internship

Welcome to CITIC…

Jeff, , ,

Today was my second [first full] day working at China CITIC Bank. Before I go into the full details of my current situation, let me recount yesterday’s slew of events:

…I wake up at 7:20, eat breakfast, dress in a red polo short-sleeve shirt, khakis, and a brand new pair of brown leather shoes. After walking ten minutes to the bus stop, I get on the 701 bus, which is already jam-packed. Although my destination, Dong Si Shi Tiao (东四十条), is only 15 minutes away, by the time I get off the bus, the back of my shirt is already soaked, and I’m sweating bullets by the second. Not the best way to stop off your first day at work. A brisk 500 meters later, I find myself in front of CITIC’s headquarters, which is located in a building complex called the Fu Hua Manor (富华大厦). There, I am greeted by Zhou Hua, my dad’s friend and my contact person at CITIC. He and my father both attended Ren Min University, where his father was my father’s professor (small world, indeed). Mr. Zhou is the head of the International Banking department at CITIC’s HQ, and is currently managing over 20 people. Coincidentally, one of my dad’s classmates from Ren Min, Sun Jianlin, is also at CITIC, and he is the head of the Credit Management department, which happens to be right across the hall on the same floor! After giving me a brief tour of the office, Mr. Zhou put me under the guidance of Yu Yong, who leads the [[代理]] group, of which I will be an interim member for the next few weeks. I was introduced to the other members of the group, Hu Xiao and Qin Ru, both women in their late 20s/early 30s, and spent the majority of the morning looking over the Bank’s 2008 Annual Report. In doing so, I was able to gain a basic understanding of the company. I was surprised, for example, that despite the financial crisis that left many banks around the world in ruin, CITIC was able to pull in 13 billion RMB in profits. Pretty impressive for a commercial bank that was only established 22 years ago. In fact, CITIC was a relatively small bank for almost two decades after its founding until it went public in 2007. Since then, the Bank has grown rapidly, with profits increasing by 40% and 60% over the past 2 years respectively. To be technical, China CITIC Bank is now part of a larger conglomerate known as CITIC Group, which holds a 60% stake in the Bank. The other 40% is owned by Banco Bilbal Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA) and HK Securities Clearing Company Nominees Ltd. Although the Bank still doesn’t compare to the size of China’s Big Four banks, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB), and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), CITIC is a competitive force in the industry, and it has demonstrated great potential for growth. (In case you are curious, CITIC used to stand for “China International Trust and Investment Company,” but like “SAT,” is now a dead acronym)…

Things were going smoothly until after lunch, when I suddenly noticed that I was terribly out of dress code. Everyone else was in formal attire: suit pants, black shoes, white collared shirts. I needed to get my hands on a suit, and fast. After calling Fan Wei and hurrying home to grab money and change into more comfortable clothes, I headed out for the second time that day—this time to Sogo, a modern shopping center with a wide selection of men’s formal wear. Along the way, I realize, much to my disgust, that my new shoes had caused four huge blisters on the back of my feet. Great. I needed another pair of shoes.

The next couple of hours consisted of my fruitlessly wandering from store to store in hopes of finding a suit that: (1) Fit, (2) Had two buttons (While Westerners like the two-button suit, Chinese businessmen prefer the three-button, as it makes you look more powerful), (3) Didn’t have pinstripes (I already have a three-button pinstripe suit), and most importantly, (4) Didn’t break the bank. If there’s one phrase that summarizes my shopping experience, regardless of whether I am in the U.S. or China, it is “size unavailable.” Back home, I usually resort to ordering all my clothes online, but in China, I have no such luxury and end up visiting every store before either giving up or getting lucky. (Honestly, I find it a bit strange that I am considered abnormally skinny even in China). Anyway, here’s how a typical visit to a men’s formalwear store might go:

Me: Hi, I’m looking for a suit that fits me.

Clerk (doubtful look): Here…try this on. [Hands me smallest size available in store]

Me: It’s too big.

Clerk: We could tailor it for you. What’s your waist size?

Me: 2’1’’

Clerk (involuntary eye popping/stare/double take/neck spasm): 2’1’’!? We don’t have that size…but we could tair it for you.

Me: Wait, how much does it cost for tailoring?

Clerk: 2000 RMB (~$300), and it’ll take a month.

Me (glancing at hefty 8000 RMB price tag, which only includes the jacket): Erm…no. I think I’ll pass…Plus, I don’t have a month, I have 12 hours.

OR ALTERNATIVELY:

Me (tired of introductions): Do you have anything for a 2’1’’ waist?

Clerk: Yes!

Me (involuntary display of bewilderment): You do?

[After trying on suit]

Me: Wow, this is perfect. How much for the suit?

Clerk: Well, we’re doing a special promotion this month. Everything is 20% off, plus an additional 10% off for buying the whole piece…all in all, 3200 RMB (~$470).

Me (-.-): Ugh.

[I had only brought 3000 RMB with me to China, all of which I had with me at the moment. Not to mention that I still needed shoes and a shirt]

Anyway, this is how things went for the better part of two hours. We were about to give up completely when suddenly struck gold at the last shop we decided to look at: a two-button black suit uniquely textured with subtle diagonal lines that fit like a charm. And the best part of all? The price tag: 1800 RMB (~$265). They even threw in a free shirt to boot! My cousin and I exchanged high fives. Within 10 minutes, I settled the deal and walked out with suit in hand. We couldn’t get over how good of a deal it was. I, for one, was fairly certain that I wouldn’t be able to tailor a suit in the U.S. for $250, not to mention the free dress shirt. Compared to the suit, picking out shoes turned out ot be a piece of cake. I ended up buying a pair of contemporary semi-formal dress shoes for 550 RMB. Not a steal, but not bad, either.

[Flash Forward: Tuesday Afternoon]

As part of the Financial Institutions Group, I spent the morning calling CITIC’s 30 branches located in all provinces of China. My job was to make sure that several overdue reports would be delivered to HQ ASAP. Although I initially found this task a bit daunting, with the language barrier being my primary obstacle, I quickly got the hang of it after the first couple of calls. By noon, I had called all but two banks (which were on break due to different operating hours), and had gained an adequate understanding of basic bank jargon in Chinese. I’ve discovered that as scary as overcoming an language barrier may be, I can never improve my skills unless I go ahead and try. Sure, I stumbled from time to time and had to struggle a bit to find the right words, but at the end of the day, I got the job done, and my confidence in my Chinese was higher than ever. A few people I contacted even asked me my name (您贵姓？), which made me feel pretty darn special. I guess they thought I was just another fellow CITIC employee. I wonder what they would think if they found out I was actually a high school graduate from the U.S. 😛

Grandma’s House = No Internet

Jeff, , ,

After a week of rest (but really not, since I had to help my cousin move into her new apartment,  as well as accompany her while she traveling around the city making plans for her wedding) at my uncle’s house, my aunt and uncle helped me transport all my luggage to my [maternal] grandparent’s house, where I will be staying for the remainder of my time in Beijing. My aunt and I joked that we had done so much moving this week that would should start a family business.

My grandparents live just inside the third ring on the city’s east side, a fairly convenient location as far as commuting goes. Traveling to CITIC, where I start working next Monday, is a mere 20 minutes away by bus. Grandpa and grandma live in a two bedroom apartment not too far away from the Beijing Lufthansa Shopping Center (Yan Sha). About five years ago, they decided to purchase the adjacent one bedroom suite and connect it to the original suite, so now, the place is pretty spacious. It is also more convenient for my grandparents, since they can accommodate guests more easily. Recently, due to my grandpa’s health problems, my grandma has “moved in” with him to the newer suite. As a matter of habit, however, I am still staying in the guest room on the apartment’s older side. Truth be told, I’ve stayed at my grandparent’s so often over the past few summers that aside from Lawrenceville, their apartment, and the guest room in particular, has become my home away from home. The only downside is that in this age of rapid technological growth, the apartment is still without internet connection. However, I’m not going to complain too much, since it gives me more time to read, write (offline) blog entries, and other more productive activities. Besides, I’ll most likely be able to access the internet during weekdays while I’m at CITIC.

My room at my grandparents' apartment My only major concern at the moment is mosquitoes. In the past, I’ve had some nasty encounters while staying in Beijing. This year, I’ve only been bitten once, and I hope to keep it that way. If things start to get bad, I may have to start burning incense every night, a measure I have resorted to in years past.

Hello World!

Jeff, , 2 Comments

OK, so I know the title is a bit clichéd, but it’s been a while since I last started a website, and the first post is always something special. The reason I started this blog was mainly to give my life some focus. To put things in perspective, it’s been over a month since high school has ended, one month since giving my valedictory to a much downsized Lawrenceville community (Swine ’09, need I say more?), one month since saying goodbye to friends whom I may not see for another year or so (though hopefully sooner). So how did I end up spending my June? Well, to sum it up: DotA, anime, online shopping, guitar, more DotA. I finally got so disgusted with my lifestyle that I ended up uninstalling Warcraft III for the sixth time in my life, although it probably won’t be the last. But in retrospect, my summer thus far has not been totally unproductive. I did keep a strict workout regimen for the first 3 weeks. Unfortunately, this ended abruptly because I had to get my wisdom teeth removed, a process I don’t feel like talking about at the moment. I have also made $300 + $750 from tutoring and building a website, respectively, and even with my impulsive spending, I still have around $2.5k in the bank, which isn’t terrible. Maybe I should start investing in stocks…

This Saturday, I head for Beijing. I cannot being to describe how excited I am. Although this is a trip I make almost every summer, this year is special for several reasons. First, the H1N1 breakout has significantly delayed my trip (I was supposed to leave in early June), so my usual excitement and anxiety has been building up continuously for a month now. This, coupled with the fact that I have not been able to exercise much for the past 10 days because of my wisdom teeth, has made me one jittery person. Second, I get to attend my cousin Fan Wei’s wedding. Being the youngest (by far) even in my extended family, I’m not very close to most of my cousins, except for Fan Wei, whom I hang out with every summer. She’s a teacher at a very prestigious elementary school in Beijing. I haven’t met her fiancé yet though…This is the first wedding I will have ever attended, so I am quite excited. Given that it is a Chinese wedding, everything is sure to be very grandiose, but there is something about that atmosphere that I find very appealing. Third, I’m interning for one of my father’s colleagues at CITIC, one of the largest state-owned banks in China. I will be working in the International Banking department. According to my dad, the work is boring, but I’m excited to pick up some experience in actual commercial banking. Depending on how things work out, I may have the opportunity to intern or at least take a look at an investment bank, which would be amazing. All in all, I hope my trip to China will be a good balance of work and play.

I will be sure to blog regularly while I’m in Beijing, although I don’t get internet at my grandparent’s house >.<. Until then, I’ll be spending the last few days of my time in the U.S. tweaking my new blog. Please leave a comment and drop by once in a while!