A portion of our trip came to a close today as we had our last site visit. Tomorrow the symposium with the Chinese What If delegation begins and it will last until Thursday evening. Friday we return to Beijing for two weekend days with no scheduled activity. We have been moving at a brisk and steady pace and it is kind of hard to let that go. I am really looking forward to the symposium though, as it is what we have been preparing for over the last 16 days.
Today began with two nice presentations. First was Ping Zhuan from Eason International, a consulting firm specializing in environmental projects that conducts a lot of work in China. Ping talked to us about water issues in Southeast China, and we all learned a lot. Most of the speakers we have heard from thus far have been tied to the government in some way, so it was very refreshing to hear from a representative of the private sector who could speak with more candor.
Following this we heard from Zhijun Ma on the Chongming Dongtan Nature Preserve and specifically the issues associated with migratory birds there. After the talk we went and visited the wetlands, which are located on Chongming Island which is about an hour drive from Shanghai in good traffic.
Also, it was of our group member’s birthday today. Happy B-day Mike!
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Bill, You asked if there was anything I wanted from China, well, here is something I DON’T want! The snake wines. They are really scary looking. Love, Mom
Too late, I already got the snake wine in the mail to you!