Well looked after

After a 22 hour bus journey from Jing Ping to Hangzhou, Zheng met us at the bus station. She is the Head of Glass Department at the Arts Academy in Hangzhou and took us straight back for lunch together with the teachers of the glass department. We had a short break before our Weiberwalz talk in the evening, then we took our place behind the microphones together with our translator, Lisa.

It was a first that we stayed seated during our presentation. We had enough time to go into detail over our key points and we were amazed at how long our talk became with it being in two languages.  Despite us running over, the students had many questions: where did we like best, how much money did we need, plus advice on how to fulfil their own dreams.

The next day we were picked up at the hotel at 9am, and got a tour of the University of Hangzhou campus. Designed by the Chinese architect Wang Shu, the entire complex was built in wood and red brick. The campus layout is very generous with lots of space to move around. In 2012, Wang Shu was the first Chinese to be awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, the highest award in architecture.

After the tour we jumped on a bus which took us to Pu Jiang in 2 ½ hours. Firstly we visited a casting workshop, which works on commission but also produces their own range. The boss picked us up and gave us a tour of the exhibition area as well as the production hall. Afterwards we visited the nearby glass district, where 100,000 people produce glass prisms, pearls, small stands, mirrored glass souvenirs and decorated sheet glass. Each family runs their business from their garage where they work together silently, using the suitable machinery. Even from the street the noise of the sanding machines is unpleasantly loud, and inside the workshops it becomes unbearable.

From Hangzhou, we made our way to Alexander Pohl who currently works as an English teacher in Ningbo and through his kind invitation helped us to get our Visa.