CHINA TRIP Day 31: "I am boss."

-CEO of Fu Da Group

Thursday, June 17

The legal system is just one area that can end up being a hindrance to China’s growth. The other areas of concern, including labor unions and workers’ rights, sustainability and environmental awareness, intellectual property, among others, which are all elements of a strong, capable economic power, are areas that China has yet to develop. All these areas though, have a connection with the judiciary system, and I have no doubt that the CCP is very aware of the domino effect that could happen with the establishment of even an independent judge. China’s social responsibilities are obvious, both in the corporate culture and at the local level, and China cannot claim naivety to their issues for much longer, especially as international pressures increase and with their plans to grow economically. Change for the better will come to China, I think the primary concern everyone should have is in what capacity that change occurs and monitoring the chaos that may ensue.

Our afternoon visit was to the conveyer belt company, Fu Da Group. The CEO himself sat and talked with us, but it was difficult to understand because Teacher Wang had to translate for us. She asked JiaHua to sit next to her and help her translate and I remembered her saying that she had a hard time understanding most people in Shanghai because the dialect is so different from Mandarin it can almost be considered its own language. When the CEO mentioned that he was also an elected people’s representative (similar to a senator in the US) for Shanghai, I thought of the connections that he not only has but also the connections he gained through the election. I didn’t know how prominent the conveyer belt industry was, but it seemed that Fu Da was doing really well for itself and its success could be attributed to the Chairman staying one step ahead by adopting new technology as it becomes readily available.

I felt that this was perhaps the best corporate visit we’ve had so far that actually told us exactly how business operates in China. I felt as though the Chairman was completely honest and frank in his description of what we needed if we planned on doing business in China. He kept bringing up the importance of relationships, especially in a low-tech industry. He said that friends were the most important aspects of business and Fu Da Group’s main focus is to create and maintain relationships with coal companies, their main clients. The Chairman said that if we ended up in China to do business and needed friends or a place to stay that he would help us out. I wondered how serious he was; I had no doubt that connections were extremely crucial in an industry that relied more on output than innovation and in a country where it was more about who you know, rather than what you could offer. The only downside to the visit was that I couldn’t be sure how accurately Teacher Wang was able to translate our questions and translate his responses. It’s not the first time we’ve experienced things lost in translation, but it did get frustrating after a while.

I was excited for the Alumni dinner when I saw that it was at a waterfront restaurant that had a beautiful view of the Bund. I thought this dinner was probably one of my favorites, since we got to meet new Notre Dame students, talk with alumni, listen to members of our group reflect on the trip, and hear Dean Woo speak. It is times like these that make me extremely grateful to be a Domer. It never ceases to amaze me how Notre Dame alumni are everywhere, doing amazing things and always looking out for their fellow Domers.

I had a list of places we wanted to go before we left Shanghai and my problem was figuring out which days to go where and what places would be good for Thursday and Sunday nights. Eventually, with the help of Trey, we decided to go to M2, which is part of a 3-club chain and it was interesting. It was on the top floor of a shopping mall, free cover (thankfully) with the bar near the entrance and the dance floor/stage was tiny (as most of the clubs in China have been). The area was huge though, the ceilings extremely high and the room in general seemed very spacious. There were tables all around and what looked to be an exclusive upper level, though we couldn't really tell. I think it was a special night or something because they had American beatboxers and dancers performing every so often. The beatboxers weren't that great. The music selection was alright, nothing special in particular. There were lots of smokescreens and crazy lights though.