March-July 2015
We were in Anhui Province, China, consulting with schools, factories, and colleges on Entrepreneurship & Innovation by understanding American culture and values. China is an open market for ideas, projects, and joint ventures that align with their cultural ethos. The cultural exchange from this experience was fabulous. Meeting with Chinese high school teachers, students, college professors, business owners, entrepreneurs, musicians and people from other walks of life made me realize we all want the same things--mutual respect, happiness, health, safety and personal economic stability. Being competitive in a global economy also requires students and employees to be proficient at cultural competence. True cultural competence is when you become the “other.” Living and thriving in a culture that isn’t defined by yours requires one to attempt to adopt the language and the food of the other culture. Once there is cultural integration of sorts, then there comes an understanding preceding the integration. Without the understanding there cannot be integration. Understanding isn’t toleration but admiration. What we admire we integrate.
Anhui is known for its mountainous regions. The famous Huang Shan (yellow mountain-or the mountain of dreams) in southern Anhui Province is breathtakingly beautiful. Local legend has it that during the Tang dynasty, emperor Xuanzong was thought to have made his pills of immortality there. There are 72 peaks with numerous waterfalls, the peaks tower above 5,900 feet. It is a magical place where you might see monkeys, black deer, exotic birds that live among the bamboo, and gnarly trees growing out of rocks.
Not far from Huang Shan there are two very interesting villages, the first is Hong Village where the movie, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was filmed. Hong Village was first built during the Southern Hong Dynasty about 900 years ago. During the Ming dynasty, Wang Siqi a retired governmental official, hired a famous fengshui expert to come and review the layout of the village which resulted in the addition of a lake and water channels flowing through nearly every household with in the village. The famous Hui architecture can be seen there as well.
We were in Anhui Province, China, consulting with schools, factories, and colleges on Entrepreneurship & Innovation by understanding American culture and values. China is an open market for ideas, projects, and joint ventures that align with their cultural ethos. The cultural exchange from this experience was fabulous. Meeting with Chinese high school teachers, students, college professors, business owners, entrepreneurs, musicians and people from other walks of life made me realize we all want the same things--mutual respect, happiness, health, safety and personal economic stability. Being competitive in a global economy also requires students and employees to be proficient at cultural competence. True cultural competence is when you become the “other.” Living and thriving in a culture that isn’t defined by yours requires one to attempt to adopt the language and the food of the other culture. Once there is cultural integration of sorts, then there comes an understanding preceding the integration. Without the understanding there cannot be integration. Understanding isn’t toleration but admiration. What we admire we integrate.
Anhui is known for its mountainous regions. The famous Huang Shan (yellow mountain-or the mountain of dreams) in southern Anhui Province is breathtakingly beautiful. Local legend has it that during the Tang dynasty, emperor Xuanzong was thought to have made his pills of immortality there. There are 72 peaks with numerous waterfalls, the peaks tower above 5,900 feet. It is a magical place where you might see monkeys, black deer, exotic birds that live among the bamboo, and gnarly trees growing out of rocks.
Not far from Huang Shan there are two very interesting villages, the first is Hong Village where the movie, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was filmed. Hong Village was first built during the Southern Hong Dynasty about 900 years ago. During the Ming dynasty, Wang Siqi a retired governmental official, hired a famous fengshui expert to come and review the layout of the village which resulted in the addition of a lake and water channels flowing through nearly every household with in the village. The famous Hui architecture can be seen there as well.