University District of Chongqing

After the Cultural Revolution, universities were re-opened in China.  With the huge population of Chongqing, a whole new area (outside the main city) was built up to house several big, new universities.  Attending one of the universities is the goal of ALL of the students at our school.  They have been tested to determine which high school they are allowed to attend, and they will again be tested (four times each year, actually) to determine which university. 

These 3 students from our classes (Guo Yuan, Wang, and Monica)  took us on a tour of two of the big university campuses.

One of the universities has been built on the site of an old farmstead.  The "Living History Farm" has been incorporated into its new university surroundings.

There are bronze statues of farm life.....

......and the old house where farmers still live, cooking over a stick fire, sleeping on board beds, washing clothes by hand, hand-hoeing small fields, planting rice paddies......all so that students may learn about the rural life-style. 

Chris is ALWAYS on the look-out for beautiful flowers.

Lunch with the kids at a noodle bar....

....in campus-town.

Recycling is actually pretty common here in China.  This is a display about recycling aluminum cans.  Often, recycling may just amount to a little old man or woman going from trash can to trash can along the streets, pulling out the good stuff.  But at least they're doing it!!!

These are the little 3-wheeled taxis that serve the university.  I guess that I thought that little tiny (fuel-efficient) cars would be the norm in China.  But, that is not the case.  The Chinese people seem to like mid-sized cars, without much regard for fuel efficiency at all.....

This is a branch campus of the down-town university.

These photos of Ginkgo Trees are for Forester Jared.

Ginkgo trees are the oldest tree species on the planet.  Jared planted one in Dole Valley.

The small lakes on campus reminded us of Iowa State's Lake Laverne.

Of course, there are always pagodas.

Everything on the campuses is brand new!

After events of the Cultural Revolution, wouldn't Mao Zedong be shocked to know that there is a HUGE statue of him in the center of this complex of universities???