In October 2019 I moved to Shenyang in China to become the Design General Manager for Renault-Jinbei vehicles (RBJAC Company, a joint-venture with Renault).
I do not hide the fact that I was very excited to leave and very scared to do it!
It is always very difficult, at my age, to leave what you have for something you do not know at all. More than that, it is hard to quit your nice comfort zone.
At the same time if you want to accomplish in life relevant experiences you must quit your comfort zone, you must go, and this is what I did.
Today is the 25th of December 2019 and while I am writing I remember that, here in China, there is no Christmas holidays…so no days off for me, I am working just like all my colleagues here. (Do not worry I will take my short vacation during the Chinese Spring Festival).
I am very satisfied of my living conditions, I am based in downtown and walking distance I have almost all necessary shops and stores. Here lots of shopping malls in which I can find everything, it is also nice to walk around and discover lots of restaurants, too. Main train station is also close to where I live, and it makes easy when I have to travel with the high speed train to go to Tianjin.
What I see here is the will of growing more and better as a Country, what I mean is the engagement & energy everybody is putting in going to work every day included Saturdays and sometimes also Sundays (it happens to me too). I guess it is one of Chinese secrets of success, to grow fast thanks to the people’s daily commitment.
So, here you can decide to change a front-end design on your model and 24 hours later you have the new one on your clay model. This is a small example of what we can do here without colleagues protests or resistance or time schedule changes. If you need 3D Printing parts no problem, the service is reliable and fast, same thing if you need to update your Alias model with important modifications. The changes will be implemented fast and very well, too.
The Chinese food, in this part of China, is particularly tasty and not expensive. However, if I feel like eating Italian or French food no problem to find very good restaurants with Italians or French people working there. Now I already have few references restaurants.
I can say that I am having a great start in this new experience.
It is a different life compared to the one I had in Europe. The daily speed is different, the overall timing spent at work is longer, the opportunities to apply changes respecting the planning is a reality, the high cold temperature is also a reality (here we can touch -20°). Wechat application on our smartphones help us to be in touch with colleagues, friends & family (just like Watsup). I can pay using my telephone, and to find a taxi or a driver it is easy and fast, too.
