If you’re going to, sit briefly and read because every second you waste is a second that you could be chasing new dreams.

And, if you’ve been interested in what we’ve been doing, then it’s a second you could be spending planning your trip to Hong Kong. Let me tell you, eight days is not enough time to experience all you want to see.

But it’s a nice start.

I could tell you about how different office culture is in Asia, or how different the educational system is; I could tell you about the differences between their night markets and our own flea markets; I could tell you how different our McDonalds is from theirs (Hong Kong Mickie D’s is much nicer); and after all of that, it’s an attempt to capture in words what needs to be captured with all five senses.

The highlight of this trip was seeing people try weird things like chicken feet for the first time.

The low point was hearing someone behind me go: “I can’t wait till I can get back home to EVK.” That was just sad.

What’s interesting about exploring Hong Kong is that there are many “downtowns,” many places to go explore where businesses have clustered and provide stark contrast to the mom and pop shops at their feet, where haggling and personal relationships between owner and customers become much more apparent. Begging monks wander the marketplaces, targeting tourists with a smile on their face.

I went into this trip armed with stories from my parents of growing up in Hong Kong decades ago. Now, thirty years later I’m able to see that, though the image has changed, Hong Kong is still a remarkable blend of British and Chinese tradition. What struck me the most was how little language was a problem. I had imagined that even my conversational Mandarin would give me difficulties, yet Hong Kong did not disappoint. Just riding the escalator was a lot more efficient (except for the occasional escalump) than taking an escalator here. Trains were on time (so much so two of us got left behind one night). People are to the point and wait their turn to talk. Being Stateside for two weeks has been quite an adjustment back.

But I wouldn’t have traded this trip for the world. I met many new people, ate new things, experienced a whole different world across the ocean; and I want to do it again. My takeaway from this whole trip? Be aggressive. Try new things. If you don’t…you might as well stay home. Hong Kong isn’t to be seen or heard. You need to make it memorable (and Hong Kong makes that pretty easy).

So why listen to me. Get out there! Take care, and I’ll see you around.

~Evan

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve left Hong Kong and I can distinguish the new appreciations I have and the lessons learned. First on a cultural aspect, it’s pretty mind-boggling to think how different American and Chinese culture can be. Still one of the most apparent things that stand out in my mind is the Chinese way of respecting a speaker. In class we were taught that there’s a distinct difference in the American and Chinese ways of communicating. In the latter’s culture, there is a very strong mutual respect for verbal communication. Although in our culture, verbal communication is much less respected and breaks down from things such as interruption and loud speaking. After being extra attentive to how we speak while overseas, I can confidently conclude that we as Americans are loudmouths.

On our last day of Marshall activities we visited the generous leaders of Wing Hang Bank. Unconventional from most of our typical company tours we had a brief introduction on banking and finance in Hong Kong and China. Mind you, this ‘brief’ review of banking and finance in the Asian region entailed over an hour and half of learning from these intelligent men. Although none of us have taken introductory finance courses (typically taken sophomore year,) much of information admittedly flew right over our heads as we got lost in a mass of financial terms.  Undoubtedly, it was very interesting to hear. It was at this time that I had a realization of the difference in American and Chinese communication. That day was a Friday and after a long week of traveling we all had been exhausted but continued to push on. During our educational review of banking and finance and subsequent tour I realized truly how attentive the Chinese must be. Growing up throughout school, every teacher learns to be successful you must capture the attention of your students. If not, we lose our attention, our focus, and lose interest.

After our introductory talk, we were given a tour of the floor where the bank conducts operations such as foreign currency exchange. Paying attention to communication once again, there was none. Everyone was absolutely focused on their work, with no chit-chat and no music. In American pop culture, we have movies and TV shows like Workaholics and The Office that embrace the office environment. In this kind of environment, there’s a fraternity within the world of the office, where there’s a great load of communication and interaction between employees. In these shows, you see stories and jokes flying around the office as employees share stories while doing their days worth of work. Even here in reality, if you walk into a library you’ll see students listening to music as they work, stopping occasionally to check Facebook or have a little chat with a friend.

It really surprised me to see how focused the employees of the bank were; it was inspiring. It makes me wonder how culture morphs our productivity in the workforce. Now, whenever I feel distracted while doing work, I’ll remember the productivity that I witnessed. I’m grateful for being able to experience the differences between our two cultures. 

Cheers to a great week in China.

Austin

Special Dinner at USC Alumni’s Private Club

Photos by: Shanon Chau

Taste of Dongguan

Day 3 Delectables

Photos by: Shanon Chau

A Taste of Hong Kong and Dongguan 

Day 2 Yummies

Photos by: Shanon Chau

A Taste of Hong Kong

Day 1 Eats

Photos by: Shanon Chau

LINC Hong Kong Group Photos

Photos by: Shanon Chau

It’s hard to believe that eight days have passed already and even more difficult to accept that our time in Hong Kong and China has ended already. I can recount every single event that occurred but I think that would just be flat and uninteresting. What is more significant are the emotions I felt and the relationships I built throughout this trip. It may be difficult to convey, but I will try my best. Hopefully, you have already or will one day experience something similar.

Prior to the trip, I was excited over the idea of traveling outside of the country, but honestly, I had regrets. I thought that I had made a mistake in choosing Hong Kong, since I had already been there multiple times before. I thought to myself, maybe I should have chosen something completely out of my comfort zone, like Mumbai or Santiago, would arrive in Hong Kong and be bored and disappointed? I doubted myself.

Boy was I completely wrong. My worries were for naught. 

We all go into things with expectations, whether they be good or bad, but the main thing is that we do not let these expectations cloud our experiences. Basically, don’t dwell, instead, work to prove your expectations otherwise. I had a negative expectation preceding the trip, but because of that, as I arrived I was even more so willing to put myself out there, ensuring that I would find new experiences. Little did I know I wouldn’t even have to try hard to do so. I swallowed my fears and worries and opened myself up. Every time the thought of how people were judging me arose; I buried it away. Especially in business, you are going to meet a lot of people, and inevitably you will be judged. It is not important to be well liked by everyone, but to be genuine and yourself. My mother always told me, “Those who mind don’t matter. Those who matter don’t mind.” I always keep this behind my head. 

You might be wondering, how does this relate to the Hong Kong trip? It was especially relevant when we went to network with undergraduate students from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Personally, the networking event was the most interesting event to me. I enjoyed talking to the freshman and seniors (sophomores are studying abroad) in HKUST’s global business program. It was surprising to hear about their college experiences and entertaining to hear about their perceptions of our college experiences. We go to their home countries to study abroad, while they go to the states to study abroad. They were especially interested in Greek Life; something just beginning on their campus with the start up of Alpha Kappa Psi, the co-ed business fraternity. And of course, as tourists, we were interested in getting the inside scoops of the best places to eat and have a great time. Although they are international students to us, and we are foreign to them, it only took less than a minute to form a bridge to the start of friendships. Conversations flowed easily and we found much in common. It was only a matter of time before we found each other on Facebook and exchanged phone numbers. On our free Saturday day and night, we even met up with a couple of them. We walked around Lan Kwai Fong and ate at Tsui Wah Café. I am so glad to have met them. Its such a rewarding and exciting feeling knowing you have friends across the world.

(Pictures above are from Day 1 in Hong Kong at The Summit, real estate part of Hang Lung Properties)

I look forward to the future together!

Shanon

After visiting two factories operated under Lee and Man - paper and handbag production facilities - all I can say is wow. After our Wednesday visit to these two facilities, I now understand the degree to how and why China’s manufacturing is propelling their country ahead. We started our visit driving to the edge of the city of Dongguan where we entered the paper manufacturing complex after being saluted by security guards. I thought to myself, if they have security guards saluting, this place must be the real deal.

As our tour began, we were driven around the factory where many trucks were transporting recycled materials imported from countries like the United States. An interesting note, it was explained to us that the manufacturing process for creating paper requires an immense amount of recycled materials and the United States supplies the highest qualities of recycled paper. Once we arrived at one of the production lines, we entered the building and were greeted by warm, muggy, and high heat. The noise was incredible too as massive machines operated along a distance greater than a football field. I’ve never seen a production line before, and we were all immensely amused by witnessing machines the size of a small school bus spit out rolls of paper. The paper is used for creating packaging materials and when it is finished, it’s as large as a small car. Unfortunately, pictures could not be taken during the tour. 

The next interesting tour we were taken through was Lee and Man’s handbag facility. After being given a presentation of the facility, we were taken to the different areas where Lee and Man produces handbags, backpacks, and cosmetics bags to sell to major retailers. This tour was much different from the previous. Upon entering each production line, there were dozens of laborers each doing a very specific task in creating  these bags. It was warm and muggy and there was very little technology involved, aside from sewing machines and some computers. The facility itself looked much different too. The paper manufacturing facility was very open (due to having to store and transport massive amounts of recycled papers) and newer compared to the handbag facility. It was interesting to see that to create a handbag, it only takes a few minutes from start to finish to produce. Since many bags are pretty pricey, I can’t imagine the money made by large companies like Louis Vuitton. 

The tours through the two facilities really opened my eyes to how large and intensive the labor process is, whether technologically or through labor. I learned many lessons, such as learning to appreciate that as business students traveling abroad we have the opportunity to become involved in this booming industry. Whether in China or in other South American, Asian, or African countries there is always a potential to produce an incredible amount of product and large profits. 

Austin

Sad. Unhappy. A little bit miserable. That’s how I feel leaving Hong Kong.

Here’s the second update, after Mission Hills: I’ve really had a blast here, I really love it here, and to leave is just sad. Hong Kong is just an amazing place and this LINC trip has been equally amazing. I hope you all enjoyed seeing the cooking competition (part 2 is processing now, with 1-2 more parts). After Mission Hills, we returned to Hong Kong to meet with some students from Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, who were just the best. It was really fun listening to them talk about their experiences overseas. Of the two students I talked with the whole time, they told me how they studied at USC or Duke or Tsinghua, and how much they loved seeing other places. I guess I really know how they feel.

The next day we had two amazing presentations from Wing Hang Bank and Modern Terminals, and they shared with us some of their insights on China’s market (sorry, can’t tell you :P ), and a great student dinner at a Korean BBQ place. Two our our tables had a little thievery going on stealing from each other’s grills, but it was all good fun. A nice, different way to end the trip.

If the whole trip was to get everyone to try something different, I would certainly say it has worked. I was fortunate enough to get someone to try chicken’s feet, or to get someone else to try pigeon spareribs. It was great seeing everyone immerse themselves in some of the night markets, haggling outrageously high prices like $900 HK down to practically nothing.

I would love to get to come back, hopefully someday soon. There’s so much we haven’t even seen yet. Most of us on our free day went to the Ladies Market in Mong Kok (which isn’t exclusively for ladies, it’s just called that), and that market alone took close to 3 hours. There’s so much to see, to eat, to experience.

Speaking of experiences, I never got the chance to go see Victoria’s Peak at night, or at all for that matter. Probably my second-greatest regret, the greatest being that the trip was so short. But, that’s how all trips go. Ok, I’ve told you practically what the past few days were in a nutshell. Just keep looking out for the videos I manage to post, especially since I don’t have as many pictures as some of the others. Sorry, I know I promised a lot, but I just got so caught up enjoying Hong Kong I forgot. Anyway, there’s one more blog from me coming soon. Until then, take care, and I’ll see you around!

~Evan