China Dream Practicum
During my Immersive Learning Practicum with Professor Liang Wei and Professor Shi I had the tremendous opportunity to travel around the beautiful and quickly developing nation of China. During this period, we met with Chinese politicians, the leaders of the China’s Advanced AI movement, investment bankers, NGO, innovators, entrepreneurs and some of China’s top intellectuals. Our first stop was in Beijing, the capital city. In which we were pleasantly surprised by blue skies for the first couple of days. During our stay in Beijing we met with Professor Ciqi Mei of Tsinghua University as well as Professor Ma Deyong at Remin University. The next day we had the pleasure of attending a press-conference with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs followed by a high-level meeting with AIIB, the Asian Infrastructure development bank. The following day in Beijing started with a brief of Chinese development by Gabriel Wang of the Yongdong office of Microsoft. Microsoft introduced us to their advanced AI as well as numerous other cool futuristic gadgets they were currently working on. That night we met with MIIS alumni living in Beijing for a happy hour and networking session. Which proved to be an interesting experience. Our alumni are truly doing great things across the globe!
The following morning, we left by high speed rail to Suzhou for a briefing at the Suzhou industrial park. At this park we were shown the smart city that the people of the Suzhou and Singaporean governments are collectively striving to collaborate to create. The following day we left for Shanghai for a speech on Entrepreneurship at the Shanghai Finance and Economics school of economics. The next day we continued with the financial theme in which we talked with the government agency “lingang” about Shanghais plans for further economic development through investment in SMES. That same night we traveled to the Shanghai Stock exchange in which we got to see the exchange happening in real time. The Shanghai stock exchange is allot less hectic than the New York stock exchange, that’s for sure. On May 29th we visited DIngli, a NGO seeking to help SME’s in Shanghai improve their business aspects by providing them a incubator and cheap office space. That day we met with Italian born Chinese Economics Professor Michele Geraci. This man was actually in the running for President of Italy just this year! Our following location was in the gorgeous city of Dali in Yunnan. This lake side city in the southern china has developed on a different path than most of China’s other cities. This city has become a haven for green energy and environmental protectionism. We met with Yanfang, one of the leaders of the environmental protectionism movement in Yunnan. After Yunnan we left for Shenzhen, the technology start-up capital of China. Here we met with Tencent, one of China’s largest companies as well as numerous government officials that taught us about the free-market policies that this city utilizes.
“Half-Way Point Debrief Session.
After Shenzhen the practicum ended but the experiences I gained will surely carry on into future research. My specialty in politics and economics has always lay within the realm of East-Asia and especially China. This trip marked my 4th time traveling to China for work or study. However; this time was the most directly focused towards my interests in China’s rise as an economic powerhouse. My past trips were mostly focused on language acquisition as light studying of the Chinese political environment. With this experience that I gained with this trip I will be able to link my academic research that I conduct focusing on East-Asia with my trip to China.
I plan on sharing my experience with the MIIS community by providing photos as well as helping convince future ITED students to attend this trip. Due to this trip to China I was able to land a job overseas. So for the next practicum I plan on meeting with the students as an alumni!
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