Today we started off with some touristy sightseeing trips which were really fun. Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven, a Taoist group of buildings that Chinese emperors used to pray for favorable harvests. In the center of the harvest there is a large, circular building that houses the Altar of Heaven, and this is surrounded by a wall known as the “echo wall”. On this wall, two people can stand on opposite ends of the circle and hear each other talk at a normal volume – very cool. The temple itself was also really beautiful, even with all the tourists.
After the temple we visited the Pearl Market, a big knockoff market for all kinds of goods (jewelry, clothes, sunglasses, etc.). A friend and I had a great time bargaining down the price on some purses and scarves for friends back home – I only wish we could have spent more time there! It sounded like everyone else had some great finds as well, so overall it was a good morning.
After the pearl market we traveled to one of the two “high-efficiency” Walmart stores in China. We were surprised with a very warm welcome from many of the Walmart employees outside of the store, which was really neat. We heard a presentation from Andreas Schulmeyer, the Senior VP of Strategy and CFO of Walmart Asia. He was another expat and alum of Illinois. He talked a lot about Walmart’s expansion strategy, and I found it interesting that Walmart increases value strategically through maximizing sales, not profit. He also talked about difficulties implementing Walmart’s American supply chain model in emerging markets like China and India, or in acquisitions like Walmart’s operations in Japan. He then directed us on tours of the store with his store managers. Having worked in grocery in high school, I found it very interesting how many of the energy-saving implements affected perishable goods. For example, covers on the meat wall not only conserve energy, but also most likely reduce shrink via the use of more controlled temperatures. Overall I was very impressed with the store, and everyone really enjoyed the chance to stop there.
The next part of our day included a visit to Beihang University, a largely technical school in Beijing with some business students as well (our own College of Business has recently started an exchange program there). After a short presentation from both universities, we broke into small groups and the Chinese students gave us a tour of the campus. I was absolutely floored by how beautiful the gardens and parks were despite the university’s location in such a giant city. (Beijing has around 15 million people!) The classrooms were very similar to ours, but I found it interesting that many of the buildings were built with Soviet assistance in the 1950s – the communist bloc architecture was very apparent in the older buildings. We had a great dinner with everyone, and I am always happy to see that students are really pretty similar no matter where they are in the world. We shared a lot of common interests, and I found out that my Chinese host is considering Illinois for grad school! We exchanged contact information and I definitely hope to keep in touch.
The last part of our day included a trip to the Olympic Village, which unfortunately was closed. However, it was nice to see Beijing a little more on our own terms and we hope for the possibility to see the village again, perhaps on the way to Zhangjiakou on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment