The Tale of Dan’s Adventure in China, Rhan Dau

Or, Why Britain Really is the Rainiest Country in the World, and How to Get Three People in a Rhino.

    New Feature: Mistranslation of the Month, or the Best Chinglish Award!

Possibly genuine, hopefully not. Various items on a Shanghai restaurant menu, but the prize-taker had to be:

“House speciality- Opium Fish”.

We ordered it. They were out of stock.

   Well, it seems I’m at a loose end in an evening and in a very fine mood, courtesy of the excellent folks on 6^th floor arranging a fellowship meeting (thankyou Hannah!), where we all got together for prayer, a bit of bible-bashing and some slightly off-key singing and biscuits. So, contented and happy, I thought I’d update you all on my Chinese adventures! (Getting two requests for another post within five minutes of each other may also have swayed me)

   Well, first off, let me regale you with the tale of the field trip to Shanghai. A bunch of us from the Chinese course, as part of a module, went to Shanghai on a journey that wasn’t quite a holiday, but wasn’t too much work as to take all the fun out of it!

   We went to Zhouzhuang, the river town where people flowed up and down the river on ancient, rather impractical-looking boats, and where the only way to move through the crowd was by vigorous use of elbows. The houses were old and derelict, everything was falling apart, and it was kind of melancholy- or at least, it would have been if there had been violins in the soundtrack, and not the babble of a thousand Chinese tourists and street vendors shouting their wares across the cramped cobbled streets!

   We visited an art gallery, which was largely closed, and what was open was largely filled with deeply disturbing sculptures of babies doing yoga. Not sure quite what the purpose of that was. There was however, a deeply cool sculpture of a life-sized bronze rhino, which was kind of... meshy, if that makes sense. Put it this way, nine of us clambered all over it like a climbing frame, and three of us quite comfortably sat inside it’s belly for the group photo. Picture below, since my vocab has run out.

   We climbed the Pearl TV tower, which gave an amazing view over Shanghai, the rich and the poor areas, both of which we then explored on foot. It’s amazing the difference between the two areas, on the one side of the river are skyscrapers and towers so high they boggled my tiny welsh mind and made me wonder how men could build such things- all bright lights, flashing images and mountainous buildings rising far as the eye could see! And on the other side, tiny huts with streets only a few feet wide, people selling kebabs from open barbecues in the street and drains open under your feet, the tiled roofs closing above you almost like a tunnel.

   We went on the metro. Which makes British Rail look like a toddlers train set, and about as effective.

   And, best of all, the crowning jewel of the trip, we went to the World Expo in Shanghai! Oh yes! For those that don’t know, the world expo started off in the 1800s (this info is also thanks to Hannah), where scientists from around the world would meet and discuss their ideas. Gradually it expanded to include the arts, and now it stands as a massive gathering of all the worlds countries (that can afford it, presumably- Greece’s display was largely made of canvas and scaffolding). Think Fresher’s Fayre, but instead of stalls, every country gets a building only slightly smaller than Hallward, and some a fair bit bigger). I went into and enjoyed:

Turkey- brief history of the country and free delicious chocolaty Turkish coffee.

Italy- an entire orchestra stuck to one wall, lots of food, and some fashion stuff that confused me a lot.

Canada- had nothing to do with Canada, but really great atmosphere, all tranquil and calm and soothing and makes me want to sleep just writing about it.

UK- based around plants, sitting on the lawn, and rain (no, seriously!), as well as two old dears at the end engaging in good old-style British banter and small talk (“Ooh, there’s a lovely name, I’d curtsy but what with me arr-thritis I don’t think me knees could take it deary!”)

Africa- made me miss Africa.

Switzerland- mountains and ski lifts.

   Also got some amazing photos of the bright shining lights and magical reflective pools in the night, the whole Expo lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as the night came down. It was an incredible sight to see, and if anyone happens to be in Milan in 2015, I strongly recommend it!

   And what since? We got back to Ningbo on Saturday, and it’s been lectures since. I found an international church on Sunday, we had a great service with some grand ol’ hymns and an amazing testimony from this Australian bloke, made me feel very small I can tell you. Other events of note, fireworks went off just outside the uni gates about midday today with a bang like a thousand shotguns being fired from a cannon, I have an audition for the uni’s production of Sweeney Todd tomorrow (goodness knows how that will go). And tonight was our fellowship group, with tea and biscuits and all-round joy. Fun times, eh?

   So aye, China goes as grand as gravy. Life here is good, I’m eating stir-fry about five nights a week, and the mosquitoes have finally stopped biting. Ooh, and I bought the most INCREDIBLE leather journal- three inches think, a4, and weighing in somewhere between a bull elephant and a steamroller. So far all that’s gone in it are a bunch of poems and songs I like, but it’ll soon fill out! I just thought I’d mention that.

   Another few weeks gone by, and in a few more I’ll post again! Hope you’re enjoying keeping up with this as much as I’m enjoying writing it, and keep in touch with me!

Cheerio,

Dan.

 Shanghai Market at night. That's me, Camy (who has nine names), Kenrick and Esther. They're all legends.

The bronze rhino, sans westerners.