"Hit the Ground Running"

At the opening of our trip, between settling in and contacting sources, my woes of jet-lag and culture shock were overridden by a finger on the keyboard and another on my cell phone’s keypad. Overseas reporting can be a daunting task, as my peers and I have very quickly discovered, and travelling to a slew of locations throughout the city of Shanghai can make it rather easy for a student-journalist to become overwhelmed with his/her research goals. 

Over the last four days, I have been doing my best to arrange for daily interviews with experts, professionals, or students, in my attempt to examine the underbelly of what outsourcing of US labor markets to China means.  “Hitting the ground running” has been the journalistic motto at the opening of any new week, and we have all done our very best to adhere to this, and have.
Through a number of email and telephone exchanges while in China I have been able to speak with a handful of Fudan University students who have been more than willing to share there educated, and in some cases radical opinions of the Chinese government and other public concerns.  Other notable sources have included, lawyers, graduate professors, UIUC students abroad in Shanghai, Motorola reps, US reporters, and members of the Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Assocation, otherwise known as SORSA.

Understanding the engagement of the US and China in global labor and trade markets has closed many of the cultural gaps that we were once familiar with, particularly within each respective nation.  The cell phone has been the tool that college students are using to close these gaps, in a country like China where there are 32.7 mobile phones for every 100 people.  A student at Fudan University shared some thoughts on these roles of international social stereotyping,

“I am not sure what Americans want to believe about Chinese youth, but in many ways, we have become the same people.”

The statement followed a conversation of increased telecommunication and cell phone use on a college campus.

Many of my interesting encounters with Chinese everyday life have come before my interviews, in transit. Perhaps budding is the incorrect term to describe the technological developments in China over the last decade, as this country has been quick to assume it’s role as a pioneer in electronics.  On a taxi ride home from Fudan University riding in one of the standard-issued Volkswagen Santana cars, installed plush into the headrest, facing the backseat was a touch screen interface.  Through this interface the back seat patrons and I were able to surf a fixed set of web pages designed to cater to all tourist-like needs.  Myself and Sam Unger, put together an impromptu piece on this technology via digital camera video. 

It was moments like these that simply blew my mind, particularly when I thought about how far behind any taxi in the United States is behind it’s Chinese counterpart.

Tomorrow the group and I will take a day trip, to Zhouzhuang, one of the most famous water townships in China, located in Kunshan City.  Before the trip and all night following the trip, the group and I will be scratching our notes together and making the numerous phone calls and emails that will help us “hit the ground running” for the new week ahead of us.