Today I woke up and had a pretty good breakfast, and at this point I’ve pretty much chosen to stick with bread in the morning and taking culinary adventures later in the day. After my carb filled breakfast our group headed over for our second lecture on Chinese thought and philosophies. It was very informative, and explained in detail much of the past of each different strain of thought while also explaining how each has developed into its current state within the Chinese society. I found that the information about Daoism to be the most interesting of the four strains of thought. I learned that the origin of the Yin and Yang symbol owes its creation to Lao Zi, who was the “old master” and “contemporary Confucius” and most of all the founder of Daoism. I also enjoyed discovering the information about the “Dao”. I never knew that the Daoist belief was to promote vitality and nurture the body as well as your chi, or breath. I also never knew of the supposed force that envelopes everything that must be experienced and not learned. The other schools of thought were very interesting and I could see why the Chinese people have become a mash-up of different religions, cultures, and sects.
After a seemingly brief period of free time, we boarded our bus for CapitalBio, our first in the sequence of four company visits. When we got there, we were greeted by a man who said he was head of some upper echelon within the company. I cannot fully recall everything he said, as much of what he said was muddled in translation, between himself, Dr. Gao, and Claudia. The machinery developed at CapitalBio was very impressive and could be used to manufacture a varying number of Biochips, which is the company’s main claim to fame. We were shown around the lobby which contained several of the company’s products that are used to detect a number of things such as the presence of a given gene or the likelihood of a given person to have a given disease. The exact process and purpose of most of the machines is a mystery and I feel as though it was assumed that we already knew the purpose and theory behind each piece of equipment before we arrived. I got a general sense of the final result and the needed inputs for the process but still could use further clarification as to where the biochip itself is integrated into the process. After the tour of the equipment had concluded, we viewed a brief video explaining statistics about the company. Then we headed out for a tour of the garden facilities before heading back to the hotel on the bus.