Business China and its Youth Chapter (BCYC) hosted a group of 20 students from Yuanpei College, Peking University (PKU) from 31 January to 7 February 2018. During their 7-day stay, the PKU students visited several corporations and cultural sites, from which they acquired a better understanding of Singapore’s history, corporate environment, as well as our country’s political culture and multi-ethnic social fabric. This is the fifth year BCYC is playing host.
Corporate Visits
A range of visits across the financial, legal, logistics and real estate sectors were lined up for the PKU students. Among which, DBS representatives shared about how it is adopting a design-thinking approach to better fulfill customers’ needs and its role in facilitating the growth of the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) market in Singapore and China. Rajah and Tann Singapore LLP, on the other hand, introduced its operations across Asia. Subsequently, the BCYC members and PKU students visited other corporations such as Forchn International/EC World REIT, Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which gave them a myriad of insights into Singapore’s business landscape.
Understanding Singapore
On top of corporate visits, the PKU students also visited the Singapore Parliament House and the Supreme Court. They had the privilege to attend and observe the Meet-the-People session hosted by Ms Sun Xueling, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC and CEO of Business China, where they gained a fresh perspective of Singapore’s approach towards political and social governance.
Accompanied by members of the Business China Youth Chapter, PKU students also visited the Chinatown Heritage Centre and Peranakan Museum to learn about the history and distinct culture of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia.
Interaction
With Singapore’s reputation as a food heaven, the BCYC excited the taste buds of PKU students with renowned local dishes such as Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bak Kut Teh, Chilli Crab and Laksa.
Besides enjoying the Singapore flavor, the BCYC and PKU students participated in a formal interaction session. The BCYC members kicked off the session with a presentation themed “Eight things that you might not know of China”, in which they shared learning points from the 2017 BCYC China Learning Journey where they visited various Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Suzhou and Xiamen. PKU students on the other hand, shared their thoughts and analyses of what they have observed are the differences between Singapore and China in housing and education policies, among others. The interaction session and time spent together across the 7-day journey has deepened both BCYC and PKU students’ understanding of each other’s countries and fostered closer ties between the youths.
If you are interested to join Business China Youth Chapter, please email bcyc@businesschina.org.sg.