Today we went on two company visits. The first one was the Sunshine Insurance Group. It was a very interesting and almost unnerving visit. The company’s campus made it feel like we were back in the U.S. at some old New England college. Before they took us on a tour of the campus, they showed us a video about the origins of the company, which was about 30 minutes long and full of dramatic music. After the video, they led us through their company’s museum, which I did not quite understand. Do all companies have a museum for their founder? We spent about 15 minutes walking through the museum and then ventured outside to see the rest of the buildings. They were all beautiful and the area between the buildings was just one large garden with lots of flowers. Oddly, we saw very few people throughout this tour. It almost felt like no one really worked there. Lunch was served buffet style, which was different from the family style meals we have come to expect. It was very tasty.

After that, we got back on the bus and headed to Xiaomi. Xiaomi makes smart phones in China which are not sold in the United States. Their ads are all over the place here. A senior manager came to talk to us about the process of making and producing their phones, and how the company is spreading into other markets, such as India. After he gave us his presentation, we walked over to the mall that was right next door to their headquarters and visited one of their stores. The phones they make are actually very nice and not that expensive. The screens on these phones take up the entire front of the phone, but the phones themselves are not obnoxiously large. On the bus ride back from the hotel, we had to start working on our group project. Our assignment is to create a business idea that would address a problem in China. The idea that my group is working with right now is to develop an app/website that would allow the user to find the right skin care products for their specific skin type. In China, having flawless skin is really sought after. People carry around umbrellas on perfectly sunny days to avoid tanning, and there are apps widely used here that beautify you to match their idealized image. To sort through all the skin products on the market, our app will give the user guidance and recommendations based on the user’s input.

That night for dinner, we caved and got Dominos pizza. It is ten times better in China than it is in the United States. The crust is different and overall it is just not as greasy. After that we ventured into a grocery store. The cart’s they use are much smaller than the giant ones that we wheel around, and the isles are much narrower, but are packed with a variety of different things. I saw some interesting chip flavors, such as seaweed. There was also this massive candy section with all kinds of strange flavors, but they were, of course, all written in Chinese.