When I was in elementary school, I was offered the amazing opportunity to go to China. My father worked with people in China for his job. Once in a while, he took business trips to make business deals and see the factories. This time, I was invited to come. I had always been fascinated by Chinese culture and was exposed to it often, considering I went to school in a diverse place like Jericho. It was a truly amazing experience that I will never forget.
We first arrived in 上海 (Shànghǎi). My father told me not to fall asleep on the plane because it would be easier to adapt to the time change. Therefore, by the time we arrived in the afternoon, I was already exhausted. Later, we went to dinner with some of my father’s colleagues and customers. I remember that I was able to eat a few bites of food before falling asleep at the table. Unfortunately, I missed the amazing view of the 上海 skyline.
After a few days passed, I was finally used to the time difference. We were able to go on a boat ride across the 黄浦江 (Huángpǔ jiāng) / the Huangpu River. It amazed me to see all the skyscrapers since there weren’t any skyscrapers in 上海 20 years prior.
The next day, while everyone was staying up until 12 A.M. to celebrate New Year’s at home, I was eating lunch and watching the ball drop. It was quite an odd experience.
We were also able to experience many other places in 上海 such as a variety of shops and marketplaces, a Chinese M & M store, and People’s Park. We also saw the outside of the 上海 museum. The line for the museum was VERY long……
We then took a subway ride to the Oriental Pearl Tower (check out my other article on it: https://www.thedailychina.org/the-oriental-pearl-tower/). Something interesting about the subways is that they actually had video advertisements along the walls. While the train slowed down to pull into the station, you could see advertisements play along the tunnels. Unfortunately, we were only able to experience the tower from the outside because the line to get in was two hours long. Instead of going into the tower, we went to an aquarium. It was filled with all types of sea creatures, including many I hadn’t seen before like the mata mata sea turtle.
The next day, we took a train ride on a magnetic propulsion high-speed train to 北京 (Běijīng). It went REALLY fast!! When we arrived in 北京, we saw all types of transportation, both wealthy and poor neighborhoods, and The Great Wall. Later, we also visited a Cloisonné factory (check out my other article on Cloisonné: https://www.thedailychina.org/景泰蓝-cloisonne/) and Tiananmen Square (天安门广场 Tiān’ānmén guǎngchǎng).
This trip was truly a unique and breathtaking experience that I will never forget. I was able to experience so many different aspects of Chinese culture. It wasn’t just a learning experience, but it was also so much fun! I am so grateful I had this amazing opportunity to go to China. Because of my trip, I delved deeper into my studies of Chinese culture and language. In the future, once Covid-19 isn’t much of an issue, I want to go back to this amazing country and form new irreplaceable memories.
Great article! I hope to one day go to China and experience the things you did! good job!!
Hope you have a wonderful time in China
It was so fun reading about your experience in China and I hope I can go there someday!
Wonderfully written article! The pictures are great and are a great visual of your story. Great job!
Your trip looked like it was so much fun. I definitely want to visit China again after reading this article. Love the visuals!
Amazing article! I’m from Shanghai and I’m so glad you had fun there! I’ve definitely been a victim of jet lag as well, I remember going back to China and being awake at 4am. Also, the pearl tower is definitely a very popular attraction, but I learned over the years that if you tour the first floor, there’s no line at all, and there’s really fun museums and stores inside!
The pictures you included are wonderful. I’ve been to China multiple times, and it was fun each time. I’m glad your trip to China was fun for you as well. Nice job!
That’s amazing! I haven’t been to a lot of the places you listed. I think it’s so cool you went to China when you were young and got to see so many places there. I didn’t get to visit China until I got into high school when I went on vacation with my family to Shanghai in ninth grade. The other time I went to China was with the school through our foreign exchange program with Xi’an High School. It was so much fun and I made so many memories. China is definitely one of my favorite places to visit because I love the food there and the tourist attractions.
Wow, so cool! I have never been to 上海 but it looks incredible! During our exchange trip to China my sophomore year, we visited the Great Wall as well! It was an amazing experience and the views were incredible. I also remember my experience with jet lag, it was quite the adjustment. Great article!
Great article about how the life in china as a American!
Wonderful article describing and informing how life is like in China as an American 🙂
Amazing article! I really enjoyed learning about your experience in China!
Great article! i wish i had the opportunity to go to china to experience these things!
this article makes me want to go to china!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the turtle in the picture is so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111111111111111111
Wow, your adventure looked so fun. I hope I will be able to experience the same moments one day too.
This was so cool and informative, it really makes me want to go to China and see the sights that you saw!
This sounded like it was an interesting experience! Great article!
This is an amazing article. It was really interesting learning about your experience in China and I hope I can gain the opportunity to visit China as well.
I loved your article so much! The photos, the descriptions of where you went and what you saw, and how you felt during your trip to Shanghai and Beijing all amaze me.
Your trip looked like it was so much fun. I definitely want to visit China again after reading this article. Love the visuals!
Your trip looked pretty cool and there were nice visuals.
I loved your story and all of the pictures you shared. I hope that one day in the near future I can visit Shanghai and Beijing too!
The pictures of China look very beautiful! I find it very cool that you were able to go to China when you were in elementary school! I wish I was able to go to China as well!
I loved hearing about your experience of your time in China and the pictures all look very nice! Nice job!
I really like all the pictures you put in the article! You make China seem like a good place to visit and I hope to go there someday.
Wow! That sounds so cool! I love the way you went through all the interesting parts of your interesting trip!
Your photographs really helped put your trip in perspective! China looks like a fun place to travel to; I hope to be able to do so one day!
Thats really interesting. I really liked hearing about your time in China and I think the images you took look great! I wasn’t able to go to China lately so I hope that I can go soon!
Your trip to China looked amazing! The visuals that you included enhanced your descriptions, making your trip seem more fun. After reading your article, I really would like to go to China in the future!
Thanks for sharing your experience! The photographs looked great, and it sounded like you had a lot of fun. I hope to be able to go to China after everything returns to normal.
I learned a lot from your report! It was really interesting to see modern day China in your pictures. It has been a long time since I’ve personally visited China and this post makes me want to visit again! Hopefully I’ll have a chance in the near future. Thank you for reminding me!
Nice article. You wrote of your life in China. It’s so amazing that you went to the Great Wall of China!
Thank you for sharing experience! I went on the Chinese Exchange Program a few years ago and I can’t wait to go back!
I’ve never been to China but after seeing your pictures I really want to go! My grandmother is from Shanghai and she says that compared to what she remembered in her childhood, Shanghai has improved and modernized so much over the past decades. Super cool!
This trip seems so cool! I would love to go someday!