Duke's Liberal Arts in China Committee visited us this week to talk about plans for a four-year undergraduate curriculum for DKU. We had a reception to honor them on Thursday night. The reception was held in the bar of the Swissotel so we also took the opportunity to celebrate the end of this academic session. Jeff Moe, Alan Burn, and Don Snow performed their "Swiss Hotel Blues" and you will see the library is featured in one of the verses. The video is posted on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did, http://youtu.be/Vj366qQfM1I
My Chinese Adventure
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Swiss Hotel Blues
Our stay at the Swissotel is to come to an end next Friday, Oct. 24, as faculty and students will pack up and move to the Conference Center at the DKU campus. The first session of the undergraduate semester finishes this week and the next session begins Oct. 27. It's a bittersweet time for all of us as the faculty who came to DKU to teach for just the first seven week session are packing their bags and
are making their plans to leave. Brian Hare and his family are going on to a sabbatical in Australia. Vicki Russell, Jeff Moe, and Hippo Tan will return to Duke. Haiyan Zhou has been given medical clearance to fly back to the US and leaves on Monday. Our DKU family will move on to a new adventure on campus.
Duke's Liberal Arts in China Committee visited us this week to talk about plans for a four-year undergraduate curriculum for DKU. We had a reception to honor them on Thursday night. The reception was held in the bar of the Swissotel so we also took the opportunity to celebrate the end of this academic session. Jeff Moe, Alan Burn, and Don Snow performed their "Swiss Hotel Blues" and you will see the library is featured in one of the verses. The video is posted on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did, http://youtu.be/Vj366qQfM1I
Duke's Liberal Arts in China Committee visited us this week to talk about plans for a four-year undergraduate curriculum for DKU. We had a reception to honor them on Thursday night. The reception was held in the bar of the Swissotel so we also took the opportunity to celebrate the end of this academic session. Jeff Moe, Alan Burn, and Don Snow performed their "Swiss Hotel Blues" and you will see the library is featured in one of the verses. The video is posted on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did, http://youtu.be/Vj366qQfM1I
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
The National Holiday, Oct. 1-7
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http://www.chinatravelcompass.com/kunming/img/map/origin/yunnan-map02.jpg |
We were told that all parts of China would be unpleasantly crowded so we hoped we were choosing an area that would be off the beaten path and would give us some needed respite from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai and Kunshan.
I went with my friends Chris and Edie Allen who kindly took me under their wing as traveling companions. It was a tiring journey to get to Dali, our final destination, from Kunshan. We used lots of different means of public transportation on this holiday: taxis, trains, subway, the Maglev in Shanghai, airplanes between Shanghai and Kunming, buses, and even a motorized scooter. The journey was well worth the trouble.

Dali is a place of incredible natural beauty. Many Bai people, a minority group in China, live in Yunnan and the architecture is made of whitewashed homes with fluted tile roofs.
We stayed in a small bed and breakfast built around a central courtyard. We were warmly welcomed by Daisy, the manager, and Dali, the inn's Golden Retriever.
The Bai wear white clothing decorated with brightly colored tie dyed vests, shoes, and headdresses, with elaborate embroidery.

In one of the small towns we were fortunate to see a newly married couple being escorted through the streets by their friends. Their way was marked with loud firecrackers. The couple looked very young and very nervous.

The tall spire in the middle of the photo is also a Buddhist temple, one of the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, supposedly built 823-840 AD.
We also explored the coast of Erhai Lake, which lies to the east of Dali, and visited Xizhou whose name means "happy village" (pop. 35,000). Xizhou is known for its Bai architecture and was the home of many Chinese intellectuals during WWII since it was not invaded by the Japanese.
A favorite saying of my friend Pam George applies to this area, "Always work where the heaven is high and the emperor is far away."
The weather was ideal and it was a welcome relief to be out of Kunshan and in a room where I could open the windows and the sky was a clear blue. We ate delicious food. Many restaurants were open to the street and they had containers piled with fresh vegetables. We could point to the ones we wanted prepared and they brought dishes simply prepared and had wonderful flavors.
Dali is about 1600 miles from Kunshan and I felt like I was in a different country while I was there. Dali was a nice change of pace from the bustling streets and highrise buildings out my hotel window.
We are moving to the DKU campus on Saturday so we are about to make this long awaited shift. It'll be another phase of this wonderful semester that offers challenges and new adventures at every turn.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
My Neighborhood Park

The early risers are usually out walking or running around the track. I even see women in their work clothes and carrying their handbags out for exercise before they head to work. One popular way to exercise is to walk backwards. I found out that walking backwards burns several times more calories than walking forwards.
I have tried to maintain my Durham schedule of running every other day so I now see familiar faces and the same dogs out when I go out before breakfast. I've enjoyed the wonderful food in Kunshan so much that I feel I must have regular exercise or I will need a new wardrobe before I return home. I get lots of stares when I run and I try to return their looks with a smile.
One interesting aspect of night in the park is that huge groups of people come together for exercise
classes. These are not strenuous exercises but movement classes that usually last about 90 minutes. Four people stand in the front of hundreds of people to lead the group and music blares out across the field.
I miss my morning run around the East Campus wall and the familiar faces and smiles. But, I find comfort in the regularity of the schedule and this interest in good health.

We had a special treat last weekend as three DKU faculty (Alan Burns, Jeff Moe, and Don Snow) and Tong Meng, DKU's undergradate academic manager, performed onstage in the park. The audience were quite impressed when Don spoke to them fluently in Chinese. The quartet performed four songs and then the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to Jeff in Chinese to help him celebrate this 65th birthday.
The DKU group was followed by a number of interesting groups who sang and danced, including this group of women who performed with their leaf cutouts. The lighting in the park was dim so my photos are not very clear but I think you will be able to tell we had a great time.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Sept. 6 (Shanghai: cont.)
We walked through the markets of Shanghai. We saw shops selling every imaginable trinket. It reminded me of the Raleigh flea market except there was a lot of jade, historical figures and chopsticks of every variety.
We also saw vegetables of every shape and color.
The bird market had birds of every variety. I even saw some that looked like black capped chickadees. The conditions were not humane as the finches were packed into cages and parrots were tied to perches on short leashes.

The cricket market was very loud. The chirping of the crickets was constant. Men were busy removing the lids from the cricket containers and poking the crickets with long sticks to see how they responded to the prodding. Evidently, crickets face each other in cricket fights and the first one to make their opponent go across the line is the winner.
Sept. 6

Shanghai is a city of great contrasts. We went from a new shopping area to the narrow streets where many people of the lower class live without indoor plumbing.

Given the rising prices of real estate in the city, the government is in the process of moving many people out of their homes and into high rises.
Christina told us that everything is recycled when the buildings are razed.

The people living in the small houses in the narrow streets took advantage of the warm weather to hang their laundry out to dry.
Laundry festooned the streets.


Women were cleaning their homes. The children were out playing with their trucks and skateboards.
There were groups of men playing mahjong.
Friday, August 29, 2014
August 20



I could not understand the words being sung but the beauty of the dancing and the melodic singing were spellbinding.

Saturday, August 16, 2014
August 16
Jek, the head chef of the Fairmont Hotel took Keith Dear, Rey Azares, John Straffin, and myself on an early morning bike ride into the neighborhoods of Kunshan. It was a culinary tour of some of the local food. Our first stop was at a noodle shop.
Keith's noodle soup with duck.
Our next stop was to try out the buns offered at a street stand.
We saw a lot of interesting scenes along the way. Here is a one man barbershop.
Keith's noodle soup with duck.
Our next stop was to try out the buns offered at a street stand.
We saw a lot of interesting scenes along the way. Here is a one man barbershop.
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