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Today, a friend of mine and I went to the 50th Anniversary Show for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, an award for exceptional story writing and artwork in children's literature. Once every two years the International Board on Books for Young People will award one artist and one writer a Hans Christian Andersen Award for their work. At the last awarding of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2016, Chinese children's author Cao Wenxuan (曹文轩) won in the literature category, making him China's first Hans Christian Andersen Award winner in ether category. Consequently there was a showing of the art award winners in Shanghai. Many of the artists who work on pictures for children's literature are actually very talented artists in their own right. It was actually really interesting to see some of the original drawings for this stuff. They had quite a number of the lithographs from the 1970 illustration winner Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are along with lithographs for some of Maurice Sendak's other works. I remember reading Where the Wild Things Are when I was little so it was actually really neat to be able to see some of it in person, My friend particularly liked the images from the 2000 illustration winner Willy the Wimp by British author and illustrator Anthony Browne, because my friend grew up with the Chinese versions of his works. It was a small exhibit that was a bit pricey, but I guess it was worth the money just to see the Maurice Sendak stuff.
Today was ECNU's International University Showcase where students from their many programs talked about their home universities. I volunteered to table for Juniata and I guess it worked out. I did get a free hat, notebook, and lunch (I can now state with confidence that Subway in China is basically the same as Subway in the United States), but I didn't get very many visitors. The few students who visited my table were looking for graduate programs, something that Juniata lacks. I find some successes with the professors who liked to recommend small liberal arts institutions, like Juniata, to their students who wanted to study abroad. Hopefully that should become something, but who knows. I guess part of my problem was I was next to Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, two universities who do better on standard measures of university "goodness" than Juniata. Johns Hopkins in particular is way more famous than Juniata so tended to get more students interested. I guess it was cool to play admissions officer for the day and I got some cool stuff so that is nice.
Even though there is still finals week and one more day of classes to go the GCP program (my program at ECNU) had their closing lunch at ECNU's Silver Spring Western style restaurant. We heard some short speeches from representatives of the international students, International Student Office, and the professors. The lunch wasn't bad and I would say that the food was 50/50 Western/Chinese. It was short and sweet so I guess that is nice. It is kind of weird how soon I will be leaving China though.
With the year coming to a close it is a good time to revisit my favorite places in Shanghai before I go, check out the stuff I haven't been to yet, and buy souvenirs for my friends and family. Today, a friend of mine and I decided to do all three. Besides being the former home of Mao Zeidong and Shanghai's most famous Buddhist Temple the Jing'an Temple District (named obviously for the temple) is now one of Shanghai's nicest. We actually couldn't get into the temple because it closes at 5:00 and we got there at around 4:50, but we got to go to Dunkin' Doughnuts Shanghai! The doughnuts were actually very different from the doughnuts served in the US, they even just introduced the "new" dunkin' doughnut with the handle (you know, their first product ever). The coffee is on point just like it is in the US. Hopefully Dunken' will expand in Shanghai since I like Dunken' Doughnuts coffee more than Starbucks. We walked around for a bit before deciding to go to Yu Gardens since it is the more interesting neighborhood. I actually wanted to buy a few things for friends and a Mao bust for my room next year at Juniata. Mao stuff is actually kind of hard to find in Shanghai since Mao's Red Cult isn't dominant in modern Shanghai. Most Shanghaiese are big fans of Comrade Deng Xiaoping; it is not like they don't dislike Mao they just like Deng more. The other issue I have is that it is actually kind of heavy; I might just mail it back to the US if only so I can confuse the poor customs agent who opens my package for inspection. I also got to check out a new cafeteria style restaurant in Yuyuan Gardens. It was basically the same as my old stand by Yuyuan restaurant except it has way more of that golden plastic materiel and seems has a giant plastic soup dumpling in the dining area. I am continuing to knock stuff off my final Shanghai to-do list and I even got some time to study for my Philosophy final.
Even American companies, like PepsiCo, American subsidiaries, like Frito-Lay, will make products or change the names of products for the Chinese market. While Lay's wouldn't sell a product called "American Classic Flavor" in the US it is likely that it is just whatever general potato chip flavor Lay's chips normally are. Other flavors, like "Mexican Tomato Chicken Flavor" might actually sell well in the US if it is sold there. I can't see Americans lining up to buy "Yogurt Flavor" or "Grilled Squid Flavor" potato chips as anything other than as a gag gift. Still, with a market of a billion plus people that is enough to make custom flavors. Some of these flavors, like "Grilled Squid Flavor" might sell well in other Asian nations like Thailand or Japan. I didn't actually try any of them though so I have no idea if any of these flavors of Lay's are good.
I wasn't planning on taking another trip this semester but my Neo-Confucian Philsophy professor set up a rather neat sounding trip to Hangzhou for this weekend. It will be a short trip, two days one night, and a very cheap trip, but it should be cool. Hangzhou is a city in Zhejiang Provence noted for its famous West Lake (西湖), Neo-Confucian philosophers, and increasing importance as a center of eCommerce. Wikipedia also says an extension of the Kaifeng Jews formally lived in Hangzhou but now there is no remains of the Hangzhou Jewish community.
Why is there KTV outside the dorms on a random Thursday night in May? I guess it might be because today was actually really hot. Perhaps it is because the Chinese really like KTV. It seemed like a somewhat organized thing though so there is someone, somewhere who knows why. I guess everyone was good, there was a German girl who did a whole song in Chinese so that was cool.
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AuthorI am a junior at Juniata College spending a year studying abroad at East China Normal University. Please feel free to join my on my journey to China and beyond. Archives
November 2021
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