Shenzhen, China's economic miracle. Once a sleepy fishing village over 20 years ago. Now, a bustling financial metropolis. Shenzhen is a city that embodies almost all that China hopes to be. The city is modern, very modern. Buses are quick, efficient and frequent. The roads are wide. Cars are aplenty. The city moves at a faster pace.

When in Shenzhen, you almost forget that you are really in China. It felt more like California at times. The hills around the city give it the feel of Los Angeles and the driving is very California, but so is the rest of the driving in China.

The trip to Shenzhen started in Wuhu. Brian and I were the only two left. Beth and the Moores had already gone home on the 26th. We had booked our tickets through the local China Eastern ticket office and bought the ticket for their special shuttle bus to Nanjing Lukou Airport. As fate would have it, the bus was broken and the ticket office called in the backup, a Citroen hatchback taxi. It was definitely not going to be as roomy as the bus would have been, but we didn't have much of a choice. We had a plane to catch.

So for the next two hours, we were trapped in this little red taxi zipping along the highway towards Nanjing. Brian was sitting in the middle back seat. Poor choice. He was feeling really numb after that ride.

The Nanjing airport itself is very modern, very new, and, above all, very clean. It was a most comfortable experience. Ahh. We were flying China Southern that day and it was pretty good. The TV screens came out of the panels above us. Pretty cool, I must say. My only complaint was that they didn't have any orange juice.

Another two hours on the plane and we arrived in Shenzhen International. Brian had made arrangements to meet with a former student, but we waited for about half an hour or so before she showed up. Apparently, she was already a little late, but then she was at the wrong terminal building. Anyway, it all worked out.

We got into a taxi and rolled into town. Along the way, there was a special checkpoint where we had to get out of the taxi and let the officials see our documents before proceeding. That didn't take as long as I thought it might. It was actually very quick and efficient. I gave the officer my passport, he glanced at it, and then he threw it back at me.

The airport is quite a ways out of town, so the ride was quite long. For the first time in months, I was seeing large semis and container trucks on the road. I could tell that a lot of maritime shipping happened in this town. The highway was nice and wide and seemed quite pleasant to travel along. I'm not sure how long the ride took. I was too busy looking at the scenery and trying to enjoy the AC. What I do know is that the ride cost about 150 yuan. So it must have been really long.

We got put up in a guesthouse owned by Sinopec, China's petrochemical company. It was not the Hilton or Hyatt, but it was very comfortable and mosquito netting was included. It wasn't a terribly central location, but we could walk out to the big street, hop on a bus, and it would take us straight down to the central business district.

While in Shenzhen, we did a lot of eating. This seems to be a common theme for all of Chinese culture. Brian's friend insisted on paying for all our meals too. She wouldn't let us pay for anything. There was some major social wrestling going on over some of the bills.

I got to meet a lot of new people and Brian got to see some old friends. From what these people said, life in Shenzhen is much, much faster. Work seems to be the center of life, but friendships are still very important. I met a real estate agent, a sales rep for some company, a factory supervisor, and someone from Shenzhen University. Life is very different in this part of China.

We also got to visit some neat places. The two that stick out in my mind the most is Shenzhen University and the China Folk Culture Village. The university is very new and modern like the city itself. The campus was large and relaxing. The lawns were a lush green and were carefully manicured. Lychee trees lined many parts of the campus. Maybe it's an extra source of income for the university. The people there told me that students only shared their dorm room with one other person compared to the 6-10 people in a room at Anhui Normal University. Plus, teachers get their own computer and cubicle space provided free by the university. That's quite a deal, I think.

Then the China Folk Culture Village was a great entertaining place. It's a place to learn more about China's 56 minority nationalities. We got there late, so most of the exhibits had already closed, but there were two big shows at night. The first show was indoors and highlighted much of the minority nationalities and their different dances. It was amazing what they could do. There was hopping and leaping and even spinning and dangling in the air. The second show was more about Chinese culture in general and displayed things like Kung Fu, opera, and famous stories like "Butterfly Lovers" and "Journey to the West." The whole night was well worth the time. It was a great, energetic performance of Chinese culture and diversity.

Shenzhen was a great place full of great sites and great food. The only word of warning I would say is to watch your belongings carefully. Other than that, it's worth a trip to check things out.