After the third session, I realized there is a lot more to think of when traveling for a business reason. Today, we all got assigned our volunteer groups and there are many different topics that each of our going to present on in the coming weeks. Our group got assigned current events. At first, I wasn’t too excited about this topic because I am not super in touch with the news and didn’t rank this topic too high. However, after thinking about it more, I think this topic is actually really good for me to know before I go to China and it would give me the opportunity to learn something new. Meeting with our groups, I realized I didn’t really know nearly as much as they did about China. Immediately, they started talking about the Chinese Trade Wars and the Muslim attacks. I had heard of all these events, but it was very interesting to think about how much both these events are affecting businesses in China but also in the US. To think such a big news event like the Trade Wars is between the location we reside in and the location we visit. Another thing I learned about when meeting with my group was how much control the government has over social media. The Chinese Dictator found light that people were making memes of him with Winnie to Pooh so he banned all memes or references related to Winnie the Pooh. That is an insane amount of power that the government has, but it is also interesting that they can control the way people treat them and withhold respect without it being warranted.
Hoeft T&M Class 24: China Immersion 