Profile: Olivia Yang

GLP Shanghai Blog

Olivia Yang, Business Administration

Blog 4

March 27, 2009

It has now been almost a week since I arrived at the LAX airport. As soon as I got home, I unpacked my suitcases, gorged on some greatly missed and highly anticipated Korean food, and then promptly went to bed. When I finally woke up, it was back to USC, where I had to face another week of classes. I didn’t have it as bad as some of my classmates, one of whom had two midterms the week we got back; I just had a paper due and a weekly quiz. But having to endure a long week of school is unbearable when I can’t help but think about how amazing last week was and how I wish I was there instead of here. I miss the crowded streets, $0.60 boba, and the overall traditional yet urban setting. And as cliché as it sounds, I learned so many things that I couldn’t possibly have learned from a textbook.

One of the things that most surprised me was the loud American presence that greatly influenced Shanghai. Many people were almost fluent or at least conversational in English, from the university students we met to the storeowners that we haggled with. Before I left California, I assumed that I would have to rely on my few Chinese friends going with me on the trip to order my food or get directions to the nearest shopping mall. Contrary to my expectations, we were able to communicate with them relatively easily.

We did have a few of those moments that don’t seem very funny at the time but that we can laugh about now. For example, one night as we got out of a taxi, we discovered that we couldn’t open the doors on both sides of the back seat. There were four of us in the car, and my friend in the front passenger seat got out of the car just fine; she didn’t even look back as she ran because it was raining outside. The rest of us were stuck in the back, completely scared and all wondering the same thing: was this driver keeping us in on purpose?? When one of my friends – the Chinese one – tried to tell the driver that the door was jammed, the driver became agitated and yelled at us to get out of the cab. Though this relieved us of our initial fears that he was detaining us, it didn’t ease our desire to leave as soon as possible. This only made us more frustrated because we wanted to get out just as much as he wanted us to, but we were stuck. The driver muttered angrily (and most likely cursed at us) under his breath as he went over to the other side and tried to pry open the door. He was close – he ended up yanking off the handle! After that, I decided I had enough; I rolled down the window on my side, set down my purse, took off my jacket, and climbed out of the car. My friend in the middle saw me and quickly followed suit, as did the last. We all ran for shelter from the rain as the driver attempted to repair his car. Hopefully, he was able to fix the problem…

And of course, I must tell at least one story about our shopping experiences. One of the things about local shopping in Shanghai is that “guides” will approach you. These people literally guide you to places that you want to go; usually knockoff stores that have hidden backrooms. Towards the end of the trip, we went to a subway station that is famous for having everything, from clothes to “Fender” guitars to fake designer bags and accessories. My friends and I were approached by a “guide” who somehow led us to an electronics store, where the salesperson tried to sell us DVDs. I was arguing with the lady to buy a box set of House, and she wouldn’t budge lower than 300 RMB. I even tried pretending to leave the store, a technique that usually works, but it didn’t this time. Finally, my friend and I left and dismissed our guide, deciding that we were done shopping for the day. We still had some time before our arranged meeting time with the rest of the group, so we walked around a little bit.

Around ten minutes later, when we were on the other side of the mall, I heard a voice calling out to us. I didn’t pay much attention at first, but one of my friends turned to me and asked me if that was the same lady from the DVD store. I looked again, and sure enough, the lady had somehow tracked me down and was now eagerly offering me the box set for 150 RMB! Just like that, she had cut the price in half! Dazed at my luck, I followed her back to her store, just as eagerly as she had approached me. As we walked back, she apologized and explained that she couldn’t lower her price earlier because the guide had been with me, and he automatically would take fifty percent of what I paid. This left me feeling both sympathetic for her and annoyed with myself for not having realized that there must be a motive to the guide’s “kindness” in showing us around. Of course, I discovered this at the end of the week, after we had finished all of our shopping and used a guide almost every time…

Reflecting on this trip, I realize that I learned so many different things. I was able to learn about businesses in China, compare differences in Chinese and American culture and business practices, hear advice from the alumni panel, explore a foreign city, be independent and responsible during after-hours, and grow closer to people in my class. Spending a week in a country on the other side of the world with my friends is an irreplaceable experience that I will always remember.

Two nosebleeds in one day? Questionable sanitary conditions in the streets? Gray – not blue – skies? Lack of leg room on the plane? The massive accumulating workload to catch up on back in LA?

It was all worth it.

GLP SHANGHAI 09!!

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Blog 3

March 20, 2009

Our stay in China is slowly coming to an end! It’s already Friday, and we have only two more full days before we head back to the airport again. It’s inevitable, but I’m trying not to think about it…

On Wednesday, we visited Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a premier university of China. There, the SJTU students and our USC students took turns giving presentations about our schools, local events, current world events, and student life in general. We were inspired by the quality of the SJTU students’ work, and it was a memorable experience to meet the students individually and get to know them better. I was a little worried that things might be awkward due to communication barriers, but surprisingly enough, I got along well with the other students. To keep in touch, I exchanged emails with a couple of the students I met. They were all very friendly and welcoming!

After eating lunch with the students, we came back to the hotel. Representatives from Lotus Supermarket came to speak to us about their company and the internship programs they offer. It was interesting to hear them speak about competing with their biggest competition, Wal-Mart, and how the negative economic trend didn’t necessarily affect them greatly because their products are necessities, not luxuries. Also, the representatives talked about how they planned to expand their stores to target younger consumers in the middle and upper classes.

Later in the evening, we met up with the SJTU students again to go to the Banana Leaf Restaurant, where the food was amazing and the entertainment even better. Some servers kept bringing dish after dish of delish food. But others broke out into song and dance to live guitarists and drummers, singing popular songs such as “Celebration,” “This Love,” and “Beautiful Girls” and inviting everyone to sing and dance along. It was definitely a memorable night!

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to tour Baosteel, where we were able to follow a large piece of steel as it traveled on a conveyor belt. We could feel the heat from far away every time it was steamed, and it burned bright orange when it was heated and stretched. It was interesting to actually see the process of the steel being molded and shaped.

Then we went to the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, where we enjoyed a scrumptious buffet lunch. After lunch, an alumni panel shared tidbits of advice on how to get ahead in our careers and how they personally achieved their successes. It was one of the most informative and beneficial events of the week.

Last night, we were able to watch the Acrobat Show, where we were completely amazed at the talented performers’ abilities. Some of the gymnasts were so young! They looked no more than eleven years old, but they could do with their bodies what none of us could. One girl could hold up her body with one arm and perform tricks, while another could balance glass over glass filled with water on her forehead, arms, legs, and chin. There was even a dramatic act in which a man and woman in love flew through the air by hanging on long sashes that hung from the top of the middle of the stage, narrating a heartbreaking love story. Even more entertaining was the segment in which a performer flung darts on a board. He called for a volunteer from the audience, who was promptly blindfolded and bound onto the board. The volunteer believed that the performer would throw darts at him, but the performer ran up to him and pinned the darts on the board instead. There was a climatic moment for the volunteer when the helper placed an inflated balloon between his legs, indicating that that was where the performer would aim. The helper used the dart to pop the balloon, and the audience got a kick out of watching the volunteer squirm anxiously, not knowing that everything was staged.

Today, we toured Ingersoll Rand, an energy company. During the presentation, led by Mr. Anguo Zhu, I realized the cultural differences between the United States and China. The most conspicuous and interesting difference is the way company executives view and treat their employees, particular blue-collar workers. In China, blue-collar and white-collar workers receive equal treatment, whereas in the United States, there is a distinct established hierarchy of workers. The Chinese treatment of workers is greatly reinforced by the fact that the Chinese Communist Party was built by the working class, founded on the basic principles of equality.

Also, Mr. Zhu mentioned that his biggest challenge was working under an American boss. Communication is really hard between such different cultures. Chinese supervisors know their own culture and country better than their American bosses, so these supervisors have to be able to prove their bosses wrong without being disrespectful; they have to try to make them understand why they are wrong.

Mr. Zhu also reminded me of a few concepts that we learned in my BUAD 304 class, Leading Organizations. For example, he mentioned that at their company, they train employees through eight schools in fields such as marketing, sales, and finance. There are mini-universities within the company for employees with supervisor or manager potential. Also, because Ingersoll Rand is so efficient, the company can afford to pay their employees generously. Furthermore, Mr. Zhu discussed the skewed distribution of men and women in different parts of the organization. For example, most of the hard labor workers are men just because of the mere fact that men are expected to do physical work out of consideration for women. On the other hand, in departments such as marketing and finance, there is a majority of female employees. At the very top executive positions, however, they are almost all male. Though there still is not an equal amount of male and female workers in the company, the issue has improved greatly and is probably headed toward the same trend in the future.

There are so many things that we have learned so far on this trip! It’s reassuring to have the material we learn in class exhibited in the actual business world.

Well, we have two more nights left before we pack up and leave the country. I think the group is planning to stay up all night on Saturday so that we can sleep on the plane ride back home on Sunday. Should be fun!

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Blog 2

March 17, 2009

It’s Tuesday and the week is already almost halfway over! I can’t believe we’ve been able to visit so many places and learn so many new things in the short span of three days!

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:10AM early Saturday morning, so we left for the airport at 8PM on Friday. The flight was delayed for almost two hours, but we finally got off the ground and left for Incheon, South Korea. Upon arrival, we were able to explore the airport for an hour and then take off for Pudong, China! From the airport, we took the Shanghai Maglev Train for about seven minutes, moving at up to 431 km/hr, and finally arrived at the magnificent Sofitel Hotel in Shanghai on Nanjing Road. We went to our rooms, unpacked, freshened up, and headed straight out again to visit Old Town, where we were able to shop for cheap goods and try delicious local foods. One of the foods that my friends and I tried was soup dumplings, which were dumplings filled with soup that had to be drunk through a straw. It was an interesting experience, and worth it, though I did burn my tongue. We then went shopping, where I had my first haggling experience. We also wandered around and took lots of pictures by the beautiful scenery.

Yesterday, we were able to enjoy an amazing buffet dinner at our hotel, where we ate with students from Fudan University. As I talked to one of the students, I was able to compare the differences between the lives of Chinese and American students. In China, classes are a year long, as opposed to the semester or quarter system of US colleges. Also, because these classes are so long, students take 10-12 classes a year, as opposed to the 3 or 4 that American students take at a time. At the same time, I discovered that we share several similarities as well. For instance, the student I talked to mentioned that she went to sleep around midnight and woke at around 8 a.m., but on some days she went to sleep as late as 2 a.m.! When we asked her what she was doing up so late, she giggled, a little embarrassed, and admitted that she was up playing video games! I was expecting her to say she was up doing some late night studying, as I sometimes am, but I was surprised to hear her candid answer.

This morning, our group gave our presentation to GreenTree Inn Hotel about to increase its website hit rate, optimize search engine results and improve the overall quality and appearance of the website. It was definitely different from our practice round when we presented in front of the class a couple of weeks ago. This time, there were not only Marshall students present but also GreenTree employees and executives, including CEO Alex Xu. It was exciting to be able to present my ideas in front of people in such high positions.

Afterwards, we went to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo site, where we were privileged to receive an exclusive tour. It was really amazing to go in and see the models for the development of Shanghai into a modern city, especially because the site is not open to the general public to view.

That’s it for now! It’s St. Patrick’s Day, so we’ll see what happens tonight!

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Blog 1

March 3, 2009, Los Angeles

It is Tuesday night, March 3, 2009. I’ve been counting down until I get to leave this country and see China for the first time: exactly ten more days! In the midst of all these papers that must be written and midterms that must be taken, I don’t think I’ve fully realized how quickly the days are passing. It’s actually rather strange because usually when you really want to do something it seems to take an eternity to reach, but in this case, time is flying!

Just last week, Ambassador Yun Zhang, Consul General of China in Los Angeles, came to visit our GLP class. It was so exciting to hear his story because he was born and raised in China; he actually experienced the Great Cultural Revolution firsthand, which I find completely fascinating! He also shared his story of how he was chosen to study at a foreign language school and had the opportunity to study abroad in Canada, which allowed him to qualify to serve as an ambassador of China. After class, we were able to have lunch with him and ask him even more questions and get to know him better. It is opportunities like these that constantly remind me how awesome USC Marshall is and how lucky I am to be here.

I’m really excited to go to Shanghai because I’ve never been there before. I can’t wait to walk down the streets of China and attempt to communicate with the local people. So far, I only know the very basic conversational Chinese phrases, but I can’t wait to learn more as I go on the trip! I want to not only learn the Chinese language but also compare the differences of the US and China in terms of business customs, culture, and ethics. As a businessperson, I will probably interact with different cultures and people, so going halfway across the world to experience just a taste of another culture leaves me tingling in anticipation.

Oh, and did I mention that I look forward to the shopping? Because that is a given.

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