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Those interested will have the opportunity to take a close look at China’s economic growth and its influence on U.S. markets when Georgia Perimeter College launches “The China Business Series,” this week at Georgia Perimeter College’s Dunwoody campus.

The first seminar in the series, which is free and open to the public, will be Friday, April 13, at 11 a.m. It will feature guest speakers Scott Ellyson, CEO of East West Manufacturing, Li Zheng, president of Techtop and Henry Yu, senior vice president of East West Bank. The seminar is sponsored by the National Association of Chinese Americans, the GPC Foundation and the GPC Chinese Club, and hosted by Steven Gu, director of U.S. China Practice Southeast for KPMG.

“This is the beginning of an educational and informative series on China and we expect to have more events in this series next fall,” said Fred Bounds, GPC professor of economics and faculty advisor to the Chinese Club on the Dunwoody campus.

Bounds said that trade today is definitely becoming more global. He said he anticipates that economics students and business students will especially benefit from the series, but added that all interested persons are welcome. He said the lecture series is not being offered specifically to stimulate trade with China, but to make information available to students and the community at large. “If those who attend find themselves doing business in China in the future, they should have a better understanding of things to watch for.

“Mr. Yu, who is also a GPC Foundation board member, is very much committed to business education so this was perfect for our Chinese Club, which wants to share knowledge of all aspects of China,” said Bounds, who added that learning to do business within a culture different from one’s own requires understanding that culture.

Bounds said Ellyson is the head of a company that started in the United States and Zheng runs a subsidiary of a company started in China.

“They’re going to give insight into what it’s like to engage in commerce here and in China,” Bounds said. “Yu will talk about the role of the Chinese banking sector on international banking, and the increasing internationalization of the RMB. 

“I think the community and guests will leave with a better understanding of the nature of the commercial relationship between the United States and China, and with a little better understanding of Chinese culture,” Bounds added. “Culture colors the way we do business.”

The seminar is expected to end at 12:30 p.m., including a question and answer session. All events in “The China Business Series” will be held on the Dunwoody campus. Bounds said the lectures will be offered from time to time, but there is no firm schedule.

“The Georgia Perimeter College Foundation would like to express our sincere appreciation for the outstanding support given our students by this highly qualified group of presenters, the National Association of Chinese Americans and the Chinese Club for their invaluable efforts to bring this series to our campus,” said Bill Covington, development officer, GPC Institutional Advancement.