LucaCHEVALIER ToursCampus

MEXIZhejiangWanliUniversity

CHINA

September4th2015–January24th2016

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AcknowledgementsIwouldliketoexpressmyappreciationtoMrs.PennyPanthecoordinatorforforeignstudents

inZhejiangUniversitywhohelpedmealotwithadministrativemattersthroughoutmystayon

WanliCampus.

IwishtoacknowledgethehelpprovidedbyAnthonyTahmasbimyflatmateduringthis

semester.IappreciatedhiswillingnesstogivehistimesogenerouslywheneverIneededit.

IalsoextendmythankstoAdrianJaworskyandAdrianSibikmytwoPolishneighbourswho

madethisadventurememorable.

IwouldliketooffermyspecialthankstoHuZhouandLeeDongnanmytwoChinesefriendsfor

alltheirassistance.Theygavetomystayanotherdimensionsharingtheircultureand

traditions.

Finally,mythanksgotomyschool,theESCEMandtoallthepeoplewhomadethisexchange

possible!

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Summary1. Introduction:.......................................4

2. Analysisofmyexperience...................6Integration.........................................................6Adaptation.........................................................9Activitiescarriedout........................................11

3. IfIhadtoredoit................................13

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1. Introduction:WhenIwasyounger,astudentinHighschoolmygoalwastoenterabusinessschoolinordertolearnthebasicsofbusinessandmanagement.Then,myplansweretotraveltoNorth

AmericabecauseIhadthispositiveimageoftheAmericandreamanditsopportunities.

Furthermore,IknewthatEnglishwasthekeylanguageforbusiness.That’swhyduringmyfirst

yearattheESCEMIdidaninternshipinToronto.Igotareallyinterestingexperiencethere,

learntquitealotandimprovedmyEnglishskills.Nevertheless,Iwasdisappointedbythe

culturalenvironmentthereandIfeltthattheAmericandreamwasover,orifnotdead,

declining.Iabsolutelydon’tmeanthatIregretthisexperiencebecauseIneededtoliveitto

realizethatourworldischangingandthatIshouldstarttothinkfurther.

FormythirdyearIwantedtodoanexchangewithapartneruniversity.Formeitwasan

amazingopportunitytoexperiencestudyingabroad.Ononehand,itwasachancetowitness

howeducationisorganizedinaforeigncountryandontheotherhandtoexploreanew

countrybeforedoingmy6-monthinternship.Thissolutiongavemetheopportunitytolivein3

differentcountrieswithin3years!Moreover,Ithoughtthatstudyinginapartneruniversitywas

better,becauseatleastIwassuretomeetinternationalstudentsandliveinaschoolstructure.

Furthermore,itwasgoingtoletmetimetothinkandchoosetherightinternshipintheright

place.

SincethebeginningofmysecondyearatESCEMIknewthatIwantedtogotoAsia.I

consideredthispartoftheworldasareallyinterestingculturalexperienceandatthesame

timeahugegrowingupplacefordoingbusiness.During2015,Chinabecametheleadingworld

power,that’showIstartedthinking:whynotgoingtoChina?ThenIlearntthattheESCEMgot

apartnershipprogramwithaschoolinNingbo.Istarteddoingresearchaboutthecityandsaw

thatitwasthesecondbiggestportinChinaandoneofthewealthiestcityofthecountry.I

didn’tevenknowthiscitybeforeanditpuzzledme.Eventually,Ispoketothestudentswho

previouslystudiedthere.IgotonlyamazingfeedbacksabouttheexchangeingeneralandI

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especiallyappreciatedthefactthatmostofthemfoundaninternshipthere.ThatishowI

decidedtochooseWanliZheijiangUniversityasmyfirstchoiceforasemesterabroad.

Myobjectivesweremostlyexploringanewpartoftheworld,learninghowthestudentsofthe

leadingworldpowercountrywerestudyingbusiness,meetinginternationalstudentsinorder

toimprovemyEnglishandmakecontactsallaroundtheworld,andwhynotfindingan

internshipinAsia!

IhadafewpreconceivednotionsaboutChinaandChinesepeopleingeneral.Asalotofpeople

IthoughtthatChinawasadirtycountry,verypolluted,withpeoplebarelyinformedofwhat

wasgoingonabroad.Someofthoseclichésweretrue,someofthemwerepartlytrue,and

somethemwereahundredpercentwrong!Atthesametime,IknewthatIwasgoingto

experienceareallydifferentcountryandculturebutwhatIreallylivedtherewentbeyondmy

expectations.

TodayIcaneasilysaythatallmyobjectivesandexpectationshavebeenmorethanreachedand

thatiswhatIamgoingtodevelopthroughthispaper!

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2. AnalysisofmyexperienceIntegration

IarrivedattheNingboairportonSeptember4th.PennyPan,thecoordinatorforexchange

studentsonWanliZheijiangcampus,wastheretogreetme.Shepickedmeupandtookme

directlytotheuniversity.Then,sheshowedmethedormitorythatwasgoingtobemynew

homeforthenextsixmonths.SheintroducedmetoAyi,afriendlyolderwomanwhoisin

chargeofthedormitory.Everythingwentsmoothlyandfastatthesametime.Ihadbeenin

Chinaforlessthan30minutesandIalreadywasonmycampus,hadthekeystomyroomandI

endedupalonewithoutanyinformation!BackthenIhavetoadmitIwasalittlechockedbythe

stateoftheapartmentandthedormingeneral.Chinesestandardsarereallydifferentfrom

Frenchones.Butontheotherhand,everybodywasefficient,friendlyandIalreadyhadmyown

placetolive.Isoonrealizedthatthereareveryfewinternationalstudentslivingthere.

Nevertheless,onthefollowingdayImetMikael.HewasastudentfromIndonesiaandhegave

meatouroftheWanlicampusonhise-bike(mostpopularwaytomoveinChina,anelectric

scooter).

ZheijiangWanlicampusisaveryniceandpleasantplacetolive.Everythingisconvenientfor

studentsexceptthatnobodyspeaksEnglish!Thecampusislikealittlecitywhere20000

studentslivetogether.Barelya100areforeigners.Thereareamazinggroundstoplayevery

sportsyouwant(basketball,soccer,badminton,tennisetc.).Morethanahundredsmall

restaurantsareavailabletoeatgreatcheapChinesefood.Thereisabeautifullibrary

(attachment1),anamazingairgarden(attachment2)andmanyeventsforstudentsbut

nothinginEnglish.Forexample,attheverybeginningallmymealswererandomlychosen

becauseeverythingwaswritteninChinesecharacters...But,eventhoughitwashardatfirst,I

mustsaythatIreallyenjoyedbeingonagenuineChinesecampus.AtleastIcouldfeelthe

authenticatmosphereoflivingasaChinesestudent.Moreover,Isoonmetmynewflatmate.

HewasaforeignstudentfromIran.HehadbeenlivinginChinaforalongtime,spokeChinese

andhelpedmealot.

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Thenourfirstclassesstarted.MostofthemwereChineseclassesandIquicklyrealizedthat

languagewasgoingtobethekeytomyintegration.IneededtohaveChinesebasistomakemy

dailylifeeasier!OnlyforeignstudentsattendedmyChineseclassesandthat’showImetmost

ofthem.Myintegrationwenton.Nevertheless,withboththedifficultyoftheChineselanguage

andtheratherpoorlevelofEnglishofourteachers,thingsbecameverydifficult.Itwasbarely

impossibletocommunicatewiththeminEnglishwhichledtomanybadandfunnysituations…

MyflatmateandhisChineseskillshelpedmetocarryon!

MyothersclasseswereallaboutBusiness.Inthoseclasseswewereatthemost5foreigners

perclassamong30Chinesestudents.However,allofourprofessorsspokequitegoodEnglish

andthathelpedusalotforourintegration.Allthepresentations,essaysandpaperswehadto

turninwerethesameasChinesestudents.ButourChineseteachersaskedustocomparewith

whatweknewinourowncountry.However,Irealizedthatthereisahugedifferencebetween

FranceandChinaasfarastheclassroomcultureandlearningcultureisconcerned.Itstruckme

thatintheWesterneducation,thestressisputoncommunicationandinteraction.Wespeak,

discuss,givepersonalopinionswhereasinChinathisiscompletelydifferent.Thestudent’srole

istositinclass,listencarefully,memorizeandregurgitateundertheauthorityoftheteacher.

Thereisnocriticalthinkingexpressed.Younevergiveopinionordisagreewithyourteacher.It

isacultureofcollectivity.Forexample,Inoticedthatitwassohardtogetapersonaladvice

fromChinesepeopleevenonsubjectssuchasgoodrestaurantsorwheretogoforavisit.They

haveahardtimeexpressingpersonalopinions.Justofftherecord,thereisnoreallyspecific

wordstosay“yes”or“no”inChinesewhatwasformeincredible!

Inordertoimproveourintegration,alltheforeignstudentsdecidedtoorganizean

internationaldayoncampus(Attachment3).Weallpreparedaboothrepresentingthe

traditionalaspectsofourcountry(food,music,pictures,informationetc.).Chinesestudentare

veryshybutsomeofthemcame,mostlystudentsinforeignlanguages.Inthisinformalcontext,

notunderthesupervisionoftheteacherIdiscovereditwasmucheasiertosharewithChinese

students.Theyevenbecametalkativeandveryeagertoknowusbetter.ThatdayIevenmet

twoChinesestudentswhobecamemyfriends.Infact,HuZhouandLeeDongnanweretwo

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ChinesestudentsinEnglishMajorandthat’showIstartedtodoactivitiesoutofthecampus

withthem.

ThusIhadtheopportunitytodothingsthatIcouldn’tdobymyselfbecauseofthelanguage

barrier.Forexample,IexperiencedChinesemedicinewithLee.Hetookmetoatraditional

doctorwhobalancedmyenergieswithmassagesandplants.Itwasaninterestingexperience

thatwouldneverhavebeenpossiblewithoutknowinglocalpeople.

HuZhou,taughtmehowtousetheChineseinternetwhatisactuallynotthateasy.It’s

importanttoknowthatinChinanothingworkswithouralphabet.Moreover,websitessuchas

Google,Wikipedia,YouTubeorGoogleMapareallforbiddenandblockedbytheChinese

government.However,theirinternetisasefficientasourswheneveryouknowhowtouseit

withChinesecharacters.HuinstalledmeaChinesekeyboardonmyphoneandexplainedme

howtouseChinesemaps.Ithelpedmealottotravelandexplorethecity.ButthebestthatI

discoveredinChinaistheire-businesswebsite:TaoBao.Onthiswebsiteyoucanorder

everythingyoucanimagineanditrepresentsanimportantpartofChineseconsumption.Thatis

alsowhatmotivatedmyinterestfortheChinesee-businesswhichevenbecamethesubjectof

my“Memor’A”.

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Adaptation

When I was in France thinking about my adaptation to Chinese culture I thought that I was going

to deal with something totally different. I didn’t have too many preconceived ideas about the

country, but whenever I told my friends I was going to study in China everybody said: Chinese

people are dirty and rude. Everybody thought that they don’t care about foreigners, that it will be

crowed everywhere and that the food will be very weird.

As far as the food is concerned, I must admit that I saw very strange things (Attachment 4) but

most of the time the food was amazing. Moreover, I really saw my eating habits change: no more

processed food and dairy products, a lot of vegetables and soups. Of course I had to learn how to

use chopsticks and eat out of a bowl. I even lost weight whereas I was eating everyday in

different restaurants. I can definitely say that Chinese food is healthy. I also had to adapt to the

habit of drinking tea. Because in China tap water is not drinking water, we have to boil it and it

often implies making tea.

Of course I had to adapt to different rules in hygiene. People are spitting in the streets and it was

something difficult to adapt to, even if only old people are doing it nowadays.

But the most surprising aspect was the kindness and friendliness of all the people I met in

Ningbo. People were always very helpful. For example, if I had to ask my way, people could

even call one of their friend who spoke English in order to help me. In a restaurant, if the waiter

could not speak English, he could even take me to the kitchen to make sure that I ordered what I

wanted. Very often I’ve been invited for a cup of tea or even a meal by people I just met on the

street! However, I’m aware that in more touristic places in China things can be slightly different.

Ningbo is not a touristic place therefore people are always happy to meet foreigners.

On my side, I did everything I could to adapt to my new environment. Unlike other foreigners I

met, I really decided to live as a real Chinese student for the semester and I think that’s why my

adaptation went so well. First, I bought a bicycle. The campus and the city are so spread out that

it proved to be very convenient. Most of Chinese people are riding a bicycle to move around or

even using electric bikes. I also tried to stay away as much as I could from other French people.

In fact, I was the only exchange student from ESCEM Tours to go to China. That’s why I

decided to make the most of this trip and improve my English staying with exchange students

from all around the world. I had to face a twofold adaptation: being a foreign student in a multi

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cultural environment and adapting to the Chinese way of life. All the foreign students were

accommodated in the same dormitory. Thus I improved my English a lot staying with people

from Canada, USA, England and even Poland, Iran, Sweden, Ghana, Korea, Japan etc. English

was our common language.

But the biggest adjustment I had to make was learning Chinese. This was a real challenge. First

of all, I started to learn a couple of sentences and words just to survive! I learnt how to order

food, water, the name of the different dishes, and how to ask for direction. In fact, the city is so

big that you have to use taxis to move around. Moreover, it is very cheap and convenient in

Ningbo. Communicating with taxi drivers was the first issue and I had to learn very quickly

simple things such as being back home! I realized that showing them the written address was

useless because they can not read our alphabet. That’s how I started to learn how to draw their

signs or write them on my phone, at least simple words such as the name of my university, the

train station or different usual places I used to go to. But, it wasn’t sufficient! Actually some cab

drivers don’t even know how to read their own language! I finally found how to manage it,

downloading their own Chinese map application showing which road to take. It is a quite simple

situation but it shows how different and hard it can be to adapt to China!

An other important point was learning how to count. Again, I had to learn how to say the figures

and the corresponding gestures. In fact, Chinese people don’t use the same hand gestures than us

to illustrate figures! For example, making a cross with your two indexes means 10. Knowing

figures is very important in China because of bargaining. Whenever you want to buy something

in a market or try to get interested in business here it is required to master those codes!

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Activitiescarriedout

Before going to China I didn’t really know which kind of activities I was going to do. I even was

a little worried at first, because the information I had were not very clear. Even the website of the

University was not written in English. I didn’t know what to expect. Even the planning of the

classes was rescheduled at the last minute. Penny Pan, the coordinator for foreign students just

gave me very few details by mail before my departure. Arriving at Wanli Campus was a very

good an unexpected surprise! The campus facilities for students were very modern. The

environment was very pleasant with a lot of parks, trees and even a lake. There were a lot of

various recreational activities such as a fitness park, many tennis courts, table tennis clubs and

soccer fields that were located just across my dormitory (Attachment 5). All the athletic activities

were for free. I chose to integrate the University soccer team. I trained twice a week and took

part in a couple of games against other universities such as the Ningbo campus of the university

of Nottingham. It allowed me to meet more foreign students from other campuses. I was amazed

by the professional aspect of the university teams and the high budgets allotted to sports. For

example, there was a special application for the university championship listing all the results,

the best players etc. Once, a game was even broadcasted on Ningbo local TV.

Whenever it comes to extra scholar activities it was even better! Our professors were very

comprehensive. They were aware that China is an amazing and huge country that and that we

had to discover it. Therefore, they allowed us to take days off to travel. They even allowed

Chinese students to come along in order to help us! However, we had to do reports about our

trips. I really appreciated that because it was a chance for me to travel, have fun and learn at the

same time!

That is how I visited several cites such as : Beijing (Pékin), Shanghai, Yiwu, Hangzhou,

Zhoushan and Shengzhou. All those places were amazing. In Beijing I walked on the Great Wall,

visited the Forbidden City (Attachment 7), I strolled on the Bund in Shanghai (Attachment 8)

and explored some amazing Buddhist temples in Shengzhou (Attachment 9).

But the trips that influenced me the most were Yiwu and Hangzhou. Yiwu is a city hosting the

biggest market in the world! 1 000 000 square meters are dedicated to trade. You can find every

manufactured product made in China. I was really impressed by this visit and I really saw what

“Made in China” meant. I went there twice because I couldn’t stop wondering what I could

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export abroad myself. That is the first point which really impacted my future professional

project.

The second one is when I went to Hangzhou. This city is the capital of the Zheijiang province. It

is the city where one of the biggest Chinese company dedicated to e-business is located. This

company named Alibaba is the Chinese equivalent for eBay or Amazon. The whole city is into e-

business and all the innovations in this field started there. That is how I started to get interested

into Alibaba and e-business in China in general. These trips directly influenced my personal

projects. That is how I made the decision to choose Alibaba and the e-business as the subject of

my “Memor’A”.

Furthermore, this visit at Yiwu acted as a trigger for my future professional projects as well. It

made me understand what I really wanted to do later. Following with this project, I found an

internship in a trading company in Ningbo which works with suppliers based in Yiwu.

Another unexpected experience was to be a teacher. As a student and if you are teaching your

own language as a part time job, you can legally teach in China. I started to do it for fun and to

try something new. But it actually became something very interesting. My students were older

than me and already working for some big companies. One of them was the official buyer for

Bricorama in China. She already spoke English and French quite well. I was the only native

speaker in the school. My missions were to introduce my students to the French culture and teach

them the right accent. This activity allowed me to expand my circle ofacquaintances out of

campus. The people I met there were already professionals and communicating with them was

easier thanks to their language skills. I also was happy to share with them elements of my culture

such as: music, food habits, and books.

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3. IfIhadtoredoitTobehonest,thiswholeexperiencewasveryrewardingandthereisnothingmajorIwould

changeifIhadtoredoit.IreallydideverythingIcouldtotakeadvantageofthisexchangeand

theresultwentbeyondmyexpectations.Thisexchangewasveryinspiringformypersonaland

professionalprojects.BeforegoingtoChinaIhadsomequestioningsaboutmyplanssuchasmy

internshipormymemoir.TodayIfeelluckyandsomehowmoreconfidentaboutmyfuture

thankstothisexchange.Moreover,IhadtheopportunitytodoeverythingIplannedandeven

more.Icouldn’texpecttodothatmanyactivitiesandtravels!Thisexperiencereallybroadened

myhorizons.Ididn’tevenknowcitiessuchasYiwuandHangzhoubeforewhiletheyaretodaya

significantpartofmyprofessionalandpersonalplan!

Nevertheless,ifIreallyhadtopinpointsomethingsthatIwouldchangeIwouldsaythatit

wouldhavebeenbettertolearnaboutChineseculturebeforegoingthere.Iwouldevensay

thattakingChineseclassesbeforehandinordertomasterthebasiswouldhavebeenvery

useful.ChineselanguageisextremelydifficultandifIhadtorenewthisexperienceIwouldput

muchmoreworkonit!Furthermore,Chinesepeopleareincrediblyreceptivetoforeigners

tryingtolearntheirlanguage.NotmasteringtheMandarinisdefinitelythepointwhichslowed

downmyexperience!

AnotherdetailthatIcouldimproveisgettingmoreinformationaboutmyaccommodation.I

mustadmitthatmydormitorywasnotverywelcomingandevenalittlebitrundown.Infact,I

didn’taskenoughinformationaboutwhatIwasgoingtoneed,neithertoPennynortothe

previousstudents.GettingthereIrealizedthatIhadtobuysheets,blanketsandeverythingto

cleanupmyplace.EvenifIdothinkthatmyaccommodationwasthenegativepointofmytripI

donotregrettohavestayedtherebecauseithelpedmealottointegrateoncampusandmeet

foreignstudents.AnotherpointthatIwoulddodifferentlyistobuyabicyclerightfromthe

start.Itprovedtobeveryconvenientandallowedmetoexploresomemoreplacesnearbymy

campus.Unfortunately,Iboughtmybicycleabittoolatewhentheweatherbecamecolderand

rainy.

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Itwouldalsohavebeenagoodideatotakeapreventivemedicaltreatmenttoadaptquickerto

thedrasticchangeinfoodhabits.Ifeltsometimessickatheverybeginningbecauseofthe

food.IlearntlaterthatsomeforeignerstookaprobiotictreatmentbeforegoingtoChinato

preventsickness.

Eventually,thelastthingthatIwoulddodifferentlyistravelingduringtheChineseNational

Day.OnOctober1st,ChineseenjoyaweeklongnationalholidayknownastheGoldenWeek.

Sincethereisonlyoneweekoffduringthesemester,ItookthisopportunitytovisitHangzhou.

Thiscityisverytouristicandthisveryweekitwasjusttoocrowdedeverywhere.Ilearntlater

thattheGoldenWeekisthebiggestfortourisminChinaandeventhebiggestpopulation

movementintheworldinoneweek.OnanotherhanditwasmyonlyofficialvacationandI

couldn’timaginenottravellingjustbecauseofcrowds.Itwasevenfunnytoseeandrealizethat

Chinahas1.4billionpeople!

ButallthingsconsideredIwoulddescribethisexperienceasveryformative.Ienjoyedevery

momentofitwithoutanyhomesickness.Idevelopedmyindependenceandmaturity.Imet

amazingpeopleandonahumanpointofviewitwasveryfulfilling!IamalsogladIimproved

myEnglishskillsandfoundaninternshipthere.Iamlookingforwardtogoingbacknext

semester.MynextchallengewouldbetolearnMandarinandmaybebeingabletoworkwith

Chinesecompanieslater!

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SummaryoftheattachmentsAttachment1:ZhejiangWanliLibraryandmyflatmateAnthony 16

Attachment2:Wanlicampus’Airgardenbynight 17

Attachment3:InternationalDayonWanliCampus 18

Attachment4:InsectmarketinBeijing 19

Attachment5:Viewonthegroundsfrommydormitory 20

Attachment6:OntheGreatWallinBeijing 21

Attachment7:ForbiddencityinBeijing 22

Attachment8:TheBundinShanghai 23

Attachment9:BuddhisttempleinShengzhou 24

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Attachment1ZhejiangWanliLibraryandmyflatmateAnthony

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Attachement2Wanlicampus’Airgardenbynight

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Attachment3InternationalDayonWanliCampus

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Attachment4InsectmarketinBeijing

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Attachment5Viewonthegroundsfrommydormitory

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Attachment6OntheGreatWallinBeijing

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Attachment7ForbiddencityinBeijing

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Attachment8TheBundinShanghai

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Attachment9BuddhisttempleinShengzhou