Seth M. Law and Dr. Grant Schultz, Civil and Environmental Engineering

In the past couple of years the dean of the school of engineering and technology has shown increased interest in global involvement for students. He wants us to gain a better edge in an increasingly global world. About a year and a half ago, Dean Parkinson (dean of the college of engineering) gave a college lecture on that subject. At the time I had recently returned from my mission, and it sparked particular interest in me. My family and I enjoy traveling, and world cultures have always been interesting to me. The dean of my college was now exhorting me to gain global experience so that I would be better prepared for an increasingly global economy.

I approached Dr. Schultz last October initially because of both his and my interest in China, as well as the seemingly-personal prodding from the dean of the college of engineering to “go global”. Dr. Schultz and I met in order to find out better what he had in mind for his China “Transportation Challenges in a Global Environment” course. In the course, Dr. Schultz would travel with his students to China’s biggest cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. I had initially planned on traveling to Chengdu, China, because my brother was living there, and would serve as translator. As Dr. Schultz and I visited, however, we decided that although Chengdu has interesting transportation projects, it would be better if we could make contacts with professors and professionals in Shanghai. Chengdu became less and less appealing for this project, and we decided instead that I would go to Shanghai to speak with transportation professionals there.

My first week in Shanghai was difficult. I did not speak the language, and I did not know the city. I spoke with members of the LDS church that I met in China, but couldn’t find a lead there. My biggest breakthrough came from one contact we had made while still in the United States. Mr. Huang, ZhaoYi, a former transportation professor at Tongji University, and he was willing to help our project. He had many years of experience in transportation and knew people in almost every branch of transportation planning and development in Shanghai. He was able to introduce me to the following people,

• Lin, ZhiYong works with the Maglev train. The Maglev train in Shanghai is the only commercial magnetic rail system in the world. It uses magnets to lift the train and propel it forward. It travels at a top speed of 431 km/hr, and takes passengers seven minutes to reach the airport from the connecting subway station—a distance of 30 km.
• Professor Lin, HangFei teaches urban design code at Tongji University.
• Wang, JianJun is a professional who works with the public transit sector of Shanghai transportation. He reorganizes bus routes according to ridership demand. There are over 10,000 buses in Shanghai that cover 1,011 different bus routes.
• Zhu, Xia works in the Shentong Group, a group which is in charge of several subway lines.
• Zhang, JianHua and Wang, Feng work in urban and highway planning code.
• Professor Xu, RuiHua teaches rail transportation at Tongji University. China is currently working on high-speed rail systems from Shanghai to Beijing, and from Shanghai to Hangzhou, a nearby resort city.

Another one of my breakthroughs came from a member of the LDS church who was teaching English at Tongji University. The following series of events demonstrate the complex networking system used in China, referred to as “guanxi”. First, I spoke with a friend in my home ward about my going to Shanghai, and he told me that his nephew lives and works in Shanghai. I contacted the nephew, who, in turn, introduced me to Ray Harrison, an English teacher at Tongji University. By introduction of Brother Harrison, I met two engineering students that were willing to help me on the project. Through one of the students, I was able to meet a Tongji University student studying transportation. By way of introduction from the transportation student, I was able to meet his professor. Professor Du, YuChuan, a professor of Intelligent Transportation Systems at Tongji University. His research most recently deals with implementing Variable Message Signs into the highway to help decrease congestion. These electronic signs are put in place to help alert drivers to congestion in the road ahead. Professor Du organized for me to visit the Control Center in Shanghai, where professionals monitor 110 km of Shanghai highway. The control Center is not open to the public, but because I knew Professor Du they allowed me the visit.

During this project, I learned that it takes the Lord’s help to realize worthy goals. There were many times, especially in the first week, that I felt overwhelmed by the task. As I would pray, however, I would feel calm and confident, and a way would open up which allowed me to contact this person or that person, and make the project a success. I learned much more about the guanxi than I ever would while reading and talking about it in a classroom.

Looking back, I would have tried harder to meet with Huang, ZhaoYi earlier. Had I met with Dr. ZhaoYi when I first arrived in Shanghai, instead of a few days later, I would have been able to meet with other contacts much sooner. I didn’t realize how big of a help Dr. ZhaoYi would be in finding contacts. Chinese professionals tend to keep in contact because of guanxi. I thought that I would have to search out people in every branch of transportation without outside assistance. Because of guanxi, however, once you meet one person, you basically know all of their friends too.

The project started with an idea which found support and direction, and ended up giving me global experience. Dr. Schultz and his future students will be able to use the contacts I made for greater global education and experience. This project will have a lasting impact on me, and future BYU students.