Unforgettable memories of China

The friendship between China and Sri Lanka goes back to the Ming Dynasty. Thanks to this friendship, I was able participate in two training programs within two decades. One was in August 1998, when I went to Chengdu to learn about biogas technology at Bio-Gas Research Training Centre.

Then second visit was for training held under the banner of Agricultural Mechanization and Standardization for Developing Countries in July, 2016, at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences in Beijing.

Those training program really helped me to gain knowledge about utilization of biogas and modern agricultural machinery and standardization in China. That’s just one example of Chinese government’s goodwill for developing countries. Apart from meeting senior officials at councils and factories, I visited the Great Wall, Longmen Grottoes, Shaolin Temple, and Oriental Pearl Tower. Both time I obtained scholarship from China’s Ministry of Commerce. After my return to Sri Lanka I wrote about my training and its necessity in my country in leading newspapers in Sri Lanka.

China's footstep on the Silk Road is expanding. Now it is revitalizing Belt and Road Initiative. High development in highways, electric rail systems, rivers and maritime shipping, communication satellite technology, aircraft manufacturing technology, passenger transport vehicles, agricultural and food processing equipment and electronics are all noteworthy. The Chinese government has been remarkable in securing its natural beauty and the eco-system all across the nation.

Through science and technology, with the help of advanced agricultural practices, the development of food crops and livestock products, information technology for industrial, medical, and agricultural products can help China to make people's development a reality. For this purpose, each province and region has implemented its own development activities from a common national policy. A linear relationship has been established between the pre-school system and universities and affiliated research institutions. This is the reason for the new economic renaissance in the country.

If you visit South and Eastern provinces of China you will see how they have expanded tea cultivation. China also boasts some mouthwatering local recipes. Shandong, Sichuan, Chongqing, Anhui, Hunan and Guangdong are homes of culinary delights.

Beginning in 2003, the Beijing Olympic Summer Village and its associated sports complex, as well as the Olympic flame, the famous Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube all opened in 2008.

The second visit was for training held under the banner of Agricultural Mechanization and Standardization for Developing Countries in July, 2016, at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences in Beijing. During that period I studied agricultural machinery and subsidiary products processing machinery in China.

One day from Beijing our group members boarded a high-speed train and traveling at 360 kilometers per hour reached Shanghai in five hours.
I was lucky to visit the Oriental Pearl Tower with 20 of my colleagues during our training period. This tower is situated on the bank of Huangpu River. It is the fifth-tallest in the world with an excellent outdoor activities and exhibition platform around its square. In addition a large number of people can gather on the ground floor.

The total height of the tower is 410 meters. It is built in the shapes of three spheres of different sizes between 78 to 98 meters, 259 to 267 meters and 345 to 351 cm. High-speed elevators are provided to travel from the ground to the second sphere and from the second to the third sphere. It can easily carry 20 people at one time. Everyone has to pay and take a boarding ticket when accessing the ground floor and pay separately for other facilities in the tower. The tower has magnificent enclosure facilities to inspect the surrounding area from each of the 15 floor level observatories. In the ground level there are many recreation facilities, such as museum shop, cafe, food center, chocoholic center to taste handmade chocolates; flower bar for enjoying fragrant garden and Coca-Cola bar with old Shanghai street shop among them. In the first spacious premises, a fun tour can be turned into a roller coaster, 5D cinemas and a variety of sports facilities. Second spacious premises has a 1.5 thickness transparent glaze with 3600 observatory. It is first and the only one in the world. The Revolving Restaurant is a unique civil engineering work that is available from 263 to 267 meters from the air. I saw a panoramic view of Shanghai from the most elegant revolving restaurant there. The majority of visitors only reach this level may be because they are unable to pay more to visit the upper levels. From the topmost point in the Space Capsule you can watch the whole area of Shanghai. At the height from 351m to 410m is the radio and television communication zone of the tower.

After getting down the magnificent tower we reached the banks of the Huangpu River. Its flows around the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Tower, Shanghai Tower and Shanghai World Financial Tower etc. It is the Mother River and also the largest river of Shanghai. There are three vessels named "China", "Oriental Pearl" and "Oriental Peal 2" waiting to take visitors on a cruise on the river. Every cruise has extraordinary sightseeing decks, spacious and comfortable sightseeing cabins. Every organization in Shanghai has organized 50 minutes and 45 minutes duration Huangpu river cruise in their program. Many people are looking forward to this magnificent scenic area. Our cruise liner set sail at around 10 am in the morning. We passed slow moving cargo vessels. There is a very famous Garden Bridge I saw over the river within a few minutes of travelling. This is one of the greatest and ancient architecture in contemporary performances built in 1907. The spirits of the urban development with modern architectural design and landscape of Shanghai on both sides of Huangpu River soothed my mind.

I was able to visit Agricultural Demonstration Village in Changshu. It has opened up new avenues for tourism. We traveled by small open electric carts that are access interiors of farm villages for inspection of the cultivation activities.

I hope to visit again China.