International Study Trip Blog

China, May 2009: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai

Prologue

In the last week of April, H1N1 flu concerns reached a crisis point and we were faced with some very difficult decisions: postpone or cancel the trip. The university, the faculty and the Executive MBA team rallied to support the decision to continue with the trip in view of the fact that the Canadian government did not itself issued a travel advisory. However, it was decided to give students the option to decide not to go. Despite the uncertainty, or perhaps realizing that life truly is uncertain, every member of the class decided to carry on with the trip. Unfortunately, one of our students, a Mexican national, was unable to come, because the Chinese government had issued a decree that it would not allow Mexican nationals (regardless of their time away from that country) to enter China. The Class of 2011 will welcome that student during their trip to South America in May 2010.

Arrival

We arrived in Beijing through Toronto – a 15-hour flight – in excellent spirits. The team joked about having to be very calm and take slow breaths to keep our temperatures down – all arriving passengers had to complete health status cards and go through a temperature scanner. We all passed, found our bags very quickly, and were greeted by our tour guide, Zhu Songdai. We rode a bus to our hotel through Saturday evening traffic, listening to Songdai’s introduction to China and Beijing, admiring the cleanliness of the avenues, the gorgeous hedges of rose bushes, and the beautiful buildings. The hotel checked us all in very efficiently and we enjoyed a quiet, delicious meal in the hotel.

Beijing

Our first day started early to take the 1-1/2 drive to the Great Wall. We arrived at a fairly remote section where we could join a river of humanity up a gentler side, or a small trickle of brave hearts up the more challenging side. Again, we were a team in harmony, all ready and willing to ‘reach for the top’. The hiking was as close to perpendicular as possible without lying flat on the incline. It was early morning and the scenery was spectacular, with the Wall snaking into the misty mountains. We ate lunch at the Wall, a Chinese buffet, (what else?) and took lots of photos. As it was the weekend, there seemed to be a lot of people from the country. They ogled us as if we were zoo animals, all the while giving us shy friendly smiles.

The afternoon was a tour through the Olympic Village (our engineer contingent immediately noted that the Bird’s Nest was rusting away!), then a walk through the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. 

We barely had ½ hour to shower and shave. Then we hopped into taxis to the Palace of the Royal Family through the 1700’s. The guest speaker, well known author, Helen Jiang, gave a talk in an exterior garden about the deep cultural issues embedded in Chinese society.  New networks were formed and potential business deals were initiated.

Monday was a full day of business meetings at the hotel. The Canadian Trade Commissioner, Martin Charron, launched the day, followed by a fast paced economic update by Mark Kruger, an economist with the Canadian Embassy.  Cindy Jensen, a Canadian expatriot who settled in Beijing with a growing HR consulting practice, gave a workshop on Chinese culture and impact on doing business in China.  The afternoon session focused on various business people explaining their business and the opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country.  Canadian Gervais Lavoie (Fruits and Passion), Sarah Bajc (Microsoft), Lin Gao (Motorola), and Michael Williams (Lingo Media), provided insights and responded openly and frankly to questions from the participants.

Tuesday we visited the Lenovo Research and Development facility and a Chinese lingerie manufacturer, Aimer. Lenovo was of particular interest in viewing how a Chinese company is developing an international brand in a highly competitive market.  The Aimer tour gave access to many senior levels of management, a tour of the history of the company through a beautifully arranged ‘museum’ and an opportunity to purchase some very high end lingerie!

Chongqing

We had an early morning flight to Chongqing which gave us a half day to enjoy a guided bus tour to some of the city’s sites. Chongqing, with a total population of 33 million people, is built on mountains. Bicycles are few, but there are many men with bamboo poles who carry loads up and down the hills for a small fee. While we did not have time to visit the Three Gorges Museum, we did visit an old part of the city with winding narrow streets filled with small stalls – food, jewelry, crafts, clothing, and the occasional tea house where the strums of Chinese musical instruments mixed with the street noises.

The meeting day in Chongqing also started with a talk by the local Trade Commissioner, Ryan Baerg, then two presentations about the technology sector in the area. Of particular interest was a presentation by Xiang Peng, Assistant to the President of Haifu Technology, a Chinese firm which has produced an ultrasound technology for the treatment of cancer tumours and fibroids. We were also fortunate to have a senior partner from a large local law firm talk about the legal and regulatory intricacies of doing business in China.

The afternoon sessions included a presentation from the Chief Representative of Honeywell.The day of site visits in Chongqing was very interesting. We started at Honeywell, where we were given a tour of their facilities; we then bussed over to Haifu Technologies where the group had a demonstration of the ultrasound machine. We rounded out the day with a visit to Meridian Boao Magnesium - a company that creates manufacturing parts from magnesium.

Shanghai

We arrived in Shanghai on a Saturday afternoon, which gave the group a well-deserved break, time to discover the back alleys and excellent massage houses.

Sunday was a half-day of sightseeing, with an early start to the Jade Temple, a beautiful Buddhist temple, frequented by the local population. We were then bussed to a beautiful garden in the hectic old part of Shanghai for a half day of wandering, dinner and discovery.


Monday found the participants fresh and raring to meet their last group of business people. Mr. Albert Lee, Consul & Trade Commissioner - Investment & Financial Service, Yangzi Delta Market Overview, Michael Murphy, President of Nalco Company Asia, gave a fascinating and frank analysis of the business environment in Asia, as well as his experiences locally.  Dr. Lilly D'Angelo, R&D Director, Greater China, Campbell Soup, gave an informal presentation on the Campbell experience entering China. The afternoon session began with Mr. Doug Muzyka, President of Greater China for DuPont providing an insightful look at the DuPont strategy for China.  The afternoon wrapped up with Mr. Ci-Qiang Lu, Senior Country Manager for Natixis, an investment bank based in France, about the banking and credit environment. Finally, a dynamic presentation by Jason Inch, a Canadian ex-pat, who speaks fluent mandarin and is respectful of the culture, talked about his book about future super trends in China.

That evening, we had dinner at a restaurant close to the hotel with a small contingent of Concordia alumni living in China. Many of the students ended the evening with a group massage at the local massage house near the hotel – not at all as exotic as it sounds!

Our final day of business was focused on site visits: We were scheduled to visit the GM plant, but at the last minute, fears of H1N1 caused the management of GM to cancel the visit.  Fortunately, our guide, Mr. Zhu Songdai, was able to organize a visit to Bao Steel, China’s largest steel company. We bussed through acres of company installation, were outfitted with hardhats and given an awesome (for a non-engineer) visit through the rolling mill plant. 

We lunched at a local restaurant then bussed to our final spot – Exceltek - a small Chinese electronics manufacturer.  As our bus pulled up to the three building facility, we were greeted with a huge banner welcoming us as well as a group of senior executives – all being video graphed.  The plant tour was fascinating, revealing all the strengths and weaknesses of the labour market!

We got back to the hotel in time to shower up for our ‘Last Supper’.  It was a sweet and happy time. A trip everyone will remember and talk about for years to come.