Day 7: Nanjing, Saturday, June 23, 2012

Today was our resting day and we had the opportunity to explore Nanjing on our own schedule. Some slept until 4 pm in the afternoon while others explored the city and its surrounding. Popular activities included a boat ride on the Xuanwu Lake, a hike in the nearby mountain park, a visit to the Confucius Temple or a meal at one of the Western-style restaurants. It was also a holiday in China with dragon boat races and people taking leisurely strolls through the parks.

Also the cats knew it was a resting day (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Taking a nap (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Some of us decided to explore the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum in the Purple-Gold Mountain area. Sun Yat-Sen (1866-1924) has become the father of the Chinese Revolution. Originally from Nanjing, he began to travel early in his life. At 13, Sun Yat-Sen visited his brother in Hawaii where he also attended an Anglican school. Later he studied medicine in Hong Kong. 1894 he founded the Revolutionary League, a group that promoted nationalist ideas and tried to undermine Qing rule in the late 19^th century. Sun Yat-Sen continued his travels and started to rally support from emigrated Chinese throughout the Pacific Rim and the United States. His travels and exposures to ideas and cultures beyond China made him what some have called a “pan-Asian cosmopolitan”. The Revolutionary League (and its follow up group, the Kuomintang or `Party of the National People`) had several goals: Abolishment of the Manchu leadership (Qing dynasty), restoration of Chinese leadership and the creation of a Republic of China, parliamentary democracy, and ultimately the realization of socialist ideas about ownership and equity. He also authored several important papers and books, among them are his Three Principles of the People (1925, San min zhu yi), which outlined the following goals: a national revolution, abolishment of unequal treaties and freedom from foreign control (including Britain, France, the US and other Western powers); the importance of the nation, which stands above the individual; ownership of land to guarantee food supply. In essence, Sun engaged in a critical discussion with Marxian ideas and rejected its main points, essentially calling for a unique Chinese way. Many Chinese visited the memorial and we had the impression that many are rediscovering him. At least counting by their numbers, the memorial seemed to be a popular spot to visit.

The Sun Yat-Sen Memorial (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Sun Yat-Sen (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Yangtze river (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Bridge over the Yangtze river (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Nanjing is the capital of the Jiangsu province and the area is rich in waterways that lead to the Yangtze river. The city still boasts many intact remnants of the Ming city wall and it has served twice as the nation`s capital (during Ming dynasty 1368-1644 and as the capital of the Republic of China in the early years of the 20<sup>th</sup> century).  The city is also known for the Nanjing massacre when the Japanese occupied Nanjing and killed between 200,000 and 300,000 Chinese civilians. Nanjing`s location on the South-bank of the Yangtze river offers also unique glimpses of this massive waterway. We visited the Yangtze River bridge, which was built in 1968. The 4.5 km long bridge is a double-decker with a 4-lane-road on top and a train line below.

It didn`t matter that a boat got stuck on the leisurely boat ride on the lake or some still had songs in their head from the Karaoke night before, the resting day was a welcome distraction.

Step count on our pedometer: 15,011 

Heinz Zumbühl, Heike Mayer

Day 6: Nanjing, Friday, June 22, 2012

In the early morning, still sleepy but excited for further adventures, we left our hostel in Suzhou to catch the high speed train to Nanjing. We didn’t expect the adventure to catch up with us so quickly by the time we got in the taxi. As Chinese seems to be a difficult language even for Chinese people, half of the taxi drivers drove to the wrong train station, even tough we handed them a detailed description in Mandarin. After detailed study of the departure schedule we realized that our train wouldn’t leave from this place. Not much time left we had to find another taxi driver, who would hopefully drop us at the right place. Due to their driving habits (way too fast, overtaking left and right, continuously blowing their horn, ignoring traffic light, etc.) we were fortunate to reach the right train station not only in time but also alive.

Railway station in Suzhou (Photo: Heike Mayer)

After a calm train ride we were invited for lunch at Nanjing University. This University was founded in 1902 and is one of the oldest and most prestigious in China. To be invited for a meal in China was the next adventure. It is very important to clink glasses with all hosts to introduce one another and to empty the beer glass in one sip. Gānbēi! There are many more rules to follow and we “lost our faces” several times: emptying the beer glass on the skirt of a college student, eating rice after the main course (which means you haven’t had enough) or drinking beer in a normal glass instead of wine glasses (which is obviously the bigger challenge). 

Group picture with representatives from the Department of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences
at Nanjing University (Photo: Heike Mayer)

For the afternoon we were invited by the Department of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences to listen to four very interesting presentations within the scope of a workshop on “Economic and social development in peripheral regions – case studies from China and Switzerland”. The quotation of Mahatma Ghandi: “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” was our thread for the entire afternoon. Professor Zhang Jie spoke about Calligraphy as a slow recreation and slow landscape in Chinese tourism destinations. Further, Professor Zhen Feng introduced the topic of making the cities more livable. On the Swiss side, Professor Paul Messerli gave a speech on the context of Switzerland and its regional development policy. And Professor Heike Mayer presented about Slow Cities as an example of challenges and opportunities for development in peripheral regions. In between the presentations obviously the mandatory group picture had to be taken in the courtyard. Afterwards the students guided us through the compound, where we could observe young Messis and Ronaldos. We realized that in both countries there are quite a few differences but also a lot of similarities in student life.

Referring to Ghandi`s citation, we enjoyed a relaxed and AMAZING evening, ending in a Karaoke bar where new singing and gymnastic talents were born. As the day started also the night ended with an adventurous taxi ride, where the reading capacities of the drivers (with a magnifying glass!) were tested successfully once more…

Step count on our pedometer: 20 303

Silvia Hunkeler, Stefanie Lehmann

Day 5: Suzhou, Thursday, June 21, 2012

Place: Suzhou, Mingtown International Hostel

Wakeup: 7.00 am

Weather: Cloudy but hot

Breakfast: Banana

Topic of the Day: Foreign direct investments / Knowledge spillovers / Chinese Entrepreneurship

In the morning we took the bus to get from our hostel to the Suzhou New District, which is located west of Suzhou. During our journey entertainment was provided by the authors of today’s article. The first surprise, as we arrived at the Jakob Müller Machinery (China), was a cup of the greatest coffee we drank so far in China (brewed by a Swiss made Jura coffee machine). The company, with the headquarters in Frick, Switzerland, is the market leader in the production of narrow knitting and weaving machines. We gained an impression of the assembly of these machines by walking through the production hall. As the new production site of Jakob Mueller China just opened a few weeks before, the factory seems to show a more transparent organization and Swiss precision in the design of the production line. We also gained insights into the company`s practice of quality management. The next highlight of the day was a lunch in the firm’s own canteen, sharing our meal with the employees. We learned how to correctly act with the chopsticks: Face down and just shuffle in as fast as you can! The Lonely Planet guide book has already been updated with this modern Chinese behavior.

Best coffee we have had so far (Photo: Mario Huber)

Lunch at the canteen at Jakob Müller Machinery (Photo: Mario Huber)

Group picture at Jakob Müller Machinery (China) (Photo: Mario Huber)

After lunch we moved to Times Square in the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). There we had time for shopping, having a cup of coffee or walking along the lake. After a short visit of the library of Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District, we were guided to the exhibition hall of the district. There we got an introduction to the ideas, situation and policies for this district from the institution's representative Alice. The multimedia technology used in this presentation was impressive (Imax Cinema, Matrix reloaded layout and the 3D-model of the city master plan). The male audience surely enjoyed the tour – we truly felt like in Wonderland.

Sign at the show room (Photo: Mario Huber)

In the late afternoon we had an interesting meeting with some students of the Hong-Kong Space Global College, which is located in the Innovation District. There we were warmly welcomed and got an interesting introduction from the students about both, Suzhou district and Suzhou culture. We also had time to chat about life, higher education systems and impressions about China.

Meeting with students at the Hong-Kong Space Global College (Photo: Mario Huber)

Making friends (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Chinese student presenting about their college life (Photo: Mario Huber)

Impressions from Suzhou old town (Photo: Heike Mayer)

The day ended with the Chinese version of the fondue chinoise called “hot pot”. There you just put everything you find around in spicy boiling water and you just wait until it’s done. Respecting the temperatures outside we chose a meal which traditionally was a Chinese winter meal. ;-) So everyone was just sweating during the whole dinner. Lucky but tired we went do bed.

Not really, we just went out and had a really good last evening in Suzhou with the whole group.

Step count on our pedometer: 12 685

Mario Huber, Christoph Stäussi

Day 4: Shanghai-Suzhou, Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The topic of the day was “Outsourcing of Research and Development (R&D)” to specific countries in Asia, such as China. Since many years multinational firms relocate their production to low cost countries. However, recently multinational firms started to outsource parts of their R&D departments to China. As an example of a Swiss firm which does part of its R&D in China, we could visit ABB Shanghai Transformer Co. Ltd. in Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park.

ABB’s relation to China dates back to 1907 when former Asea delivered a steam boiler to China. In 1995 ABB China started its expansion. Nowadays ABB China has 35 local settlements and over 18’300 employees. ABB’s production and R&D in China focuses on the Chinese market.  R&D in China is guided by the idea “In China for China”. The main point is to enhance the competitiveness of ABB China in comparison to their local competitors which have developed very quickly. To remain competitive, ABB China has to be located closely to the Chinese market and its consumers. This guarantees to be able to react rapidly to changing market and consumer preferences. ABB’s R&D-department works closely together with Chinese top researchers. Thanks to great engagement of ABB’s manager and their good English skills we enjoyed a very interesting visit.

Ready for our through the ABB factory! (Photo: Philipp Danioth)

After three amazing days in Shanghai we travelled further northwest to Suzhou on board of a high-speed train that exceeeds 300km/h. Arriving in Suzhou, the adrenaline emission continued while the taxi trip resembles a rollercoaster ride. After a successful check-in at the hostel, the group was divided. A few decided to learn more about the traditional silk industry while others relaxed in the world famous Chinese Gardens of Suzhou. They are masterpieces of Chinese landscape garden design in which art and nature are integrated perfectly to peaceful harmony. Some of Suzhou’s 2'500 years old garden, bridges and canal system are part of the UNESCO world heritage sites. Suzhou is also called the “Venice of the East”.

The Humble Administrator's Garden - One of the great gardens in Suzhou (Photos: Philipp Danioth)

Apart from the great tradition of the garden, it was a great area for relaxing. It was a good chance to play cards, where we realized that Swiss German cards are more popular in our group, even though we represent the University of Bern. However we figured out that the students from Bern have the so-called “Schälle Banner dilemma”. In addition we had some interesting meetings with Chinese people who seemed to like card games. Based on their reaction we figured out that they may think that Swiss German cards look a bit childish.  We suddenly felt connected to the Chinese culture and made a few intercontinental encounters.

Step count on our pedometer: 19 724

Philipp Danioth, Samuel Zahner

The "Jass Delegation" of the University of Bern (Photo: Philipp Danioth)

Jonas taking the Swiss-Chinese relationship to a new level (photo: Philipp Danioth)

Day 3: Lingang New City & Yangshan Deep Harbor, Tuesday, June 19, 2012

After dealing with the first impressions of China on the first day, we started our second day with a breakfast on the beautiful terrace of the youth hostel. While digesting, the group enjoyed a short introduction to today’s topic: Urban development projects. This topic was looked at throughout the whole day by visiting and discussing different projects in the Lingang area.

It seemed that the jetlag was still present, since it was deadly silence as everyone was asleep in the bus we took to get to the areas of interest. Our first stop was at the Linggang Management Group.  Everyone asked themselves when he paid the price to enter the multimedia show that followed afterwards, introducing the Lingang area. Unfortunately the marketing manager Lili could not answer all of our questions. To see for ourselves what the Lingang area looked like in the real world, we visited the Lingang Taxfree Export Zone with its large storage halls. It was unbelievable to see this entire (and sometimes still empty) storage place. This encouraged the students’ creativity that ended in ideas to establish a skating park or, if once the area was abandoned, to build some industrial style hipster DINK lofts.

Storage space in the Lingang Logistics Park (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Donghai Bridge to Yangshan Deep-Water Port. It is one of the world`s longest sea bridge.
(Photo: Heike Mayer)

Yangshan Deep-Water Port (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Apparently this port moves 12.5 million TEUs a year (photo: Heike Mayer)

Afterwards we drove over the approximately 30 km long bridge to the Lingang Deepwater Port.  It was very impressive to see the large area with all the cranes and containers and the logistics associated with it. At lunch we really realized that we were near the ocean, since only seafood was served (which was not appreciated by everyone).

Back in Lingang in a subdistrict called Shanghai Lingang Wanxiang, Mr. Xu of the Wanxiang Economic Development Center gave us a short introduction to that specific area which shall become a residential zone within Lingang. We really could not believe, that here such a modern and organized district will be established like it is planned today.  After that we visited the large lake and the city in the middle of Lingang New City. It was quite abandoned but had some nice architecture. We could see that the potential for a big city was there, but where there are no people there is no city (yet).

We finished our day individually back in Shanghai.

Lingang New City: the model that shows lake Dishui and
adjacent residential and industrial development zones. (Photo: Heike Mayer)

New buildings and sidewalks in Lingang already need repair. (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Empy urban landscape in Lingang New City (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Waterfront in Lingang. The city is planned for 800.000 people. (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Gated community in Lingang. (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Housing development in Lingang. (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Our conclusion of today is that Lingang New City has very good infrastructure and also some great buildings, but is not yet filled with people and live. Therefore it will be very interesting to see how the city will develop in future. Will it really be filled with 800’000 people at some point in the future or will it die a lonely death of an abandoned city?

Step count on our pedometer: 11 858

Jonas Studer, Simon Bach

Day 2: Shanghai, Monday, June 18, 2012

Jetlag, partying Chinese people and excitement about what awaits us, but: we got it! It was 8 o`clock when we all met for a short introduction to urban restructuring processes in Shanghai.

A short walk and a tube ride later we went to visit the urban planning museum. But the doors of the building were closed and left us standing outside in the rain. It was the classical Monday mistake. So instead of looking at planning themes, the group walked through an insect and pet market. There were kitties, lots of insect, fished and other animals. It was interesting but nobody bought a living souvenir for the relatives.

People's Square in Shanghai (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Insect market in Shanghai (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Yu Yuan Gaden area in Shanghai (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Tea time in the Yu Yuan Garden area (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Old city neighborhood near Yu Yuan Garden (Photo: Heike Mayer)

After a walk through the old city and Yu Yuan Gardens we took the ferry to the Pudong New Area (PNA). The differences between the old city with the “small” buildings and this business district are enormous. Big towers, new cars, no (visible) poor people; our guide showed us all this. After the tour through this “skyscraper forest” we decided to have a look of the PNA from one of the highest buildings. We `climbed` the Financial Tower (the one that looks like a bottle opener) and had the pleasure to enjoy the view over Shanghai. To be honest, we didn`t see that much because of the bad weather and the smog. But anyway, it was worth it! Especially considering the heated toilet seats and the cocktails we had. After heading directly into the `from-financial district-back-to-normal`-rush hour we enjoyed a nice meal in a Muslim-Chinese restaurant. A female dancer showed us different oriental inputs in “wonderful” dresses (she changed about 4 times).

Tour through Lujiazui Financial Center in Pudong (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Park in Lujiazui, Pudong (Photo: Heike Mayer)

View from the Shanghai World Financial Center (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Pudong skyscrapers
(Photo: Heike Mayer)

  Facts of the day:

• Step count on our pedometer: 27 000 steps or 22 km
•  Toilets: 3 sorts (standing toilets, those with heated seats or normal ones) 
•  Disparities: business cluster vs. pool people in the old city
• What did we learn:

o   no death of hunger from using chopsticks

o   an umbrella can be your best friend

o   museums are closed on Monday (as we know from Switzerland)

• Weather: from rain to cloudy, smog is everywhere
• Eat & drink: It is much more expensive to drink a coffee, cocktail or glass of wine than eating a Chinese meal (size XXXL)
• An empty plate after dinner is utopian

         Dina Spörri, Barbara Jossi

A nice meal at the end of a day is an important part of our field trip
(Photo: Heike Mayer)

Day 1: Shanghai, Sunday, June 17, 2012

Our field trip “Fast cities, slow cities, capital cities” started today with a meeting at the youth hostel in the Jing'an district in Shanghai. All of us made it to Shanghai and everyone in our group of 24 seemed to be excited about the experience over the coming two weeks. Some students arrived a couple of days earlier and already had the chance to explore the city. A couple others arrived today after an easy flight from Zurich and an exciting ride on the Maglev train from Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Even though Shanghai is a city of about 23 million people, many areas in the historic center of the city, the Puxi area, feel very neighborly. Lots of trees make this area very green. Located in the Yangze River Delta, Shanghai is one of China`s most important commercial centers with a vital financial and technology industry. In addition, the region is home to China`s largest container port (Yangshan Deep-Water Port), which we will visit in the coming days. Our focus in these first couple of days, however is on the city and broader region of Shanghai.

Xintiandi neighborhood in Shanghai (Photo: Heike Mayer)

After our initial meeting at the hostel, we started to head out. We needed to take the umbrella with us because it started to rain in the afternoon. We headed for the Xintiandi neighborhood which represents an interesting redevelopment project from the mid 1990s. The area was home to the traditional Shikumen houses. Shikumen stands for “stone gate” and the houses were arranged along narrow alleys to which these stone gates provided the entrance. By the 1980s, the houses fell in disarray and starting in the mid-1990s a Hong Kong-based developer and it is now a fashionable lifestyle district with cafés, restaurants and shopping malls. The district is also home to the Shikumen Museum, which is well worth a visit because it explains the history of the area and its redevelopment. The exhibit noted that more than 2,500 families were displaced through this redevelopment. Even though the renovation of the traditional Shikumen houses is quite a success (particularily if we consider the speed with which China is developing its cities, which often results in dramatic losses of traditional neighborhoods), the district represents a familiar place of global consumption and entertainment. Starbucks and a Paulaner pub give tourists a familiar feeling and suggest that the place can be interchangeable with any other place in the world.

Pudong skyline in the rain (Photo: Heike Mayer)

The rain made taking pictures difficult (Photo: Heike Mayer)

From Xintiandi we took the metro to Nanjing Road where we had the opportunity to stroll for a little while before dinner. We enjoyed our first Chinese family-style meal in a restaurant near the Bund. The food was shared on a revolving tablet (in the United States the tablet is called “lazy Susan”) and the waiters did not stop serving small plates of diverse dishes ranging from green vegetables to pork, beef and seafood. After dinner we walked to the Bund. Even though squalls of wind and rain increased heavily and we were all soaking wet, we enjoyed the view of the Bund at night.

Step count on our pedometer: 22 516

Heike Mayer

China Field Trip 2012:
Fast Cities, Slow Cities and Capital Cities

We arrived in Shanghai where we are starting our field trip today. Taking the fast Maglev train from Pudong International Airport to the city was only the first of many experiences with "fast" life in China. Over the next two weeks, we will discover fast-growing metropolises like Shanghai, small towns that are dedicated to the slow life like Yaxi and political cities like Beijing. Our group consists of 24 students and professors from Bern and we are particularly excited to share our experiences with you on this blog!

Collegium Generale Lecture Series closes with visitors from Washington D.C.

This semester`s Collegium Generale Lecture Series focused on the role and function of capital cities. Throughout the semester, leading scholars and policymakers gave presentations about a variety of topics related to capital cities. The lectures ranged from the role of urban design and representation of the state in the built environment to the economic functions and roles of capital cities. We noticed great interest on behalf of the general public about the current and future role of Bern as the capital of Switzerland and were able to follow each lecture with a lively question and answer session.

The final lecture closed the series with the visit of policymakers from Washington D.C. We invited Harriet Tregoning, Director of the Office of Planning for the District of Columbia, and Terry Holzheimer, Director of Arlington Economic Development, to travel to Bern and share their views about Washington D.C. In addition, we invited the Ambassador of the United States to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Donald S. Beyer, to reflect upon his experience working as a diplomat here in Bern. Georg Tobler, Executive Director of the Capital Region Switzerland, was also invited to respond to what Bern can learn from Washington D.C. The U.S. visitors enjoyed their stay in Bern and were able to learn more about transportation and land use planning through a visit to Bern`s Westside and Brünnen.

Policymakers from the Washington D.C. region visit with urban planners in Bern (Photo: Heike Mayer)

Visit to Westside and Brünnen in Bern (Photo: Heike Mayer)

We would like to thank all the presenters, the staff and the board of the Collegium Generale, who were instrumental making this series a success. All the lectures are available as podcasts on the following website: http://www.collegiumgenerale.unibe.ch/content/index_ger.html.

Heike Mayer, Professor of Economic Geography, GIUB

Fritz Sager, Professor of Political Science, KPM