RonnieAdventures: RonnieAdventure #0626 - Shanghai, Duke Kunshan University, China

Picture by Kolohe

When I was probably 5-or-6-years old, my mother told me that from our farm in South Dakota, if I dug a hole straight through the center of the Earth, I would end up on a farmer's field in China. I wanted to see how Chinese people walked around upside-down without falling off of the earth, so I went out in the yard with a shovel and started digging a hole. After what seemed like all afternoon, I had a hole that was about 3-feet in diameter and maybe 12-15 inches deep. I was really tired, so I decided to finish the hole when I was older and stronger.

I never did get around to finishing the hole, but I did make it to China. This time, however, we went by airplane. It was much faster and a lot less work than digging a hole. (And, I found out that Chinese people do not walk around upside down or fall off of the Earth.)

Granddaughter Sophia graduated from high school this year and received a scholarship to attend Duke Kunshan University in China starting this fall. It is extremely difficult for students from the United Stated to be accepted at Duke Kunshan because the 2024 fall undergraduate enrollment was limited to 150 international students (students from outside of China). This year they received 4,705 international applications from students in 123 different countries, so it was really an honor for Sophia to be accepted.

Because of pandemic-related restrictions, this will only be the second group of international students allowed to enroll since before COVID. After COVID, international students were not allowed to be on campus until the restrictions were lifted in 2023.

The Duke Kunshan campus was established in 2018 as a joint venture between Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and Wuhan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China. Kunshan is located about 37 miles west of Shanghai and the two cities are connected by an 18-minute high-speed train.

Sophia has always been interested in China and started studying Chinese language when she was 5-years old and in kindergarten. She continued Chinese immersion the entire time she was in school, so she is now fluent at speaking, reading and writing Chinese.

Along with her Duke Kunshan acceptance letter, was an invitation for her and her family to tour the Kunshan campus before school started. Since Kolohe and I are part of "the family," we went on the tour with Sophia and Heather. I was envisioning a small campus facility, so I was surprised when I learned that the campus contains 200 acres, several reflecting pools, and a lake. It is the most beautiful university campus that I have ever visited.

Kolohe and I started our trip by flying from Las Vegas-to-Seattle where we met Sophia and Heather. Unfortunately, we had a really early morning flight. When we arrived at the Las Vegas airport at 3:30 in the morning, some big guy offered to carry my bag as far as the security area. He said that he had to stop there because he could not get through the metal detector.

The sun was just coming up over "The Strip" as we left Las Vegas.

Picture by Kolohe

When we arrived in Seattle to join Sophia and Heather, it was foggy and raining. We had a non-stop flight from Seattle-to-Shanghai and when we arrived at the Shanghai-Pudong International Airport, it was also foggy and raining.

Picture by Kolohe

On our way to the hotel we passed numerous large-scale apartment/condominium projects and a beautiful designed bridge. While we were in China, we were amazed at the number of similar large-scale residential projects that were everywhere we went.

Picture by Heather

This was Heather's 5th trip to China, so she was familiar with the hotels in Shanghai. For this trip she picked the Westin Bund Center Hotel, which is located in the "Old City" part of Shanghai. It is a beautiful hotel with fountains and flowers in front of the building and a lot of glass on the building's interior.

It was Kolohe's 2nd trip to China. Her first trip was as a chaperone for a group of high school students and she did not recommend the student housing where they stayed.

Picture by Heather

The hotel's interior was an American-style design and décor and there was a very friendly and helpful hotel staff that greeted us when we arrived.

Picture by Kolohe

In the morning, we had our first overview of Shanghai from our hotel windows. The building just across the street had a nice garden and walking path on the building's roof.

Picture by Kolohe

A buffet breakfast was included in our hotel rate and it included both American and Chinese food. Sophia also tried some green juice that they said would open your eyes after a long trip. It half-worked for her. She was able to get one eye open.

Picture by Kolohe

The underground station where we caught the subway to Duke Kunshan was within walking distance of our hotel. Unlike most subway stations in the United States, the station was very clean with art work on the walls, rather than graffiti.

Since we were unfamiliar with rail destinations and where we needed to go to switch from subway-to-train, Sophia's ability to read Chinese was a great help. It only cost 7-Yen to ride the subway from our location to the end of the line, which was a large station that had highspeed rail service. Before we reached the end of the line, the subway we were on was quite crowded.

Picture by Heather

We were not prepared for the highspeed train station size, and the number of people at each gate.

After obtaining our tickets, we ran for a long distance to the gate, but missed our train. When they say the train time is 1:23, getting to the gate at 1:23 does not work. We found that you have to be in line at least 10 minutes early with a ticket, and in our case, a valid passport. Fortunately, they refunded our money and put us on a train that left 30 minutes later. Unfortunately, the train station was not in Kunshan and we had to catch a taxi to the University.

Picture by Kolohe

Duke Kunshan is a closed campus that is open only to students, staff, and guests accompanied by someone affiliated with the University. We were met at the security gate and escorted around campus by several international students that spoke English.