We got back to the campus at about 1:30, we were given a lecture by the former head of the European Chamber of Commerce in Nanjing, Helmut Gusten, who now runs his own company. He gave us some great facts about the Chinese way of doing business, the need to understand the culture, language, and to love China. He also told us how to live a successful expatriate experience here, as well as ways to enter China as a business from outside and what to look out for. After 16 years of experience in China, Helmut Gusten really gave us a great perspective as to what living here for that long taught him and how we could use that knowledge to head towards a new direction. His talk was truly inspiring as I could relate to it fully having lived the expat life in Shanghai for 4 years.
We then had the chance to hear from Heng Yun, the chief representative of BASF in Nanjing. With headquarters in Germany, BASF is the largest chemical company in the world. We learned about the history of the company, ways they’ve changed their logo overtime to show a different message, as well as the multiple uses of crude oil to create thousands of products. It was great to hear the perspective of a multinational company on doing business in China and learning about Ms. Heng’s personal experience, having lived and studied through the Cultural Revolution in China.
After the conference room meetings, we were given free time until our daily Chinese partner talk. So my roommates and I decided to order in and study some Chinese. We ordered some Mapo Dou Fu (tofu), Su Cai (green veggie), and Chao Fan (fried rice), a typical Chinese meal. This meal will lead us our dinner tonight - we are having Beijing Kaoya, Peking Roast Duck, referred by my language partner. The deal is you get one for 70RMB, and receive one for free. It shall be a tasty night.
- Cedric Ancion
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