3D REFLECTIONS OF LIFE

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 eight in the Ni hao (Hello) China Travelogue. Mina, our tour guide and me on the boat. We knew we were ending our stay in South China with a cruise on the Pearl River, but not in my wildest dreams did I expect such a spectacular experience. It was drizzling and foggy almost the entire day, but the evening of our river cruise the heavens opened. Landie and Jean having fun.  One of the bridges lit up  We boarded our boat and were mesmerized for the next hour or so. All the buildings that surround the Pearl River switch on their headlights to create a static pyrotechnic display. Each of the riverboats glittered with their neon displays on the dark river waters. Even the bridges became part of this multi-coloured, fantastic playground. The Pearl river is 2,400 kilometers long and it is the third largest river in China. Many such colourful boats are seen on the river The lights on the buildings reflecting in the ...

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 ...