Today we visited Central University of Finance and Economics. We started this visit with a presentation from one of the professors at the university. During this talk, we learned about some of the key differences between American and Chinese cultures. We started talking about the differences in grocery stores in the two countries. In America, the aisles are a lot wider and traditionally shoppers buy more food. This is because they usually have bigger families, the grocery stores are farther away from their homes, and they have a lot more cars compared to the Chinese. Some other differences between the two countries had to do with e-commerce. Jack Ma (founder of Alibaba) once stated, “In other countries, e-commerce is a way to shop, in China it is a lifestyle.” This quote is supported by the fact that 50% of Chinese citizens use e-commerce to make purchases, while America only has 20%. A big reason China has had great success in e-commerce on smartphones is because of its use of scanners. Pretty much every type of seller in China has a scanner where you can scan your WeChat to pay for whatever you are buying. Chinese farmers even use scanners when selling their produce. After the presentation, we learned some interesting facts about how America and China are connected. I particularly liked learning that Kayne West lived in China for a year while his mom taught in China and that hip hop was named after people in China using opium.
Following the classroom sessions, we went and ate lunch with some of the students. During this time, I tried the Chinese pancakes which are in the shape of a slice of pizza. This is definitely one of my favorite foods so far on this trip.
After lunch, we went to tour the university’s library. Even though I have toured many libraries at all different types of colleges, I think this library might the best looking I have seen. The layout of the library is beautiful but the way they keep track of who sits in each seat is just as cool. They have an electronic system where you sign in and reserve a seat. Each person only gets one seat. This system is a lot more efficient than say what goes on at Hilman.
After we toured the library, we went out to the main courtyard. Out there we did some activities like jumping rope and playing a hool a hoop game. While out there, there were first and second-year college students doing physical education classes like basketball, volleyball, and soccer. These classes were much more structured and serious compared to gym classes in high school in America.
Following these activities, we went back to the hotel and got ready for a night a lot of us will not forget for a long time. It started with dinner at a fish place. They brought out three bowls of fish for my three friends from Pitt and I and my former stat teacher and three of his friends. My stat teacher and his three friends all grew up and live in Beijing. This dinner was an overall great time and it was fun to eat with 4 natives of China and learn more and more about their culture. Following this dinner, we walked around parts of the town that included very narrow dark alleys. Overall day 2 was filled with a trip to the #1 finance school in China and a night with 4 Beijing natives that was very memorable.
