Edit – June 9th, 2023: see here to discover more about Qingdao and this trip!
Edit – June 12th, 2023: Check out the Video here!
In this Post I would like to talk about Team Building activities, a common event for workers and companies here in China.
This Post should give some insights about cultural differences between China and Europe (or, at least, Italy) in terms of working environment and habits.
Of course, this Post will only cover this aspect in a very basic and superficial way. We will have time in the future for further and deeper insights.
Edit: see here to discover more about Qingdao and this trip!
January 2020, Changshu 常熟
Working culture and environment in China can be quite different from what we are used to in Europe. One key difference in this huge and fast-developing country is the incredibly high employee turnover rate.
Due to strong economic growth many companies expand their activities and new positions are constantly opened. The best employees frequently receive many competitive job offers: this brings companies to develop strategies for Talent Retention.
I discovered this idea during January 2020, at the very beginning of Covid pandemic. I was pleased to take part into one of these periodical events – a Team Building Dinner.
Delicious food apart (you can see it in the picture), the FKM Production Unit Manager explained the goal of this event to me. It is supposed to increase People Engagement, to thank them for their Contribution and to encourage Networking (guanxi in Chinese, a fundamental part of this culture).
Alcohol plays a very important role in this kind of events. As a new person (and as a foreigner), people pushed me to drink a lot – really a lot – Bái Jiǔ 白酒. This beverage is a white very strong alcoholic spirit, distilled from sorghum or maize. Its name literally means “White Liquor”. I suffered all night long, after the dinner. However, everyone was fresh and cool by the following early morning (at work).
Even though companies in Europe (and especially in my country, Italy) do not suffer so much for high employee turnover, I would be happy to see this kind of events more frequently. This really helps people to feel part of something bigger, instead of considering their job only as something to do for a monthly paycheck.
Here a short LinkedIn article I wrote about this in January, 2020.
Note: 2020 – 2023 have been years full with uncertainties, so everything slowed down. This refers both to Team Building activity and to employees’ mobility, due to fewer job openings compared to the past. Let’s hope things will be back to normal soon!
June 2023 – Qingdao 青岛
This time the Team Building activity is much more extended than a (nice) dinner.
Actually, I am writing this post while travelling in a packed (as usual) high-speed train from Shanghai to Qingdao.
High-speed train D2160 (starting from Ningbo, Zhejiang, and reaching Qingdao, Shandong) covers the distance separating Shanghai from Qingdao, around 750 km, in a 5 hours 10 minutes ride.
Its route is roughly parallel to eastern chinese coastline, swiftly running through green countryside.
As I said many times already, China is Big!
High-Speed Trains in China are called gāotiě 高铁, literally “high metal”. This differentiates them from slower, green-painted huǒchē 火车, literally “fire vehicles”. The chinese words clearly comes from old times, when old-style steam locomotives (producing steam with fire, after all) where the norm.
The company (Solvay) offers this 4-day trip to all Changshu Site employees. This activity involves everyone, from the Site Director to Site Operators.
We could choose between this destination and Lishui, a relaxing town immersed in the natural area of Zhejiang mountains and surrounded by rice terraces.
I chose Qingdao because I wanted to visit this city for long. It is home of the famous Tsingtao Beer, commonly found also in the West. If you have ever drank beer in any Chinese, Japanese, Fusion restaurants in Europe, chances are that you already tried that.
Note that Qingdao and Tsingtao are the same city. In Mandarin, in fact, “Q” is pronounced similarly to “Ts”. This brings us to this transliteration ambiguity.
Another funny story: when I was a child, I was passionate about dinosaurs (like many kids). I used to read so many books, and I found a dinosaur called Tsingtaosaurus, I still remember it after so many years. It was called after a mysterious city called Tsingtao, so far away from my hometown.
I could not imagine how this city could look (especially when I was a child in the 90’s, before the explosive chinese economic growth).
Well, I will see it soon. But for now I have these pictures from the trip program, that I would like to share with you. I feel excited, honestly.
Qingdao 青岛 is a seaside city in Eastern Shandong Province.
The city’s name in Chinese characters literally means “Azure Island”. Located on China’s Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that connects Asia with Europe.
Together with surrounding urban districts, it has a population of around 7.2 million people, making it the 15th largest city in China by population.
We will have the opportunity to visit the city and the surroundings. We will also climb up to Laoshan Mountain (1133 m above sea level). Hope to find a good weather and a beautiful view like the one in the Stock Photo above 😄.
Here below the trip program. I am sure it will be a nice experience.
I will try to write something during these days. However, I am afraid I will not be able to do so, because Chinese activities and trips tend to be very packed and tightly-scheduled. This means that I will probably have not much free time to write other Posts (which, I can guarantee you, is a much more time-consuming activity than I expected before starting this Blog).
See you soon for new Posts!
Alessio
Edit – June 9th, 2023: see here to discover more about Qingdao and this trip!
Edit – June 12th, 2023: Check out the Video here!
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