Campus Abroad China - Part I

Hello everyone,

We are presently in Yichang, in the belly of the Chinese Chicken (central China), where the largest hydroelectric dam in the world has just been built. This engineering feat very much symbolizes the whole of China, of enourmous proportions, clockwork precision but tarnished appearance.

From the beginning of the trip so many things have happened, and I will try to give a swift account, which will be very poor however without the pictures that would normally accompany it.

June 17
Despite a botched departure by American Airlines, we made it in perfect working condition to Beijing, after testing the high-tech Japanese bathrooms in Tokyo.
June 18
Arrived in Beijing on the evening of the 18th, and we had steamed bread stuffed with meat as well as rediculously cheap beers (which will be a recurring theme througout the trip) at a local dive. Welcome to China!
June 19
Chinese breakfast is bigger and spicier than the American one!
We litterally climbed the Great Wall of China, as it is steep and rugged on top. Despite the heat, the sweat and the fatigue, CHinese people loevd taking pictures with us (especially Nick, as they thought he was Keanu Reeves).
Back at the guesthouse, I tried to exchange some USD and it took... 40 minutes! I will apply to the Guiness book of records for the longest exchange transaction ever!
Walking around the streets of Bei Jing, a few of us represented Canada in a street ping-pong competition.
After a ridiculous amount of food, we went to the Ho-Hai, a charming stretch around a lake filled with bars and restaurants.
June 20
Visited the state owned Bei Jing Electric Motor Company, our first contact with the Business world. They were very impressed with the amount and the quality of the questinos we asked... we passed the first test of not making a Chinese person loose face!
Then we had a taste of Chinese dissident culture in district 798, where art pieces of all kinds testify to the level of oppression experienced by the people - very underground until recently, but now a booming part of town.
June 21
Another day of cultural (re) education, visiting the fobidden palace, Bei-Hai park and finally ended up on Sanlitun in the embassy district. Half the group wanted western food, the other half wanted Chinese food, and in an effort worthy of the Olympic spirit, we met in the middle and went to an Egyptian restaurant!
At night some of us ate royally in a local dive and had enlightening discussions about evolutionnary psychology and gay monkeys.
June 22
Woke up early and did tai-chi in the park. It's not that easy...
Then we visited the SUmmer Palace, which has beautiful architecture and is even more impressive than the forbidden city. We dicided that we want our houses to have pavillions too and we agreed on the name of at least one of them: the Pavillion of Eternal Lavatory.
In the afternoon we had a great presentation by Julien Mazloum, product development director in a western company building infrared saunas. We learned a lot about the "dos and don'ts" for a western company trying to set up shop in China.
Then we went to celebrate St. Jean Baptiste with the Bei Jing Quebec community.
June 23
Meeting with a Western law firm, Blakes. Presentation by Anie Lagacee gave us yet another perspective on business risk in China.
In the afternoon we had a presentation by Olivier Rochefort from Radisson SAS about the hotel industry in China.
At night a couple of us went to meet Ray Plummer (we met him at the St Jean celebration). He is from New Brunswick and has been in CHina for the opast 13 years working for a construction project management company. An incredible guy with many stories from accross Asia, he introduced us to Bei Jing duck and Chinese white alcohol while providing us with yet another perspective on Chinese business and culture in general.
June 24
Personal project day: visiting the Hu-Tongs, ancient neighborhoods around the forbidden palace. Discovered many things about how the Chinese live and tried to insert ourselves into the beat, quite successfully I might add. Learned a lot about ancient Chinese architecture as well and how it eveloved over the years.
June 25
Flew to Yichang and set up HQs in the China Power Corp guesthouse. Went out and saw people dancing and playing all kinds of sports (including a Chinese version of the hacky-sack).
June 26
Presentation by the China YangZe Power Corp (CYPC) and visit of the Three Gorges Dam. We had access to restricted areas and saw the control room of the dam - very impressive.
This being another state owned corporation, we had some familiarity with the process, however it was a lot more official and structured.
At night we wondered the streets of Yichang and ended up in a local dive drinking 50 cent beers and talking about past international experiences.
June 27
Leaving for Shanghai!

This short overview cannot express the breadth of the experience, but it will satissfy at least the curiosity about the chronology of events. for some pictures please go to Patrick's blog at http://patrick.wfp.ca/.

Cheers everyone!

George