One day free in Beijing is never enough!

What can we do on a free day to Beijing? My number one choice is Beijing Yong He Palace. Buddhism is one of the most famous religion in Asia. Coming from Indian Buddhism, it was evolved by different understanding from different region of China. Tibetan Buddhism is different than the mainland China Buddhism.

Yong He Palace is currently a Tibetan Buddhism temple in the middle of the city. It used to be the palace of a government official who has some degree of relationship with the emperor in the ancient time. Later the Tibetan Buddhist monks entered the palace and redecorated it into a temple.

In the Yong He Palace, there was a Buddhism sculpture show. The sculptures are very different from the Chinese Buddhism sculptures. The facial designs, the facial expression and the gods that are presented by the belief are partially different. The major artistic difference is that the Tibetan Buddhism is that the gods are more scary, stronger in facial expression, at the same time, there are animal figures within them. There was a bird god figure, has the name similar to the famous Indonesian bird guardian – Garuda.

Buddhism art is a piece of art that  attracts even the non-believers. It shows the story, the teaching and the ideal.

Confucian and Family Values to Chinese

Today is the only free day we have in Beijing. I finally got chance to spend a little more time with my dad. We had lunch at his favorite restaurant. Then he took me to see my grandparents. It’s always feel good to come back home and to be with my family. I enjoy every moment of the gathering with my family. And I think it is a good time to talk about  value of family to Chinese a little bit.

More and more families are adapting to western culture by incorporating certain western values into their lifestyles while maintain core traditional Chinese beliefs that they believe are extremely important. Chinese parents nowadays are giving children more freedom, as opposed to strictly supervising children as ancient Chinese families did.  We are becoming more individualistic and less dependent on the family, again very different from the historical Chinese family.  While family members are becoming more individualistic, the Chinese family still retains the value that family is an important part of a person’s life.

In Confucian thought, family values, familial relationships, ancestor worship, and filial piety are the primary basis of the philosophical system, and these concepts are seen as virtues to be cultivated.

Filial piety is considered the first virtue in Chinese culture. While China has always had a diversity of religious beliefs, filial piety has been common to almost all of them; for example, Historian Hugh D. R. Baker calls respect for the family the only element common to almost all Chinese believers. These traditions were sometimes enforced by law; during parts of the Han Dynasty, for example, those who neglected ancestor worship could even be subject to corporal punishment.

The term “filial”, meaning “of a child”, denotes the respect and obedience that a child, originally a son, should show to his parents, especially to his father. This relationship was extended by analogy to a series of five relationships or five cardinal relationships (五倫 Wǔlún): 1.ruler and subject (君臣), 2.father and son (父子), 3.husband and wife (夫婦), 4.elder and younger brother (兄弟), 5.friend and friend (朋友)

Specific duties were prescribed to each of the participants in these sets of relationships. Such duties were also extended to the dead, where the living stood as sons to their deceased family. This led to the veneration of ancestors. In time, filial piety was also built into the Chinese legal system: a criminal would be punished more harshly if the culprit had committed the crime against a parent, while fathers exercised enormous power over their children. Much the same was true of other unequal relationships.

This theme consistently manifests itself in many aspects of Chinese culture even to this day, with extensive filial duties on the part of children toward parents and elders, and greater concern of parents toward their children than found in modern American or European cultures. (Family Value, Wikipedia)

Negotiations in China

Negotiations in China

            Visit to Guanghua School of Management at Peking University is one of my favorite visits so far. I had a chance to do a recruiter- employer negotiation exercise with a young Chinese student that doesn’t have any international or negotiation experience but definitely has a right mind set when it comes to negotiation and expending a pie that benefits both sides. What was really interesting to me is that he understood that I was using somewhat aggressive style in the negotiation and at some point told me “This should not be a competition.” Interestingly enough I didn’t even try to compete but I was repeating what was said or agreed upon to make sure I have all details correctly.  Cultural differences were definitely in play here. After the negotiation was done he wanted to analyze what was the best possible deal for each section and wouldn’t give up until we clearly analyzed them and reasons why we didn’t agree on the best alternative. He admitted that this was one of the most interesting exercises he had done and that he learned a lot. It was a learning experience for me as well.

            Negotiation didn’t stop at Peking University. I spent the rest of that day at the Silk Market where my negotiation skills were put to the test again as I was looking for custom made suits. “One world, one good deal” the sign said at the entrance of the Silk Market. The Silk Market is definitely an experience you shouldn’t miss in Beijing. There are hundreds and hundreds of merchants all shouting for your attention. Sometimes the noise becomes too much and you have to go outside to take a break.  I was so tired and after about 45 minutes of negotiation I decided to give a seller my last price, close the deal or walk away. Luckily she accepted it. All sellers speak English but I’ve heard many of them speaking Spanish and Russian too.

            My first reaction was amazement! Having followed news related to China, I know that copyright violation is a topic that regularly hits the headlines. The Chinese authorities claim they are fighting against copyright violation in order to defend trademarks. And yet in the middle of Beijing, next to the most important road in the city, there is a full block on which every commercial transaction seems to be copyright violation in one form or another!

Who Woke Up the Bear?

“Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world”. – Napoleon

Here is China, the second largest economy in the world. Not long ago, westerners saw China as the place where they could take advantage of the cheap labor and explore the lack of human rights to minimize their cost, consequently increasing their profits. As the years went by, the Chinese leaders and the people realized the potential of the country to become a global economic leader.

The speaker from CNNI mentioned the humbleness and the drive for success of the Chinese people. These characteristics were clear for me when I was walking around and “talking” to the Chinese locals. The speaker gave an example that really stood out for me. He said, “In an era where millions of people were let go from their jobs, these recent unemployed people were washing cars on the street or polishing shoes.” In our thinking, this means that China is patient to progress in baby steps to suddenly take control of the world.

The baby steps can be seen in the BOAO forum discussions, especially among the BRICS’ leaders. The BRICS, which accounts for 18% of the world’s total GDP, are creating multi-lateral strategies to fortify the relationships among these powerful emerging economies. The Chinese proposed a strategy to use other currency in trades among the BRICS than the US dollar. If the BRICS use their currency to engage trading among them, it will be a sign of the Chinese dominance in main decisions. And then, what is next? Maybe they want to impose Mandarin as a business language? I particularly think there is no chance we will be seeing this phenomenon in our lifetime. However, once China takes the lead as the largest and most stable country, they will try to impose their customs and beliefs in different countries around the world. This is just what we human beings are. The more we have; the more we want.

Another sign of the ability to become the world most influential economy came from the negotiation exercise we engaged with the Pequim University MBA students. We usually read how the Chinese are reserved, cautions, and not aggressive about negotiations. However, these students demonstrated an exceptional talent in negotiations. Some aggressive, and others not so much.

So, the question we are left with is: What is China’s next baby step?  Or maybe we should say BEAR step…

Where are we again?

Many times, we have been asked, and we have asked ourselves, what is China and what is Chinese?  Our preconceptions and expectations about this country have been refuted time and time again since we have arrived.  The China we have seen—Shanghai, Qingdao, and Beijing—has given us a view, completely different, than anything we could have and had imagined.  People everywhere speak English and while some of my classmates may get some strange looks because of their blond hair, I have yet to feel as an outsider.   The cities are very easy to navigate, by cab or by subway, and all the shop owners find a way to understand and sell you their products.

Bright lights and signs covered the street.  Voices shouting to us in English, were coming out of each bar, asking us to come in, telling us that it was Happy Hour and that their bar had the best specials in town.  Where were we?  I thought we were in China, but nothing in our surroundings gave any clue to that.

We tried to go “off the beaten path” and sat in an alley filled with outdoor tables.  Street vendors filled the street and while we were busy looking around guessing what kind of food they were actually offering, we were approached by several beggars who said “hello” in English and shook their money cups asking us for donations.  Where were we again?  In a side alleyway in Beijing or back in the US?

For our next stop, we decided to try a more traditional Chinese bar.  Even though the windows were covered in red neon Budweiser signs and we were greeted in English, we were the only non-Chinese people in the bar.  A punk-looking band entertained the crowd, belching out Chinese pop songs that the whole bar was singing along to.  Then, all of a sudden, the music changed and the song we were hearing was a country song about the great state of Louisiana and life in the South.  The lead singer was performing in perfect English and the table next to us was drinking a six-pack of Budweiser and a margarita.  For a second, again, we stopped and wondered—were we back in Georgia or were we still in Beijing?

What is Chinese and what is American?  Walking through the mall or on the street, signs and advertisements are in English.  American celebrities adorn advertisements on the side of buildings and a lot of products and stores are advertised as “Traditionally American”.  Iphone4’s are as easy to spot here as they are back home, and the fellow MBA students we met at Peking University were just as eager to use them as entertainment during class as any of our classmates.  While from our short time here, I cannot make this statement with complete certainty, it does seem that the traditional Chinese culture is changing and embracing Western values.