First Day in Beijing

After a bit of a lengthy immigration experience with the Chinese customs officials, I’m proud to report we are underway with the “Doing Business in China” program here in Beijing.  After navigating the airport, we took a 45 minute bus ride to the hotel on campus at Beijing Jiao Tong University.  The students got a terrific view of Communist-style housing during the ride—think volume/size and usefulness as opposed to pursuing any visual appeal.  These apartment buildings line the highway for miles and provided a great first taste into the life and culture that is China.

Once at the hotel, the students dropped their bags off and were treated to a fantastic dinner at the hands of our hosts here at Beijing Jiao Tong University (BJTU).  The plates kept on coming!  Dove, quail eggs, roast duck, pork, chicken, shrimp, even a whole fish with the head right there on the plate.  It was a terrific meal that capped off a long and exciting day.

After breakfast at the hotel this morning (Tuesday, May 10), we were walked to our classroom for our first lecture, a general overview of economic principles applied to the topic of global economics.  Today’s lecture was based around two overarching questions: 1) Why is it important that we consider issues in economic development, and, given the importance of #1, 2) What is to be done about the vast scope of poverty in the world today?  These questions will remain in the back of our minds as we explore these issues and others over the next two weeks of lectures in Global Economics.

We broke for lunch after this morning’s lecture, and a large group of students headed to the nearby six-story mall for lunch.  Some of the group played their culinary hands closer to the chest (Subway and Pizza Hut) while others took a more indigenous route and explored China’s unique take on lunch!

We reconvened early in the afternoon for a lecture by Dr. Lv Haijun, titled “Chinese Culture—How to Do Business in China.”  The 75-minute talk provided a great background for the important cultural issues—concerning both economic development and the nature of business—confronting China today.

Once Dr. Haijun’s talk concluded, we were treated to a brief tour of the campus here at BJTU.  The picture included is the group in front of the large Mao statue on campus.  After the tour, the students were then free (and encouraged!) to explore what Beijing had to offer for the remainder of the day.  Tomorrow’s lecture will explore issues in international trade, comparative advantage, tariffs and quotas, and tomorrow afternoon we will visit the Coca-Cola bottling plant here in Beijing.  Updates to follow!

Professor Ryan