Various Photos to Reflect On

 This is a photo of downtown Pudong in China.  Most of these buildings were brand new, and most aren't fully occupied because of high rental rates.  Public money was used in the construction of all of these buildings.  The workers you see in the picture walking away from me lived where they worked in bunk-beds.  The recently finished China World Financial Center is just to the right of this photo.  They are now working on the Shanghai Tower, slated to be completed by 2014.  Because of the 'hukou' system in China, they are unable to bring their children with them, as those children must attend school in their hometown, like below.

This was not my class, but rather a class in a town called Guannan, Jiangsu Province.  This photo was taken on a Thursday at 730pm or so.  These students were 'Gao-1,' which is roughly US sophomore year.   The girl in the yellow jacket (front row) was the sister of my colleague in Wuxi.  Most of these students lived on campus in 6 or 8-person dorm rooms, as most of their parents work in more urbanized locations like Beijing, Shanghai, and elsewhere.  Guannan is near the Pacific Ocean, doesn't have a McDonalds or a major shopping mall, but is rather a major agriculture center.  Here is a link to it from Google Maps.

Finally, I snapped this photo in Tailai, Heilongjiang Province while visiting a friend for a wedding.  Agriculture is also a large part of the economy in 'DongBei' (East-North), and the temperature when this photo was taken was about -25F.  Most people in this community worked in small state-run factories or for the government directly, in addition to seasonal farming.  My friend's mother was a prison guard at the nearby prison.  Its south of Qiqiha'er in Heilongjiang Province.