Blog #9: The Equestrian Club Makes Me Want to be Rich

Wednesday, May 20th 

Michelle, our Beijing tour guide, explained a little bit about living in Beijing. Apparently, most average apartments are $7000/sq meter...This sounds unbelievably high to me, but China overall sounds expensive to live, especially in Hong Kong in Beijing...

Everyone also carries multiple cards of identification. They have their ID card and family card, which shows where you and your family are from(i.e. if you're a native Beijinger). Plus, their driver's licences. I can't understand why anyone would want to drive a personal car in China.

We had one our best lunches today! Everyone seemed very happy with it. 
Toffee apples were perfection; this was definitely my favorite Chinese food. Cooked pork fat, which no one else seemed to like, but myself. The sweet and sour pork was one of the best we had our trip(plus, no bones) and peppered beef was to die for! 

The Equestrian Club--the moment that Jordan and I had been waiting for. What lay in store for us had my jaw dropping. Here were some of the stats for being a member of the Equestrian Club we toured: 
-$15,000 initiation fee
-$500 every year for continued membership
-$20,000 to board a horse. I'm hoping this was for a year and not a month. 
-There were 500 members, but only 60 of them owned horses. 

-139 horses resides on the premises 
-The Club transports all its hay from Northern China. Nothing is internationally imported. 

To make the point clear, this was top-notch, high level, and for China's elite. People who had money to burn. Horses aren't just hay burners, you know. They burn your wallet pretty fast too--especially in China. 

The breeds that resided in the barns were American quarter horse, warm bloods, and we spotted an Andalusian. 
There are shows and competitions that many of the boarders and members partake in. Its  called the China Equestrian Tour. They compete from April to November. 

European and American trainers are invited to train and teach. 

The club we visited was famous mostly because actors/celebrities came there. Overall, it was a beautiful facility with three indoor arenas, an outdoor arena, two-story lounge, a wine and cigar cellar(what the heck is that anyway?), professional buildings and lawn work(presentation matters), and best of all--beautiful horses. 

We attended a meeting with DuPont/Pioneer, where the speaker happened to have lived in Nebraska for a short time and made a joke about Nebraska roads that I openly laughed along with. I get you, man. 

One of the things he said was that the government likes to keep the farmers happy. The reason? Because most of the revolutions that overthrew Chinese governments were started by farmers. 

The tea house was very educational and entertaining. We sampled a wide variety of teas from a basic black tea to a fruit tea that was made with dried fruit. They all were delicious and had their own distinct flavor and use for something in the human body. 

Our group was welcomed to MAFIC(Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Center) in the warmest ways possible. We each were paired with one of the students; my partner's name was Emily. She was almost 30 years old and working on her PHD in swine nutrition. 

I learned about Chinese modern culture, what they thought of us and our culture, and it was all very eye-opening. My entire trip I had been looking for the actor/singer Han Geng(because he is life) and I found out the reason he was no where to be found was because he wasn't the most popular. And the reason for him not being the most popular was because he "wasn't that handsome", according to Emily. 

I beg to differ...

I just loved the experience at MAFIC. It was great to get to know the students and bond in only a few short hours. Katrina(a former SDSU student) is currently teaching English there and we discussed that as a career choice for myself. Its a possibility...She was just starting there and didn't have a whole lot to share with me yet. I might have to find a way to contact her in the future.