CEDAR FALLS -- Shen Yangton lives in Changchun, an industrial Chinese city of 6.8 million residents, and works as a project leader in the import division of FAW, the country's largest automaker.

But the 33-year-old Shen spent New Year's Eve 10 time zones from her home turf, passing out colored-foam No. 1 signs and selling 1-a-puck raffle chances to the Waterloo Black Hawks hockey team faithful filling up Young Arena for a hockey game.

Shen is working part time for the Black Hawks' marketing department. She's in the Cedar Valley area with three co-workers as part of a business exchange involving FAW and the University of Northern Iowa College of Business Administration. The Chinese visitors take various jobs in the Cedar Valley during their six-month stay.

Shen has been taken aback at the spectacle of a hockey game, where fans scream themselves hoarse and may drink a few beers. In China, athletes would not high-stick an opponent or take a swing at one.

"It's a new experience for me, the sports here. I find that Americans really enjoy sports," she said. "The players fight, I don't know."

Exposing the Chinese visitors to Midwestern cultural mainstays is one goal of the exchange program. The four have taken part in quintessential Iowa experiences, such as going to a farm and mounting a John Deere combine. They also canoed the west fork of the Cedar River and learned to play poker. They've also attended a wrestling match and a basketball game.

"We've tried to give them a taste of the real Iowa," said UNI Professor Chris Schrage, who coordinates the exchange and advises the International Club of Business Students.

The work experiences will give them a better sense of how the U.S. business world operates.

"Coming from a country with so much government ownership, they're not necessarily familiar with how marketing works," said Schrage, who spent part of her winter break in China lining up the next group of visitors.

As part of the program, three UNI students are in Changchun for a yearlong internship at FAW.

Schrage said the people from both countries can benefit from empathy and exposure, as well as business connections.

The program started last January with the help of a Chinese native who iterned at UNI in 1995.

Leslie Wilson, associate dean of UNI's business college, said such internships are invaluable.

"Few similar opportunities are available to undergraduate students in any country, but especially China," Wilson said. "Chinese businesses aren't always willing to open their doors to foreign students, particularly those not fluent in Chinese."

Schrage said despite the trend toward economic globalization, many UNI business students are not studying abroad -- despite admonitions from recruiters who encourage students to learn a second language and study overseas.

"A huge proportion still have the mind-set that says, ‘I'll see everything I'll ever need here in Iowa and the United States, and I'll never leave here,' and that's increasingly not the case," Schrage said.

Liu Yafeng, 36, who works in FAW's export department, said while business grows between the two countries, the people remain distant.

"I think the people of America and the people of China have a lot of misunderstandings," Liu said. "Chinese people think Americans are not so kind, but they just don't know each other.

"So I think it's good for Americans to go to China, and for the Chinese to come to America."

Jim Stanton can be contacted at (319) 291-1520 or jim.stanton@wcfcourier.com.