The students of Columbia University Business school were elated for getting the trip to foreign (emerging )countries .The university gives options to choose where they want to go. My daughter took China -trip first . She planned to take me with her .
China! Cradle of. ancient civilization; the Great Wall :one of the seven wonders ; emperor's palace known as the forbidden city; my long time dream ! But finally I cancelled the trip when I heard that she would cancel the program of Great Wall and the Palace; as Beijing was risky for the tourists for some climatic hazard or some problem . I tried to make her understand that I heard from others that all of them faced problem with food and language . As she would be busy with her scheduled program of class, conference tournament, I would be left with boredom. The destination of the University was Shanghai, the third largest financial center in the world . They stayed in International Grand Hyate hotel . So they did not face any problem with food or language. The routine of the school was so compact that they had little time to roam arbitrarily and experience the local life-style of the city.
The school gave them a city tour . Shanghai was originally a fishing village and market town situated on the estuary of of Yangtze River; now it serves as the most influential international trade and cultural center of modernity. It is described as the "showpiece" of booming economy of China.The newer part of Shanghai is on the the east bund of the river Huangpu river ;it has numerous skyscrapers buildings ; particularly Lujazul(!) area is famous for attractive Show-rooms of all world famous products ; the famous Crystal Zade of China .,along with huge fish -market and Garment- warehouse . Tailoring was very cheap .The students were excited to learn that they delivered the dress within two days.So almost all American students bought the best cloth in cheaper price and ordered several number of suits .The tailors themselves would come to hotel for trial before the final delivery.
My daughter narrated amusingly ," it was so funny to see the students,(shedding off the protocol elegancy,) moving crazily to and fro from different compartments of warehouse and screaming ,bargaining ! The word "mad cow'( in figurative sense!) just flashed in my mind. The accompanied professor was also watching curiously, as he was sipping a bottle of coco-cola near the counter .To notice me he commented , "O, so smart of campaigning the battle to come back early !" Then he continued "This is why I come here as finishing touch of city- tour ".He grinned.
"I did't disclose to him that I. was an escapist to join the battle, for avoiding the crowd". I told him that I am interested to take a tour of the old city on Saturday. "
He gave me some good suggestions about how to go there and what to visit and to eat . The old city of Shanghai was completely different in contrast to the new one.The older part of urban Shanghai , known as the British settlement, is on the West Bank of Huangpu river.The British named their stretch of riverfront as " bund," a Hindi word meaning 'embankment' that the traders bought with them from India. Bund was the showpiece of early 20th century Shanghai."shikumen" or stone-gated house -grey and brown two storey tenements arranged in terraces which was a unique architectural form to Shanghai .But this key part of the city's heritage has not been protected with proper care. ******
I missed to mention one appalling story of China. The chairman of
Asian bank appointed by the professor of Columbia, narrated some story to the students :
For controlling the increase of population, Communist government of China made "One child" as legally mandatory .So those who bore more than one child ,they abandoned the new-born second /third child (specially girls-child ) secretly to exempt from the punishment of the government. Those abandoned children were picked up and collected by the orphanage which in turn gave rise to a new and novel business. Lots of People from the west and from America started taking China tour by cruise. The main purpose of China- Cruise Tour - was to adopt baby at cheap rate without facing legal complexities . In America and Europe, the process of adopting is complex : the legal issues along with a lot of money is needed for adopting a baby. So the issueless western couples hunt babies from the overpopulated countries like China, Korea, Indonesia and India. According to the censure, the problem is that ratio of male and female has been misbalanced. Globally, the number of female-child has been decreased.
In addition to above story, another one was that in interior china of village the health of people deteriorated suddenly. It was detected after enquiry that people used to sell their blood for earning money to build bigger houses. The reason was they wanted to build two-storied buildings for giving marriage to their sons. Actually the buildings look like two-storied from the outside but the upper story had only wall , while inside was fake and left unfinished. Women have advanced compared to men in modern China. To get a good bride the groom must have education with proper degree , a good job. and a two-storied house. A common joke among the folk used to run ,
"O, you are the. father of girl ; that means you are commercial bank ; and me?
I am father of male-child, a merchant bank!"
China is no more patriarchal.
Asia development Bank gives loan in two sectors : One is Public health and secondly, in house-building loan. They are no doubt good steps for social upliftment of China. ****************************************************************************
Trip to India.
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