Day 8: Shaq Can't Fit In That Buick, But the Last Emperor Can!

The next day, we had a scheduled visit to Shanghai GMC, and then we visited a couple of museums. Shanghai GMC is a joint venture between SAIC and General Motors. We took a tour of the assembly lines and we learned a little about how the JV adjusts their products to their consumers’ demands. For example, the Chinese like cars that don’t take too much room and as a population they are relatively smaller than other races, so cars with smaller interior room are sold that aren’t even produced in the U.S. One of the car brands that are really successful in China is Buick. The last emperor of China always paraded around in his Buick car (pictured below) that he received as a gift. Buick became one of the first foreign car brands to really take off in the Chinese Market. Also, in China GMC makes their cars to order, so unlike American dealerships there aren’t too many excess cars left over. After the visit and our group photo, we went to the Urban Development Museum, where there is a scale model of Shanghai that was really awesome. It showed the light rail, the airport, the industrial parks and Shanghai’s overall development in the past few decades.

            I then went to the Shanghai History Museum where I took pictures of different pieces of traditional clothing and calligraphy. I also had authentic Italian coffee in their tea café. We then had the night to ourselves. I used the time to practice using the Shanghai Subway system so I could use it for my free time the next day.