The cubicle culture article mentions likeability and competence, but both help one get hired. If a hiring manager doesn’t like you, he’s looking for a reason to not hire you. If he likes you, he’s looking for a reason to hire you. After getting the job, show what you can do, don’t brag about it. Annoying your co-workers can backfire. When one needs to make others aware of his competence he should do it without coming across as annoying.

I’m thinking about putting the trip to China on my resume and I like the tips given for marketing it. It’s also a great differentiating experience to bring up in an interview, especially if I explain how it adds value to my position.

I found the relationship between the business men and their Chinese stakeholders played out. Many times the business men would appear as if they did not trust the Chinese they were working with or had to fight for certain things to be done for their business to succeed. Though that is the way business can be in general, having to deal with people that not only speak a different language but are of a completely different culture makes it even more complicated.

I would like to see some sort of follow-up on these stories, are they still up and running and have they run into any major problems since?

I agree that we need to keep an open mind about China. Like Pan expressed in the interview, China is different from what Americans believe it to be. The government is not planning a great scheme to pull the table cloth out from under the United States, nor is it trying to take over the world — the government is, at the moment, just trying to maintain power.

What type of a person has the best chance of eliminating or curbing issues like these? In this situation, the general manager wasn’t afraid to lead by example. His actions led to servers willingly cleaning. The reason why this turned into a great example of how to get employees follow instructions, is because the general manager was willing to scrub right along side the servers. When he had slow points in his day where he had nothing to do, he would clean the dirtiest thing he could find.

Although this may not work in large-scale situations, it worked in a small business. I believe that it is always important to understand what the repercussions of instructions are on the people that have to carry them out. The general manager knew that cleaning a restaurant is not easy work, and if he showed employees that he would do it then they would have no excuse not to join in themselves.

From watching the videos, anyone can see there is an obvious disconnect among the government in China and the needs of its provinces. The overarching problem in both of these cases is the disconnect between the top (the Chinese government or the restaurant owner) and the needs or goals of the bottom. Massive oversupply of new development will boost the GDP now, but this is creating a large problem for the future. In an attempt to keep a false sense of growth, the government has ignored the fact that these buildings are not being populated, nor will they be any time in the near future. Will China be able to escape the looming pop of the bubble? Only the future can answer such a question.

Perhaps a follow question is warranted, “What would be your priorities regarding other nations and foreign relations?” It would be interesting to see a sample of those responses and how they relate to the answers given to the prior question.

These events enabled the Chinese Government to move forward with far less opposition than if the events had not occurred, thus allowing for the “deal with the devil.” This deal of overlooking political oppression made way for China’s economic miracle. Although the uprising that took place at Tiananman Square struck chords with all facets of the Chinese people, the government nearly erased the events from the memories of China’s youth today. When shown a picture of the iconic image of the “Tank Man,” one student of the University of Beijing responds, “Is this a joke? Did you make that image?” This goes to show that while China has succeeded economically, the government has achieved its goal of suppressing the flow of information and squashing any inclinations to rise up against the state.

As far as the two protesting groups that were present at Tiananman Square, I don’t think the government’s goal at the time was to suppress these groups, however the results of the massacre ended up doing just that. In the end, I believe that Tiananman Square plays a crucial role in China’s history. Although forgotten by its young citizens, the effects of the massacre still resound through China today.

There are several moments in the clip where the parade looks almost toy-like. The slow motion additions of the tanks rolling by reiterate the role of China’s government. Amidst dancing and bright colors, the government’s presence still exists.