Day 10 – Bird’s Nest and Capital Bio

by Plus3 China as experienced by Rosalyn

I’m so happy that the worst of the pollution haze was on our first day. These past few days it has been wonderful to see clear blue skies; it makes my photos look much prettier. This morning we were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather and visit the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube. We ran out of time to go inside the Water Cube, but we spent a while in the Bird’s Nest. Its architecture is stunning from far away but just as cool up close.

The best part of the day was riding a Segway on the track. About 2/3 of us paid the 100RMB to ride around the track for 20 minutes. It was my first Segway experience. When I first got my Segway it was pretty fast and I was having a great time zipping along. But after my first lap they stopped me and made me switch onto a slower one. Later we walked around outside and go to see the outside of the Water Cube. We ate a rushed lunch and quickly went back to the hotel to change for our second company visit.

Capital Bio said that their major goal is to facilitate research and develop that into commercial success. Their clients are large and small companies that buy Capital Bio’s equipment for research or medical applications.

The first thing we were shown was the tissue library of the Chinese bone marrow donor program.  Capital Bio analyzes the genotypes of the blood cells, and then when someone needs a transplant; find a match from the donors. The large database of genotypes allows for statistical study because they also have detailed health records from the donors. They can figure out, statistically, who is susceptible to certain diseases. Capital Bio doesn’t make money doing this project; they do it for the social benefit and to keep a good relationship with the government.

Our tour guide was obviously very intelligent and so quotable! He gave this quote, “Even in the darkest times, it is impossible for everyone to lose money. Someone will make money.” He gave us information relevant to us as students, and as future professionals. He and Dr. Gao related their observations of American and Chinese engineers. They agreed that the Chinese engineers have an attitude of “if someone else has done it before, I can do it.” Americans think “if no one has done it, then I will do it.” I took this as the Americans being more arrogant, but it probably also has to do with the different education styles of the two countries. From what I’ve learned, compared to the Chinese, American students are encouraged to be more creative.

While talking to us in a circular conference room, his cell phone went off and his ringtone was Frank Sinatra! That was unexpected.

Right after getting back from Capital Bio, we again rushed to change and then headed to the subway station for an hour and half commute to the south-eastern part of Beijing for a Kung Fu show. The show was more of a dramatized play than I was expecting it to be. I’d thought it was going to be demonstrations of Kung Fu.  It included those things and was entertaining; it was just a bit cheesy at times.