Engineering: Connecting Cosmos & Consciousness - Groep T
Engineering: Connecting Cosmos & Consciousness - Groep T
Engineering: Connecting Cosmos & Consciousness - Groep T
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
perceives more<br />
In Suzhou (the Venice of China), Flemish and Chinese students made<br />
dumplings together and played football. The visit to Xi’an of course<br />
included the Terracotta army of the first Chinese emperor (the eighth<br />
wonder of the world), but also the old town centre with the Muslim<br />
quarter and the famous DeFaChang dumpling restaurant. A cycling<br />
trip on the city wall concluded this visit. The Electromechanics students<br />
who, as explained above, were visiting Chengdu for the first<br />
time were impressed by the cordial reception at the UESTC partner<br />
university. Also the giant panda nursery visit is etched in memory.<br />
The Electromechanics students in Chongqing not only visited the old<br />
Chinese town Ciqihou, but also ventured out on a few cruises on the<br />
Danning and the Yangtze rivers.<br />
After a week, all groups met in Beijing, where they were hosted by<br />
BJTU and the University of Science and Technology. The Forbidden<br />
City, the Lama Temple and the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace,<br />
Tienan’men Square, the Great Wall, the Olympic stadiums, Peking<br />
duck in the Quan JuDe restaurant, none of the classics were missing<br />
from the program. In Beijing, furthermore, the Chemists and Biochemists<br />
could fraternize with the Chinese students of the International<br />
Class of GROUP T at BJTU. They were visited there by GROUP T<br />
president Johan De Graeve.<br />
High-quality company visits<br />
The company visits, for the longest time the weak point of the China<br />
Journey, of the 12th edition were effectively solid and this was true<br />
for both the Chinese and the Western companies. The Chemistry and<br />
Biochemistry engineering students were received by Xi’an Janssen,<br />
one of the first joint ventures in China, founded in 1985 by Dr. Paul<br />
Janssen from the company by the same name Janssen Pharmaceutica.<br />
His name is still honored in Xi’an as the savior of the Terracotta Army.<br />
In Baoding, south of Beijing, the Chemistry and Biochemistry engineering<br />
students were guests for one day of Jingli Solar, one of the<br />
largest manufacturers of solar cells and panels in the world. In the<br />
meantime, the company has become widely known as the main sponsor<br />
for the previous Football World Cup in South Africa.<br />
“The China Journey has been<br />
considered the greatest and best<br />
learning experience at GROUP T.”<br />
The Electronics engineering students visited the Siemens Manufacturing<br />
and <strong>Engineering</strong> Center in Shanghai and then Technicolor and<br />
Rigol Electronics in Beijing. Finally, the Electromechanics engineering<br />
students went to the immense Baosteel in Shanghai, Atlas Copco<br />
in Wuxi and TianJin Xin He Shipbuilding Heavy Industry where the<br />
dredging ships of Jan De Nul are built.<br />
Confucius Institute at GROUP T<br />
If you are on a two-and-a-half week trip through China for the first<br />
time there is no getting around the culture shock. This is common<br />
knowledge. Much of what we have learned about China at home, at<br />
school or through the media, many of the ideas and images we have<br />
formed of it, once there, are proved incorrect because they are too<br />
one sided, too prejudiced or quite commonly entirely wrong. Stereotyping,<br />
especially at the start of the journey, stands in the way of an<br />
accurate perception. However, some preparation before leaving can<br />
remedy this. This is precisely the important contribution of the Confucius<br />
Institute at GROUP T for the welfare of the project. In the weeks<br />
leading up to departure, the institute organized a series of four sessions,<br />
a Taste of China, in which the future travelers to China were<br />
given an introduction in the Chinese language, culture, gastronomy,<br />
local (eating) habits and traditions. No academic discourse but practical<br />
and handy tips to be able to manage on your own as a newcomer<br />
in China. The most useful advice was probably this: open your mind<br />
– if possible empty it – so that you can perceive everything that comes<br />
at you in a detached and open-minded way. An open mind is ready<br />
to receive everything.<br />
Y.P.<br />
http://chinaproject.group-t.com<br />
jg. 20, nr. 3, 16 augustus 2011<br />
GROUP T - LEUVEN ENGINEERING COLLEGE<br />
11<br />
03183_INGENIEURS_Interview_3_20.indd 11 11/07/11 17:02