This was the day we had all been waiting for since before we left for China. Our visit to Huawei, one of largest telecommunications companies in the world, the phone brand second in world sales after Samsung and beating out Apple, and also a central player in the trade war and U.S.-China relations. Because our trip was themed around the smartphone industry, Huawei was the pinnacle of places we could have possibly visited while in China. To say the excitement was real is an understatement. We boarded the bus and headed to the Huawei compound abut an hour from central Beijing. We arrived and were greeted by our hosts, following which we entered possibly the one of the most opulent and modern buildings I’ve ever been in. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Our hostess took us through their main show room, discussing with us mainly the new 5G technology that the company is currently leading the field in. We got to see the new data and applications of their 5G technology, specifically how it will expand internet to remote areas that previously had little access to such connectivity. We also saw what they are developing in terms of facial recognition technology and got to see all their latest versions of smartphones. It highkey made me want to buy a Huawei phone, whose top phone, the P30 Pro which is akin to that of the iPhone X and Galaxy S10, is less than half the price, but still amazing quality. The camera quality is especially astounding. We then moved to one of their conference rooms where we were treated to coffee and deserts and felt much more important than we actually were. Our hostess then gave us a more in depth presentation about Huawei as a company and we got to ask some questions. I thought it was funny, because people kept asking about Huawei’s interest in expanding to America and such, but it was very obvious to me that Huawei has no interest, and frankly no need to be concerned with selling phones in America like people expect, because they have cornered the market in a lot of Asia, Europe, and Africa, and also have control over 5G development. Sometimes we need to be reminded that you don’t have to be successful in America to be successful, and not everything revolves around the U.S. After the presentation we were given gift bags which sadly did not have free Huawei phones in them.

We then sadly had to leave and headed to lunch and afterwards headed to VIPKid, which is an English learning service that is the pioneer in its field in China. Astoundingly, Chinese families are willing to pay over 50% of their household income to invest in after school education for their children such as English language tutoring. VIPKid contracts teachers from America and Canada to do online video tutoring in English for elementary school Chinese students. It’s good because as long as families have access to a computer and internet, they can get their children to such services, even if they live outside the major cities which have more educational opportunities. Our host, a Pitt alum himself, was very interesting to chat to about his transition to China and the development and success of the company since 2013. After our visit to VIPKid we had a dinner in the hotel and we all headed to the Beijing Olympic Park together using the Beijing subway system. Jane, Diana, Nancy and I walked around together, took cute photos, and talked about our studies, dramas, etc. See cute photos below.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Beijing and I’m certainly going to miss it, but I’m excited to see what Xi’an has in store for us.