First Impressions

Friends, family, and colleagues,

We spent the majority of today doing some local travel in Nanjing. The jetlag isn't too bad, though I have been waking up 4:00 and 5:00am.

Below I'll be discussing some first impressions I've made of the nation as a whole and some cultural similarities and differences.

Security
Security is taken very seriously in the People's Republic of China. Not only is it strict, security is also overt. They make no effort to hide the security folks at the airport, bank, or cities. All of the security is uniformed, and highly visible. Police and security drive around with their lights on all the time, which is different from the US, where police only turn on their lights in emergencies or to pull you over. In one regard it's nice, because you always know where to find someone if you need help.
Firearms are heavily regulated here, and only the military and police are allowed to use them. However, for every armed security guard, there are two to three unarmed security guards.

There are cameras everywhere. When we were driving to Nanjing from Shanghai, cameras were set to take photos periodically on the highways. Additionally, when we exchanged currency this afternoon, I counted 5 cameras panning out into the lobby, plus one at each of the teller's desk.

First night out

Our first night out, we went to eat at a cafe and one interesting facet was that there were smoking and nonsmoking sections. I haven't seen that sort or thing since I was a child. Most states in the US have banned indoor smoking, citing health concerns. Smoking is very common in most public areas and is only banned in a few areas.

Hospitality is very important to the Chinese. The people have been very welcoming, especially our hosts. Very rarely, is my tea cup less than half empty. The amount of food at lunch and dinner is more than enough for everyone. The food here is amazing! There hasn't been a meal yet where I haven't had plenty of good food to eat. 

Laboratory meeting

We had dinner last night in a private room with some of the lab members. The lab here consists of seven researchers, so it's comparable to a lab at UF. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The strange thing about their institute is that they have very few graduate students. Remember, that this is an academy and not a traditional university. Most of the work is done by post-doc level researchers. Our contact works on breeding for resistance for gummy stem blight on melon in addition to powdery mildew. Their tenure system is also a bit different, being more permanent than in the US. Collaboration is not highly encouraged as it is in the US, which I can't imagine having to do everything without the help of a collaborator. 

First impressions

The Chinese are very welcoming, and have been very helpful to our project. Security is very tight, but given that I'm here for a specific purpose, it doesn't feel oppressive. If you're a smoker, you're free to smoke in restaurants, bars, and parks. 

I think my next post will be about all the good food I've eaten and some dietary habits of the Chinese.

Mason

Update: Side Project

I mentioned that we've already added a side project to this endeavor. Yesterday, Dr. Li told us that she has several isolates that have been tagged with a gene that makes them fluoresce (known as green fluorescent protein GFP), which is very exciting, since there are a lot of restrictions in the US on using GFP tagged pathogens. Here, GFP tagged isolates can be inoculated in a field or in the greenhouse, whereas in the US it has to be confined to a special lab where you can destroy the pathogen once it's done. It doesn't make the pathogen any more virulent, rather it actually makes it less fit in the environment. But, when you start talking about a genetically modified pathogen, the public wants restrictions. This technology could allow us to look into a seed and tell whether or not the pathogen is on the seed coat or internalized, where infection occurs, or even how it moves within a field or greenhouse.

We're hopefully going to do a side project where we look at the major routes of entry for Didymella bryoniae into the seed of melon. It will be preliminary data, but it may turn into something bigger.Needless to say, my advisor is very excited; to which I must remind him, I only want one PhD!