Semester Summary - GCC Chapter at University of South Carolina

The GCC Chapter at University of South Carolina was established in January 2013. Having held ten events and recruited

over 100 members, we have exceeded our initial expectations for a trial chapter. We firmly believe that our chapter should

be recognized because of the three unique traits we possess: multidimensional activities, proactive and effective network

building, and clear and unique organization structure.

A. Multi-dimensional Activities

Our activities this year provided multidimensional levels of interaction for members to gain insights into Chinese culture.

Our aims for activities can be categorized into three groups. However, most of them ended up serving more than one aim.

1. To Enhance Cultural Understanding

To provide members with chances to experience personally the intricacies of Chinese culture, we organized the Spring

Festival Gathering, Lantern Festival Gathering, Qingming General Meeting, and Game Workshop. The Spring Festival

Gathering attracted over 80 participants, representing 15 different nationalities, 3 different universities, and over 20

different major programs. Besides enjoying traditional Chinese performance and delicious food, our members also learned

how to make dumplings, how to use chopsticks, and how to write calligraphy.

Our recreational habits reflected our different cultures as well. Some of these activities have special histories and relate to

the way people think. To bridge this culture gap, we held a Game Workshop that taught WeiQi, Majiang, Liar’s Dice,

Candyland, Chess, Twister, and Connect-4. Majiang was especially useful as it is a widely played game that easily served

as a bridge maker from West to East. Through sharing in games from our respective cultures, members connected and had

fun together in their own familiar environments.

2. To Foster Lasting Relationships

To bring our members to come to understand and foster lasting relationships with each other, we organized two General

Meetings and a Karaoke Party. During these activities, we created an environment in which our attendees felt comfortable

to reach out to others and share their Chinese and internationally related stories. We, as a chapter, also reached out to

connect with other GCC chapters in the Eastern United States. We visited GCC - Columbia twice in November 2012 and

April 2013, and showed our support to GCC – Emory by attending their GCC Conference: China in 2023.

Our Karaoke party was an opportunity for general members to get to know our executive board and express their interest

in being part of GCC. We organized this event with the purpose of recruiting prospective executive members to our

chapter of GCC for next year and to introduce Karaoke, an indubitably important entertainment activity in East Asia, to

our American and International friends who might have thought of Karaoke as nothing but a novelty before.

3. To Explore Career Opportunities

We became very quickly aware of the desires to understand the corporate structure of China-related companies and felt it

prudent to share industry insights with our members. Therefore, we organized a company visit to American Yuncheng

Gravure Cylinder, Inc. in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This plant was featured in CNN Money and is the company’s

flagship effort into the American market. Yuncheng Gravure Cylinder, Inc. has 99 plants around the world. Our members

gained more industry insights regarding the required strategy and inherent difficulties in breaking into the American

market.

B. Proactive and Effective Network Building

To build a solid foundation for our chapter and to enhance its long-term sustainability, we have been proactively

developing relationships with relevant stakeholders. For on-campus stakeholders, we built up mindshare of the GCC

brand name among students as an active and enthusiastic student organization. We also established a partnership with the

Confucius Institute, which granted us sponsorship, materials, event assistance and publicity at the University and abroad

back in China. We are expecting more partnerships with other student organizations to explore the benefit of synergies.

For off-campus stakeholders, we established bonds with four Chinese enterprises, which kindly supported us through

sponsorship, discounts, and company visitation opportunities. We have also established partnership with Baptist College

Ministry, who provided us with professional venue for activities. The friendship with other GCC Chapters, i.e. GCC-

Emory and GCC-Columbia, enables us to learn from their experiences and encourages potential inter-chapter activities.

C. Clear and Unique Organization Structure

Being a learning organization, we have been adjusting our structure to better accommodate our members needs. Activities

are organized under Person In Charge (PIC) and General Meeting systems.

The “Person In Charge” (PIC) system gives every executive member a chance to practice his or her leadership skills. The

PIC is in charge of initiating the whole preparation process of an event by composing an activity proposal for later

approval by the rest of the executive board. After weighing the practicality and significance, we move to the job

delegation for the event whilst the PIC monitors progress towards job deadlines. Finally, after the activity, the executive

board will gather and summarize what we have learned from participants’ feedbacks. The experience summary also

facilitates effective officer transition by serving as a guide for future events.

In our General Meeting System, the executive board is in charge of reporting the progress of our activities and welcoming

any suggestions or comments from general members. By doing so, we increase our organization’s transparency and

ensure that our activities are well received by our members. The General Meetings also let those who are willing to be

executive members in the future to gain some experience beforehand.

Along with those three traits we possess, we are also contributing to the whole GCC Organization. We have members on

GCC’s Ning Social Network and we have posted photos of our activities on it. Our members have also submitted the

GCC survey and joined the GCC LinkedIn group.

1. Visit GCC-Columbia

1. Recruitment Talk

1. 1st General Meeting

1. Spring Festival Gathering

1. Lantern Festival Gathering

1. Southern GCC Conference at Emory University

1. 2nd General Meeting

1. Game Workshop

1. Company Visit to American Yuncheng Gravure Cylinder, Inc.

1. Karaoke Party