Students from UCLan’s School of Business immersed themselves in the wonders of Chinese culture and the modern Chinese education system whilst visiting the Guizhou University in Guiyang and the Zunyi Tsinghua High School in Zunyi, both establishments are located within the Guizhou Province in China.
Six undergraduates, who study in UCLan’s Division of Communication, Marketing and Public Relations, joined Senior Lecturer Peter Ashfield for a ten-day visit to Guizhou Province in China. With a population of over 35 million it was going to be a new experience. The ‘Journey to the East’ trip was supported by the International Travel Bursary. This is the forth ‘Journey to the East’ trip undertaken by UCLan and already the planning for J2E5 in 2018 is underway. During this year’s trip UCLan students joined up with Guizhou University students and engaged in cultural, educational and business activities. A Chinese paper cutting class, language classes and visiting a museum were all highlights of the trip. In addition, different Chinese martial arts were explored and a number of formal traditional Chinese lunches and dinners were enjoyed and the students were fascinated with Chinese eating etiquette. The students also visited the Zunyi Tsinghua secondary school in Zunyi City which is a feeder school for the Guizhou University and met young students and shared classes and experiences of life in the UK. Students also visited the Zunyi Conference building which was where a meeting of the Communist Party of China in January 1935 during the Long March took place, considered by many to be the point of creation for modern China: the museum visit was a very humbling experience. To round things off, the students also delivered an impromptu renditioning of Justin Beber’s hit song ‘Baby’ in front of a large audience of honoured guests to finish off an exhilarating and learned week. The students were selected as part of a School of Business and School of Management initiative orchestrated by Mohamed Parker. Potential students completed an application form and were then invited for an interview. In total 34 students from across both Schools were chosen of which six were selected to visit Guizhou and the remaining students visited other Chinese Universities. The students were selected based on their commitment to make a positive contribution to the trip whilst also making a commitment to developing their understanding and learning of Chinese business and culture. The six students included: Yashin Comrie, Emily Harris, Harriet Hartley, Jimmy Hoang, Nathan Meall and Navin Persaud.
A J2E student sums up the experience:
For more information contact Peter Ashfield, Senior Lecturer in Business and Marketing, School of Business, UCLan PAshfield@uclan.ac.uk Tel: 01772 894667
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