2 World Wonders in 2 Days!
Posted 06/06/2010 9:05 AM
So, 2 World Wonders in 2 days! We really are busy seeing the world. Yesterday we were able to go to the Great Wall of China at the Mutianyu site. It was very beautiful and incredibly large. Many of us could not believe how amazing the civilization must have been to create such an architectural wonder. The work ethic has certainly passed down the generations and we are seeing people all over the place busy working. The Chinese are certainly diligent people. After seeing the Great Wall, we visited a Chinese commercial truck company, Foton. We met with Dr, Ottman's alumni from a leadership course in an EMBA program. The relationship she had with the students was a great example of leveraging networks and relationships to have thoughtful discussions and depend bonds. We met with 5 students total. Now they work as managers, directors, engineers, etc. at Motorola, Lenovo, Foton, and Microsoft. We discussed the importance of relationship building in China as well as other cultural and lifestyle characteristics of the Chinese people.
We left Beijing at 9pm to travel to Xian on the overnight train. Xian was once a capital city of China during the 1st dynasty. There is a lot of historical significance to this city and it is also a higher education hub with over 50 universities. The city is home to about 7 or 8 million people.
Once we arrived to Xian we checked into the hotel and then went to the ancient Terracotta Warriors. Built over 2,000 years ago, the life size terracotta soldiers were built to protect the Emperor in the afterlife. The site is only 5% or so excavated. Supposedly 700,000 people took 40 years to create all the warriors. Quite an amazing feat! After visiting the warriors, we went to get traditional Chinese dumplings and we started to reflect on our experience here in China. It has been an amazing trip for everyone. Tomorrow we will complete the last, but certainly not least, portion of our trip. We are going to the Brady Hope School to volunteer our time helping students learn English. We will drive out to a remote location outside of town to the school. We are supplying books and school supplies that have been donated by many generous people from back home. Our group is really looking forward to helping out and meeting the children!
After the Brady Hope School, we will fly back to Shanghai, and prepare our goodbyes to this amazing and dynamic country. We are all learning so much about the importance of this country as well as the challenges of doing business here.
Thanks for reading about our trip. See you in the States soon!
-Doing Business in China Class 2010