The Odyssey of a B-School Student

One day in 1978, while reading John Kenneth Galbraith's "The Age of Uncertainty" in the American books section of a library in Shanghai, China. Ching-hua Tang came across a picture of the Harvard Business School. Impressed by the beauty of the campus, Tang dreamed of one day coming to the B-School to study.

Now, five years and three continents later, Tang's dream has come true. A first year student, he is only the second person from the People's Republic of China to enroll in the MBA program.

"When I saw the picture. I thought, 'what a nice place to study,'" says Tang. "The next years were devoted to finding the rationale for getting there," he recalls.

Adjusting to life at the B-School hasn't been too difficult for Tang, who says his age falls on "the other side of 30." Tang also holds a bachelor's degree from the London School of Economics, and says that he found Harvard's case method of instruction entirely novel at first.

"My previous experiences were all either one-to-one with a professor or just straight lecture. Here it's multiple interaction," he says, adding that "at first I was nervous about speaking up in class because everything got so quiet, but no if I have something to say I just raise my hand."

So far, he says, America has agreed with Tang, but he expresses a strong dis-like for fast foods. "Americans are warm and outgoing. They admire individual achievement and are very independent," he remarks.

Aside from the fulfillment of a long- awaited goal, Tang had other reasons for showing excitement about being here.

"New England is a special place for me. It's the home of Crimson, Thorean and Longfellow. To imagine these writers and poets roaming the trees of Harvard astounds me," the student explains.

But his love for New England is not enough to make Tang-wam to remain here after he completes his education.

"I am technically free, but I feel a sense of mission because my country is at a crucial stage in its history. China is shedding old dog-ups and fetishes," Tang says.

"Now we are paying closer attention to market forces, becoming more pragmatic," he adds. "It's too bad there aren't more of us have because Harvard offers us an education we could use."

For Tang, the road to Soldier's Field has not been an easy one. After graduating from high school in his native Shanghai in 1969, Tang faced an uncertain future.

Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution had shut down the universities and students were ordered to the countryside to live as peasants. For those who refused to go, no jobs would be available in the cities.

Aware of the hardships he would face, Tang resisted all official pressure and remained at home.

"It didn't make any sense at all to go," he say in careful English. "Economically, it was impossible to make a living out in the country so your parents had to subsidize you. And for me, I didn't want that type of life and it would have been a tremendous waste of time," he explains.

During the five years he could not work, Tang "tried to make the most constructive use" of his time. Against regulations, he secretly taught himself English and read everything he could get his hands on.

His main source of reading material was the clandestine book trade in banned books that went on during the crackdown on foreign influence.

"I kind of miss the excitement of those times when you had to read a book in a certain time because you knew others were waiting for it," he recalls.

In 1974, Tang finally found a job as a book-keeper with a collective that sold industrial waste to recycling plants. He worked there for two years.

Mao's death in 1976 brought about a great easing of restrictions on education, and the universities finally reopened. Tang passed the standard entrance exam and entered Shanghai Teachers' University to study English literature and language.

In his last year at the University, he competed in a worldwide English language contest sponsored by the British Broadcasting Company. He netted first prize, a sound trip to London and there began the second stage of his Odyssey.

"When I got there, I had no idea what I was going to do but after a short while, I was convinced I wanted to stay," he remarks.

Tang applied to the London School of Economics and was accepted by their under-graduate program. The biggest problem confronting him now was to finance his education.

He remembers walking along a London street one day and passing the offices of the Jardine Mathewson Company, renowned Scottish traders who do business in the Far East. Tang recalled that his aunt had worked for their Shanghai office before foreign firms fled in the early '50s and decided to ask if they could help him.

He asked if Jardine Mathewson would sponsor his education, and the company agreed, on the condition that he do some translating and research work for them. Tang struck up similar arrangements with British Petroleum and Barclay's International Bank, and in 1979 he received an economics degree.

"I look back at these years in London as the happiest of my life," he says, adding, "I ask, to a certain degree, an Anglophile. For Instance, I was glued to my television the day of the Royal Wedding."

In London his dream of coming to Harvard was fueled further. One of the marketing courses he ask used cases compiled at Harvard. That method of learning attracted Tang.

"I am fascinated by theory but am also a man of action. Harvard's case method gives me the opportunity to combine these two qualities," he explains.

Last October, he applied to the B-School. Although he has no definite career plans, he says he hopes to return to China to work either in its growing private sector or in a multinational firm.

When asked if he thinks his American education would be inappropriate to his work in his homeland, Tang replies. "People are the same everywhere, and I've successfully used many of my Chinese concepts here.