[Note: Read a more chronological account of Day 16 on calpolymbatrip.com]

Our trip was beginning to wind to a close — day 16 would be our last day of business trips, and our second to last day in China. Before the day closed, we would visit the Summer Palace, Tsinghua University, Sun Microsystems, and the English Corner at Renmin University.

The final two destinations for the day stick out in my mind as two of the more memorable and important experiences of the whole trip. Sun Microsystems at first appeared to be just another company visit where we would receive a host of information about the company and its strategy and operations in China. The meeting turned out, however, to be an incredibly frank and candid discussion (well, it followed a short info session…).

Mr. Wang, VP of Software Global Engineering (Greater China), led the presentation and Q & A session, and will remain in my mind as one of the more forthright executives I have had the pleasure of interacting with. If you happen to chance by this post, Mr. Wang, Thank You again for your incredible generosity, in both the time you spent with us, and the honesty and openness your answers contained. Mr. Wang handled and responded to some pretty tough questions with excellent advice and wisdom — providing a valuable and fitting end to our score of business visits (the calpolymba.com link at the beginning of this post provides a great overview of the session with Mr. Wang).

My experience at English Corner was phenomenal, which was the sentiment shared by all of my trip-mates as well (er, that it was phenomenal for them as well, not just for me…). For the uninitiated, English Corner is a regular gathering at universities all throughout China. Students and locals get together to practice their English and socialize.

I was initially a bit hesitant about the experience, as a pack of 30 or so MBAs from California might rub some of the regulars the wrong way. Evidently our presence there was welcome as nearly everyone from our group could be seen surrounded by throngs of people — students and locals — within 5-10 minutes of our arrival.

I spent much of the first 15 minutes trying to take photographs but was constantly pulled into conversations. At first the questions were primarily conversational covering topics such as the weather or from where I came. After a while, though, the conversations started to turn a bit more meaty, due to an effort by the students and professionals I was talking to as much as my own. We talked about politics, religion, life in the US, life in China, their stereotypes about the US and Americans and much more (the US stereotype conversation was unsolicited, very much appreciated, and quite eye-opening for me).

I noticed that after a while I found myself talking to the same 4 or 5 individuals, but there seemed to be a fluctuating crowd of another 5-10 people listening in at any given moment. During one of the more casual points of the conversation, I embarrassed myself (but hopefully did not offend anyone) when the conversation turned to film. I asked if anyone was familiar with the work of the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, who is one of my favorite directors. None of them had heard of Kurosawa, though a few indicated that they had heard of a few of the films that I rattled off which he directed. Reciprocating, they quickly asked if I had heard of any of their favorite Chinese directors. Unfortunately, none of them sounded familiar, and I even confused one with a Korean director that I like. Looking back it was a casual and fun conversation about film and personal tastes, but taken into context (Japanese/Chinese relations, the political and cultural environment of Beijing, my naiveness about some of the things they were fairly proud of, etc.) I regret having not exercised greater sensitivity.

The conversation quickly moved on, and we were able to touch on a number of more serious topics such as the Cultural Revolution (Tibet came up during that portion for about 45 seconds but then never resurfaced), the current economic climate, and how they perceived American’s freedom (this was mostly centered on my ability to “effortlessly” travel, as one of my new friends put it). The emotional high I had when heading back to the bus, and well into the evening, was unforgettable. Similarly, the mass of questions I have about the experience as well as what life is really like for the individuals I got to know that evening, will gnaw at me for a while.

*(Here is the link to Gary’s post that I referenced in the images above.)

As an interesting side note, I had considered giving out my email or website to a few of the individuals I met at English Corner. I realized, though, that it would be pointless for me to do so since my website was blocked in every city that I visited. It was a strange hiccup that made the experience all the more surreal. I had this sense the whole time that the conversation could shift dangerously into controversial territory and government censors would swoop in from all sides and slap a gag on me and put ear plugs in the ears of the individuals I was conversing with. I was unsure as to whether I was being paranoid, or if the students and citizens I was talking to are even aware of the suppression of information, or if they did know, and were desperately trying to glean information from us by the most subtle methods possible. At times, internally, I wanted to start screaming or making a scene about some politically taboo subject, just to see if my paranoia was valid. I have looked back at the situation many times since my return, and still feel unsettled and unreconciled about this subject.

TAGS: China | MBA | Cal Poly | Beijing | Sun Microsystems | English Corner | Freedom

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