MAIS Summer 2008
Wow, seven weeks of learning! (Especially intense, since I hopped out of finals, just to go back to class the following weekend.) I took three courses within seven weeks; one was research-based, another was about the Chinese culture, from history of olden times to the ways one should interact in the present culture, and the last class taught us a bit more about business in China. In addition, there were seminars to help prepare the English teachers for teaching and living in China. The majority of Chinese students and I waived the Chinese beginner's language course. The three main themes in Chinese culture are: 1) Guanxi - know the right people to get to the right places. 2) Face - never publicly embarrass anyone by giving people a "no" answer. Instead, make excuses if you really cannot make it (in other words, beat around the bush). 3) Face value means more than true value - as evidenced by the Chinese's want of diplomas (instead of transcripts) and Chinese peopl...