Tongrentang, The Great Wall, & Museum of Science & Technology

Tongrentang

Today we visited Tongrentang, which is a company that manufactures Chinese Medicine pharmaceutical productsd and prides itself on the high quality of the products it produces. It has been in the business of producing high quality products since the time of the Chinese emperors for the Chinese emperors. The company's dedication to the quality of their products dates back to the time they provided Chinese Medicine to the Chinese emperors. The name Tongrentang means "high quality health care for all people" or something like that, which I think is a really good name!

The Tongrentang museum that we visited is located near (one of) the hearts of Beijing. It displays antique Chinese Medicine utensils and "glassware," which was really porcelain and metal bowls and tools. Everything we saw was beautiful, especially the Chinese style courtyard home which houses the museum. All the plants in the courtyard gardens were Chinese medicinal plants and herbs.

There are Tongrentang pharmacies in countries throughout the world, including the UK, Australia, and other Asian countries. Tongrentang has yet to open a store in the United States though, however one of the Tongrentang employees mentioned that I could help with that and he gave me his business card. I was happy to take advantage of the networking opportunity!

The Great Wall of China

Last weekend we visited the Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs. I almost forgot to blog about it because so much other stuff happened too! We went to the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which is the most touristy section because it is relatively close to Beijing, and the most restored section. We went on a Saturday, so it was EXTREMELY crowded, more than you may probably be imagining, but it was beautiful and fun just the same. We were probably only on the Great Wall for no more than 2 hours and with the crowd that was enough. There were many stairs of uneven heights and it was very steep in some parts. I was amazed at how many small children were able to climb up stairs about half their size! We took a Gondola down and it made me realize how much I would love to visit the Great Wall in the winter to see it with snow and to avoid the crowds.

After the Great Wall, we went to the Ming Tombs. It really looked like a Tomb down there but few artifacts remained, most likely due to European invasions and the cultural revolution. In fact the actual tombs, which looked like very large rectangular boxes were painted bright red during the cultural revolution. There was even a beautiful sculpture within the exit gate of the tombs that was painted bright red during the cultural revolution. Since then archeologists have tried to restore the sculpture and remove the paint, but it still has a red color to it. There was a very small museum displaying some artifacts from the tombs, including porcelain, jewels, my personal favorite, silk, among others.

Today I'm actually on my way to QinHuangdao for the long holiday weekend to go to the beach and mostly to escape the city for a little. There's another part of the Great Wall that is close to QinHuangdao, that I hope visit to hike and get a less crowded picture of what the Great Wall is like. We're taking a train to Qinhuangdao and getting to the train station was a nightmare. We tried taking a taxi cab but apparently some cab drivers don't go to the train station because there is so much traffic and people there. Once we made it to the train station by bus, I understood why some taxi drivers avoid that area because of the crowd. The bus ride was EXTREMELY packed and uncomfortable, where I was standing. The front of the bus was not very crowded for some reason and I would have liked to go over there but it was seriously so packed that I couldn't get through the crowd with my small suitcase. We made it to the train station with time to spare though, which was most important. I can't wait to get to QinHuangdao!

Chinese Museum of Science & Technology

Yesterday morning we went to the Chinese Museum of Science & Technology in the Olympic Park. The museum just opened last year and it was very impressive in size and how modern it was. I saw exhibits on the engineering feats of the ancient Chinese people, basic developmental biology (my favorite!), the cell, genetics, challenges and the future.

That morning our professors ran into Dr. Leslie Benet, who is a pharmaceutical scientist from UCSF eating breakfast at their hotel. One of my professors is well-acquainted with Dr. Benet. He was in China receiving an award as an honorary professor at the Peking University Third Hospital, the hospital at the school I am attending. I went to his award ceremony and after he gave a lecture that I stayed for it. I figured that if nothing else, it would be a good experience to see someone so accomplished receive an honor and award, plus it must be fate that I am in Beijing at the same time Dr. Benet was in Beijing. I enjoyed his lecture and it was interesting attending a lecture given in English while everything was translated into Chinese.

Since I didn't have a chance to have lunch because I decided to attend the award ceremony and lecture, I was really hungry for dinner and tried Chinese Hot Pot for the first time. It was definitely an experience! Fortunately I was sitting next to a Chinese English language teacher, otherwise, ordering would have potentially been a real challenge. It was kind of like fondue with a lot more variety than just bread, cheese, oil, and meat. I ordered a hot and sour broth, which was a little too hot for me, Chinese cabbage, spinach, Chinese yam, Chinese Mellon, and lamb. I can't wait to go back! Contrary to my expectations, you don't eat hot pot like soup, necessarily. I saw just about everyone pulling the food out of the broth and dipping it in sauce, which is what I did because my hot and sour broth would have been too hot for me, but probably not for Gregg!