呂勁聰 (Chinese Medicine/ 3)
First weekend
For the first weekend, I had a 2 days 1 night trip to Suzhou with some of my friends. It was the first time that I travelled in the high speed rail in Mainland China, and it is an eye-opening experience to me. The convenience of travelling from one city to another is really admirable. Nevertheless, long queues for retrieving the tickets and security checks are quite a hassle, and it is important for travellers to have sufficient time for these procedures, which we did not expect and plan well.
Arriving at Suzhou, we met up with some of our friends who are studying there, and they brought us around Suzhou. The places we visited includes Humble Administrator's Garden, Shan Tang Street, Gate of the Orient and Jin Ji Lake. We initially intended to visit the famous Suzhou museum, but it was fully booked and we did not manage to enter.
For the Humble Administrator's Garden, it is one of the classical gardens of Suzhou, with constructed landscape of numerous pools, bridges, rocks and pavilions, all of which are very signature and representative of the cultural heritage in Suzhou. The visit to the Shan Tang Street is equally worth going. The evening scenery of the Shui Xiang (水鄉), or water town, is very visually attractive. The brightly shining lights on the buildings with traditional architecture, and the reflection on the river, accompanied with the huge crowds strolling on the streets along the river, are memorable experiences. One cannot help but to stare in awe and enjoy the moment when visiting this place. For Gate of the Orient, the design of the building is quite unique, and the Jin Ji Lake is just nearby, where one could take a stroll and enjoy the weekend atmosphere in the garden along the lake.
Weekdays of second week
For the weekdays of second week, I mainly visited the places in the evening after work, and these places include Xin Tian Di (新天地), Cheng Huang Temple (城隍廟), the Bund (外灘), Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Street (南京東路步行街), Wu Kang Street (武康路), and Tian Zi Fang (田子坊). For Xin Tian Di, it is mainly modern architecture designed in the style resembling the old historical buildings. There are many restaurants and bars to dine in, and I like the atmosphere there, especially in the alleys which looks really cool.
For Cheng Huang Temple and Tian Zi Fang, it would be primarily touristy area that gives off a very commercial-oriented vibe. Since it is my first time visiting these places, I would still consider my trip worth it because there are still learning points. For Tian Zi Fang, although the shops are mainly souvenir shops, bars and snack shops, I find the layout of the place very interesting, with narrow streets criss-crossing randomly and small paths leading to other areas, I cannot help but feel lost inside. Nonetheless, my friend and I still managed to discover a small open-air outdoor restaurant to have dinner in this place, and the food was delicious. For Cheng Huang Temple, while the buildings may look “traditional”, it is in fact modern architecture that replicates the traditional style. Personally, I have nothing against such designs, but I feel that there is a lack of sophistication and complexity, but just a mere shell of the traditions. As I have learnt in a course about Chinese music which has also encountered similar phenomenon, having seen these buildings, it made me reflect on the meaning of “Chineseness” and about Chinese culture.
There is nothing special about Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Street, except that it is a shopping street but there are several buildings that are of historical values that may be worth looking at. Since the Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Street, Cheng Huang Temple and the Bund are relative close in proximity, it is possible for one to visit these three places in just an evening, which I highly recommend.
For the Bund, I would consider it as a place that one must visit, as it is the signature of the Shanghai landscape. On a side, there are brightly shining lights illuminating the building of yellow ochre bricks, resonating its past as an international settlement, and on the other side of the river, the tall glass and mirror skyscrapers displaying various advertisements or lights of many colours, with the Oriental Pearl Tower taking the leading role. It is the contrasting sceneries at the two opposite ends of the river bank with deep historical roots on the development of Shanghai that really attracted my attention.
Second weekend
On Saturday, my friends and I went to visit two museums Shanghai Railway Museum (上海铁路博物馆) and Shanghai Metro Museum (上海地铁博物馆). The objective of this visit is to collect data for the project of senior seminar GxP. We learnt about the development of the railway system of the whole China and specifically on Shanghai, and also the metro system which has a history of over 20 years, but despite such a short time, it has a sophisticated and well-connected system of up to 17 lines. I would not recommend others to visit these museum unless for academic purposes to learn more about the metro and railway system of Shanghai. We also went to some places that is trendy and popular in social media to take some shots, including a bookshop nearby and the Ferris wheel at the Sky Ring (大悦城屋顶摩天轮). On the way, we also went to Qi Bao Lao Jie (七宝老街), which is similar to the water town in Suzhou, with river and bridges, but much smaller in size. The evening view of this street and bridges are really beautiful. Along the way, we also ate some snacks are that famous locally.
On Sunday, I went to the old town of Zhu Jia Jiao (朱家角), which took me about 1.5 hours train ride. It was raining quite heavily since early morning. Usually, there is a lot of people visiting this place, but there are very few people today due to the weather. Thus, I was drenched throughout the whole trip with wet feet. It is similar to the water town yesterday, with bridges, people and river, but much bigger. It is very local with residents living in the area. The first stop is at the Great Qing Postal Office. It’s quite a refreshing sightseeing spot to know that there is a postal office that is established hundreds of years back in this town. I learnt about the use of postal service has a long history in China, and how it has developed throughout time. I particularly like the collage of postcard that is displayed on the exhibits, which is very artistic. The next stop is the City God Temple (城隍庙). It’s quite interesting to know that there is a festival there to celebrate the inauguration or coming of the Cheng Huang Ye by Buddha. It’s a Daoist temple with a large range of gods and deities, including Tai Shui. There’s a person or staff that approached me to ask about me, and about my origins. He then told me of my fortune, and my character, and also asked me to put up some joss stick. But due to my own beliefs, I kindly declined by saying that I’ll look around first. Another surprising finding is the empty rooms either containing tables and chairs, or empty beds, which I asked the person and found out that they are reserved for the gods and deities. The third sightseeing spot is the cultural museum that contains sculpture and art paintings that reflect the local culture. The fourth spot is the handicraft works containing vase, ceramics, and embroidery. The fifth spot is quite disappointing as it is a Tibetan culture experiential center, which is very out of place and should be there in the first place, it destroys the significance of the local culture. The sixth spot is the Yuan Jin Buddhist temple. The style is very different from the Daoist temple, with different statues, primarily with different Buddha. The most enjoyable part of this temple is going up to the second floor of the main temple building to have a spectacular view of the river intersection and the bridges. The seventh spot is the Ke Zhi Garden which is similar to the gardens in Suzhou, which were once people’s home. Unlike those in Suzhou, it is smaller in size, but there were much greater varieties of buildings and I particularly like the buildings as I can enter the second floor to take good photographs. Last stop is the Shanghai Quan Hua Art Gallery which contains many water colour paintings of the scene in this town. Overall, I would consider the first, second, sixth and seventh worth going, and for those who know how to appreciate arts, third and eighth can be considered. For the fourth and fifth spots, I would not recommend anyone to go as it is just a waste of time. After having a meal, I waited for the sun to set so as to take some photos of night sceneries.
I am very much satisfied with the programmes. For the company visit in the first week, internship and cultural exploration during the free time, I have already discussed in great details (in the various reports) about the things I have observed and learned, and also have reflected on the insights that I have gained from this experience. Personally, I have enjoyed throughout this learning journey, whether it is about the sharing by various companies, interactions with my colleagues and fellow alumni, discovering and exploring new places, working and contributing in the company, etc.
