Learning about China’s culture and heritage has been a big part of this trip. During our time, we learned and lived Chinese culture in different ways during our stay in Shanghai and Nanjing:
🛍️Feeling like locals shopping in Nanjing Road,
☕Having a specialty coffee around The Bund,
🚶♀️Walking the nine-turn bridge in Yu garden to have a long life,
🏘️Learning the history of French Concession and exploring Tianzifang,
🏯Visiting Jinling Town and seeing the traditional feather performances,
🪷Exploring buddhism and contemplate the breathtaking temple at Usnisa Palace,
🛥️Admiring the Lantern festival at Qinhuai River during a night boat trip,
🫖Learning how to make tea, from picking the tea, to roasting and then brewing and tasting at Naqiu Farm,
🧣Traditional batik coloring with plant-based tie-dyes.
Aside from the organized tours and guides, we always find a way to add our own twist and enjoy each destination such as experiencing night life🌃, eating different local food every day 🥢, seeing the massive shopping malls or just getting lost in the city walking around. Some special moments were learning to play mahjong while being serenaded by karaoke🀄, dressing with the traditional hanfu , celebrating the trip with chinese bbq and live music🎤 and obviously the people we have shared the experience with, all the connections that we have created along the way!
To finish, I would like to give my personal insight, as this was my first time in China and I loved it. It can be a very overwhelming country, cities are huge, a lot of people everywhere, scooters and cars going around, very different language; but everyone has been really welcoming, ready to help, with a smile. In such a fast environment, people find their time to relax and enjoy some food, some tea and socialize. There is a mix of futuristic vibes to the cities and traditional that makes every place really special. There are places where you can find a temple in the middle of the city surrounded by skyscrapers. I can’t wait to go back and visit new cities.
During this time we also engaged in innovation, visited companies and participated in a workshop, stay tuned next week to learn more about the other side of China!
