On 28 July, Business China roved into the campus of Ngee Ann Polytechnic and presented the C-Quotient Campus Series. Themed “Are you game to take on the rising East?”, this series aims to increase the China-Quotient(C-Quotient) amongst students. An invitation to this event was extended to Ngee Ann Polytechnic students who would be going to China for their Overseas Immersion Programme(OIP).
Ms Tan Siok Siok & Mr Will Ding were the two speakers invited to share their knowledge and experiences on China.
Previously a filmmaker who has worked with MediaCorp and the Discovery Channel in Singapore, Ms Tan is now an internet entrepreneur based in China. She founded portal Niurenku.com.
Showing a clip entitled ‘Boomtown Beijing’, she warned against outdated mindsets about China. She talked about the recent changes and advances in China, especially evident since the preparation for Beijing Olympics 2008. She moved on to explain how there was no ‘One China’, referring to a typical Singaporean’s tendency to stereotype any mainland Chinese as the same. She talked about generation gaps and the differing worldviews that the Chinese hold. This concluded her first point, that one should always curate their own perspective of China instead of relying on hearsay and stereotypes. She encouraged students to look to people who know more about China to find out more.
She also noted that Singaporeans might face difficulty adapting to the culture of ambiguity of the Chinese. Calling on her experiences to better illustrate her point, she explained that the Chinese had extremely low uncertainty avoidance and never dealt in absolutes.
The next speaker was Mr Ding, a mainland Chinese who is now a permanent resident in Singapore.
Highlighting examples on how China now owns Volvo and Hummer and that the Chinese had overtaken the Arabs and are the largest spenders at British luxury shops, he pointed out that China was growing, changing and advancing rapidly.
Like Ms Tan, Mr Ding also warned against stereotyping the Chinese and considering China as one entity. Mr Ding then discussed comparisons of the Chinese at different social levels and geographical locations; rich versus the poor, urban citizens versus rural citizens and Northern Chinese versus Southern Chinese. When comparing Northern and Southern Chinese, Mr Ding focused on Shanghai and Beijing, the only two major cities in China to have a GDP larger than Singapore’s. He talked about the differing qualities that each group exhibited; with those from Shanghai being more pragmatic and interested in fashion while those from Beijing being more generous and interested in politics.
Ms Tan is a Singaporean who has successfully penetrated the China market, and Mr Ding, a Chinese who has fully integrated into Singapore. Through this session, their views delivered diverse, yet objective perspectives, both of which valuable to anyone interested to take on the rising East.
Business China is set to bring on more exciting installments of C-Quotient Campus Series. Stay tuned to our website for upcoming sessions.