CHINA TRIP Day 23: Local Perspectives

Wednesday, June 9

We watched a video on the Chinese consumer in class today, which I found interesting. I don’t think the beginning of the video surprised the majority of us, when they described Chinese consumers as picky and cheap. This stems from having a generally frugal culture that saw extravagancy as a vice. From our readings in China Road and previous lectures, I wasn’t too surprised by the video’s overview of increased consumption by younger consumers, especially with a more open economy; they have more access to Western trends. However, I was surprised by the explanation that these younger consumers, as a reflection of China’s developing economy as a whole, don’t want “Westernization,” but modernization. It put things into a different perspective that made more sense. It was easy, and possibly a little conceited, to think that as a developing country they would want to become like the US. It makes sense, however, that China would want to modernize and be recognized as a developed country of its own right and gain international respect that way.

In the afternoon we went to Jiaotong University to meet and talk with the students there about life in China. I was excited since I remember how helpful the students in Taipei were in helping us understand local perspectives on domestic and international issues. In Taiwan and in Beijing, the students were eager to practice their English and compare our college experiences and education while we were eager to find out more about living in China in general. I wasn’t expecting a presentation on Shanghai but I found it fitting to our program because the student presenter went through a brief overview on the development of Shanghai into a key financial city. It was still a big of a struggle to communicate with some of the students since their English wasn’t as fluent as I’d hoped and it was difficult to explain certain aspects of Notre Dame. It seemed that most of the students were Finance majors, which is similar to Mendoza College of Business’s undergraduate students as well. Their curriculum, however, is far more rigorous (they had ten final exams coming up) and the general consensus seemed to be that they spent most of their time studying. Even the two students Kyle and I talked to, who happened to be in a relationship, rarely went out on dates. Many of these students were not Shanghainese and so it was interesting to compare perspectives on the city and by asking why they chose to attend school in Shanghai, they answered with the opportunities and potential Shanghai offered given their major.

I could see why students and potential investors might perceive Shanghai as a frontrunner business capital, just like Wall Street in the United States. It had the same appeal to students as it did to many foreign investors. As with many of the students we’ve talked to so far during the course of the program, most of the students we talked to at Jiaotong University planned on pursuing higher degrees in the US and then returning to China to work. I found it interesting that a US degree and education is so highly coveted and respected by employers, yet moving or living in the US isn’t as desired. It was different from when I talked to university students in Seoul last year when I studied abroad in Korea; those students were eager to go abroad and live in the States. I don’t know if the US doesn’t have as big of an appeal due to media and Internet censorship or if the students here are genuinely content with the government and China in general. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the students and exploring their campus as well.

Jasmine, Laura, and I were supposed to have a tripod girls' night but as Laura wasn't feeling well Jasmine and I headed out for an early, chill dinner. We picked a random restaurant along the way to the subway station and found chow fun noodles we loved. Of course, the restaurant staff thought I could speak to Chinese (I'm pretty sure my count is above 50 at this point) but overall we got through it without any major misunderstandings (menus with pictures are so helpful!) Afterward we got on the subway and got off at the Jing'An Temple stop and found Paramount, which had Ladies' Night tonight. Jasmine and I intended on walking around for a bit and browsing Nanjing Road but it was rainy and icky so we found a cute doughnut shop and hung out for a bit. We headed into Paramount right when Ladies' Night started at 9:30pm and one of the marketers greeted us and offered us sweet VIP cards and special deals for future events, since we had a big group and 15 or so more people were supposed to show. It was fun and I was really happy everyone showed up, even the guys who don't like clubs and the guys who don't drink. Everyone had a good time :).