Asia Day 7: Wrapping up in Beijing

June 2, 2007

Our final day in BeiJing. I’m sad that we will be leaving China so soon. As with most mornings on this trip, I am exhausted as we head out to our first visit. Seems I am still unable to sleep soundly. Last night Regan’s snoring was the worst yet. Poor Miranda, I hope that as she ages she is always able to be a deep sleeper.

Our first visit today is to a company called Terex. Terex builds dump trucks, cranes, and other building machinery. The contact at Terex is a guy named Heinz Dickens who is also in the regional presidency for the church in China. He gave us some good insights into both working/business in China and how the church is doing in China.

He started his remarks by quoting Woody Allen who has said, “I don’t trust air I can’t see.” What a great quote for this city. As you have probably seen from the pictures, it is very hazy and smoggy here all the time. Pretty great quote for someone who has been living in Beijing for over ten years.

Heinz seemed quite interested in hiring someone to come over and help manage some of their production facilities in China. As such, he highlighted a lot of career goals, what he looks for in an employee and keys to being an ex-pat in China.

I really liked the perspective he had on career path. He said, “Whatever is in front of you do well, give the best you can, and never do anything that will take away choices from your future.”

He talked a lot about hiring based far more on experience and the feel of individuals than on what school a person has attended. He states that working in Asia means a more demanding work week for him, but that his wife has a lot of perks. She has her own driver, her own maid and a cook (who also grocery shops) so that she is able to be more involved with their children and the international schools (which he says are very expensive but usually paid for by the businesses in China and he feels those schools offer a higher quality education than those offered in America). He talked about the challenge of hiring Chinese (local) workers because once they were trained they are hard to retain as the new skills opens up a lot of opportunities for them with many companies. He also discussed a little bit the issue of piracy and employees stealing ideas. His feeling was similar to that of the people at BeiJing Benz in that piracy is helpful in the sense that it forces innovation. He seemed frustrated that piracy took place, but saw the upside in constantly having the pressure to perform or else someone will come and take your clients from you.

Last, but far from least, we talked a little about the church in China. The church is able to proselyte to any foreigners but are still not able to preach to native Chinese. The church is growing though and the government does allow Chinese citizens who are baptized abroad to hold church meetings and baptize their immediate family (this is progress since the last time I was here). However, the Chinese and the foreigners are still not able to meet together and must have separate branches and activities.

After our visit to Terex we went as a group to lunch where we had a hearty lunch. At lunch we celebrated the birthday of our director’s wife and had a singing performance from Dave Anderson, a student on the trip. Taking a trip with Dave is like taking part in a musical, he seemed to have a song for everything. His performance of Beijing, Beijing (to the tune of New York, New York) was a riot!

After lunch we made a visit to Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city. I really enjoy Tiananmen Square (day or night). They are currently doing a lot of work around the square (probably in prep for the Olympics) and the Maosaleum for example was not open.

On our way to the square, Jamie Morningstar and Sean Naef were approached by the typical street vendor selling watches from a little briefcase like box. They were able to buy the entire box from the vendor and had many fake (bad fakes at that) Rolex and Gucci watches to sell. It made for great fun!

While at Tiananmen Square, Regan accomplished one of my goals for the trip. I wanted to get a picture of the split pants that the Chinese people use to potty train their children. It is always so hard to explain to people the split pants concept, so I was hoping to catch a good photo. Sure enough, Regan got a great one at Tiananmen and fortunately, I don't think any of the people there noticed him scoping out the children's bottoms.

There is also a good deal of renovation going on within the Forbidden City. The Forbidden city is basically courtyard after courtyard after courtyard of amazing Chinese architecture and was the home of the Emperors up through about 1926. Only the Emperor, his concubines & wives or eunuchs were allowed in the Forbidden City. It really is a remarkable place to see.

When we got through the last courtyard, a student had brought a copy of and read the Chinese dedicatory prayer that was given just inside the rear exit of the city. Both times now that I have seen the Forbidden City I’ve been with groups on time constraints and both times I’ve wished for more time at the final courtyard where it is more of a garden feel. The trees back there are just stunning. Maybe next time I come I will have the time to enjoy the gardens more.

Apparently, not all the students were sick of shopping yet and so we visited the Pearl market. I was pretty well sick of shopping (especially barter style) but couldn’t veto the trip down and so along with the group I went. I was envious when I learned that one student had not made the bus from the Forbidden City. I think I would have preferred more time there as well.

After the market I finished up some laundry and packed for our Hong Kong trip. Then we played a few rounds of Rook with Dustin Olson and Todd Rhodes. Those are two guys I didn’t have a lot of association with throughout the program, but who were a lot of fun to spend time with on this trip. I am glad that I was able to get to know them better.