Finance 101
for International Students
What finance is, why it matters, why study it in China, and how artificial intelligence is changing the field — seen from around the world.
Who is this program for?
You may study economics, engineering, literature, medicine or something else. All are welcome. You do not need to know finance already — we explain every new word the first time we use it.
Mixed backgrounds
Some of you have traded shares. Some have never used more than a bank card. Both are fine here.
A world classroom
Your home country is part of the material. We learn from each other's systems, not only from books.
Math and code: tools, not tests
You will need a little calculus, a little statistics and some simple coding (for example Python). But this program will not push you hard on these.
Basic calculus, basic statistics and a little coding. We use them as small tools to see an idea clearly — we do not test you on hard formulas. If a formula looks difficult, stop us: we will always show the idea in plain words first.
By the end, you will be able to…
1 · Explain it simply
Say what finance is — and what it is not — in plain words to a friend.
2 · See it in your life
Find money choices in your own life and in your home country.
3 · Explain China's role
Say why China matters in world finance, and how its system differs.
4 · Judge AI honestly
Weigh the good and the bad of AI in finance, with a world view.
How you will be marked: a short paper (300–500 words) or a 3-minute group talk comparing finance in China with finance in your home country.
What Is Finance?
& Why Study It?
From the money in your pocket to the systems that build cities — we start with first ideas.
So, what is finance?
Finance is the study of how money is raised, moved and managed over time and under risk.
Money moves
From people who save it to people who need it.
Time matters
Money today is not money in ten years.
Risk is always there
Nothing is certain. Finance prices and shares that risk.
Finance is not "get rich fast". That is betting. Finance is the plumbing that lets a whole economy work.
Raised = where money comes from (savings, investors). Moved = how it travels to where it is needed (banks, markets). Managed = kept safe and put to work over time.
Three big questions in finance
Almost every finance problem is one of these three questions wearing a different coat. When you feel lost in a finance topic, come back to this slide.
Where should money go?
Spend it, save it, or invest it? Should a company pay for a new plant with a bank loan or by selling shares?
How does money travel?
How does money get from a saver to a shop owner — through a bank, through a market, or both?
How do we deal with risk?
How much gain is worth how much risk? How do we spread it, insure it, or avoid it?
How do we value anything across time and risk? This one question links every area of study you will see in the next three slides.
Pick one money decision your family made — buying a home, sending you to study abroad, or opening a shop. Write down which of the three questions it answers, and how. Most big decisions answer all three at once.
Five jobs that finance does
If finance stopped doing these five jobs, an economy would slow down very fast.
1 · Collect savings
Put many small savings together into money big enough to build things.
2 · Send money to good uses
Move money to the best ideas, not only to the loudest ones.
3 · Share and cut risk
Insurance, spreading money across places, and protection against shocks.
4 · Find prices
Markets show what a company, a bond or a currency is really worth today.
5 · Make payments
Move money quickly and safely from one person to another.
Why it all matters
When finance does these five jobs well, we get growth, jobs and new ideas. When it does them badly, we get crises and unfair loss.
These are jobs finance does — not places it works. A bank, a stock market and a phone app all do some of these five. When one job breaks, the others feel it: bad prices feed bad loans, and bad loans feed lost savings.
The big picture of finance
One page that connects everything from Session 1. Read it from the centre outwards.
Start at the centre: FINANCE. The four columns are its questions, its five jobs, its study areas, and why it matters. Every slide after this one zooms into one of these boxes — so the whole course is just this map, one box at a time.
Two areas: company money and investing
Each area below answers the same question in a different place: where does the money come from, and what is it worth?
🏭 Company money (Corporate Finance)
How a company finds money and chooses what to build with it.
📈 Investing (Investments & Asset Pricing)
What a share or a bond is really worth, and how to mix them together.
Two areas: banks & markets, and phone finance
These two answer: who stands between the saver and the borrower — and can a phone replace them?
🏛️ Banks, markets and insurance (Financial Institutions & Markets)
The middle people that connect savers and borrowers, and the rules that watch them.
📱 Phone and app finance (FinTech & Digital Finance)
Phones and code change how we pay, borrow and save — often skipping old steps.
Two areas: government money, and world & real people
These two answer: who pays for things that markets will not pay for — and do people really act the way textbooks say?
🏗️ Government money (Development & Public Finance)
How governments raise and spend money for roads, schools, and help for poorer places.
🌐 World money and real people (International & Behavioral Finance)
Money across countries, and how real people actually behave — with fear and greed.
Finance in your daily life
You already do finance — you may just not have the words for it. Each card shows a normal moment and the finance idea hiding inside it.
📱 Paying by phone
Every tap moves money through a payment system in about a second. Behind it: clearing, settlement and trust.
🎓 A student loan
You borrow against your future income. That is the "time" part of finance in real life.
🏠 Rent or buy
A life choice with interest, rising prices and risk all mixed together.
💡 Sending money home
One currency priced in another — you meet exchange rates and fees.
👴 A pension fund
Your retirement money is invested in world markets right now, by people you will never meet.
🛒 Rising prices (inflation)
When prices rise, cash quietly loses value. Saving in cash is also a money decision.
| Everyday moment | What is really happening | The finance idea |
|---|---|---|
| Paying by phone | Your money leaves one account and reaches the shop in about one second. | Payments and settlement |
| A student loan | You spend income you have not earned yet. | Time value of money |
| Rent or buy | You compare a known cost today with an uncertain cost later. | Choice under risk |
| Sending money home | You sell one currency, buy another, and pay a fee. | Exchange rates and cost |
| A pension fund | Strangers invest your money in markets you will never visit. | Investing and trust |
| Rising prices | The same cash buys a little less every year. | Inflation |
Write down every money action you took in the last 24 hours. Now mark each one: does it involve time, risk, or both? Almost every one will have both — that is the whole subject in one small exercise.
Think about it: which of these six did you touch in the last seven days? Most people touch at least three.
Common wrong ideas about finance
Let us remove these five before they block your learning. Each wrong idea has a simple fix.
❌ "Finance is gambling"
Fix: betting creates risk for fun. Finance mostly manages risk that already exists — a farmer's weather, a company's new plant. Most of finance is boring on purpose.
❌ "It is only for rich people and Wall Street"
Fix: finance touches every life: saving, borrowing, prices, pensions, phone payment.
❌ "It is all hard math"
Fix: the ideas are simple and human. Math is only a clear language for them. We will always give the words first.
❌ "A higher return is always better"
Fix: always ask the second question: how much risk did you take to get it? 30% gain with a 50% chance of losing everything is not "better".
❌ "The market is always right"
Fix: markets are often right and sometimes badly wrong. Both extremes are false.
✅ The real point
Finance is a way of thinking about time, risk and incentives. That way of thinking is useful in any job.
Why study finance? (even if you will not be a banker)
For you personally
Avoid debt traps. Plan for later life. Understand rising prices. Compare two loan offers and see which is really cheaper.
For society
Finance moves savings into growth. When it puts money in the wrong places, we get crises, bubbles and unfair loss for ordinary people.
For your work
Banks, funds, fintech, company treasury, government, consulting — or running your own business.
| Where finance people work | What they really do | What they need from you |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial bank | Takes deposits and lends to families and companies. | Care with numbers; judgement about who can repay |
| Investment bank / fund | Helps companies raise money; builds and manages portfolios. | Valuation, risk, and clear writing |
| FinTech company | Builds payment, lending and investing apps. | Product sense; some coding; understanding of rules |
| Company treasury | Manages a firm's cash, debt and currency risk. | Cash-flow thinking; calm under pressure |
| Central bank / regulator | Sets money policy and watches the whole system. | Data, clear reasoning, independence |
| Research / consulting | Explains markets and risk to clients or to the public. | Explain hard things in simple words |
Finance trains you to think clearly about trade-offs, time and incentives. That habit helps in medicine, engineering, public service or art — not only in banking.
It will not make you rich, and it will not teach you to pick winning shares. Anyone who promises that is selling something. What you get instead is the ability to see what is really being offered — and that skill protects you for life.
Can finance help fix social problems?
Yes — and this is one of the fastest-growing parts of finance today. Money can be pointed at a problem on purpose.
🤝 Small loans
Tiny loans help poor families start a small shop when no bank will lend to them.
🌱 Green bonds
Money raised on one condition: it must go to clean projects — wind, solar, clean transport.
🌾 Insurance for farmers
If the weather is bad, the farmer still receives money and does not lose the farm.
💸 Money sent home
Migrants send money across borders. It feeds, houses and schools families — one of the largest money flows into developing countries.
Finance is not only about profit. It is also a tool to fight poverty and protect the climate — if we point it there on purpose.
Can money stop a war — or start one?
Finance is not only about companies. Today it is also one of the main tools countries use instead of armies — and sometimes a cause of conflict itself.
🕊️ How finance can reduce conflict
- Trade and investment make countries need each other. When both sides lose from a war, war becomes too costly.
- Sanctions block money instead of sending soldiers. They are now a main tool of pressure.
- Shared payment systems and cross-border lending build daily habits of trust.
- Joint projects — a port, a railway, a power line — tie several countries to one shared result.
⚠️ How finance can cause conflict
- Heavy debt can make a poor country dependent and angry at the lender.
- Unequal deals for oil, land or minerals can start local disputes.
- Sudden money leaving a country can crash its currency and bring unrest.
- Sanctions hurt ordinary people too — food and medicine prices rise.
Finance is a tool for peace and pressure at the same time. Used well, it builds links that make war expensive. Used badly, it creates dependence and anger. This is why finance now sits inside foreign policy, not only inside business.
Discussion 1 — Finance in my life and my country
- You have about 10 minutes — roughly 2 minutes per question. Keep moving.
- Write short answers in plain words. One real example beats one long theory.
- Everyone must speak at least once. If someone is quiet, the note-taker asks them first.
- Then each group shares one idea with the class — 1 minute each.
- Think of one money choice you or your family made in the last year (saving, borrowing, paying for study, sending money home). What did you give up? What did you hope to get?
- In your home country, where do most people keep their savings — a bank, cash at home, land, gold, or a phone app? Who lends money to families and small shops there?
- Do people in your country trust banks and financial companies? Give one reason for yes, or one reason for no. (There is no wrong answer — we want the reason.)
- Think of one problem in your home country — for example, poverty, climate change, or a local conflict. Could finance help fix part of it? Say how (for example, a small loan, an insurance, or a green bond).
One line to remember
Finance is the system that moves money across time and risk — and it shapes every life, not only bankers' lives.
What we covered
Definition · three big questions · five jobs · six areas of study · daily life · wrong ideas · finance and society.
Skill you practised
Explaining a money choice in plain words, and comparing two countries.
Question left open
If every country does finance differently — what makes China different, and worth studying?
| Check yourself — cover the right column first | A good answer mentions |
|---|---|
| 1. In one sentence, what is finance? | Money moved, managed and priced across time and risk. |
| 2. A friend says "30% return always beats 5%". What is missing? | The risk. Ask what could go wrong before you compare returns. |
| 3. Name one way finance can help a poor family. | A small loan, crop insurance, or money sent home from abroad. |
| 4. Give one finance idea you personally touched this week. | Phone payment, a loan, a price rise, or sending money home. |
Next: Session 2
We keep the same question but move it to one country. Why is China a special place to study finance, and what can you — as an international student — gain here that you cannot gain at home?
Why China?
& What You Can Learn Here
A very big market, different rules, a digital jump — and a front seat on fast change.
Why study finance in China?
Four reasons make China a different — not better, not worse — place to learn finance. Different is useful: it makes you question what you think is "normal".
① Very big
One of the world's largest economies, share markets and bond markets. Very high household savings.
② Different rules
The government guides the system more than in many countries. Money crossing the border is managed.
③ Digital first
From cash to phone payment and digital cash in about ten years.
④ A live lab
Reforms happen fast, so you can watch cause and effect in real time.
We are not here to say China is better or worse. We are here because different systems teach you more than familiar ones. If you only study one system, you cannot see which parts of it are accidents.
Very big: China's bond market is larger than its stock market — the opposite of the US. Different rules: the government sets a yearly credit-growth target. Digital first: most people pay with a phone, not a card. Live lab: a new rule can appear and move markets within a month.
China by the numbers
Six numbers that explain why the world watches China's markets.
Why size matters to you
A big market has more data, more kinds of companies and more kinds of problems. That means more to study — and more jobs that need people who understand it.
Why savings matter
When households save a lot, banks have a lot to lend. That shapes interest rates, company funding and how fast the economy can grow.
These are round teaching numbers, not exact figures. Always check fresh data before you use a number in a paper or a report.
Who runs finance in China?
Five bodies matter most. Learn the full names — you will meet them in news, in research papers and in job interviews.
| Short | Full name | Job | Similar to |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBOC | People's Bank of China | The central bank. Sets money policy, guards the currency, runs payment systems. | Like the US Federal Reserve |
| CSRC | China Securities Regulatory Commission | Watches the share and futures markets; approves listings; punishes false reports. | Like the US SEC |
| NFRA | National Financial Regulatory Administration | Watches banks and insurance companies. Formed in 2023 from the old banking and insurance regulator. | Bank + insurance watchdog |
| SAFE | State Administration of Foreign Exchange | Manages foreign currency and money moving in and out of the country. | Gatekeeper of the capital account |
| MoF | Ministry of Finance | Issues government bonds; runs tax and spending policy. | Like a treasury ministry |
China and the world
China's markets are not closed. They are partly open, through doors that are built on purpose — and that is itself an interesting design.
🔗 Stock Connect and Bond Connect
Channels that let world investors buy in mainland markets through Hong Kong — and let Chinese investors buy in Hong Kong.
📊 Inside world indexes
Chinese shares were added to MSCI, FTSE and S&P world indexes. Global funds that track those indexes now hold China automatically.
🌏 Belt and Road
Chinese money funds ports, railways and power plants across many countries. It builds links — and also creates debt questions.
💱 The yuan goes global
The RMB joined the IMF's SDR basket in 2016. That marked it as a currency other countries hold in reserve.
China as a live laboratory
In a slow-changing market, you study history. In a fast-changing one, you can watch cause and effect happen while you are a student.
Real experiments
When a rule changes, everything after it is a natural experiment.
Fast change
New markets, new products and new rules appear faster than in older systems.
Rich data
Huge, digital money activity creates data that researchers in many countries do not have.
Because China's institutions are different, ideas found in the US or Europe do not always transfer. Good research here needs context, not only a model copied from another country.
Why study finance in China?
The whole of Session 2 on one page. The last column is the one that belongs to you.
The first three columns are facts about China. The last column — Your Edge — is the one that belongs to you: your language, your home-market knowledge, and your ability to compare two systems. That is the real reason to study finance in China as a foreigner.
China's markets up close
Two markets, two different personalities. Knowing the difference saves you from copying the wrong habits from home.
| Feature | Share market (A-shares) | Bond market |
|---|---|---|
| Who trades | Many individual investors. Trading is fast and frequent. | Banks and big institutions. Slower and larger. |
| Mood | Sharp swings. Prices follow news and feeling more than calm maths. | Calmer. Moved mostly by interest rates and credit news. |
| How it opens | Listing moved toward a registration system (full disclosure first). | Government bonds, policy-bank bonds, company bonds, city bonds. |
| Common mistake | Treating it like a casino because it moves fast. | Ignoring it because it looks boring — it is actually the larger market. |
| Compare with home | Where does your country sit on each row? Use this table directly in Discussion 2. | |
A 25-year-old in Shanghai may trade A-shares on her phone every day, while a pension fund holds government bonds for 20 years. Same country, two very different worlds. When you read China finance news, ask first: is this about the fast market or the calm one?
Phones and digital cash
This is where China moved furthest and fastest — and where your home country may learn from China next.
📲 Super-apps
One app for paying, borrowing, investing and insurance. No separate banking app needed.
🪙 e-CNY (digital yuan)
China's CBDC — digital cash issued by the central bank itself, not by a private company.
🔎 App lending
An app reads your shopping and payment habits and gives a small loan in minutes.
🏗️ Money inside other apps
Financial services hidden inside apps that are not about money at all — now copied around the world.
To leapfrog means to skip a step and jump ahead. Example: many people in China went straight from cash to phone payment, skipping credit cards. Most rich countries went cash → cards → phone, over 50 years. China did much of it in about ten. That is why studying China here is like studying the future of payments — and why the word "leapfrog" appears so often in writing about Chinese finance.
One job, different systems
Every country has to answer the same question — how does money reach the best ideas? — but they answer it differently.
| Model | How money is moved | Example | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market-based | Mostly through share and bond markets. Prices decide. | United States | Fast and flexible; can be unstable. |
| Bank-based | Mostly through banks and long relationships. | Germany, Japan | Stable and patient; slower to fund new ideas. |
| State-guided | Markets, plus strong policy direction from the government. | China | Can move fast on big goals; risk of money going to the wrong firms. |
| Your country | Where does it fit? Most countries are a mix, not a pure type. Write your answer here and bring it to Discussion 2. | ||
Each one trades off speed, safety and fairness. A market-based system funds new ideas fast but crashes harder. A bank-based system is calm but slow. A state-guided system can build a high-speed rail network quickly — and can also lend too much to the wrong companies.
A young tech firm needs money. In the US it sells shares on a market. In Germany it goes to a bank it has known for years. In China it may get a loan from a policy bank aimed at its industry. Same need, three roads — and each road trains a different kind of finance worker.
Discussion 2 — Same job, different systems
- You have about 9 minutes — 3 minutes per question. The note-taker fills the table.
- Use facts or small examples, not only opinions. "In my country, people save in land" beats "it is different".
- Do not let one person answer all three. Change the speaker for each question.
- Each group gives a 1-minute summary — and must include one thing you disagreed about.
- Pick one job that finance does (for example: helping people save safely, or lending to small companies). How does China do this job? How does your country do it? Fill both columns, then add a third line: which works better for a poor family, and why?
- In China the government guides finance more than in many countries. Is that safer or slower? Give one reason for each side — even if you personally agree with only one.
- As an international student, what can you give a Chinese bank or financial company that a local student may not have? Think about language, knowledge of your home market, and daily habits. Give one concrete example, not a general answer.
One line to remember
China gives you a very big market, different rules and a digital-first jump — a special place to learn finance, especially when you bring your own country's view with you.
What we covered
Why China · six numbers · five regulators (with full names) · QFII and QDII · world links · live lab · markets · digital cash · three models compared.
Terms you now own
A-share · CBDC · e-CNY · capital account · QFII · QDII · NFRA · SAFE · Stock Connect · leapfrog.
Question left open
All of this is now being changed by artificial intelligence. What changes — and what stays?
| Check yourself — cover the right column first | A good answer mentions |
|---|---|
| 1. What is SAFE, and what is its full name? | State Administration of Foreign Exchange — manages foreign currency and money crossing the border. |
| 2. QFII or QDII — which brings foreign money into China? | QFII (Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor). QDII is the door going out. |
| 3. What does "leapfrog" mean here? | Skipping a step — cash straight to phone payment, skipping credit cards. |
| 4. Why is China called a "live laboratory"? | Rules and markets change fast, so you can watch cause and effect in real time. |
| 5. Is e-CNY the same as money in Alipay? | No. e-CNY is CBDC — digital cash from the central bank. Alipay holds private money. |
Do not call China's financial system "closed" or "backward". It is partly open by design — Stock Connect, Bond Connect, QFII and QDII quotas are doors that were built on purpose. Saying "different" is both truer and safer in any professional setting.
Next: Session 3
We zoom out to a world view: how AI is changing finance everywhere, the risks it brings, how different regions write the rules, and what you personally should do about it.
AI & the Future of Finance
A World View
Machines are rewriting the rules. What that means for your career — anywhere in the world.
How AI is changing finance
AI is not one tool. It is a new layer under every job we studied in Session 1 — collecting savings, judging risk, finding prices, making payments.
Faster work
Reports, checks and forms finished in seconds instead of days.
Better guesses
Models read huge data to judge risk and spot fraud.
Reading text
AI reads filings, news and call notes in minutes.
Very fast trading
Machines buy and sell in tiny fractions of a second.
Wider access
App advice and app loans reach people banks once ignored.
And new risks
Unclear models, bias, and power in a few firms — next slides.
Key idea: AI mostly changes how fast and how cheaply finance works. It does not change what finance is for.
AI in each finance job
The same six jobs from Session 1, now with AI inside them.
| Job | What AI does | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Trading | Writes and runs trading rules without a human in the loop. | Fast machine trading on small price gaps |
| Advice | Builds a plan for you automatically and keeps it balanced. | A robo-adviser app that rebalances your savings |
| Lending | Scores a borrower from phone, shopping and payment data. | A small loan approved by an app in minutes |
| Risk and rules | Spots fraud and stress-tests a bank against a shock. | A real-time flag when a card is used in two countries |
| Research | Reads news, filings and call notes at scale. | A summary and mood score for 500 company reports |
| Writing and code | Drafts notes, writes code and answers questions. | A chat assistant that helps an analyst prepare a client note |
Three regions, three speeds
AI in finance does not look the same everywhere. The technology is similar; the rules and the priorities are not.
🇺🇸 United States
Very deep markets and the leading AI labs. Funds adopt new tools fast.
🇪🇺 European Union
The AI Act sorts AI by risk level. Strong data rights under GDPR.
🇨🇳 China
Very wide use in daily finance (Ant Group, Ping An). State-led standards and a digital currency.
Everywhere the question is the same: how do we get AI's gains while controlling its risks? Only the balance differs. If you can work across these three balances, you are valuable anywhere.
The US trusts markets most, the EU trusts rules most, and China trusts the state most. Each grew from its own history and values — none is right or wrong. Your job is to read the balance, not to pick a winner.
Six risks of AI in finance
Each risk has a plain question you can ask any bank: "what happens when this goes wrong?"
⚖️ Bias
A model learns from old data. If that data was unfair, the loans will be unfair too.
🕳️ Hard to explain
Sometimes nobody can say why the model said "no". Regulators and customers need a reason.
🔒 Privacy
More data means more risk of leaks. Rules differ: GDPR in Europe, PIPL in China.
💼 Jobs
Office and analyst tasks move to machines. Many jobs will change; some will go.
🌩️ Fast crashes
If many models act the same way at once, prices can fall very fast, then bounce back.
🤥 Wrong facts
Chat AI can state wrong numbers with total confidence. In finance that is dangerous.
All six risks share one root: a model is only as good as the data it learned from, and it has no conscience. It will not stop to ask if a loan is fair, and it will not admit when it is wrong. That is why a human must stay in the loop.
How regions write the rules
| Region | How it works | Main tools |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 US | By sector and principle-based. Focus on the outcome, not on one big AI law. | SEC and CFTC watch the markets; NIST AI framework; guidance from each agency |
| 🇪🇺 EU | One full law. Sorts AI by risk level and is strict for high-risk use. | AI Act; GDPR; transparency and human oversight are required |
| 🇨🇳 China | State-led. Focus on stability, security and control. | Generative-AI measures; algorithm filing; PIPL data law |
Common ground 1
Explainable models: you must be able to say why a decision was made.
Common ground 2
Human oversight: a person stays responsible for the outcome.
Common ground 3
Data control: know where data came from and who may use it.
These three points are the same in every region. That means "explaining a model" and "guarding data" are skills you can carry to any country — they will not go out of date.
The US fixes problems after they happen; the EU tries to stop them before; China directs them from the centre. Three styles, one aim: gains with guardrails. Spotting the style helps you work inside any of them.
Six things you can do
Do not wait for the future to arrive. These six actions work in any country and in any job.
1 · Learn the tools
Use chat AI and data tools as helpers, not as enemies. Try them on your own work this week.
2 · Keep the basics
AI cannot replace good judgement about value, risk and incentives. That judgement comes from the basics.
3 · Keep your world view
Comparing countries is your real edge. A machine trained on one country cannot do this for you.
4 · Learn a little code
Python and SQL are now the common language of finance. You need enough to read and ask, not to be an engineer.
5 · Always question it
Check the model's answer. Know its limits and its bias. Never put an unchecked number in front of a client.
6 · Stay flexible
The jobs of 2035 do not exist yet. The skill that lasts is learning how to learn.
Use AI as a lever, not as a substitute for thinking. The person who checks the machine is worth more than the machine.
Do one small thing: ask a chat tool to explain a term from this deck, then check its answer against the slide. That single habit already covers points 1, 2 and 5 — learn the tool, keep the basics, and always question it.
AI in finance: the whole picture
What it does, what can go wrong, who writes the rules, and what you should do.
Left to right: what AI does, what can go wrong, who writes the rules, and what you should do. The risks column is the mirror of the jobs column — every gain has a cost. Your Move is the only column that needs your judgement, not the machine's.
Discussion 3 — The finance worker of 2035
- You have about 7 minutes in groups, then a 5-minute class debate.
- For question 3, split your group: half must argue "more open" and half "more power" — even if you personally disagree. Arguing both sides is the exercise.
- Every answer needs one example. "AI will help" is not enough; say how.
- At the end, each student says one word for the finance worker they want to become.
- Close your eyes and picture a finance worker in 2035. Write five things they do in a normal working day.
- Mark each of those five things: M if a machine can do it better, H if it needs a human. Count your M's and H's — then ask: if most are M, what is that person's job actually for?
- Will AI make finance open to more people, or put more power in a few big companies? Argue both sides, with one real example each. (Think: app loans reach the unbanked — but a few firms hold all the data.)
- What should you study now to be ready? Choose three items from the slide "Six things you can do" and say why each one will still matter in 2035.
What we learned
What finance is
Finance moves money across time and risk. It does five jobs, and it shapes every life — not only bankers' lives.
Why here
China gives you a very big market, different rules, and a digital jump — a live laboratory.
What is next
AI is changing how fast and how cheap finance works — not what it is for.
As an international student, your world view is exactly what China's — and the world's — financial system needs. No model trained on one country can replace it.
Take the three discussion notes from this course back to your home country. Compare one Chinese rule with one rule at home, and write the difference in one paragraph. That paragraph is your first piece of real cross-border finance thinking.
Questions?
Let's talk.
Further reading: a basic finance textbook (for example Brealey–Myers); the PBOC and CSRC websites; BIS and IMF reports on digital currency and fintech; the EU AI Act and China's generative-AI rules for Session 3.