Shenyang: Some Early Impressions

A city of 7 1/2 million,  Shenyang is northeast of Beijing.  It is a world apart from the US and practically no one speaks English.  On the whole, the people are physically attractive, friendly and polite.  There are no fat people.  One sees hardly any pets.  The city is bustlingly busy by 7AM and bicycles are everywhere.  Predictably, the cab drivers maneuver their vehicles like madmen, observing no rules of the road that I can discern.

The weather is warm, similar to Chicago, perhaps a little more humid.

We are being hosted by Northeastern University of China.  There is a lovely campus here with 20 thousand students.  We’ll be in concert tonight and tomorrow evening.  (As of actually posting this, our first concert already happened and was a huge success—we’re like rock-stars here now….).  The concert hall is modern, spacious and very elegant.   Flowers are everywhere.  Both concerts sold out in an hour so expectations are high.  The Ensemble Espanyol (sic) is a good-looking bunch:  apart from the musicians (!) nearly everyone is young and beautiful.  As they also dance well,  we shouldn’t disappoint…