I thought I would write a bit about what I’ve been up to in the hours outside of the course.

We have had a few Chinese lessons organised for us by CRCC Asia, the first was slightly chaotic as we took a while to find the location, and being keen at the start of the trip, everyone turned up so the class sizes were quite large. However by the end of it we could all introduce ourselves and knew the essential words for water, toilet and too expensive! When in Beijing, we had another class which was really useful, a lot smaller and we were taught how to pronounce Chinese words which came in great use when trying to explain to taxi drivers where to go.

Food wise, we had … Continue reading

Our first day of the course in Beijing required us to experience its notorious rush hour. Getting on and off the subway was quite an effort, requiring a lot of use of elbows but surprisingly we managed to reach the seminar venue in one piece, only losing a couple of the slightly speedier interns along the way.

We started the week with a well explained auditing presentation, which was unexpectedly interesting.  Mark Wilson recalled one forensic accounting case study where there was a mysterious death of an employee over potentially fraudulent accounts.

The second presentation was on investment opportunities in China, and seemed to cover everything from said topic to the Eurozone debt crisis and the collapse of the housing market in the US. Michael Cronin was a brilliant lecturer … Continue reading

I thought I would write a completely separate blog about the business and finance course, to make it easier for those who want to know solely about that.

Monday morning came and was a bit of a shock to the system having to get up early after our leisurely weekend, especially after having woken up at 4.30 am to watch the 100 m Olympic final! We safely made it to the seminar venue though, having finally realised that a green man in China does not necessarily mean cars will stop for you.

Our first introductory talk was from Joanne Wood, about the cultural and historical factors of doing business in China. This covered relevant topics such as Chinas 5 year plan, which details exactly what the government will focus on … Continue reading

I arrived in Shanghai four days ago to take part in the two week business and finance course followed by a four week internship as a marketing assistant in a technology company. As a natural science graduate, I have no experience in business, finance or marketing and so I feel I will be learning a lot over the next 6 weeks not only about China, but useful business tips as well!

The journey out couldn’t have been smoother, I managed to nab two seats to myself on the plane, resulting in a fairly decent nap and therefore I arrived at Shanghai airport as fresh as a daisy. I steamed through immigration, feeling rather smug that the local residents queue was greatly longer than the foreigners queue, and met the other … Continue reading