HKS Trace Paper

Hi!! This post is about a trip I made to Xi’an last week. After so many days working I finally got some days off and I decided to take a train and go travel.  I decided to go to Xi’an, it is one of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history.  I was really interested in going since it is home to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, considered the “Eight Wonder of the World”. I had seen many documentaries about the history of this place and I was really excited I could go to see it with my own eyes.

I took a night train to get there (10 hours – 40 minutes) and I arrived there at 9 in the morning. After arriving to my hostel, I took a shower and book my tour for the Terracotta Army for the next day. After a really nice breakfast I was ready to start going around the city, I decided to go to the City Wall, it is located in the central area of Xian City, with a perimeter of 13.74 km and 10-12 meters height, it is the most complete ancient city wall currently existing. In 1961 it was declared a National Key Protected Historic Site. I met a chinese girl who is studying there and her chinese friend who came visit her, they were really nice to me and I spent all day with them. We rented bikes to go all around the wall, it was really nice, I was able to see the entire city from there; the central city inside the wall and the modern city on the other side.

After that, we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist pagoda built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty. It was rebuilt in 704 during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian and its exterior brick facade was renovated during the Ming Dynasty. One of the pagoda’s many functions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India by the Buddhist translator and traveler Xuanzang. The place is really beautiful, many many exhibition halls and courtyards full of Indian and Chinese art.

The next morning I took my tour to the terracotta warriors, I had an English guide and then I was able to know much more about the place. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried. The figures were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers, the younger one is now 81 years old and comes everyday to sign books for the tourists (meet him at the picture below). The place is amazing!!!  I am sharing with you some pictures… in case you have not been there you should go!! It was a great experience! After going back from the tour I went straight to the airport, and after two hours I was back in Shanghai!! =)

Hi all! As I told you before one of my ideas on how to share my exchange experience is by letting you meet the people working in my host office. This time I am introducing you Wendy Jiang. Here are the answers she gave me. I elaborated a little bit on each of them after we went for lunch together and we talked about each question.

How long have you been working for HKS?

2 years

Do you live near the office? How do you come to work?

Yeah. I usually go to office on foot.  It takes 20 to 30 minutes.

Do you believe you can learn something from me or I can learn something from you?

Yeah, Definitely I believe that. Different background, culture and habit can make us learn something new from each other.

How do you imagine my country, my city and your colleagues at the Mexico City office?

I think that is a wonderful place with sunshine and passion. People who work or live there always smile at each other. They work hard every day and help each other when they meet some problems during work.

Do you have any questions for me? (Maybe from my country, my city or my office…)

Yeah,  definitely. What’s your favorite place in your country? Do you have idol in your life? If so, what does he or she do? What do you usually do in your spare time? Do you have some special hobbies? Do you want to try to do that in Shanghai? Why do you want to select Shanghai as the place for the Exchange program? What is the feature of China to attract you here? Is this the first time for you to be in China? What’s your first impression of Shanghai?

My answers: My favorite place in my country…  San Cristobal de las Casas (an amazing small town in the south of Mexico). Idol in my life: Rem Koolhaas (architect and urban planner). I practice yoga and I like jogging as well. Yes, I already joined a jogging group on Wednesday’s nights and I am practicing yoga every morning. I have always been interested in Chinese culture and history. The Great Wall in Beijing and Terracota Warriors in Xi’an may be the features that attracted me the most. It is my first time in China. My first impression of Shanghai is that it is an amazing city, very modern and very multicultural.

Which is your favorite place in Shanghai? (That you believe I cannot miss to see)

Shaoxing Street, Si Nan Gong Guan, Shanghai Cultural Plaza and Shanghai Grand Theatre. There are lots of book store on Shaoxing Street. In my spare time, I sometimes go there to read books. Si Nan Gong Guan, is a regenerated commercial place which was a neighborhood in former French Concession. Different from Xintiandi, it is a peaceful and relatively quiet place which you can invite your friends to have some tea or snacks there and chat with them.

Wendy told me she loves to watch plays and therefore Shanghai Cultural Plaza and Shanghai Grand Theatre are wonderful places for her.

What is your favorite restaurant in the city that you believe I should try?

Haha, lots of restaurants. Like Suzhehui, Yuanyuan, Mamankuang…… People 7, a Taiwanese restaurant, is an interesting space inside. Maybe you can try.

Is there any advice you may have for me for the time I will be living in Shanghai?

You should go to Xintiandi, Former French Concession Area to experience the life of Old Shanghai in last Century. You also have to go to the Bund to see different kinds of buildings. Lujiazui, is a modern place in Pudong, which witness the development of Shanghai during China’s  Reform and Openning.

**During lunch I discovered we have educational background in common, we both did master studies on urban planning. We had a really fun time getting to know each other. I included her suggestions for places I should visit to my list. I will be visiting some of them next week!

*** For the next week I will be introducing you Graham Spittal!! He is Canadian and has been working for HKS Shanghai for two years. If you have questions for him, feel free to post them!

Hi! On my second week here I went to have dinner with people from the office (and 2 other colleagues from Dallas office: Iris and Corrine). We went to a really nice Korean restaurant to say goodbye to Taylor. After dinner Taylor, Alex, Iris, Corrine and me, went to highest building in Shanghai… Shanghai World Financial Center. We went up to the 91^st floor; we had a great view from the city! The next week I went to an AIA tour with Graham from the office. We joined a group of 25 architects to visit L’Avenue Tower at Hongqiao district. It is a new first-class retail and office complex being developed by Shanghai Luxchina Property Development Company. The building was designed by Jun Aoki, Japanese architect. The main façade contractor –Gartner Permasteelisa-,  gave us a lecture on the process they followed since the design features an unusual free form façade. It was a really interesting tour. The next week we celebrated Jenny’s birthday, she invited me and the other girls for lunch.

During that weekend I went touring to the People’s Square, I met two Chinese friends who took me to a tea show. I also went jogging to the Sozhou Creek waterfront until I got to the M50 Art District. It is an amazing place, once a desserted textile mill, now houses art galleries, cafes and restaurants. On Sunday I went with a friend to the Shanghai Oyster Festival, about 8 different chefs preparing strange recipes. Great food and a lot of fun!

At the office…

The past two weeks have been very busy at the office… it was the final deadline for the project I have been assigned to:  Aiyuhua Hospital for Children and Women. I was mostly helping with redlines and final changes that the client was asking for. I also helped getting ready the material selection binder for the client.  It was a really interesting experience to be working on this project; it was a great effort from a large number of people. We were multiple offices working on this project and more than 15 people; the coordination for the revit model sharing was amazing. I learn a lot from such a big team and Ella Zheng who was the BIM manager of this project. Not only I learn a lot more about healthcare design, revit and bim management but I also started to learn a bit of Chinese since all the project was delivered on both languages.  The team at Shanghai office was working really hard on translations the last week. They were helping me a lot to check that the translations for the material binder were correct. I was able to catch some symbols and I also learned how to type some small words.

There was another holiday in between (Labor Day), but they moved it again, so there was a 7 days week of work. I was asked to stay for three more days for the final deadline.  We were all working very hard but finally the project is finished and I believe with really good results. I am very happy I got to be part of the team =)!