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Location Date Asia 
1425859200 North America 1422489600 - China
- Beijing
My first day in China was not how I expected; the environment, people, food, and atmosphere were all different that the stereotype image I had of China.
Although it was a struggle to get up the stairs, visiting the Great Wall of China was the highlight of my day. Learning about how it was built and the dynasties was interesting, and it made it even more valuable after I saw the wall itself. The walk between 6 renovated watchtowers literally put me in silence thinking it seems impossible for the wall to be built the way it was. The slide down was a whole other experience that I luckily caught on video, yay.
Although I’m not big with the Olympics, visiting the Olympic village was interesting to compare China’s historical places to the modern architecture. One thing I noticed in Beijing is that old and new buildings are right next to each other, unlike the US where it all depends on the location in the city.
Finally, the meals we had were delicious! I though I’d end up eating white rice and noodles, but the vegetarian variety they offered was more than expected. My favourite dish for lunch was the eggplant, and for dinner was the flower sweet potato’s.
Looking forward to the next few days and what China has to offer.
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Yasmeen On our second day, we met with the COO of IBM China, and two managers from the US-China Business Council. The topics that were brought up in both meetings were related, emphasizing the importance of data security in China after the Snowden leak. James Boyken, COO IBM China, introduced China’s advancement over the years, showing laws and the effects it had over the years. Connecting China’s law history with IBM work, he spoke about the ‘He Ga Ji’ urbanization program and where China is at now. He also spoke about the problems companies like IBM in China face due to the fact that they are US companies. Nick Marro and Jake Luband from the USCBC spoke about the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) that China and the US are working on, but is still affected by the issue of Cyber security. They listed out the main problems that US companies face in China, which focused on trade secret protection. Luband also spoke about how the media plays a role in China, with an example (can’t remember the topic) that in the US news media played with words resulting in a celebration in the US, but it did not mention that US IT companies in China were being cut out. We were able to get an interview with James Boyken for our class project, and although short was very useful. Many of what he mentioned in his presentation was related to our project, so we only had to ask for more detailed questions. Finally, we went to Silk St. and one of the last Beijing old market streets where we got to experience bargaining for souvenirs and fake products.