Our last week in Beijing began rather slowly, with another lecture and a company tour. This lecture today was about the Fundamentals of the Economics of China. It started at 9:30 and took a little over two hours. We had free time to go get lunch until about 1 pm, when we departed for our first company visit, Tsinghua Solar. Tsinghua Solar is an alternative energy company focusing on; you guessed it, solar energy. It has a huge market in China for water heaters, which they place on the roof on houses in China. Their largest tank is about 200-250 liters, which can satisfy a family of four. It uses evacuated tubes to heat the water using solar energy and the natural properties of water, such as hot water rises to the top and cold water sinks.
This day was pretty easy, and we have a lot of free time. Naturally, we went back to our favorite bar, La Bamba, for an “after work” drink. We each had a Manhattan, which is one part bourbon and one part vermouth. While we were drinking that, the waiters asked us where we were from, and when we were from the USA studying through Tsinghua University, they told us we were each getting a free drink. I had a daiquiri, which I feel no shame in saying, and other people got whichever drink they wanted. La Bamba really takes care of us, as this is the 3rd free drink we’ve received from them since we first visited there.
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