"This has totally changed my life," exclaimed one student winner of the Young Entrepreneurs Award in the Robert H. Smith School of Business' China Business Plan Competition in Beijing this past October. He was beaming with emotion as he received his Olympic-esque medal and $1,000 cash award - one of 10 such awards - for his five-minute business pitch in the competition, hosted by Smith's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. His sentiment was echoed by the 12 Smith students who traveled to China to learn about business, entrepreneurship and culture through the competition and a week of networking, meetings, business visits and other activities.

"It was fantastic it terms of understanding the culture and being there in person," said Michael Holzheimer, a senior finance major. "You can't really describe it in a textbook or have a lecturer who lived there or worked there tell you about it. You have to walk the streets of Beijing and talk to the individuals in the city."

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This powerful experience is exactly what the Smith School is going for when it sends the Dingman Center delegation of students, entrepreneurs-in-residence, and faculty and staff to one of the world's fastest growing economies. This is the fourth year the center's Managing Director Asher Epstein has organized the competition and led the delegation, part of the center's Global Week of Entrepreneurship in China.

"This trip gives students a view of the world - the complex, diverse global economy - through an on-the-ground, hands-on experience," said Epstein. "This experience is so rewarding for me because we have so many talented students at Smith and I think that this type of opportunity demonstrates that our students are really capable and able to compete with some of the best, most creative and energetic students in the world."

The final round of the China Business Plan Competition was the week's highlight for the Smith students, six undergraduates and six MBAs. The contest began in early 2008 with more than 200 entries that judges narrowed to five finalist teams. The finalists pitched their business plans to a panel of judges comprised of China venture capitalists and Dingman Center entrepreneurs-in-residence in Beijing at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management. The winners included $25,000 grand prize winner CreditEase, a peer-to-peer loan facilitator, and $15,000 second-prize winner Vendiamax, a firm that combines vending machine services with point-of-purchase advertising. The Young China Entrepreneur Awards were new to the competition this year and with 36 enthusiastic Chinese university students participating, they provided an exciting addition to the event.

In addition to the competition, the Dingman Delegation attended talks and visits that shed insight into local business and cultural trends including sports and hospitality marketing, growth of locally driven innovation, foreign direct investment, and consumerism. Students visited iSoftstone, an information technology outsourcing firm; Crystal CG, a graphics company that produced the electronic fireworks display at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony; and Lenovo, China's largest computer maker. The group met with business leaders from Fidelity Asia Ventures, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Patent and Trademark Office, and the founder of nutritional supplement provider BabyCare Ltd., Matthew Estes. The students learned about hotel operations with a behind-the-scenes tour of Marriott's Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel, where they stayed for the week.

The group also learned about education in China through visits to two schools, a nonprofit vocational school and the Maple Leaf Academy, a Canadian-run English-language school. The latter school was in Dalian, a major port city northeast of Beijing that the delegation had an opportunity to explore for a day. They also saw one of the city's many technology parks and the busy port.

Interspersed with visits to companies and organizations, students had a chance to experience Chinese culture with visits to the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Olympic venues, an acrobat performance, and several traditional meals. Epstein took every opportunity to weave business lessons into the trip - even using a shopping trip as a chance for students to hone their negotiation and bargaining tactics.

The delegation was also joined by David Dingman, son of the Smith School's entrepreneurship center benefactor, Michael Dingman. The younger Dingman is studying Chinese in Beijing while working in venture capital investing. He was able to share his insights on living in China's capital with the delegation.

The city looks very different from what delegate Paul Bowen, MBA '98, remembered. Bowen, a member of the Dingman Center's Board of Advisors, first came to China as a Smith student in 1997 with the school's inaugural study trip to the country. Back then, bicycles outnumbered cars on the streets and the business culture was not nearly so developed.

Now Gucci, Louis Vuitton and the Apple Store share city blocks with dim sum restaurants and corner grocers. The pace of new construction has entire communities leveled to make way for shiny new skyscrapers and some of the world's most modern and innovative architecture. The younger generations of Chinese are motivated by aspirations for success and wealth offered by the burgeoning business opportunities, a climate Smith students were fortunate to experience in person.

"The excitement and opportunity to learn more about international business and seeing first-hand the transformational changes occurring in China was well worth the lack of 'shut-eye,' said G. Nagesh Rao, a part-time MBA student on the delegation. "I highly recommend Smith School students to take advantage of this opportunity and be ready to immerse yourself in an intense week of business learning and cultural immersion for what will be an amazing experience."