04.07.2014
As the schedule after arriving to Guangzhou became quite intense, I stopped writing the diary on the same day. Therefore, this and the following days’ reports are written much later, but still in the form of a diary.
As to the start of the day. Can you say that iPhones are too small for you? And I can:
As I headed for breakfast I noticed a big group of taiji practitioners at a sports ground.
After a class of Chinese language, we had a very interesting lecture about Chinese corporate culture and some aspects of Chinese economy. Not going into too much detail, I took two main thoughts from the lecture.
One is that relationships between people in China are quite hybrid: at work they are quite hierarchical – there is a clear distance between a boss and a subordinate, but after work the same two people can spend time together as close friends. And there is a big role of connections, acquaintances etc., they call it Guanxi[sm]. Naturally a Chinese person divides people around into three circles: family and close friends (for whom they will do whatever the people from the circle need, even against laws if necessary), acquaintances or not close friends (for this circle the principle of time-delayed exchange is applied: I do something for you, I don’t expect you to reward me immediately, but when I need you should help me), and strangers (for which the exchange should be local in time, all the details in a contract should be written otherwise they are not obligatory etc.). This structure seems to be quite natural for any person, therefore the actual specifics of it in China is quite subtle. The lecturer referred us works of Prof. Fei Xiao Tong for a detailed study of Chinese social structure.
The other thought is that Chinese markets seem to repeat history of European and US markets with a 20-30 years’ delay.
After the lunchtime, we went to visit an herb tea museum. As the south of China is very hot, people here invented some drinks (different kinds of herb tea) which help to sustain the heat. There was a big garden with different kinds of plants, the local tour guide told us about some of them and their use in Chinese medicine (which is based on the idea of five key elements - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing). The plant I liked most was this one:
As you touch its leaves, it closes them. The guide said that this is a protective mechanism against heavy rains damaging the plant.
Apart from the garden, there was a set of herb tea and Chinese medicine related exhibitions:
And a small teashop. J
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