Hi Everyone! Welcome back to Astronomer in Shanghai! I hope that this update finds all of you having a safe, happy, healthy, and fun summer! Hopefully you’ve been able to enjoy the warmer weather and gotten to do some traveling to either explore new places or visit family and friends! With my time in China coming to a close, I wanted to make sure that I got to visit a bit more of the country. So, this month, I went on two fantastic trips (both with Emmet)! First, I went to visit the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an and then I went to visit the pandas in Chengdu! Both of these were at the top of my China bucket list, so I was thrilled to be able to go to both places before moving from China!

I’ll begin this entry by sharing with you the highlights and a ton of photos from the two trips! Afterwards, I’ll continue with an update about starting to wrap up my life in Shanghai.

Visiting Xi’an

Day 1: Arrival and the Muslim Quarter/Street Market

The trip to Xi’an was my first long distance trip by train! Xi’an is in Shaanxi province and the high speed rail took about 8 hours from Shanghai. Emmet and I then met in Xi’an and began exploring the city. Almost immediately upon arrival, I could sense the differences between Xi’an and cities like Beijing and Shanghai. While you might think that this is largely because those are humongous mega-cities, the primary reason is that because Xi’an was an endpoint on the silk road, there is a large Muslim population within the city, so the look and feel of the people, food, and architecture is different.

Emmet and I were only doing a short visit to Xi’an, so after arriving at our hotel in the early evening, we set out to explore the Muslim Quarter in Xi’an, attempt to find some tasty street food snacks, and get a delicious dinner at a vegetarian restaurant!

Below are a ton of photos of the Muslim Quarter, which is a popular street market for snacks and shopping! It was one of the first times I’d been surrounded by so many people in quite a while. I can’t imagine what it would have been like with COVID-19 restrictions being enforced. One thing I wanted to note is that while these types of streets exist in Shanghai (Tianzifang, the Yu Gardens), they’re confined to shopping areas, not spread out over many city blocks as these kinds of street vendors aren’t allowed, so it was quite cool to explore!

One other cool thing was that across from the vegetarian restaurant we went to, there was a Tibetan Buddhist Temple! Although we didn’t get to explore the inside (it was already closed for the day), the outside was gorgeous!

Day 2: The Terracotta Warriors

Early on the next day, Emmet and I got up early to trek out to see the Terracotta Warriors. Although the site is near Xi’an, they’re actually about an hour away by car. I was incredibly excited to get to see them in person. When I spent the summer in New York (doing Astronomy research at the American Museum of Natural History) in 2012, I got to see a touring exhibit of some of the warriors (Emmet also joined)! However, this time we got to see the warriors in their locale!

The main part of the Terracotta Warriors excavation site facility is divided into 4 different areas, the three excavation pits and the exhibition hall.

The First Pit

The first pit at the terracotta warriors is the largest (and grandest) and is likely the one many of you have seen photos of. However, it’s also, unsurprisingly, the most popular, with thousands of people pouring into the outside edge of the pits trying to take photos. I don’t think I’ve ever been that crammed in with so many people. It was definitely a little overwhelming and made the first part of the experience a little more stressful. That said, because you’re at the edge of the pits, you can’t see everything up close here (the pit is gigantic). However, the shear scale of the pit and number of warriors and horses uncovered is amazing!

While it’s a bit overwhelming to see so many figures at once, it was so cool to look at all the differences between the warriors. Whether it was slightly different hair styles, hand positions, or even that some were horses, it was really cool to see all the different styles! I didn’t even know that they came in so many different variations!

Pit 2

The second pit is smaller, but is noteworthy because it contains cavalry, infantry, and war chariots! It was actually a little more fun to visit pit 2 because Emmet and I could get much closer and were surrounded by a lot less people. So, we could get a better view at all angles of the warriors. One other thing that was highlighted in images in Pits 2 and 3 was that the warriors weren’t just made of terracotta, they were initially painted. Though as a result of restoration/uncovering, most of the color has faded, it was really interesting to learn that!

Pit 3

The third pit was unique because it’s still actively being excavated! You can see a few photos of the archaeologists actively working at the site! This is the command post with war chariots and the high ranking military officials. Additionally, there were a few fully excavated and free standing warriors displayed in this pit that were really amazing to see! You could see all the details in these figures!

The Exhibition Hall and other Cool statues around the Grounds!

Lastly, there was an exhibition hall where a few more warriors were put on display (there were also some historical exhibits describing the process of uncovering the warriors, but all of those were in Mandarin).

Overall across all of the pictures I’ve shared of the warriors, I hope that you can tell just how impressive this is to see! It was truly a fantastic experience!

There are also a ton of other cool modern statues on the grounds! And they even sold Terracotta warrior shaped ice cream popsicles! Since it was hot, Emmet and I couldn’t resist getting one!

Day 2: The Wild Goose Pagoda, Daxingshan Temple, Xi’an Wall, Drum Tower, and Bell Tower

After an amazing morning spent exploring the Terracotta warriors, we returned to downtown Xi’an and set out to explore the city!

The Wild Goose Pagoda

The Wild Goose Pagoda, located outside the traditional wall surrounding the heart of Xi’an, is a Buddhist temple built in the Tang Dynasty ~ 1350 years ago. The Pagoda was actually used to store sacred religious texts and items that were brought from India in the 7th century.

Before arriving at the Pagoda, we wandered around and saw a lot of really cool statues!

Since parts of the grounds are used for active prayer, as you’ll see throughout this post, I chose not to take photos of the prayer shrines. That said, there’s still a lot to see! The architecture of the Wild Goose Pagoda is amazing. The pagoda itself is 60m tall and it was daunting and a bit exhausting to climb to the top on a narrow staircase! But it was worth it for the fantastic view of Xi’an!

Although you can see the clear Chinese flourishes (the dragons and lions), you can also see more of an Indian influence (and this exists around the city) with elephants as well! The grounds of the Temple are also incredibly gorgeous!

Daxingshan Temple

After the Wild Goose Pagoda, Emmet and I walked to the Daxingshan Buddhist temple where we had lunch. After a fantastic lunch (see at the end), we explored the temple!

I loved seeing the different statues! The lions at this temple were also really unique! Plus, it was cool to see a turtle pond in the temple!

The Xi’an Walled City

One of the things that makes Xi’an unique is that it is a walled city (kind of like the forbidden city in Beijing, though Beijing also has traditional walls). That said, these walls are gigantic, wide enough to drive multiple cars across and serve as a real clear delineation of when you are entering the core of the city. Though many friends suggested biking around the walls, Emmet and I chose to just walk a portion of the wall (It had rained earlier and was a bit to crowded for us to want to bike). Regardless, it was really cool to walk along these walls which date back to the 14th century.

The Xi’an Drum and Bell Towers

In another similarity to Beijing, Xi’an has both a Drum and a Bell Tower. Emmet lives right by them in Beijing, so it was fun to get to see the ones in Xi’an. For those of you who don’t recall, the Bell and Drum towers were early Chinese methods of keeping time! As an astronomer, it’s always cool to learn about ancient methods of time keeping and calendars! The biggest difference (other than the one in Xi’an not having it’s traditional bell set up) is that the ones in Xi’an are far grander than the ones in Beijing (which are still really cool)! So, Emmet and I had fun exploring these! Plus, they look really cool lit up at night!

The Drum Tower

It was fun for Emmet and I to get to try the drums! Plus, inside there was some cool traditional Chinese art!

The Bell Tower

Like the Drum Tower, there was also a really cool exhibition inside the Bell Tower!

Overall, it was really cool to get to see these up close! When we drove into the heart of Xi’an these were the first historic things that we saw, so I’m glad we had the opportunity to explore them!

In addition to all the cool sites we visited in Xi’an, there were so many cool sculptures and signs that I saw around the city that I wanted to share with you!

Emmet and I had a fantastic trip to Xi’an! Unlike our trip to Chengdu, we planned everything (no tour guide). I was really proud that given our low level of Mandarin, we were able to do it! Seeing the Terracotta warriors was amazing and it was such a neat city to explore! One other thing that I’ll note is that I was surprised that so many people kept asking us where we were from. Though tourism is staring to return to China, it seems as though many people were excited (or at least interested) to see foreigners in both Xi’an and Chengdu.

1 Day Trip to Beijing

Since it took just as long to go to Beijing and then back to Shanghai, I decided to go back to Beijing with Emmet so I could have a quick last visit to Beijing, visit the always adorable and friendly Goldie, and get to join Kehillat Beijing for a Shabbat hosted by Kehillat Beijing’s founders, Roberta and Ted!

Emmet lives right by the Shichihai lakes, so we had to do a quick walk around the lakes, even though it was hot!

Then on our way to Shabbat, we stopped by the 798 art district to look at some of the cool statues! There are a bunch of neat exhibits that Emmet’s planning to visit this summer/fall!

However the main highlight was getting to join Kehillat Beijing for a Shabbat! When I went in April, Roberta and Ted were in the USA, so it was so nice this time to attend one when they hosted! As Emmet’s shown in his blog, these Shabbats are fantastic! It was nice to meet some of Emmet’s friends within the community and to enjoy Ted’s delicious food and Roberta’s challah! This time it was Bastille Day Shabbat!

The other highlight was of course getting to spend time with Goldie! Emmet’s cat is such a wonderful companion.

As you can tell, Goldie is so friendly to me and it’s always a treat to see her when I visit Emmet!

Even though it was a quick visit, I’m so glad I could stop by Beijing (my third time visiting Emmet in Beijing) one more time before my move.

The Great Panda Adventure in Chengdu!

Many of you know that I love pandas! When I was very little, my Mom got me a panda hat and since then they’ve always been my favorite wild animal! So, when I moved to Shanghai 4 years ago, I knew that I wanted to go see the pandas! While I’ve been waiting four years to do it, at long last, I finally had my own Great Panda Adventure and was able to see the pandas! Emmet and his two colleagues, Tom and Daniele, joined us on a tour of Chengdu! Overall, it was certainly a memorable and fun trip and I’m so glad that I have appeased my childhood self and seen pandas close to their natural habitats!

One thing I want to mention is that these aren’t pandas out in the wild. In Chengdu, there are 4 panda centers. These are basically large panda zoos where the pandas are kept in large enclosures (pandas prefer to live by themselves once they’re more than a few years old). Because pandas are endangered, a lot of work has been done at these research centers to help improve panda birth rates and to keep the animals healthy. Additionally, some work has been done to help release pandas back into the wild mountains of China (though we didn’t get to visit that location)!

Day 1: Arriving in Chengdu and Kuanzhi Wide and Narrow Street

This past Saturday, I flew to Chengdu (my first domestic flight in China since visiting Harbin). Chengdu, in Sichuan province, is a city famous for two things, pandas and spicy food. Immediately upon arrival,the first became clear! There were so many cool statues, billboards, and advertisements both in the airport and in the city!

You may be curious about the 2nd image, which looks like it’s for the Olympics. It’s not, instead it’s for the FISU University Games (an international sports competition for college students), Chengdu was originally supposed to host it in 2021, but as a result of COVID-19, it was delayed until this year (it started on July 28th).

After checking in to our hotel, Emmet, Tom, Daniele, and I went to Kuanzhi, the Wide and Narrow Street known for it’s shopping and street food! Just like in Xi’an, street food is really popular (as you’ll see). This was a really crowded area, but despite the crowds (and heat), a lot of fun to explore and browse!

Chengdu is a city that loves it’s pandas and there were so many cute panda statues to see! You also can get a taste of just how crowded this area is! I’ll go in to more depth about the street food later on.

Day 2: Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System

Volunteering at the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base

Our 2nd day in Chengdu began very early as we had to drive out of Chengdu to the neighboring mountain town of Dujiangyan where the Giant Panda Base is located. I was incredibly excited and couldn’t wait for this experience! Through our tour we were able to do a special program where we could volunteer to help take care of the pandas for the day. While this didn’t include getting to hold any pandas, it did allow us to see how the panda care givers clean their habitats and prepare their food for them. Our group was a mix of kids and adults (including three other Americans who were visiting China from Texas) so unsurprisingly the four of us ended up doing a bit of manual labor including cleaning panda poop, cleaning the enclosure, and breaking bamboo (which is kind of like swinging a giant sword).

We also got to make snack cakes for the pandas (made of bamboo, apples, and carrots) and trim bamboo leaves, which are a nutritious part of the bamboo that pandas eat! Pandas eat ~ 80kg of bamboo a day, so it makes sense that we needed to prep so much! Thanks to our tour guide, Kevin, you can see a few videos of us doing our volunteer work!

While we couldn’t take pictures we also got to see the panda caregiver feed one of the pandas (it was so cute and very well behaved) as well as visit some of the pandas that were recovering from ailments. We also watched a documentary about the efforts that the Chengdu panda centers are doing to return some of these pandas to the wild, which was really fascinating! It was such a great experience getting to help take care of the pandas! I would definitely recommend doing it if you have the chance!

The Pandas at the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Center

After all the volunteer work (we did the snack making in the afternoon), we spent a few hours exploring the panda center and getting to watch all of the pandas and red pandas! Since Dujiangyan is at a higher elevation, it wasn’t quite as hot, so as you’ll see the pandas were very active, eating, walking around, playing, and generally being absolutely adorable!

And now a few videos for you to see the pandas moving around their habitats!

As you can see, this was a magical experience! The grin didn’t leave my face the entire time I spent staring at the pandas! I’ve been a panda lover my entire life and though I’ve seen pandas at the National Zoo in Washington DC, being surrounded by so many pandas was such a unique and memorable experience!

We also got to see red pandas! Interestingly, red pandas are much more social with one another and live in habitats with many red pandas (as you can see)! One fascinating thing that I learned was that red pandas were discovered first (by westerners). They were discovered in 1825 and initially named pandas. When giant pandas were discovered in 1869 (and the two species were linked based on their similar skeletal structure), they were renamed red or lesser pandas. I’ll note that the Chinese names xiong mao (bear cat – for giant panda) and hun-ho (fire fox – for the red panda) are quite different.

Since my primary experience seeing red pandas has been at the Buffalo Zoo (where they were usually asleep), I greatly enjoyed getting to watch them play around with one another!

Lastly, I wanted to share some other photos from the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Center of some of the sculptures and signage! Plus a tasty panda ice cream popsicle!

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System (and Scenic Area)

After an amazing morning and afternoon spent with the pandas, we went to the see the Dujiangyan irrigation system. This is an irrigation system built in 256 BCE that was used to prevent the Chengdu plain from flooding and make the land suitable for farming. By building a manmade island to add a small bend into the Min River, the Irrigation system was able to effectively work. While I was unfamiliar with this beforehand, it was really cool to see! Plus, when you put four astronomers together, we ended up talking about the fluid dynamics that lead to the slowing of the water!

Before actually seeing the river and surrounding areas, there are some gorgeous temple-like grounds that we got to explore!

After that we reached the area where we could see the river bend surrounded by mountains! It was so cool to see the rushing water (until it started raining) as well as the impressive man-made island!

After seeing the whole irrigation system, we hiked back through a gorgeous mountainous pathway! Having spent so long in the city, it was so great to be in so much nature!

Towards the end, you can see a fun shopping area setup near the entrance of the irrigation system (there were a lot of these in Chengdu and they were always fun to explore)!

We spent the evening in Dujiangyan and had a fun time exploring the different shopping streets, which were lit up (including lighting up the river)!

Overall, this was an amazing first full day in Chengdu! From fulfilling a lifelong dream of seeing pandas to learning about a fascinating 2000+ year old irrigation system, I couldn’t have imagined a better day!

Day 3: Qingcheng Mountain, the Jiansha Site Museum, and Jinli Street

Qingcheng Mountain (A Daoist mountain site)

We began our third day by visiting Qingcheng Mountain, which is a scared site in Daoism and considered to be the birthplace of Daoism. This mountain, like the Panda center was also in Dujiangyan. While I’ve been to many Buddhist temples in China, I hadn’t been to a Daoist temple before. So, it was interesting to see the different statues to the Daoist gods as well as some real historical figures including Laozi, instead of to the Buddha.

To reach the top of Qingcheng Mountain, we hiked up to a lake, then took a ferry across a lake, after which we took a gondola to the top of the mountain (it would have taken a few hours to do the entire hike by foot). Even with the assistance, it was so amazing to spend some time in the mountains and catch some amazing views!

After reaching the top of the mountain, we spent time exploring the temple grounds, which were really cool to see!

At the top of the mountain is a giant pagoda! Unlike the one in Xi’an this one was a Daoist shrine. Although we didn’t get to climb to the top of it, the view was amazing!

Jinsha Site Museum

After hiking up Qingcheng mountain, we returned to Chengdu to visit the Jinsha Site Museum. This is a museum built on top of part of the Jinsha excavation site, which in the early 2000s was where the remains of the Shu people who lived in the Chengdu region ~ 2500 years ago, were discovered. Prior to visiting the museum, I was entirely unfamiliar with this history. So, it was really cool to learn part of the history and then see some of the many relics that were uncovered.

First we visited some of the excavation sites that are within the museum complex.

In the bottom row you can see some preserved wood and where elephant tusks were found!

Then we visited the exhibition halls where we could see the many amazingly well preserved artifacts. I will note that there are a ton of artifacts, so it was a little overwhelming. The two most famous are the gold mask and the golden sun bird disk.

There was so much cool jade, gold, bone, and ceramic works to see!

Jinli Old Street

In the evening, the four of us went to explore the Jinli Old Street, which is a large walking/shopping district in Chengdu where they sell a ton of different street foods as well as different panda and traditional items! We had a great time trying a bunch of different street foods and exploring the street. However, it was incredibly crowded. Maybe it’s because of the years of COVID-19 restrictions, but I always remain shocked by these packed crowds (and how now almost nobody is wearing masks).

Plus as you can see there were a ton of cute pandas, including some wearing Batman, Superman, and Spider-man costumes!

On our way home, Emmet and I also saw a really cool lights display! This was very reminiscent of what is set up in the Yu Gardens for the Lantern Festival and since Emmet’s never gotten to experience that, it was great fun to get to see this together!

Day 4: Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and the Giant Leshan Buddha

The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base

On our last day, we went to explore the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. After a day of not seeing pandas, I was really excited for a second opportunity! This is located much closer to Chengdu, so at a lower elevation, which means that it is hotter. Unlike in Dujiangyan, many of the pandas were either sleeping in the shade or in their enclosures. Despite the heat, we still got to see a lot of very adorable pandas! Although you might not be able to tell, this panda center is also incredibly crowded. Every time we found a panda out and about, there were huge crowds of people around it. Despite the heat and crowds, it was still another wonderful and magical experience!

The pandas were super adorable and it was such a great experience getting to spend another day with them! Below are two more videos of the pandas for you to enjoy!

Lastly, I wanted to share photos of a ton of the different panda sculptures and decorations at the Panda center (and the surrounding area). Of course, once again, Emmet and I enjoyed Panda ice cream pops!

Overall, this was another fantastic panda experience! I’m so glad that we got to have two such fun and enjoyable panda experiences and that we were able to spend so much time with the pandas watching them nap, play, and eat! As I’ve already said, this part of the trip created lifelong memories and I’m so glad I got to share the experience with Emmet!

The Leshan Giant Buddha

After another amazing panda experience, we drove ~ 3 hours south to Leshan to see the Giant Buddha! The Leshan Giant Buddha is amazing to see! It’s 71 meters tall and built into the rockface of the cliffs. Due to difficulties securing funding for the building, it took about 90 years to carve the entire Buddha, which was finished in 803. It’s a carving of the Buddha of the future and was initially built to help calm the surrounding waters to prevent ships from sinking into the area.

Prior to actually arriving at the Buddha, there were some other really cool statues to look at on the grounds of the site!

To actually see the Buddha, we took a boat tour (due to very long lines, which you may be able to see in the photos; it takes a few hours to walk up to and down to see the Buddha). The boat tour was such a fantastic way for us to take in the majesty and size of the Leshan Buddha!

As you can see the Buddha is so impressive! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a statue that large! The shear size of it is breathtaking! Plus, the natural cliff face that it was carved into (made of sandstone) was so colorful, that it only added to the beauty of the Buddha!

After an amazing 4 day experience, we returned to the Chengdu airport and I flew back to Shanghai. The only problem was that my flight back got delayed (due to weather) from 9pm to 11pm, so instead of getting home close to 1am, I arrived home at almost 3am. Despite the annoyance, it was such an amazing experience and I’m so glad that Emmet and I could make such lasting China memories together!

Before wrapping up my trip to Chengdu, there were so many other great photos (mostly of panda related things) that I wanted to share with you all!

After being in China for almost 4 years, I’m so glad that I was finally able to do a bit more traveling and see more of the country. While I’ve been up to explore Beijing with Emmet, and got to go to Harbin 2.5 years ago, it was such a great experience for the two of us to see Xi’an and Chengdu together! From the pandas to the terracotta warriors, we made so many lifelong memories and I’m so glad we could experience these places together!

Astronomy in Shanghai

With all of the traveling this past month (and with the preparations for my upcoming move), it’s probably not that surprising that this month hasn’t been quite as research focused. However, I have still been working. The biggest highlight was that my Luminosity Function paper was accepted for publication in MNRAS! We’re done with the copy edits, so I should receive the final, published version soon! This is the project I’ve been working with my supervisor Ying for most of my postdoc, so it’s great to finally have some results to share!

Additionally, prior to my trip to Chengdu, there was the DESI collaboration meeting in Durham (UK). While it would have been great to go, it was a bit close to my upcoming move. Instead, I gave a virtual presentation at the galaxy cluster session and one of the graduate students from Ying’s group who was there in person, shared a cool photo of me on all of the tv screens!

I’ve also continued to slowly work on my follow-up to both my ICL and luminosity function projects as well as working on the analysis with Emmet about the cluster’s hosting bent radio sources at low-z. Hopefully once I’m settled in Nottingham, I’ll be able to get back to being a bit more productive.

Life in Shanghai

With all of the fun trips this month, my time in Shanghai was spent more relaxing and catching up with friends (and preparing for my move). With so many of my friends having already moved or traveling for the summer, I’ve been trying to see everyone I can before I go. I did get to see my friends Clem, Sarah, and Heather and Shimi (and their daughter Rae)! Though only Clem and I got a photo together, but I’ll see Sarah, Heather, and Shimi again before I go. Other than that, I’ve continued to go to F45 basically every day (a few of my friends from the gym are still here, so it’s always fun to work out together)!

Additionally, this past month, I finally reached 1000 days of doing Duolingo in Mandarin! While my mandarin is still not very good, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to use it to successfully order food and answer simple questions on my trips!

While I didn’t do quite as much fun things in Shanghai, I have been busy getting ready for my move. A few weeks ago, I got my work entry visa for the UK (which thanks to Nottingham was relatively straightforward and I just had to go to an office by the Bund). I’ve also been getting suitcases and starting to pack up the rest of my apartment. I also stopped by Tianzifang to pick up a couple of gifts to give to friends!

This month, I also saw a lot of cool anime and comics related things!

Also, in addition to the always adorable Scottie, Charlie, and Goldie, I also saw a lot of other cute animals. Most of them are cats (some from Xi’an and Chengdu), but also dogs (at Kehillat Beijing’s Shabbat), as well as a llama and peacock in Chengdu!

Scottie and Charlie

This was a little bit of a hectic month for Scottie and Charlie. Mostly because of my two trips. Thankfully one of my friends from F45 was able to check in on them while I was gone and they even seemed to warm up to her by the end! However, the other main stress was that they had to get their yearly vaccine and rabies shot (which is done yearly in China and needed to be updated before the move to the UK). The positive was that both were much better behaved and more relaxed at the vet.

Unfortunately, Charlie had an allergic reaction to one of the shots and ended up needing to go back to the vet to get an anti-histamine. His face and paws started to get bloated, which terrified me and thankfully the vet was able to see him right away. While Charlie started to improve immediately, it was rather stressful for me (and he looked very sad while not feeling well). Luckily, a day later, Charlie was back to his normal self, much to my relief! Unfortunately, the next month with the trip to the Shenpu government vet 1 week before leaving and the move won’t be much easier on them. The one positive is that they have been enjoying their travel cat carriers (not so much their thunder shirts and harnesses). Other then the stuff at Shenpu, which can’t be done until a week before the trip, they’re all set to travel.

Even with all the business of this month, Scottie and Charlie still remain absolutely adorable and are constantly cuddling or playing together!

Even when they’re not together (or just napping on me) they’re so cute!

Food in Shanghai, Xi’an, and Chengdu

Given all the traveling that I did this month, it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed a lot of different and unique Chinese foods! Thanks to some of Emmet’s friends from the Vegans of Beijing, the Happy Cow app, and another Chinese vegetarian food app, Emmet and I were able to try so many amazing foods in both Chendgu and Xi’an!

Xi’an

Traditionally, the primary specialties in Xi’an are meats. In particular, two popular dishes are rou mian (basically a Chinese hamburger) and biang biang noodles (wide spicy noodles, a version of which is vegetarian).

On our first night, we had an amazing meal across from the Tibetan Buddhist temple! We enjoyed a traditional tea, a fantastic mushroom dish, thin cut tofu, vegetarian rou mian (made of mushrooms or seitan), vegetable noodle soup, and another fantastic tofu and mushroom dish!

I think my favorites were the tofu dishes and the mushrooms.

After visiting the terracotta warriors and the wild goose pagoda, we had a fantastic lunch at the Daxingshan temple! We enjoyed mapo tofu with mushrooms, vegetable jiaozi (dumplings), spicy fried mock meat, eggplant and green beans, spicy seitan stew, traditional xi’an stew, and a waxberry tea to drink!

One thing that differentiates Xi’an cuisine from Shanghai and Beijing is the bread, so I’m glad Emmet and I got to try it! It was really tasty! I think my favorites were the seitan stew, bread, and the spicy fried mock meat!

In addition to these great meals, we also enjoyed some tasty street food! We got freeze dried corn pops, fresh cut cantaloupe (it was fun eating the skewer), biang biang noodles (we were amazed by how wide and thick the noodles were), a sticky rice cake, and shown is one of many fruit juices or teas (this one was waxberry)!

Chengdu

On our first day in Chengdu, the four us had an amazing meal at Vegetarian Lifestyle. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because the restaurant has multiple locations in Shanghai and was actually the first vegetarian restaurant I went to in Shanghai. However, in Chengdu, we were able to order a bunch of dishes that are unique to Chengdu and Sichuan cuisine!

We enjoyed tea, watermelon juice, Sichuan mushrooms, cold vinegar black noodles, eggplant with basil, lion manes mushroom with rice flour, dan dan noodles, fried stuffed eggplant, stinky tofu, vegetarian fish, and sword beans! My favorites were the black noodles, the stuffed eggplant, and vegetarian fish!

In Dujiangyan, we found another amazing vegetarian restaurant. The staff was very excited to serve foreigners and were very interested in hearing where we were from and what we were visiting there.

We enjoyed tea, mapo tofu, kung pao chik’n, fried mushrooms, spicy mushrooms, sword beans, potato, seitan, and chestnut stir fry, and cauliflower dry pot. My favorites were the mushrooms, mapo tofu, and seitan stirfry!

Lastly, thanks to the help of our guide, at the restaurant we went to in Leshan, Emmet and I were able to get some vegetarian food. We enjoyed buckwheat tea, sweet and sour tofu, steamed celtuse, and sweet sticky rice flour fritters!

Like in Xi’an, Emmet and I enjoyed some street food! Chengdu and Sichuan are famous for their spicy chili oil. Some of the main highlights are sweetwater noodles (noodles in chili sauce) a soft tofu dish with chili oil, as well as hot pot (which we didn’t get to do). You can see what we enjoyed below!

You can see three kinds of spicy noodles (all with different types of noodle), the soft tofu dish, chili garlic tofu, a chilled fruit and tea dish, ice cream, an amazing ice cream filled bubble waffle (a Hong Kong specialty that’s become popular in China), some of the cold drinks we enjoyed (fresh orange juice, pomelo juice, and watermelon juice), plus fresh pomelo! Pomelo is my favorite Chinese fruit and it’s not being sold in Shanghai at the moment (it’s out of season), so I knew I had to get it!

Beijing

Even though I was only in Beijing briefly, it was so hot that Emmet and I enjoyed two frozen treats! We had a frozen strawberry popsicle, and a vegan fudgsicle/brownie pop!

Shanghai

This month in Shanghai, I enjoyed two great meals with friends! First, I caught up with my friend Clem and we enjoyed a great meal at Duli (I forgot to take photos of all the dishes). You can see the gongbao pizza, the yuba and avacado salad, and an orange smoothie!

Then my friend Sarah and I tried the LN Fortunate Vegan Cafe, which was great! We enjoyed pear juice, tofu and seaweed rolls, stir fried noodles with tofu, and Hong Kong style vegan char siu (seitan)!

In addition to all of the amazing food that I enjoyed, I still did some tasty cooking myself! I made dan dan noodles, an edamame and tofu noodle salad, vegetarian duck (tofu skins), and homemade seitan with roasted cauliflower!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

Even with it being summer and many people being gone, we still had a few fun Kehilat Shanghai events! First, we had my final trivia night! I’ve been organizing or co-organizing Trivia for the past 3 years and it’s been so fun to write the challenging questions for all the participants! For the final trivia night at Tacolicious, I enlisted Emmet as well as my friends David and Sam (who had co-hosted the trivia nights with me when they were living in Shanghai), which made it extra special! Logan even had Chef Thijs make a special vegan Zrou taco for that week’s special (which was delicious)!

While I’m not sure I’ll organize my own trivia nights in Nottingham, I’ll definitely plan to participate in one!

Additionally, one of our community members, Lali Michaeli, did a poetry reading for her new book of poetry (written in Hebrew and translated into mandarin) at the Ohel Moishe synagogue. Even though I don’t understand Hebrew or Mandarin well enough to appreciate the poems, I did enjoy them when they were read and discussed in English. Plus, it’s always wonderful to be in the Ohel Moishe synagogue (part of the Jewish Refuge Museum).

Lastly, this past weekend, we had another community Shabbat. Thankfully, my friend Larry has taken them over, so they’ll keep happening even after I leave Shanghai! We’ll also have one more before I go! This week’s shabbat was lovely, it was so nice to gather together for communal prayer and then to see so many community members and get to hear what other people have been up to this summer! Plus, one of our community members, Michael, made an amazing 12 braid challah!

What I’m Reading and Watching

Even with the the travel this month, I did finish a few tv shows. First, I finished the 10th and final season of The Blacklist (on NBC). While the show hasn’t been as captivating for the last few seasons, I did enjoy the conclusion of the Raymond Reddington story. I also finished the 4th and final season of Jack Ryan (on Amazon Prime). While this season didn’t feel quite as possible (for the real world) as the previous season (which I preferred), I still enjoyed the suspense, action, and political intrigue centered on Jack Ryan and his adventures. If you’re looking for a good action show, I’d recommend it. I finished the first season of the Lazarus Project, which is a British science fiction show built around the concept that the British government has a secret machine that allows them to reset the time back 6 months in the event of a global emergency. Only certain people (who work for Project Lazarus) actually know that this is happening and the show does a great job of dealing with the troubling implications of reliving the same time period again and again and how through the butterfly effect minute things can change what you’ve experienced! Plus, the season ended on a cliffhanger, so I’m glad there’s a second season! I also finished the 2nd and latest season of B: the Beginning, an anime series that tells the story of Killer B, a vigilante serial killer, who has thrown the city into chaos. The show is a little tricky to explain, but I really enjoyed it and loved the animation!

I also read a few physical graphic novels that I got on my trip to the UK! I read Superman Birthright by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu! This is a fantastic retelling and modernization of the Superman origin story. Mark Waid does an excellent job capturing Superman and I hope that it serves as part of the inspiration for the upcoming Superman: Legacy film from James Gunn! I also read The Mighty by Peter J, Tomasi and Keith Champagne, art by Peter Snejbjerg and Chris Samnee! This is an excellent series! It examines a superman like character, Alpha One, and the normal people who work with him and what happens when we learn that Alpha One’s motivations might not be really altruistic. This was a really interesting book and I’d definitely check it out. Lastly, I just Finished Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score by Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke! Darwyn Cooke’s art is amazing and this was such a fine and timeless Catwoman heist book! It was really fun to see a Selina Kyle outside of the Catwoman costume and Gotham! I highly recommend it!

If you’ve gotten this far, you can tell that my last full month in China was incredibly full! So, thank you so much for reading! I hope that you enjoyed reading about and seeing the photos from my two amazing trips to Xi’an and Chengdu! As I write this, my time in China is winding down, as I fly out and move to Nottingham in just over 2 weeks. Emmet will come down from Beijing for my last few days and to help me pack up. I’m grateful we’ll get to spend the last few days together. So, my next post will be sent from Nottingham ! If you have any questions about anything that I shared from my trips or anything else about my time in Shanghai, please let me know!

In peace,

Jesse

Trivia

Before and After (fill in the blank), by me
1). Books of the Torah: Exodus — __ — Numbers
2). US Presidents: Grover Cleveland — __ — Grover Cleveland
3). Beatles Albums (by Release Date): Revolver (1966) — __ — The Beatles (White Album)
4). Summer Olympic Host Cities: Beijing — __ — Rio de Janeiro
5). English Kings: Aethelred (866-871) — __ — Edward 1 (the Elder) (899-924)
6). Harry Potter Books: The Goblet of Fire — __ — The Half-Blood Prince
7). Marvel Cinematic Movie Release Dates: Shang Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings — __ — Spider-Man: No Way Home
8). Batman Live Action Actors: Adam West — __ — Val Kilmer
9). James Bond Actors: Timothy Dalton — __ — Daniel Craig
10). Eurovision Winners: Italy (2021) — __ — Sweden (2023)
Bonus: Name the song/artist

Answers: 1). Leviticus 2). Benjamin Harrison 3). Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band 4). London 5). Alfred the Great 6). The Order of the Phoenix 7). Eternals 8). Michael Keaton 9). Pierce Brosnan 10). Ukraine — Kalush Orchestra — Stefania

TV Finales by Emmet
1). žAlthough not a finale in the usual sense, the final episode of this long running syndicated game show that he hosted aired on January 8, 2021
2).žThis TV show’s finale is considered the most watched TV show episode of all time
3). žThis classic American TV show ended leaving the viewers wondering J.R. Ewing’s fate
4).žThese three major US TV streaming/premium TV shows all aired their series finales between May 26 and May 31, 2023
5). After a 9 year run on the CW, this TV show ended only to have a movie of the same name launch nearly a month later
6). After 207 episodes, the final episode of this show, episode 208, finally answered the titular question that the show asked
7). This TV show surprised fans when the finale ends by cutting the screen to black
8). The conclusion of this show saw Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings returning to Moscow, while their daughter Paige chooses to remain in the US
9). žThe show ends with the iconic 1971 “Hilltop” add for Coca-Cola
10). žThis show ended its four season run by seeing an architect become mortal and the main character finally finding peace so she is able to move on to a new place

Answers: 1). Jeopardy, Alex Trebek 2). M*A*S*H 3). Dallas 4). The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Ted Lasso, Succession 5). The Flash 6). How I met your Mother 7). The Sopranos 8). The Americans 9). Mad Men 10). The Good Place

This is the END by Emmet
1). žThis movie essentially wrapped up Marvel’s Phase 3 and to date is the final movie featuring the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
2).ž žThis Orson Scott Card sci-fi novel presents a humankind fighting an insectoid alien species called “buggers”
3). žžWhen a touchdown is scored in football, the ball has entered this portion of the field
4).ž žThe major glands in this system in the human body are the thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary, pineal, testes/ovaries, and adrenal
5). The fifth and final operational space shuttle built by NASA
6). The most popular songs from this album by this band were “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Got a Feeling”
7). The final book in this children’s book series by Lemony Snicket, which featured alliterative titles, was aptly named “The End”
8). This leafy green vegetable fits the category
9). The wreck of this ship, which sunk in 1915, is a protected historic monument in Antarctica.  Bonus points if you can name the captain
10). žWhat do the Giant panda, South China Tiger, Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, and Black Crested Gibbon All have in Common?

Answers: 1). Avengers Endgame 2). Ender’s Game 3). Endzone 4). The endocrine system 5). Endeavor 6). The E.N.D. The Black Eyed Peas 7). A Series of Unfortunate Events 8). Endive 9). Endurance, Shackleton 10). Endangered species found in China

Connections by me
1). žFDR’s speech where he said “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy, …” is a reference to the attack on this location?
2).ž žThis typically green mineral is used in jewelry or for ornaments and is common throughout East Asia?
3). žžThis Japanese pitcher currently pitches for the San Diego Padres.  In 2022, he recorded his 3000 strikeout in MLB and joined Hideo Nomo as the only other pitcher to throw 3000 strikeouts in MLB with 1000 strikeouts in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League
4).ž žFollowing the 2020 election, Donald Trump refused to give this type of speech, breaking a 124 year tradition.
5). žName this German born philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, and journalist who wrote  The German Ideology (criticizing Hegel),  The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, and Das Capital?
6). žIn the US, two famous examples of this kind of political outreach strategy are the Uncle Sam and Rosie the Riveter posters.
7). žName this Toyota car brand that is a line-up of full-size luxury cars and limousines, the flagship car within Japan.  This brand was introduced in 1967 to honor the 100th birthday of Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Industries.
8). žThe last three CEOs of this company include Bob Chapek, Michael Eisner, and Bob Iger?
9). žName this football league, that is the top of the German system and consists of 18 teams?
10). What is the Connection?

Answers: 1). Pearl Harbor 2). Jade 3). Yu Darvish 4). Concession Speech 5). Karl Marx 6). Propaganda 7). Century 8). Disney 9). Bundesliga 10). Things in Shanghai (Pearl Tower, Jade Buddha Temple, Yu Gardens, French Concession, Karl Marx statue in Fuxing Park, Propaganda Poster Art Center, Century Park, Shanghai Disney, The Bund)