We leave ECNU for Suzhou, China's garden city & a center for silk manufacturing. The picture above is the front gate to ECNU. As you can see traffic is an issue, even on the four lane road from Shanghai to Suzhou (no way that I would drive on this one!).

    On our way to Suzhou, Jim Kodera provides a wonderful lecture on the religions of China up until approximately 1500. We start talking about post 1500 religions. There is general agreement that communism is a religion. Jim and Larry Rosenwald think it is, but I don't. It all comes down to how you define religion. Merriam-Webster Dictionary has a number of definitions:

    (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment    or devotion to religious faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

    Is capitalism a religion--you decide!

    After an hour and a half harrowing ride, we arrive at Suzhou. It is surprisingly low-rise and full of water (lakes, canals, rivers). We go immediately to the Ming Dynasty "Garden of the Humble Administrator." The luxury of the Garden makes it pretty clear that administrative corruption is not new to China.

    Next stop, the Yuan Dynasty Lion Grove Garden. Actually, there are no lions, but rather stones from Taihu Like that have been cemented together to look like lions. The garden is beautiful, but somehow I find it more weird than attractive. On a USA related note, the industrialist Pei bought the Garden in 1918. Needless to say the family lost it after the Communist Revolution.  It may be that it is 30 degree, ice is forming on the trees and it is 2 PM and we haven't had anything to eat since 8 AM.

    After lunch, we vote to forgo more gardens and instead to see the old city wall and a Buddhist temple rather than more gardens. Gardens at 30 degrees can be a little chilling.

    Final stop, the Number One Silk Factory. The process of making silk is fascinating. The workers begin with the cocoons (eat the worms, silk goes to next stage), move to extracting silk threads from the cocoons, produce small dense cloth of silk threads that is finally stretched. Multiple layers of the stretched silk is placed inside comforters that are extremely light. Mrs. Ma's recommendation of the one thing to take back from China. Many of our group agreed!

    We return to Shanghai in the midst of rush hour traffic--an added dimension. Back in Shanghai, Caroline & Charles Bu take us to a typical Shanghai Restaurant. Caroline orders with great care, explains each dish and is an all around, stunning hostess. It is the best banquet we had in Shanghai!

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