Armen in China

Huangshan, Hongcun, Beijing…

Published on September 23, 2009 in Beijing. 4 Comments

*So, as many of you already know, I’ve been back in the States for about a week already. Unfortunately the tail end of my China trip was very busy, so I was unable to post regularly about what I was doing. This current post covers most of the interesting stuff I did before I left, and then in a week or two I’ll publish one last post summarizing my thoughts and feelings on the entire experience. Enjoy!*

The last few weekends in China were mostly spent traveling and sightseeing. I went to see Mount Huangshan, a famous mountain in the area, with my host family. We stopped by the village where my host dad grew up, which was a very interesting experience. It was clear by the stares that I got from the villages that some of them had never seen a Caucasian before in their lives–when we went to dine in the main restaurant of the village, the owner said she felt that “God has blessed her” because a white person had come to dine in her establishment. Methinks she wouldn’t have had such sentiments were I African-American…

Huangshan was very cloudy when we arrived, so it was very difficult to truly appreciate the cliffs and views. And, like almost all the other touristy spots I’ve visited here, it was packed with loud and obnoxious Chinese tourists, which also dampened the experience a bit. On the way back from Huangshan we stopped at a small historic village called Hongcun to check out it out–it was quite scenic, but we were tired from hiking the mountain so we didn’t stay too long. In any case, it was still really fun to hang out (as always) with my host family. Here are some pictures from the trip:

meixue--always the joker

in the woods

dreamy view in Huangshan

at peace with the Huang

where Simba was born

panoramic shot of a mountain village

noodle maker in Hongcun

possibly the coolest picture I've ever taken

Hongcun lake

The weekend following the Huangshan trip I went to Beijing, to check out the attractions and get a sense of the nation’s capital. I went with a friend of mine from Hangzhou, Nanette, but we often met up with other Stanford interns working in the Beijing area for the summer. We reserved a hotel in the “party” district of the downtown, and the nightlife there was actually surprisingly fun.

The first order of business was seeing the most famous tourist attractions–namely, the Great Wall, Ti’ananmen/Forbidden City, and Summer Palace. Ti’ananmen and Summer Palace were interesting, but both were packed to the brim with (again, mostly Chinese) tourists. To try and avoid the crowds for our visit to the Great Wall, we went to a section slightly further way from the city called Mutianyu, and it was well worth it. The Great Wall was undoubtedly the coolest of the Beijing attractions, if not the coolest thing I’ll see in China. The sheer size of the wall is daunting. Coupled with it’s strategic placement at super high elevations, it makes the Great Wall really something else. Without further ado, here are some pictures from in and around Beijing:

However, Beijing wasn’t all peachy. The touristy stuff was quite nice and well kept, but the rest of the city was rather dirty, smelly, and noisy. In addition, a thick blanket of disgusting yellow smog covered the downtown during the entire 4 days that we were there. I had heard about Beijing’s smog problem before, but it was still really shocking to see how bad it is in person. See for yourself–here’s a picture I took of the Beijing downtown from Summer Palace (which is in the NW outskirts of the city):

All in all, the trip was a lot of fun. It was great to finally get to the see the Great Wall and hang out with the Stanford interns at night. Unfortunately, my prior notions of Beijing as a crisp, modernized, post-Olympic capital city were misguided and false. If you’re ever planning a trip to China, make sure to stop by Shanghai as well as Beijing, or you might leave utterly disappointed.

The first order of business was seeing the most famous tourist attractions–namely, the Great Wall, Ti’ananmen/Forbidden City, and Summer Palace. Ti’ananmen and Summer Palace were interesting, but both were packed to the brim with (again, mostly Chinese) tourists. To try and avoid the crowds for our visit to the Great Wall, we went to a section slightly further way from the city called Mutianyu, and it was well worth it. The Great Wall was undoubtedly the coolest of any Chinese attraction I’d seen, if not one of the coolest things I’ll ever see. The sheer size of the wall is simply stunning. Coupled with it’s strategic placement at the highest elevations, it makes the Great Wall really something else. Without further ado, here are some pictures from in and around Beijing:

Great Wall at Mutianyu

another Great Wall shot

Nanette and I at the Wall

woohoo

Sliding down from the Great Wall!

yummy scorpions in Wangfujing

Summer Palace

side view of Summer Palace

chillin' with Mao at Forbidden City

smog blanket!

-Pu Anren

Europe!

Published on September 1, 2009 in Europe. 8 Comments

First of all, I’d like to apologize for not updating the blog for so long! I left for Europe awhile, and then for the past couple weeks I’ve been super busy at work catching up with everything I missed. My trip to Europe consisted mostly of going to Armenia for 2 weeks and then stopping in Amsterdam for a few days with my brother. It was a great break from China, and after all that fun and partying I’m not exactly sure why I decided to come back…

The first weekend in Armenia I attended a celebration for my maternal grandparents’ joint 70th birthday. They rented out an entire hotel on Lake Sevan (Armenia’s biggest lake) and filled it with family, friends, food, and drinking. The hotel had an open bar, pool, volleyball court, and a really nice dining hall where everyone got together to eat and be merry. Needless to say, it was a great time. Here’s some pictures from that weekend:

the dynamic duo

dancing family

A church overlooking Lake Sevan

After the weekend in Lake Sevan, I had a few days to hang out in Yerevan (Armenia’s capital) with some family and friends. A family friend of mine who lives in Yerevan, Gevork Mantashyan, showed us around to some Armenian dancing, cafes, bars, and clubs. We also got a chance to go jetskiing and check out some Armenian gyms! It was interesting to see how Yerevan had changed since I had last visited only a few years ago. The women seemed prettier, the cops less corrupt, and the streets rarely in disrepair. Of course, some things hadn’t changed at all–notably Armenians’ unsatiable desire for laughing, socializing, and relaxing in countless street cafes. I forgot how much I missed the city.

After hanging out in Yerevan for a few days, my family went off for a 5-day Moscow State reunion getaway in Nagorno-Karabakh, a historic but war-torn region of Eastern Armenia. Family, friends, food, and drinking necessarily ensued. We got to see a lot of cool things in the area, including some churches, caves dating back to the Neanderthal era, and even a waterpark! Nine couples from the congregation were also remarried in a nearby church, and yours truly was baptized. Here are some pictures:

the Karabakh crew

church at Noravank

remarried couples (photo by Ashot P.)

we found a kitten! (photo by Lily A.)

the kids of Karabakh (photo by Lily A.)

baptism bling (photo by Lily A.)

My brother also made this sweet video which chronicles the entire Karabakh trip:

After the getaway to Karabakh I spent a couple more days in Yerevan, then my brother and I went to Amsterdam for a few days. Amsterdam is a really cool city, and I was left with a lot of positive impressions. Everyone we talked to spoke perfect English, the transportation system was one of the best I’ve ever seen (cars, trains, trams, bikes, and pedestrians were almost seamlessly integrated), and the weather was great to boot. The lax drug and sex laws also make it an interesting stop for the uninitiated; a German couple we chatted up spoke of how Amsterdam is viewed in Europe as “rather sleazy, but in a classy way.” I was reluctant to pull out my camera during our time in the Netherlands so unfortunately I don’t have any good pictures to show. This guy sums up my feelings from the entire Europe trip pretty well, however:

Karabakh llama (photo by Lily A.)

-Pu Anren

Temples and tea plantations

Published on July 22, 2009 in Hangzhou. 15 Comments

It’s been awhile since I last updated; things have been really hectic around here and work has been ramping up. A couple weeks ago I sustained injury #2 in China, this time on my right ring finger. I was checking out some industrial fans in a factory outside Hangzhou (for a project at work) and while leaning on one of the fans my finger slipped through the casing and got sliced by the fan blades. The doctor at the hospital chuckled at the sight of me again. He fixed me up right and it looks like I’m off to a full recovery:

more battle wounds

This past weekend I got a chance to check out some places outside Hangzhou which I hadn’t seen yet. Accompanying me for the adventures was my friend from Stanford, Juliet Rothenberg, and her Chinese teacher from Shanghai:

: the three musketeers

We first went to check out the Lingyin Temple, a buddhist temple located in the mountains northwest of Hangzhou. One of the largest in China, the temple was established over 1600 years ago. The structures were beautiful, and the Buddha in the main hall was the size about the size of a small building! Although there were monks living in the monastery there, the temple seemed to be more of a tourist attraction than a place of worship. As most everywhere in China, the place was packed:

main hall of Lingyin Temple

the monks could ball, yo

a pagoda in the courtyard

The topic of religion is a touchy one in China. Due to their complex history and thanks in no small part to the Communist Party, the population today is generally atheistic. The other day my boss (who is nonreligious), chastised the country’s lack of faith and lamented that “Chinese kids these days begin to lie at a very young age, and grow up not learning how to distinguish right from wrong.” In the US, where faith is generally cast in a favorable light, I’ve always looked to highlight the violence and hate caused by religious fervor around the world. However, in the face of China’s extreme corruption and crime, it’s tough to argue against the positive effects of a religious populace.

After seeing the Lingyin Temple, we decided to tour the neighboring Longjing tea plantations to try our hand at some authentic Longjing tea. Unfortunately I have absolutely zero knowledge of teas, so it was rather difficult to appreciate their quality. The fields where they grew the tea leaves were quite pretty however:

tea fields

a worker at the tea plantation

All in all, thanks to the great company and cool sights, it was another awesome weekend in Hangzhou. On a side note, earlier today I got to witness something which I’ll likely never see again my lifetime–a total solar eclipse! It was completely dark for about 6 minutes around 9:30am, and hordes of people gathered outside to watch while fireworks littered the air. Awesome!

- Pu Anren

The zoo and Chinese theater

Published on July 7, 2009 in Hangzhou. 55 Comments

This weekend I decided to stick around Hangzhou, sleep in, and see some of the main attractions in the city. On Saturday I went to the zoo with my host mother Meixue and a friend from Stanford, Nanette Le, who is also interning in the area:

Nanette, Meixue and I

The zoo, like everything else in China, was rather bizarre but a lot of fun. The animals were kept in mostly deplorable conditions (save the panda, who was living the life). I’m used to American zoos where the exhibits are large and you have to look for the animals in their expansive artificial habitats. This was not the case in the Hangzhou zoo; even the bigger animals like the tigers and lions were in small plexiglass boxes the size of bedrooms. However, this made things very easy for the zoogoers — in a short 100m walk you could see about 30 different animals!

Here’s some blue-chip photos from the trip:

a curious creature

"please get me out of here"

the deer slums

Lion, bear, and... vegetarian?

There were a lot of animals which you would never see in an American zoo due to their ubiquity in North America, like pigs, racoons, and a large collection of dogs:

the Chihuahua; a species on the brink of extinction

And of course, it would be a Chinese zoo without this bad boy:

Panda!

The following day, Meixue took Nanette and I to a Chinese theater. There were some outdoor plays, but the main attraction was an hour-long indoor performance. Luckily, the indoor play was more of a visual experience (i.e. there was no Chinese dialogue I had to wade through), and it was really something else. The actors often interacted with the rambunctious audience, and the stage was a crazy blend of electronics, laser lights, costumes, and water effects. It’s tough to describe it in words, so here are some pictures:

I’m used to quiet, reserved plays where the audience sits still and stays quiet (god forbid someone forgets to turn their phone on vibrate). In contrast, it was wild in the Chinese theater; people were constantly talking, smoking, drinking, and snapping photos. Awesome!

All in all, thanks to the great weather and good company, it was a fantastic weekend in Hangzhou. Luckily there is still a lot to see around here…

- Pu Anren

Medicine and Transportation

Published on July 1, 2009 in Hangzhou. 8 Comments

First of all, I’d like to thank everybody for reading the blog! The response has been overwhelming. Unfortunately I can’t go into more detail about my workplace than I already have due to NDA, so I’ll try to spice up my personal life here in order to keep it exciting.

It seems like a million things have happened since I last updated slightly over a week ago. Last Monday after work I went to play basketball with some coworkers (the first time in my life where I was one of the tallest players on the court) and got accidentally elbowed in the head, which opened up a gash above my forehead. My host mother took me to the hospital to get it stitched up, which was an interesting experience:

operating table

The hospital was a little dingy but all of the doctors and nurses were very nice. I waltzed in without an appointment and got my cut sewn up within about 15 minutes. After that I was given some amoxicillin (anti-infection) capsules and a tetanus booster shot. The total for all of these services? Around ¥80 RMB, or about $12 USD. Not to mention, I went in for free check-ups several times in the next few days to make sure there was no infection. The biggest nuisance from the whole ordeal was the bandage I had to wear on my head, as if people didn’t stare at me enough already…

my head bandage

You always read about how bad the US medical system is, but I didn’t expect “third-world” China to put it to shame like this. I would have waited for hours to get such treatment at any US facility, and the bill probably would have been at least a hundred dollars, even after copay! I’m not an expert on healthcare, but there is clearly something wrong with it in the States.

Another major development this week included the purchase of an e-bike in order to facilitate getting around town. E-bikes and scooters are very popular around here, and as a result, dirt cheap. I was able to pick up this model for a little over ¥1200 RMB, or about $170 USD. I doubt you would even be able to get the bike frame for that price in the US:

my new ride

As a budding engineer, I have to include at least some technical details. The electric drivetrain is an interesting piece of machinery:

batteries and rear drivetrain

The setup for these types of bikes is pretty simple. This particular model is basically just a 2-pack of 12V lead-acid batteries hooked up to a motor controller and in-wheel electric motor, which is also chain-linked to a set of pedals in case you run out of juice. I am still intrigued at how cheaply they are able to make these things. Some of the lower-quality models sold for under $100 USD! The scooter store also had some higher-performance lithium-ion models available in the $400-$700 USD range. Most of the people at Astronergy get to work either by bike or scooter:

bike/scooter parking structure at Astronergy

It’s nice not having to get into a car every time you want to go somewhere, and it also makes more sense from an environmental perspective. Why in the world do you need to lug around a 2-ton hunk of metal every time you go from point A to point B? It’s also more carbon-friendly to use energy generated from power plants (even if they are coal-powered), since they operate at higher efficiency regimes than your typical internal combustion engine. That being said, I don’t see Americans changing their driving habits anytime soon…

- Pu Anren

A week’s work

Published on June 22, 2009 in Hangzhou. 14 Comments

I’ve made it through my first week of work without breaking anything expensive, so I consider it to be a success. I’m working at a company called Astronergy, which is the solar division of Chint Group (an electrical and power generation giant in China). The company is only three years old, so a lot of the PV products are under development or are just recently ramping up. Here’s some pictures of the fabrication facility where I work:

campus 2 astronergy plant

campus 2 lobby

my office! a little sparse at the moment...

my office... after a bit of arguing they reluctantly agreed to let me keep my macbook

The company is considered a “start-up” due to its youthful age, but this term is very different from the loosely defined one I’ve grown accustomed to in Silicon Valley (Astronergy employs hundreds of people). Solar cell production relies on economies-of-scale; the larger the factory the more likely you’ll be able to manufacture at competitive prices. The company specializes in a variety of Silicon solar panels, ranging from thin-film tandem “micromorph” a-Si/µc-Si cells to conventional polycrystalline and monocrystalline Si modules:

monocrystalline Si cells

polycrystalline Si cells

tandem a-Si/µc-Si cells

They also plan to manufacture a line of translucent tandem Si modules, which are really cool. These are for potential use in window or skylight applications. If you look at the close-up image, the absorber layer isn’t actually transparent, it’s just arranged in very thin strips:

unframed translucent a-Si module

translucent module close-up

My technical title is “Process Engineer” for the thin-film Si division, which means I’m supposed to help iron out kinks in the manufacturing line and see what can be done to optimize the process. My first week mostly consisted of getting to know my co-workers and figuring out the factory layout, as well as the equipment. Unfortunately I can’t take pictures inside the super-secret factory from fear of being shot by executive order of Hu Jintao, but suffice to say that it is very cool. The entire fab is a ISO 14644 Class 7 Cleanroom, so I have to put on a gown, hair net, face mask, shoe coverings, and gloves and then go through an blowdry room before I can even enter:

the latest in cleanroom fashion

I’m accustomed to making small samples in a lab and then running them through various tests, so walking through the fab for the first time was a really eye-opening experience. Nothing is touched by hand, and the PECVD and laser-scribing machines are the size of large bedrooms. In contrast to a laboratory setting where performance is paramount, here at the factory the overriding factor is quality control. It’s clear that I still have everything to learn about how solar cells are made in the real world!

- Pu Anren

A day at west lake

Published on June 15, 2009 in Hangzhou. 13 Comments

As I quickly found out from everyone here, the biggest tourist attraction in the area is the West Lake in downtown Hangzhou. After an interesting breakfast composed of an oatmeal-type concoction and mibao (a sort of bread filled with some sugary stuff), Meixie and her husband dropped me off at the lake for the day to do some wandering (they had to run some errands).

The locals weren’t messing around. The lake was gorgeous. There were many old-style Chinese buildings littered around the surrounding park, and the hills in the background facing west were very beautiful. Looking the other way, the lake against the backdrop of a modern Hangzhou skyline provided an interesting contrast. Interestingly, it seemed as if all the non-Chinese tourists were fixated on the pagodas and old statues, while the Chinese tourists were instead snapping photos with the Hangzhou skyscrapers, the future of China, in the background. I don’t want to delve too deeply into that, but you get the idea. Here are some choice pictures from the trip:

After cruising around the scenic parts of the lake, I walked around downtown Hangzhou for a bit. The city was nice, albeit kinda noisy — Chinese people are quite fond of the car horn. However,

As I quickly found out from everyone here, the biggest tourist attraction in the area is the West Lake in downtown Hangzhou. After an interesting breakfast composed of an oatmeal-type concoction and mibao (a sort of bread roll filled with some sugary stuff), Meixue and her husband dropped me off at the lake for the day to do some wandering.

The locals weren’t messing around. The lake was gorgeous. There were many old-style Chinese buildings littered around the surrounding park, and the hills in the background facing west were very beautiful. Looking the other way, the lake against the backdrop of a modern Hangzhou skyline provided an interesting contrast. Interestingly, it seemed as if all the non-Chinese tourists were fixated on the pagodas and old statues, while the Chinese tourists were instead snapping photos with the Hangzhou skyscrapers, the future of China, in the background. I don’t want to delve too deeply into the philosophical meanings of that, but you get the idea. Here are some choice pictures from around the lake:

After cruising through West Lake, I walked around downtown Hangzhou for a bit. The city was nice, albeit rather noisy — Chinese people are quite fond of the car horn. In addition to cars, there were bikes, motorbikes, mopeds, gopeds, scooters, and other miscellaneous 2-wheeled vehicles. The roads in downtown Hangzhou are, by any measure, massive. The average width of the roads was about 8 lanes, clear signs of some serious urban planning done beforehand:

typical street in downtown Hangzhou

they like their bikes

a spirited game of... something

Hangzhou is one of China’s new cities, born as a result of the massive migration of farmers and laborers from surrounding rural areas. Cranes and constructions crews were visible on every block, as were American restaurants and stores. Stores like Gucci and Versace littered the lakeside streets, and it wasn’t unusual to see exotic italian car dealerships:

cars that go fast

three places every child should visit daily

At first I was convinced that these stores and dealerships were filled with fake goods. Upon further inspection however, the cheapest suit I could find ran upwards of ¥10,000 RMB (about $1500 USD). Which begs the question: where is all of this money coming from?

- Pu Anren

Arrival and first impressions

Published on June 13, 2009 in Shanghai. 28 Comments

The transpacific flight was long but surprisingly pleasant. I’m a proud member of the minority of people who actually enjoys airline food. During the flight I made friends with a Chinese couple sitting in my row who were studying in the States but returning to China for the summer to visit their families. Upon hearing my summer plans, the husband made a remark about how lucky I was to be working in Hangzhou. He clarified by reciting an old Chinese saying that roughly translates to “In the sky there is heaven, on earth there is Hangzhou.”

Once the airplane landed, things got interesting. As a safeguard against the H1N1 virus (Swine flu), the authorities monitor the temperatures of every passenger on every incoming flight. Here’s the real kicker: if someone shows a fever, that person plus everyone three rows in front and three rows behind is taken away into quarantine! Temperatures were recorded using handheld laser thermometers — I managed to snap a picture of it using my cell phone camera:

the thermometer of doom

Luckily everyone in my near vicinity was in fine fettle. As I exited the plane into Shanghai’s flagship PVG airport, I was expecting massive crowds of people and long lines. Instead, I walked into an airport which was surprisingly vast and empty, even though I was supposedly arriving during rush hour. Going through customs and picking up my bags was extremely efficient, as the whole process took less than 20 minutes. As soon as a line started to form, airport employees would quickly open up more counters and alleviate the wait. China: 1, Rest of World: 0 (at least for all of the international terminals I’ve been through). Clear signs with English subtitles showed me the way to the bus station, where I boarded a bus to Hangzhou to meet with my host family.

Meixue (pronounced Mey Shwe), my homestay host and an HR employee at Astronergy, picked me up from the Hangzhou bus station. She is a very nice lady, and although she spoke little English (and I very little Mandarin) we got along famously on the car ride to her home. She introduced me to her husband and mother and showed me to my own room, which is certainly much more than anything I had expected:

my host family: Meixie, her husband, and her mother

my host family: Meixue, her husband Jing Sheng, and her mother Tsun Yu

my own room!

view from the window

In contrast to the horror stories I had heard in the USA, the bathrooms in the house are clean and actually sort of modern-looking. It’s clear that Meixue and her husband are professionals with very respectable incomes. I’ve landed squarely in China’s burgeoning middle class, and I’m excited to get to know and understand Meixue’s family over the next few months.

- Pu Anren

The day before

Published on June 11, 2009 in Stanford. 20 Comments

So, three finals and one lab report later, I’ve finally made it to the end of spring quarter. Now starts the beginning of an epic journey into China. I’m very excited but at the same time I’m very nervous as well. What if I don’t like it? What if the living conditions, pollution, and language barrier prove too much for me to handle?

For the most part, however, I think this will be a great opportunity for me to break out of the Stanford bubble and see what life is like in an up-and-coming region of China. I think it’s good that I’m embarking on the journey alone; this way I’ll have no choice but to assimilate.

I’m told that I’ll be staying with an employee at Astronergy and her family for the 14 weeks that I’m there. It’s certainly going to be an interesting experience, seeing that neither her nor her family speaks very good English, and my knowledge of Mandarin is extremely limited. If all else fails, I’m sure we’ll bond over the universal language — food. Apparently everything in China is deep-fried and loaded with MSG… yummy!

In other news, packing was a real pain, took me almost two full days to get it all done. Here’s some before and after pics:

my room mid-migration

after the storm

Along with my bags, I should probably also bring along this snazzy-looking document:

Chinese visa

The visa is double-entry because I’m taking some time off mid-summer for a little eurotrip and to visit Armenia, but more details on that will come later. It’s late and I need to go to bed. Not that I won’t have ample time to snooze on that 13-hour flight from SF to Shanghai tomorrow…

- Pu Anren (my Chinese name, it means “peaceful benevolence”)

Armen in China

Huangshan, Hongcun, Beijing…

Europe!

Temples and tea plantations

The zoo and Chinese theater

Medicine and Transportation

A week’s work

A day at west lake

Arrival and first impressions

The day before

Who is Armen?

What is he doing?

Contact him

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