We left Shanghai
Thursday and started to venture inland. Our first stop was in Suzhou at the APP Tissue and Paper mill. We
were privileged to the tissue paper machine that set a world record for being
the fastest in the world's (2,100 meters per minute), as well as their other
paper machine. The mill was very welcoming with signs, gifts, free sample of
products, candy, and of course a wonderful lunch! One of the big differences we
noticed about this mill versus US mills was the aesthetic nature of the outside
of the mill; parks, lakes, dormitories for workers, and even a tennis court! As
we were leaving we were presented with a card containing a picture the staff
had taken of us in front of the mill upon our arrival. It was a wonderful gift.
From here we drove on our bus to Nanjing,
the former capital of China
and home to Nanjing
Forestry University.
We had our first "authentic" meal on campus and had a highly enjoyable time!
After this it was sleep for all before our big day on campus!
Friday we traversed campus and noticed NFU was much more "treeful" than NC State, there was no brick in sight (ok, there was a little,
but only on a few buildings). We had an in-depth tour of the College of Chemical
Engineering?s building, and viewed tens of Paper
Science and Engineering labs. We saw a really cool diorama that laid out the
entire campus giving us a good feel of what all was available, there was quite
a bit of forest on the campus itself. In every lab we saw state of the art
equipment, often times there were 4 stations for students to utilize the
different facilities (including computer interfaces). If only Biltmore could
hold labs like these! We also noticed that the facilities were very clean, with
hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances.
After the tour we met with various NFU-PSE students. For
some students this was our favorite part!!! The students? English was much
better than our Chinese! We broke into small groups discussing classes, class
length, hobbies, their favorite part of the program, etc. We learned that all
students are required to take an English proficiency test in order to graduate,
and if they don?t pass it they can?t find a job. There is also no policy in
place to promote the hiring of females, so some find it hard to find jobs in
the industry. Tuition for students at NFU is roughly $500 a year (this would
barely cover books in the US).
The university admission system in China
is very different than in the US.
After completing an examination students are chosen by universities to attend
their programs. It is a great honor to attend college. Students work very hard
in high school to prepare for the exam to get into college, and then find
college to be slightly easier, while in the US we can attend most universities,
but must work hard to graduate.
We had a great time hanging out, but it was time to head on
to some sight-seeing in Nanjing,
but we would see our new friends at dinner! In Nanjing
we visited the Zhongshan
Mountain National
Park, after being promised we would not be
hiking, we ended up covering plenty of ground in 2 hours, including 1000 steps
to the Mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen. The hike was worth the view. As always after
finishing one event, we ran to our next stop, dinner!
Dr. Chang and his wife hosted a lovely meal for the NCSU and
NFU students' downtown at one of the nicest restaurants in Nanjing. Some of our students even got brave
enough to try the smelly tofu and big ear. The NCSU students even serenaded
everyone with the Red & White song. Before we left we exchanged email
addresses and took plenty of pictures. We ended our night by visiting a market
area near a Confucius
Temple, many souvenirs
were purchased, and some may have even eaten McDonalds (we will not disclose
names at this time). After a long day of
fun, we got to enjoy a lovely night?s sleep; only to wake up to hit the
road!!!!!
Today has been a long one. (Thanks to technology we are
currently typing this blog while on the road, a very bumpy, slow, horn laden
bus ride). Today we visited the Gold East Paper Mill (art paper) after a 2 hour
drive. Our host Roy Wang (an NC State Alum) welcomed us with gifts while we
watched an introductory video on the mill, we learned about their environmental
measures, the different products, and history. It was then time to view the big
machines! These paper machines were 300 and 400 meters long! The #3 paper
machine is the newest machine, starting in 2005, and is state of the art! Many
of us drooled while watching the machine churn out paper at amazingly high
speeds. Some of us had the privilege of seeing our first off-machine coater. We
saw the first inverted calendaring stack as well. They had a very impressive
wrapping system that prepares the paper for shipping, from their own port on
the Yangtze River. We even found a moment to
feed the goldfish off the bridge in the pond that is from their water treatment
facility.
It was then time for us to eat. Another wonderful lazy Susan
meal awaited us (eyeballs and all). We all left with full bellies as we embarked
on the bus ride of doom. We are currently 7.5 hours into a 10 hour trip that
was supposed to be 6. We have experienced some of the smelliest bathrooms in
the world, and truly appreciate a dorm bathroom after this. We have also
enjoyed an authentic Chinese version of 7-11 (but without slurpees, or hot
dogs). We have tried potato chips (without salt), Bugles (tomato flavored),
Oreos, Chips-Ahoy, sesame crackers, ice cream, and various juices. But for dinner, we picked out buckets of
ramen noodles that we filled with boiling water from the back of a shed. Some
enjoyed it more than others. You can?t say we aren?t stretching ourselves. It
has been a memorable day. Tomorrow we visit mill #4 (straw). 5 more days for
some, 8 more for others?
-- Susan, Tabatha, & Carrie
