“Technology and urbanization have not erased the past, but rather made the convenience of everyday life and the excitement of culture within more reach than ever.”
Chloe Zhan, 2025 Internship Program Participant
October 28, 2025
Coming back this year as an intern in Shanghai, I was surprised at the massive changes that had occurred. While previously bullet trains only stopped in large cities, now, the enormous network of bullet train and subway stations makes spontaneous weekend trips a walk in the park. My friends and I traveled to Wu’Xi one Saturday for under 100 RMB! Life is now more convenient and digital: there were clean public toilets easily to be found, food was ordered with a QR code, and apps like Dazhongdianping and Xiaohongshu turned restaurant/café discovery into a fun adventure.
I’ve visited China almost every summer as a child, but after spending the past few summers abroad due to COVID-19, I was excited to see the country with fresh eyes. As a child, my memories of China were shaped by narrow alleyways bustling with barter, meals in timeworn eateries where overly warm grandmothers and grandfathers served us on rickety chairs, and long afternoons lost in solemn museums lined with bronze relics whose dark forms left an enduring imprint on my fascination of ancient China.
At the same time, I was also surprised at how China is using this modernization to put its cultural heritage under a brighter international spotlight. Museums are now thronged with people, assisted by digital exhibits that make history come alive. Every major city has a thoughtfully designed cultural street, lined with white walls and gray-tiled roofs, which at dusk is lit by lanterns and lights that look like a real-life C-drama backdrop. My image of China has now shifted from a land of traditional antiquity to one in which modernity and heritage coexist. Technology and urbanization have not erased the past, but rather made the convenience of everyday life and the excitement of culture within more reach than ever.
To learn more about the Harvard China Fund Internship program, click here.