Wuhan
July 11th

By the time arrived in Wuhan and checked into our Hotel at Hubei University last night is was past midnight. Although we will take some day and short overnight trips in the next three weeks, the heavy touring portion of our trip is now over. Although I loved EVERYTHING I saw I am anxious to get to one place, unpack my bag, and establish some semblance of a routine. Anyways, I heard that Hubei University has a great Fraternity/Sorority scene and I want to see if they have PIKE chapter there…, joke!

Pete in front of our big welcome sign

The place we are staying is really quite nice. It is not as fancy as the four star hotels that we have been staying at but is still very comfortable. It is much nicer than most of the dorm rooms that I have seen. It has the best air conditioner we have had in China by far; it is great by American standards. I know that seems needy but having good sleep is huge. I could have made due without the air but thank good we have it, and good air at that.

Our accomadations

After a late breakfast that allowed us to sleep in, thank you Dr. Kung, we left for the a welcoming reception hosted by the president of Hubei University, Dr. Wu. The reception was held at the brand new library and conference center at Hubei U. The whole scene reminded me of scene from the United Nations, everyone around a huge neutrally shaped table with translators. Every administrator made remarks from both delegations. After general remarks then both groups, the teachers from Hubei U. and the US delegation, us, began introducing ourselves. Although formal is quite fun. I have to admit there was a little buzz to be taken from the whole experience.

The delegations take their seats

President of Hubei University, Dr. Wu

After the reception we were taken on a tour of the new library and its museum. The collection was quite extensive. It had lots of information about the city of Wuhan and Hubei the province (state) and their roll in both ancient and modern history.

The new library at Hubei University

After a short tour led by students, who are students from Hubei and are studying to become translators, we went to the opening lunch. We all sat down with healthy balance of American teachers, Hubei professors, and thankfully, aspiring translators. I think my table lucked out because we had the to art professors at our table, who were quite fun. Wine flowed freely, which loosed up conversation. Then there was the presentation of gifts, which turned out to be a shirt exchange, we received very nice Hubei University knit shirts and they received University of Memphis, Final Four T-shirts (The U of M is administering the Fulbright grant money. Every one had a blast.

T - I - G - E - R - S.., TIGERS!

After lunch we changed out of our formal clothes and went for tour of the campus led by the students I previously mentioned. The campus layout and feel was like that of almost any college campus in the states; new and old buildings, students playing basketball (a lot of them), boys and girls hanging on each other, and students just hanging out. The significant difference is the number of families you see on campus. Universities, like most other employers, house the faculty and staff and their families on or near where they work, in this case on campus. That makes workers loyal and commutes quite short. When you think about the scenario it makes sense. There are some drawbacks in terms of individual choice but it certainly gave the campus a very family feeling.

Hooping, Chinese style
Hanging on the quad

We then proceed to out first class which was led by the Vice President of the University and Dean Lee who spoke about the history of Wuhan in general and Hubei University specifically. They were both extremely informative and I learned a lot. It is obvious they are proud of not only their university, extolling its scores and accomplishments, but their city and province as well.

After class we had another group meal with most of the deans from earlier in the day. The food was great. Wuhan, because it is located in the middle of China, more on that later, has more variety of different types of Chinese food so we saw some dishes tonight that we had not seen before. There were several “Gan bei”, or cheers. We did some cheers with schnapps like drink that translates to, “White Cloud”. Vice President Lee told me it has this name because after you drink it feels like you are floating on the edge of a white cloud. I did not want to be rude so I indulged in some “White Cloud”, only for the purpose of cultural understanding.

This is a fish dish. Blooming fish?
After dinner we walked around a bit and then we went to bed early for some much needed sleep. If the first day is any indication it is going to be fun in Wuhan at good ole Hubei U.

Links to more photos of Hubei University