We were off on the fast train.
China has an amazing transportation infrastructure. With so many millions of people, I guess China
has to have efficient mass transportation.
The newest addition to this system is bullet trains, or “fast" trains. I heard about them in the news a few months
ago- and if I heard it on our American news it wasn’t for a good reason. My teacher said they had slowed the speeds
down after the accident and that they are now safe. They travel about 195 miles an hour. The high speed didn't feel weird; the train
was nice, with comfy seats.
Once we arrived in Nanking, we rented a bus and We headed off
to our first stop- a tour of K.O. smith's factory. The company makes water heaters and water
purifies. An interesting thing about the
Chinese appliance industry is that that design and branding plays a significant
role in buying decisions. Because the
homes are so small and it’s very unlikely there is a basement or garage, these appliances
will sit out in the open in the kitchen or living areas so they need to look
less intrusive and name brands signify status.
I couldn’t even tell you what brand my water heater is, but I do know I wouldn’t
want it sitting out in my kitchen!
The factory was clean and the people looked happy. I am sure this is the best of best factory
setups in china; otherwise we probably wouldn't be invited in. The company leaders talked about how they try
to retain employees. It's very common
for companies to provide living quarters (dorms) and transportation for
employees near the factory. This company
did both. They also spoke about how they
encourage employee innovation- a quality that is not common in the Chinese culture-
they tend to be more group focused vs. individual creativity. We had lunch in their cafeteria and were off
to our next stop.
Although not directly business related, our next stop was at
the holocaust museum to give us some Chinese history. Many of the American students didn’t realize there was
a Chinese holocaust, but the museum explains that during World War II (the peak
o f Japanese imperialism) Japanese invaders raped and murdered millions of Chinese
civilians and prisoners of war. The
museum exhibits were graphic and truly saddening. To think this was only 70 years ago is mind
boggling. There were some areas that
gave remembrance to foreigners living in Nanking who tried to protect civilians
and bring to light many of the tragedies occurring during this time- including
American missionaries Minnie Vautrin and John Magee. I like to think something like this couldn't
happen in today's world b/c of the ease of communication brought on by modern
technology; I hope that if we know of something that we could stop it, but
I'm sure it's never that easy.
Oh and did you know Jesus had a brother? Yup, and he was Chinese- Hong xiuquan ! He
also led the Taiping rebellion against the Qing dynasty- a civil war were about
20 million people died. All this we
learned at our next stop the imperial palace in Nanjing, a place of long
history because before Beijing became china's capital, this is where the emperor
resided.
 |
| The one on the left |
After the long day, we took the train back and were in
desperate need of food and drinks. Our
bellman named "trainee" sent us off to a random
country/Irish/karaoke/brewery. It turned
out pretty good; we had bar food, sampled some of the home made beer, and were
entertained by the house karaoke band.
