Today was fairly relaxing. After breakfast (where I finally got to drink some orange juice), we had another class. This one was about daily life in China and how it has changed over the years. The most interesting thing I took from the lecture was the effect of the extreme generation gap between the youth of today and their parents. This is due to the rapid cultural change in China caused by reformist policies. It’s mind-blowing to think that a lot of the opportunities available to Chinese youth today could never even be imagined by their parents. I can’t imagine what it would be like if my parents were raised in a completely different mindset than I was. And if I was an only child (which would often be the case in China), that concept would be even more difficult to grasp. The one child policy interested me for two reasons: First the policy itself and secondly how the policy has affected China. Claudia mentioned that these only children are often spoiled, which I guess is the same in America, but I have a sister so it’s hard for me to gauge. The idea of immaturity among Chinese youth interested me as well.
After class we had our company visit to Tsinghua solar, which I found very interesting. I found that I actually understood what the presenter was talking about and it made the presentation much more enjoyable. I thought it was interesting that more countries of the world had less of an interest in this type of technology than the Chinese. While Europe is seen as a pioneer of solar energy, the Chinese are actually the largest consumers of solar products and use the most solar energy. I thought that the company itself would be larger compared to Capital Bio because the market for Tsinghua Solars’ products is much larger, but I guess it makes sense because Capital Bio’s products are so expensive and fill a niche in their respective industry. It was enjoyable to see a Chinese company that manufactures Chinese products specifically for Chinese customers that have been adapted to suit the needs of the rest of the world.