UMD LSBE Study-in-China 2009

This is the last day that we stay in Tianjin. From all two weeks that we study in Tianjin, I think Tianjin it is a very good place to study. It is probably even better than take study in Beijing. I remember yesterday had a closing ceremony. We all get a special shirt that has everyone’s name on the back of the shirt except Christina Lau’s. Maybe someone just ignore her name. Also, we got a graduation certificate. That gives me a lot of face and I can show my parents, and said that was how good I study in Tianjin able to get this graduation certificate.

After the Korean BBQ dinning, we went to the roof of the hotel. We were starting to exchange gift to those Chinese student. I just have a small size of UMD shirt that was bought from UMD store. So, a small size cloth must go to girls, I guess. Actually, that is what I want to do when I bought this shirt. My shirt fall to Angle’s hand. She is small and thin. So I thought it would be fit on her. And really does when I saw her wear the UMD shirt. She looked cute with my t-shirt. I am happy to see that. Then I felt sorry for other two girls that did not get presents from me. What I try to think was going to give them something that I bought from Beijing 798 art zoom. They both felt happy the gift from mine. Actually, I am not really wanted to give because I like the 798 things very much. It is something that very created, unique and special that you cannot get from anywhere. But if they happy, I would like to give them. I like people who like the taste of mine. I do not doubt my taste is worse. With my both eye, I can select many interested things, something that is do not come out from other one’s mind, but one feels special.

Posted by liang133 at 10:46 AM | Permalink

Today was a sad day as it was our farewell dinner and the last time we would be able to spend any real time with the students from Nankai. We went to play sports for the day and a random student from the university, curious about hearing that there were foreigners in the teacher’s rec room wondered in while I was playing ping pong. She then had the courage to ask to play against me. This event intrigued me because to this point I had not meet too many Chinese students, especially female that would walk up to a random boy and start up a conversation. Through brief conversation, I found out she was a master’s student with an English name of Fiona .It was a good example of while most Chinese people we meet are in general shy; there are some individuals who are very outgoing. I am lucky to say that the students we were fortunate enough to meet from Nankai, Pass, June, Tracy, Miao^2, Gracie, and Joyce were all outgoing easy to talk to people that made us feel at home.

After sports we went and had dinner. We had Korean barbeque which was delicious. We got platters of marinated meats grilled at our tables and also enjoyed plates of sushi. This was one of the best places I have eaten at so far, tied with some of the other places June and Miao^2 have showed us and the random meat stand outside Alibaba’s. The last big meal together was bitter sweet as we spent a great deal of time reminiscing over the past couple of weeks. When things finally wound down we headed back to the roof of the hotel. Up there we exchanged gifts with our friends. We all got a lot of great and sentimental stuff from the students and in return gave them gifts such as clothing from our university and local music.

After we exchanged gifts we headed back to Alibaba’s for one last hurrah. The night was very mellow except for a couple of games of blackjack. This was a lot closer to what a normal night for Chinese kids is a social gathering that is usually in a quieter setting. We talked for a long time before heading back to the hotel, some of the students mentioned that they might not participate in this program again next year as it is very hard emotionally for them to build such strong relationships in a short amount of time only to have the other person leave. This feeling is quite different from the normal US perspective. In the US we can have a strong friendship for only a short period, and we don’t hold every one of our friends in as high of regard as they do in china. It was great to have last final conversation with them before it becomes a primarily e-mail based contact friendship.

Posted by houl0072 at 7:36 AM | Permalink

We had our last day of class, today. The topic was on e-commerce, a topic I don’t usually focus on. However this presentation was pretty good. By far the most interactive presentation, we looked at specific case analysis of examples of successful e-commerce in china. We also looked at the market potential and growth trends within china as well. It became immediately apparent that there is a lot of potential growth in this segment especially when compared to the US. The overall message was that there is an abundance of opportunity within the Chinese markets and being able to successfully tap into that could mean great things for both domestic and international companies.

It was also my new friend Jeff’s birthday today! To celebrate we went to a local restaurant called Golden Hans. This restaurant was a Chinese take on a German buffet with all kinds of grilled meats being brought to peoples tables. It was very interesting to see how they prepared western style foods including potato salad and a salad bar. I found it funny that they made their employees dress up in lederhosen. While at this birthday party I found out that it is customary for people to give a small speech about their friend’s birthday and sing them a birthday song. In this particular restaurant they had live music. Unknown to me, our friends Miao Miao and Joyce arranged for me to give the speech in front of the whole restaurant. After taking a few minutes to coordinate everything and take some time to prepare a few words I approached the microphone and gave it my best. Unfortunately my best was irrelevant as the birthday boy Jeff was unable to hear a word I said sitting in the far back corner of the restaurant. Not to let my preparation go to waste, I represented my speech to the table and lead the birthday song again. Later that night we had the traditional birthday cake and I found out that birthdays in china are celebrated in a very similar fashion as those in America.

After the birthday party we went to a local bar to enjoy a few drinks and celebrate Jeff turning 22. While on the way to Alibaba’s a low key bar near campus, we found a random meat stand. This random stand was grilling and marinating skewers of all kinds of various meats. The food from this stand was surprisingly amazing. Some of the best food in china is the food you get from street vendors so keeping an open mind is always important. While we were enjoying our skewers of meat we sat at a table with some local kids who had at this point in the night, hit it pretty hard and were all intoxicated. We spent a good deal of time using our wonderful translators Joyce and Miao Miao to build a friendship with these guys. They were a very nice group of people and as interested in us as we were in them.

Posted by houl0072 at 7:35 AM | Permalink

Today is our fourteenth day in Tianjin and this afternoon we are heading by train to Shanghai. Last night we had our farewell dinner with the Chinese students and some of the Chinese professors. The food was great and it is always fun to visit with the Chinese students. After dinner we all headed to Alibabas one more time before leaving in the morning. We decided to play cards and started up a game of Black Jack, but in China it is just called 21. Throughout our two week stay I enjoyed speaking with the Chinese students, teaching them English words, simple games, and over just talking about the American lifestyle. One thing I have noticed throughout the trip is that cabs are way easier to get here than back in Minnesota. It makes sense, when you are in a city with 11 million people and majority of them do not own cars, a saturated taxi population is needed. All the taxis here have to reach quotas and pay rent on their cars. I believe all of the Taxis, at least the majority we saw in Tianjin are owned through the government. This is not the case back in Minnesota, especially in Duluth. Getting a cab in Duluth is nearly impossible when you want it. Cabs are not driving around waiting to pick people, you always have to call the cab company and tell them your location. You sometimes have to wait 30 minutes to an hour for a cab. And if the cab can’t find your address they just move on and the company never calls you to let you know so you could be waiting for a cab that is never coming. Also cabs rides in China are much less expensive than in the United States. In Duluth an aver taxi ride can be $15, if you have not joined the $2 taxi service. The average cab ride in china has been roughly $15 RMB which is about $1.75 US. I enjoy just being able to stick my arm out and hail a cab, once I get in and try and tell them where to go however is another story.

Posted by sett0070 at 8:22 PM | Permalink

The last two weeks has been an unforgettable experience. The folks here in Tianjin are second to none when it comes to hospitality. I want to thank Nankai University and the entire faculty, staff, and mostly the students that made our stay very warm and memorable. Many took precious time out of their busy days to show us around campus, take us to lunch, teach us, and play sports with us. We may have even picked up a few new Chinese words, if you know what I mean! Everyone was very patient with our sometimes loud and obnoxious group (remember karaoke, anyone?). Monica, Bessie, and Joyce are saints for putting up with us! I also wanted to thank all the professors for great preparation of the lectures. Much time was taken as they prepared some very informative, intriguing lectures. Last night was the farewell dinner, at a delicious Korean restaurant. The food was great, the company even better. Later, we exchanged gifts and ventured to Ali Baba’s one last time to celebrate our new friendships. A great time was had by all! Now, preparations have begun for our fourth and final week in Shanghai. I can only hope the hospitality is half as good in Shanghai as it was in Tianjin and Nankai University. Thank you everyone!

Posted by jopk0002 at 8:14 PM | Permalink

Tianjin days have sadly come to an end. I really like how this place became a home for the short time that we had here. The feeling was definitely due to the students at Nankai University who took the time to get to know us. Back home you rarely see people of our age group give up their time to help people they are just meeting. Everyone made me feel completely comfortable and welcome. I hope to have a chance to either come back here and see them or if any of them come to the United States provide them with the same courtesy that they were nice of enough to do for us. I am excited to see what the rest of the trip will be like in Shanghai. I really want to bring the concept “face” back home and work on building long term friendships instead of acquaintances.

Posted by vaudr001 at 8:11 PM | Permalink

Tianjin days have sadly come to an end. I really like how this place became a home for the short time that we had here. The feeling was definitely due to the students at Nankai University who took the time to get to know us. Back home you rarely see people of our age group give up their time to help people they are just meeting. Everyone made me feel completely comfortable and welcome. I hope to have a chance to either come back here and see them or if any of them come to the United States provide them with the same courtesy that they were nice of enough to do for us. I am excited to see what the rest of the trip will be like in Shanghai. I really want to bring the concept “face” back home and work on building long term friendships instead of acquaintances.

Posted by vaudr001 at 8:11 PM | Permalink

When one goes for a walk in Tianjin, they take their lives into their own hands. The street walks are made of bricks for the most part, but there is constant risk of tripping or falling into an abyss. There are countless uneven, broken, and missing bricks. You must pay attention, or risk personal injury. I was walking along downtown today and came upon an open hole, about five feet long by five feet wide by five feet deep. There was absolutely no warning, no caution tape, no orange cone, nothing! I am not known to be the most graceful and agile person on the face of this earth. There are many other holes too, this is not an anomaly. I mention the sidewalks because in Beijing, the sidewalks were either new or in great condition. There are other sidewalk dangers too, such as cars, bikes, and mopeds. I have seen a number of cars sneak up behind you (yes, on the sidewalk) then honk the horn and scare the living daylights out of you. Tianjin does not have nearly as many English speaking citizens as Beijing. It was difficult at times to communicate. However, I am not complaining. I am the one that does not know the language, which is kind of opposite to what I am used to. Another frustration for me is the street signs and even more so the shop signs. Sometimes we are browsing for a good restaurant or a gift shop, but many are upstairs on the second level and there is not really a way to tell at street level what each sign is conveying. Needless to say, it was beneficial to have the students and/or Jack or Jun with us to help out!

Posted by jopk0002 at 8:09 PM | Permalink

June 6, on Friday, that is the last lecture we expect to have. This lecture is pretty interesting and I thing that would consider one of my favorite lectures. Professor Lin show us how E-business work in china.

The first thing that he told us about is how cell phone interacts into people’s life style. We could book any type of tickets online and we will receive a list of numbers or a 2-demensional figure by messages, said Dr. Lin. We can carry out our tickets by cell phone, then go to check out. This type of technology also can be use in subway and bus. It is a very high-tech thing that would be use in the future. As I know, Japan is using this type of technology already. Japanese holds some of the top high-tech technology. Cell phone is one of high-tech in Japan; they use is quite different than other country. Such different things that I said above and it is first been use in Japan. I think this technology have been use five or six years ago or maybe even earlier than that. That is not easy to public such kind of thing in china because wi-fi is the important thing in this project. Without a country wide wireless, it cannot be work. China is not fit in this technology yet. There are several reasons. The first reason is cost a lot to build up a country wide wireless. Second, Chinese is not ready to get such high tech thing yet when there is technology problem in china’s cell phone companies. The last one, it is not efficiency to import this technology in china. Chinese still have a long way to go before hit this because it is useless now in china.

It is interested to hear the professor mention this technology. It makes me thing through to Japan because got many sweet high-tech stuff. Like the electronic car is first develop by Japanese. Sky train is a train transport that road is build on the sky and train is hang on the road. This is why we call that sky train.

I am taking far away from the lecture. Sorry to mention so about Japan, but it is fun to know how high-tech Japanese at and compare to china. China still have a distance to catch up and I want to see this time when is coming.

Posted by liang133 at 2:07 PM | Permalink

Tonight is going to be the last night we stay in Tianjin. In the evening, we and other Chinese students went to the Korean BBQ restaurant to have a dinner together. After dinner, we all decided to hang out on the hotel's roof in the hotel for a while. When we got on the roof, the Chinese students started to giving us gift. I got a pair of chopsticks, a lucky charm, and a hang decoration for the cell phone. They are so nice. I am sure I will use them, because they are so special and useful for me! Then later at night, we went to the Alibaba. It was pretty crowd for a while. But later, we found a big room, which can fit in everybody. Then we started to drinking some beers and playing blackjack. After we played blackjack for a while, Alex suddenly think out some awful rules for the person who loses. And no doubt, Christina is the biggest loser tonight. People who missed the punishments she got would be a shame. Tonight is also the last night we are going to stay in the hotel, so I am going to try my best to enjoy my last sleep in Tianjin.

Posted by liang106 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

Tonight we got to have one last dinner with the Chinese students. We got to eat a good meal and have a few last conversations. We couldn’t have asked for more awesome students to meet. They were all very fun and extremely nice. It’s a good thing for facebook because it is going to make staying in contact very easy. I am going to miss playing sports with the other students, and talking about difference between our two cultures. We also exchanged a few gifts up on the roof top after dinner. We brought gifts that represent Minnesota, Duluth, or UMD and received gifts from the Chinese students that were traditional items in China. These gifts are amazing and will be kept forever to remember this trip and experience.

Posted by walte275 at 8:15 AM | Permalink

This has one of the most wonderful experiences of my life being over here in China. But I will always say that if I could speak the Language it would even be that much better. I’m sure it’s not fun for people to always have to translate for us because we have no idea what is being said. We have picked up a few words but are far from having a conversation any time soon. When we go to clubs and bars the only people we can communicate with are a select handful of people who can speak English, so it limits our amount of interactions with others. Most people here can speak a bit of English but at the same time out the millions of people who live here many cannot. An experience we had on the roof tonight is a prime example of a language barrier. A lady came up and was yelling at us (or so we think by the sound of her voice) we had no idea what was being said, but we knew we seen her following us earlier that night when we went to The Golden Hans. After having Angle translate what she could for is it sound like the lady lost her daughter because her daughter ran off to follow us and she was saying that it was our fault she lost her daughter. It was difficult to communicate back because we were all yelling different things for Angle to say to her. There are many more barriers just having that lady freak out on us made the difficulties of the language barrier more noticeable.

Posted by walte275 at 8:15 AM | Permalink

Tracy and I were talking about how much we both loved candy and I thought about how bad candy is for your teeth so I asked him about the dentist. Tracy said that as a kid, when he had braces, he would go in for check-ups quite routinely, but once that was over he never goes to the dentist unless he has a problem with his teeth. He said as children, before braces, and as an adult most people only go to the dentist when something doesn’t feel right. He was curious to know that some people in America go to the dentist every six months to get a check up and cleaning. He said that they never do this in China because you don’t have insurance for your teeth. Paying to get a check-up or a cleaning seemed ridiculous to him if you don’t have anything wrong. I haven’t noticed that Chinese people have bad dental health, but not going to the dentist unless something hurts is not the way I would want to go. I am certainly happy that at my job I have good dental insurance and can afford to go the dentist every six months!

Posted by fergu222 at 8:08 AM | Permalink

Tonight is our final night in Tianjin. This has been such a great experience where I have learned so much about the culture, met life long friends, and an appreciation of the life I have been able to live. Tonight we had a farewell dinner with our Chinese friends where we ate mass amount of beef, chicken, and pork. They have taught us many things about how they live their lives and we have done the same. It was nice to bring our out going personalities to bring the best out of these students. We have shared many laughs along the way from karaoke to playing basketball. It was great to end the night with the exchanging of gifts between the two of us. The students provided very generous gifts the are symbolic of good luck and fortune. They were very happy to receive gifts as well we provided key chains, magnets, and even dollar bills as souvenirs. It will be hard and pretty awkward leaving a place that we have finally gotten use to the city and how to manage each day. It will be great to be able to sustain a relationship with these students in the future and I will enjoy this night to the fullest.

Posted by hackw001 at 8:03 AM | Permalink

I am going to blog about yesterday and last night. We had lecture in the morning and it was really interesting but at the same time it was kinda of all over the place so it was hard to follow. After the lecture we had to do our presentation about what we have learned or experienced while we have been here in China. My topic was about the food and how there was a lot of things that were different from America. Overall all of our presentations we very well I would say. It was fun to here about what people though about China. I also learned a lot from the presentations and was really interested in what everyone had to say. That night we all went out on the town for Jeff's birthday. We went to Alibabas and met this guy that was from Florida State University. I was talking to him for awhile and asking what brought him to China and he said had taken summer classes here and he wanted to come back and become fluent in Chinese. Now he is here promoting parties and it sounded like he was having a lot of fun doing that and i may even what to come back and do something like that.

Today we had our final dinner party and we went to the Korean Grill. It is a place where they have coals in front of you and they cook the meat right in front of you. The food was amazing but I really enjoyed the last piece of meat that they served. It looked like it was rib that had been marinated for hours. This was so tender and I think it could be the best tasting meat I have ever had. It was also nice that the Chinese students came to join us for dinner. Over the past two weeks we have formed friendships that we will never for get. They have been so nice to us and have showed us a great time in Tianjin. I cant believe that our time here in Tianjin is coming to an end but I am very excited to go back to Shanghai for the second time.

Posted by ritt0123 at 7:56 AM | Permalink

I have had a great time during my stay here in Tianjin. The people, the students, the professors, the atmosphere, everything was wonderful during my stay here. Exchanging gifts with the students was fun, I only wish I had brought more things to give away. The key chain I had originally brought seems to have vanished so I ended up giving away the UMD key chain I had on my keys. It was black so I hope that Tracy didn't think I was wishing death upon him, because I am not, it's just the color of the key chain I had and I was kind of nervous about giving that one away. I really wish I had known to bring more items to give away since all of the students here had given me something I feel bad about not having an item for each of them. I still need to mail out my swords so hopefully I can get that accomplished tomorrow with the help of either Jack or June. I just want to thank everyone (hopefully they'll be reading this) for a wonderful trip and time here in Tianjin, I hope that Shanghai will be as fun as it was during my stay here, but I kind of doubt that it will be. I also hope that I'll have a chance in the future to return and visit some of the new friends I have made during my time here. This has been so much more than just a trip to another country, it has been an unforgettable experience and undoubtedly the best foreign exchange program I have been on (so far this is my third) the other two being to Mexico and to Hawaii. So zai jian to all of the people that I have met during my time in Tianjin!

Posted by stra0532 at 7:54 AM | Permalink

I am going to blog about my overall experience here in Tianjin. This was one of the best experiences of my life and something I will never forget. I have enjoyed everything greatly and have learned a great amount of information. The people and students I have met have been nothing short of spectacular and great. All of the students have been the best and I have learned so much from them and I hope they have learned some stuff from me as well. I will be practicing the concept of Guanxi with these students and I am excited to hopefully see them all again someday. These kids are great and I can honestly say I am going to miss them. Tomorrow is going to be hard to leave them back here but each one of them is smart and going to do great things. Pass is going to keep playing basketball and keep his passion for the game. Tracy is going to be the tricky little guy he is. June is going to be the level headed guy that runs the group. Miao squared is going to be a very successful person and is going to keep being great. Gracey is going to be also very successful with Miao squared. They are like sisters. Monica is going to keep doing great things as the leader of this program. Joycee is going to go on and become a very successful person as well. All of these students are going to be successful and I hope to do business with them someday. I am going to miss them and always wonder what they are doing at the same moment as I. Take care my friends from Tianjin and hopefully see you again someday.

Posted by charl094 at 7:32 AM | Permalink

After two weeks in Tianjin, and one week in Beijing, I have learned a lot about the Chinese culture as well as people. It is completely different than Minnesota and completely different than I was expecting. I will definitely not miss the amount of people and traffic, the noise of the horn every five seconds it seems, and sometimes the food. It will be hard going to a "Chinese" restaurant in the states because I have seem and tasted what real Chinese food is. I really enjoyed most of the lectures from the Nankai professors but especially like Dr. Li's lectures because they were interactive and we were able to stop him and ask questions all the time. The one thing that I would change from the lectures is to have the professors talk more general and not get too specific about topics such as finance. I would assume the professors thought that we all had taken finance or whatever their lecture was about before we came here. That was not the case for some of the students. Everyone has to take core business classes, but students specialize in a certain subject or subjects. I am a finance/accounting major, so I was looking forward to learning about the accounting here. We never talked about that, but most of the students are not in the same boat as me so they would not have been able to follow accounting. I had an idea about topics discussed for HR, or marketing, but since they are not my area, I knew the bare minimum and could not follow. I think us students just need to be more open while taking classes at UMD if they are wanting to study abroad. I would suggest this specific trip to any major but especially ones in the business school. Again, I will end my blog by saying, thank you Dr. Li for planning a great trip so far (and am looking forward to Shanghai) and the lectures were very beneficial for business professionals looking to do business here in China. I learned a lot and would be willing to travel for a future employer to China because I feel I would know how to interact and get business done right. Thank you Dr. Li and Nankai University!

Posted by benn0326 at 7:07 AM | Permalink

Today is our thirteenth day in Tianjin, and our last full day here in the city. Tomorrow afternoon we will take a 12 hour train ride from Tianjin to Shanghai. Last night a group of both the Chinese and American students went out to dinner for my birthday, we went to a really good restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. At the restaurant they served a lot of delicious meats and cakes. The wait staff also wore cowboy hats; I think it was some form of American style restaurant. There was a little band playing on the first floor of the restaurant and a few of the students went up and requested them to play happy birthday for me. The whole group came down stairs and sang while I stood in the middle with my awesome birthday hat on. Once again all the Chinese people in the restaurant decided to take my picture and laugh and stare. Honestly, at this point I have gotten used to it. Later today we will be going to play sports at Nankai University one more time before we leave. Unlike in Minnesota, Nankai students love badminton and ping pong. They also have become fans of basketball and the NBA since Yo Ming has become such a huge celebrity in China. I typically stick to badminton while playing since my basketball skills are sub-par. Playing Badminton brings me back to when I used to play in gym class back in high school. Most of the Chinese students are very good at both badminton and ping pong, however their competitiveness is extremely different. In America we like to brag and are very competitive. If you were to ask one of the Chinese students if they were good at the sport they would say they are just ok. You will then start up a game with them and learn that they are far from just OK. Also in America we shout, talk trash, and lie about how good we are. The Chinese have all been very shy about there actual skills, trying their best to brag or boast. This differences boils down to the idea that American are more individualistic while the Chinese are far more group oriented.

Posted by sett0070 at 12:37 AM | Permalink

I am going to blog about yesterday's lecture, some on the content and some on how he taught. I really enjoyed how he taught. He was the most enthusiastic teacher we have had and he got the class involved. It was nice to finally see a teacher ask us questions during the lecture and get us involved into the lecture. This made it more interesting and more apt to pay attention. Some of the content that I learned about was the m-commerce or mobile commerce. This is kind of new to me to the fact that this is something the Chinese use more than e-commerce. I know what m-commerce is just didn't know that they use is all the time. So that was an interesting fact to me. I also learned that Ebay failed to Zaobao because they didn't adjust to the culture and were paying fees for people to sign up. I had no idea that Ebay even tried to market themselves in China and I didn't know they failed at doing it as well. The QQ part of the lecture was interesting as well. QQ is not only an IM site but is capable of doing a lot. Online games, shopping, music, etc. The teacher was saying that this has the potential to be one of the largest markets in the future they just have to keep adjusting. I believe all businesses that want to expand internationally have to adjust to the culture because if you don't you will more than likely fail.

Posted by charl094 at 12:34 AM | Permalink

In our last friday night in Tianjin I got to experience even more new things. First off many of the students were buying fresh meat to be cooked over the grill. Andy was nice enough to let me try some chicken which was amazing. It is something that the United States should try doing more. That is a cheap snack which can be cooked fast and right in front of you and taste amazing. But after eating that i walked over to some of the locals that were sitting next to the grill. They were drinking and socializing very similarly to what we do in the U.S. Since only one could understand some english and the others could not really understand any at all Angel was nice enough to interpret for me. We had some great conversations about similar topics i would talk about with friends at home such as basketball. She was also nice enough to translate that i was very appreciative of their time and they expressed the same to me. Overall the people in this city are very caring, considerate, nice, and welcoming to us americans. It only helps me love this country more and more. It is just amazing how we are treated for not ever meeting these people before. I wish it were as easy in the U.S. and people were to have a more Chinese mindset of we not I.

Posted by hackw001 at 12:17 AM | Permalink

For our last day of class we were assigned a short presentation on something that we have learned about China while being here. Trying to decide on a topic was difficult since we have been so many places in such a short time. I was happy when I saw June, Tracy, and Joyce take the time to come and see our presentations. The funny thing is that we talked about comparisons between America and China. I think that the whole point of this trip was just building a relationship with these students. Getting to meet people that I never would have met if not for coming here has been the best experience of being over here. It is one thing to learn the history of a country but it is so much better getting to know the people. At the end of two weeks I am amazed at how great they have been to us and I am really happy that I got to come on this trip.

Posted by vaudr001 at 12:11 AM | Permalink

Yesterday we had our last lecture, which I found to be the most interesting because it was focused around technology, the web, and e-business/e-commerce. Professor Ruihui did an excellent job with getting the class engaged and involved in the lecture by asking a lot of questions and really making us think. He lectures on everything from internet use in China as compared to the United States to Web 2.0 basics and user generated content to covering a few of the best web-based companies in China. My favorite part of the lecture was where he talked about how and why companies stand out among other competitors in the Chinese market. Interestingly enough I found that in order to be successful as a web-based company in any country you need to focus your image, usability, and business mode to the countries economic and social context. Understanding mores and folkways also help a lot in creating a successful web-business in other cultures. This will help to keep the company away from unwanted criticism and not offend any of the users on the site because you have displayed arrogance toward the culture. A lot of the points behind many of the web companies he talked about was based on innovation. Innovation is what allows one company to stand out from the next. The corporation AliBaba.com has just created a web-service in 2006 similar to eBay, but puts itself above competitors by connecting large whole-sellers to consumers, rather than acting as a middle man between goods and services and the customers. Taobao has hundreds of thousands of transactions everyday. Before we could disperse from class he made each of us fill in the blank to this phrase. "Innovation is the ___________."

Posted by mcdon419 at 11:11 PM | Permalink

Did anyone else watch the video on the link that Dr. Li sent to us in our email? It was about the Tiananmen Square 20th reunion and how broadcasters are having trouble videotaping and reporting from the square due to service people with umbrellas getting in the way. I thought that this was very interesting because in the USA we have the freedom of speech a freedom of information, and a freedom of religion - our First Amendment Rights. The Chinese government limits internet access, limits what gets reported on TV by either blacking out the TV station or getting in the way like we see in Tiananmen Square, and doesn't allow publication of any other religious materials other than what the government sees fit. Journalists have been imprisoned in China for reporting information for other journalists, outside China, to use. I read about a Priest that was imprisoned for providing "unauthorized" Bibles to people on the street. I just can't imagine living that way and constantly being lead to believe or know only what your leaders want you to believe or know. I am happy that we have the First Amendment in the USA! Great trip so far, fun night last night, looking forward to today!

Posted by fergu222 at 9:28 PM | Permalink

Today was one of the best days I have ever had in Tianjin, we started out with the usual lecture. The lecture was good but the trip to the karaoke bar was the initial highlight of the day. We drank some beer and sang a lot of American music to our Chinese student friends. Am a terrible singer but I really enjoy singing to songs I know and making a fool of myself so this was great. The students like Gracie and Miao Miao showed us up by singing some local music amazingly. Not to be undone we sang some classics like sweet Caroline and some Beatles songs.

What made today one of the best experiences I had the whole trip was I allowed to go biking in Tianjin. Miao Miao, a friend from Nankai University, was brave enough to allow me to ride her bike. She even trusted me enough to ride on the back! I learned that biking should be considered an extreme sport within China. With Tianjin having the highest population of bikes in China it makes the already congested vehicle traffic even crazier. I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to ride a bike through the madness. We were told by Dr. Li that by letting us ride their bikes it meant we considered friends and we should be honored. Before I was told this I even felt honored as it must have taken a lot of trust to let us ride their bikes without a lot of experience especially with them riding on the back.

We ended up biking to the TV tower in Tianjin, the second highest tower in China. Here we discovered you could rent roller blades. Not to miss out on any experiences we leapt at the opportunity to rent the blades. I was clearly out of practice but had a great time none the less. On a couple occasions we had some curious people ask for our pictures. While some get embarrassed by all the attention I don’t mind it and gladly take pictures with curious locals. Interestingly, Miao Miao had never bladed before so we got to spend some time teaching her the ins and outs. By the end she was grinding rails and doing stalls! (not really, but she did great) After bladeing we decided to head back to the hotel. So we got back on the bikes and headed back. It was a great experience to travel with experienced bikers in Tianjin. It was one of the more real experiences I had while in china so I will always remember it fondly.

Posted by houl0072 at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Tonight, after we left AliBaba's and a club that was way to packed and expensive for my taste, we went to a guy that had a grill with chicken and other meets. I first had Kristina order for me and then Jun showed up and ordered more food for me. I had two different kinds of chicken and they might have been the best or one of the best meals that I have eaten granted it was at like 12:30 in the morning. I paid 15 yuan, which is like $1.50, and they put a sauce on it that made it even better. I wish that in the states we would have the opportunity to get food as good as this as late as it was. We were the last customers and I am sure that they were greatful that we had stopped by. Jun was with Dan and I as we were talking to them. We had a great conversation even though Jun was translating for us. It kind of made me feel like I was a Chinese man just walking down the street just looking for some food.

Again we eventually went to AliBaba's after our snack I guess you could say, and met many people from different countries. Tonight, DJ introduced me to a gentleman named Sean for Uzbekistan. We had a good conversation on why he was here and how long he will be staying here. We talked for a while and before he left, he came up and said" Nice to meet you, have a good night and maybe we will see each other and talk tomorrow. I am glad for these nights since I stay at AliBaba's and other head off to the club to meet people that I can actually see on a regular basis if we keep going to AliBaba's. I am sure that I would have a great time at a club, but I guess I am more looking forward to meeting people from other countries and interacting with them and seeing what their story is on why they are in China. Again, I will say thank you to the owner of AliBaba's for allowing us kids to enjoy ourselves at a place where we can meet other people!!

Posted by benn0326 at 1:43 PM | Permalink

Today is our last lecture class, and it is also the one of the most interesting classes I had so far. Our lecture topic for today is " E-business in China". When we talk about E-business, the first thing pop out from my head is doing business through the network. Compare to other western countries like US and Europe to China, China is just a developing country for internet. In China, there are only about 22.6% of the population have internet set up in their house. In the western countries, there are more 70%. But remember, China has the most population in the world. So the 22.6% is a lot. And that's why the internet market is so hot in China, because as the year goes by, there will be more and more people in China can have internet in their homes. Taobao is an example of successful E-business in China. The main reason Taobao can beat Ebay is, they know what the Chinese's cultures are and what they need. People shop in the Taobao don't need to worry about they don't know how to bargaining to get the best price. Because in the internet everything is clear. Shopping in the internet is totally different from street, the sales wouldn't grab you on the street and start advertising their products. Then you start bargaining with them to get the price you want. There's no doubt with that, people are price takers. We choose the lowest price of the product. In the internet, sales persons cannot stop you by looking other people's product. The only thing they can do is to post the price as low as they can to compete with others.
Today is our last day of the class, but also is the day of Jeff's birthday! After the presentation, we went to the Korean BBQ to celebrate Jeff's birthday. The food in there is very good. When we were in the restaurant, the Chinese students and Cord went to ask the singer who works in the Korean BBQ restaurant to sing a birthday song to him. That's so sweet. Happy birthday Jeff! Tonight, I can finally have long sleep, and as long as I can. But I am sure I will wake up before 2:30, because we can go play badminton again! Oh yeah!

Posted by liang106 at 11:34 AM | Permalink

Today was one of our last few days here and I'm really going to miss some of the people once we leave on Sunday. Hopefully we'll be able to stay in contact through facebook or other such means. Anyway today we went out to Golden Hans restaurant for Jeff's birthday. It was quite inexpensive for all of the food and drinks we ordered, only 50 RMB for each person. It was basically all you can eat buffet style (lots of different buffet items such as cakes, fruit, and different types of foods but no meats) with them bringing around various meats and putting them on your plate. One thing that was pretty amazing was that the 50 RMB also included six 3.5 liter (I think) "pitchers" of beer. The dark beer there was really good, and its been a while since I've had a dark beer but it was great for switching things up. Miao Miao and Joyce both tried the dark beer but switched to drinking the medium beer that we ordered instead. Cord also made an announcement about Jeff's birthday but we couldn't hear it due to the lack of speakers near to where we were sitting. After we went down near the band's stage and they sang happy birthday to Jeff in Chinese and in English. Cord tried to replicate his speech at the table afterwords so we would know what we missed due to the lack of speakers. Anyway Golden Hans has to be one of my favorite restaurants so far both in terms of value and quality of the food.

Posted by stra0532 at 6:44 AM | Permalink

Today was our 12th day in Tianjin and last night was probably the most fun I have had on the entire trip. We all went and sang karaoke yesterday afternoon which was crazy; it was like no Karaoke bar I have ever seen. After that a few of the American students went to dinner with two of the Chinese students to a noodles and soup restaurant. Once we finished eating the two Chinese students asked if we wanted to ride bikes around Tianjin and see the university’s campus and the TV tower located nearby. I wanted to ride a bike through the China traffic since arriving in China so I was very excited to go. We only had three bikes so the two girl Chinese students rode on the back of my bike and another American student. The bikes were not the easiest to control and I scared my passenger a few times as I tried to navigate the traffic. Being a passenger on a bus in heavy traffic in Tianjin is one thing, riding a bike at night through it is completely different. All of the traffic safety laws, right of ways, and driving laws I learned in drivers’ education went out the window as soon as I started peddling. Cars will run red lights with pedestrians and bikes obviously in the way. I made it safely to the TV tower after about a ten to fifteen minute bike ride with Miao^2 on the back, hopefully I did not scare her too badly. Once we got to the TV tower we parked our bikes, it costs money to park your bikes at certain places and I didn’t know that. Inside the square or plaza in front of the tower there was a lot of people walking around, visiting, and hanging out. We then saw that we could rent rollerblades for 5 RMB for as long as you wanted. I don’t know my shoe size in China so I just grabbed a pair and made it work. My rollerblading skills are not that good but I was able to get around and was better than a few other people skating around. Gracie decided not to skate and helped Miao^2 because she had never rollerbladed before. She did a good job and only fell a few times. They were surprised that we Americans have been rollerblading or learned how to back when we were in elementary school. Also, instead of wearing socks with our rollerblades they gave us plastic bags to slip over our feet. After a while of we got tired and decided to head back to campus. On our way Gracie and Miao Miao took us on a little tour of campus showing us some of the important buildings around campus. The streets are not very well lit and I was worried I would hit a pot hole and fall. Once we parked the bikes back at campus we asked the Chinese students if we could go up into one of the boys’ dorm buildings and look around. They were not as nice as the ones in American, but honestly they were not as bad as I had anticipated. Throughout the trip the main things I wanted to do was walk around campus with the students and experience activities that real students do, not just the touristy stuff. Yesterday I was finally able to explore and really experience things first had and saw things that I never thought I would. I probably learned more yesterday about Chinese students and their lifestyles than I have throughout the entire trip. Before attending this trip I was interested in the business aspect of China of course, however, at UMD I also studied anthropology so the cultural aspect of China is equally interesting to me. Also today is my birthday so tonight some of the Chinese students will join our group for dinner and then a night on the town.

Posted by sett0070 at 12:05 AM | Permalink

Last night we visited a popular restaurant for foreigners in Tianjin. In first glance you would think that this place was a bar. With people eating food, drinking beer, socializing, and smoking. It turns out that is technically not a bar in the fact that its in a residential area so it cannot have the name of a bar. For this reason it has to be quite later in the night when residents were sleeping. One of our first nights being there we were not aware of this place being a restaurant and the cops were called to the establishment. This restaurant offers a nice place for people from all countries and majority of the people speak English. It also helps you find other clubs or bars to go to that are suggested by other students or teacher that have been in the city for a longer period of time. Last night was a nice experience to be able to socialize and learn about many different cultures. Also, it gives you an opportunity to smoke out of a hookah which is an experience in itself. This restaurant has provided us with a fun and positive experience in many ways.

Posted by hackw001 at 11:54 PM | Permalink

June 4th, Thursday, we headed to a Karaoke bar. It was a completely different set up than any of us could have imagined. It was more a less a VIP room in the back that only really rich people would spend there evening. It had plush couches, bar stools with high tables, two microphones, 4 LCD TVs, and many other amenities. I was very impressed that we as a group were able to be in that room. We had a staff that waited on us, granted is was really really slow. But, there was like a total of five or maybe more working waiting on us. Steve and I were talking and wondering how much it would cost to rent out a room like that for an evening. I do not even want to put a price tag but it would have to be around $500 US dollars a evening or maybe more. It would be sweet to be able to go back and rent it out for a night or even an afternoon again. I even made my way up to sing, even though most of the group was up there. We sang "Let it Be", "Sweet Caroline", and may others. I would have to say that this afternoon ranked as the top two things that we have done behind the club night in Beijing. Thanks Dahui for planning such a great trip. I can't even imagine what he has planned for us in Shanghai.

Posted by benn0326 at 9:30 PM | Permalink

In America most people are very time oriented. We do not like to want and we always want to go go go. So it is quite difficult to not get frustrated sometimes here in China because they are the opposite of that. Kind of like the way they speak; where they think about it before saying things, they do the same when it comes to actions. When we were at the karaoke bar we all ordered one beer when we got there. It literally took fifteen minutes for us to get them beers. It may be different in the states because we tip the servers so the better service you get the more money you make, and here you do not get tipped for your services. Being a server I know that whenever some ones glass is half empty you ask them if they would like a refill. Here when we wanted another drink we had to roam around the halls trying to find someone who could help us. That would never fly back home in any restaurant; people would threaten to leave or request something free. I cannot recall any time since I’ve been here that someone was yelling at their server or manager for poor service or food, and almost every day back home you will typically see it at least once somewhere. It may also have to do with the “free” factor. In the states there are people left and right trying to see what they can get next for free. It doesn’t seem like many things are given away for free here in China. For example the first time we went to Pizza Hut the server forgot to order Andy and Steve’s Pizza. He apologized and had it made right away, but never offered any discount. Back home immediately after something like that would happen some discount would be offered or it would be free.

Posted by walte275 at 8:55 PM | Permalink

Yesterday we went out to a karaoke bar as a group. When I first heard that we had to go sign in front of a bar I was very hesitant to go do then that and really didn't what to go. But when we got there it was a whole another story. I was expecting us to be going to a bar that we had to go up up on stage and sign in front of the bar but that was not the case. when we got there when were not expecting it to be like that at all. It was more of a room that looked like VIP room. We got to get our own room that our whole group go to go and sit in. We didn't have to sing in front of the whole bar like I had thought. It was great because there were a few people that sang a lot but I think everyone finally got the courage to go up and sing. It was a lot of fun and I was not expecting it to be like it was. I enjoyed my experience and i am glad that i participated because you are only in China once.

Posted by ritt0123 at 8:29 PM | Permalink

I am going to blog about mergers and acquisitions. I didn't know much about this topic because I am only a sophomore and haven't had much lecture time on it, so I came into the lecture with no previous knowledge but I learned some interesting things. Professor Ren Bing talked about how developed countries are using M&A's for expanding their business and making them bigger. The developing companies and countries are using them to acquire new technologies and this seems to be more successful then the developed ways of using M&A's. That was a very interesting point that made a lot of sense. Also, these developing companies don't have the previous knowledge so they are constantly learning which makes sense. She also talked about upstream and downstream. Downstream means they acquire companies that have the same resource but make different products out of the resource. I am not sure about upstream but I am going to imagine that it is acquiring companies that do the same thing as you basically. A last point that she made was about SOE's. Here in China the companies top guys are given the regular CEO, CFO, etc. names but they also get titles of the government officials. That is pretty cool I think because it really makes you feel you are part of the government. These were some of the things I learned and thought it was really cool.

Posted by charl094 at 7:22 PM | Permalink

Our lecture on mergers and acquisitions was extremely informative. Expanding companies globally has been going on for a long time now, but it is not always successful. When looking to expand think of what it is you are trying to gain from this merger. When deciding which company to merge with look at their Industry structure, Resources, and Government structure. The main point that I got from this lecture is that our cultures are different and it is better to know this and accept it. Then instead of trying to make them our way look and see what is most practical for the company. I wanted to know what is China's number one natural resource?

Posted by vaudr001 at 5:28 PM | Permalink

Today has to be my favorite day of all so far. First of all karaoke was much more fun than I had expected it to be. The room itself was amazing and everyone had a blast singing, I'm very glad the Chinese students came along with us, that made it even more fun. After that Me, Cord and Jeff went out to a local restaurant with Gracie and Miao Miao, which at first I thought was a hot pot restaurant and was kind of dreading it, but it turned out to be really good. It was more of a big bowl which they serve to you with the ingredients already inside of it and allow you to add spice and other things to your dish and also the "soup" itself. After that we went to Nankai University and picked up a couple more bikes for me and Jeff, Miao Miao rode on the back of her bike with Cord. After a while the chain slipped off of the spoke on my bike and we ended up fixing that but then the tire seemed to be misaligned and was rubbing up against the metal on the side so the bike was not working. I felt bad about it, but Miao Miao and Gracie said it happens all the time and not to worry about it. So I took Jeff's bike, Gracie rode on Miao Miao's bike with Jeff and Cord rode on Gracie's bike with Miao Miao. We went over to the TV tower, which was very cool and did some roller blading. It was Miao Miao's first time and she did pretty well. I talked with some of the Chinese girls there and had a good time. After that we headed back dodging cars on our bikes and we got to see one of the student dorms and take some pictures; it was bigger than I expected but that may have been because they were new dorms which were somewhat larger than the older ones. After visiting the dorms we headed back to the hotel and hung out for a bit before going back to our rooms. If Gracie or Miao Miao are reading this, I just want to thank you for the wonderful time I had, it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Posted by stra0532 at 10:23 AM | Permalink

Today, after the interesting lecture we had, Dylan, Jeff, Jun, and me went to the Korean BBQ for lunch. The food is fantastic! But my stomach was totally not satisfy with that much amount of meat. And also I think is kind of expensive, we spent 37 yuan on average. When we paid the bill, we found out we could either get a 12% discount or 60 Yuan lunch coupon. After thinking at the margin, we chose the 60 Yuan lunch coupons.
At the afternoon, we went to Karaoke. The room is so big, it likes as big as three of our room in the hotel. Everybody
was in a extremely high motion, we were singing out loud and dancing. Even thought I just sat there all day, but I was still very enjoy. What a good thing to do, to have some musics, sing a few songs, have some drinks, and talk with your friends. Tomorrow is our presentation day, I need to start working on my power point now. :)

Posted by liang106 at 7:54 AM | Permalink

Today was karaoke day. After lunch the bus picked us up and took us to a karaoke bar. As we were walking to our private room for karaoke we were all amazed with the building and our VIP room. It seemed like the kind of place the president would go to get a little singing in in-between meetings. The singing started off slowly but as more and more people sang and filled themselves with liquid courage (leaving myriads of bottles on the table), the more prevalent the belting out of lyrics became. I'm sure many of the American songs were quite idiosyncratic to the the Chinese students, just as the Chinese songs were to the American students. Altogether though it seemed as if everyone was having a good time and enjoying each others company. And what would a day of having drinks with friends and music be without the famously-gregarious "Sweet Caroline." Leave it to college students to turn a Neil Diamond staple into a bitter cacophony.

Posted by mcdon419 at 7:08 AM | Permalink

While visiting the former Ukrainian aircraft carrier Kiev yesterday, it got me thinking about China’s armed forces. I was curious on the size, nuclear capabilities, service units, etc. So, a quick search on the Internet yielded some interesting findings. For instance, the size of the People’s Liberation Army, which is an aggregate total of the ground force, air force, and naval service is estimated at about three million. The Chinese government has come to the realization that quality is better than quantity. Therefore, the force has shrunk considerably (estimates at one million plus) in the last two decades. For comparison purposes, the size of the United States Armed forces is about one and a half million with an additional 850,000 as reservists. China’s military is one of the largest in the world and spends roughly $70.2 billion per year on armed forces expenditures. Again, for comparison purposes, I will use the United States, which spends roughly ten times that to defend our country. I think we are all very, very proud of our US Armed Forces being the most powerful in the world. Rather than increase military spending, the Chinese government maintains dedicated amounts and instead focuses on increasing training of soldiers and relying on the technology and weaponry of foreign countries, including Russia (former USSR), Israel, and Germany. Much of this technology is outdated and if the government were to invest more money into the defense system, the military would be much stronger. However, much of the Western world may not want a stronger Chinese army. But, that is not up to us to decide...

Posted by jopk0002 at 6:40 AM | Permalink

I actually woke up dreaming about dumplings this morning, so I think I am going to blog about them. I know it has been a few days since we made dumplings, but thinking back I really thought it was a great experience. I had never made a dumpling before and I had only probably eaten five in my life before coming on this trip. It was really interesting to see how all the Chinese students had different methods to creating their own personal family dumpling. Everyone rolled the dough in a little different way and everyone made the dumplings into different shapes. I was talking to Tracy at the hot pot dinner the night before we made dumplings and he said every year his family has a festival (reunion) and they all bring their favorite dumpling to pass around. Before this trip, I really had no idea that dumplings had such a big impact on the Chinese culture. Of course, the best part about making dumplings is eating them, but for some reason right now I get a little sick just by thinking about them. I am certainly all dumplingged out for now! The past few days have been amazing and I am looking forward to the next adventure.

Posted by fergu222 at 12:52 AM | Permalink

Today is our eleventh day in Tianjin, only nine more days until our departure. Later today we are going to a Karaoke bar to completely embarrass ourselves; it has already been established that no one in our group can sing. Last night we hung out with the Chinese students again on the roof of our hotel, listened to music, and play a common dice came played in Chinese bars. So far on the trip speaking with the Chinese students has been my favorite part. I learned that one of the students, Miao Miao, or Miao^2 as I like to call her really likes the movie Juno. We then went on to explain that that movie was based in Minnesota and that the author of the book is from Minnesota as well. I found it interesting that they liked such a sarcastic, American-humor movie because a lot of our humor does not translate into Chinese. A lot of my jokes are not understood by the Chinese students, which is ok I guess. They students mentioned that they really liked the music in Juno. I then asked them about something I have been observing on Chinese music channels. A lot of Chinese songs are of course in Chinese, however random parts of the song are sung in English. I asked why certain sentences in their songs in English, apparently it is trendy or cool to do so. I was surprised on how much the Chinese students knew about American music and movies; they even knew Green Day when the song was played on one of our computers. Towards the end of the conversation they asked if I knew any Chinese movies or actors, I was embarrassed to say I only knew Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Jackie Chan. They weren’t surprised when I said I knew Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon because that movie was big internationally. They also mentioned that Jackie Chan is one a big celebrity in China as well, one of the biggest. I have seen so many commercials and advertisements with Jackie in them, the most common are for hair care products.

Posted by sett0070 at 11:57 PM | Permalink

So to start off I understand why China has a one child policy; with a population as large as China’s it is understandable that they want to keep it under control. But at the same time for me personally I would hate living in a country that would limit me to only having one child, and also being the only child growing up. I have two brothers and a sister so imaging a life without them is impossible. I used my siblings to learn from their mistakes, and I also looked up to them for advice and help though high school and my start of college. The reason I choose this topic to blog about is because I saw a set of twin girls when we were outside of the hotel. It made me wonder how that works; do they have to choose to abort one, do they have to pay money for one, or do they just get to have both? It also raises the question for when the go to school, seeing all families are reserved one student ID for their child does one child get left out and not able to go to school, or do the schools make exceptions when it comes to twins. I am very interested in finding out how all these things work because we have heard so much about the one child policy, but nothing really when a women ends up having twins.

Posted by walte275 at 8:27 PM | Permalink

Last night we went to Hank’s Sports Bar. After finishing up with the meal we were fortunate to meet some Americans that actually work abroad. Dwayne is originally from Jamaica and moved to the United States when he was sixteen years old. He attended the University of Florida and studied mechanical engineering. He now works for main company that includes Blackberry. He now comes to China 4 times a year for trips that last 3 weeks. I am really happy that I got to meet someone who travels like he does and to hear what he looks for when hiring someone. Knowing how to speak Mandarin has become one of the most differential qualities. He was really impressed by us for coming here and studying. He thinks that this will show employers that we know how to take advantage of a great opportunity. It seems that the general situation for people who travel over here they get a driver, don’t know the language, and are amazed by the culture. They also said that this is the time to come to China because of its economic growth and future potential.

Posted by vaudr001 at 7:13 PM | Permalink

Tianjin is very good space. It is become more and more modern. It is going to catch up to Guangzhou city. I think the 2008 Olympus game is one of the reason that Tianjin develop faster.

Ok, I should return to my topic. I do not have very much picture, but I got the quality.

Today's No. 1 picture I hold:

This picture is cool, as you know, jack does not very like to take picture. And this one shows how cool he is. With the old style method makes jack even like model. This photo I just put up some words on it; I have not using any photoshop on it. If anyone want it , I would happy to give everyone the original one without any words.

Today's No.2: Tianjin Rocks

The photograph's background is my bag pack. I use Marco mode to an area of my bag. Using Photoshop to write some words on it. It makes the picture nice and cool. By use black color words, everyone would focus on my words and this is what I want everybody to see.

Today's No. 3: Road Way

This photo is take place from Tianjin Port. it is a huge ship port and has a nice view. Also this one I use the old style color background lens. It gives a different feeling of it. The little on the left of the road in the front gives little life on this picture.

I hope everyone enjoin my photo. hope to get more stylist photo in shanghai.

Posted by liang133 at 11:20 AM | Permalink

Today we first went to visit the Coca Cola company. Through the tour, we knew the basic basic production for everyday, but too bad we didn't get the chance to try a bottle of fresh coke. Then we went to the ACS company. After the short meeting we had, it seems knowing English is not enough. Since more Chinese companies are expanding their products and services to Japan, so if you want to have some advantages compare to other people, you need to know both English and Japanese. After we had lunch at the Hundred Dumplings Garden, we went to see the Soviet aircraft. It was my first time to see a aircraft, it was a very good experience to have a deep looking inside to see what does it look like. But what is interesting is, there are only three Soviet aircrafts are open for tourism, how come there are not much people. Maybe they do not show enough "Face"?

Posted by liang106 at 10:51 AM | Permalink

After touring a Coca Cola bottling plant, a business called ACS, and seeing the Tianjin port we went to see a Soviet aircraft carrier in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin. The carrier, named Kiev, was bought by China in 1996 and was turned into a theme park in 2004. The ship was built in 1970, launched in 1972 and finally entered into service in 1977. After 16 years of use, the ship was finally retired in 1993.

It was a great experience to be able to go through the ship and learn a bit about it's history and ships in general. There was definitely a different feeling when you entered the ship and with the mannequins and lit-up command center you could sort of get the feeling of being apart of the crew on board. Many sections of the ship were blocked off, it would have been cool to go into the bridge of the ship. It would also be interesting to tour a state-of-the-art aircraft carrier and also a U.S. Aircraft carrier from the same era and compare the ships.

Images here.

Posted by mcdon419 at 9:55 AM | Permalink

Today was spent all out of the classroom. We started out by going to the coca-cola bottling facility in Tianjin. This facility was one of around forty in the country of china and serves the Tianjin city area. At first this doesn’t sound like a big area for a bottling plant that can pump out 300 million bottles a year; however, when you consider that the city of Tianjin has a population greater than the entire state of Minnesota it sounds realistic. From our tour it seemed like a very American style production plant and I am sure it closely resembles those found back at home. The trip was interesting as I had never seen the inside workings of a bottling company.

After the bottling plant we visited ACS, or Affiliated Computer Services. This was a branch of a company based out of the United States and ranked among the fortune 500. ACS is an IT and business solutions company. They are involved in taking over functions for companies such as HR or accounting and finance. Many of their client are large us companies; however, they have client around the world in 100 different countries. From our time there it sounds like the company plans to grow over the next few years through M&A activity. Visiting this company was great as it gave us an insight as to how the foreign branches of us companies operate. They had a much more American style business culture; however Chinese aspects were clearly present.

Finally we ended the day by visiting a Soviet Aircraft carrier from the Cold War era. It was decommissioned upon the collapse of the Soviet Union as it was too expensive to keep in duty. This ship is based around a different thinking than American aircraft carriers. While American carriers roam with a pack of ships to defend it, soviet carriers were designed to be able to sail solo. This means that the soviet aircraft carriers are more like a carrier destroyer hybrid. It has long range medium range as well as short range weapons capabilities. It was designed to be a self sufficient military weapon. The tour was rather interesting as I have never looked closely at Soviet weaponry from the Cold War. It represented a different mindset from the American military and gave me a feel about how the Soviets approached war.

Posted by houl0072 at 8:02 AM | Permalink

Today was our tenth day in Tianjin; the time is just flying by. Today we had a very full day or touring different companies and other landmarks of Tianjin. The last thing on our agenda of the day was visiting a real air craft carrier ship located at the far end of Tianjin. The ship had been converted into a museum almost with pictures, information facts, and authentic artifacts include torpedoes, missiles, etc. Towards the end of our hour and a half visit I was on the deck of the massive ship. I was with a few other of the students when all of a sudden a small crowd of Chinese people started to crowd around me. A man and woman approached me and began talking to me; in Chinese of course, I just smiled. I soon figured out that they wanted their friend to take a picture of me with them. So I took a few pictures with random Chinese people on top of an Old Russian Air Carrier. I noticed that another person in my group had also attracted a small crowd and was taking pictures with them as well. They treat us like we are part of the museum they are touring. They smile at us, take pictures without asking with cameras and their cell phones. Today however was the first time someone actually came up to me in public and asked to have my picture taken with them. I do not have a problem with it; I just find it really strange. When I am in America and I see foreigners I would never think of going up to them, speak a language they don’t understand, and take pictures with them. However, Tianjin is a smaller city than Beijing and it is possible that some of the people here have never seen a white person. Also, a lot of the places we tour are national attractions and many of the Chinese people visiting are not native to the area and possible come from even rural areas where white people are not very common. I just find it amusing how they giggle, point, and overall seem really interested in us whenever we are in public.

Posted by sett0070 at 7:33 AM | Permalink

Today was a fun packed day where we witnessed and heard a lot of interesting things. The event that we did today that I want to blog about is our tour of the Coca-cola company. After taking the tour it was a lot different than I expected it to be. For the tour we basically walked around a single room and was able to look down at all the various machines they use for their operations. I thought we were actually going to go down and get a closer few of the operations, but I understand why they didn’t. They work 24 hours a day working at various speeds based on demand. Depending on the size, amount, and type of bottle whether plastic or glass. The most interesting thing was how they found defective bottles throughout the assembly process. It looked as though they used a light which probably measured requirements for the bottle and then would separate them from the pack. It was a very fast process, but I thought the conveyer belt for the caps and how they were screwed on was most intriguing. I also notice from one of the first rooms we looked at was a water treatment workshop. This is interesting to me since my dad’s company works with water treatment processes and I build water treatment tanks during the summer. So my question would be if the products offered by Engineering America Inc. could be used in any way in Coca-cola’s operations. It was overall a learning experience and I was surprised by how much that they can make a day.

Posted by hackw001 at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A group of us went to Hank’s Sports Bar for probably one of the best meals we have ever had. You see, Hank’s serves good old-fashioned American grub. While I have not a complaint about the wonderful Chinese food we have had the tremendous opportunity to devour over the last two plus weeks, we were all craving a big, fat, juicy cheeseburger. We are nearing the end of week three and I can see some restlessness and homesickness arising from the group. Whether it’s missing friends, family, pets, or food; we can all relate. Hank’s provided us with some of that we miss so much from home. So, I’m not sure if the food was really that good or if we just miss home that much. I have come to the realization that it is both. I have truly enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and will cherish the memories for the rest of my life. I do, however, miss my wife, family, friends and all of our pets back home. Although, Nichole (my wife) tells me that there is a frost advisory in Duluth tonight. What the hell is that? Isn’t it June? I do not miss the weather! It has been extremely beautiful here, although we could do without extreme heat and smog some days. With more free time now, we are able to have a chance to sit down and reflect on all that we have seen and done over the last few weeks. I hope all of the people on this trip realize what an opportunity this is and take it for all it is worth. I hope all of you back home understand how excited we all were to come on this learning adventure. Now, we are nearly ready to come home. It will be over before you know it. And, for all of you reading these blogs back home, we will be home safe before you know it!

Posted by jopk0002 at 7:25 AM | Permalink

This morning we tour a couple different companies but I will discuss ACS (Affiliated Computer Services- http://www.acs-inc.com/). ACS is a company that provides outsourcing services (HR, accounting & finance, IT, BPO, and a couple others) to many companies worldwide such as GM, Motorola, Cigna, and many others. ACS is headquartered in Dallas, TX but has a very strong presence in China especially in its Tianjin office in TEDA (http://en.investteda.org/). We met with President Chen, who gave us a brief overview of ACS as well as a Q&A session. Among the many topics she discussed, I was amazed with the low turnover rate of around 8%. She made some good points on why it was so low. Tianjin and TEDA are an area of China that is growing very fast. And the fact that many companies are trying to cut costs, outsourcing with an elite company such as ACS would be beneficial to any company in the long run. President Chen said that the company wouldn't notice much until two or three years after the relationship. She also said that ACS has a 98 percent satisfaction rate, which again impresses me about ACS.
Now, onto Hanks. It is a western style restaurant that serves burgers, pizza, tacos, nachos, steaks, and many other dishes. The weekly special was a Aussie Roadhouse Bernie Burger, which I got (the only one at the table to get) and it was great. It has double bacon, double cheese, an egg, mayo, lettuce, fried onions, on a delicious bun. I couldn't have asked for anything better after not eating a real burger in over two weeks. Thanks Hanks, and we will be back!

Posted by benn0326 at 7:20 AM | Permalink

I am going to blog about the aircraft carrier that we visited today. This was by far the highlight for me today. I like learning about military and seeing what types of weapons they use in combat. I have been really interested in the Navy so seeing this carrier was amazing to me. I had never seen one and was very excited to see what I could learn. I noticed the size of this carrier and it was enormous. Next, you walk inside and the ceilings are very low. I am not sure of the reason for this but if I stood straight up I almost hit my head. It was interesting to see all of the things inside. The sleeping areas were very small because they had to store a large number of crew members so they made the beds small to take up as little as space as possible. The bullet storing area was really cool because I couldn't believe the number of bullets they could store in a little room. Also, going to the torpedo and missile storage area was very cool. I could not believe the size of these weapons and can only imagine the kind of damage they could cause. The control center was really cool to me. I would love to know more about the technology that was used during this time and how to operate all of the controls they had. We were playing military like a bunch of 5 year old kids because it was so fun to play with the controls even though the controls didn't do anything it was really fun to go back to childhood memories. I really enjoyed being on deck level because I sat there and imagined what it must have been like for the sailors that were on this ship out at sea. I looked around imagining planes and other ships attacking them while helicopters and planes tried to land on the carrier. It was very exciting for me because I imagined what both my grandparent's had done in the military. One grandpa was in the Air Force and flew war planes during WWII. My other grandpa was part of the Navy and this was extremely special to me because I never did learn much about his experiences do to unfortunate reasons. So I tried to imagine what it was like for him and it really made my day after being on the carrier. I enjoyed it greatly..

Posted by charl094 at 7:17 AM | Permalink

As we were at the Port of Tianjin today, the guy that spoke to us near the container cranes said that the whole East part of the port was created from dredge spoils. After thinking about it for a while I realized that Tianjin created a port for itself, whereas, in Duluth we have to live with the port we have already created. Duluth has gentrified so much of its waterfront that there is no way to vastly expand the industrial space for new or expanding business. Duluth is not the only city to have done this, the West Coast could be in trouble in the next few years when expansion may be needed. In fact, Prince Rupert, BC, was the first new major Container Terminal opened on the West Coast of North America in recent years (2007) due to the congestion at the other ports of entry.
Another issue with using dredge spoils in Duluth is that the dredging material is polluted so we cannot use it to actually produce anything helpful. In the US, once the government pulls the material from the bottom of the channel if it is polluted it cannot be put anywhere else, unless it is for treatment or disposal. I wonder if China has the same regulations? The guy speaking to us also told us of sand that is coming from Southern China to be put on the beach of the Tianjin Port to create Tianjin’s only beachfront. I have to wonder if this sand will be tested for pollutants prior to people playing in it and laying on it. The port was very interesting today, and I thank Dr. Li for allowing us to visit it! (I requested we visit, hope everyone thought it was worthwhile.)

Posted by fergu222 at 7:14 AM | Permalink

Today I am going to blog about my amazing dinner that I had at Hanks. Hanks is a sports bar that serves Chicago style burgers and steaks. We only found out about this place by chance when Andy, Dj, and I decided to go out and look for a nice cold beer when we first got to Tianjin. We saw the the sign that said sports bar and we were like that is where we are going to get a drink. So we went in and met the owner Hank and he was really nice. He started talking to us about how he had been there for 8 years and that he was only suppose to be there for 6 months but he loved it so much he didn't want to leave. He got the idea for the restaurant because when he first got here there was not many western bars or places to get western food. It looked like a great place and we saw the menu and when we saw Chicago style burgers we were like we have to come back here and get food one time. So tonight a group of eight of us finally made it back to Hanks for dinner. We all were craving a big burger so everyone but one got a burger. When they finally came out and we saw them our mouths dropped and started watering because they looked so great. There was a period of about 5 minutes where there was complete silence and all you could here was people chewing. After were were done we decide that it was the best thing ever and we already want to go back for more before we leave Tianjin. This was a great way to end a long day looking at different companies and riding on the bus.

Posted by ritt0123 at 7:09 AM | Permalink

One thing that I've realized today looking at the pricing schemes of China versus the pricing schemes used in the United States is that China does not seem to use the high amount in cents as compared to most of the pricing in the US. For example a lot of places in the United States will price things with an ending price of .98 or .99. In China most of the prices will be even numbers, which makes paying for things a lot easier because you don't get a ton of coins back when paying with cash. The other thing that seems nice is if you do get change back it's usually in the form of bills instead of in the form of coins. I dread carrying around a ton of coins (which is one reason I usually pay with a credit card instead of with cash, but here I can't do that many places and the credit card company will charge me a decent fee for international transactions). I'm not exactly sure of the reason for the prices not usually being advertised with a value in cents here; it may be the fact that cents here isn't worth very much as compared to US dollars or it may also be that prices can be negotiated in many locations, but I still find that many restaurants and things still state prices in whole RMB rather than with cents. The United States usually adds a large number in cents to make it appear less expensive than it really is and make more profit while the price appears less expensive. Whatever the reason, I find it a lot easier to pay in cash here than in the United States due to the fact that you rarely receive coins in return when you do pay with cash.

Posted by stra0532 at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we started out by talking about cultural differences again; however, this time it was more focused on the specific cultures within china itself. We talked about the demographics of china and who makes up the majority and minorities of china. Looking at it is very obvious there is a single majority and only a few of the minorities left. Within the majority, differences in culture and dialects in language do exist. Overall though, the people in the majority all identify themselves as Han people. We also discussed the differences in social mobility and the standards of living within china. China has much more disparity between the rich and the poor than America. The elite are less than 1% of the country; however, account for the majority of the GDP. The farm worker is one of the lowest positions in the society.

For lunch we ate at the cafeteria on campus. This cafeteria was the expensive one on campus but provided some great food at reasonable prices. We got to experience how the students of Nankai deal with when eating their lunches. We saw the crowded cafeterias and long lines that are customary to student’s life. It was very reminiscent of the cafeteria freshman year. I remember the long lines and the crowded seating arrangements as people scavenged to find a place to eat. The difference between where I ate as a freshman and this cafeteria is theirs was a three story building for the whole campus and ours was just a place for freshmen.

Later that night we made dumplings. My time at the Costco bakery didn’t help at all! I spent most of the time rolling out dumpling shells as it was the hardest part of the process and I figured I might as well suffer for the delicious meal. There is a tradition in china to make a “special” dumpling by putting a coin or candy in one and designating that one the lucky dumpling. I however figured if there was a lucky dumpling with candy there might as well be a prank dumpling. So I made a dumpling filled completely with raw flour. While I waited in anticipation for someone to bite into it during dinner it was never found and I wonder what happened to my prank. We found a special dumpling and I presented it to Dr. Li our professor. The traditions of china are often open for interpretation and can be made in to a fun scenario with a little bit of imagination. Overall I would have to say dumpling making was a lot of fun and I would not hesitate to prove my skills to others.

Posted by houl0072 at 1:02 PM | Permalink

China is a big country. It has 56 ethnic groups. The biggest one is Han Chinese and holds 90% of the Chinese population. Not only people is difference, our language also differences in different city. Mandarin and Cantonese are the most popular in china. Mandarin is the one that everyone knows. On the other hand, people from very south of china, like Hongkong, GuangDong are the two major city that us Cantonese.

We can understand with each other although there are 56 ethnic. The person who makes that happen was the king of Qin in the Qin dynasty. Three important things that he did is unification of the currency, unification of language and unification of characters. Without those three important concepts, we will not able to communicate.
One of reason why Cantonese become one of the most popular Chinese speeches, because of the first economic growth is located in GuangDong area. Most of the factories are located in GuangDong. You can see many product are from Guangdong. Although, Beijing is catching to Guangdong, but there still have some distances. First, it is hard for company just move their manufactory from one city to other city. Sometimes it will make them better off to stay in where it is rather than move away. Second, the average spending in Beijing is getting more and more because of the Olympus game last year. Business man would stay in Guangdong While Guangdong is cheaper than Beijing. Last, I think Cantonese is already creating a popular. With so many stars are also speak Cantonese. So, people would love to learn Cantonese normally.

Now, a mandarin is importance, too. That is why foreigner learns to speak mandarin not Cantonese. The majority is speaking mandarin and just few cities are speaking Cantonese.

Posted by liang133 at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

China has invested billions of yuan into building and rebuilding infrastructure in recent years, including mass transit initiatives such as rail and multiple freeway systems designed to move traffic quicker and more efficiently. I am amazed at the lack of investment in infrastructure in the United States. There seems to have been little improvement in the US transportation system since the interstate highway system of the 1950’s. If anything good came out of the I-35W bridge collapse in August of 2007, it was an in-depth review of all bridges and their structural integrity in the United States. Unfortunately, many of them are in very poor condition and will need to be replaced in the near future. To repair and update the roads, rails, and bridges in the US would literally cost billions and billions of dollars. It seems to me that the US is years behind China, especially in the areas of mass transit. Dr. Li said that much of the construction in China is not designed to last because it will likely be torn down and rebuilt within a few years. In any case, the US and individual states need to develop a more extensive plan in order to avoid catastrophic failure with transportation within the country. This has happened in Duluth in recent past. If the city of Duluth replaces roads at their current rate, it will take something like 100 years to fix all of those pothole ridden streets. I don’t know about you, but I would like to see something done sooner than that. China has the right idea, however, it is not productive to build roads to last only a few years either. But, at least the country is making an effort to improve transportation within and between China’s large metropolitan areas.

Posted by jopk0002 at 11:39 AM | Permalink

Today at the afternoon, we were making dumplings at the dining room at the hotel. But I didn't make any, because I am more enjoy watching other people making dumplings than making by myself. Our group is very creative, we ignore the traditional shape of the dumplings and made our owns. For example, Alex made a dumpling like a "ginger man". Also Dan hold a record of eating 50 dumplings for the next year's competitor. I don't think anybody can beat it, unless he or she is starving for a few days. At the evening, we got the opportunity to play sports again. This time, my arm didn't feel that pain anymore. It was very fun. Tonight, Dylan, Cord, Jeff, John, Margo, her mom, Steve, Dan, me, and other Chinese students hung out to Alibaba again. We called three taxis, Cord, Jeff and me were the last group got there. Because we stopped more than 8 taxis and asked them if they know the way to Alibaba. I think this is a very nice place to get some drinks and talk with your friends. When we came back, I was planing to go to McDonald's, but it was closed for some reasons. I might need to get up earlier tomorrow and get a big breakfast. :)

Posted by liang106 at 11:31 AM | Permalink

Fires in the middle of high traffic roads in Duluth or almost any other city would be prohibited. Tonight we saw a large fire in the street right outside of our hotel. They were burning large wicker items along with flowers and greenery. I really have no idea why they were doing this but I do have a few assumptions. My first is that someone’s life was taken in that exact spot where the fire was lit. As they lit the fire and kept it under control there was a man yelling on the side. As he yelled people lined up on their knees would bow over and over again. I figured it might be a religious way of honoring a family member or friend who has passed. But what I thought was weird was that after they stopped bowing they got up and all left right away, except for the people controlling the fire. During the fire we also saw a man who was receiving many hugs from different people, so we figured it was the main person who lost a loved one. This also could have been a ritual that is performed by these people every year for some reason. I was very surprised when we were walking back and were lucky enough to see the fire and everything take place. I have never seen anything like that before and am very interested and curious to what was actually going on, and if it is a common thing.

Posted by walte275 at 10:23 AM | Permalink

I am going to blog about the emphasis of education that is put on the Chinese people. I have noticed that the people here take education very seriously. A reason for this is because they really want to be successful at what they do. I would say some of it is because of Mianzi or face. They want to portray themselves as something good and education is by means of doing so. Also, students have a test weekend to get in college which basically decides their fate. If they don't pass this test then they won't be able to go to college. If they do pass then they get in. The colleges around Tianjin only let in around 5,000 students a year. If you look at the population size of this country, that's not a lot of kids and so it is very selective. Another reason is cost. The cost to go to school is not cheap and only the families that have the money can send their children to school. There isn't many people that can afford to send their kids to school and for the ones that can, they know they are lucky they can go to school and want to make sure they put all they can into it. Also, people here need a good education to achieve a higher status of living. When you want to go into a profession the first thing they look at is your education. This is true in the U.S. as well. There is a lot of poor people here and most of them will never get the chance to move up because they lack an education. These are some of the reasons why I see them so serious about school.

Posted by charl094 at 9:39 AM | Permalink

This morning we went and bought some breakfast on the side streets from a vendor selling deep fried bread sticks. It was a nice change from the same thing we have everyday for breakfast at the hotel (rice, fried noodles, zhongzi, and really bad coffee). The bread sticks had a very buttery flavor. I watched as the man made them, he would roll out the dough, chop it up into very small pieces, and pull the pieces into long strings and drop them in the deep frier. Professor Li asked the man how much he sells every morning, and he said that he goes through about 50 pounds of dough every morning. They sell for 50 Jiao for 1 (half a Yuan) breadstick. Apparently this is what the majority of Chinese people have for breakfast on their way to wherever they are going. The food they serve in the hotel would be pretty expensive for them and thus why the majority of them stop at the vendor stands. I also saw hotdogs this morning for the first time since we've been in China ... for breakfast ... I may have to try some tomorrow along with some other various breakfast foods I see along the way.

Posted by mcdon419 at 9:11 AM | Permalink

It came as a big surprise to me today that women are not really considered to be promotable employees in China. Dr. Li said that women that are already at a high level do very well, but Chinese women are not expected to be managers. I asked Gracey about this point and she stated the very same thing. She said she wants to be a manager, but it will be hard because women are expected to have the children and take care of the household. I guess this is what us Americans would consider "old school" or the old way of doing things. It is no longer that the women take care of the household in the USA, and we have started to become equals in the workplace. Women are very promotable in the USA and usually make great managers and employees. I was a little disappointed to hear that women don't have the opportunities in China that we do in the USA. When I asked Dr. Li about how the Chinese will work with women cooperatively that are perhaps customers or co-workers in the USA and he said that they will not show a bias. It is only Chinese women that are seen as the childbearer and household keeper. I guess this could be a good thing for me as a manager in the USA. I shouldn't have trouble working with China. Overall, a very interesting lecture today. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Posted by fergu222 at 8:55 AM | Permalink

Today I am going to blog about the random things that you see around China. Tonight I looked out the window and i saw what looked to be fire in the reflection off the building across the street. At first I was like I hope that is not my hotel i am staying in but it turns out that it was a fire in the middle of the street. This was so weird because it was not a little fire but was a huge bonfire. The Chinese men were just throwing in random chairs and other pieces of wood into the fire. What I thought was really funny is the fact that a cop drove right by and didn't even stop or say anything. It didn't last long but when it was over they didn't even bother to clean it up or sweep away the ashes. So now there is just a big black spot in the road. I just couldn't believe that would be allowed. If we were in America you would probably going to jail. But its just another thing that is different about the culture and what is the norm in China.

Posted by ritt0123 at 8:51 AM | Permalink

Tonight was a fun night, but I would like to blog about something I saw after badminton. As we were walking back I happened to look to my left towards the intersection and noticed something. A group of around thirty people were piling flowers and wicker basket type things getting ready to start a fire. Once they lit the fire a group of them got down on there knees and were praying. My first thought was are they really lighting this in the middle of the street! Next I was wondering what it was for and I thought it to be religious since people were praying. As the group slowly dispersed I saw them hugging a man. So I assumed maybe that he had a love one die at that intersection. I saw one cop just pass by with his lights on which made me think it had to do with someone dying so he passed out of respect. They were controlling the fire with shuttles and as the fire died down they left. The fire is currently smoldering in the middle of the street. It was a bizarre thing that I look forward to asking Professor Li question on what it was all about. I cannot imagine that being allowed back in the states.

Posted by hackw001 at 8:48 AM | Permalink

After going to Alibaba's again, I appreciate a lot what the owner has done. It is a hang out for international as well as locals (though I don't think that many go there or even go out at night especially on a Monday night) who speak English. When we walked in, we were greeted by University of Wisconsin-Madison students. They said it was their third night here and are studying Chinese at Normal University for three months total. I am just amazed that I am 7000 miles away from Minnesota with a 13 hour time difference, and I am seeing people that live less than 200 miles away from my hometown. In Beijing, a group of met ran into some students who were from the U of M-Rochester. That is like a 40 minute drive from Winona. Again we are half way across the world and seeing people. This just makes me believe the saying "The world is small". The owner did have to come over to us and tell us to be quiet again, but that is going to happen when have eight people around a table. But, at least this time we were not the only ones to be told to me quiet. Again, the owner must have to put up with a lot but in the end I am sure that he loves what he is going. Thank you AliBaba's for being an international English speaking bar!!

Posted by benn0326 at 8:48 AM | Permalink

Today was our ninth day in Tianjin and it is still really hot outside. My Duluth blood cannot adjust to such wide temperature swings. Today for lunch I finally got to walk around Nankai University’s campus with some of the Chinese students. We ate at one of their cafeterias, similar to UMD’s DC. The first two floors looked similar to a food court in a mall or other public area, however on the third floor were we ate; the tables were set up family style. Students would by their lunch with friends and then share it with everyone at the table. I got some tasty orange chicken, rice, some kind of roll, and chicken on a stick. I paid $10.5 RMB which is roughly $1.50 US dollars, so not a bad deal. Each food item had a price but I have learned it is just easier to pick something you want and pay later; trying to figure out the price for every item is a waste of time. At UMD it is all you can eat for about $7.50, there is no such system at Nankai. Nankai students don’t purchase meal plans as they do at UMD so either a food card must be purchased or pay with cash. At UMD all students who live in the freshman dorms have a meal plan and eat in the one dining center, at Nankai there are three cafeterias, however, students do not typically eat there because it is more expensive than going to a street vendor or some other nearby market. I also noticed that I did not get stared at as much on campus compared to walking down the street. Everyone at the university can speak some English, it is required. Some can speak it better than others, and those who talk to us like to practice their English for upcoming exams.

Posted by sett0070 at 5:39 AM | Permalink

Today’s class talked a lot about face, or the way people or organizations represent themselves. It became apparent real quickly the one of the most important aspects of Chinese culture was this face or how people are represented. This issue was stressed in the context of both, international management in China as well as in HRM. Like guanxi, Face is a fundamental cornerstone that the culture is built off of and any business professional needs to have a solid grasp on it in order to do business in china.

The use of “face” was very apparent when we visited Tasly, a pharmaceutical company in china. The company spent millions of dollars to make their headquarters look fancy and elaborate. They had many sculptures and wall art. Often times these artifacts would decorate their very elaborate conference rooms. They had spent millions on a wall that depicted the history of medicine in china throughout the ages up to the current state. Tasly also spared no expense on their main building, having a elaborate fountain with a grand piano in the middle. While we were there the company representatives spent more time showing us face rather than explaining what the company does.

This idea of face is not so different from America. While it might not play as much of a role in our everyday lives people still care what others think of them and often times act in a way to send the message they want to convey. We will dress up for interviews and we will wear our nicest cloths out when we go somewhere where we might meet new people. While the Chinese people put a lot of significance on face, we as Americans can still relate to an extent. Appearance is everything in America and oftentimes we act just as the Chinese do regarding face. While we might not be as formal or as flashy in our private lives we often times “turn it on” for special occasions.

Posted by houl0072 at 5:20 AM | Permalink

For lunch today a group of us went with the Chinese kids to have lunch at the University’s dining facility. I was surprised by the quality of the room and food. Again though the food was left out on plates so when we purchased it the food had gone cold. Still the food was better then I was expecting. After lunch we went to find a souvenir store. It was nothing like the ones at American Universities where they have multiple stores dedicated to school memorabilia. We noticed that the kids on campus dress very different then we do back home. At American schools most student’s attire has the school logo on it. Here it felt more formal. I was told that the Chinese students were surprised that I addressed my older brother as John instead of a more formal title. This surprised me that age hierarchy occurred even between people one year apart. I understood the different generations, but I am surprised by the sibling relationship hierarchy.

Posted by vaudr001 at 2:39 AM | Permalink

Today we went with some of the Nankai students (Tracy, Angel, Gracie, Jun, and Pas) to one of their three student cafeteria's for lunch. I was rather surprised by the fact that the cafeteria had three levels, the lowest being the least expensive food and the least fancy of the three levels, the middle being about the same (it may have been a bit better than the first level) and the third level (which is the level we ate at) was the fanciest and most expensive of them all. The food wasn't anything spectacular, but it wasn't horrible (probably the best tofu I've had so far to be honest). The meat skewers I loved, even though they were cold, they still tasted great. There were some form of bones in my meatballs that I got, which was kind of annoying but I dealt with them and spit them out. I'm kind of curious about the lower levels of the cafeteria though, and whether the food they get is the same or of lower quality than the food which you get on the third level. The reason we didn't go to one of the lower levels was because of the amount of people eating there. The first and second levels were both packed and had fairly long lines to get food. When we got to the third level it suddenly cleared out and there was tons of space compared to the previous two levels. The other thing that was surprising about the third level was the fact that they had the family style lazy susan in the center as compared to the first to levels which just had regular tables. This also made it look a lot fancier than the lower levels and I thought it would be somewhat more expensive than most of the places we have eaten out, but it only ended up being 14 RMB. I'm glad I went with the students to lunch, I learned many things during my visit to Nankai from them and seeing all the various things on campus.

Posted by stra0532 at 1:21 AM | Permalink

Mian zi is face. The true meaning of that concept is people look at people or thing base on their out looking. That is why people want to get more face to do more on clothing. Most of time I look at a person will first focus on their clothing or dressing.

So, most of the face is from looking. If one building has a very good design and modern, we would consider the building has face. It is very easy to see a person has face or not, but it is hard to not the one do not loss face. I bet everyone notice that many girl wear fate LV purse. Although, you see it on the street, but you would not say it loud. Sometimes, you know what it is. If the person is not doing bed, it is better to not muckrake.

We went to the downtown city today in Tianjin. There are many shopping malls. We do a window shopping along the street. And we see a food street over there. It is smell very good.

Posted by liang133 at 10:21 AM | Permalink

After we visited Tasly today we went to a shopping mall here in Tianjin. This was the first mall we've been to since we arrived in China that reminded me of malls in the States. There wasn't anyone trying to get you to look in their stores or buy things. It was very laid back. The food in the food court was surprisingly good. I ordered chicken fried rice. It was nice to have some fried rice after eating SO much white rice the past couple weeks. After eating a few of us were walking around the streets outside the mall. There was people everywhere. I really wish I could fully understand Chinese language so I could understand what all the hype about the 喜洋洋 (Xi Yang Yang) Sheep cartoon is about. This seems to be a huge craze in China. Everywhere you look there is t-shirts, stuffed animals, and balloons of this sheep and, what I assume to be his enemy, wolf named Hui Tai Lang. So today during Children's day everything seemed to be themed after this cartoon.

Posted by mcdon419 at 9:55 AM | Permalink

"Who you know is more important than what you know." It seems to me, that is always the truth in my life. In the business world, what you know is just a little part, the biggest part is you know what the other people know. So you can always get many useful informations and opportunities from them. For example, if you are applying for a job
at the McDonald's while there are other 10 other people are applying for the same position at the same time, and they have more experience and education than you have. But you know the the manager pretty well, you always go to drink and hang out with him. Guess what, that will really help you to have a higher probability to get this job, and even you can't get it, you might still sitting at the first place at the wait list for the next open spot. At the same time manager is giving you "face", the mianzi. Because you get the benefit that the other people couldn't have. For the company we went today, Tasly. They show their face by the huge and well-designed buildings they have, put the awards they got on many closets, hanging many picture that taking with many famous people, like Chinese president, Hu Jintao. These things really give them many "face". Today Jun did a something that really give him "face". I hope Curd will upload the pictures, to let him have some "face". :)

Posted by liang106 at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From my observations, there seems to be a lack of ethnic diversity in China. I did a little research and discovered the following: As far as ethnic groups go, Han Chinese make up 91.5% of the population, while Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uyghur, Tujia, Yi, Mongol, Tibetan, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Korean, and other nationalities make up the final 8.5% (2000 census). So, I believe it is safe to say that well over ninety-five percent of the population is native Chinese, confirming my observation. This is in stark contrast to the United States, where seventy-four percent describe themselves as “white” Americans.

It appears that China is not open to immigration. Upon further research, foreigners are allowed to stay on (visa) for the following reasons: work, study, travel, or marriage over a certain period of time. I found this to be somewhat disheartening, especially for a country that is fast becoming (or has already become) a world superpower. It seems that the government has become somewhat more receptive to immigrants in the recent past. China has adopted flexible new visa rules to make it convenient for foreign professionals and investors to work and invest in the country. According to the rules, qualified foreigners may apply for a special multiple-entry visitor's visa which is valid for 2-5 years, allowing a maximum of 12 months' stay per visit. For foreigners who need to work in China, they may also apply for a special work visa which allows one to stay in the country for 2-5 years with multiple-entry rights. At present, those foreigners wishing to make China their permanent residence are simply out of luck. The Chinese government has made strides in immigration regulation, yet still has a ways to go, considering the amount of foreign investment (including many MNC's) that is occurring and is likely to greatly increase in the years to come.

Posted by jopk0002 at 6:20 AM | Permalink

Today we were dropped off at the mall to eat dinner. This was my first experience with buying a meal from a mall setting. It was very similar to the states in the way that all the stores were together in a food court. There were displays of the meals on the counter in front of each restaurant. The prices were very cheap and reasonable to what the prices would be in the states. The portions for the food were much bigger here as well. When ordering they did not speak any English so we received help from June to translate what the meals were. After finding out the food we were able to decide and could just point to what meals and sizes we wanted. The funny thing for my meal was that when they tried giving it to me, it looked nothing like what I ordered so I did not take it at first. Since we didn’t know what they were saying we had to call June over to find out what was going on and he told me to hand them the receipt. Then June looked at me, laughed, and said the food advertise always looks better than what you get. I then grabbed the tray they originally tried to give me and laughed about the situation. Overall it was another learning experience with an added bonus of a cheap, tasty, filling meal.

Posted by hackw001 at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Many businesses pride themselves on having a good “face”. They like being represented in a good way, and it also helps business. We went to the Tasly Co. were displaying a good “face” is very important to them. Everything was very neat and tidy, and absolutely beautiful scenery. It was very understandable why they wanted their business to look the way it did, because if I were doing business with them their first impressions with me would be very high. You could tell that the Tasly Co. prided themselves on their reputation; they had many statues and pictures of important people and events that occurred within their industry that had major effects on it. There were also many different business room type settings. I am still a bit shocked with how many there were, I wonder if the amount they had was unnecessary, but I didn’t get a full description of what each what room was for either. Tasly Co. was the perfect company to look at when discussing how important face is to Chinese businesses. It is also very important in America as well, I just haven’t had the chance to visit a company that displayed that much “face” in one location. Once again pertaining to my last blog about factory production and the amount of jobs that were diminished; Tasly Co. originally required three hundred workers to produce their good and now it only take approximately seventy workers.

Posted by walte275 at 6:11 AM | Permalink

During the pharmaceutical tour, Monica our tour guide shared with us that starting on June 7 Chinese high school students will be taking their standardized entrance exams. It is a two day process that is broken down into three, two hour long exams. She said that they are only given one chance on these tests and they will determine what kind of future academic opportunities the student will have. Back home we are able to take our standardized tests as many times as we are willing to pay for them. I was really surprised that a person is given only one chance. Especially with how important it is and how old a person is when they take this test.

Posted by vaudr001 at 6:05 AM | Permalink

This evening a group of us went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Shane had said he wanted pizza right after we got off the bus, and I felt the same way. Monica walked around with us in the food court to see what we wanted to eat. A couple minutes later, I hear Shane call my name and says he found a Pizza Hut. We tired to get inside on the basement floor. We first thought that they were not opened until we walked a little farther and saw people in the restaurant. We knew we couldn't get in that way so we eventually found a way to get in on the second floor. We sat down and a Chinese man that knew English was our waiter which was great since all of us couldn't speak but only point. We ordered pizza and pop and whatnot. I was a little worried that I may not get my pizza since in Beijing our waiter forgot Steve and my pizza. Naturally my pizza was the last to come out so I was like if they forget my pizza again; I will never enter in a Pizza Hut again. It showed up thankfully. But comparing our pizza tonight to what we had in Beijing; the pizza was a lot larger this time. I dont know if Tianjin people eat more and Beijing people eat less, but I was very satisfied that it was the same price (maybe cheaper) and we got more pizza! Also, to end off the meal, Ashley and I split an amazing chocolate ice cream cake. I couldnt have asked for anything else. Thanks Pizza Hut for not letting me down!

Posted by benn0326 at 5:55 AM | Permalink

Today I am going to blog about the Taxis that we ride around in here in China. The taxis drivers here are much different then the ones back home. First off the taxis drivers here have to cover such a wide range of area. It is not like Duluth or even Minneapolis for that matter because it is so big here and there many different places that you could be going. I have been very impressed with the drivers here even though they can get a little crazy on the road they always seem like they know where they are going and if they don't no they will call someone and find out how to get there. I think that I could probably be able to handle being a taxi driver in Duluth but I know that there is no way that I could do it in such a big city like Tianjin or Beijing. The taxi here also are a lot cheaper then they are in the states. I haven't had to pay more then 30 yuan which is less then 5 U.S. dollars to go where I have needed to go. That's cheaper then if you want to got down to Grandmas Sports Garden or anywhere in Canal park. Overall I have been amazed with the drivers finding were we need to go because none of us can barely speak Chinese.

Posted by ritt0123 at 5:53 AM | Permalink

Today marked the start of our second week in Tianjin. We went to the Tasly Pharmaceutical plant for a field trip; unfortunately unlike the Winery we didn’t get any free samples. Through my observations of Chinese packaged goods I have discovered that in China many of the nutritional facts of products are not included. Also, I have yet to a package which describes serving sizes per container. Granted in America few people actually follow these serving sizes but I still find interesting that such information is missing on all of Chinese packaged food products. For example if you bought a box of cereal or say a boxed meal like hamburger helper how would one know how many people the content could feed. I would find it very frustrating and confusing to try and guess how many to cook for a certain amount of people. In China however many of the families cook and prepare most if not all of their meals from scratch. They must learn my hand and by experiences how much to prepare of a certain item and how food is needed to feed a so many people. Back to the nutritional information on packaged items, sometimes have them while others don’t. For example, my Lay’s potato chips do have nutritional facts, while my Koala Yummies do don’t. I have been trying to decide what could be the determining factor that would cause some items to have the information while others do not. So far my best bet is it depends on the domestic production of the product. For example, Lay’s is an American brand and in America nutritional facts are required on all packaging. Lotte is the company that produces Koala Yummies and is based out of Tokyo Japan and I am unsure of their nutritional packaging laws.

Posted by sett0070 at 5:47 AM | Permalink

I am going to blog about a style of business I have noticed in two different restaurant places I have been. This is quite different from the U.S. and I have been thinking about some of the positives or reasons for doing business this way. The first place we went to was a hot pot with Professor Li. The second place that did this is a series of restaurants in a mall that Monica took us to. The way these places do business is as follows. First you give money to a person, who then in turn puts the amount of money you give her onto a card. The card is then used to buy food or whatever else you would like. There is around a 10 Yuan fee if you lose the card. After you are done eating your food and have not used the full amount on the card, you go back to the person and they give you back your money. I think this is a very interesting way to business. An advantage I see to this is to avoid multiple cash transactions. The exchanging of money is easier in this kind of way because you only have to give your cash one time and the rest of the time you use your card. This avoids places not being able to give change back and also avoids you doing multiple cash transactions and misplacing some of your cash. Another advantage is that it makes the exchange of money faster. Instead of you counting out your money you just hand them your card, they scan it, take off the amount, and then you are done. It is quick and easy. Another advantage I see is if you work in the mall or somewhere close to it. You load up a card with money one day and then you use it on a regular basis to grab a meal. This avoids you having to bring cash without if you eat there a lot. The only disadvantage I see is the time it takes for you to load the card with money, and then if you want the money back you have to go back to that lady and get it returned. It doesn't take a long time it is just kind of a hassle in a way. Other than that I really like this and would like to see this in the U.S. someday.

Posted by charl094 at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we went to Tasly Company who is in the pharmaceuticals industry and the company was a great example of Chinese "face". The company had invested so much money in art, a beautiful building, sculptures, and grand rooms within their complexes. The Tasly Company is truly a grand example of the idea of "face" in China. Their complex was amazing, it reminded me more of a mall when you first entered than a corporate building. They had a room off to the right hand side with many display cases for their various products and also a couple of display cases on the wall for different awards they have received over the years they have been in business. Then we went upstairs to see their VIP and conference rooms which were quite huge; they reminded me more of a room the United States Congress or the UN would use for diplomatic meetings than a meeting room for a corporation. Next was an amazing hall filled with various statues of historical persons involved in the pharmaceuticals industry. Finally we went outside and saw the "Hollywood" style footprints that they had laid out in a huge strip along the street of their employees. The greenhouse was also quite impressive, they had all the plants labeled so you knew what they were and they were being kept up nicely by the employees there. This has to be one of the companies most concerned with the issue of "face" having invested what I'm sure is millions of dollars on art, buildings and various rooms, and I have to say it was quite impressive.

Posted by stra0532 at 4:59 AM | Permalink

I really enjoyed class today on Human Resources Management. It is very interesting to look at how the cultural norms in China are adopted in business and especially in HRM. It is especially interesting for me to see how our culture, at the Great Lakes Fleet (the company I work for), differs from the cultural norms in Chinese business. One thing that I found especially important from today’s class is that the Chinese use centralized decision making, and that individual responsibility is hindered due to the decision making process. I think about my workplace and agree that the most senior person gets to make the final decision, but in the case of my work, we all come to that decision together (there are 5 of us). In process of making a business changing or really crucial decision, usually my boss’ subordinates are all responsible for a different piece of the puzzle and producing our own conclusion, or decision, about that piece. We all then come together with our individual pieces and put them together to make the most informed decision and my boss transmits or carries out the collective decision. After learning about Chinese decision making, I realized how much I like our decision making style at the Great Lakes Fleet. I always feel like I am making a real difference in the decision process and I like to feel like a crucial member with important responsibilities when it comes to making a substantial business decision.

Posted by fergu222 at 12:53 AM | Permalink

Dynasty Group started in 1980 when Remy Martin and Dynasty started the first joint venture enterprise in Tianjin. It used to produce 16000 bottles a year and now it now produces 40 million bottles a year in a fully automated production line. This is one example of how a foreign company can make an strategic agreement with a Chinese company and see how it has propered almost 30 years later. It shows that doing business in China is a great thing for a company that is looking to expand their sales or are just looking for a new start. Since this connection has been going on for almost 30 years and is still profitablr and going on, it says that both sides know what the other side wants. Chinese culture is one of the most difficult countries to come into and do business. There are certain times of the year that would look bad if you asked for a meeting during that time saying that you did not do your homework before setting up the meeting. Now, there are just about every Fortune 500 company having a production facility, a subsidiary, or just a sales office somewhere in China but specifically in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, or Suzhou. One of my cousins, who has been working in Suzhou and now in Singapore, has been over here for at least five years. He works for RTP Co., which was a small private company headquartered in Winona, MN, has done business here very well. He helped start both production facilities in Singapore and Suzhou and it seems that everything he did was right. He must have done his homework before coming overseas.

Posted by benn0326 at 8:04 PM | Permalink

Today’s class talked more about the differences between the two cultures in the business setting. It was full of dos and don’ts with things like small talk and dinner seating. How people present themselves is extremely important in the culture. Position in society is very important in the society and should be reflected by how the person acts and displays themselves in public. It is considered taboo for someone who can afford personal drivers to take a public bus, as it contradicts their status in society.

From talking to the student from Nankai University today it became apparent that they face a completely different set of pressures in the schooling. Unlike Americans they don’t work their way through school their family pays for it. In return however it is expected that the children will take care of their parents when they retire. This leads to an extreme pressure on the youth of china to perform exceptional in order to support their elders as well as their lifestyle. It is expected for the two heads of the household to take care of the grandparents (sometimes more than one set) as well as the children.

For lunch we visited a market which was great after our morning at the Dynasty Wine bottling plant in Tianjin. At Dynasty we were able to sample $250 wine and $1500 Brandy. When we visited the food market we were able to see how a large number of middle class Chinese citizens eat. This market was very busy and populated by food stands selling all sorts of fresh produce and meats. There were live holding tanks full of fish and frogs for sale. The market had small walking areas along the various shops and was nothing like anything I have experienced in the states.

Posted by houl0072 at 11:08 AM | Permalink

Cheating is one of the reasons that are why Chinese do not want to give. A foreigner will not understand that until he/ she actually live in china up to couple years. Cheating could be range from small to big. And when I define small to big, I am saying cheating could be a beggar or a man like government member. For the majority group of Chinese, they will not give money to those guys who beg to them. Although, we somehow used to give a little to them; but we are not do it anymore after some of the negative news expose. News were about a person being a bagger is not because he do not have the ability to work, it is because of he is being lazy to work.

Lie is other reason why people do not trust each other. Give money to those people where live in a poor area that they can able to survive. That is good thing. There is something wrong between collect money and sending money or materials to the poor area. We are not known the one who holds the amount of money will steal us money or not. News has proved that kind of situation. We give the faith to the one who collect ours money, but he/ she cheat on us and lie to everyone who live in the poor area.

These two facts make people not going give as much as before. We are given the heart to help those poor people, but we do not receive what we should hear about. The entire message we get is lying and cheating.
When I still in china; once our high school have a donation that collect money, food and warm clothes to those people who live in poor area. Because of the negative news, I lost my honest on donate money to such event. Instead, I just donate my old clothes to them. I feel worry my money is not use in the right way. Even now, I still cannot trust.

I am not saying nobody will go to give. Most of the time it is depends on how good you see a person or you may just do it by your heart.

So, that is what I know about some reasons of Chinese not give too much. We are just live in such environment. Psychology has explained that human behavior is shaped by environment. The society makes us to behavior like this. And I think this kind of behavior would still continue. It is not easy to change. China stills a very long way to go.

nothing to write about yesterday, but today do. If you read this journal, you can see that I use “we” a lot. One typical point to recognized me as a Chinese.

Posted by liang133 at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While talking to my Mom on Skype the other day, she had commented that I refer to food a lot in my blogs. Either about what I had ate that day, where the group went out to eat, or how much the food was that we had bought. I told her that I do not intentionally mean to blog about food so much, but now after thinking about and having gained a bit of understanding about food in the Chinese culture I can understand why this topic occurs so often in my blogs.

In China people often greet each other by saying "吃饭了没有?" (Chi fan le mei you?) which literally means "Have you eaten yet?" but in the context of a greeting it merely means "Hello" or "How are you?" The person who asks this is not actually curious as to if you've eaten or not yet. I wish I would have known this during my Chinese classes at UMD this last year. Almost everyday our Chinese Professor would come into class and ask the class "Have you eaten yet?" We always just assumed she was making sure that we were staying healthy and eating, or that she was very curious as to what we ate for lunch. The confused look she would get on her face after we would say to her "Yes we are SO full," makes so much more sense now.

Today Professor Li gave the group advice for if we are every unsure of where to eat. He told us to follow the people and eat where the people are. Now I notice that everywhere we have gone there have been a lot of people around. Even when I think about food in the context of holidays in America it involves people ... family and friends. This is especially true in China but not just for holidays. Food brings people together and creates community among them. It makes sense why food is such a big deal in a culture high in collectivism such as China.

Posted by mcdon419 at 8:53 AM | Permalink

Today we went to the Dynasty Wine Co. to have a tour. So we can have a basic understand about what does their production line look like. Basically from what I saw, this wine production factory doesn't hire many workers, because mostly are machines works. Maybe that's why I cannot see they set up any cameras. Then we tried two very expensive wine from the Dynasty. One is the red wine which cost about $800 dollar, and a Brandy which cost
about $1500 dollar. For me, I think the Brandy is better than the red wine. Too bad I cannot finish it, because I didn't eat anything for breakfast. After the interesting lecture presented from Teacher Li, I went to find the restaurant which I spent more two hours and still couldn't find it from few days ago. This time, thanks for Mr. Yang's telling me about the direction of the restaurant. This time, I finally found that little evil restaurant and I just spent 15 minutes walked from the hotel. The food is very cheap and delicious there, I ordered three things and the total are 25 Yuan. But still have many left, so I packed the rest and bring them for Jun. But still, there is something bad about this restaurant. That is, you need to wait at least 20 to 30 minutes to be seated during the dining time. In the restaurant, about 95% are students, because this restaurant is located in the Tianjin University. Next time, you might want to go there and have a try, and they have Chinese style Spaghetti. I haven't try it yet, but I am sure I will go there again soon,

Posted by liang106 at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today at the Dynasty Wine Factory was very interesting. On top of being able to taste a bottle of seven hundred dollar wine and a fifteen hundred bottle of brandy, we also got to see how the factor actually operated. I have never seen firsthand an actual factory production line so walking through and being able to see all the machines and what they did was amazing. It was really interesting to see how by having all those machines that could do what a human worker would but much faster is astonishing. The amount of money factories save in labor must be huge. There were still obviously workers present because they had to make sure the machines kept running properly, but most were sitting there talking with one another or on their cell phones. The advancements in technology today are crazy, and to think that things continuously keep getting more high tech. It makes me wonder some day if relatively all manual jobs will be taken over by machines, because so many already have. This can also raise the question of where does machine production end, because with the rate of people with no jobs being already high, and improvements in technology rates also being high, where will our unemployment rate be in fifty years from now?

Posted by walte275 at 7:54 AM | Permalink

Today, we experienced our third hot pot meal of the trip. This I thought by far was the best we have eaten yet. For our table we at a variety of vegetables, lamb, beef, frog, fruit, squid, and weird eggs. The most special part of our meal was the warm reception we received from the restaurant. We received free fruit and other dishes as a welcome to there establishment. This came as a surprise to both us and Angel since in China you do not receive things for free often. It was also another test to my stomach of trying very spicy food along with different foods I cannot even fathom. The food that was very unique at first looked like a fruit with jello surrounding it. I was dead wrong it was a special dish served only for this week’s holiday. It turned out to be an egg type food. At first I was all excited to try, but once it entered my mouth I was in for an interesting drink. I did not enjoy it at all because the texture, taste, and smell didn’t not mix well for me. I thought taking a sip of water would help, but it only made the after taste worst. I was proud at my self knowing I have tried everything that has been put in front of me and will continue to embrace this amazing culture. It was also challenging to cook each item since they each took a certain amount of time and grabbing them with chopsticks just made Angel laugh. I look forward to the next test my stomach will endure in our remaining days in China.

Posted by hackw001 at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)