This morning we had the second of four lectures from Claudia. This lecture was about Chinese thought and the four main schools of thought which are, or were, prevalent in China. These philosophies include Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism and Buddhism. Many of these philosophies are now thought of as religions, but they are more generally a way of thinking or of living one’s life.
The thing that I found most interesting in the lecture today was Claudia’s insight into how these schools of thought, or religions, have influenced Chinese culture. I had been vaguely familiar with the basics of the religions, but I did not know how they were practiced in China and how they have impacted the Chinese way of life. Claudia explained that many Chinese people do not identify themselves with any one religion, but they worship whichever god is appropriate for the occasion. Many temples contain both Buddhist and Daoist deities as well as other popular idols such as the Sun Monkey or Wukong.
We took our first company visit today to CapitalBio. Since this is the company my group is responsible for reporting on, I was very interested to see exactly how the company operates. CapitalBio is a life science company which specializes in biochip technologies. Our guide took showed us a series of displays of the main technologies and services which CapitalBio provides. At first it was very difficult for us to understand what he was showing us because he had a difficult time explaining in English. However, he seemed to get more comfortable as time went on, and I was able to pick up more of what he was saying. Among those things he showed us were a few microarrayers. These instruments have various uses, some scan slides with microscopic details while others make them. Their products are designed for large scale hospitals, small scale laboratories and everything in between. CapitalBio provides a unique opportunity to consumers which other companies in this area of research do not provide because they sell special kits to hospitals and laboratories. These kits have pre-made slides and instructions on how to perform certain tests, usually dealing with diagnostics. They have kits for SARS identification, veterinary drug residue, and food borne illnesses. CaptialBio has also partnered with Affymetrix, the leading research and production company in biochip technology, to develop a new microarray scanner.
One thing I was surprised to find while visiting CapitalBio was the amount of symbolism incorporated in the layout and structure of the building. The building itself looks very westernized, so I felt as though it should be similar to companies I am familiar with. However, our guide pointed out many different places where symbolism had been incorporated into the design, something I found unusual. For instance, the building is leaf-shaped, and the ceiling supports are like the veins of the leaf. Also, the two lakes behind the building are shaped like a heart and a liver. In the entrance to the building, our guide explained that the large column had a significant symbolism. The base of the column is square, which represents the earth in Chinese culture, while the top of the column was circular, symbolizing the heavens. The main part of the column had a Chinese symbol which represents learning abroad, showing that the building is supported by people who study all around the world.
In the evening Karen and I went to the night market located a few blocks from our hotel. It was very similar to the other markets we have been to, except the vendors did not pursue us as aggressively. The vendor sold everything from clothing, jewelry, belts, shoes and hats to food. We purchased a few things including delicious carved pineapples that we had our eyes on all week. I noticed that there were a lot more Americans at this market than the ones we had been in before. I think this is because there are a few universities in close proximity to the market; this market may be a popular place for college students to spend time.