Danelle - Review of Trip to China

Final Blog - Review of Trip to China

I have considered several ways to write my reflections of our trip to China. However, I have so many thoughts and observations , I decided it was best to break them down into categories. In doing so, my hope is that my thought stream will be easier to follow and I can make my points faster and more efficiently.

Shanghai v. Beijing

I agree with Molly that Shanghai is very much like New York City. There is a lot of hustle and bustle (considering the some 16+ million residents), it has an exciting night life, and the locals are very welcoming and accommodating to foreigners. Many of the locals I saw appeared fairly young and "hip", the architecture was a mix of traditional Chinese, British and modern designs with the skyline impressively illuminated in the evening. There seemed to be endless construction projects all over the city to further improve the city's infrastructure as well in preparation of the 2010 Expo that Shanghai is hosting in a few months. In fact, there is so much construction, the running joke is Shanghai's official bird is the "crane". I was surprised to hear that these construction projects were typically 24 hour operations. In some cases, as in Beijing, the government gave no second thought to tearing down homes for the sake of projects that they deemed important enough to uproot people from their place of residence. As we know, this would not happen so easily in the U.S. Homeowners would take the matter to court.

Beijing is like D.C. in that it is a place of politics. In comparison to Shanghai however, it was far less accommodating to foreigners and its architecture and evening skyline was lackluster. Although they had a nightlife scene and a fascinating night market, it did not compare to Shanghai as the general tone of the city was far more conservative. Also, English was not spoken as commonly as it was in Shanghai which made getting around on our own more challenging. However, I do not hold the language barrier against anyone in China as I think Chinese tourists in the U.S. would be hard pressed to find Americans who speak their language and could accommodate them. I do take issue with unwillingness to assist someone despite a language barrier which is something I experienced while I was in Beijing.

Traffic in both cities was horrendous. I was shocked to see how aggressive the drivers are and how careful but daring pedestrians have to be. I am surprised we did not see more accidents. The couple we saw were far less serious than I expected to encounter. The highway system in both cities is massive and complex, however I did not expect it to be so confusing that the taxi cab drivers we hired had trouble finding our destinations (one driver even had a GPS!). The drivers' frustration with being lost and their outbursts (which were in Chinese but I think it is safe to assume they were swearing) are very typical of a taxi cab driver in the U.S. Part of their frustration came from figuring out which cluster of apartment buildings we needed to get to. The way the apartment buildings are situated is very much like a subdivision of homes you would find in the U.S. This makes sense to me in terms of providing a livable space for residents and families. After driving through the front gate, I noticed the apartment buildings in these clusters were surrounded by trees and walking paths and typically the center had a park or play area. Outside of the gate, the address for the cluster of apartments is displayed. Despite this, the cab drivers seemed very perplexed as it was difficult to figure out the specific location of the buildings that were my destination.

The number of bicycle drivers is overwhelming but makes good sense in terms of fitting more people on the road and being kinder to the environment. My only concern was seeing children (some were school age children and others were as young as, perhaps, 2 years old) on the back of these bikes as the drivers cut through traffic. On the other hand, I thought the motorized bikes with attached passenger cabs were innovative despite their lack of aesthetic appeal.

All in all, being in Beijing felt like I was in any of the larger cities in the U.S. whereas being in Shanghai created a more specific and intense feeling. Shanghai, with the combination of its illuminated multi-tiered highways, elaborate skyline and quick stepping crowds made me feel like one of 16 million pin balls in a pinball machine.

On a different note, pollution in both cities was horrendous. As soon as we deplaned in Shanghai I noticed the poor air quality. It made it very uncomfortable to breathe and I was relieved I did not get a sinus infection. I heard residents in both cities coughing up phlegm regularly...it was very unpleasant. The day we left Beijing there was a sandstorm early in the morning. I remember waking up and seeing this amazing golden brown color outside. I wasn't sure what is was but was taken aback by it as I had never seen anything like it before. Interestingly, I found out when I came home that the sandstorm caused the quality of air in Beijing to be pushed to level 5 pollution, the most severe , or poorest quality of air.

Hotel Accommodations

I made a few observations about our hotel accommodations that I think are important enough to mention. When I first entered my room in Shanghai it took me a few seconds to figure out I needed to put my keycard in the slot mounted on the wall. Not realizing I needed to keep the card there to avoid turning the lights off, I removed the card and was confused and a little worried about how I was going to make my way around my room at night without any electricity! Luckily I figured it out with help from my classmates. I assumed after our visit to ABB that this is a method to measure and control the use of electricty.

The beds at both hotels were very hard. When I first sat down on my bed in Shanghai I was very surprised when I hurt my back a little when I landed on the bed. I was expecting the mattress to be as soft as any bed in an American hotel. This made me a little apprehensive about sleeping on it for several nights, but it actually was quite comfortable. Luckily I was not sharing a room, so my bed was a normal queen size bed unlike those who shared a room and had double beds that were connected! I had never seen that before either.

I was very impressed with the customer service at Broadway Mansions Hotel. I appreciated their approach in asking guests to complete surveys and the gift they gave you for doing so. The accommodations and customer service at Best Western, however, were completely unacceptable. Aside from the shabby feel, the worst part of the stay was being locked out of my room before I checked out. I do not know if that is a Best Western issue or a cultural issue, but, once again, I had never seen anything like that before.

Home Visits

In regards to the home visits, I got lucky to have an opportunity to meet with two different families. The first visit I went on was originally scheduled for Bukky and Kelly, but I went in Bukky's place. We met with Jeanie and Sarah, who were cousins, at Sarah's parents' apartment. When we arrived we took our shoes off, introduced ourselves to everyone in the home and were given a tour of the apartment. The apartment was spotless and there was no carpeting - which makes sense to me considering carpet is a dirt and bacteria trap. Bare floors are better for your health, especially if you suffer from allergies. Jeanie explained that the furniture and the fish tank were arranged in a Feng shui manner. We learned from Jeanie and Sarah that Facebook is not allowed in China but that there is a way to break the security wall that blocks the Facebook website - however, the fact that it can be done is a secret and not something they wanted to talk more about. Sarah accidentally revealed that she had been dating her boyfriend for a few years rather than a few months as her family was led to believe. Apparently, Sarah was not following proper Chinese dating etiquette and was a bit of a rebel. Both girls were very friendly and eager to exchange questions and answers about each of our cultures. Sarah informed us, at the age of 23, she was graduating from medical school soon. She hopes to marry her boyfriend and would like to visit the U.S. but is not sure if she ever will. Jeanie was less revealing of her personal life but was very pleasant. I noticed both girls were very giggly like teenagers rather than twenty-something year olds. The thought had crossed my mind that perhaps their giggly stage came later than ours or perhaps it lingers longer than ours. Maybe they were just that excited about having us over? Either way, I got the impression that the girls were still maturing.

Sarah's mother cooked a traditional dim sum, which was delicious, and I was enjoying every bite until the girls expressed the importance of me and Kelly eating the large bowls of soup given to us. We were gorging ourselves with this soup to avoid being rude. This may have saved us as Sarah's mother kept returning to the living room with more dishes, one of which was a plate of roasted chicken feet that neither of us had any intention of touching.

When we were leaving and saying our goodbyes, I caught myself attempting to hug Sarah's mom and stopped myself when I saw her just staring at me motionless. I was on autopilot and saying my goodbyes just as I would at home. Sarah and Jeanie laughed at this and explained to Sarah's mother what I tried to do. She looked confused and giggled then bowed and said goodbye. Sarah and Jeanie had no problem initiating a hug just before we got into our cab.

My second visit was with George at Frances Zhou's home. After a wild cab ride to her place, we met with Frances, her daughter Margaret, and Frances' parents. When we arrived, Frances did not expect us to take our shoes off and in fact insisted we keep them on if we were more comfortable that way. She introduced us to her parents and her daughter and then gave us a tour of her home. Frances' apartment was not carpeted, was spotless, and was not overly furnished - this was true of Sarah's home as well. Margaret's room was the most elaborate and had the most furniture. In the bathroom, Frances' father had left buckets of live fish he caught a few days earlier in the bathtub. They seemed a little embarrassed about this, but George quickly explained that this was typical of any fisherman and in fact he was very familiar with fishing and understood the work that is involved in preparing fish for a meal. Frances took us to the front porch where we chatted a bit about work and politics. Her daughter, Margaret, was very hyper and fidgety. She was obviously excited about having us in her home and wanted to impress us with her knowledge of the English language by blurting out the random English words she knew. At one point she whispered in her mom's ear some questions she wanted to ask me. Her mom translated the questions. Margaret asked why do I have gold hair, a nose that turns upwards, and what is that stuff that I have on my eyelashes. I adored her curiosity and willingness to ask those questions. Her inquiry was actually a great segue for me to present her with a gift I brought for her. It was a book written for children to help them understand that despite all the different places people come from we are all the same. Margaret seemed genuinely pleased with the gift and flipped through the pages until we left. I couldn't help but feel that this little girl is definitely going to be part of a whole new breed of Chinese citizens and she will not have the same mindset as the older generations. After the exchange of gifts, Frances took us to the piano room where Margaret played the piano like a baby Mozart (a result of practicing one hour every day for the past year and a half). Then, Frances and her mother sang traditional Chinese folk songs to us while Frances' father played a Chinese musical instrument and Margaret played the piano.

While George was being entertained by Frances' family, she asked me, quite excitedly, if I would like to see her wedding picture. I followed her to her bedroom and she pointed to the picture hanging above her bed. She explained it was tradition to hang your wedding picture there. I like that tradition and was tickled that she was so giddy about showing me her wedding picture - it was kind of a "girl bonding" moment.

I noticed both Sarah's father and Frances' husband were working late on the nights I visited them. They both explained Chinese men typically work long hours, sometimes as many as 13 hours per day. I do not think it is unusual for American men to work long hours, but it was obvious that working long hours in China was more common. I suppose the late hours they work is convenient in terms of coming home just in time for dinner since dinner is served later in the evening compared to when many Americans have dinner.

Looking back, I realized that both of my hostesses seemed more relaxed and less guarded than myself and my classmates. I think we (me, Kelly and George) were a little uptight and afraid of saying or doing anything to embarrass ourselves or insult our hostesses. Regardless, the home visits were definitely one of the highlights of the trip. My family and many of my colleagues have been impressed by the opportunity we had to visit with local Chinese families.

Acrobat Show

I noticed some differences in theater etiquette between Americans and the Chinese (with the exception of theater in New York City which is a whole different beast). Pictures were taken during the show and at the end of the performance the audience immediately evacuated rather than waiting for the performers to take their final bow. I have never seen an audience do that before.

Company Visits

Hands down, McDonald's in China beats McDonald's in the U.S. in every category (except the restrooms). I haven't eaten fast food regularly since I was in my early twenties; however I have to admit, the sweet taro pies and strawberry milkshakes at Mc Donald's in China were very good. The cheeseburgers were fresher and all around tastier. The McCafe drinks were impressive as well - they certainly exceeded expectations. And last but not least, the spicy chicken sandwich lived up to its reputation. The executives from Mc Donald's that we met with explained that in order to win over Chinese consumers, the quality of the products served had to meet the consumers' expectations. Not only are the products they serve that can be found in the U.S. tastier and fresher, they made some minor changes to their menu to accommodate the tastes of Chinese consumers. For instance, rather than apple pie they serve taro pie, corn, and fresh chicken wings (never frozen). I assume American consumers have come to not expect much from McDonald's and therefore they can continue to operate as they always have here.

I also noticed their kitchen was spotless, they had a hostess who assisted with parties (I have never seen this in the U.S.), and although McDonald's in the U.S. markets to young consumers, the energy and all around effort put into capturing the young consumers in China seemed so much more striking. I was also impressed with how McDonald's took care to train their staff as well as their executive team in a way that is conducive to the success of the brand.

Our visit with C-Trip was the most odd and uncomfortable visit. However, it was the most valuable of the visits because it was the only Chinese owned company. Seeing firsthand how a Chinese owned company operated was priceless. The office where the operators were sitting in those mini-cubicles gave me the impression the owners were running a technology sweatshop. I could not believe the long hours these young people work and how they were being brainwashed to perform. This was a great example of how free thought is suppressed. I was also very uncomfortable when Frances had not made any attempt to have our questions answered ahead of time. It was very awkward having to refer to our list of questions and watching how uneasy the C-Trip manager was with answering these questions. The most shocking occurence was being told not to mention we spoke with the manager before we spoke with the Human Resources Director as this was a major disrespect to Human Resource Director. That was a fantastic example of a difference in the business culture in China. Additionally, based on how guarded the employees were about sharing information about the company with us, I am sure that if we asked questions related to any of the research me and Nanzi had done, i.e. the lawsuit against the company for selling fraudulent travel insurance, the negative reaction caused by their expansion to Taiwan, etc., we would have been asked to leave.

With the exception of our visit to Allied, where Scott gave us great insight into what doing business with the Chinese is like and ABB where we heard from the female president, I found the other company visits to be of less value (but certainly still valuable). This is because those visits were fairly run of the mill company tours and less was learned about the experience of doing business in China. With regards to visiting Allied, I was excited that Scott was so candid about his experience working in China. Some of the stories he told were funny, but some were sad too. It is hard to believe that it is common for a woman to have 6 or 7 abortions and how awful their healthcare system is. Even in the poorest neighborhoods in the U.S., patients have rights and doctors are expected to treat them with dignity and respect. In China, it seems like patients, especially the women in the women's clinic, are treated like cattle. I loved Scott's in depth explanation of Guanxi. Guanxi is certainly more powerful and effective than any network you build on Linkedin and in this economy I think a lot of us could benefit from some good Guanxi. I was impressed by the trade-offs that resulted from his and his wife's decision to leave London for Beijing. He is making good money and the cost of living allows him to afford hired help and other luxuries. However, that high income will come in handy to pay the approximately $23k a year to send his daughter to a private school. This is to avoid what he considers the child abuse that occurs in the public schools where children begin their day typically at 7a.m. and with after school activities and assignments, end their day about 9p.m. This made me think of the schedules my brother's children follow. All three of his children play sports throughout the entire year plus they all participate in a slew of other activities including debate club, piano, choir, horseback riding, science club, volunteerism, etc. I regularly hear from my sister-in-law about how her second job is being a taxi cab driver to her children so they can all make it their practices. She usually leaves her house between 6:30a.m.- 7:00a.m. to drop her children off and they typically are not home until 7p.m. at which time they need to eat dinner and do homework. I do not think their schedules are as stringent as the Chinese students and I think the only person being abused is my sister-in-law, but I can see some similarity in the long school days.

The president of ABB is a woman and although I thought the company tour was fairly routine and predictable, I was impressed by what the president shared with us when she was asked about being a woman in leadership in a male dominated company and industry. I thought her words were inspirational and I felt she was flattered that we asked her to share her experience. However, from the conversations I had with the girls working in the market places who were unhappy with their jobs, I wondered just how possible is it really to climb the corporate ladder when you cannot afford school.

Additional observations I noted from the other company visits include the difference in presentation skills of Ken Wu and Stefan Enneking of Kuehne Nagel. Ken (a Chinese national) was far more comfortable following his 200+ slide show while Stefan (a Westerner) was far more comfortable speaking without any props. At Grainger, I noted the challenges Brian Lawton experienced as an American of Korean descent. He was struggling to learn Chinese and based on what I know of the relationships between different Asian countries, I am going to guess he was a little prejudice about learning this language.

Molly, Nelson, and Molly v. Nelson

Molly and Nelson both maintained boundaries and did not join us for meals, at least when Dr. Chaudhry was with the group. One night, Molly did get close with some of the group members when some of us went on the cruise. It was clear both she and Nelson were maintaining a respectful distance and minding what they felt to be their customary place in these situations.

Molly and Nelson, despite following customary conduct, were very different people. Molly was obviously of a younger generation and her worldly views contrasted with Nelson's. Molly was more of a freethinker than Nelson and she, because she is a woman, spoke often about the role, expectations and desires for most of the Shanghai women. From speaking with her I got the impression that many women, whether from Shanghai or not, wanted to get out of China. Many woman are hoping that marriage to a well off man will be the key to escaping their undesired lifestyles. I thought it was interesting that Shanghai women are known for their made up faces and lavish attires but many of these women live in the older Shanghai homes found in the poor sections away from the main areas of the city.

Molly seemed more passionate about the frustrations of Chinese women and perhaps the younger generation of Chinese citizens. Nelson, on the other hand, was far more rigid and steadfast in his beliefs and support of Communism. He was definitely old school in thought and although he attempted to understand how a democracy could be better than Communism, he could not see past the beliefs ingrained in his mind. He also supported the notion that the protest at Tiananmen Square in 1989 did not result in nearly as many deaths and overall was not as violent as the media made it out to be. His frustration with us being too free was pretty humorous but frightening at the same time. I think we really frazzled his nerves despite us, in my mind at least, not being disrespectful.

Random Observations , thoughts and experiences

The day Molly was standing in line at the museum and told us to go shopping while she waited, I was part of the group that was separated from everyone else. We were approached by two Chinese college students who asked us immediately if we were Americans and since we were willingly to converse with them, a slew of questions immediately followed. As our conversation continued, we were asked if we wanted to join them for tea at a traditional tea house. As you may recall, we were game at first, however, as we were led further away from the main road and down side streets, we all grew nervous. We were taken to a very dingy mall compared to those on the main road. Once inside we were led to an escalator were there were no lights on. The four of looked nervously at one another, trying to decide whether or not to go up the escalator. We did go up but once we reached the front door of the "tea house", we all had cold feet. The hostess approached us and asked if we wanted to be seated. We could not see the seating area, instead there was a long wall that blocked our view. None of us budged, instead we all just looked at each other. I felt for a moment like the Scooby-Doo gang. It was clear our eyes were saying " Like, let's scram gang!!!", and we did! No one was brave enough or crazy enough to find out what was on the other side of that wall. Looking back on this, I don't think we had anything to be scared of. I think our "Stranger Danger" instincts kicked in when we were not feeling comfortable hanging out with two strange people in a country we have never been to before. I am pretty certain the girls we met were sincere about hanging out with us and practicing their English, however this behavior is not acceptable in the states. I wish to some extent it was. I think this is a great example of how reserved and, perhaps even, uninterested Americans are in meeting different types of people. Of course, I am not implying we should pick up random strangers regularly, but especially in big cities like NYC, Chicago and L.A., Americans should not be afraid to engage in a conversation with someone they do not know as long as the circumstances are unthreatening, e.g. chat with someone at a coffee shop, if you see foreigners, ask them if they need help.

Shopping at the markets was also quite an experience. The haggling was exhausting and dealing with the merchants who we rejected was not always easy. You may recall one woman on the street slapped my arm as we were getting on the bus. In my defense, I slapped her back with the most effective weapon, a panda hat. Luckily, we all got a good laugh out of it but for a moment I really was shocked by her behavior. In the U.S. , if a merchant slapped a customer anywhere, it would immediately evolve into a physical fight, police activity and likely a case in court.

The sheer desperation for sales however, was a bit sad. It was obvious the street merchants were very poor. The merchants at the markets, who were mostly female, were also poor and uneducated. After haggling with many of these women and being told by one woman "Lady, open you big eyes!!" when I refused to buy something at her price, I chatted with some of them and actually had some very pleasant conversations. They asked me questions about school and work at first as a selling tactic but when I turned the table and asked them about their personal lives, their demeanor changed quickly. They went from haggling lunatics to real people who were very willing to talk about themselves. None of them liked their jobs and many of them wished they could attend school but they could not afford it. They all asked me my age and if I was married. My answers surprised them as it was apparent that in terms of a woman's age and marriage, they were still quite old fashion. Even the sales woman I spoke to at the Pearl shop, which I assumed was a more desirable job, was very unhappy and stated she wished she could live in the U.S.

I think we were all disappointed with the dinner choices that were made for us. However, I heard Molly and Nelson say restaurants that appeal to a westerner's pallet were chosen as this is what most of their tourists prefer. I couldn't help but think that perhaps we were an anomaly. Americans are known for expecting to be catered to and to have all the accommodations they would have at home. So I think it was very unexpected that we would all want authentic food and less touristy selections. Our desire for adventurous cuisine says something good about our group. I think we should be pleased that we were open minded and did not fit the mold of most Westerners in this regard.

Our Group

I would like to conclude by saying I had a wonderful time in China. I could not be more pleased with the selection of students who participated in this adventure. I thought everyone was very open minded and respectful of one another especially being that we were such a diverse group. I think part of being personally and professionally successful in life is understanding the benefits of interacting with different people and having the willingness to expand your outlook on life. I think we all experienced personal and professional growth during this trip and I hope Saint Xavier continues to offer this program.