Yongfoo Elite

We visited Stephen at his office today. He works for China Construction and Design, Inc.
We took some of his co-workers out to lunch. It was, I think, the only time I have been successful in paying for someone else's meal.

In the evening, his boss took us out to dinner. Another architect was also invited. Since both had spent a lot of time studying and working in the US, both were completely fluent in English. Their English was orders of magnitude better than any of the Chinese mathematicians here and better even than some Chinese mathematicians who live and work in the US. I never had the slightest temptation to speak any Chinese with them.

Dinner was a real experience. It was at Yongfoo Elite, which is an old western style villa that was once the British consulate. Within the walls there is a large garden and a mansion decorated with old art deco furniture from Shanghai and Europe. The dinner was kind of a modern fusion Chinese cuisine served Western style, meaning in individual servings for each person. I didn't take any pictures (as I was leaving I saw a sign forbidding photos), but I recommend checking out the web site to get an idea of what it is like.