Today was our second day and Beijing and our last full day of the trip!! We woke up early and headed out to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Our hotel is located right downtown so we were able to walk to the Square. It was nice to be able to travel by foot and enjoy the city from a pedestrians view. Built from 1406-1420, with 9,999 ½ rooms, and 937m long the forbidden city is grandiose to say the least. It is still hard for me to comprehend the emperors’ lives for hundreds of years in this city.
After taking our time to walk through the main corridors, courtyards, and the imperial garden we enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch we headed to the Temple of Heaven. Here we were able to take some time to see the place where the emperor came to pray for only three days per year. We headed back to our hotel to freshen up for our last alumni event of the trip at Mesh bar. Three McGill alumnus came to speak to us about how they ended up in Beijing and the pros and cons of working here. It is always interesting to hear the various storylines of how people end up in their jobs today. For many of us graduating soon and considering doing work abroad, being able to speak with those who were in our shoes not too long ago is invaluable. After the cocktail we were left to explore a bit more of Beijing on our own time before our departure for Montreal or various other cities in Asia tomorrow!
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Today was our first full day in Beijing, and already allowed us to cross some items off our bucket lists. We gathered in the lobby early this morning, got on the bus and headed straight to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. The bus ride was over two hours long, so many of us used that time to catch up on sleep. Upon our arrival, we took a chair lift up to the wall, and walked (or jogged, in the case of Professor Polushin!) along the wall for about an hour. The weather was extremely sunny and hot (37° C), so we took breaks to cool off inside the many watchtowers along the wall, and sunglasses, hats, sunscreen, and water were musts.
We then had lunch at a restaurant at the foot of the wall, and got back on the bus to go to the Summer Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We admired the different palaces and lakes, walked through the Long Corridor, and took dragon boats across Kunming Lake. After our visit, we took the bus back to the hotel. We took some time to shower and change before walking to a nearby restaurant, where we had a reservation for a Peking Duck dinner. Today the LKS group took a plane to Beijing! We went straight from the airport to a financial services firm called China Galaxy Securities (CGS). The staff welcomed us warmly, gave us a tour of the office, and took us to a meeting room to discuss their company. The meeting was very informative. We gained insight on the financial services industry in China, the Chinese investor’s mindset, and capital control and regulations. Afterwards, we headed to our hotel and had the evening off to explore our surroundings and the delicious Beijing cuisine. After two busy and exciting days in Shanghai, we are eager to take a night off to rest and prepare for tomorrow. We are looking forward to visiting the Great Wall and discovering more of what Beijing has to offer.
As our time in Shanghai was short, we had a fully packed day that began with a walk along the Bund, a waterfront area where we had a perfect view of Shanghai’s architecturally impressive skyscrapers and buildings. After our walk, we went to the Old Town Market where we practiced our bargaining skills and proceeded to do some shopping, for renowned items such as pearls and silk. We then enjoyed a delicious dim sum lunch at a famous traditional restaurant.
In the afternoon, we visited the Jade Buddha Temple where we admired the towering Buddha statues and even had the chance to listen to a traditional Buddhist ceremony. We finished the afternoon with another shopping spree along Nanjing Road, a pedestrian street filled with vendors. The night was free and many of us enjoyed a walk down the Bund (a beautiful sight at night!) and a dinner out. We did not get much sleep during our final night in Shantou, as the group had to wake up before 5am for our 7:45 AM flight to Shanghai.
Upon our arrival in Shanghai, we were greeted by our local tour guide Cassandra. We got on our bus and headed straight to the French concession area, where we were given free time to walk around and have lunch at one of the many restaurants in the area. We were then driven to our company visit with SpaceStar Fund, a venture capital firm. It was interesting to learn about how this fund invests in specific industries, mostly in high tech fields, based on the Chinese government's economic development focuses. We then went to the Shanghai Museum, where we saw beautiful displays of Chinese ceramics, bronze artifacts, sculptures, furniture, jades, and minority traditional dress from different eras. Exhausted from our early morning, we checked in at our hotel and got some rest before enjoying our first free evening in Shanghai. Sadly, today is our last day at Shantou University. We started off the day with our final Business in China class with Dennis Lee, during which we discussed the future of the Chinese economy, as well as some Chinese etiquette for meeting with Chinese businesspeople or officials. He even brought some traditional Chinese 52° white rice wine and taught us how to drink it in formal settings.
After lunch, and as a follow-up of our session on Chaoshan businessmen, and our group's curiosity about gender roles and business in the area, Professor Lin spoke to us for an hour about female entrepreneurs in the region. Then, we learned about and practiced Tai-tchi with Betty. For the two afternoon sessions, we were joined by Professor Obukhova from Desautels, we had just arrived at the University for her research. In the evening, our local "buddies" organized a lovely farewell dinner for us at the 1981 restaurant. The evening was filled with good food and conversation, faculty and student speeches from both universities, and a lovely slideshow with the best photos of our stay put together by the buddies. On this Sunday, May 14th, we went on a day-long excursion to Nan'ao island, about two hours away from the University. As we drove across the very long and recent bridge connecting the island to the mainland, we all admired the astounding view of the South China Sea and island and took photos through the bus windows. After quite a bit of driving on the island itself, which once again led to breathtaking nature shots, we stopped to visit a well. We then got back on the bus and drove some more, to a seaside restaurant-resort at which we had a reservation for lunch. The food was delicious, and included lots of local seafood.
We then drove to the Tropic of Cancer mark, a tall statue indicating the point o f passage of the 23° of latitude line. We were then given about two hours of free time at the nearby beach. Many of us went for a swim in the water, which was relatively warm and clear, while others chose to just lay on the sand and enjoy the sun (we were lucky enough to have beautiful weather). Many students were surprised by how covered many locals remained on the beach, wearing long clothes and carrying umbrellas to avoid tanning, unlike many of our students. Following our afternoon at the beach, we returned home, stopping by the city center in Shantou to purchase tea from a local tea shop. Due to Sunday evening traffic, we did not get back to the university until around 7:30, and many of us were exhausted by this long day. After getting off the bus, some students went straight to East Gate to get some dinner, while the girls living on the 7th floor of the dorms headed straight home to make dumplings with their amazing Chinese roommates! We kicked off the weekend by spending the morning in Old Shantou, where we encountered local residents and their shops. It was interesting to see how the shopkeepers conducted their small businesses, which provided insight into the Chaoshan business culture that we learned about in class a few days prior. Following this, we went to newly-built Xidi Park, a park dedicated to overseas Chinese communities, and had a good view of Queshi Bridge.
After driving an hour to Chaozhou (also known as the Phoenix City) and having lunch, the group headed to Han Wen Gong Temple, a temple dedicated to Han Yu, who was a famous poet and politician who lived during the Tang Dynasty. The hike to the top was a little tiring, but the elegant, historical architecture and great view of Chaozhou made it worth it. We then planned to visit Guangji Bridge, but a sudden, heavy rain made us change our plans. As we huddled together underneath a small tent to wait out the rain, we really thought this was a great bonding time for our group. After the rain died down, some of us decided to go and explore the Old City of Chaozhou with thoroughly soaked shoes, while some others went back to the bus first. By the end of the day, despite being tired, wet, and miserable, we arrived back on Shantou University’s campus with new pictures on our camera rolls, and a tighter bond among ourselves. And we probably wouldn’t trade this unique experience for anything else. Our stay in Shantou is flying by fast. Today, May 12th, we started off the day with a breakfast on the 5th floor terrace of our dorm for some of us (who are experimenting local food bought at the university’s supermarket). Then, we took a bus to visit LaFang International Ltd. LaFang is actually the leader of cosmetics in China (with 8 bn RMB Market Capital), manufacturing personal care products such as shampoo, body gel, toothpaste etc. We were walked through the showroom of the company where we learned more about the history of LaFang, the products and their organizational structure. Some of us were amazed by the branding, the packaging or even the smell of the products, which were all very different from what we are used to in North America. Moreover, the technology displayed in the showroom was incredible – none of us predicted that when entering the headquarters of a shampoo manufacturing company. Later on we gathered in the conference room to ask our questions. The most striking thing for us was probably the three challenges that the company is currently facing and which reflect well the Chinese economic environment: fast changing consumers and market, increasing costs, changing communication techniques (particularly, mobile advertisement is going to increase).
As always, we went back to the campus for lunch and then headed back to class to learn more about culture with Prof. Shian-Yang Tzeng. The most striking thing for us, as two thirds of the group are female, is that gender equality has not yet reached the same level in China than in Canada. Most of our professors seem to hold very patriarchal views on the society. Nonetheless, young female students at Shantou have evolved towards more parity and equality. After a quick rest/dinner/nap, our group went up to the 8th floor of our residence for a “7-9” (meaning from 7 to 9pm) party organized by our buddies. Personally, I still cannot believe how welcomed we were. First received by the Dean (and offered tea), we broke into different rooms to play traditional Chinese games, Uno, Ma Jong, or just talk. It was amazing how well the whole evening was organized and how sweet and welcoming every local student was behaving towards us. After that, some of us went to East Gate to eat, as well as to take an express mandarin 101 course with local students! The morning began with an introduction by Professor Xie to the “Chaoshan Merchant Culture and Business Communication.” Chaoshan is a region comprised of 3 major cities in China (including Shantou) known for its specific business practices and values. Fun fact: 1 out of 6 Chinese businessmen abroad are from the Chaoshan region!
Professor Xie’s talk covered topics such as the value of strong relationships when doing business in Chaoshan, the power of the verbal promise when closing a deal, and the general differences between Western and Chaoshan business practices. He also discussed the traditional view of female and male roles in the Chaoshan culture. The rest of the morning was dedicated to physical activity, as the group was introduced to Chinese Shuttlecock, an intriguing sport fancied by Chinese in the northern part of China. The shuttlecock involved in this sport resembles a more colorful and larger version of the Badminton shuttlecock. The group had fun trying to keep it in the air and pass it around! Amidst the grey sky, the air was humid and hot, and soon, everyone was sweating and ready for a break. In the afternoon, Professor Gasiorowska gave us a lecture about E-Business. The group debated the place and importance of technology and apps in our lives. The professor also spoke about Mobile Commerce and the top brands in China by brand value. Later that night, a large part of the group went to eat a delicious dinner at East Gate, a lovely part of the campus that features small, street restaurants. The most adventurous of us went to eat hotpot, a traditional meal composed of meat, with some of the Shantou “buddies.” A great way to discover the local culture ! |