Gave another lecture this morning, this time on our main-group organometallic chemistry. I had to a work a bit harder to keep everyone’s attention today as it was much hotter and the air conditioning seemed to be struggling a bit. However, a mid-lecture break to show some pictures and tell some stories about London and Imperial College (did I mention this is where I am based?) seemed to do the trick. Afterwards we bumped into a large group of students in combat fatigues marching around the campus which quite surprised me. Although to outsiders’ eyes such as mine this seemed very militaristic, I was assured this was not the case and it’s actually just a tradition that all new students have to undergo a week or two of so-called “training”. I was perhaps over-optimistically beginning to think I understood China, but I now realize it’s going to take a lot longer!
After lunch (no siesta today) we set off to the Planning Exhibition Hall in Tianjin which contained many models and displays on the future plans for development of the city and its surrounding areas. It was interesting to see how ambitious the plans were, including not only the development of new housing estates big enough to be cities in their own right, but also completely new industrial sectors, power-plants, highways and a brand new subway system. It looks like the exponential growth in the population and economy in Tianjin is likely to continue well into the future. On the way back to the University we stopped at a food street to try some mooncakes – a tasty delicacy used to celebrate the mid-Autumn festival which falls next week. This evening there was time for one last meal with Professor Bu and some of his group before saying goodbye as he was departing for a meeting elsewhere the following day.