April 30, 2019, Dunhuang — For the first time participating in the competitive Category A, the emlyon ChuangCache Team joined nearly 100 business schools from around the world in the 14th “Road of Xuanzang” Gobi Challenge for Business Schools, held in the city of Dunhuang, Gansu province. Together with tens of thousands of fellow challengers, the emlyon team put their early maker spirit to test as they followed the footsteps of master Xuanzang in his epic journey to the west more than 1,300 years ago in search of sacred books of Buddhism, a rare opportunity to reflect on the great master’s pursuit of ideality through action and transcendence through persistence”.

Trailblazing emlyon early makers surging off into the vast desert

With its soaring morale at the set-off ceremony, the ChuangCache team won the event’s Top Popularity Award—the Oscar of the Gobi Challenge. The emlyon ChuangCache team completed the game after four days and three nights of intense competition, fighting off challenges and accomplishing personal breakthroughs. The team won the Endeavor Award and Shackleton Award, both representing the highest honor of the Gobi Challenge.

Small steps in the Gobi, great ambitions for the future

At the 13th Gobi Challenge in which the emlyon team participated as an observer, it won the Shackleton Award for the strong willpower and systematic training, which has passed on to the members this year. Such endurance and discipline remind people of a poem that goes: “A sharpened sword with years of honing, shines like a flower with a brilliance so striking. Traversing the battleground I conquer fortresses; alighting from my stallion I find happiness.”

Perseverance makes the difference

On May 7, the ChuangCache team returned home in triumph. Looking back, members felt that it was a journey that truly transcended physical and mental limits — after thousands of thoughts of giving up and thousands of decisions to keep going, it turned out it is harder to defeat oneself than one’s opponent. Every member of the emlyon team showed the spirit of unity, cooperation, courage and determination, much in line with the characteristics of all emlyon early makers.

Leaving fear behind with the sand, we learn to persist for transcendence

The “Road of Xuanzang” Gobi Challenge for Business Schools is a culture experiential competition organized for EMBA and MBA students of Chinese business schools. The course is located at Hashun Gobi at the border of Gansu and Xinjiang, also known throughout history as “hundreds of miles of quicksand”. In 2019, nearly 3000 EMBA and MBA students teamed up to traverse the 108-kilometer stretch of Gobi Desert. There might be sweat and tears left behind, but it was friendship and passion that they returned home with.