Foreign Experts’ Day

Every year, the government of Shandong province arranges a field trip for the Foreign Experts (a.k.a. foreign teachers) to show their appreciation. Yeah, we really like the title, especially the “expert” part. This year, we visited the city of Linyi. Before we left, the students told us that Linyi is the 3^rd and remaining area in China most likely to be hit by an earthquake. We tried not to let that bother us.

We left Jinan in a convoy of 8 small buses with police escorts, who remained with us for the entire 2 day trip. Now I know how the Prime Minister feels. When we arrived in Linyi after 3 or 4 hours on a modern highway, there was an army of policemen stopping traffic at each and every intersection so that we never had to stop at traffic lights or bother with any traffic. It was hilarious when we crossed one intersection where the policeman had stopped a man and his dog so we could drive by. I felt bad the whole time that the city’s crime rate might have been affected whenever we were on the move. Surely, there was a better use for all that manpower.

The population of Linyi is reported to be 10 million but we didn’t see that many people while we were there. We did see construction at every turn. Tower after tower of apartment buildings were under construction. One of my students told me that the people of Linyi mostly live in the surrounding area. Because the apartments looked rather pricey, I gather they must be for investors and not for the current population. This is definitely a city growing at a quick pace.

We had a busy first day. We visited the Linyi University (the 1st photo is our group looking at a model of their enormous campus). Then we drove through the factories of the Shandong Lingong Construcion Machinery Co. Ltd.(we literally drove through one door and out the other door of one of the factories and never even got off to take a closer look at the heavy machinery, the boys were disappointed). We visited an exhibition of the urban planning of the city (where we say a huge model of the expanding city). We saw a few historic sites: the former residence of Wang Xizhi (a famous calligrapher) and the Linyi Yinqueshan Han Dynasty Tomb where they excavated the original script for Sun Tzu’s Art of War which were written on bamboo slips. The day was capped off with a concert at the Linyi Normal University.

The highlight for us was the next day, for different reasons. Our first stop that morning was the Immense Beer Co.. The itinerary had that planned for 7:30 a.m. so I was a bit concerned. Thankfully, the time was our departure time and the plant was a couple of hours away. The boys were very happy at the beer plant because they enjoyed samples. However, since our next stop was a primary school, I was worried that we might show up as a bunch of drunken and loud foreigners. Who thought that visiting a beer factory was a good appetizer for a primary school visit? Thankfully, we showed up sober at the school but an hour late. Imagine how hard it was for the organizers to tear people away from free beer.

We were warmly received in this little village. The older people were all standing outside to check out the foreigners. Inside the yard, the children were all lined up according to height. We brought along with us some donations of toys, school supplies and money for this needy school. As I looked at their faces, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through their minds as we descended on them. Some of us must have looked like giants to them.

We finished off the trip with a hike in the Menshang National Forrest Park. After seeing some of the natural beauty of China, we are looking forward to seeing more this summer.

We plan on posting more pics from this trip so stay tuned.