3D REFLECTIONS OF LIFE

Here are  the links to all the posts about my experiences in China. How not to pack for overseas travel. Time for Guanzhou morning tea and savoring dim sim at Nan Yuan restaurant. Our visits to Flower City and the Guangzhou Public library Cruising on the Pearl River in Guangzhou on a starry night.

Paddy rice fields viewed as we sped past in the speed train at 305km/h This is the ninth post in the Ni ha (Hello) China Travelogue . After a glorious week in Guangzhou, we travelled to Beijing via their speed or bullet train. We travelled at an average speed of 307 kilometers per hour and arrived in Beijing after 8 hours.  As we travelled through the countryside,we could see the many rice paddies. Interesting nuggets we learned from our tour guide Kong Li (Leo) Our travel guide in Beijing was Leo. Leo is the 76th generation of Confucius, a history that he is very proud of. Leo may not be the philosopher his ancestor was, but he is a brilliant tour guide and an entrepreneur de luxe ! Because of his ingenuity and his amazing network of contacts, we had hitched rides on the rickshaws and had lunch in one of the hutongs - the old courtyard style residential areas reminiscent of the old Beijing. The Seal. The box that contains your name, stamp and Chinese horoscope ...

This is post number 7 in the Ni hao (Hallo) China Travelogue . After our tea experience, we spent the rest of the day at Guangzhou's Flower City Square. It is now the largest square in Guangzhou. On Flower City Square.  There are many attractions that surround Flower City Square. You can see the Opera house, the museum, the massive public library and the Canton Tower from the square. Because it was raining (again) and misty, we could not see the Canton Tower. Our tour guide, Mina, said " she was hiding because she was shy. Landie Diamond walking in the rain. In the background is the stadium where the opening ceremony of the Asian 2010 games was held. The Guangzhou Public library The Guangzhou public library designed like a "Z" and it resembles an open book The Guangzhou library is an architectural and cultural marvel. This public library was designed by an international team from Japan and China. The library resembles an ...

This is the sixth post in the Ni hao (Hello China) Travelogue  and the focus is on the morning tea we had at Nan-Yuan Restaurant. We experienced diumsum, a traditional social event when friends and family gather to drink tea and enjoy a variety of exotic dishes. And did we have an awesome time! part of our group in the courtyard Firstly, the  Nan-Yuan restaurant is elegant and opulent. Its garden setting and the courtyard is fairytale like. When you enter the large dining hall, you are greeted by a crowd of happy tea drinkers and tons of chandeliers to add to the charm. soups that were served The usual 'high teas' that we have pale in comparison to the diumsum. The menu includes a variety of tea, including flower tea, savoury snacks, sweet snacks and different soups. All these delicacies are served on beautiful porcelain platters or in bamboo baskets. savoury snacks Jean in deep concentration  seafood parcels me and one of our...

This  fifth post in the Ni hao (Hallo) China Travelogue series, covers our experiences of various aspects of Chinese culture. Enjoy the trip with us. The Chinese Flag The country's flag is red with five yellow stars. The big yellow star refers to the party of the country, the Community Party of China (CPC). 80 Million Chinese belong to the CPC. The four smaller stars represent the different groups in China. In the other post, I mentioned that there are 56 different groups in China, with the Han being the largest. China is shaped like a rooster on a map.  The three main cities are Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Guangzhou, where we spent the first week, is 2,000 years old. Guangzhou is also nicknamed the Flower City or the Five Goats City. According to our lecturer, Guandzhou is the gateway to understand China. Words to describe China: LARGE: because of the size of the country, 56 peoples, 54 kinds of characters and 120 dialects. According to recorded histor...

This post, the fourth in the series, Ni hao (Hello) China Travelogue , covers our Day 2 in China as the South African education delegation.  We were given an overview of China's educational reforms and we visited a primary school. Dr XU Shuqin giving us an overview of China's Educational Reform On a rainy, humid day we travelled from our hotel to SYSU for our second lecture entitled "The Policies and Experience of the New Curriculum Reform in China." Here is a snapshot of that informative, interesting lecture. Background of China We learned that China established a socialist market economy in 1992 and joined the WTO in 2001. China's population is 1,4 billion and spread over an area of over 9,6 million square kilometers. 91,5% of the population is Han while about 8,5% of Chinese belong to one of the 55 minority groups. Chinese thus has a total of 56 different groups.  About 56% of the population are urbanized. There are disparities between ...

This is post number 3 in the Ni hao (Hello) China Travelogue.   This post marks the beginning of our China tour. The first day started on a high note. Visit to Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guangzhou.  Our first day in China started off with a welcoming ceremony at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guandzhou. Guangzhou is in South China, in the Guandong Province. The North gate of SYSU. The Pearl River runs parallel to this gate. We learned about the history of SYSU. This university was founded in 1924 by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, one of China's great revolutionary leaders.  About 83,000 students attend SYSU, of which 3,200 are international students. SYSU is one of the top ten universities in China. It is a multi-disciplinary university with an inter-cultural centre for research and language courses, we were told.  We met a Zimbabwean and a European student during a tour of the campus.  There are many green spaces on the campus. We saw a group of p...