Beautiful park

At the park near the irrigation project, there was a huge park that we wondered through. One of the highlights was the big pond with a huge quantity of koi in it.

There was also a historic Buddhist temple that we worked our way through. Very impressive.

Records of the Grand Historian

As a historian, I particularly admire the great Chinese historian, Sima Qian (135-85 BCE). In my world history class, I frequently assign his writings. I often say that he is the patron saint of historians because of the sacrifice he made to fnish is great project started by his father. Having fallen out of favor with the emperoro, he was given a choice of death or castration. He chose castration so that he could continue his work. So, I was especially thrilled when walking across the university campus, I came across a bust of Sima Qian.

Southwest University of Nationalities

The facilities and grounds of the Southwest University of Nationalities completely met our needs. The students stayed in the international student dorm and our classrooms were in the same building, which was next to a large cafeteria.

At top, you see one of the main buildings, there was a cafeteria in this first floor: the next photo is taken looking over the campus form a dorm room (and, to be fair, that is a storm passing by, not really pollution); next is the international building where the student dorm was and where classes were held; much of the campus was beautiful with lush vegetatition and here is an older building; there were plenty of basketball courts, tennis courts, and even an athletic field at the campus; a bulletin board, like those common on most US campuses; there were quite a few monuments to different people around the campuses, like this one, but because I could not read the Chinese characters, I did not really know who they were; there were at least four gates to the university and this was one, more historic looking than the others, and opened into the Tibetan neighborhood.

Legendary project

I missed this photo earlier. It is a massive monument to the ancient irrigation project. It was in a location just as we entered into the historic city that has grown around the works.

P&G World

For my P&G friends: Walking to the university one day in Chengdu on the crowded sidewalks, I found myself behind this woman pulling a bag with the P&G logo. Procter and Gamble World, I guess...

Traffic

It is really difficult to explain the traffic in Chengdu. You'd really have to see it for a while to begin to understand it. I think one needs to drive with a mix of intuition and instinct - because rules seem non-existent but everyone understands this so it works.

Western restaurants

Given my inability to speak Chinese, I had a lot of trouble ordering food at ordinary Chinese restaurants. So, I often resorted to going to one of the several Western restaurants in Chengdu where I could always find someone who spoke enough English so that I could order.

The Bookworm, a fascinating place, was like a library inside with walls lined with books; The Shamrock was  a great Irish themed bar; Pete's Tex-Mex is kind of self-explanatory (tacos were good). I had a great conversation with the manager of the Shamrock, Danny, an African-American guy from LA. He said he an a degree in electrical engineering and was working in the LA area but was bored. Someone told him, he was young and should go have an adventure. So, he decided to go to China. He landed in Chengdu and got hooked into the expat community by playing rugby with the Shamrock team. He has a Chinese fiance and teaches English on the side. There was also a Hooter's and a Pizza Hut in Chengdu.

Night out in Chengdu

Our program director, Wentao Song, took me and a fellow instructor and a couple of other staffers, Wei Wei and Jack, out to dinner one night. In addition to some very good food, we got a show, too, some traditional dancers and the face-changing performance (unique to Sichuan province, I understand). At top is Wei Wei, Stephen Rice (a faculty member from UNLV), me, Wentao, and Jack; next are three photos of the face-changing actor and you can see he has three different masks on (the trick here is that the face changes suddenly and magically); at bottom is a group of women doing some traditional dances.

Tibetan neighborhood

A teeming Tibetan neighborhood was near the university. Lots of shops selling religious items and many Tibetan restaurants and other businesses. I especially enjoyed what seemed the incongruity of men dressed in traditional Tibetan garb, perhaps even monks, talking on the cell phones.

At top is a restaurant where they are cooking the food right on the sidewalk (I joked that it was a Tibetan buffet, which got a good laugh from my Chinese friends); a couple Tibetan monks waiting to cross the street, the guy on the right would soon pull out a cell phone and start talking;  one of the streets lined with the Tibetan shops, selling traditional robes and religious statues; next, a Tibetan typesetting and printing shop; the last two show ships filled with the glittering gold statues. I purchased several small versions of these statues as well as some wall hangings, including one prayer wheel that is activated by a solar cell!