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