The only Disney princess story I grew up with was Mulan. A powerful story, with no marriage becoming a solution for everything in life. Then, when I was around high school or early college, my Dad took my late Mother to China for a holiday (without their growin-up kids, pfft), and showed me very beautiful pictures of landscapes and trees, and I swore to myself that I needed to visit this country, and it should be an academic invitation rather than a holiday. I don't say having a holiday is bad, but I am curious about the thought exchange with their own people and having the opportunity to be introduced to their culture and food by their think tank. It's a different experience, you know. China is rising from the most populated country in the world "stigma" to a tech and economic giant, and I want to witness on my own what they do differently from us; how they think; what kind of life they are having; and so many more questions.

I hit the jackpot. I worked my ass off for a field that I thought wasn't interesting at all, but it is my principle that whatever work lands in my mailbox, no matter what the billing is, I will just do my best. It turns out that my effort was seen and valued; then, in the blink of an eye, I received an honorary invitation to speak at a high-level academic forum, in a field that I enjoy the most: museums and parks. The invitation was intended for my name only, and not to be exchanged with others. With adjustments to my packed personal schedule that month, leaving my toddler with my supportive husband at home, I finally stepped into the country of my dreams and one of the world's dinosaur hotspots: China.

There were so many fossils that even it was sold legally as a merch

It was relatively cold when I arrived in Chengdu, and I was picked up by a PhD student. He was not that fluent in English, but I could feel his excitement in taking care of me. The drive to the hotel took around one hour, and I was the first international guest to arrive. Who would have guessed that Sichuan and Bali now have a direct flight? A very interesting fact. The PhD student took me to a very nice breakfast, where we discussed developments and studying in China at length. He told me that nowadays having PhD in China is a good option as you will be well-paid, even enough for supporting a small family. There is no need for young generation to study abroad like in the past. He is also working at the Natural History Museum, where the main event was held, but he needed to take off first, then I had time to explore the city on my own before lunch. During that first lunch, the Impostor syndrome hit so hard. How come a young person with no real fieldwork experience in paleontology and geology, who has not even started her PhD yet, can sit with these people? Later in the dinner, the banquet was even more formal. It was a welcome dinner with high-level stakeholders who funded my travel and the overall event. I sat next to Chengdu Natural History Museum's director, a very energetic man named Tao Su, who was so kind that he even added my WeChat personally after the dinner. 

A table full of prominent figures (except me ofc) in paleontology and its conservation

Chengdu Natural History Museum at night, the design is mimicking mountains that surround the city. China does a good job in balancing their ancient cultures and modernity, I admit. I stayed at hotel across, so lucky.

A tour to Chengdu Natural History Museum and guided by the director himself. When else can I get this opportunity?

Over the next few days, I had the opportunity to be introduced by my number one female supporter at the moment (and I will be forever thankful to her for how she worked hard to ensure that I could join this event) to her peers, senior paleontologists. People who discovered dinosaur eggs and nests, or ancient cycas, or worked in a fossil museum for more than a decade. I kept asking what I was doing there, but I just placed my enthusiastic and confident face, and nothing else. Pretending I had no fear of being at their tables. I loved talking to them, but more than anything, I loved talking with the local museum staff and liaisons. Because who knew I could be fed up with the dinosaurs there, although the visit to the fossil and dinosaur museum and the National Parks was still thrilling? After a long 3-day symposium where I also delivered an oral speech, and then followed by 3-day field trip surrounded by dinosaurs and fossils, I enjoyed discussion over dinners or on the bus trip with the locals about other things in life and made some observations. That is what I will write more here, something beyond the dinosaurs.

A National Park that revives a fossil wood excavation site. The museum building's design behind is mimicking the fossil wood.

Real fossil woods placed as if a fossil forest reconstructed in its real location

Before departure, my colleague, who had completed her PhD at one of China's top universities, told me that China is notorious for theft and that people often avoid queuing. But now it is different. People are polite (not in a warm way), but they queue, and it is relatively safe. The line at airport immigration was so efficient, better than the US the last time I was there, and even the white Westerners seemed obliged to the officers (a rare sight in Bali, lol). The committee still warned us about how people might try to scam us online, though. However, I did not experience any pickpockets, unlike what I did in Malaysia. Chengdu is a big city with empty stores. Local students informed me that people nowadays buy almost everything online, except for food. That is why, no matter how far I walk, I will only find food stalls.

Chengdu, a city full of people and food

A chaotic but lovely wefie with experts from US, Thailand, Japan, and Cambodia. In broken English we unite!

Another interesting conversation was about money. There was one time that the local liaison was so surprised that I used Alipay in a gift shop (ofc I installed it I wanted to pay like local and it was so effin hard to find RMB in money exchange in Bali - I wondered why but now it's answered), saying that it is so rare that tourist will use app rather than cash. I explained to him how I worked in the IT industry before transitioning to environmental conservation and how Indonesia is also familiar with QR payment gateway, and before we knew it, we had long conversations about how young people thrive in China nowadays.

I feel belong to this museum and park group; they eat good food and talk about how to make it

He's around my age and married, with no kids. He said it is a common conception of being childfree in China because the youths start to think that children may bring no happiness in life, and they are fine with it. Additionally, China is shifting its focus from manufacturing to the tourism industry, as before COVID-19, the Chinese were relatively conservative with their spending and typically spent very little, allowing them to afford a house. However, after the pandemic, and in light of the realization that life is short, people began to think more about enjoying their lives and consider not owning a house as acceptable. This shift is huge, making China starts to spend a lot of money in renovating their museum and parks, change all the old directors to young, and mostly women, and this position is not for long; they will be at the office for 2-3 years or so, then replaced again, to ensure that there will be new approach and innovative ideas going on around.

The Zigong Salt History Museum

During the event, I had the rare opportunity to visit a salt mine industry museum in a National Park in Zigong, only to discover how ancient the industry of mining salt from the rocks is (yes, not from the ocean; Sichuan is far from the ocean). It might reveal the innovativeness of the ancient Chinese people and their conflict with Japan, but to me, it showcased the highest level of being human: thinking. When we face limitations in obtaining essential things in life and have no access to them, what do we do? We think. Cogito, ergo sum. To this day, I can still hate someone simply because they lack interest in improving their cognitive abilities. To not have a plan, to not think far the impact of their actions, to not think how others think. They don't realize that our strength as humans is only that we are able to think about thinking. In China, I witnessed that no matter how pissed off you can be with Chinese customs, you need to admit that their civilization is still top-notch in many things; from salt mining to cooking, and yes, I tried so many foods here that I never thought could be eaten before. 

A display reminding me Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC

Tourism in China is so serious that they have even established a level in their parks. Specific level indicating the quality of the building, knowledge, protection, and system, and park or museum directors are competing with each other to achieve a higher level. It's becoming a prestige, and with this system, it is raising the standard automatically. People I met say that competition is so common in China, so you have to be the best in everything. It is a good climate for their industries. However, one person said that the government is there to help you. If you are laid off because your industry is obsolete, the government will provide you with training to enable you to work in a new industry, and they will also help build that new industry. 

The use of dinosaur robots in a museum owned by a businessman, located in the middle of his own manufacturing complex

After a very packed seven-day journey in China, I sat alone waiting for my flight back to Bali and thinking. Apart from realizing that I was a lucky bastard in life (to be visiting museums and parks surrounded by real professors and paleontologists who guided me), I questioned myself. Why is China serious about its dinosaur excavation and study? I conclude that it is to learn and make money out of it. They learn about its biology, mechanisms of bones, structure, and behavior. They copy it for their robot industry, then sell it to the world for tourism (and yes, Thailand has bought one of them). Or, to make it as an information to build their museum and sell the tickets, then give back to fund the scientific research. It's insanely smart - I think. However, from an ethical standpoint, it raises a question: do we need to profit from any discoveries made in science? 

Holding a ginkgo leaf in my hand and longing for my son and husband, I was questioning myself: Is it the only way to make science survive?