The Art of Business In China and I Ate A Scorpion

Monday, March 12th

Sunday was basically given over to touring and shopping and since we are MBAs we had to do something businessy...just kidding the trip actually was very business oriented but in a fun way (yes, business can be interesting and/or fun). The morning began with a visit to Lenovo (which bought IBM's computer segment), a very prominent computer company and especially successful in China. We toured the manufacturing facility (which unfortunately does not operate on Mondays) and saw how the production takes place as well as their extremely sophisticated warehousing system. Though I would never call myself a tech savvy person or really interested in the least, it was very interesting and exciting to be invited into such a large, successful company.

After a lunch interlude, we once again boarded the bus and headed to the US Embassy in Beijing. I was skeptical about this visit, why it was really applicable, and how boring it would be, HOWEVER I was definitely wrong because the presentation we received was not only interesting but informative. I had no idea that it was the job of the embassy to provide support for businesses looking to expand into China and to help build business relationships. Hearing about business in China was definitely eye opening and made a lot of misconceptions apparent to me. It also reignited my interest in government work, specifically the Department of State.

To celebrate our last night in Beijing, Dr. Cazier and Dr. Vannoy planned a dinner at the most famous Beijing Duck restaurant in the city.  Pardon me for not recalling the name as it is in Chinese and I could never pronounce or spell it anyway. Our Chinese friends from the first day were also invited, heightening the experience. I consider myself somewhat of a foodie and am always interested in trying new things but there are items that I am just unfamiliar with, duck being one of them. I have never been opposed to the water fowl, the opportunities to eat it have just been few and far between. Needless to say, I was eager to sink my teeth into the juicy, crispy, orange duck. A flock of perfectly cooked ducks were wheeled out on carts and chopped into perfectly consistent pieces. The duck is meant to be eaten in pancakes with a sauce and some slivered onion (almost identical to the way moo shoo is served). It was fab, I ate with abandon and was stuffed by the time I realized there were several more courses to come. The rest were all duck dishes equally as good as the Beijing duck and I wholeheartedly wished to be like a cow with multiple stomachs. Then the unexpected arrived, a plate of fried scorpions complete with stingers. I was not convinced of the necessity to eat one of the spindly creatures but Alex implored and played the "you're in China card". I gave in because she was right, I would have totally regretted that! While it was horrifying to put into my mouth, I can honestly say it didn't taste bad. After initially being poked by the stinger, I crunched up his little body legs and all.

And that, ladies and gentleman, is how I ate a scorpion and maybe enjoyed it (just a little).