Everyday Life and Biking at Tsinghua University

One has to get used to every new place - this is also true for Tsinghua University, which has a n enormously huge campus covering over 2.6 square kilometers. Thus, the only reasonable way to get around is by bike. Given the fact that the university has about 30,000 students who only go by bike and about 15,000 faculty and staff who mostly go by bike, this results in about 40,000 bikes on campus. As a result, every bike would still have a generous space of about 65 square meters - unfortunately, the university has lots of parks and houses without bikes, which makes everything more concentrated...

The heavy bike traffic paired with aggressive buses and cars is something unusual for Western minds - nevertheless, after some weeks it becomes quite usual to be nearly hit by one bus a day...

Even though I only managed to grab a very light example of biking at Tsinghua on film, it still gives you an idea about how everyday life works here.

Switzerland - The World's Most Competitive Country

Despite current political turbulences concerning the introduction of one of the toughest immigration laws throughout Europe, Switzerland is still in a leading position when it comes to economic aspects.

Even though the country has always been at the forefront of international banking (over one third of the world's international portfolios is managed in Switzerland), it has now even become number one in terms of overall competitiveness, according to the World Economic Forum.

Nevertheless, the report shows some weaknesses in terms of the sixth pillar, which is market efficiency: the cheese, chocolate and banking nation's competitiveness would suffer from high costs of agricultural policy and trade barriers. This perfectly corresponds to my own experience and opinion: I think that Switzerland is one of the most interesting and competitive economic areas in the world. But it will need a reform of its agricultural policy and the still existing trade obstacles in order to keep its position of one of the leading world economies.

China is changing faster than ever before - everyone knows this but wait until you SEE it...

Four weeks ago, I started my exchange semester at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management, which is said to be China's most prestigious business school.

I am fascinated by the rapid both social and economic development of this country, which is truly unbelievable. The change can be seen and felt everyday in the changing faces of the largest cities Beijing and Shanghai but also in the growing self-confidence and openness of the Chinese people. They are willing and eager to challenge the largest global economies and I am sure they will prevail soon.

China is already the fourth largest ecomony in the world and has been able to sustain double-digit growth for several years now. And believe me, there is no sign that this will change soon.

With respect to exports, China is already number three worldwide (behind the US and Germany) and receives the second-largest amount of direct foreign investment (behind the US).

But all this data becomes negligible when you look at foreign currency reserves: China has by far the largest amount of curreny reserves. The country now holds nearly one trillion USD, mostly in US currency. In other words, US consumption is to a large extent financed by Chinese exports. China is the largest holder of US federal bonds which makes the US highly dependent on China. In case China would entirely change its currency reserves from USD into EUR, this would set the USD/EUR exchange rate at over 2 USD/EUR instantaneously...

This data and the last four weeks in my life have shown me, that for any internationally-operating company, China is not an option but a must. The sooner interntional companies begin to understand this country and adapt to its culture and rules, the sooner profits will materialize.

One comment on the fotos, which represent the current development in Beijing: the upper foto shows a traditional on-the-road bike repair shop, which is still common in the city. The foto below shows one of the growing number of high-end shopping malls specializing in designer clothing - you can find anything from Gucci to Burberry's there...