Background
Nepal
has long standing and cordial relation with China. If we go back to history it
can be traced the Nepal-Tibet relation from the mid of 7th Century
and a special relation with china at the time of Yuan Dynasty. Many stories and
events can be read about frequent visit of many saints, philosophers and
explorers as well as people to people relation between two historically
sovereign countries even before the 7th century. Buddhism was
expanded long back throughout the Asia from the land of Nepal. Araniko (also
called ‘Anige’ or ‘Aniko’), a great architect from Nepal brought the
trans-Himalayan artistic culture to influence the chinese art at the time Yuan
Dynasty. He was figured out as one of the people’s level representative and
important figure to establish relation between China and Nepal. He built the
historic landmarks in china, i.e., “White Stupa” in Beijing and “Golden Stupa”
in Tibet.
Besides
all of these memorable formal and informal relations, Nepal had established a
new, formal and continual diplomatic relation with People’s Republic of China
on 1955. Nepal though having so long historic relation and sharing more than
1200 kilometers long border with its northern neighbor, it is surprising to me
that most of our common people are unaware of our culture, tradition and
emotion. As I know, many of our common people are unknown of many
things about the grown up and basic values of so closely related and bordered
neighbors. We have a lot of stereotypes about china like Chinese are
more introvert, unfriendly, workaholic, don’t like and share with foreigners,
very strict etc.
For
me, though I have visited this beautiful and mysterious country few times
before, it’s always been a part of my study and curiosity. Apart from my
previous short visits which were mostly official, I find a lot of facts and
figures and have good opportunity to interact and explore more about common
Chinese people, their feelings and values during my course of MBA study at
South China University of Technology. Throughout the whole essay, I will share
my natural feelings on the base of what I have perceived during my adaptation
process and what I have experienced and gathered from my visit of different
places inside china. Throughout this essay, I am following introvert
perspective rather that extrovert and trying to explore the realities above the
stereotype that I had before as well as the similarities and differences with our culture.
The
last week of July, 2016 was the time of much excitement and full of happiness
to me when I first heard about my selection to study high level MBA program
under Youth of Excellence Scheme (YES) china at South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou. As I had already spent my ten years of professional life
in telecommunication field, MBA was highly awaited degree for me before my selection
in China. At those days I used to think that MBA is good academic degree to
enhance my professional and managerial skill and to understand the modern
corporate world. Anyone could easily guess the level of happiness of a person
wining such a highly competitive scholarship who had a high perception and deep
interest on MBA degree. Anyway my happiness was in apex and my excitement was
much more than my previous visit to china. From the last week of July to last
week of August, I spent my most of days preparing for china. After handing over
my job in office, arranging everything in home and preparing many things for
china, I flied to this mysterious country with a lot of expectation and high
excitation on 27th of August 2016 for one year.
First
Day:
(Full
of curiosity and excitement)
I
arrived in Guangzhou on morning of 28 august 2016. The clear dewy morning and
pleasing breeze attracted me a lot and added unexplainable emotion inside me.
As soon as I landed, I got a VIP treatment and sweet hospitality by the airport
staffs which was my first and memorable impression about china. As I finished
my job in immigration and drove out, I was amazed by clean and wide roads, tall
buildings, highly planned streets and parks and the Chinese faces seen around my
way. I felt that I was in entirely different part of world. Shortly, I reached
Saibao Hotel located at the west corner of North campus of SCUT and received a
warm welcome by beautiful lady at the hotel reception. After finished my
passport and visa checking, she assigned room number 608 to be shared between
me and my friend Jagrit Acharya, a young full of positive attitude and highly
motivated guy as my roommate throughout my study at SCUT. After that, we were almost alone for next few
hours. There was no phone call, there was no information where to take
breakfast, there was nobody to guide us what to do next. As I was on the flight
for whole last night, I was really hungry and tired. My excitement was
started to downturn and I started to remember my home and family in Nepal.
Almost
four hours later, there was a knock at our door. As I opened the door, there
was beautiful lady standing outside, we introduced each other, her name was
“Hera”. I knew that she was school representative and coming to take us to
school of International Education (SIE). In no time, we got ready and followed
her. This was again a happy moment after few hours of loneliness. We went to
SIE office, got introduced with Mr. Rocco, Mr. Oceansea, Ms. Fang, Ms. Gui and
others and got our admission done. Hera took us along with Mongolian friends
for lunch at a café nearby. It was so delicious. After few minutes of rest in
SIE, she took us to ICBC bank in Wushan and got our bank account opened. The
things like wide and open areas, beautiful lakes, gardens, buildings, many
Chinese and abroad students roaming all around the university drew my attention
and I was really fascinated. Proudly, I thought that I will spend a whole year
in such a beautiful place. In overall, the whole day was full of curiosity
and excitement.
Days
before the start of Class
(Mixture
of a lot of shocks and average happiness)
We
were informed that our class will be started from the 12th of
September 2016. As I know, the intention of school was to make us familiar with
the place, food, culture, Chinese rules and regulations, city transportation,
city centers and local restaurants before the start of our regular classes.
From the next day, I started to encounter real problem for food and language.
As I have grown up in Hindu family, I could not accept the pork and beef in my
regular meal. The sea foods were also not much familiar to me. I could not find
any restaurant and food nearby without having pork, beef and sea foods. I
didn’t have much money to pay for big restaurant. Another was Language. At those days, almost
nobody spoke English to us. In local restaurants, we got real problem to order
foods. We used a lot of non verbal languages to communicate which was full of
humor and little fun. That was really a
hard time for me. I missed my family, home, food and my busy schedule. In
Nepal, I mostly prefer rice with vegetable curry and gravy pulse. The food
timing in Nepal and China is also different. We suffered from many shocks
during first week in china. I didn’t have any Chinese friend to ask everything
all the time. When I had serious problems, I used to write Hera. She helped us
a lot. Unlike of others, I started to face many cultural shocks like
loneliness, homesickness, laziness, helplessness and joblessness from the first
week because of food, language and a lot of free time. I used to think
bitterly that why there are so many differences between two countries though
being geographically so near. I used to
think that I was completely separate from the Chinese culture and could never
integrate in this alien world.
However,
the orientation program of School of International education held on 2nd
of September 2016 at South campus of SCUT was historic for me. Among many
aspirants, I was selected to give an inaugural speech from the side of
international students. I seriously utilized the opportunity and successfully
performed. My speech was highly appreciated by the faculties and students
from around the world which suddenly raised my barometer of excitement and
happiness. I felt a lot of strength and self empowerment.
Till
sepember-12, 2016, utilizing the free time, me and my roommate explored a lot
in Guangzhou. We visited city centers, shopping malls, explored the metro,
enjoyed the public parks, searched the Nepalese restaurants, tried to find the
Nepalese students in SCUT and communities in Guangzhou. We tried to engage us
as more as possible so that we could be coped with culture shocks. That really
worked for us. Slowly and slowly, I became familiar with our classmates from
Central, South and East Asia and Africa. I could easily guess the similar
situation been faced by most of our foreign friends which was another source of
relative strength for me. On the top of
all shocks and discomforts, there was a good opportunity for education,
exposure and shiny rays of hope for my future. From all of these events and
understanding, I gathered a lot of strength to struggle against all kinds of
hardship.
Days
after the start of classes
(Crisis
and Adjustment)
Our
formal class, followed by brief orientation and short introduction between us,
staffs and faculties of School of Business Administration (SBA) was started
from 12th of September 2016. That was one the proud moments for me
as I became a member of diverse students representing different continents,
cultures, traditions and values. I always learned to respect the diversity and
to find a unity in diversity. I should not forget to mention Ms. Sherry, a
beautiful, smiling and young lady and an active staff of SBA who has been
caring and co-operating a lot from the beginning of our study. During second half of September 2016, I
visited many places in and outskirts of Guangzhou like Lingnan Impression park
having full of traditional chinese heritage, “Austrian Village” giving a sense
of typical village of Europe in Huizhou, China Southern electric grid in
Huizhou, participated the gathering of
Non-Resident Nepalese Association for the first time in Guangzhou, explored the
Chinese values of education and morals promoted by a great philosopher
Confucius, enjoyed typical Chinese foods and interacted with many innocent
chinese people besides the regular classes. In overall, the second half of
September was full of activities, much more delightful and fruitful to me.
The whole month of October 2016 was full of
pleasure and affection though I missed some major festivals like Dashain
(Festival of Victory of divinity over devil) and Deepawali (Festival of Light)
in Nepal. I utilized Chinese national days of first week of October and again
for few days on the last week of October to visit and meet my wife and daughter
in Changsha, a capital of Hunan province. I spent full first week inside
Central South University, Changsha with my family for the first time in China.
I had never been expected before that I would have such opportunities to have
family gathering in China. I met many Nepalese students graduating in Medicine.
I spent days completely in homely environment, participated in dinner organized
by Nepalese friends and celebrated Dashain for the first time in abroad. After
spending warmth first week in Changsha, I returned back to Guangzhou and again
celebrated Dashain with Nepalese students in SCUT and Nepalese in Guangzhou. At
the mid of October, I observed the mega Canton fair and amazed by the wonderful
manufacturing capacity of Chinese manufacturers. The Changsha visit of last
week of October was also joyful as I took time to visit Orange Island and paid
homage to Mao Zedong, a great revolutionary socialist leader of Modern china as
well as I explored the city corners with my family. Regarding our classes
of October, the lectures of “operation
management” by Prof. Chung-Li Tseng from University of New South Wales,
Australia, “Culture, Ethics and Leadership” by Prof. Zhu Wenzhong and
“Managerial Economics” by Prof. Zeng Yu-Ran from Guangdong University of
Foreign Studies, “Chinese Culture and Intercultural Communication” by Prof. An
Ran and Prof. Liu Cheng, “Management Organization Theory” by Prof Li Min,
“Public Policy Analysis” by Prof. Yu Feng and “ basic Chinese” by Ms. Zhao Lu
were highly contentful and useful to my professional career. The team of
professors having wide exposure on their areas shared a lot of global corporate
knowledge and modern managerial skills to cope with the future competitive
globalized business world. I really had important time to sharpen my knowledge
about corporate world during those lectures. The problem of language and food
in common Chinese restaurant were not severe like that of before. I used
many techniques like classroom interaction, self awareness and exploration of
alternatives, survival of the fittest and rational acceptance to adapt the new
life in china.
The days of
November and December of 2016 were full of pressure, highly occupied and
stressful. I went through a lot of ups and downs, pleasure and
discomfort, excitement and anxiety. I
felt that my honeymoon period of cultural adaptation was going to
over. Slowly and slowly I started to enter into the real crisis period
though my initial days of November were comparatively normal. During those months we have a lot of classes
from morning to evening, group presentations of every subject, reviews, home
works, case studies, class works and exams. The preparation and defense of
dissertation proposal took plenty of time and left a lot of stress. We visited
Pearl River Beer factory, Xinyi Pavilion and Lychee Bay in Li Wan district, new
Nansha project at Nansha district, GRG Banking, China Mobile and many other
corporation and places as our enterprise visit. Those visits imparted many hand
on and practical knowledge and supplemented my happiness. But, the overall
stress was more than the happiness brought by those visits.
Among
many academic visits, the visit of “Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station” in
Conghua, Guangzhou coordinated by Prof. An Ran on last week of November and my
private visit of late Mao Zedong’s home at Shaoshan, Hunan with my wife and
daughter on first week of December left
very strong and delightful impression upon me. The heavenly combination of beautiful Mother
Nature, landscape and marvelous engineering master piece at Conghua Power
station could not be easily expressed in mere words. Similarly, I was highly
attracted by the simplicity of Mao’s rural home and its similarity with the
many Nepalese rural homes. As I born and grown up in typical village of Nepal,
I felt oneness while I reached Shaoshan, Hunan.
On
the top of busy schedule and stress, the class activities of November and
December were very important, useful, professional and illustrating a lot of
corporate examples around the world. I was particularly impressed with the
“Corporate Development Strategy” by Prof. Di Deng from Jinan University. I
really felt so much contentful on theory, practice and emerging global
corporate world. Those months were crucial for me for overall learning and
boarder understanding of the world. I encountered and interacted with many
foreign and Chinese friends, understood their values, learned to respect the
cultural diversity, educated to accept the difference of individual perception
and remove the stereotype.
After
all of these comprehensive understandings, I became more normal regarding
the intercultural adaptation at the second half of December and mostly
focused on my academic activities with high enthusiasm on these days.
By
the time, I have accepted many common foods in china, valued the rich Chinese
traditions, made a lot of Chinese friends and understood the basic Chinese
emotions and values unlike of stereotypes. I found a lot of similarities
between our traditional beliefs, customs and rural grown up which made me proud
and high belongingness with china.
Most of current days are so smoother except some stresses due to my
personal reason.
Concluding
Remarks
Swimming
through ocean of these experiences, studies and involvements, I think that I
should share some concluding remarks about my holistic understanding and
feeling about china to help my fellows.
·
I
find that common Chinese people are bit shy to talk to foreigners at the first
encounter. Language is the main cause. Off course, they are not unfriendly,
uncooperative and only introvert unlike we learned in different sources. Once
we become little close to Chinese, then they are really friendly, helpful, hospitable
and happy to share. Most of them feel pride if they have foreign friends.
·
Chinese
are becoming more and more open-minded in all aspects of life and in later days
they are being learned to accept and respect the global diversity.
·
Chinese
people are highly industrious. Their duty, responsibility and regular jobs are
really big matters for them. In my opinion, the synergistic impact of this
Chinese nature is providing a powerful impetus for overall Chinese development.
·
Many
Chinese are entrepreneurial and become more and more innovative in business
these days. The priority given by state to research and development and
innovation is truly praiseworthy. I am delighted to see the government priority
on education and advancement of Chinese universities.
·
Most
of Chinese are very strict in state rules and regulations. The government
policies are being effectively communicated in every sectors and upto the grass
level. I feel that China is a highly cohesive society, that’s why the
implementation of state strategies is very effective and fast.
·
The
overall society is remarkably hierarchical and highly directed. Respect and
discipline before seniors are a lot of meaning. Most of the Chinese corporation
and institution are highly seniority dependent.
·
China
is very rich in traditions and cultures. The growing use of technology to
promote the traditional values is remarkable.
·
China
is growing with high passion to become a very powerful and important global
player. The developing countries have to learn from overall physical
infrastructures, corporate culture, planned economy and multi dimensional
development of China.
Ultimately,
I learned that if we like to be wise, we have to learn to be fair and
open-minded, accept the differences, adapt in diversity, start to see the
things from positive perspective, always ready for change and most importantly
“treat others as we would like to be treated”.
- Dinesh Chandra Panthy
