Today, we visited the Yu Garden and learned many interesting facts about the history of it from our tour guide. The garden was made by a Ming Dynasty government officer, named Pan Yunduan. He made it for his parents and named it the Yu garden because “Yu” means peace and satisfaction. There were many ponds, beautiful trees, and pavilions throughout the large garden. The entire garden was filled with tourists taking pictures of the elegant statues and buildings.
After touring the garden, we had about an hour to shop at the open market on the streets surrounding the garden. They were very similar to the shops in Xi’an. There were shops selling tea as they were crushing green tea leaves and other shops selling souvenirs. Unfortunately, I was out of money, so I couldn’t buy anything, but the main street was fun to explore. After we walked around for a bit, we got an iced coffee and lunch from Starbucks.
Once we returned to the hotel, we quickly changed into business casual and my group and I practiced our final presentation. After the two-hour break, we walked fifteen minutes to a conference room where all of the groups presented their business idea.
I really liked all of the products that each group designed. There was a face ID payment system, an app that can tell ingredients in food dishes, a solar charger phone case, and many more. Our group created a business plan for an app to improve online shopping. We want to create an app where customers can build their own virtual 3D avatar. This way people can virtually try on clothes to see if they fit their body type. Our idea is that people can submit pictures of themselves from different angles and enter their height and weight. Once the software creates an avatar, popular clothing companies can partner with us so customers can try on specific clothes to order. We make money by taking a percentage of every sale. This app will reduce return costs for companies and customers will be happy with their online purchase from the start. We also planned to make a business clothing tailor section of the app. Based on individual avatars, we can order shirts, jackets, and pants for customers to make sure they fit properly. This will make customers feel comfortable, yet fashionable in the business world. With the growing e-commerce in China, we believe our app will make online shopping easier and satisfy customers with a click of a button.
Following the presentations, we walked to a restaurant to have our farewell dinner. The banquet style meal was the best one yet. We had our final test to see if we could pick up peanuts with chopsticks. Dr. Li challenged us to this task at the beginning of the trip and everyone passed :). Dora, Nancy, and Lillan gave speeches about the trip and I am so thankful they were with us as we explored China.
We left for the airport around 8 pm!
Goodnight from Shanghai Pudong International Airport!
Ttylxox,
Ali <3
