DAILY NEWS: DAY #1

 

Early in the morning we arrived at Shanghai’s Pu Dong International Airport after more than ten hours flying above East Europe, Siberia, Mongolia and of course China. We were welcome by Sunny Peng, our Chinese assistant during the trip, and a bus which took us from the airport to the Yue Hotel in Shanghai. After discovering what was going to be our little comfortable home for ten days, we were back downstairs to meet EM Lyon Asian Campus’s Director Ian Tovey. He introduced himself and the learning trip, and gave us the key tips to discover Shanghai safe: how to get a taxi, which metro line could bring us to the most interesting places of the city etc…

 

Afterwards it was time for us to have lunch. Thus we got to know the neighborhood walking towards EM Lyon’s buildings in Shanghai hosted by the campus of East China Normal University (ECNU), quite a big and green campus as you will see in the photobox. We had lunch in the Korean restaurant of the campus, and this is where we ate most of the time during the trip. Discovering Asian food was quite upsetting for some of us!

 

Though each one of us started to feel the jetlag, Sunny took us and the two teachers accompanying us to Yu Garden. Yu Garden used to host a rich family of Shanghai. All of us could enjoy a typical Chinese architecture, surrounded by a quite dynamic Chinese borrow, full of little shops selling anything.

 The afternoon went on and we moved to Tian Zi Fang, the French concession of Shanghai, also made up of several little shops established through narrow streets.

 

When the bus brought us back to the hotel, most of us went to bed as soon as possible. This first day already let us know that this was going to be an unforgettable experience.

 

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #2

 

We attended our first Chinese class at 9. Our teacher’s is Lillian, she is very smiling. This first lesson was really intense and we learned a lot of things such as pronouncing, asking some basic information. We really appreciated the fact that there was a lot of oral practicing. If you’re interested in more details, you can check “Not here to sunbathe”; “Chinese classes”.

 

In the afternoon, Professor Yang Laike from the Faculty of Finance & Statistics, told us about recent trends in the Chinese economy: what we gained from these three hours is available in the contents in “Not here to sunbathe”. In short, the Chinese economy, though having greatly exploded recently, is now facing pressing issues such as environment issues, rising inequalities etc.

 

In the evening, we went all together to the “Bund”, a very dynamic place in Shanghai situated front of Pu Dong where every Shanghai’s greatest towers such as the Oriental Pearl TV Tower are gathered.

You can check the photobox if you want to see what it was about. We enjoyed a very nice walk and we came back in our bed our eyes full of lights and totally impressed by the greatness of Shanghai.

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #3

 

The Chinese class was harder this day: more intense, more things to practice, quicker. Today the novelty were the Insights into Chinese Culture and Social Interaction, provided by EM Lyon Asian Campus’s Director Ian Tovey, a Briton who studied not only in Britain but also in France and Germany, and who knows quite a lot of things about business relationship and China. All of this turned out to be very interesting as each one of these insights were discussed regarding the world of business, and Ian didn’t miss an occasion to fill his speech with one of his numerous funny anecdotes and stories. If you want to know more precisely what it was all about, please direct to “Not here to sunbathe”.

 

After lunch, it was time to listen to Professor Li Limei, from Shanghai ECNU’s Department of Sociology. She’s got a Ph.D. in Human Geography and provided us Social Trends & Issues in Chinese Society. You can also check the most important points of her lecture in “Not here to sunbathe”. The lecture has allowed us to get a more comprehensive view of China as to Mr. Yang’s information the day before.

 

In the evening, we split after lunch. Some preferred to go shopping, enjoying a large choice of possibilities in Shanghai’s numerous and fabulous malls (also check the photobox). Some other went to Pu Dong to be surrounded to some of the world’s tallest towers. These ones even managed to enter one of them, reaching its top to have a drink for a few RMB and some thinking (not that easy to reach the top of these towers). The view offered was completely insane, especially for us students often coming from French places that totally don’t bear comparison with Shanghai’s Pu Dong.

 

 

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #4

 

In the morning, as usual we attended Lillian’s Chinese class and Mr. Tovey’s Insights into Chinese Culture and Social Interaction.

 

The point of the day was the first company visits of the seminar that took place in one of the French company Aldes’s Chinese plant in Shanghai. Aldes Group specializes in the design, manufacturing and marketing of “integrated solutions for indoor well-being”. Please confer to the section referring to the company visits to enjoy all of what we earned from the visit but also from the round-table we attended with the plant’s manager. That part of the visit turned out to be very instructive: the manager explained a lot about the main points of his business and his plant in Shanghai, but he also told us how he had reached his position here in Shanghai. Afterwards he let us ask him some questions, that he answered precisely; what we appreciated, feeling taken seriously.

 

When the visit ended, we spent an hour downtown, then Mr. Tovey’s aide Sunny took us to a typical Chinese restaurant to have dinner. Its name was “Niandai Xiu Restaurant”. It was quite a strange experience, because we discovered a totally different way to have dinner: every meal is brought in a row in the middle of the table and each one of the person at the table have to help himself in the meals served on the table. Chinese food turned to be very spicy and very diverse. Actually it is composed of much food that a Westerner would first find weird: jellyfish, purée of oranges…

 

As we were very tired, we didn’t do much afterwards. Some went to Pu Dong, some others chose to stay at the hotel, and it could be seen also as an opportunity to get to know more directly, to talk with the other students involved in the trip.

 

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #5

 

Needless to remind you what we did in the morning because the Chinese classes and Mr. Tovey’s lectures would give rhythm to each one of our morning from Monday to Friday.

 

In the afternoon, EM Lyon brought us to Shanghai Museum. For sure the photobox will allow you to see what we saw: not only the Chinese art, but the Russian one for example. The museum gathered items, typical costumes, paintings, drawings, sculptures…

The museum was interesting because we saw another face of China’s society and history, from which the cultural patrimony is clearly part of.

 

This Friday evening was the moment to first experiment a night party in Shanghai, as Saturday morning was free for us. We chose to test the famous Bar Rouge as some ECNU’s French students recommended us.

It happened to be a nightclub very busy with Westerners. The theme of the night was “Bollywood”, so there was a lot of Indian people: for sure they like to dance and to show they’ve got the rhythm! The party was really entertaining and we had a lot of fun trying to sway our hips in the Bollywood way.

 

Sleeping late the morning after was truly deserved after such an intense week.

 

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #6

 

After having a long rest (not so long when you think about it), we woke up and got up on that the water town visit was canceled because of a typhoon reaching Shanghai’s surroundings. In the city, there was a lot of wind and rain (going out if you weigh less than a certain weight is even forbidden by Chinese officials during typhoons). Some went next door to get a typical Chinese massage, and some other stayed at the hotel. In fact, the weather outside didn’t get better during the day. But it wasn’t that bad: we talked about everything, still getting to know each other, and that was the moment we started to create the blog you’re in front of.

 

In the evening, we also stayed at the hotel after having dinner in quite a stunning mall situated in front of the hotel.

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #7

 

Sunday morning, we went to the neighbor of the French concession to learn about its architecture. We also visited the Museum of the Chinese Communist Party. It highlighted the main stapes of the establishment of the current Chinese power.

 

We had an hour free in People’s Square. Some stayed outside, some others went to see dozens of shops situated in a metro station, where you can find absolutely everything.

 

The afternoon was free. We chose to visit a Buddhist temple. We could see great typical Chinese architecture and art. A lot of Chinese people came by to pray in front of the Buddhist gods occupying the temple.

We even had the opportunity to see Chinese monks during a religious ceremony! Check the photobox!

 

At sunset, we rose to the top of Shanghai’s World Financial Center, the world’s second tallest skyscraper, made up of 101 floors. The view was totally insane. Also dash to the photobox to see our memories there.

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #8

 

A new week began. But the end of the trip is coming closer… Back to our basics in the morning, that is to say Lillian and Mr. Tovey.

 

In the afternoon, Shanghai Sinovision Centre’s Director Professor ZHANG Tiejun provided us his knowledge and analysis on China’s place in the world, whether it be through the past, currently or in the future. We discovered a lot about China’s geopolitics and main interests in the world: we’re sure that now you know where to find the details on the blog!

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #9

 

In the afternoon, we were provided the opportunity to visit one of China’s most important company: Totole. It’s a company which offers a variety of flavoring products. Totole’s products are very mainstream all around China. The most stricken in this visit was the pride of Totole and the fact that everything in the plant was “Totole”: we could even play Totole games.

Totole presented us how its plant worked, its organization and even made us taste some of its products.

 

In the evening we went to Yu Garden, a place where we were several days before but we didn’t have time enough to discover it and the weather was rainy at the moment. Thus we took advantage of that time to buy the last presents for our French relatives.

 

DAILY NEWS: DAY #10

 

Here we are, our last hours in Shanghai. During the Chinese class, we didn’t learn new things, but we practiced everything we have learned since the first Chinese class. We bade farewell to Lillian and offered her a present after the Chinese class in the morning: it moved her. She gave us her email address to contact her in case we go by Shanghai in the future.

 

In the afternoon, Mr. Tovey organized a round-table with French Expatriates and EMLYON alumni to take stock of experience. They introduced themselves and their own career, they explained how they ended up being managers in China. They insisted on business in China, with Chinese, on the advantages and the drawbacks when you lead a business and live in China. Of course they answered our questions.

We really appreciated the round-table because we were front of concrete and diverse experiences, concrete people. We’ve got a better understanding of the business world we’re entering in a couple of years.

 

In the evening, Mr. Tovey took us to a Chinese restaurant for the farewell dinner. At the end of the dinner, we took a precious time to thank Mr. Tovey for everything EM LYON took charge of for us: the company visits, the Chinese classes, the lectures, the hotel, and most of the meals. EM LYON and he gave us a very rare and specific opportunity, for which we are really grateful.

 

For our last night here, we managed to go VIP in a nightclub after one of the managers at the round-table said that in Shanghai, Westerners enjoy a good reputation and that being sometimes VIP at a nightclub was one of the advantages of being a foreigner in China. It was a pretty way to finish this amazing trip.