On 12 May, first time I talked to La Roche College, a group of 16 people (14 students – 2 professors). Average age of the students: 21 years.

La Roche College is a private college in McCandless, a suburb of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Divine Providence as a private college for religious sisters. It was named in honor of Stephanie Amelia la Roche von Starkenfels, the first Mother Superior of the Sisters of Divine Providence. The first president of the college was Sister Annunciata Sohl, C.D.P., who served until 1968. The college had begun to admit its first lay students by 1965. It continued to grow, and two years later, La Roche expanded beyond its leased space to construct the first College building, the John J. Wright Library. (Wikipedia)

The setting was UIBE (The University of International Business and Economics, is a national public research university specialized in economics, finance, management, law and foreign languages established in 1951 in Beijing) and arranged through The China Guide.

The talk lasted about 2 hours and covered what China is today and the challenges the country is facing, making many expats a bit nervous.