ASIA: "...on a stick"

Americans have a reputation for putting just about any food (the more processed the better) on a stick, deep frying it in oil, and then serving it at three dollars a pop. In China, "on a stick" is taken to an entirely different level. Take for example starfish or scorpion. (photos courtesy of Katherine Michalik)

ASIA: Back to class on a Monday…complete with Pandas

Today we were back to class after our first day off yesterday. In the morning, we had a lecture on organizational behavior in China. Our professor shared his insights into the difference between American and Chinese organizational culture based on his personal experience and research. It was incredible to see the differences in responses that American executives and Chinese executives had to identical case studies. I think all of us had a good idea there would be differences but seeing how pronounced they were in surveys was pretty powerful. After lunch, we were fortunate enough to have the CIO of China Life Insurance Company speak to us about the insurance industry in China.

In the afternoon a number of us headed towards the center of town to check out the Beijing Zoo. They have 5 or 6 Giant Panda’s there which were great to see. The zoo also had a large assortment of monkeys mostly from the southern parts of China. They provided a great deal of entertainment for our group. It was also pretty interesting to see fairly common North American animals in the zoo; for example I can’t really imagine anyone stopping by the National Zoo in D.C. to get a glimpse of a bullfrog but they have one here in Beijing.

All in all it was yet another good day. I think many of us have gotten comfortable in the city after a week of adjustment and exploring. It is hard to imagine we have less than a week left here.

-Teddy Wolynec

Asia: When in Beijing, Beijieu

Saturday: Our first non class day. The scheduled activities are visiting the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. The Great Wall is world renowned, but the Summer Palace lingers in relative obscurity. I think this is a cultural lapse, because the Summer Palace is amazing. It is an enormous lake, located about 5 minutes away from our hotel. Surrounding the lake are many intricate temple-like buildings, but the real treat is in the scenery. Every vantage point offers breathtaking views. It is the unsung hero of Beijing heritage. We were scheduled for two hours. I spent five.

Probably the most interesting aspect of Beijing culture (to me), is the attitude of bargaining. Everything is bargainable. Beers? Yes. Watches? Yes. Nunchuks? Yes. Ten percent seems to be about the standard relationship of actual input price to stated price. A woman in the silk market explained: 1200 yuan was her going rate for a knockoff rolex, but her input price - the price she bought it at - was 135 yuan (a price that I'm still skeptical of). She would sell for 140 yuan after intensive bargaining and occasionally, vendors would offer a product at cost to make sure that their competitor wouldn't make the sale. I would like to discover the roots of this practice. It seems counterintuitive that competition could get so extreme that someone would sell something for the same amount it cost them just to spite someone else. A whole book could be written purely on the economics of the Silk Street.

I'm going to leave most of the vague platitudes for a later post, but practically, don't take anything at face value. There is much more going on that isn't said than in America, and I'm not sure that even years of practice would let me understand it all. Also, bargain for everything and don't sleep too much. Plus if someone is a really kind soul and would like to ship Rosetta Stone: Mandarin to me, I'll be in Shanghai, at the Radisson. When I get back to the United States, I'll buy you some drinks of Beijieu...

--Bill Bridges

ASIA: The Great Wall

Group photo taken at the Great Wall of China!

Asia: Food and More Food

Lauren Schmidt, Joe Goings, and Jen Solomon enjoying the local fare.

Asia: Photos from the Great Wall of China

Lauren Schmidt, Phi Trinh, and Bill Bridges

CHINA: Katherine Arrived Today!

We did not get to see [Katherine, our program manager,] much since we had class all day long. So for this post, I will talk about my impressions of Peking University and the classes so far. I think it is clear that we are all very impressed by the infrastructure of Peking University, the organization of the DBIC program, and the expertise of all of the professors.

The campus is really beautiful. I particularly enjoy the enormous climbing wall conveniently located on campus and 5 minutes away from our hotel. So it's been very easy to take advantage of the one hour lunch breaks to play around on the wall, and even make friends with some other Chinese student climbers.

I think everyone also really enjoys the food on campus so far. Lunch is amazing. Every day, there is a wide variety of both Chinese food such as dumpling, sesame chicken, pig ears (delicious!), etc... and more Americanized options like pizza. We are fed almost every 2 hours with mango, papaya, dragon fruit, and delicious Chinese pastries during breaks between class. Needless to say, for anyone who was worried, we are definitely not starving!

The classes have also been really good and entertaining. We have a different professor every day. Today, class was taught by professor Li-An Zhou, who gave an interesting lecture on economic development, government, and the business environment in China. I find it very interesting to hear the various perspectives that the professors have on the Chinese government, but also the reasons behind China's fast economic growth.

Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting day since we are going to go visit the Great Wall and the Summer Palace!

-Tiphany Rigaudias

CHINA: My Days Are Numbered

20. That is the number times each day I am literally almost run over by either a bicycle, car, or another pedestrian. If you think I'm a bad driver, I challenge you to come to Beijing. When riding in the taxi (without a seat belt, mind you) I grab onto myself for fear I might fall forward. The drivers ignore not only pedestrians (when you're walking, you either move it or lose it) but the lines on the road also seem to be optional. I was reading in Postcards from Tomorrow Square (a collection of articles about China from The Atlantic Magazine) about how drivers in China are first generation drivers--they're new to the concept of driving cars safely. They haven't had previous generations of drivers to teach them. As the car industry is booming in China (GM may be suffering in the United States, but it's doing extremely well in China and is looking at investing more into this market), I can't help but wonder how long will it take for the generational knowledge to sink in.

798. Is the name of the modern art district in Beijing. Imagine white rooms filled with a huge ball of turf, a black room with pillows and room with a huge hairbrush. We had this outing yesterday instead of visting companies. We were supposed to visit Coca-Cola, Lenovo, and another company. But these were canceled because of the swine flu. They're taking it really seriously over here. (photo right, Lauren Schmidt)

4. That is the number of times I've eaten duck thus far. Peking duck is a Beijing specialty. All of this duck eating is unplanned, but its absolutely delicious. Four is also the number of class sessions I've had at Bei Da so far. (Bei Da is short for Peking University, where I'm studying at the Guanghua School of Management). The lectures are extremely informational, and it's such an unique way to experience Chinese higher education. We have presentations coming up next week, and I'm nervous!

40. Is the number of minutes I walked the streets of Beijing in the pouring rain today while carrying bags of things from Wal-Mart. The speed to which street vendors changed their merchandise to offer umbrellas amazed me. Although China is a communist country, its market is dynamic. Everyone in China is an entrepeneur in their own way. By the way, Wal-Mart in China is nothing like Wal-Mart in the United States. Instead of being large in size horizontally , the size is streched out vertically on different floors due to lack of space available to build.

"So much past inside my present" -Feist

We've visited many "cultural" places thus far--like Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the grounds of temples. While admiring the ancient architecture and soaking the stories of the past, you are sometimes awakened by the sight of a skyscraper or crane. At times it's hard for me to grasp that I'm sitting in one of the oldest cities I've ever visited but at the same time a city that is speeding towards the future with growth. I'm beginning to find that Beijing contradicts itself.

Whether I'm in class or getting lost (and sometimes wet) in the city, this quote keeps popping into my mind: "The test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise." -F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Posted by Phi Trinh

CHINA: yea, we're in China.

Yesterday it really hit home that we are actually in China. For the first few days, it hadn't quite sunk in yet, but visiting Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City sort of punches in you in the face with their Chinese-ness (so to speak). It was amazing to be in both places, since each obviously played a very different, yet equally indelible part in the country's history. The Forbidden City was so beautiful, and I was really surprised by how completely massive it is.

After our tour, a couple of us walked down to the Night Market by Wangfujing St. Its famous for having all sorts of crazy and exotic food items. While we were there, we saw scorpion, silkworm, sheep's penis, snake, centipede, stinky tofu (i.e. molding tofu) and grasshoppers. Everything is raw on skewers and out on display, and when you pick something they will toss it on the grill or deep fry it for you. We ran into an American who was trying the more exotic offerings - he recommended the scorpion, and said to avoid the centipede. In the end we gave the sea snake a go, and I have to say it was pretty okay.

Yea, we're in China.

-Erin Kazaz

CHINA: The importance of shopping with Eric Chen

I’m guessing when Oscar Wilde wrote his play that he had not experienced purchasing electronics in China. After owning my China Mobile phone for only a few days it stopped working. Since the phones instructions were in Mandarin, I went to the front desk to see if they could figure out why my phone suddenly stopped working. They said that I ran out of credit and recommended that I purchase more. For a service charge, the front desk “kindly” offered to purchase the credit for me and at the time this sounded good. But 230 yuans of credit later my phone still did not work.

After class today, I asked our Peking University student advisor what she thought was wrong with the phone. Instantly she was able to tell that I purchased an expired sim card. Therefore, regardless of how much credit I added without a new sim card my phone would not work.

So, what did I learn about doing business in China? While you may not want to leave home without your American Express in the states, in China, unless you speak Mandarin, you don’t want to leave home without Eric Chen (photo, right)!

-Jen Solomon

China: First Day at Peking U.

A handful of us (Eric, Jeremy, Rob O, Lee, Christopher and Claire) just got back from playing pick-up basketball on the courts at Peking University. Thought you'd like to see a picture of all of us.

China: Day two

Our first day in Beijing. After we got through the airport, Lauren, Phi, Robert, Teddy, and I hopped on the airport express train and headed towards the subway. When we got to our subway stop, I realized I didn’t have any cash to buy the ticket for the next leg of our trip to the hostel so I decided that I would run up to the street and take a look around for an ATM. As I was walking up the last stairs, I couldn’t help but wonder what I would encounter as soon as I got out into the open. Before I had time to even process what I was seeing, an Indian woman asked me for directions. I had been in the city for less than an hour and she came straight to me amidst the waves of Chinese people to ask where the subway was, in English. Since I had just come from there I was able to help her but it made me realize just how much we are going to stick out here. It’s hard to believe that we’re actually in China now but Beijing is very intriguing and we are going to explore further tomorrow.

- Rob

China: First group arrives!

Greetings from China!

We made it safely here, after a long 14 hour flight. We flew over the north pole, which was one of the more interesting views out the window - lots of glaciers and icebergs! Once we got to Beijing, health officials got on the plane and took our temperatures by pointing what looked like a radar gun at each of our foreheads. Then we had to pass through two more temperature screenings before we were finally cleared - guess they're very concerned about swine flu! It also wasn't nearly as crowded as we thought it would be, at least in the airport. Katherine, Rob, Rob, Phi, Teddy, and Prof. Harris and his flight were all on my plane. We exchanged currency, and then Rob asked one of the workers at a tourism booth to write out directions to our hotel in Chinese characters so that we could give it to a taxi driver. They did, but in return gave Rob money and asked him to buy cigarettes from the duty free store for them, which he happily did. We managed to figure out the subway system (which is very nice!) and got to our hotel stop. We asked a taxi driver outside to take us there, but he pointed that it was right around the corner, and for us to walk. Well, right around the corner in China is apparently about 3/4 of a mile - and we had all of our baggage with us! But we made it eventually. Now we're getting ready to go buy cell phones, and then meet up with everyone for dinner. So far so good! Hope everyone leaving for Europe early is having a great time! ~Lauren