Out of the Vault- China: A Whole New Perspective by Chandler Fahrner

    In the summer of 2011, I traveled to China where I lived for one month in the cities of Beijing and Dalian.  Forces like ethnocentrism, curiosity, and culture shock played a big part in my perspective.  I want to share these firsthand experiences with you in three brief parts: Developing Country Means NOT YET Developed Country, Fog or Smog?, ​and Culture Impacts Business.  I hope you find these accounts eye opening & perhaps even helpful if the day comes that you visit this ever-changing country for yourself.  

Developing Country Means NOT YET Developed Country

     When I made the decision to travel to China while in college, I felt well equipped to handle what I would see and do in that country.  I thought it would be simple.  China is a thriving economic power with high speed trains, enormous cities, and an unbelievable number of people.  My knowledge and overall grasp of China from one of my previous classes taken at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) gave me confidence that I understood China.  In my opinion, I was prepared for the country that awaited me. 
     Several company visits, tourist attractions, and even trips to street markets began to reveal to me that China may be more complex than previously expected.  For example, one Saturday afternoon I decided to do some shopping with one of my fellow classmates.  Anxiously, we walked all around the city to see what we could find.  What we saw while shopping had us buzzing as we walked from store to store.  We walked everywhere from congested markets off garbage filled streets to modern American style shopping malls.  We could easily see a distinct separation between old China and new China.  On one side of the street was an everyday McDonalds and on the other side was a man grilling squid on a dirty stick.  This was very different than my American classmate and I were accustomed to seeing.    
     Several other classmates and I continued to notice these many differences between our home country and China throughout the course of our one-month residency.  It quickly became apparent to me that China was different in the sense that it has yet to become a developed country.  Once I realized this, it made me rethink and wonder how America reached the level of development and standards of living we have today.  These thoughts hit me just in the nick of time as many of my peers were beginning to criticize how China looked and felt.  When looking deeper, it occurred to me that America must have once looked very similar to the China I was seeing and experiencing. 
     Contrary to the thoughts and opinions of many of my other peers, I realized and understood that there is a significant difference between a developed country and a developing country.  I learned that this difference tells us nothing about which country is smarter, stronger, or more correct in the way they choose to carry out daily tasks.  To me, it only meant that China is modernizing and coming into its own as a new economic power.  As I resisted the urge to fall victim of ethnocentrism, I gained a new Chinese perspective.  This perspective opened my eyes to the fact that not all countries are as modernized as America and that can actually be a good thing.  

Fog or Smog?
     Every morning the sun rose over downtown Dalian revealing a kind of haze or blurriness that would linger in the air above us making it difficult to see the tops of many of the city’s skyscrapers.  This sparked a curiosity among us that had us wondering why this obscure blanket covered the city nearly every day.  Soon, we had all asked the same question “Is that fog or smog?”  The answers varied depending on who was asked.  If you asked some professors or tour guides, then the haze was called fog.  If you asked the Chinese students, then the haze was correctly named smog.     
     This obvious and ever-present problem that I noticed in China was pollution.  Evidence of the extensive pollution was everywhere including in the water, air, and on the streets.  Unfortunately, this was one dilemma I was unable to ignore or avoid.  My opinions on this matter began to take over and I was never able to find an acceptable reason for why such an unfortunate build-up of waste was occurring.  I understood how it was happening but constantly failed to comprehend why it had been allowed for so long.      
The presence of pollution is no stranger to the Chinese people and it impacts China every day.  It changes what the Chinese can eat, where they can swim, and it even has long-term health consequences.  There are unbelievable amounts of chemical waste and industrial sewage that leaked into the air and water of Chinese towns.  This severe pollution has led to the deforming of babies, increases in number of people with cancer, and all kinds of other obscuring diseases.
     It is important to note that this pollution in China has been brought about by all those seeking economic gain.  It is the result of industrialization and poor environmental regulations.  This is a disgusting occurrence that is not easily fixed.  The young men and women of China are being exposed to chemical radiation and other toxic waste in order to achieve greater economic gains.  Therefore, health and daily living conditions are being compromised for the expansion of industries.  This is unacceptable and uncharacteristic of today’s developed nations.  In my opinion, pollution is the worst and most urgent problem facing China.  If China is to successfully continue its development and economic growth, this problem must be solved immediately. 
     After several days of noticing more pollutants, I began to think of ways in which China can be helped.  The answer I came up with included utilizing this world’s growing interdependence.  I viewed this problem as requiring a worldwide initiative.  With this, it also occurred to me that America is just as much to blame for the contamination and toxic waste as China.  America’s businesses are following the laws and regulations of the U.S. while in the U.S.  However, these same businesses are outsourcing cheap labor to China and encouraging the expansion of these industries and, therefore, the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from China.
     As I traced this problem, I could not deny that China’s issue with too much waste did not arise alone and it cannot be solved alone.  Therefore, the U.S. and China must work together to balance their economic dependence on each other as China exports way too much to just the United States.  The money paid by Americans for these countless Chinese goods continues to fund the development plans of tomorrow’s Chinese businesses.  New Chinese cities cannot continue to be built around industries that continue to pollute without any consequences and endless financial capabilities.    

Culture Impacts Business
     The cultural differences were distinctive and clearly recognizable the moment I arrived in China.  The first experience with China’s unique culture came by way of perspiration....you heard me right, sweating A LOT!  The Chinese people welcome hot weather and do not ward it off by using air conditioning like many Americans.  It was overly hot in the airport, on the bus, and in our hotels.  Consequently, my clothes were almost always damp.  In fact, it soon became apparent to me that the Chinese also enjoy their drinks warm.  This new idea of warm/hot is good was my first real encountering with the central role of culture.
     After my first couple of days in China, I was definitely feeling the impact of Chinese culture.  Feeling this cultural change was, in my opinion, not a poor feeling, but rather a unique and unmistakable sense of being somewhere new and out of the ordinary.  I became very conscious of where to retrieve water, what to eat, who to talk to, and even where to go to the bathroom.  This felt like a unique adventure.  At the same time, these cultural differences were influential.  These differences changed the way I thought and acted.  As a result, I learned the true meaning of culture shock. 
     As culture shock set in, I was forced to cope with new ideas and methods of completing daily tasks.  As I became more comfortable with these ideas, it became apparent just how powerful culture can be.  If culture could change my thoughts and my actions, it could certainly change my performance at work.  Before this experience, this was an idea completely foreign to me that I could never grasp.  It was my individual opinion that childhood upbringing and the power of choice governed the way a person works.  Never had I seriously considered cultural values and traditions as components of work performance.  As a result, I learned that, among many things, culture impacts business.