Monday, August 20, 2018
NYU-Shanghai
Today was the start of the conference at NYU-Shanghai. We woke up in an enormous King size bed in the upscale Hongta Hotel—the last word in comfort. I was entitled to a huge breakfast buffet in the hotel lobby where I ate like an ox. I chose a full English breakfast and it did come with the works: even baked beans and fried toast points.
At 8.15 am, delegates met in the lobby to be escorted to the campus of NYU-Shanghai. I meet David Ludden, my colleague from NYU-NY who introduced me to our keynote speaker, Morris and a colleague from NYU-Abu Dhabi, Robert. In the next couple of hours, I met a lot of my global colleagues and grad students from our campuses in New York, Shanghai and Abu Dhabi.
The campus is a single government building given to NYU by the Chinese government. It is right in the heart of the commercial district and surrounded by skyscrapers whose tinted glass window panes glint in the strong sunshine. Rumor has it that NYU is building a new campus in Shanghai—a proper campus with student housing, playing fields, etc. This present building is spacious and impressive—far more generous specially than the stingy few floors that NYU-Paris occupies near the Sorbonne at Saint-Germaine. Best part of all, we were finally able to get social media by special arrangement that NYU-Shanghai has with the Chinese government. They are not accessible in the rest of China.
Sessions began at 9.00 with short welcome addresses by the Director of NYU-Shanghai and Tansen Sen, Director of the Center for Global Asia that has sponsored the conference and organized it (quite brilliantly, I might add). There are loads of interesting talks and speakers who focus on China as a purveyor or silk and tea during the medieval past. Tea/coffee and lunch breaks are fitted in-between. We have delicious sandwiches and trendy juices featuring kale and grapefruit and kiwi for lunch. There are more sessions in the afternoon by which time those folk who came from New York felt badly jet lagged and escaped for a nap.
Llew went off to the Bund and explored Nanjing Road on a long and very tiring walk. China is terribly hot and very humid at this time of year and were it not for the fact that we had this conference scheduled at this time, we would never have chosen to come here when summer is at its fiercest. He went back to the hotel for a long nice nap and the thrills of English TV—CNN is ubiquitous when one is traveling and how great it sounds!
After the last session of papers were delivered, we adjourned to a large auditorium to listen to a much-anticipated keynote address by Morris Rossabi (of CUNY and Columbia) on the Mongols. Morris, who is an absolute authority on this subject, never disappoints. I was awed when I heard that he has published 26 books (no, that is not a typo) and that he is recognized internationally for his scholarly work on this little-known part of the world I certainly learned a whole lot from his lecture.
Then, we were all led off for dinner to a very nice restaurant, 5 minutes’ walk away from the NYU campus. It was a huge Chinese banquet with an abundance of offerings. Indeed, I was getting accustomed to these massive Chinese meals and knew exactly what to expect. But it took being seated at a table named East India Company right besides Tansen Sen, a Bengali who speaks fluent Chinese from having lived in China since the age of four and devoting himself to Chinese Studies in the World that I learned a lot more. For example, I learned how to eat Shu -mai—the little white steamed dumplings that are filled with tasty minced morsels such as shrimp and pork. You puncture each one at the base and slurp up the juice contained inside. You then proceed to eat up the rest of the dumpling. Red and white wine and lots of appetizers were part of our meal. The starters are tantalizing morsels in really striking flavors. Then come the vegetables and salads—fried, steamed, even mashed. Then, the fish and the meats arrive. I had the opportunity to taste a Shanghainese speciality (Pork Belly).How wonderful it felt to have been invited by Tansen to come and teach as a Visiting Professor at NYU-Shanghai to give a course on South Asia at Shanghai—perhaps for one semester or during J-Term or our winter term (which sounds very attractive). It was worth considering. Tansen also explained that Noodles and Rice come at the very end of a Chinese meal—so when they appear on the table, you know the evening is about to fold up. Finally dessert is served and it is usually fresh fruit—at this time of the year, watermelon dominates.
We all walked back to the hotel at about 9.00 where I found Llew waiting for me while watching TV. We soon showered and went off to bed.
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