Peking University, COFCO, and American Beer

Monday, March 9, 2015:

            Heading to Peking University was the first time I observed the amount of people I initially expected.  I guess the weekend was not a good example!  When we got to Peking, it was freezing and I was completely surprised.  The outside was beautiful (the lake especially) but I thought the school would have been much more up to date than it was.  I barely saw any technology, and the classrooms were all chalkboard and old looking.  I liked how Pittsburgh has a lot of classrooms that put the students in a more creative environment; the tables are rounded and built for teamwork, the screens make it easy to see even in the back, and a major focus for engineering is creative inspiration in an idea-welcoming area.  The students did presentations on automated driving, which was impressive, but it lacked the enthusiasm I expected.  They are in a group project, but they mentioned that communication was a major challenge.  Maybe I just expected too much since the school was talked up so much.  At lunch, almost none of the students were talking.  They ate and left, I’m assuming to resume studying.  People study often here as well, but whenever I go to lunch at Market it’s extremely loud because people are conversing.  After speaking with some of the students, I noticed that they were focusing on developing their English or graduating for either grad school or jobs, which are similar goals for American students.  I feel that I may not be as technically prepared as the Chinese students (as far as bookwork goes) but personally I feel better prepared with my teamwork and communication skills.  I am more personable (as I feel most of us were) than most of the students who were extremely shy and quiet.  If I were to work with a student from Peking University, I would teach them better communication skills as they helped me understand the technical side of engineering more.

            I thoroughly enjoyed the COFCO visit.  The eye tracking technology for marketing was impressive and unlike what I have seen before.  It shows that they are truly invested in their customers, which is good considering they are the main provider of food, oils, etc.  They seem diligent with their food safety, as well.  COFCO is concerned with expanding, but they are planning to build a “Future Technology Town.”  This could be good for industrial development, but bad for edging away from SOE’s, which is where China has been heading for the past few years.

            The Great Leap Brewery visit was fun because I got to eat American style food.  The tour of the brewing was interesting, but the owner claimed that he is known for pairing a craft beer with the local cuisine, which is not true.  French fries, burgers, and chicken is not Chinese cuisine.  He literally took an American brewery and moved it to China.  It is innovative in the sense that he makes money doing something new, but I would not consider it creative.  I do not mean to drag on the place—the food was great—but I did not like how he attempted to claim his food as Chinese food.  Overall, COFCO was the most informative part of the day.