancing fools
out of themselves, which was extremely entertaining. The food was pretty good there, too. Tomorrow is our first company visit, and I am
excited to mix what I have learned culturally with the business techniques
here.
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