Day 9: Greg Geusic, YC ’10
Shanghai, Thursday, May 24
Our last day in Shanghai began much like all our other days in China — an early morning wake-up call, a quick breakfast marked by a long line behind the coffee pot, and a rush to the buses to begin the fully scheduled day on time.
By the ninth day on our trip, things were beginning to feel slightly more routine. We were certainly growing more accustomed to simple things like large red banners reading, “Warm Welcome Yale 100 Delegation,” group photos, and using chopsticks, but we were also starting to grasp the underlying themes of China that permeated throughout our visits and encounters.
Today, we visited the fourth and final university on our tour, Fudan University of Shanghai. Throughout the trip, we had been hearing about China’s rapid development and expansion. During a meeting with the Vice Minister of Education a few days prior in Beijing, we learned about China’s efforts to greatly expand access to, and quality of, post-secondary education. In roughly 15 years, China has increased the number of students attending college by more than a factor of four, with the attendance rate now exceeding 20 percent. The Ministry of Education has also worked closely with Yale University administrators to implement many positive aspects of the American university system.
Fudan University seemed to be the embodiment of these reforms. During our welcoming address from the vice president of the university (which was delivered in front of yet another “Warm Welcome Yale 100 Delegation” banner), we learned that they have recently established Fudan College, the first undergraduate program in China based on the residential college system. Following the speech and a group photo, we got a first-hand look at exactly what kind of change was taking place in China. We boarded buses to visit another of Fudan’s five campuses around Shanghai. This newly built campus, scheduled to open soon — with over a dozen huge buildings of western architecture — would expand the university’s capacity by thousands. The rhetoric of Chinese development and expansion suddenly seemed tangible and real. An entire new campus, able to serve thousands more students, had sprung up from the fields.
Following lunch with students at Fudan, we again boarded our buses for a tour of the Oriental Pearl Tower, a futuristic TV broadcast tower in downtown Shanghai. In a pattern which had grown readily apparent by this point in our trip, our Chinese hosts decided that merely visiting their nation’s most famous landmarks was not sufficient. This time, we were greeted by the sounds of a small welcoming band as we exited the buses. We walked in and went immediately to the elevators because they had closed the tower prior to our arrival to avoid crowds or lines. At the top of the tower, we had a view of the expansive Shanghai skyline, which manages to impress even when shrouded in the day’s dense fog.
Our last day in Shanghai ended with a dinner boat cruise down the Huangpu River. Shanghai’s skyscrapers were all illuminated with vibrant colors, giving the city a sense of energy and excitement through the evening. Our hosts entertained us with traditional Chinese music and other performances, and we returned the favor with a few American karaoke performances of our own, including a song about members of the Yale delegation that had been composed during the bus rides of the past few days. I could not have imagined a better end to our trip.
