Cultural Difference

Tianjin Day 2
Today we had the privilege of meeting our Chinese peers for the first day of class. The first class session was a unique opportunity to get to know our fellow Chinese students. Professor Li had set up an introductory class that consisted of ice breaker activities as well as some in depth activities. The idea was to show how different and similar Chinese students are compared to American students. One activity included a list of different characteristics cultures have and required us to rate our own culture, the Chinese culture, and then compare the differences. It was interesting to see how the cultures varied and it was also interesting to see how Chinese students viewed the differences. The Chinese students seemed to not only know more about the US than we knew about China but they seemed to have an overall better general knowledge of other countries. I found this to be quite interesting as well as recognized how disadvantaged that makes US students. Having greater global knowledge is a huge competitive advantage.