Een groep van 16 UvA/VU/HvA-studenten bereidt een reis voor naar het land van de onbegrensde groeimogelijkheden: China!

Na een geslaagde missie afgelopen januari naar de VS kan dit niet uitblijven en jullie mogen het meebeleven. THE FUTURE OF CHINA:  “When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” – John M. Richardson, Jr. 

On a cold Thursday evening, 17 November 2011, I went to a lecture by Henk Schulte Nordholt, on the future of China. The lecture was part of a series at CREA, consisting of four lectures and this evening would be the last part. So there I was, waiting for mister Nordholt like al the others interested in China. We waited and waited, and eventually mr Schulte Nordholt arrived a bit too late. He apologised and started off. 

In the earlier three lectures mister Schulte Nordholt had told the story of the Chinese past, but this lecture would be different, he told us. It was all about the future of China now. The big question of the evening was: Will China become a world power or an economical power? The answer to the question is quite subjective and there are a lot of different opinions on this. Nordholts vision was a bit different than expected. “China will not become an empire, but for sure it will become an economical great power”, was his statement. The problem lies in China’s shortage of soft power. First of all because a basis for empire building among the population is missing. China has never been a society in the western way of the word. There is no solidarity that goes further than the family. Chinese people are very individualistic. Second, China will not become an empire because it does not promote values and ideas that will address the whole world. Nordholts prediction about the future of international relations was, that we as World are reaching a multipolar state were no one country has lots of power.


Will China become a world power or an economical power? This question made me juice my brains, because is it not possible to be a world power and an economical great power at the same time? Why do you have to choose one? In my opinion China will become an economical great power, and yes, I also believe that China can become a world power. China is not spreading its values and ethics all over the world, but for China this task is not necessary. It is a fact that every year there are more Western students who want to study Chinese and learn more about the values and ethics of this country. If in the future the Western youth is still interested in China, there will be no problem for China to become a world power. But to be hones.. by looking into the future you can only make a prediction of what will happen; nothing more and nothing less. 

After a very successful study trip to the United States to discover the entrepreneurial drive of the Americans, the Amsterdam Centre for Entrepreneurship and 1&12 Ventures are thrilled to announce that a new group of 16 Student Entrepreneurs has started to prepare for a study trip in 2012, this time the destination will be CHINA!

China has emerged as an economic super power, forcing all players to consider new economic models. The growing significance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China’s economy is hard to ignore. So with the 16 of us we`ll discover what is going on in mighty China! www.the16studententrepreneurs.nl

Every week a blog of one of the 16 student entrepreneurs about the preparation of the trip. This week it’s Fanny Goedemans’ blog.