Staying power: EMBA students excel in gruelling Gobi Challenge

Eight CityU EMBA (Chinese) Programme students teamed up to compete in The Tenth Xuanzang Road Business School Gobi Challenge第十屆玄奘之路商學院戈壁挑戰賽 between 22nd – 25th May, and came away with the Shackleton Prize for outstanding completion rate. This year the Challenge took place along the Guazhou section of the Silk Road, Dunhuang City, Gansu Province in Western China. It previously was a major stop on the historical Silk Road linking China with India and Europe.

Around 2,000 EMBA students from 43 global top business schools took part in the four-day Challenge. This test of physical fitness required participants to cross the uninhabited Gobi desert on foot for 112 kilometers. With the route set at over 1,000 meters in altitude and 20℃ difference between day and night temperatures, it required high level of physical strength, perseverance, teamwork, cooperation, courage and endurance to complete the Challenge.

The Challenge originated as an international cultural event named Pilgrimage Journey of Xuanzang, launched in 2006 by China Central Television (CCTV). It retraced the footsteps of Xuanzang, a Chinese Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty, on his journey to India. Along the way, participants also had the opportunity to discover Xuanzang’s values and his impact on Chinese history. His journey also pointed to the commercial wisdom and pioneering spirit which emerged in the Tang Dynasty 1,300 years ago.

Team members representing the College in the Challenge:

• Limin Bai (2014 Cohort)
• Jigang Yang (2014 Cohort)
• Ruijun Yang (2014 Cohort)
• Tianhua Wu (2015 Cohort)
• Wen Wang (2014 Cohort)
• Yan Guan (2014 Cohort)
• Yi Wang (2015 Cohort)
• Yudian Chen (2014 Cohort)

At the finishing point, Prof Wenyu Dou, Associate Dean (Graduate programmes) of the College and EMBA (Chinese) Programme Director, greeted the team with warmest welcome. He expressed his appreciation and salutation to hail the team’s achievement:

“By endurance we conquered. Congratulations to all team members, you have created history! The challenge also proved that you all have infinite potentiality and ability in overcoming all difficulties and limits. It was a valuable experience in your life.”  

This was the first year that the CB team competed in the gruelling race. As new players, all team members underwent a series of training sessions in order to thoroughly prepare them for the journey.

The Shackleton Prize is named after Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer, best known for leading the “Endurance” expedition of 1914-16. It was set up to award those teams with the highest completion percentage in terms of team members.

A celebration dinner was held at Academic 3 on 6 June to welcome our team back. Prof Way Kuo, CityU’s President, and Prof Houmin Yan, Dean of the College, congratulated the teams and commentated on their endurance and fortitude performed in the challenge. “It is really a remarkable achievement made by the team who completed the journey. My heartfelt appreciation and respect to the challengers,” said Prof. Kuo. Participants were invited to share their experience with guests and they all had an enjoyable evening.

For more information about the Challenge, please visit website.
For more information about the Pilgrimage Journey of Xuanzang, please visit website.