Wuhan, China
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I woke up this morning and felt awesome. I am not sure if it was the sleep or the pizza or maybe some combination of the two but I was raring to go. We had an awesome class today. It was every statistical geeks dream. Dr. Feng graced our group with a repeat performance. It was basically a two hour lecture/discussion of the Human Geography of China. Here goes my best middle school speech tactic. Webster’s Dictionary defines Human Geography as a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with the environment, with particular reference to the causes and consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity on the Earth's surface.

I love charts!

Here was a small sampling of topics that we discussed population growth and relative density and reasons for pattern shifts over history, population growth policies, family planning policy, fertility rates, climate change as it relates to shifting patterns in population, the 4-2-1 problem, and the little emperor/empress phenomena as it relates to the one child policy. There were charts and graphs, patterns and statistical anomalies, and abstract and concrete numbers. And yes I realize that I am total stat geek.

Could these two twins be any more awesome!

The post lunch portion of the day was spent on a tour of some of Wuhan’s historical and cultural sites. We first went to the Yellow Crane Tower. The whole area was pretty much destroyed during the Opium war in the middle 19th century. It was painstakingly rebuilt and has a great folk tale that explains the reason for its original construction. Here is a link to the folk tale. The day way cool by Wuhan standards and the height of the tower plus the cool breeze of the day made for a pleasant visit.

Yellow Crane Tower

The hall of fame of communists

Notice the contrast of green and city

Yes, that a coal train heading past the pagoda

One thing that I have not really adjusted to is the staring that people do at us. It was not as common in Shanghai and Beijing due to the numerous western tourists in both areas but despite Wuhan’s size it does not have many westerners at all. I can count on one hand how many other westerners I have seen in my two weeks in Wuhan. An older lady just stared me up and down today fro about two minutes without even blinking or turning away. I do not find it rude but just interesting. There are a handful of us who really get the stares the big guys, the African-Americans, and the blondes. Not an annoyance, merely and observation.

Lost in translation (Please come again)

After the Yellow Crane Tower we visited the Guiyuan Buddhist Temple. This temple was more interesting than the other temple we saw in Xian due to a number of factors. One is that it is an active temple and it contains more monks and those studying to be monks. Also it has a collection of over 500 Buddhas to see. I would have more photos but you are understandably not allowed to photograph in the temple proper. It was a very neat place and reminds me of other monasteries from different denominations that I have visited.

Pete and some incense respect the temple

After the temple we all got dropped off at the night street market in a different section of Wuhan that we had not been to yet. The market was filled with people. We wandered the street for a while. Some of the others really got into the shopping. I walked so I could say I had been there and then hopped a cab with a few of the others back to campus so I could grab some shut eye. I felt much better but I didn’t want to press my luck from the other day.

Do you think the NBA's marketing is doing OK in China?

Link to more photos of the day