Profile: Michelle Li

LINC Hong Kong Blog

Michelle Li, Business Administration

Blog 4

Wednesday March 25, 2009

Flight CX 880 touched down at LAX around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night with a small amount of turbulence; I was both thrilled and saddened to be home. I missed home and USC, but I also didn't want my spring break to end. My week in Hong Kong seemed too short; yet it felt like I had left USC a very long time ago (not just one week). While on this trip, sometimes it felt like I was not at all related to USC (even though I was traveling with USC students on a Marshall trip...). It is kind of a hard feeling to describe, but I would say that it felt more like traveling with a group of people bonded only by the trip itself, not by the university or major; as if the only thing we all had in common was just traveling in the same group on the same trip. Coming back to LAX and watching everyone scramble to get rides back to campus readjusted that way of thinking, and the border patrol officer helped when he reminded me that I should be proud to be a student at USC because our men's basketball team had made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Of course, the process of going through immigration and luggage and customs took forever - I didn't arrive back on campus until close to midnight. However, I didn't feel really tired - it was the jet lag acting up - and sleeping on the plane for a few hours didn't quite help with the time readjustment. We had left Hong Kong at 11:40 p.m. on Sunday and arrived in LA at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday - it almost seemed as if we went back in time, or that we'd only spent a few (and not 12) hours on the plane. Still, I knew I had to get to bed or the rest of my sleep schedule for the week would be skewed.

The beginning of this week has been somewhat of a jolt back to reality, as I had to prepare for a difficult midterm and resume my other academic responsibilities - all of this under a cloud of sleepiness as a result of jet lag or just plain exhaustion. Today I wanted to be like a bear and hibernate until I felt better. Most of all, I miss our week in Hong Kong and wish it could have lasted a little longer. It seems like just yesterday when we were boarding the bus from the airport to the City Garden Hotel in North Point. While I miss the food (EVK was undeniably disappointing on Monday night), the MTR (public transportation never seemed better), the feeling of being safe (I had no problems wandering the streets of Hong Kong at night, even on my own) and the overall accessibility of everything in the city, I miss hanging out with my friends the most.

Coming back to USC has made me appreciate both Hong Kong and LA so much more for their differences. I love Hong Kong for the "big city" feeling, but I also love LA for its wide-open spaces. Though I have to say, on Monday, as I walked across campus, I realized that it was the first time I had seen blue skies in a long time.  Hong Kong, as far as I can recall, had few blue skies when we were over there. Also - this could be all psychological - but it felt like the air here is crisper and cleaner than the air in Hong Kong; I inhaled the difference once I stepped out of LAX. I loved how I could walk out of the hotel in Hong Kong and be able to encounter several stores, cafes, and a subway station. Certainly, the abundance of English on the signs in Hong Kong made exploring easier (as compared to mainland China, where there was almost no English to be found anywhere), and I was surprised to find out that Mandarin Chinese was pretty useful (though not as useful as Cantonese).

As for my overall experience in Hong Kong, I can honestly say this was probably THE best spring break I've had in a long time, if not ever. Usually, my spring breaks revolve around preparations for tests and projects due after the break; but while I still had midterms and projects to prepare for this year, they were pushed far from my mind once I was across the Pacific. I enjoyed visiting all of the companies - especially visiting Ronnie Chan, shaking his hand, and touring his high-end property at Long Beach. Our experiential market exercise was also quite interesting because I was able to look at malls and markets through an observational perspective. Of course, all of the different dishes prepared and served by students at the VTC were interesting to try. I hadn't been back to Mainland China since 2006, and crossing the border this time made me more appreciative of Hong Kong.

On a personal note, I would definitely say that the best part of this trip was getting to know people really well, especially people that I probably would not have had the chance to meet if it wasn't for this trip. There is something truly amazing about traveling with a group of strangers and evolving into a close-knit group. Our common experiences - whether it was "getting lost" on the subway, eating xiao long bao at Crystal Jade (I ended up going there 3 times), haggling at Ladies' Market, singing at the back of the bus, or playing mahjong until 2 a.m. in the morning - definitely made the trip more memorable than I thought it would be. The memories of this trip have become the highlight of my freshman year in college, and I would encourage all students to take advantage of opportunities like these.

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Blog 3

March 18, 2009

My hand smells like money.

Figuratively, of course. After our visit to Hang Lung Properties, I was fortunate enough to shake Mr. Ronnie Chan’s hand as we left the building. Sitting in the hotel room right now, I just realized that I shook the hand of a billionaire. His speech shared a few important ideas, such as the best method on how to gain wealth (sell a few big ticket items, as contrasted with the "Wal-Mart" method of selling many small items) and that sometimes in order to be successful, one needs to stop following the trends. According to Chan, individuals also need to have "guts" and a "killer instinct" to keep one's morals and go in different directions than the rest of one's competitors. Also, his comments about how to retain talent through experience, time and corporate culture echoed some of the ideas I've learned in another one of my business classes this semester. It was nice to see that what we learn in the textbooks have real-life relevance. 

As for the rest of the day, we began with an interesting presentation from Invest HK, whose agenda is to attract businesses and corporations to Hong Kong. The speaker discussed Hong Kong’s enduring and emerging advantages as a center for business development. The company's mission is to attract and retain companies and investors to Hong Kong. I found it interesting that there is a specific firm to help facilitate the movement of companies to Hong Kong; I had previously thought that companies simply moved on an individual basis and didn't realize there was a such a large support network for them.

The Invest HK breakfast presentation was followed by a trip to the Vocational Training Council Hospitality Training Complex. This visit intrigued me the most because I had almost chosen to become a hospitality management major at a different school. I had considered that major because I thought I enjoyed taking care of people’s needs while on the road and providing services to guests. Since coming to USC, I have always thought about what might have been. I enjoyed watching the hands-on approach to learning and learned about differences in the types of woks with regards to Northern versus Southern Chinese food. The lunch was definitely an interesting experience. At first, it felt kind of awkward to be served by students my age, as they folded our napkins, led us to the bathroom, and served us food. The meal was quite amazing and included steamed dumplings, sautéed king prawns, fish maw and sea cucumber, as well as my favorite: fried pancakes with red bean paste.

A visit with Ronnie Chan followed lunch and an on-site visit to one of his properties at The Long Beach ended our day of activities. The Long Beach is of the highest luxury; we toured a guest clubhouse complete with a mahjong room, music studio, indoor badminton court and spa, as well as sample apartment homes. While it was beautiful to tour the rooms and imagine what it would be like to live in a place like that, facing reality meant that we would all have to work extremely hard to be able to afford a place like those at The Long Beach. I suppose it is always good to dream...

After our group activities had ended, I was able to have dinner with my aunt at a local cafe. Then I met my friends in East Tsim Sha Tsui, where we stopped by a "Charlie Brown Cafe" (I had no idea that one even existed).  Then we were off to Jordan for dessert at Huilau Shan, a dessert chain that specialized in mango-related sweets, as well as mochi balls covered in peanuts and sugar. It was quite an eventful day and ending the night with a game of tag on the MTR subway entertained us all the way back to the hotel.

On the agenda for tomorrow is a visit to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) for a campus tour and case study project with our peers at the HKUST business school!

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Blog 2

March 16, 2009

Today is officially the first day of our business meetings for this trip. Jet lag hasn’t quite affected me – I was up by 7am Hong Kong time to prepare for our visits to JP Morgan, Li & Fung, Langham Place and Ladies Market. We all went downstairs to the Garden Café for breakfast and enjoyed a wide variety of American and Chinese-style cuisine. Soon after we finished breakfast, we boarded our tour buses to begin the day.

Our first stop was at JP Morgan in Central. We all filed into a circular conference room to listen to Joyce Chen, Executive Director of JP Morgan in the Hong Kong branch. She discussed JP Morgan’s current financial situation, its various roles in commercial and investment banking, the company’s prestigious history and its future ventures. She was followed by a panel of three other employees who discussed JP Morgan’s overall strategy to focus on individuality, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with their clients. I found it fairly interesting that understanding a client’s needs was such an important aspect of their strategy because it shows how large companies can still succeed by giving personal treatment to each client.

From there, we traveled to Mong Kok for lunch at The Spaghetti House. I’d seen this chain around Hong Kong before, but I never knew that it was owned by a USC alumni. We enjoyed an excellent meal of Italian food. Soon it was time to leave for our second meeting of the day at Silvereed, now owned by Li & Fung. Silvereed specializes in developing custom-made fabric prints and selling these to companies such as BCBG, who then place their own labels on the Silvereed fabrics. I found this business model to be extremely interesting and cost-effective: individual brands did not have to spend money to create new designs because they could choose from existing prints, and Silvereed did not have to spend money to market their products.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Langham Place and Ladies’ Market for an experimental learning exercise. It was kind of awkward to walk around Ladies’ Market in our business formal wear; I could definitely tell the difference our appearance made in regards to how much the vendors were willing to bargain with us. On Sunday, a few of us had gone to Ladies’ Market and we’d received much better bargains in our casual wear than in our business wear. After an hour or so of observation, teams traveled back to the hotel to prepare a presentation summing up our findings. My team, the Horses, presented at a dinner with USC alumni in Hong Kong. It was enjoyable to mingle and talk to the alumni, some of whom had graduated only a year before.

Our first day was extremely eventful, and I’m looking forward to a casual day at Ocean Park tomorrow!

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Blog 1

March 6, 2009, Los Angeles

One midterm, one paper, and two homework assignments – that is all that is standing in my way between now and spring break overseas.

After 8 weeks of preparing for our spring break excursion to Hong Kong, the date of departure is only a week away! I am returning home this weekend to pack and I’ve already made an extensive list of clothes, accessories, and electronics to bring with me. I’ll be bringing quite a few business casual outfits, business formal outfits and casual wear for excursions during the day. For me, perhaps more important than the clothes and accessories are the electronics; there is no way I can travel without a computer, cell phone, iPod and camera. In order to prepare for this trip, I’ve also unlocked my phone so that I can use a Hong Kong SIM card to use overseas. And I’m definitely planning on bringing a small laptop so I can blog at leisure without sitting in a Pacific Company coffee shop to use their Internet.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve learned a lot about Chinese culture, especially as it pertains to doing business. We’ve also had the pleasure of listening to a few guest speakers, including Joe Novak, an ex-pat who shared his experience of working in Hong Kong. I learned the correct way of handing someone my business card (with two hands, cards facing up, a slight bow to accompany the exchange, and taking the time to read the card as a form of respect) as well as the proper method to accept a gift. Even though I am of Chinese descent, I never knew that one had to politely decline a gift three times before accepting it.

I’ve had the fortune of traveling to Hong Kong twice before and I am definitely looking forward to traveling there again with my friends. I would say the best part of Hong Kong, besides the food and the shopping, is the metropolitan energy that is nearly nonexistent here in Los Angeles. Just the amount of people everywhere – it’s such a buzz. Also, I thoroughly enjoy the public transportation system in Hong Kong; it is clean and efficient, and there are stations all around the population-heavy areas so it is easy to find your way around.

One more week until free wifi in the Hong Kong airport, breakfast congee, and Temple Street Night Market!

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