Coming back to Houston, I was sad to see the end of an incredible trip. For the short time we spent in China, I felt we had packed in as much as we could. I saw and learned so much.

Anya and I were the only two survivors of the Virus That Hit Urban Lab Shanghai. Literally everyone had slowly gotten sick, one-by-one, as if we were characters in LOST. I hate getting sick and would have hated to have that put a damper on my experience of China so I was keen to avoid getting ill. Luckily, my immune system didn’t let me down and I was able to enjoy China fully (sorry to the rest of the participants! — seriously, I felt bad for how badly everyone seemed to feel).

What I would like to learn more about: I want to delve more into Shanghai’s history to understand further the influence of Western imperialism; I also want to further understand the experiences of migrants in both Shanghai and Beijing. My time in Shanghai only opened up even more questions about what the lives of migrants are truly like. In Beijing, we primarily spent time being tourists and we hadn’t done much research on Beijing going in. Having visited Beijing, I’m incredibly curious as to how the experiences of migrants there compare with those of Shanghai.

If I were to go back and do this trip over again, I would have made more of an effort to visit migrant neighborhoods or schools. I also would have spent more time visiting non-tourist-heavy destinations – among my friend’s suggestions for Shanghai were Moganshan Road (a graffiti and art filled area), Tianzifang (touristy but quaint market). Visiting Xiaonanmen was valuable, and as much as I loved the tourist destinations we visited and needed the structure of the trip, I wish I had taken advantage of my free time more to explore solo. I was shy to talk to the locals in Beijing (partly because I was afraid the thick Beijing accent would hinder me from understanding), but in retrospect I wish I had engaged with them more. My only interaction with a local in Beijing was in a cab ride, in which the driver said Beijing was getting too crowded so he didn’t like it anymore. Though my interactions with the locals were always simple, they always somehow deepened my understanding of what I was seeing.

I’ve gained a deepened appreciation of my heritage and ancestry from conversations with locals and views of the Forbidden City, Great Wall and other such amazing structures. The country my father and mother’s parents are from is heavy with a rich history and culture; and right now, it’s navigating how to maintain that history and culture in a changing, globalized world. I’ve learned that aspects of other cultures that may seem at first bizarre may actually be endearing (e.g. the marriage market, shuttlecock hacky sack). And I’ve seen the ways in which powerful transnational and globalized forces impact the real lived experiences of individuals around the world (e.g. migrant merchants being pushed out to the city’s fringes, McD’s and KFC’s).

The week was amazing and I’ll treasure the memories from it for life. I’ve only scratched the surface and there is so much more to learn about China, a country that reflects on my history as a Chinese-American and the globalized future I am entering as a young professional.

If you’re wondering, ten nights is not enough time in Shanghai – not at all. There was so much we were never able to see. However, I would not give up our trip and do it over again (but I also won’t say no to a second trip). I do wish we had had the chance to visit a cat cafe, but I’m also a crazy cat lady.  I would also probably bring better shoes (walking around in heels is doable, but your feet end up hating you). Also, I think I would have been interesting to study homelessness in China, I felt like we didn’t see anyone homeless.

The day after we arrived back in Houston, I was back on a plane, heading back to New York.  Oh, the difference a week can make – New York was no longer covered in snow when I returned. However, taking the New York subway everywhere made me miss Shanghai (and even Beijing). New York could learn so much from the Chinese subway system. On my first trip in the subway, someone had dropped their phone on the tracks — this wouldn’t happen in China, they block the tracks. Although, I did enjoy being able to breather, the pollution in China was making me feel like a smoker.

I was also so excited to finally have my own meals on my own plates. Eating family style is nice, once in awhile. However, eating family style everyday for every meal gets tiring, especially if everyone in your group is sick.

10 days in China. 10 days to explore Shanghai, Pudong, Beijing and everything in between was nearly not enough. I had an unforgettable experience in my visit to China for the first time, and there are a few things I would still like to learn about China as a whole.

First, pollution. I find it absolutely staggering that so many people can live in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing without masks on a day to day basis. Within the 10 days I was there, I found the pollution to be overpowering, and I eventually got sick, which I feel can be attributed to the pollution. I would like to learn more about how people live with the pollution and if it’s because they aren’t educated about the serious effects of pollution. I want to learn more about the residents’ reasons for living the way they do with relatively few complaints.

Second, food. Are there no vegetarians in China? Obviously that is a great exaggeration, and I can understand the Chinese diet including much meat, but it seems to me that many Chinese haven’t heard of lifestyles like vegetarianism and veganism. A Buddhist restaurant we went to was conducive to my lifestyle, as all of their food was vegetarian. However, besides that, I can’t imagine someone with a strict vegetarian/vegan diet living in China for a long time.

If I could go back and do the trip all over again, I would still visit most of the places we did. However, I would try to find some way to speak with local Shanghai and/or Beijing government officials. I understand that this is particularly difficult, but I would’ve like the input of government officials on their pollution policy and government responsiveness to citizen concerns. I also would like to talk to regular Shanghainese residents to ask about their day to day experiences with the government and pollution.

I was able to survive without much of internet access to websites for 10 days, however, I gained new appreciate for emails and news websites. Gmail was completely blocked off, and I missed sending and receiving emails to keep in touch. CNN, BBC, and NY Times were also blocked off, which was absurd to me, as it was hard to keep up with international news without access to many of the world news websites. It made me gain appreciation for the ability of Americans to access such websites and keep in contact with the rest of the world.

The return to Houston offered very little time for reflection. I had two internship interviews the day immediately after, so what I ended up doing as soon as I got home was get some Taco Bell, eat it at my apartment, and then shower and go to sleep. I then woke up at 7, took the metro downtown, and had my first interview with the right half of my black leather shoes digging into my ankle. At least I found an awesome döner place for lunch.

Having been to China seven times now, I still like going back. Maybe I’m actually super upper-middle class and am shielded from all the crap that’s actually in the country. But I think that my experience with urban lab last year in Istanbul taught me to appreciate parts of the city that aren’t glamorous, tall skyscrapers. I’d hope that even if I were in the poorer part of the town that I’d still be able to get behind it.

Honestly, as someone who has been before and who plans to go back again, I know that I want to act less like a clueless tourist (to think that I was like this with a country that I knew!). However, I really have no idea how one would actually go about doing such a thing.

As I alluded to before a few times in my posts here, I’ve been constantly surprised at the little things I took for granted as common knowledge that others didn’t know already. For most of these people, actually being in China was some weird experience, where everything was new. I’ve been here a few times. I know that China’s skyscrapers and slums next to each other. People seemed to be genuinely surprised (and sometimes disappointed) at stuff like Pudong, which is super-modern. For me, seeing my relatives who live in those kinds of new developments in new parts of various cities, I take for granted that that’s China. Many of my classmates seemed disappointed (like I said, someone on the trip thought that Shanghai was “less Chinese” for all its new housing developments).

Anyway, much of my research will involve researching China as a topic, rather than experiencing it through my (admittedly limited) perspective.

Here’s a parting photo of me with my friend Josh. It was a fun trip.

After an exciting and activity filled Spring Break, we finally headed back to the US. My time in China had broadened my horizons, and exposed me to a culture and environment very different to the one that I was used to back home. I had enjoyed my time in China, but I was very glad to return to the United States, and the freedoms and amenities which I have become used too. Mobility, pollution, political suppression, and access to the internet and social media were all issues in China that were not issues I encountered in my everyday life in the US.

If I could repeat this trip again, there is little that I would do differently; the process of learning and exploration that we undertook on our trip to Shanghai and Beijing was invaluable in giving me a broadened perspective toward the socio-economic layout of a complicated and rising nation. I would probably have chosen a slightly different project idea originally, as I did not find much evidence for my first proposal. I also would have brought more basic amenities (razors, shaving cream, etc) and learned more Chinese prior to leaving on the trip.

If I return to China, I would want to speak with more government officials or university lecturers in Shanghai and Beijing. Further, I would like to visit the more rural areas of China or explore some of the “smaller” Chinese cities. At the end of the trip, I can say that I have certainly gained a new appreciation for life here in the States, while at the same time an appreciation for the complex ambitions and faults of the modern Chinese state.