Harvard interns at COFCO

哈佛实习生在中粮

COFCO, a large State Chinese enterprise opens its door to five interns from America’s Harvard University.

大型央企中粮集团向来自美国哈佛大学的5名实习生敞开了大门。

To get to the COFCO Plaza at Chaoyangmen from Peking University by subway you have to change lines twice. And the trains are always so crowded, it’s a struggle to get on, let a lone a seat. All this summer, Mathew has had the problem every day.

从北京大学到朝阳门的中粮福临门大厦，需要换两次地铁。每个早高峰，人会多得挤不上车。 这个夏天的这一段路，成了Matthew最挠头的事。

As he complained to his mentor Liu Ping, the manager of the imported wines department at COFCO Wines and Spirits Co., Ltd, "There are so many people in China.” And although Mathew put in the hours learning about China before his arrival, he still feels like a fish out of water.

“中国人太多了。”Matthew对他的导师—中粮酒业有限公司进口酒市场推广部经理刘萍小小地抱怨。来中国实习之前他做了很多准备，但有些事情一时还是感到难以适应。

Back in May, Matthew, a junior student who majors in history and microeconomics at Harvard University, attended a campus recruitment fair sponsored by the Harvard China Fund. Since 2006, the fund has made financial help available to Harvard teachers in China . It also finances Harvard students who want to find out more about Chinese enterprises.

5月的美国马萨诸塞州哈佛大学校园里，历史与微观经济学专业的三年级本科生Matthew，被一则落款为哈佛大学中国基金的实习招聘吸引了。该学术风投基金从2006年起，一直在资助哈佛大学教师在中国的活动，并为哈佛学生提供接触中国企业的机会。

Chi Jintao, COFCO’s Director of Human Resources, thought that the Harvard China Fund would be “a good opportunity for COFCO to introduce itself to overseas talent.”

中粮集团人力资源部总监迟京涛觉得，这是一个向海外人才“宣传中粮的好机会”。

Of the 45 students who have permission to work in China, Matthew and four other Harvard freshmen are the first to take internships with COFCO. All are curious about China, with its rapid economic growth, and filled with the desire to find out more about the country.

在通过申请的45名学生中，Matthew和另外4个一年级校友成为了进入中粮的首批哈佛实习生。他们对这个经济快速发展中的国家充满了好奇，想要亲自到中国来看看，搞清楚究竟什么是“中国人”，并借机学习语言。

They all took Chinese electives at Harvard, but were still anxious about how they would be able to communicate once they arrived in China.

5个人在来中粮之前都在哈佛选修过中文，但面对一群中国同事，他们还是怕无法沟通。

“Since my Chinese is limited I feared it would effect my performance at work. I was worried that my language skills simply weren’t good enough for me to be able to do a good job for COFCO” remarked Jan, who is shy, but looks people directly in the eye when he speaks to them. Jan studies management and environmental science at Harvard.

“我中文词汇量不足，怕不能胜任在中国公司工作，还担心自己能力有限，不能很好地完成工作，因为我之前并没有在像中粮这样的大企业实习过。”在哈佛学习管理与环境科学的Jan是一个高大腼腆的小伙子，说话时他总是很认真地盯着对方的眼睛。

Niamh, another COFCO intern, was a little braver at first. A student of East Asian history who had traveled in the region, she thought she had already received her“culture shock”. But she does say she welcomes the opportunity COFCO has presented her and finds “the ‘newness’ of the experience” invigorating.

倒是另一个实习生Niamh显得更为“勇敢”。她学习过东亚历史，还到东亚旅行过，所以对中国文化“完全不同的感觉”做好了心理准备，“发现新事物会让我觉得很激动，倒不会觉得是个挑战”。

However, during her first week at work, Niamh met with communications problems. She though then, “Maybe I have to admit I have a problem making the progress I need; after all, we’re talking about the meeting of two different cultures.”

然而，在实习的第一周里她还是苦恼于该怎样和同事、上司交流。她花了一到两周的时间来适应中国文化、适应公司环境，还是不能很快进入工作状态。“如果能重来一次，我可能还是不知道该怎样才能加速这个过程，毕竟大家处在不同的文化下。”Niamh说。

However, Jan, who works for COFCO’s strategy department, found that his concerns were unfounded. So many people at COFCO speak English, and his supervisor is a Harvard graduate. He’s found he can breathe again.

Jan则发现自己原来的一些担忧有些多余。他们几个人的中粮导师基本上都会讲英文，甚至他的导师还是从哈佛毕业的。在他所在的集团战略部里，同事们的英语都不错。这让他松了好大一口气。

Young woman Amy is surprised by how approachable the top executives of this large Chinese enterprise are, as well as the general informality of the company. At COFCO’s Zhongliang Academy senior members joined in with the Hokey Kokey, a popular dance with American kids.

另一位叫Amy的女孩则对这家中国大型央企的核心管理层表现出的平易近人感到意外。在中粮忠良书院的培训课上，她们带领中粮高管成员大跳hocky pocky，这是一种在美国小孩中非常流行的舞蹈。

COFCO has placed the five interns with different departments. The company says it wants to create an open, welcoming environment, to allow its young American guests to learn all they can. COFCO offers more than just the usual intern experience; Jan, Amy, Niamh get hands-on experience in sales, customer visits, and even attend important meetings.

中粮把这5名实习生安排在集团内几个不同的部门。为了让他们更深入地了解公司，中粮尽力营造了一个Open的实习环境，并没有仅仅把他们当作实习生，而是直接让他们参与所在部门的具体事务，参与销售，拜访客户，甚至还让他们旁听一些重要会议。

Calling a spade a spade, Chi Jintao, admits that all this is about promoting COFCO. “Before plans for acquisition, merger, setting up the company overseas, has to come promotion.” Not that COFCO doesn’t want new blood with the business acumen needed in its competitive field: “With the whole industry developing, there’s a real demand for fresh talent.”

迟京涛直言不讳地说这是为了“宣传”。“这是一次前瞻性的尝试。在还没有踏出国门收购、兼并、成立公司的时候，必须先宣传中粮。尤其集团现在正在打造全产业链，对人才有更高的需求。”

But he doesn’t expect that the interns will stay with COFKO. He wants them to return to Harvard, taking back with them a new understanding of Chinese State enterprises. He says the company plans to receive a number of Harvard interns each year.

他并没有希望这几位实习生将来会留在中粮发展，而是想让他们回到哈佛能把对中国国企的理解和印象带回去。迟京涛透露，中粮计划每年都接收一些哈佛学生到集团来实习。