Week 3: Sporting and Sturgeon

People love their badminton

               There is a pretty active sports scene on campus at SHOU, so I decided to give a bit of a go. Aside from the snooker/billiards/table tennis tables in the Laborer’s Lounge on campus, there are basketball courts, the outdoor pool mentioned earlier and a badminton…warehouse? Arena? Well-ventilated aluminum structure? I don’t know what I would call it, but there were MANY courts and it was PACKED at 8pm. It did not take long to translate my tennis skills to this new sport. I felt like I was pretty good at it and holding my own, so I expect that I am actually pretty mediocre. Not bad for a beginner! The basketball was much faster paced than your typical pickup game in America. 4v4, half court, no checking the ball, game to 11 standard. Most people are the same level, so very similar to our games at UMaine. One big difference is that the wooden floor is not waxed, or swept, so it is similar to playing on an ice rink. Though I was sliding everywhere myself, I consider it a great equalizer for those who are quicker than I.

Very clean, very new.

                One evening, Tian took a group of us to a private club to use its indoor pool. There whole experience was very odd. We arrived and the impression I got was that it was 24 yuan/hr for members, and 38 yuan/hr for non-members. This struck me as odd – what is the point of a membership if you still have to pay? (After our swim, Tian disclosed that he bought us all memberships for one month, for which we were allowed to swim whenever, however long, for free. So, I am puzzled about the initial information). The pool was on the ground floor, but the locker rooms were in the B1 floor, so we had to walk downstairs before walking upstairs to the pool. We were given an ID bracelet and a bracelet with a sensor. This sensor bracelet opened an electronic locker for my use. Pretty cool – but what if it breaks, I wonder? Swim caps required in China, no problem there. I was ready to go. I entered the pool area…it was pretty chaotic. Swimmers swimming the full length and cross length, as there were no lane lines. Ok. No problem. The pool is fairly shallow, 6 feet in the deep end, so I figure there is no diving allowed. Remember, I have no idea what the rules are for this pool. So I find an open space and hop in. Nope. Lifeguard comes over, looking displeased and explained that I must ease in. Okay then. Next time, maybe. Then I am told I mustn’t stay underwater for too long. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. What kind of pool is this?! I swim a couple laps before lending some advice to my friends, who are not nearly as comfortable in the water as I. Apparently, this draws a lot of attention and reverence from the lifeguards who chastised me. Must have been a very strange day at work for them, I am sure. After an hour, the lifeguards, who had been announcing numbers via megaphone throughout, finally called our numbers and we were instructed to leave. So we did. Can’t wait to do it again, I guess.

It is too much food. It is also all delicious.

                Something I would also like to talk about is the restaurant eating culture in China. My advisor, who had recently arrived (and then departed), also holds a faculty position at SHOU and so I was included in a few dinners outside the dining halls. These dinners are generally around a circular table with a revolving table taking up most of the center. This is where the dishes are placed. There are MANY dishes that are ordered. Food is relatively cheap in China and a lot of it is ordered. Maybe 8 courses/plates/dishes for 4 people on average. I swear the ratio only increases when there are more attendees.  The result of this week of feasting was incredible discomfort and feeling rotund. I do not think I have been hungry once in China. Cleaning your plate is not the norm in China and I am having a difficult time adjusting to this idea. Hopefully, for my stomach’s sake, I will figure out a way soon.

Really neat, really endangered prehistoric fish.

During the week, I was invited, along with many friends I have made at SHOU, for a tour and a science meeting at the nearby (ish) Chinese Sturgeon Conservation Facility in the Yangtze River delta. We commissioned a bus for the 1.5 hr drive that included passage through an 8km tunnel underneath a branch of the delta and another 8km bridge over another branch. I had expected more people, as we were now much closer to Shanghai, yet I felt like I was being brought to the middle of nowhere.  I was, but when we got there, a beautiful compound was waiting. 

Find the lone cow. Really the middle of nowhere.

Apparently, only 1.5 years earlier, ground was broken on this facility that included live holding tanks, a hatchery, a rehabilitation center and a network of lagoons to approximate optimal Chinese sturgeon habitat. Completion of the compound seemed imminent, with some finishing touched needed over the next 6 months. Chinese sturgeon, mostly through habitat loss resulting from the damming of the Yangtze for power, are now a critically endangered species. Recent studies by many of the scientists in attendance revealed that the spawning habitat, though to be completely blocked to sturgeon passage, had been relocated downstream to the dams, offering hope.

The tank facility and part of the lagoon complex.

So much hope, in fact, that the Chinese government will invest 5bn yuan/year for 4 years just for research on Chinese sturgeon. An astounding number. The science meeting was conducted in Chinese, so I was mostly a spectator for that. They discuss centered around preliminary research and what collaborations among those in attendance might be and whether such collaborations will require formal grant funding from the government. The meeting was productive and it was made clear that we would reconvene in mid-July for a data analysis workshop, which I will participate in while also editing manuscripts meant for English journal submission, so we will see what comes from that.

Why mow the lawn when you can weedwhack
1/3 of it for 9hrs in 90deg heat!

Shortly after my arrival to SHOU, I was to give a talk about possibly studying abroad at the University of Maine with Bai. She would talk about her own experiences and I would describe the Marine Science program as a whole. About 60 students showed up and were pretty attentive, for sophomores in college, I say. There was a lot of applauding – which was very weird to me. Enter the room: applause. Introduced by the host: applause. Describe what the presentation will be about: applause. Then I actually got to speak a bit, until I showed some pictures of Maine that I took. Ooo aaaah. Maine’s beauty is instantly recognized. I was asked if I took the pictures – I did. Applause. Eventually, I finished my part, Bai gave her portion of the talk and we took questions. Well, Bai took general questions at first, before we concluded the session and individuals approached us more informally afterward. Maybe 6 students had further questions – but I can’t say how interested anyone was. Maybe 1 or 2 will formally apply, who can know.

I absolutely could not survive this environment.

The classroom was a room full of rows of fold up chairs (uncushioned, hard wood at 90 deg) attached to wooden tabletop desks. There was no A/C. It was brutally hot, even during the evening – I am unsure whether I would have been an effective student at this university.

Speaking of no A/C, the hotel A/C seems to be broken for the entire building. It is too to sleep effectively. Luckily, we travel to Qingdao for a week starting on Independence Day. It is much cooler there. Hopefully, the problem will be fixed upon return!