Manyi’s Travel Diary 1 – Guangzhou

In this dedicated column 'My China Story' we are pleased to invite Isabella to share her very first travel experience in China, which she could not make it during her undergraduate time due to pandemic and lockdown. In May 2024, Isabella grabbed an opportunity to join a QUB delegation to China and journey made her dream to China come true.

A Dream Trip To China Came True

Bags packed, passport in hand, playlist on shuffle; I arrived at Belfast City Airport and was on my way to China! A jam-packed trip, with cities to explore, new people to meet, and adventures to embark on. The trip started initially with butterflies in my stomach of nerves and excitement. A trip I had dreamed of for years, would it be everything I hoped? Spoiler alert: it certainly was!

Isabella Souza Mclaughlin, whose Chinese name is 苏蔓伊 (Sū Mànyī), is a bilingual English and Portuguese speaker with a keen interest in language-learning.

Graduated with BSc in International Business with Mandarin Chinese, Isabella is currently Global Marketing and Recruitment Co-ordinator in Global Student Recruitment at Queen’s.

Belfast-London-Guangzhou

I flew from Belfast with a quick layover in London and then landed in Guangzhou. My first time flying with China Southern Airlines was a positive experience, and the selection of Chinese movies to watch and noodles for the in-flight meal made the excitement build even more.

After an 11-hour flight, arriving in Guangzhou, it was hot and humid, with droplets of rain. Coming from Northern Ireland, I feared I would have been disappointed by the rain, but the city lights reflecting off the puddles on the ground, made them look like art pieces painted on the pavement.

On that first night in Guangzhou, I walked around the Central Business District (CBD, 中心商务区 Zhōngxīn Shāngwù Qū) located in the Tianhe District (天河区 Tiānhé Qū), where I was staying, an up-and-coming modern district.

I visited a dim sum (点心 diǎnxīn) restaurant, typical cuisine of Guangzhou consisting of small dishes, shared among the table, including dumplings (饺子 jiǎozi) and (小笼包 xiǎolóngbāo), as well as cheung fun (肠粉 cháng fěn). With my first outing in the city, I quickly had to use my language skills, ordering dishes in Mandarin. I gazed at the menu in awe with the delicious dishes. I texted my friend, living in the North of China, time-zone differences now eliminated, to get some recommendations. Served with tea, every dish melted in my mouth, the flavours dancing on my taste-buds, mild in spice – typical of the Guangdong region.

A Welcome to Guangzhou

After a restful sleep, the next morning I woke up to sunny weather in Guangzhou and later made my way to the lobby to meet with my colleague who is based in the city for Queen’s China market. With a shopping centre and food court nearby, every restaurant was full by lunch time. We grabbed a seat at a noodle restaurant within the bustling food court. I had already felt welcomed in the city, but meeting with my colleague who greeted me with a warm smile and showed me around the local area, I knew I would be settling into my time in China just fine.

Spicy peanut noodles and conversation during lunch, then a meeting to discuss preparations for the upcoming work event filled my afternoon.

Once our meeting ended, we grabbed a refreshment. With milk tea (奶茶 nǎi chá) and boba continuing to be popular in China, the popularity of fruit tea has also been on the rise in recent years. This time I tried Naixue Tea (奈雪的茶 Nàixuě de Chá), enjoying a grape tea as I completed some work projects overlooking the city.

The efficiency of ordering food and refreshments via WeChat (微信 Wēixìn), was incredibly convenient. By scanning a QR Code (二维码 èrwéi mǎ) on WeChat in restaurants and coffee shops, I was able to have a look through the menus and place orders via the mini-apps (应用小程序 yìngyòng xiǎo chéngxù) function on WeChat.

Pro-Tip: If travelling to China, download WeChat before arriving – similar to WhatsApp and other social media apps, WeChat is convenient for communicating with friends, family and colleagues in China, ordering food and refreshments, purchasing tickets, and more. Ensure to set up WeChat Pay in advance, which can be used to pay for the above purchases, and can be used in stores and for travel in China as contactless payment.

Later that evening, I went for a walk in Huacheng Square (花城广场 Huāchéng Guǎngchǎng), a plaza leading to the Canton Tower (广州塔 Guǎngzhōu Tǎ). The tower already looks magnificent in the daylight, but at nighttime, the tower stands, colourfully, lit up across the end of the plaza, with lights in the pavement changing colour in coordination with that of the tower. Music playing through the gardens and the city lights surrounding the plaza made for an incredible environment and ambience.

Getting to know Guangzhou

The next morning, I had a small mission to complete, my first experience of travelling internally in the city using Didi, the main taxi service in China, and asking transport queries in Mandarin. Using Didi was incredibly convenient, at the click of a button on the Didi app, a taxi would arrive in less than 5 minutes.

Upon arrival at the train station, I made my way to the ticket desk. The staff only spoke Mandarin, so it was challenging at first asking the questions I needed help with, but excellent language practice. Once I successfully acquired train tickets and the information I needed, I then made my way back to Huacheng Square, this time hopping into a taxi at the taxi stand. The taxi drivers in Guangzhou were incredibly friendly, complimenting my language skills, though I found my Mandarin rather rusty!

Pro-Tip: if travelling to China, learn the numbers 1-10, this will be helpful when using Didi. Taxi drivers will ask for you to confirm the last four digits of the phone number used in your booking (note: the driver won’t be able to see your full phone number – only the last four digits – for data protection), to ensure you are the correct passenger and will often ask in Mandarin.

Then, I met with a colleague and we decided to explore the Guangdong Museum (广东省博物馆 Guǎngdōngshěng Bówùguǎn), as recommended by our colleagues from Guangzhou.

Getting to know more about Chinese culture, particularly Cantonese art and history, through intricate wood carvings and ancient pottery was amazing. For nature and archaeology fans, there was an exhibition on archaeological and paleontological finds and fascinating exhibitions on jade and other local minerals in China.

Pro-Tip: When travelling in China with an international passport, many tourist attractions will allow free entry, including the Guangdong Museum. Note: some temporary exhibitions may require a separate ticket to be purchased.

That evening, I went to dinner with my colleagues, and tried Canton food, which I thoroughly enjoyed! Other than dim sum, I was not overly familiar with Canton food, so this was an incredible experience. For anyone who is curious about dietary requirements, vegetarian food options in China are quite accessible, as although there are many meat and seafood dishes, I encountered a great selection of vegetarian, and further vegan-friendly dishes. Staff are also incredibly friendly, so feel free to ask about dietary requirements and ingredients.

When walking back to the hotel after dinner, I spotted a poster of one of my favourite singers, Lay Zhang (张艺兴 Zhāng Yìxìng) – so for any fans of C-Pop and C-Dramas, keep your eyes peeled because you can spot posters of some of your favourite actors and singers all around the city.

Queen’s Event

The final day in Guangzhou was the day of the Offer Holder and Alumni Event hosted by Queen’s University (英国女王大学2024广州见面会 Yīngguó Nǚwáng Dàxué 2024 Guǎngzhōu Jiànmiànhuì). This was a fantastic event to meet offer holders who were excited to start their journey in Queen’s, and meet with fellow alumni and old friends! I had the opportunity to meet up with Kexin, a friend I made in my first year of studying at Queen’s, reminiscing on our studies and sharing our journeys post-graduation.

Goodbye, Guangzhou!

After the event and a flight cancellation due to monsoon warnings, I was on my way to the train station to catch a last minute, 11-hour overnight train to Shanghai. Upon arrival to the station, the grand station had a wide selection of restaurants and cafes, from internationally known brands, to Chinese favourites. I grabbed a seat at a Chinese restaurant and ate a selection of small Chinese dishes, a mixture of local vegetables, beef and steamed egg.

I later boarded the train, finding my room which consisted of bunk beds, a table, sufficient storage and a sofa. Unfortunately, due to the dark night sky, I couldn’t see much of the view on the train journey, but with helpful staff, a lovely roommate and a bit of rest, the journey flew by. Arriving first thing in the morning the next day in Shanghai, I was ready to start the next section of the trip.

Thank you so much for reading this blog of my time in Guangzhou, stay tuned to read more about my more trips in China!

Isabella

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Be a better self – From Belfast to Beijing

July is a bustling season for graduation and it is the time to wish the graduates a great success and a bright future. No matter where they go, they are closely linked to Queen’s as a valued alumnus member. In May 2023, Queen’s held a series of activities for Chinese alumni in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou respectively. Many outstanding Queen’s alumni from different parts of China excitedly joined one of the sessions with a welcome-home atmosphere.

On this special occasion, we are glad to invite Lina SHI (史丽娜), aka. Selena in English, an MA graduate in Arts Management from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in 2018, to share her Queen’s experience and life after graduation. Currently, she is working in the KPMG Beijing Office.

To my memory, this is the second alumni association held in Beijing. Although I missed the first one, I feel honoured to have become one of the four volunteers at the reception this time to introduce the alumni association event to the delegates.

Lina

Volunteer’s view of the Alumni Event in Beijing | Image: Lina SHI

Seeing such activities as a precious opportunity for them to take a break from their busy professional and family lives, Lina was delighted to meet and chat with each other at the Beijing session.

I am delighted to find that Queen’s graduates are now doing well. Whether within national institutions or within foreign and local companies (本土公司 běntǔ gōngsī), Queen’s students contribute their knowledge and abilities to their positions. Undoubtedly, our Queen’s educational experience gave us solid academic standing when it came to job hunting post-graduation (毕业求职 bìyè qiúzhí). As a result, you would find that Queen’s graduates occupied many varied positions in a wide range of fields, including international companies and even Chinese government offices (国家机关 guójiā jīguān).

Social time after the Alumni event | Image: Lina SHI

When asked what the best experience she ever had when studying at Queen’s, Lina attributed her highlights to her intercultural learning experience during her internship:

I would tell any future student that if you choose to study at Queen’s, it would be a wonderful learning journey. Many things and people made the experience feel unforgettable for me. For example, I gained valuable internship (实习 shíxí) experience in Belfast.

As part of the assessments for my major, Arts Management, I needed to independently source an internship in arts management at local arts institutions. To be honest, it was hard for international students at that time. But don’t worry, every classmate finished their arts internship work in the end. It was an extremely helpful experience for my career.

I spent three months working in an arts management internship at Ulster Youth Orchestra (管弦乐队 guǎnxián yuèduì). The Ulster Youth Orchestra exists to enable young people from throughout Northern Ireland to achieve their musical potential through the provision of the highest quality of professional tuition. I worked in UYO’s administrative office, located in Royal Avenue, Belfast. I was very lucky to join the rehearsal for the 25th Anniversary Concert in 2018.

A grand view of the Orchestra performance at the Ulster Hall, Belfast | Image: Lina SHI

Generally, my internship duties (职务 zhí wù) included putting forward arts fundraising applications to the UK and local government, communicating, and preparing rehearsal venues, cooperating with local other arts institutions, recording membership information and managing and archiving sheet music.

My manager and colleagues are very kind with international students like me. On the day of my birthday, Paula, the arts manager of Ulster Youth Orchestra, sent me a card and balloon to celebrate. What’s more, she treated me to a nice dinner with the team when my internship ended. The experience is very beneficial to the work I do in Beijing now.

A Thank-you card to Lina | Image: Lina SHI

We hope that sharing Lina’s experience has given you hope and motivation for choosing Queen’s University Belfast! As QUB’s motto goes, ‘Shape A Better World’, you have been shaped by Queen’s and you are shaping Queen’s and a wider society as well. Hope the better world will be more beautiful with the better you in the future!

Author: Lina SHI
Editors: Lauren McShane and Liang WANG

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Double 11th Day

Double 11th Day (the 11th of November), more widely known as Chinese Singles’ Day, was invented by some young Chinese college students in the early 90s, who were singles longing for love and affection to end their bachelor’s (pun. single/degree) life before their graduation. However, it has now been switched to the commercial side of it – shopping. More and more businesses have started their marketising of the Day as an important occasion of selling their products and service.

Queen’s alumnus, LU Yi (卢艺), BSc in Accounting (2011-2014), has shared his thoughts on the changing phenomenon of the Double 11th Day celebrations

What I feel about this day is that actually it is not just one day of crazy selling and buying. It’s a season which has started as early as the beginning of November when one could feel the air of massive advertising and promotion. People have already started placing orders in order to secure the Double 11th Day discounts and pay in full by that day.

However, I think that the original sense of celebrating the Double 11th Day has received less attention, probably because nowadays young people start to fall in love earlier than people did in the past. In addition, I think it also reflects the changing social attitude towards those who choose to remain single, from being opposing to becoming tolerant and accepting. More and more young people would agree with the social phenomenon that being alone is their freedom, a decision they want to make for themselves rather than following traditional family value and surrendering to social pressure.

So, how did LU Yi spend his Double 11th Day this year?

The timer LU Yi set for remembering the phenomenal moment

Well, haha, I’ve got married at the beginning of this year so I’m no longer a bachelor – no need to celebrate. But I did place a couple of orders to buy something useful – a pair of trainers for badminton play, a down jacket to keep me warm during winter, and a set of earphones, altogether having a discount of 20%. That’s it.

All images belong to LU Yi.

Related reading

Queen’s Chinese alumni, what did you buy for Double 11th Day? And Chinese students at Queen’s, what are you going to order for the Black Friday and Christmas shopping overall? Tell us by leaving your comments below!

CCF10 June Talk

CCF10 – Turning your interest in Chinese into a business: The Chairman’s Bao

Speakers:

Sean McGibney studied Chinese and Spanish at University of Leeds and founded The Chairman’s Bao alongside Tom Reid in his final year of study in 2015. Currently Managing Director of The Chairman’s Bao, he has overseen the company’s growth from university bedroom concept to an international force in the EdTech industry with over 120,000 individual users and over 300 global partner institutions. In his spare time, Sean sits on the Board of charity Leeds Irish Health and Homes and volunteers with Alzheimer’s Research UK, as well as being a keen runner and cyclist.

Coming previously from an Investment Bank specialising in Mergers and Acquisitions, Oliver Leach joined the Team as Business Development Manager in February 2018 and became a Director in 2020. His existing broad role at TCB spans from marketing and branding to sales and customer service. Outside of work, Oliver is a long-suffering fan of Reading FC.

Outline:
In this joint presentation we will cover:

  • the story behind TCB
  • our team, using Chinese in a work environment
  • business achieving success in thriving EdTech sector
  • setting up a business at university
  • lessons learned in business
  • plans for the future and a demo of the platform.

More information:
The Chairman’s Bao

We welcome your attention and would like to invite your questions and feedback on this culture talk in the box below.