day 5: more site visits, second concert at sxu

We began the day with a visit to Shanxi Agricultural University, about a 45 minute drive outside of town. One of the founders was H.H. Kung, the minister of finance of the Nationalist Party, who married the eldest of the Soong sisters. (It also has a long history of relations with Oberlin College -- missionaries from there helped found the university, and there's still some kind of exchange program.)

After lunch, our group convinced our group leader to let us stop by Walmart (or Wu-Er-Ma) on our way to our next destination... had a lovely half-hour there. It's definitely much fancier than Walmart here, but I understand that they're losing money in China (guess there's still not THAT much purchasing power).

In the afternoon, we went to Shanxi University, which was our host university for the 2001 conference. Our group, along with the "Teaching with Technology" group, met briefly with folks from the university, then we all converged on the room in which the University's history is laid out (a project undertaken in commemoration of the University's recent 100th anniversary). Some very interesting stuff, though difficult to absorb through the layers of translation (and under the very bright lights).

Then another banquet, followed by another concert (it's hard not to sound blase), and back to the hotel.