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What we explored today was the oldest and narrowest part of Shanghai, the market where you can buy virtually anything and we went to the meeting with Finnish companies.
What we didn't see yet in Shanghai was the area where people aren't as rich as in the city center and where the streets are narrow and everything is very old. So that is where we went today and it was surprisingly close to the city center. The area over there was a lot older than the city center and the streets were very narrow. The houses were small and there was a lot of trash and stuff in and on the streets. It is this are that you don't want to go by yourself in the evening and it looks like the streets where people in movies go to get things done. Already that was an experience on itself.
In this kind of community was also an indoor market place where it was possible to buy anything that is still alive; grasshoppers, turtles, insects, dogs, cats, chicken, birds and so on. Don't ask me where these animals are used for, but the place didn't look like the average pet store. A little bit further down the road was another marketplace. That one looked a bit better; it was like the offline version of AliExpress. People were selling clothes, televisions, laptops, radios, gems, shoes, bike accessories, watches and that kind of stuff. It was possible to find all the expensive brands there for very cheap. For example a Rolex for just over 10 euros or a laptop for 100 euros, true Chinese quality.
Slowly we were strolling back to the newer part of the old city which is completely refurbished and looks very good. Just like on this picture. It is a bit more comfortable to be walking there. I still wanted to try the typical dumplings from Shanghai with crab and pork inside. So we went into this one place which looked like an expensive canteen. It was self-service (with text in English) and there I found the special dish. The dumplings were a bit different than usual but they were very good. I also took some meat on a stick, but I couldn't really understand what I was eating, it tasted like different kinds of meat. So maybe just it was some leftovers or something. It wasn't very good though.
After dinner we went to Pudong University far away from the city center of Shanghai. This is where the Finnish-Chinese evening was held. The evening started with a question panel where the host was asking three HR managers from different companies questions about the job market in China and how it is to work in China. One of them was Chinese and two are Finnish, but the answers given by the Finnish people sounded a lot better to me than from the Chinese woman. Mainly because the Finnish, or European people in general, are more down to earth and realistic, whereas Chinese are dreamers and believers in faith. When it comes to working and finding a job it didn't sound very attractive to be working for a Chinese company. Also later when several companies were giving their presentation, it felt more attractive or feasible to be working for a European company. So I think it was a good experience to understand those differences.
Afterward there was time to talk to companies and to socialize with other students. Most of the students were from Finland and there were a few Chinese people. And then there was us from Russia and the Netherlands. All in all it was a good choice to go there and it a pleasure to eat fresh salmon again like we had in Finland.
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