Final Day!!!!!!

May 26, 2010

In Memory of Will Genge

The Journey

Today our journey has come to an end

No gifts to purchase no money to spend.

Our Yen and Yuan gone and tuition is due

Hopefully Duquesne will understand too.

The country of Asia has taken its toll

No energy left inside of my soul.

The tiring walks and waking up early

Were all worth the pain and agony surely.

The Great Wall of China the shrines and the gardens

The Bank of Ramos and the infamous Marlin.

The fake Louie bags and Gugci jeans bought

Were not finally sold without having fought.

Meeting the students and owning the table

Ping Pong was awesome U.S. won the label.

Shirley and Wendy Cindy and Star

Were all very helpful in guiding us far.

Viv timed out Yokim and Baptiste bought flowers

We relaxed in Hohoi for numerous hours.

Bruzda and Shedlock watched out for the crew

Meandering through Ropongi without any clue.

Stimulating the economy was a gargantuan task

But Steph spent more money than China could ask.

Johnson will forever be funding the debt

That McNansky accrued so her needs were met.

Diane’s swift ability to navigate maps

And anime cities with afternoon naps.

A symphony of snoring and the Korean Dream

Traffic and taxis made everyone scream.

Evenings at keep and watching Kenny Powers

Soaking in bathtubs with other men for hours.

E.T. and Superman Typhoon and Black

Shedlock with a carry-on for a daily snack.

Sitting on the toilet all night and so sick

Brett and poor Andrew the food was redic.

The drama and bickering screaming and crying

Yet the trip was so perfect I am not even lying.

Shanghai we visited as fast as we could

Running through yu garden was not very good.

Scanning deer scratches on the side of a tree

The dormouse is extinct like bananas -Solecki.

Frolex and Oakey were brought back to the states

But happy are we for the cheap interest rates.

China we owe you but you have won too

We brought to your country our ignorant crew.

Although our decorum was slightly a joke

We’re sorry again for the rules that we broke.

We tried to be gracious, respectful and kind

We most likely drove you all out of your mind.

Regardless of making a thunderous display

Our group wants to thank you in every way.

This trip has been awesome and the experience was stacked

Ch-apan be prepared when we’re on our way back.

-Ryan Shedlock

Thanks again to Matt and Diane for organizing this amazing experience. Without you we could not have made this happen. This trip offered a great cultural perspective as well as a learning experience that could not be attained in any classroom. We appreciate your organization of this trip as well as coming along with us. I only hope that you enjoyed this experience as much as we did.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; let me tell you about the “greatest day in the history of life!” My glorious day of reporting was 05/25/2010. I woke up in my cement mattress and began the “greatest day in the history of life” by getting a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant. This breakfast was actually one of the more Americanized breakfasts on the trip with eggs, sausage, toast, onion rings, etc. It did offer soup and I cannot recall if they had rice. Rice is a staple for mainly every meal in Asia. After breakfast, it was time to begin the “greatest tour ever.” The excitement and anticipation I had for this awesome day was utterly incomprehensible. We got on the bus and were lead by our great tour guide, Kyoko. I can actually argue that my tour guide throughout the entire trip was none other than Ji-Chul Jang. Although he may tell you otherwise, this picture provides validation of my previous statement.

Ji-Chul guided us to the Tokyo tower. He said this was “the greatest tower on earth;” he wasn’t kidding. The tower, or as I call it the “eighth wonder of the world,” opened in 1958, has a height of 333 meters, and weighs 4,000 tons.

The pictures below show views from the Tokyo and the Shanghai tower. The reason is to compare the clarity of the view. Even though it was cloudy in Shanghai, the lack of visibility was also attributed to the immense pollution the city experiences.

There is currently a new Tokyo tower under construction. It is expected to be over 600 meters tall. There have been rumors that they may decide to build it over 1,000,000 meters. I was able to create my own image based on the description Kyoko gave me. You can see this picture below.

Next, it was time to move onto the Sensoji temple. There were many different gates, worship areas, shrines and statues. The first to mention is the Asakusa Shrine, which is below.

Before explaining its significance, it is important to explain the cleansing ritual Buddhists take part in before entering for worship of any shrine. First you put water over your left hand, followed by water over your right hand, and then you pour water in your left hand and rinse your mouth, and last empty the rest of the water out of the drinking pole. Mr. Wirick is doing an exemplary job of portraying the ritual. The next picture shows Mr. Wirick partaking in the ritual of bowing twice, followed by two claps and ending with a bow. Please notice that Jason is wearing the pants that zipper into shorts (a classic in my book).

The Asakusa shrine had a joint enshrinement of Hinokuma of Hamanari and Hinokuma of Takenari. The building was reconstructed in 1649. It is rated as one of the most representative buildings of the Gongen structure of the early Edo Era. It has been denoted as an important asset to the country.
The next cool thing to talk about is the Bell of Time. It was a bell that informed people during the Edo Era. This bell is still the original. It was recasted in 1692 under the instructions of Tokugawa Tunayoshi. As a result of the Edo expansion, nine bells were built like the Bell of Time. The bell is shown below.

The third part of this amazing day took us to Panasonic’s corporate headquarters. Since pictures were prohibited, I will have to explain everything in words. The area we all walked through was the AVC Network ideas. This area the Viera TV section, the Blu-ray Theater, FUTURE life wall, and Nintendo Game Front. The Viera TV section displayed all of Panasonic’s best televisions. For instance, they had a 3D television station, which was pretty awesome I may add. If anyone surprisingly has a few grand to spare I would highly recommend buying one. The FUTURE life wall was really cool. An entire wall becomes a television, a media center to view pictures, a learning center for the family, and a ridiculously large camera phone. Mainly it is the next thing since sliced bread.

The second floor of the building is rather applicable to all of us. The two areas to mention are the Ecology ideas and the eco ideas HOUSE. The Ecology ideas area contains the ‘eco ideas’ for Lifestyles and “eco ideas’ for Business-styles. These both promote lifestyles with virtually zero CO2 emissions and make the best use of resources and energy. The Eco ideas House displays methods of potentially being able to achieve zero CO2 emissions over time. Using 1990 levels, the home will reach 35% of those levels by 2013-2015. Eliminating the rest of the CO2 emission levels will be achieved by using the applications explained below. The first product for a better lifestyle utilizes natural wind in the ventilation system. This hybrid air conditioning system uses a tower that takes air from both the summer and winter and stores it under the floor then uses it when needed (at least that’s how I understand it). The next aspect uses proper lighting design and LED lighting. The third strategy is using less water. This is accomplished by water-saving performance washer-dryers and toilets, and a stain-resistant material that makes cleaning more infrequent. Using vacuum insulation panels and a heat pump technology is another advancement Panasonic is making. Incorporating the solar panel generator, fuel cell, and accumulator battery in addition to all the other things explained above will make the Home Management Energy System the best on the market.

We left Panasonic and took the train back to the hotel. Since Tokyo is the largest city in the world, it took us an hour and a half to get back to the hotel. We missed the rush hour train traffic, thankfully so because it gets extremely packed. I would say from what I observed, 90 % of the professionals in Tokyo wear suits. One difference to also note is that the Chinese wear pants and no shorts; contrary to the Japanese women who specifically wear short skirts. The last observation I noticed was that overall the Chinese were more friendly than the Japanese. This can be attributed to the loyalty the Japanese have for their culture as well as them not being as accepting of outside cultures. This explains why they are in debt to themselves and do not owe money to other countries. The evening found us at a Japanese Applebees, as I like to call it. It was very greasy but surprisingly good. It had Salisbury steak on a stick, Caesar salad and pizza just to name a few of the dishes. I forgot to mention it was all you can drink. After dinner found mostly everyone packing and getting ready for the long flight the next day. Thus, it was a good end to the “greatest day in the history of life.”


I’ll end this blog with a poem:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Japan and Asia was pretty awesome,
I plan on heading back rather soon.

Sunday May 23, 2010 by Mark Yokim

The SMBA group woke up on our last morning in Kiyosato to a splendid breakfast prepared by the KEEP Kitchen staff. With fresh scrambled eggs, fresh sausage, soup, and fresh rolls and butter, we headed into morning activities with the KEEP rangers. Masatoshi Ishikawa, ???, and ??? presented a power-point lecture on the research and conservation activities of KEEP for the dormouse, the endemic nocturnal mammal whose population had been dwindling in recent years.

This very small creature, whose weight is only 18 grams, has become a national symbol for Japan, as an umbrella species whose protection affords the conservation of habitat for many other species of wildlife. They are found to live near Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Oki in Japan; but differing genus of the same species are found in Europe and Africa. KEEP has established a Dormouse Museum as an effort to offer ways to research and conserve the dormouse, while offering education to the public.

As Japanese culture and society has been growing, there was a trend in recent decades for development in the mountains as a way to spend wealth on recreation towards vacation homes. This factor coupled with general development led to an increase in the number of roads being constructed through dormouse territory, which fragmented their habitat, as the dormice tend to travel from tree-to-tree via the branches as an arboreal mammal. This has lead to lower populations from disturbed and fragmented mating areas.

KEEP has worked with stakeholders in the region to address this problem by constructing bridges for dormice and other animals to utilize as a means to cross over the roads, please see figure, device for animal pathway. Since the first bridge which was built in 1988 for $223,000 US, the Animal Pathway Research Council has worked to “build animal pathways that even small construction firms can build anywhere,” which has helped to lower the costs to $22,300 US on recent installation in 2007. The new design can even be applied to existing utility poles, which has helped keep the cost down. The bridges are wired to videotape with night vision cameras the passage from both sides and have shown that over a one year time, a bridge may account for 60 individual uses by dormice, as well as passage of squirrels, and other small filed mice. In 2008 the Japan Society for Civil Engineering awarded a prize to KEEP and the Animal Pathway Research Council for their design. In the conclusion of the lecture Mr. Ishikawa reminded us that “to protect the dormouse is to protect the forests, and to protect the forests is to protect us all.”

After the lecture we donned rubber boots and rain gear in order to head over to the Dormouse Museum and then into the woods regardless of the rain that was affecting the schedule. Our activities were led by Mr. Ishikawa, as he hiked us into the woods to show us markings from both deer and dormice on trees, explaining how KEEP is researching many dormice in the wild. Hiking us further into the woods he explained how the undergrowth of the canopy is struggling for light and possibly being effected by viruses. He did point up that in some place the undergrowth is thriving and that we can view the process as cyclical. We were then instructed to prune some of the undergrowth, in order to provide the dual purpose to strengthen the tree and prepare cuttings to be used to make chopsticks to be used to eat our lunch. After almost two weeks of eating exclusively with chopsticks, it was now time truly understand the experience

It was best to search for a branch that was pretty straight, yet not to short or long. Ryan Baptiste, Ryan Bruzda and I had a disagreement over the adequate size of cutting to be used, since neither of us had done the activity before. In the long run of the activity, we all came out with adequate chopsticks, as Ryan Baptiste displays his craftsmanship. After another great meal at KEEP, we boarded the bus and headed to the Suntory Museum and Distillery in Hakushu, where Japanese whiskey and Mountain Spring Water are bottled.

Suntory was founded in 1899 in order to produce grape wine. Over the years their line has expanded to not only whiskey and water, but soft drinks, teas, and other beverages. The location of the Hakushu plant is within the watershed of Mt. Kaikomagatake, from which the Ojira River flows, the bottling source of this facility. On Our tour we were given a ride further into the plant to a water bottling facility. Our guide pointed out that Suntory does utilize solar power and is working to reduce their overall carbon footprint. They had real time metrics upon the wall to display how much was being currently generated by the solar panels and the cumulative over a period that I am uncertain of. The wanted to show us the bottling line, but unfortunately, we had come on a day off for the workers.

We were led back down to the museum area of the complex, of which I believe that I can recall being told that the land owned by the company was around 82 hectacres, that also serve as a nature preserve. After our tour we were welcome to a tasting of water and whiskey. Each was done individually, and it felt kind of odd, but when comparing Suntory Natural Mineral Water to French bottled water; I thought that there was a slight difference. The French mineral water tasted brighter, but do to translation, I cannot state why. After that we were given the liberty to enjoy a small amount of their 12 year Hakuhsu Single Malt whiskey. It was an alright day. The last photo is the carving on the end of very large barrel of whiskey, in the museum.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Kiyosato, Japan
Accompanied by Professor Herbert Donovan
(Rikkyo University College of Business)
Tour Guide: Kyoko Fuji

12:00AM - 7:30AM: Spent the night at KEEP (Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project)


7:30AM - 8:00AM: Enjoyed a breakfast prepared by KEEP

8:00AM - 10:15AM: Traveled by bus to Nagano-Zenkoji

Highlights of the bus ride included:
Catching a glimpse of Mount Fuji: Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, standing in at 12,388 feet. The mountain's symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and is often depeicted in art and photos.
Nagano, Japan was the host of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games. Sporting venues built for the games include the M-Wave speed-skating arena, Big Hat arena, and the Aqua Wing arena.

10:15AM - 12:30PM : Visit to Zenkoji Temple Nagano

Zenkoji is a place for prayer, light, and enlightenment. Although it is a Buddhist temple, all are welcome regardless of gender, creed or religious belief. Nagano is a famous temple town in the heart of Japan. Outside the temple, people can be found rubbing smoke from large incense burners on their bodies to bring health and good fortune. Similarly, inside the temple, visitors rub a worn statue of Binzuru, a physician and Bhudda's most intelligent follower, hoping to alleviate their own aches and pains. These rituals, of course, must be accompanied by a donation, as there are no free lunches.

In Zenkoji's pitch black tunnel below the Main Hall, all people are considered completely equal. The SMBA group groped the walls in complete darkness, searching for the "key to paradise". In this corridor, worshipers try to touch a metal key hanging on the wall, in order to gain enlightenment. The key represents the Key to the Western Paradise of the Amida Buddha. Lunch at Zenkoji was free time, in which we were able to choose a place to eat, and for many, that choice included Soba Noodles.

12:30PM - 1:00PM : Travel from Zenkoji to the Hachimanbara Kawanakajima battlefield site

1:00PM - 2:00PM: Battles of Kawanakajima

We toured the battlefield site and the statue of Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin near the Nagano Interchange of the Expressway. During the fourth battle, one of the most famous single combats in Japanese history occured. Uesugi Kenshin burst into the headquarters of Takeda Shingen, attacking him. Takeda, who was unprepared for such an event, grabbed his signaling fan and held off Kenshin. Eventually he was able to spear Kenshin's horse, which drove him off.

3:00PM - 5:00PM : Group Visit to Matsumoto Castle in Nagano

We were able to explore one of Japan’s finest historic castles. Matsumoto castle was completed in the late 16^th century and maintains its original wooden interiors and external stonework. One of the most memorable aspects of this castle was the very steep, narrow staircases, where some of us scraped our shins. This design was deliberate, which made it more difficult for someone to quickly ascend the floors, providing security against infiltrators. There are also many spots inside the castle with low ceilings. The samurai must have been generally smaller than the visitor’s to the castle today. Also, we had to take off our shoes in order to enter the castle.

On the top floor of the castle there is a small shrine. In 1618, one of the young guards had a vision of a woman who handed him a bag and said “If the daimyo enshrines me with 600 kilograms of rice on the 26^th night of each month, I will protect the castle from fire and enemy”. The narrow wooden windows, once used by archers and gunmen, provide amazing views of the Japanese Alps, Matsumoto City and the surrounding moats. Matsumoto castle is considered one of Japan's National Treasures. When viewing the castle from the outside, it appears to have five stories, however, there are actually six stories within the castle. The hidden floor is where the samurai soldiers rested and kept their food and powder supplies.

6:30PM – 8:30PM : Returned to KEEP & Dinner at KEEP

8:30PM – 9:30PM : Lecture: Environmental Education at KEEP

Instructor: Mr. Masatoshi “Masa” Ishikawa (Park Ranger)

“Masa” provided us with some background information on KEEP and explained the various Environmental Education Programs. The programs tend to target school children and families, although many companies are becoming interested in the programs. The programs include: forestry management, dairy farm experience, dormouse museum, and rice farming. KEEP aims to use their experience to educate others and “Masa” stressed that collaboration is key. They are always searching for the best possible collaboration.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

9:07 a.m. – Wake up. As there are no activities planned for today, everyone is free to do as they please.

9:42 a.m. – Arriving at the hotel restaurant, we learn that breakfast ended twelve minutes prior. Stomachs rumbling, Jordan, Andrew and I (Brett) head out in search of food.

9:58 a.m. – The nearby mall houses a plethora of food vendors. We settle on a donut shop that produces some of the best donuts we have ever eaten:

10:17 a.m. – As we wander through the mall, we run into JCJ.

10:27 a.m. - After ten more minutes of wandering, we stumble upon a nearly empty video arcade. We giggle like little boys as we exchange $10 worth of Yuan into coins for the games.

10:33 a.m. – Jordan discovers what appears to be some form of gambling video game. We advise him to not spend all of his money.

10:35 a.m. – Jordan spends the last of his money.

10:37 a.m. – Jordan returns with $10 more dollars worth of Yuan. He promises this time he will make it last.

10:43 a.m. – We have all been sucked into the gambling game. But unlike Jordan, JCJ and Andrew have learned how to win and the coins begin to waterfall out of the machines.

11:08 a.m. – JCJ spends the last of his money.

11:11 a.m. – Andrew spends the last of his money.

11:16 a.m. – We leave the video arcade, broken and battered. We have successfully stimulated the Chinese economy.

11:47 a.m. – All of the hardcore gaming has made us hungry. We stop and get rice bowls with chicken/pork on top. The “point and pay” method comes in handy, as nearly no one in China speaks English.

12:16 p.m. – Bellies full and batteries recharged, we head to the hotel en route to the zoo.

12:38 p.m. – Following a sign for the zoo, we walk through what appears to be a small shack neighborhood. The residents are curious as to why we are there. We begin to ask the same question. Although we were probably in an area that we shouldn’t have been, it was interesting to see the small shops and vendors that we were previously unexposed to. The brand new apartment complex in the middle of the shack neighborhood that was unoccupied seems to be a trend throughout the entire country.

1:04 p.m. – We finally ask someone how to get to the zoo and learn that it is only a few blocks away. Luck was on our side.

1:15 p.m. – We pay our small fee and enter the zoo. A day full of animals and video games might fool you, but we truly are graduate students.

1:15-5:00 p.m. – We walk through the zoo and experience the hundreds of animals that are in captivity. Many of the cages do not have very high standards for safety for neither the animals nor humans. The living conditions in some of the cages seem quite low. The panda’s seem particularly depressed, though we did manage a picture:

There were also some “big cats” that were endangered:

Aside from the lower living conditions, the zoo was quite similar to the United States. Large groups of people were interested in numerous species and the zoo provided a great way to inform the public about initiatives and issues within the animal community.

6:08 p.m. – With an overnight train ride on the horizon, we decide to grab dinner at the vegetarian restaurant at the hotel. The veggie chicken is quite delicious. If I hadn’t known, I would have thought it was real meat.

7:11 p.m. – We load up the bus and leave for the train station. Numerous awkward goodbyes are exchanged. One could say that the female Chinese students became quite attached to some of our cohort. Tears were shed, but we finally made it to the train station.

8:08 p.m. – We get our tickets and board the train. Everyone is quite surprised by the size of the sleeping quarters. We manage to fit everyone into their respective rooms, luggage and all, before departing.

9:15 p.m. – The train departs and to pass the time, we cram more people than practical into each berth. This is cohort bonding at its best.

10:09 p.m. – Baptiste scolds Yokim for not obeying the “rules of the road”. No longer possessing the power of his mustache, Yokim can do nothing but receive a lengthy verbal beating.

12:14 a.m. to 6:54 a.m. – A thunderstorm of snores echoes throughout the balmy cabin. The tiny bed and lumpy pillow offers little solace as iPod batteries eventually die and one by one we all accept the realization that we will not be sleeping…

Trains, Coal and the Jetsons

The speed train in China is a far different experience than Amtrak in the U.S.  The train station felt more like a modern airport; it was a spacious metal structure with a great deal natural lighting.  It was contrary to the images of poverty and instability that the rest of the world envisions about China.  The lobby was even complete with a McDonald’s.  The speed train itself was smooth and arrow dynamic; again, far more modern than an Amtrak.  Surprisingly, traveling over 200 kilometers per hour did not feel fast.  The train gradually accelerated and decelerated in advance and the cars never jostled as the tracks rarely made turns.  The Beijing-Tianjin Intercity High-Speed Rail Line was completed in 2007, with passenger volumes reaching about 18 million between 2008 and 2009.  On our way to Tianjin, we passed small cities, tall residential buildings, rice fields, and even shacks surrounded by waste.  It was a testament to the varying prosperity levels in China.

Our final destination was a company that manufactures, distributes and services mining machinery, primarily for coal companies.  Joy Manufacturing's factory in Tianjin produces several pieces of equipment, including armored face conveyors that gather the mined material into a trough where it is dragged down the conveyor by a chain.  Although a great deal of heavy machinery is sold by Joy, most of its profits actually come from servicing the equipment.  Mining practices also vary in different countries.  For example, in the U.S. most mining occurs at the surface while the majority of mines in China are below the surface.  This is because the best quality coal is found at certain depths in different regions.  After learning about the company we were shown a somewhat dated marteting video that described Joy.

Then the EHS manager told us to put on yellow identification vests, goggles and ear plugs; however, a face mask would have been more useful.  The moment we walked into the production area the air literally felt heavy and you could almost feel the metal particles filling your lungs.  First we saw the process of making giant rotating gears.  They came to the facility as metal wheels which were carved, cooled with water, and then torched until smooth.  This facility seemed to be a decent area to work in, with natural lighting from sky lights, open docking doors to let in fresh air and relative cleanliness at work stations.  The second facility, on the other hand, where the welding and painting took place was not nearly as agreeable.  It was dark, dirty and the air quality was terrible.  Sparks flew from the conveyer units as very skilled welders smoothed the imperfections.  Joy was actually the third company to finalize these metal pieces as they were supplied by a separate ore mining and steel works companies.  Joy also wasn’t the end of the supply chain, as the end product was meant for coal mining companies.  It demonstrated the interconnectedness of industry suppliers.

After lunch in the employee cafeteria, it was time for questions and answers.  Dr. Marlin began the session by asking, if hypothetically coal power was suddenly overregulated or pushed into irrelevance, what would Joy manufacture instead?  They said if that happened they would obviously have to adjust their strategy, but the chances of that happening were very slim. Then Erik asked what they were doing to deal with climate change.  Their answer was very politically correct, as they claimed to (ambiguously) advocate for clean coal.  Although they knew the right things to say, the question seemed to make them uncomfortable.  The workers are likely tired of answering environmentalist questions and have already rationalized their source of income by believing their company was not contributing to climate change or that energy production simply trumps environmental harm.  Kevin asked if the equipment used in sub-surface mining had many of the same components to surface level mining; which apparently they are.  Jason asked about their production efficiency efforts, which is clearly a concern at Joy’s position in the manufacturing process.

That night we went to the revolving top restaurant.  Looking over the city of Beijing was reminiscent of the Jetsons, with smog blanketing the city below.  It was our last night traveling with the undergraduate and night-time MBA students who were going to Xi’an the next day.  We ate a delicious meal together hovering over the city.

China: May 12th (Day One)

The first full day in Beijing began with a buffet-style breakfast in a restaurant right outside of our hotel.  It took a minute or two to understand that pancakes and bacon would not be on the menu and that the meal would feature foods more traditionally served for lunch or dinner in America.  Breakfast featured noodles, fried eggs, dumplings and rice. The atmosphere could only be described as frantic and fast paced as the locals shuffled around unsure tourists grabbing food, eating and quickly exiting the restaurant. This situation was certainly more tolerable after a full night of sleep, the first since leaving Pittsburgh almost two days earlier.

After Breakfast, the Duquesne SMBAs and undergraduates departed to Beijing Jiaotong University to attend a lecture by Dr. Xu Yang. As the university was located close to the hotel, we were able to arrive by foot.  Dr. Yang’s lecture focused on China’s role in the world economy. The lecture featured three main points: how China grew so fast and successfully, why China’s economy will and must keep growing and what a rich and powerful China means to the world. We learned about China’s Henry Ford, Li Shufu, and how success can be achieved through education and through hard work. Dr. Xang also assured us that a rich and powerful China could be a good proposition for the world by offering a large market and being a great investment for foreigners.  We also learned that foreign investors can only own 49% of a company in China.  Foreigners must have a partner who will invest the other 51% in order to do business within the country.  The students group asked many questions, which ranged from China’s reliance on foreign oil to education in China and the ability of the Chinese government to artificially devalue the Yuan.

Following a group cash grab at the nearest ATM, we regrouped for a tour of Jiaotong University. The University is very spacious and features trees and shrubbery on almost every walkway and road.  There is also a large statue of Chairman Mao in the center of campus.  Upon seeing this, we gathered together to take a group photo in front of the statue, almost certainly eliminating any future in American politics for Duquesne students.  After the tour, all students were dismissed to find lunch. The streets around the University provided many opportunities for a cheap and delicious meal before our afternoon departures.

Around mid-afternoon the undergraduates left for the Forbidden City while the SMBAs travelled to Lenovo for a business visit.  Upon arrival at Lenovo, we toured a multimedia exhibit.  The exhibit explained the history of Lenovo and featured their products throughout the years. We also visited a production factory, which was impressive.  The employees worked at a hectic pace performing monotonous tasks for eight hours a day. Though the tour felt rushed and did not compare to the spring visit at Bayer Corporate Headquarters, the tour of the factory was eye opening to say the least.  It was intriguing to see how fast many of the consumer electronics we purchase are built and by whom.

Following a short break, the entire Duquesne group reconvened at 5:30 PM for a meal at the Roasted Duck Restaurant.  The atmosphere was very nice and the food was plentiful.  Patrons were treated to such item as: roasted duck, sea cucumbers, sautéed beef, turtle soap, liver and many other unique foods.  The meal was served family style and included the use of a Lazy Susan to pass dishes to each patron.  Students from Jiaotong University also attended the dinner and were very useful at deciphering what the food actually was prior to being served as dinner.

The first day in Beijing was eventful, maybe too eventful after traveling so far in such a short period of time. However, our time here is limited and Beijing is a big city with lots of sites to see and experiences to be had.  Tomorrow we visit the Great Wall of China. We will also be wondering how the Pittsburgh Penguins are doing in game seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. I hope there is Wi-Fi at the Great Wall!   -Ryan Baptiste

Building on Campus of Jiaotong University



Group Dinner at The Roasted Duck