The influence of American culture in China is clear, from conversations about the very popular Prison Break to the plethora of KFCs and McDonald's. As many people in China have embraced a more consumer culture, American-style malls have grown up in cities. In Beijing and Shanghai we were shown large malls with American, European and Chinese stores. The prices were generally lower than the same item would be at the same store in the U.S., but much more expensive than goods outside the malls. ...Read More

[img_assist|nid=26588|title=The Cornell Connection.|desc=Monica Huang M.S. '03, Samuel Chen M. Eng '02, and Adrien Desbaillets '04 peruse copies of The Sun at a dinner with members of the Cornell Club of Shanghai and Sun editors. Photo: Matt Hintsa|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]Thinking of moving to China after graduation and wondering if you’ll be in good company? Many Cornell alumni living in Shanghai have come together to create an active Cornell Club. (One also exists in Beijing.) The Club in Shanghai does not have a building like the more populous club in New York, so they meet about once a month in different restaurants around the city. ...Read More

Chinese society has undergone major changes in the past 30 years and universities have not fought the trend. Due to the exponential growth in the number of universities — there are about 2,000 today, compared to a few hundred previously — 18 percent of high school students become university students now, according to Southeast University Vice President Yuepu Pu. ...Read More

[img_assist|nid=26541|title=City in Transition|desc=Construction cranes are everywhere in Beijing as the city continues a trend of rapid growth.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0] Looking at all the construction in Beijing, we were left to wonder how any of the buildings could possibly be finished within six months (construction will be halted a few months before the games to allow time for the dust to settle). China apparently has developed methods for building incredibly quickly, as we toured a college campus built in a year and a half. 15,000 of Southeast University's 30,000 students now live and study on an approximately $220 million, 93 square mile campus that did not exist in 2006. ...Read More

Originally published Jan. 4, 9:25 a.m. EST [img_assist|nid=26535|title=Now and then|desc=From Beijing's ancient Summer Palace, once the summer residence of the emperor and his family, visitors can see a recently built TV tower.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0] The day we visited the Forbidden City, home to the emperor and his family in the center of Beijing, all visitors had to leave by 4:30 p.m. As we walked through the expansive grounds, we wondered how the guards possibly got everyone to leave on time. Sun Associate Arts and Entertainment Editor Rebecca Weiss '09 made a joke that they might have an intercom system in the ancient grounds. We got our answer about 15 minutes before the grounds closed, however. There is a public address system in the Forbidden City. ...Read More

In his 30 years working and living on-and-off in China, Kenneth Jarrett ’75, consul general of Shanghai, has seen major changes. The plethora of contemporary architecture and nearly new buildings in Shanghai and Beijing speaks for itself, but almost everyone we met spoke about how different China was only five or 10 years ago. Jarrett described Shanghai in 1979 as “dark” and without much commercial activity, a stark contrast to today’s Shanghai — with a very bright night skyline, large florescent signs on may buildings and one of the fastest growing economies in the world. ...Read More

[img_assist|nid=26539|title=Movin' On Up|desc=A view of high-rise buildings in Beijing through the city's polluted air. The air pollution levels in the city maximized the government's 500 point scale for air quality on this day.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]Pollution is still a major problem in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as places throughout China, but air quality has generally improved in the cities since the 1980s, when Beijing became one of the most polluted cities in the world. Emissions controls now exist for factories, nuclear plants are being built to lessen the country’s dependence on coal energy and better energy saving technology is being imported and developed there. Many factories have also been moved out of the city to prevent the build up of smog within one area. In Shanghai, there has been development of green spaces and tree planting to combat pollution and provide people cleaner air. Consul General of Shanghai Kenneth Jarrett ’75 attributes much of this progress to pressure from the population on the government, but acknowledges that air quality issues are still prominent. In Beijing, where license plate tags are much cheaper than Shanghai (5,000 yuan to 35,000 yuan, according to a few Shanghai residents), vehicle traffic creates much of the pollution. Furthering the problem is the 1,200 more cars and trucks that join the roads each day, according to The New York Times....Read More

In our five days in Beijing, which included visits to tourist sites and non-touristy businesses and restaurants, only two people approached us asking for money. We were regularly swarmed with people selling goods from fake Rolexes to Olympics swag (and once for a massage as we walked by a tattoo parlor at night), but there were virtually no visible beggars. Shanghai has been notably different. A short walk on the river front (the Bund) was filled with people asking us for handouts; some even tried to grab us to get our attention....Read More

Mass consumption of bottled water has come under some recent criticism in the United States, partially because the empty plastic bottles often end up in the trash can instead of being recycled. Recycling our bottles (as Americans are advised to never drink the tap water) has been easier here than in many places in the US. Every public trashcan we saw in Beijing stood next to a container for recycling. This was so common, in fact, it seemed one would have to go out of their way not to recycle. The Shanghai Pudong airport even had separate barrels for inorganic and organic (compostable) trash....Read More