Ethical Issues in My Profession One of the biggest ethical problems that our group witnessed firsthand in China was how businesses treat the environment. Especially around the Beijing area, a combination of manufacturing centers, fossil fuel based power plants, deforestation, and poor infrastructure have combined into a perfect storm (often literally) of smog and pollution….

It was amazing to think that today was already the last day of our trip. Our final sightseeing destination was the Yu Garden. Unlike many previous destinations, this place was not built for royalty or religion. Instead it was created by a government official seeking to please his parents. I hope they were proud, because…

Day 11 was the last of our company visits, and having seen how amazing the previous companies had been, I had high expectations. These companies, however, were much less “Silicon Valley” in their approach to business. TE connectivity especially felt like a normal office building with rooms full of cubicles. Their factory floor was a…

Today when we boarded the bus, we were met with a new face. Mac Sullivan, the China Trade Lane Manager for Toll Global Forwarding was to be our personal tour guide for the day. The travel time to the Yangshan port was almost 2 hours, but he kept us engaged by talking about how international…

Breakfast in the last hotel seemed to be on par with the last two we had experienced, with a small American food section (French toast, sausage, bacon, and for some reason baked beans), and a wider range of basic Chinese ones. I had time to sample many different items before boarding the bus at 9….

Day 8 began with the group meeting in the lobby at 6am for our final breakfast in Xi’an. As we loaded the bus and pulled away from the hotel, it was hard to believe that we were entering the last phase of our journey. We had some free time in the train station, and I…

I had been looking forward to seeing the Terracotta Warriors ever since I signed up for plus3, and today did not disappoint. The weather was for the first time truly cloudy (not just smog) and it began to drizzle soon after boarding the bus. This worked out well however, since the terracotta army was housed…

Saturday was slightly different than the other days we have spent in China so far, but no less enjoyable. This morning we took the bus outside the city and into the mountains. Along the way, we saw dozens of stands selling fresh cherries from the surrounding orchards, and the air at seemed a little clearer….

Today began extremely early. I fortunately remembered to set my alarm for 5am at the last second, but even still had a hard time waking up (I guess I finally adjusted to the time zone). I quickly packed, joined the others in the lobby, grabbed one of the “breakfast” bags, and hopped on the bus,…

I feel like today’s events can best be captured through the photographs that were taken, so todays blog might feel more like one long caption. Joe, our tour guide, seemed intent on getting us into Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City as quickly as possible. Apparently, he had gotten a tip that they would be…

The buses left fairly early in the morning, but I had enough time to fill out the blogs and eat breakfast beforehand. We first set out for Cheetah Mobile. My group had done some research on this company, and so we knew they were very successful. They were one of the first Chinese mobile companies…