Beijing Recap

Hey y'all! I made it back from China about a week and a half ago. When I got back I had my summer classes starting, my internship, and a full week of work! I was one busy gal let me tell ya! With all that being said, I had to put the blog on the back burner for a little bit to get my self organized. But, now I am back and can't wait to share everything about my trip with you!!

I had never been outside of the U.S. until this trip and let me tell you, that 13 hour flight was no joke! I couldn't really sleep on the plane ride there so once we landed and got through customs I was beyond ready for bed but, it was like 4pm there. It took us about two hours to get to our hotel since traffic is AWFUL there. We ate dinner at the hotel our first night. That was my first taste of authentic Chinese food and I really enjoyed it!

May 22: Beijing, China Tuesday we were able to sleep in which was nice! Luckily I was so exhausted from all the travel I pretty much slept through the night. We all just ran some errands which included stoping at a connivence store and going to the bank for currency exchange. After that we had lunch at Pizza Hut which was nice to get some American food! Then we meet our tour guide and driver back at the hotel for our first adventure.

(My roommate Katie and I on the Rickshaw ride.)

We drove to another part of the city where we went on a rickshaw ride tour. We got off and got to tour one of the locals houses. It was very interesting to learn about all the different meanings and details of the decorations in the homes! After that we walked through the city and stopped in some of the shops before heading over to the drum and bell tower. We got to watch the bell tower performance which was a really neat experience minus climbing up the deathly steep stairs (69 to be exact). After the drum show we walked on a popular shopping street.

(Bell Tower)

(Drum tower)

We tried some of their frozen yogurt that is poured onto a sheet that freezes it then is scrapped into rolls. I loved the strawberry one and it had watermelon and dragon fruit toppings. It was a very delicious and refreshing snack before dinner! After we spent about an hour on this shopping strip, we headed back to our hotel. Their was a mall near by that had a ton of restaurant options. We tasted the dumplings for dinner. We had a soup that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, some vegetables, rice, and dumplings. I liked everything but the soup! After that we walked around the mall for about an hour then returned to our hotel. When we were walking around the mall I found this handbag store that I had never heard of. There products were such good quality and the prices were way cheaper than I was expecting! I didn't buy a bag when I was there but you can shop online! I'll link my favorite bag here.

May 23: Beijing, China Wednesday we got up pretty early had some breakfast and headed to our first factory tour/visit. It was about two hours away. When we arrived I was very surprised! It didn’t look like a factory at all. It was a very nice modern building.

(Factory lobby)

(Museum)

We first toured their museum that they update every 10 Years. It was interesting, they compared the western lingerie to their Chinese lingerie. Some things were very similar and a few things were different. Then we learned about the education programs that they provide. All of their employees (including store managers) are required to go through their “college” program. I was very intrigued by this. I thing it’s great that they require this training and education for their employees. It’s not just specific to their company either, they also learn skills that would help them at other companies in the industry if they chose that path. Then we went to visit their testing labs, factory, and distribution center. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures on this part of the tour but, it was still amazing to hear about how they do everything in that one building. Once they have the designs and materials picked out, they test the materials in the lab. Some of the tests we saw them preforming were the same ones we performed in our textiles labs. It was neat to see the things we learned in all of our different classes being applied in the real industry. The next phase was the factory. When you walked in this part of the building it was everything I pictured a factory being. Everyone was sitting at their sewing machine doing their one single part of producing the product. Their factory is split into two, all clothing and undergarments, and bras. In the clothing and undergarments factory the workers were allowed to sit. In the bra factory they were not due to the height of the machines they had to use, they had to stand. After that we visited were all the fabric is cut. Some is done by machine while the lace is done by hand. Lastly was the distribution center. This was very interesting to me. Everything in that center is done by a computer! They literally had less than 10 employees in their entire distribution center! After the factory visit we went to a luxury mall. We had lunch and walked through the stores to see the differences between the US and China, not only in the product but also the consumers. For example, we went in the Burberry store and they had some interesting graphic details on some of the trench coats (whether it be the coat itself or the details on the button). A lot of the brands still had the classic style you would see in the US but also fun bright colors and graphics that you don’t see. Everything was also priced a little higher. Store layouts and the way the merchandise was displayed was very similar to that in the United States. However the customer service was a lot better. You had an employee working one on one with you helping to fulfill your needs. If too many customers were in the store they would block it off and start a wait list.

May 24: Beijing, China We got up had breakfast and headed to the Beijing institute of fashion technology. Once we got there we walked around their campus for a little bit then headed inside to meet with the students. We sat in one of their classrooms and had a discussion with 6 of their students about consumer behavior to see if there was differences between China and the U.S. I was shocked to see how many similarities there were. Each of us shopped domestic brands (we shopped United States brands, them Chinese brands). We both loved luxury brands but didn’t buy them much or at all due to the cost. We spent a lot more per month on clothes than they did. I think this is due to the higher income in the U.S. and American students having the time and availability of part time jobs. The Chinese students have a much longer school day and don’t have part time jobs as available as we do. We also found that the Chinese students are way more technologically savvy. They shop on their phones, pay using WeChat on their phones, basically everything they do is on their phone. A lot of us American students said we actually prefer to browse on our phones but actually make purchases on our laptops and we still pay with credit cards. It was such a fun and interesting discussion with them! After that we walked through the gift shop which is where the design students work is produced and sold. Unfortunately I didn’t buy anything due to the cost of each item. I thought it was such a neat and unique thing that they offer for their students though!

For dinner we ate Peking Duck. This is a very traditional meal in Beijing. This was by far my favorite meal! It was amazing. After that we headed over to the theater to watch the Kung Fu show. This was also a very neat experience. The show lasted about an hour and it was exciting. It told a story as it went on which I wasn’t expecting but really enjoyed. Some of the moves and flips they could do was crazy to see!

May 25: Beijing, China

This was our first day of full day culture excursions. We started off going to Tiananmen Square. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it but it was neat to see. It was a really big square that has a lot of history. I was surprised to see how Tiananmen square is right in front of the forbidden city. I was expecting them to be completely different places. I would equate Tiananmen square to like a city or town square. Their government building and national museum is around it.

(Tiananmen Square)

(Tiananmen Square)

Forbidden city also wasn’t what I was expecting. I was picturing some secret city underground or something but everything was out in the open. All the architecture was the same but it was beautiful! It was neat to hear about the emperor that lived here and the stories behind every section of the city.

(Forbidden City)

(Garden in Forbidden City)

Once we left we drove to lunch and then Summer Palace. Summer palace was my favorite place we visited this day. It was so pretty! We got to learn about the palace and see the lake by it and even take a ride on the dragon boat!

(Summer Palace)

(Summer Palace)

(Dragon Boat Ride)

Once we left Summer Palace we made a quick stop at Olympic Park. We just saw the outside of the different stadiums but it was still so cool to see! Especially since I was a gymnast. I remember being a little girl watching the fantastic 5 compete for the gold medal so being where they walked and competed was very cool!

May 26: Beijing,China Today was our second full day culture excursion. Our first stop was the Great Wall. I was most excited for this day! The views and the experience of walking the Great Wall was breathtaking (both literally and figuratively). It was tiring walking up all the steep stairs but it was so cool to see the views and to be able to say that I’ve seen it and walked it. It was also crazy to me to hear how it’s been rebuilt and how it was originally built by hand. It was huge!! The ride down on the little carts was also very fun.

After the Great Wall we ate lunch at a restaurant there. Then headed to the Ming Tombs. If I had to pick a least favorite part about the trip it would be the Tombs. But, I still really enjoyed it. The only sad part was that everything was a replica. Most of the one tomb that was excavated was destroyed during that process. The Ming tombs are where many of the emperors were buried at one time. It was a secret place that not many knew about. It amazes me how all that digging and building was done that long ago and that secretively! It was amazing to walk 9 floors down and see how grand the burial sites were.

May 27: Shanghai, China

We got up and headed to the airport to fly down to Shanghai. It was a quick hour and a half flight! The plane we flew there on was literally the same size as the plane I flew on from Chicago to Beijing! It was so weird to me.

Since this post got lengthy very quick, I will make a separate post recapping my week in Shanghai! Beijing was my favorite of the two just because it's more historical. We got to do so many touristy things and I absolutely loved it!!