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We amass into the minivan: three adults and four children under the age of 8. We squeeze in a jogging stroller, three Razor scooters and seven bottles of ice the highest, and we're off.
I've just arrived in Guangzhou, China's third-largest city, and my niece, Jenny, and her relations are eager to show me the sights. It's my first trip to China, and I'm their first visitor in the two years since they moved here from Washington for my nephew-in-law's Nation Department job. No matter that it's dusk.
My nephew-in-law, Brian O'Connor, parks in a crowded outside shopping district and we emerge like circus clowns with props and squeals and manic American manners.
"Look at this! Look at this!" Brian shouts to the kids, who whiz through the alleys on the Razor scooters, skirting pedestrians, motor scooters and bicycles piled excited with cardboard for recycling.
Brightly colored clothing hangs from every vertical covering and is mounded on every horizontal one. Socks, underwear, lingerie, dresses, tank tops, lakeshore towels, pajamas, lace tights, shoes, scarves and hand-painted perform stridently buckles with portraits of President Barack Obama. One shop advertises: "Furnish Swimwear Gymsuit.
Source: Charlotte Observer