Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

So there we were, dozing through much less intensive and therefore pretty boring days of Y3 (SSE Riga paradox, eh?). As far as I know, Reinholds was completely deadened; I wasn’t much happier, either, even despite my exchange in Paris (which by that time has become a bit routine). Then, suddenly, on September 6 we received an e-mail from Jens Fischer, a prominent debater, our good friend and one of the main judges at last year’s SSE Riga IV, which read as follows: “You are all invited to a debating competition in Beijing, China on Sep 23 - 28, with all expenses paid for. No, not a joke.”It turned out that the EU and China have declared the year 2011 “a year of youth friendship”. Many events, conferences, etc. were organized both in China and the EU; surprisingly, the Chinese government was liberal enough to provide funding for a debate tournament – and by funding I mean a lot of funding! A separate tournament was hosted in China to select the 16 best Chinese teams, while the European Championship was used to determine the 16 best European teams. Frankly, Reinholds and I didn’t finish in the top-16; however, the teams were also chosen on grounds of diversity, i.e. from different European countries, and in this sense we did well enough to be selected!

Needless to say, we accepted the offer almost right away. It’s not too often when one gets a chance to go to Beijing (!) to debate with the brightest Chinese students (!!) with all your expenses – visa, flight tickets, one-week hotel stay, welcoming program, food, etc. – covered (!!!). Praise the Chinese taxpayers!

First days

A couple of weeks to pack our stuff and obtain visas – and we were ready to go. In fact, Reinholds arrived several days before the tournament’s official start and began exploring Beijing by himself with an adventurous French couple that went to China via Trans-Siberian Railway. He managed to check out most of the main sightseeings:

The Tiananmen Square (the largest square in the world), The Forbidden City (the former residence of Chinese Emperor), The Temple of Heaven (the former personal temple of the Emperor), and the Lama Temple (one of China’s most important Buddhist temples), as well as the Badaling section (renovated)  of the Great Wall of China. I had a similar tour on the day after my arrival; without going deep into history, everything was amazing. The culture, architecture, the very atmosphere – everything was extremely different from Europe (even despite the globalization) and a breath of fresh air after all these standard European cities with their churches and parks. If you ever get a chance – go to China without a second thought (be prepared, though, that most of people speak only Chinese).

The tournament

As already mentioned, 16 Chinese teams and 16 European teams were brought together; what was unexpected – and cool – was that they were merged into 32 new teams, with one Chinese and one European debater in each. This allowed us to get acquainted with the Chinese really quickly; also, this made the competition much more unpredictable (and thus exciting) because not-so-good European speakers could have been accompanied by outstanding Chinese debaters and vice versa.

As expected, topics were about the EU, China, or both: should geography be a criteria for accession to the European Union? should one-size-fits-all Chinese university exam called “Gao Kao” be replaced by customized university-designed exams?, etc. Personally my favorite was that “China should launch an analogue of Marshall Plan to save the eurozone”. It was funny to see what stereotypes Europeans had about Chinese (and the reverse) and how they get crumbled in a debate.

Eventually both SSE Riga teams broke to the quarterfinals – hooray! – but due to a mix-up in schedule our tickets back home were booked at the very same time the finals were to be hosted. Thus, Reinholds and I were excluded from the break, our partners were coupled in a new team, and the team that finished 17th was promoted to the quarterfinals. On the one hand, it was regretful; on the other hand, we got a free day in Beijing – awesome!

People & Perks

Everything was organized very smoothly (well, one shouldn’t wonder about the delays during debate tournaments, right?), and it was obvious that the organizers made a great effort to satisfy every single need of each European debater. We were fed extremely well – abundant and delicious Chinese food was provided three times a day. Moreover, we had a lot of free time, which we were able to spend in many ways. For example, we visited the Beijing Temple of Confucius and several Chinese markets (...made in China all over the place...) where Estonian debaters managed to buy fake Rolex watches and Reinholds acquired a tie and some other stuff (using strong economic reasoning that the price-quality relation is much better here than in Latvia). Personally I went crazy about tea shops – I think I bought some €400 worth of tea and tea-related stuff.... everyone was mocking me :) Aside from that, Estonians found a bar where during the happy hour the beer was absolutely free – I mean, absolutely! - so we frequented this place as well.

Our new Chinese friends proved to be extremely bright yet easy-going people, and it was a great pleasure learning about each other’s culture, opinions, and beliefs. The language barrier was almost absent, and the atmosphere was very friendly and supportive. Hopefully, we’ll keep in touch with them via e-mail (since Facebook is banned in China... ;) The Chinese were so nice to us that they even gave us gifts on the day of our departure... luckily, I was able to present a copy of “Le Petit Prince” to my debating partner who was also learning French!

The Great Wall

Finally, on our last day in Beijing we paired up with Estonians and Russians and went to Jinshanling – a non-renovated part of the Great Wall, so hiking and 70° climbings were expected. Again, words can’t express what we felt on top of the Great Wall – it is truly one of the Wonders of the World. Furthermore, the trip to the Wall and back was unforgettable – our crazy driver stopped only once on the red light, broke as many rules as possible, and was constantly honking along the way, as if eager to inform everyone on the road about his presence. I was laughing out loud during most of the ride, which was probably a mix of amusement and fear.

Overall, it was an epic adventure which we will never forget. Exploring another part of the world that has so much to share – but also doing that in a secure environment, with friendly locals ready to help and fellow debaters ready to support your crazy ideas – is simply priceless. Besides, comparing what I spent on other tournaments with what I would have spent on a trip to China without 3rd party funding, I can officially declare that my debating ROI has exceeded the initial investment :) As you can see, Debate Society provides you with unique opportunities – so don’t hesitate to join us!

Vladimirs Zlotnikovs