Today we had our final two lectures and at this point I felt it very surprising how quickly we’ve journeyed through the week to many places across central Shanghai and have gained a fair amount of information on this great city in such a short time.
Our first of two lectures came from a gentleman who was once a journalist but ventured in to a more business focused working career with a company called Eastday. This formally primarily online company has now adapted to several offline opportunities. One of the biggest things that I took from our time touring the office and speaking with the executive was how much they have expanded and diversified from their initial stages just as an online news station. While they have grown their company involvements to several other avenues of retail and media, he mentioned that they are focused on being a strong company before they become a very big company. Many of us in the lab all felt that this was one of favorite lectures primarily due to how welcoming and charismatic the executive was.
Our second lecture of the day and final one of the trip was from a PhD student who was finishing up here thesis specifically in the Muslim communities of Shanghai. While this lecture was obviously to further Hira’s understanding of her research topic, I too gained some insightful information about the way religion is handled in the secular environment that is Shanghai. It caught me by surprise that there were as many as 20 mosques in the city about a half a century ago and how it that number has been reduced to around 8 or so remaining (if I remember correctly). Another surprising finding was that while it is against the law to spread any type of religion within the city, the government didn’t outright and dismiss the worship places largely due to how long they had been in existence. As a Christian, I was curious as to how many churches or chapels may exist in a similar circumstance like the remaining mosques do? It was also great that we are able to actual visit one of the existing mosques on our way to the Water Town soon after the lecture.
As just mentioned, we took a trip down to what is called the “Water Town” in the evening. I enjoyed seeing the very authentic market places which were constructed in a series of narrow streets similar to that at Tianzifang. I bought a number of very cheap but great souvenirs here. We also had the pleasure of spending time with Melissa’s family who live in Taiwan and came to see Melissa because it was her birthday today.
After enjoying another great dinner in the town, we headed back to the central part of city were we ended the day with some memorable karaoke! It was a fun way to end a great day.
