China map icon
My name is May and I am a student of the Argyros School of Business and Economics. This summer I am participating in the
BUS 494 Travel Course
. We are traveling to Beijing and Shanghai. Aside from the tourist visits to see the many “Kodak Moments,” I’m eager to observe the culture, business practices, and economics of China.

Prior to this trip, I had a lot of anxiety going to a country with such a different culture. I was afraid of offending the locals while abroad. I think that the first thing that comes to most minds when people hear China is the word “communism.” I did share this belief, so I was nervous to see how exactly this type of government impacts every day life.

I was mainly excited to see the enormous amount of growth China has experienced in the past years. All of my economic and finance classes have brought up China’s recent economics growth, so I was ecstatic to get a first-hand experience of this.

One story told by one of the professors of this course,
Niklas Myhr
,
The Social Media Professor
, was stuck in my head as I prepared for this trip and I’d like to share it with you. He told us about at time he was forced to chew on chicken feet bones at dinner because his colleagues didn’t want to risk him losing face from correcting him. The Chinese highly emphasize a characteristic of not losing face. My fear going to this country is seeing how the Chinese culture will impact my attitude towards culture and society.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and continue to follow my journey through China. My next post will be about our experiences in Beijing.

This first blog post was adapted from my blog post on
Global Marketing Professor
.