Category: China

Global Citizenship and Equity Learning Experience offers selected students the opportunity to participate in a FLIP program. Faculty-Led International Program is conducted in Suzhou China. This international program is project-based that involves in-class studies, market research and professional business visits. Before departing we were placed in groups of 3 and had to select a Canadian company that is not in the Chinese market. Amanda, Jennerys and I teamed up together did our market research and decided that Saputo`s Cheese and Soy Milk would be a great Canadian company to do our market entry strategy on.

Overly excited to begin this wonderful experience of receiving the opportunity to travel to China for the first time. Myself along with 8 other students and 2 professors packed our suitcases and mentally prepared our mind to be in the air for approximately 15hrs.

Upon arrival in Shanghai China, with little to no expectations, I was ″the minority among the diversity″ within the group. Our ethnic background reflected a very unique and diverse team inclusive of the professors, our countries include Canada, Jamaica, Brazil, Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela, Columbia, India and Scotland.

School of Business Students

Our week started off with a wonderful welcome ceremony hosted by the Suzhou Centennial College team for the School of Business as well as the School of Hospitality team that was on their FLIP experience as well.

Meet my buddy Ella, At the beginning of our FLIP experience, one of the involvements from (Suzhou Centennial College) SCC was the buddy system they created. This allowed us to instantly develop a relationship with two students in similar programs who were learning the English Language. I had the nicest buddies Ella and Aaron. We wore Canadian Flag pins and gave them to our buddies at our final tea party.

This unforgettable experience could not have been successful without our awesome professors Justin and Linda. With our busy schedule daily we went from the classroom learning about the Chinese economy to business meetings held at various companies in Suzhou and Shanghai. Some of the companies we visited include:

• Canadian Consulate in Shanghai
• Canada China Business Council (CCBC)
• Samsung and Back and Decker Manufacturing Plant
• Ecommerce Companies etc.
• The W Hotel

Of course, this trip could not just be about business and study, we journeyed throughout Suzhou and Shanghai and made historic visits at the Old Village, The Water Garden, The Bund, Shanghai Tower, the fastest train in the world (The Bullet Train) and definitely some Shopping in the AP Market,

Concluding with the most memorable personal experience was the overall Chinese culture, not setting any expectations I was open to all I could experience and more, however, never had I imagined I would feel so welcomed like a celebrity. Yes, you heard right, remember earlier I mentioned I was ″the minority among the diversity″ the Chinese people were fascinated by my appearance, my colour, my overall physique. At first, I thought they were laughing at me but then I wanted to find out why was this happening. To my surprise, they loved the way I looked. They wanted to take pictures and to touch my skin.  I managed to capture a few moments below:

谢谢(Thank You) Centennial College for this wonderful opportunity.

Written by: Shenae Clarke
 The Business School

关系 Ni Hao / Hello

What happens when a few students who do not know each other embark on a 15 day journey to a totally different land. Well I must say  “Amazing things happen.”

On 1 st of May 2018, Shenae, Noushein, Alexandre, Amanda, Jenn, Maria, Illona, Juan and I (Satvik) met at the Toronto Pearson Airport with our lovely professor Mrs. Linda Traill for our flight to Shanghai

Being a bit nervous we started the ice breaking session among ourselves and we also received our lovely Centennial T-Shirts. The flight was a long and we were accompanied by our friends from the hospitality school who were going to visit the the Suzhou Centennial College for their program. Receiving a warm welcome at the Shanghai airport by the faculty of Suzhou Centennial College, we also Mr. Justin, the other visionary professor from Progress Centennial College who accompanied us on our trip. Believe me when you are tired, the road to home always feel the longest. We arrived at our hotel apartment around 8:30 pm at night, exhausted by our long flight and travel to Suzhou city but we were definitely  filled with enthusiasm for the days to come.

Our second day started with cheerful welcome by the staff and students at Suzhou Centennial College and we watched the traditional Kun Opera. After the Opera we had a tour of the college and met our Chinese buddies who supported us throughout our journey

The next coming days we made a lot of connections with the Chinese buddies and faculty who taught about the Chinese economy and the workplace environment. These key insights were a stepping stone towards our final project. When we started this journey we never realized that these relationships or “GuanXi” (Chinese word) will be paramount in our expedition. The other few days were filled with business visit. The business visits are listed below-

1. Samsung Manufacturing
2. Black and Decor
3. Tongzhou Marketing
4. Canada China Business Council
5. Hong Couture Embroidery Home
6. Naked Hub
7. Fashion Shard

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The main lessons we learnt from these business trips included-

1. Relationships or GuanXi is important
2. They are many competitors in the market, ” BE PREPARED”
3. Build a strong team
4. Study the market
5. Understand the need of the consumer and provide it
6. Adapt

Apart from all the business visits we had some really fun and relationship building activities as well. Of course we visited a lot of places in Suzhou and Shanghai. It was worth every moment and some interesting facts we discovered

Suzhou-

1. The city is applauded primarily for the big ancient gardens.
2. One of Suzhou’s main attractions is the food
3. Water towns are another popular attraction

Shanghai-

1. It is a World Finance and Cultural Center
2. The Locals Speak a Dialect Called Shanghainese
3. Shanghai Boasts Brilliant Downtown Nightlife and Night Lights

With all the information gathered through various sources it was time for the real action- Introducing a Canadian Company to Chinese Market. 9 students were divided into 3 groups and each group successfully wrote a report and delivered a presentation of its marketing strategy.

On 15th of May we finally bid goodbye to our friends and faculty in China for the warmth of relationships we had been receiving for 2 weeks. This voyage was an enriching one with a lot of memories made, friends made, things learnt and experience gained. I would thanks Centennial College for giving us an opportunity like this.

A special thanks to International Department who were providing continuous support from the day of interview and till date. Another special thanks to Mr. Justin and Mrs Linda who accompanied us on this trip. Your experience was an asset to our team and we gained a lot of insights and valuable information from you both.

Written By

Satvik Bajaj

May 03^rd, 2018, day one….The learning experience was starting.  In our first day, I had the opportunity to watch the Suzhou traditional opera called Kunqu Opera.  This traditional kind of art was performed by the Centennial Suzhou professor and his student.

In our second day, we visited Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). This place is an exhibition of the technology and industrial development in Suzhou in the last 25 years.  Suzhou Industrial Park shows how have been developing the city, and what are the main goals for Suzhou. SIP is the place where investors can see how Suzhou is right now, and how will be its future.

Another place we visited was the Hong Couture Embroidery Home, in this place we listened to a presentation from the owner´s daughter.  In this presentation, she explained to us what embroidery is, what their target is, and she spoke about the embroidery school that they also have.  We had a practical experience in embroidery.  We learned from firsthand how to embroider, and also we had some practice.

Suzhou is a beautiful, and have some traditional places.  In our adventure to discover Suzhou we visited the Humboldt Administrations Gardens, those gardens are more than 600 years old.  In this place, I felt like a movie, with stunning landscapes, beautiful views, and too many people enjoyed it.

The Flip trip goal was how to do business in China, so our itinerary was prepared for this. In that 15 days, we had time to visit some companies that help us to achieve this goal.  One of those companies was Canada China Business Council.  The council made an amazing and complete presentation, where we can see the main steps to do business in China, and what are the keys to startup.  We had an overview of what are the regulations that investors face when they try to enter the Chinese market.  This visit was so productive for us, and we can take a lot of information about our project.

Another company was Naked hub, this is a company that shares workspaces with different companies, small business, entrepreneurs, and small startups.  They offer all that companies need about spaces and facilities.  It is a very workplace to work, friendly and wide spaces.  Companies can rent the spaces for a couple of hours or a year.  They have an app where they posted information about availabilities and event that they have.

The amazing Flip trip team made an appointment to visit Black & Decker and Samsung.  Those companies are astonishing.  They have an awesome production line, and they also are the smart factory. We can see in the firsthand how technology and human interaction created a perfect product in just a couple of minutes.  Black & Decker work mainly for the North American market because in China they do not have high demand.

In our practice activity, we work with Tongzhou. This is a company that sells lunch bag in Amazon for North American customers.  Their CEO made a presentation for us where he showed what is the company mission, vision, and goals.  Also, he asked for help.  He gave to us an assignment about rewrite some of their Amazon publication.  The objective for this assignment was to make the publications more attractive according to the North American customers. We had the chance to work together with Chinese people, and bring some advice for them.

Before finish our Flip, we went together with the hospitality team at W hotel.  This is a five starts hotel. It is luxury, fancy, and stunning hotel.  In this experiences, we can learn about hospitality, and how details are so important to make a profitable business.  The concept that they have is amazing. They are working to make very good experiences for the guests, different styles, and needs.

In our last weekend in China, we had the opportunity to visit Shanghai as tourists.  We met some places as Yu Garden & Bazar, The Bund, Shanghai Maglev train, and the Oriental Pearl Tower. The last one was an awesome experience for me.  To walk on the glass floor was unbelieve, and unforgettable times.

Closing our trip, we made an entry market presentation.  In this presentation, we present one Canadian company to start the business in Chinese market.  We can take our knowledge about the Chinese market and their regulations, and take all of that information to create a plan on how to start the business in China.  Canadian companies like Tim Hortons, Canada goose, and Saputo took part in those presentations where Chinese student can see what each of those companies need to do to enter the Chinese Market.  What will be their partner, in which cities of China they are starting, how will be possible Chinese accept our proposal?  We had the chance to learn in real life how to do business in China, and how to put into practice that knowledge and combine them with our program.  Thanks, SAGE and Centennial College for this amazing learning experience.  Centennial students take advantages about this kind of program and go for it…..

Jennerys Gonzalez – Flip China -Suzhou 2018.

I mean, it really did. And I’ve been back for over a month (or 2) now and have spent most of that time trying to figure out how to put a life-changing experience into words. Starting from the beginning is always good, which at the beginning of this journey I almost didn’t apply. One of my professors passed along a message to my classmate saying he thought we would both be awesome candidates for this opportunity. I was flattered. Ok, I was anxious first, then nervous, then flattered. I’m a mature student with 2 little ones and I’d never spent 2 weeks (the duration of the FLIP) away from them. It wasn’t an exciting thought. Then the typical anxieties came flooding in like what if I don’t like it? The flight is so long!! What am I going to eat there?? It went on like this for some time, until on the deadline day for the application I decided to go for it with hours to spare. We can fast forward all the red tape up to the fact that I went and it was amazing!

As a hospitality student and lover, I was so impressed and pleased with how we were treated. From the moment we landed and were introduced to our student friends and professors, they were the definition of hospitable. They wouldn’t even let us carry our own luggage! The very first night there we were taken out to the most amazing dinner. This was probably first “I’m not in Toronto anymore” moment because they only had chopsticks to eat with and I was so hungry, I had no choice but to learn. And the food was amazing! Only one of many amazing meals I would experience.

Suzhou is a beautiful place, both during the day and at night. A modern city that’s always busy. That made me feel more at home. Where we stayed was a place called the education town which is basically an area filled with colleges and universities from around the world, apartments and little plazas and grocery stores. There were always students buzzing around buying coffee and breakfast to get to class or buying dinner to go home and study with. I instantly felt at ease being here, any anxieties I felt before the trip was gone. Of course, there were cultural differences, we had to squat to use most public toilets (a lot easier than I thought it would be!), and there was an obvious language barrier. But none of these things made our trip difficult, in fact, I enjoyed all the new experiences and being outside of my comfort zone.

Did I mention this was a culinary FLIP? I like to cook as much as I like to write an essay (not very much) but Chef Feng made it easy, enjoyable and loveable. They only use one knife in Chinese cooking, a cleaver, and while it takes some getting used to, it is much easier than switching out knives all the time. They also only use a wok to cook every part of the meal. The meat/fish, the rice, the veggies everything! After each part is done the wok gets a quick rinse and it’s on to the next. My fondest memory would have to be that by the end of the trip we had memorized Chef’s go-to seasoning for every dish we made: Salt, pepper, little sugar, little MSG (still a huge part of Chinese cuisine), little Chinese cooking wine/vinegar. Like clockwork, we would add this combination to every meal. Some of my most memorable moments were spent in the kitchen learning new things and jumping out of my comfort zone.

Other memorable times were the time spent in the classroom with our amazing teacher Lissy learning about Chinese culture. Everything about their history and way of life is based on their rich history. Every holiday has a deeply touching story, stories about love, respect and happiness. We created a presentation all about Canada, lead by myself, some other students and our teacher Wenli. We taught everyone about our own culture, history, we even passed around some of our coloured money (their money is still paper and all one colour there) It ended with a game to test their listening skills which everyone loved! On our day off, we took a trip to the beautiful Shanghai by local subway and speed train. Shanghai is one of the most stunning places I’ve seen, reminding me of Toronto or New York City. And finally, at the end of my trip, it was my birthday and to get to celebrate it with new friends both from home and abroad, made it one of my most unforgettable yet.

The last night in Suzhou was the best by far. We had the chance to talk about our experiences on this trip, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. We cried and cried, so we moved and forever changed by these short two weeks. I cannot thank Chef Sam, Wenli, and the SAGE team for allowing me to take this trip. Enjoy a small fraction of some of the pictures we took on this trip. It truly changed me and I will forever be grateful. If you ever have a chance to visit China, do it! Your heart and your stomach will be better from it.

All photo creds go to my picture goddess Julie Miguel http://www.juliemiguel.com. She also made a blog post about China, so head on over to check it out!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Renee Tingle