Day Ten - The 'China' Factor

Today we had Brad, the trip leader, lecture us on Chinese history, providence opinions, and political matters. It was like a really good version of a history class; it seemed he was pretty excited to lecture. I took so many notes because I remember nothing about Chinese history, and think that knowing more about it will give each side-trip more meaning.

We then had a guest lecturer (owner of the Bridge Cafe, around the corner from our hotel) speak to us on starting up and managing a business in China. He actually never worked in the business world in America, so it was a little hard to compare the two strategies, but he gave us some good information on the types of employees and the types of locations and buildings in which to start a business. The cafe location around the corner from our hotel is actually closing in a few days; we asked him why, as it always seems to be busy and looks profitable. He said it was a key demonstration of how hidden overhead costs outweighed the revenue - real life accounting! I actually found it interesting. Also, most of his employees work full-time with a low wage and live in dorm-style conditions, all inclusive. I hadn't heard of that type of system for a restaurant before, so that was interesting.

We had lunch at the "Ten Year's Cafe," which held true to it's name, as it took ten years to climb the stairs up to the restaurant and ten years to get our food. (Well, I guess it should be coined the Twenty Year's Cafe then). Some people had to get their food to go because after an hour, most of it still didn't come out.

We went back to class for a while and were given a "field assignment" where we formed groups of eight and have to visit both Walmart and Carrefour - two similar stores here in Beijing - and compare how "Chinese" each one is; in other words, we have to compare how the companies adapt to the Chinese culture in their products, layout, salesmanship, etc, and then hypothesize that one of the two might be more successful in using that approach.

We crowded on a bus to Carrefour and took detailed notes on the customers, products, layout of the store, etc. We also spoke to some Chinese customers. We never made it to Walmart - after 40 minutes we still couldn't get a cab! We will go tomorrow.

I took a short nap, changed, and met back with a bunch of people to re-visit the Sunlitan area - the lively place with the trendy mall boutiques, bars, and international restaurants. We had dinner at an amazing Japanese restaurant.

Amazing.

Best sushi I have had in my life. None of that Chinese sushi imitation stuff. It was so good.

We went to this club called Chinadoll and hung out there for a while. It was pretty empty, but I met a Korean girl on the dance floor and practiced my version of the Chinese language: "Hi, how are you? I'm American." Perfect.

We took a cab home and wrapped up the night. Annie fell asleep in her dress again - should have taken a picture. Photos will be in the next entry, as I finally charged my camera battery.

x.o.karen