I am also taking a Chinese Culture and Society course. I learned that Chinese names are ordered surname before first name, the opposite of the American naming system. The Chinese do this because they believe that family, or the group, is more important than the individual, and should therefore come before.
In modern society, Chinese women typically do not take the husband's name in marriage but keep their own. This is due in part to reforms from Mao Zedong's reign. Before that, a woman's name would be the family name followed by the Chinese word for she. After marriage, her name would be her husband's surname followed by her family name. Thanks to Zedong, women's rights have improved greatly over the past 50 years.
I've also learned that renminbi, the name of Chinese currency, means money of the [Chinese] people. Ren means person, ren min is people, and bi is another word for money. Therefore, money of the people. Every Chinese character is composed of separate characters that come together to create new words from their combined meanings, much like the influence of Latin and Greek roots on the English lexicon.
On Tuesday, I went to the Qipu Road Market (also known as the "Cheap Market" because of its similarly sounding name and the prices that you can bargain for). This market was much like a mall with a lot of little booths of similar clothing. I bought a couple of clothes that were not too different from American styles. My roommate during this program, Lisa, bought the above turquoise maxi skirt and I found a fantastic dress printed with faces that reminded me of Chinese Opera Masks and the Guy Fawkes masks from V for Vendetta. Although my friends were skeptical, I immediately fell in love with it. It was originally 500 yuan but I bought it for 20 yuan, or 3.26 dollars. I love bargaining for prices so I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the market. Although the interiors of the booths were pretty tidy, the walkways outside the booths were littered with garbage because all of the shoppers and shop owners threw their trash onto it for the sweepers to come by and take care of it. I found it ironic that the outside public walkways were so dirty but the inside personal spaces so clean.
After interviewing for the position on Wednesday, I am excited to say that I will be interning with architect and president of FIDA Experience and Architecture International, Fish Yu, for the next 10 weeks that I am here. ( http://www.fidaarch.com/) He established the firm in New York but it is now headquartered in Shanghai. His previous work includes designing for Disney and teaching studios at the Pratt Institute. He is currently working on a resort in the Qinling mountains that will be open year round. One of the ways of accessing this resort will be by a hanging train system so that visitors can enjoy the views around and underneath them as they approach the resort. I am currently tasked with researching suspended trains and tracks and various designs for them. I am very excited to be working with him on this project and believe this internship will be great experience in the field of architecture.