Day 1 – Beijing – Optional cultural excursion

Ni hao!

The 2015 study trip of the module ‘Doing business in Emerging markets’ was kicked off by the optional cultural excursion today.
Despite the hardship of getting up early to hit throw road and the jet lag, the programme attracted almost everyone to join. Thanks to the early hours we enjoyed a smooth ride to the first part of the Chinese Wall, the J. With great determination and endurance the group climbed the numerous amounts of steps (after some hundreds we gave up on counting), conquered various beacon towers until we have reached its end. The people sharing the pain with us varied from little Chinese kids crawling up the steps, aged folks overtaking us, women taking the double challenge to climb the wall in high heels to an American who coached us by saying ‘Come on guys, you can do it. Go, go, go!’

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As Mao Tsetung once said ‘A hero is only a true hero if he has climbed the Chinese Wall.’, we are all truly proud to present to you the new generation of ZHAW’s approved student heroes!
On the way back to the city our your guide linked the experience to Mandarin: ‘The wall is great for the eyes but unkind to the knee’, on short ‘wall – eye – knee’ which resembles the pronunciation of saying I love you  ‘Wo ai ni’ in Chinese.

The efforts were rewarded by a rich lunch at Ramada Paradise Beijing which served a 7 course menu.

Defying the humid summer temperature the group took a walk through the Summer Palace including strolling along the world’s longest art mile consisting if some thousands of antique Chinese paintings and concluded the excursion with a ride in a dragon boat on the Kunming lake. The fresh breeze of the lake was warmly welcome for the change.

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Not only did we enjoy the historic site but many Chinese people enjoyed having us as visitors just as much!

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In the evening the study trip was formally inaugurated with a welcome apero. Dr. Braun held a speech and it was confirmed that the coming 14 days offer a great programme with many exclusive company visits and other activities.

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Keep following this blog to get first hand updates and timely reports from our study trip!


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