Travelling and more: Day 4 and 5: Chamber of Commerce, Embassy, Clubbing and strange food!

I have had two really interesting days full of company visits, lectures and interesting people. But also new cultural insights and a visit to a club were part of the plan.

We had a lecture on consumer behavior from a Chinese marketing teacher and would we should be aware of when marketing products in the Chinese Market. We learned that Chinese used to love buying very expensive and exclusive stuff (all luxury brands that you can imagine) and that showing status is much more important in China than in Europe. People here have a greater entrepreneurial spirit and seek for financial successes in order to satisfy materialistic needs mostly. This is totally different to the European lifestyle of creating self-esteem, self-actualization and buying "joy and experiences".

The Austrian Chamber of Commerce gave us a great and humorous presentation about the challenges for Austrian companies in the Chinese market. The two presenters were keen to provide us details from an Austrian perspective. Finally we can now compare between the Chinese and the Austrian view about the development of China. The meeting at the Austrian embassy was in a rather comfy atmosphere and focused mainly on the automotive industry which is one of the biggest drivers of China's economy. After this long day we went to the club... and that was pretty amazing!

Good clubs in China are extremely expensive. However, one of my colleagues has good contacts and we could get in for free. Furthermore, European people usually get in for free anyway (as I was told).

We would have had to pay 6000 € (yes it is really 6 k) for two small tables without seats and without any drinks. Luckily we did not even have to pay for drinks since one bottle of liqueur (and I am not kidding here) is 300 €. In the middle of the dance hall there was a stage and there were different shows all the time. We had really a lot of fun there and were observed by the Chinese clubbers with great curiosity. Since we had a tight schedule today as well, we were not drinking much and left a reasonable time to enjoy the next day as well.

The next day we visited BMW and had presentation (it really seems to me that it is all about the automotive industry in China) and a Chinese automotive supplier. Interesting to me where the two different forecasts from these companies. So BMW forecasts a rapidly growing market for electric vehicles whereas the supplier does not believe in a great growth rates in the electric vehicle market. In any case, electric vehicle owners in China have more privileges such as prioritized parking spaces.

In another meeting, Raimund Löw (ORF correspondent) told us about Chinese media and his work in Beijing. We had the opportunity to ask him a lot about his experiences in dealing with the vast media landscape in China. Furthermore he compared the challenges between working in Europe and China in his position.

Strange food in China: I tasted starfish and snake, but some people even tried Seahorse and Scorpions. Have a look on the pictures and make your own judgement :)

Snake tastes a bit like chicken and starfish smells like any other fish but the meed looks really different. Anyway, have a look below!