After learning (more) about Operations, Accounting and Finance after the christmas break I spend the following term in China working on MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Project).
As part of a student team of six we spend 5 weeks in Changsha, China working with a NASDAQ-listed automobile company.
First of all I should probably explain where Changsha is:
It is one of these Chinese cities, ignorant westerners like myself have never heard of. Nevertheless more than 6 million people live there.
The weekdays we spend working with our client to improve their operations. That was pretty challenging, since they did not speak English (thankfully two of us spoke Mandarin) and many things tend to be done differently in an environment in which workers are paid less than a dollar per hour and assets are far more important than western performance standards like ROI.
The good news for western manufacturing: China is not there yet. There is still very good reason some products are manufactured in our part of the world.
Apart from the project we spend as much time as possible exploring China.
- Hong kong is a phenomenal city! (If anybody wants to offer me an expat contract, I will sign on the spot)
- Every male smokes, anywhere (this includes elevators)
- There are no traffic rules (I bet the odds and did not have an accident! - arguably the most impressive "achievement" of this trip)
- Overnight trains to Beijing take forever - ok, 15 hours to be precise
- Yes, Mr. Stoiber the magnetic train is pretty fast although I did not manage to "board the train station"
- If you are a white male and ever have a confidence problem; I recommend a trip to (rural) China. You will be a celebrity and girls might scream when you enter places
- Pollution is horribly bad. I know we all heard that China is polluted, but you can not imagine how bad it is. At night, the whole city of Changsha looks like a smokey club and the sky is only visible after rain showers. I dearly hope that Tom Friedman is right when he argues that "China went green" in 2008!
- The Chinese media is hilarious. Wanna know why Google left China? Yes, because of the fierce competition. And by the way in case you did not know, Chinese internet censorship is just doing the same thing all other countries are doing. (must be my stupid computer that denied me access to this blog from China!)
- Ever heard of the brand Kappa? Is does exist in China, but there is also Kobbo: (btw commonplace, there are at least 3 brands imitating Lacoste, Nike, etc.)
So I had a sensational time in China although I have to admit I was happy to come back to the US.
For the great time I have to thank a few people:
CJ, thanks for showing me around Hong kong. Very much look forward to meeting you again in Ann Arbor from August!
Kai, great to see one of the old Galileo friends on the other side of the earth. Thanks & enjoy the rest of your time in HK.
Thanks to our client and my entire team for a great time - and surprisingly few fights! ;-)
Last but not least I need to thank all inhabitants of Hong kong for supporting the German car industry. (The number of Mercedes, BMWs and Audis in Hong kong can only be described as ridiculous - if you think Munich and Stuttgart have a lot; think again.)
Enough said. Some pictures from China:
