After our usual 8am wake up call, the group and I went to a very interesting lecture about E-Business in China which was taught by Professor Lin Runhui. This was by far my favorite lecture that we have had so far; maybe it's because I am an MIS major but I think the cases covered were very intriguing. The first case that Professor Runhui showed us was about the B2B commerce company Alibaba. I found it very interesting that Alibaba is like a social network for businesses as well as an online retailer for these companies. This is a very cool idea and it really reflects the culture of China based on how they like to build strong relationships with one another, especially in business. Also, it is cool to see that Alibaba is making it easier for companies to business as well as expanding the use of online commerce. The next case was about the B2C and C2C company Taobao which is like the eBay of China. It was very interesting to see that this company beat out eBay international in China because it provides no service fees and it uses different marketing strategies to better fit the Chinese culture. I think it is also interesting how Taobao has its own version of Paypal called Zhifubao because the Chinese are a lot like us when it comes to the security of their transactions. Overall, I think that it is very cool that the Chinese are expanding their use of E-Business as well as expanding their own internal networks. After this lecture we went to the UofM Tianjin Office at the Cultural Center for Sports (which is also a college for sports in Tianjin). This was really cool because we were able to learn about sports form Daniel Konold as well as what kind of sports the Chinese like to play. First we learned about Dragon Boating which has a unique story behind it involving a Chinese Emperor's suicide and people mourning by dumping rice in the lake to feed the "dragons". Next we were lucky to see a couple of traditional dancing shows from the students at the college, we were even taught a dance from some of them. Then we got to see a martial arts performance from the martial arts students at the school and it was unbelievable how good all of them were. Finally, we were able to play badminton with some of the Chinese students which was a lot of fun. Overall, I learned that the Chinese really value sports; though the sports are different than in America, I was very impressed at the amount of skill that these students have and this was by far one of my favorite days here in Tianjin!
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