Shenzhen Undercover

The UFC and the Future of the Mongolian Wolf

2011-03-05T15:52:00.002+08:00

The UFC might have just found their Yao Ming.

Since entering the Chinese market in 2009 with its initial broadcasting deal, the UFC has found the Chinese market tricky but full of potential in its future plans.

About a week ago when looking through my google news feed, I saw that a Chinese guy had just won a quick victory in the UFC. (video) Since then there has been an increasing amount of coverage in online and tv media on the "Mongolian Wolf," Tie Quan Zhang. The idea of a rugged Chinese guy beating up on the best fighters in the world really makes for good TV in China (just watch the movie 叶问2 that recently came out). He really might have the potential to be that spark that blows up the China market for the UFC.

Chinese people love their heroes and winners. In a country that only really cares about gold medals and being number 1 (theres even a mineral water brand thats the Chinese pronunciation of the English, "number one"), anyone who has the potential to be among the best in the world stage is quickly embraced and looked up to.

Yao Ming is famous by competing with Shaq in the NBA, Liu Xiang won the 1st gold medal for men in Olympic track & field, and Li-Ning built an entire global brand around his gymnastics exploits. Although Li Na and Zheng Jie are building the reputation for women's tennis, China really loves its male heroes. Thats the only explanation for the Chinese men's soccer team getting soo much funding.

This phenomenon this is a symptom of the Opium War/"century of shame" and Chinese male masculinity/identity issues. These issues influence society to the core - including current trends in growing male grooming products market. Chinese people believe that China has not re-assumed its rightful place in the world stage so any conquering hero that can assume this position (no matter how brief) is idolized.

Not only can the Mongolian Wolf grow the UFC market access in China, his future potential for stardom and fame is greater than both Yao Ming and Liu Xiang. If he dominates in the ring in hand to hand combat, it will outshine winning any race or dunking on any player. Zhang Tie Quan is what the Chinese have been waiting for. And with a nick-name like Mongolian Wolf, how could he fail?

Soft Power and the Future of China's World PR

2011-03-01T18:12:00.005+08:00

During the Hu Jintao summit in the US about a month ago, I was lucky enough to see firsthand the 60-second “Pro China” advertisement broadcasted both in NYC’s Times Square and the Chinatown area in Washington DC.

Promoted as a well-received commercial that better let Americans understand China by the Chinese media, this ad sparked a lot of debate in both countries. While it might have passed on positive feelings to some Americans, more than a few online commentators referred to it as China giving the US "the finger." While I agree that the ad might not had the effect intended by the Chinese gov't when it was originally designed, the actual act of making the ad forecasts a strong step forward in China's pursuit of soft power.

China has had a PR problem for some time now. I first noticed it in the Spring of 2009 on a week-long trip to Ghana. My mother was analyzing China's investment and influence in Africa with Ghana as a case study with a fellow professor who was from Ghana. I tagged along as it was a great opportunity to go better understand Africa.

During our visit to the Chinese consulate, we talked to 3 officers who discussed the threats and opportunities of Chinese companies in Ghana. While trading companies were booming in importing a lot of consumer goods from China to Ghana (much from Shenzhen), Chinese companies had made very little headway in the mining and coco industries. These were all dominated by European companies who had been here for a long time.

Most of Chinese business interaction in Ghana was in the form of loan-for-buildings. We visited sites all over Ghana that featured completed buildings and structures built by the Chinese. This included the national theater and the monument for the 1st Ghana president in Accra, a soccer stadium and a bridge near Tamale in the north.

We were also fortunate enough to visit a hydro-electric dam currently under construction a couple of hours outside of Kumasi - in the central part of Ghana.

In all of our visits and conversations with both local Ghanaians and Chinese workers and managers, there seemed like a communication disconnect between the two groups. Locals often complained about the bad practices of Chinese companies. The Chinese complained about the laziness of the locals and their not appreciating what the Chinese were doing for them.

As stated from the Chinese perspective, whenever there were any disagreements or individual problems with workers, those isolated people would immediately be given to the media and then pieced together to show how bad and manipulative the Chinese were. The people at the consulate felt that they were being portrayed unfairly and tried to do their best in better publicizing their investments and contributions to the local community in their newly established press office. Needless to say short articles stuck in the local news section of the newspaper didn't have much effect on the problem.

After my Ghana trip, I realized a few things:

the PR industry in China will only grow in the future
anytime a report on how bad Chinese investors are in Africa, S. America and other parts of the world shows up, it has a good likelihood of being created from the already established political discourse on China. (see this video from CNBC for more)
any real progress in soft power will happen from efforts of individual companies and people - not from a coordinated central government agenda

The Chinese government has really tried make a coordinated effort to improve soft power in the world. Even before the NYC Times Square ad, China has tried to rebrand itself. In the past few years, it has promoted Confucius Institutes in the world, established a CNN-style news network (creating it out of CCTV-9), created a Reuters/AP type organization within CCTV to sell comprehensive English reports to news outlets all over the world (my mom's college friend is a editor there), and even rolled out a Confucius statue in Tiananmen Square.

However, all of these government measures hasnt changed the fact that any mention of the Dali Lama will go directly to China's bad human right's record, and any event on Tiananmen Square will mention the riots of 1989. These government initiatives dont work as well as the indirect effects of individual companies. My friend in Beijing has tried to market Chinese indie films all around the world for the past few years. Her efforts to show a foreign audience an alternative side of China is an example of how small companies are contributing to Chinese soft power in various culture fields.

The best recent example of an ad that (I believe) is great is an Li-ning shoes commercial in the US. It came out around the same time as the NYC Times Square video, but definitely hits it out of the park in helping create a new understanding of China and Chinese people to the American audience. Only with commercials like these over a long period of time will any real soft power be created.

RVs in China? Doesn't Make Sense

2011-01-27T10:22:00.002+08:00

During my time “deep undercover” in Shenzhen, I saw that smaller Chinese companies really put an emphasis on foreign imported products, especially from Europe and the US. Higher class consumers have a lot of discretionary income and wanted the best products. This meant that imported goods were seen as the best.

This sentiment led a lot of small businesses to register their company, trademark their product and acquire businesses in Europe and the US. Now, businesses can claim that “this is a US product” even though Americans have never seen it. It doesn’t hurt that the RMB appreciation and depression of US/European asset prices are making things a lot cheaper.

China is a potentially huge market for many foreign products. Luxuries goods, cars, airplanes, vitamins, cosmetics, ect. have all succeeded. This recent exuberance for the foreign products has quasi-blinded some business people in China.

One recent article I read in the LA Times titled "China has burgeoning market for RVs, entrepreneur says" made me laugh.

China is hungry for the kind of recreational vehicles built in Southern California — at least according to the Chinese entrepreneur who struck a deal with a Riverside firm to build and export $5 billion worth of them.

The Chinese government has placed a focus on developing the RV industry as a cornerstone of the Chinese ideal of the happy home life, said Winston Chung.

"A family with an RV is a family more in harmony with each other," he said, speaking through a translator. "During vacations, people can get into the RV and enjoy quality family time."

Under Chung's agreement with MVP RV of Riverside, the company plans to manufacture the vehicles here and export them to China. However, Chung would not rule out moving operations to China in the future.

Chung spoke about the burgeoning market in China for the motor homes after a news conference with UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy P. White, where they announced Chung's $10-million donation to UCR's Bourns College of Engineering.

In an interview with The Times, a smiling Chung cheerfully detailed his plans to build and export 30,000 diesel-powered motor homes to China, and eventually to develop electric-powered RVs. Chung, 52, is the founder of battery maker Winston Global Energy.

The nascent Chinese RV industry has the potential for high profit margins, despite high taxes on gas-guzzling vehicles, Chung said. He added that the increasing value of the yuan, the Chinese currency, will make buying an RV more affordable for families.

Yes. These RVs would be more affordable, but who would buy them?? Let's analyze.

China has 1.3 billion people in a limited amount of space. People all live in high-rise apartment buildings to save space. Even those people who bought traditional American houses are squeezed together to an uncomfortable small area. There is just no room to park these things that would actually make sense unless its in a parking garage - but thats expensive.
People in the US enjoy RVs for camping and exploring the country - esp in the midwest and western US. It takes advantage of the cheap(er) fuel prices and the interstate highway system with the comfort of your own hotel-room RV. In China, tolls for the freeways are very expensive and the gas isnt cheap either. It doesnt make sense to travel via RVs since trains, long distance buses and plane travel is so convenient and public transportation and cheap taxis are available everywhere. Also, hotels are cheap as well.
Mostly older people in the US have RVs. Chinese old people dont know how to drive.
The people with the most RVs/Trailer homes in the US are for the poor. However, I dont foresee poor Chinese people choosing to live in RVs rather than their houses.

To me, RVs just does not make sense in China. However, if Mr. Chung and his company, Global Winston Energy bought the company to cut costs and sell to US/Canadian consumers (just like Chinese car maker Geely bought Volvo), that would make some sense.

Otherwise, what are you thinking??

The New US Sputnik Moment

2011-01-25T19:48:00.001+08:00

On the eve of Obama's State of the Union address, there are reports that he will center his speech on the theme of our generation's Sputnik moment.

"Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we'd beat them to the moon," Obama will say, according to excerpts released by the White House. "The science wasn't there yet. NASA didn't even exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs."

The contemporary Sputnik moment that exists right now is the competition with China.

When international tests revealed that students in Shanghai ranked first in math and science in December, it stunned educators. Amy Chua then jumped on this sentiment with a provocative op-ed in the WSJ titled Why Asian Mothers are Superior to promote her new book, it created a fierce national debate that brought out the "USA! USA!" chanting American defenders/Chinese critics, here, here and here.

Although there could be debate on the validity of this the best way to teach children and the actual competitiveness of US education, the underlying theme is clear. While US kids are playing video games and out having fun, Chinese kids have private tutors and Sunday classes. While the US is cutting education budgets all over the country, China is increasing its own. No debate will change the fact that Chinese Confucian culture puts greater emphasis on education. Below is a great clip of Nicholas Kristof discussing this issue.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thomas Friedman actually first started the Sputnik discussion in an op-ed in late 2009 addressing China's huge investment in green energy with governmental support.

without declaring it, China is embarking on a new, parallel path of clean power deployment and innovation. It is the Sputnik of our day. We ignore it at our peril.

This sentiment has prodded both the Secretary of Energy and Commerce to refer to the Sputnik challenge in renewable energy, investment in infrastructure and high tech computing in recent speeches.

While the US is bogged down with its fake repeal of "Obamacare", partisan bickering, tax cuts for the rich and bureaucratic hoops, China is strongly supporting the future renewable energy sector. Hopefully Obama can utilize the unifying sentiments from the Tuscon shooting and focuses it on the country's future. Who knows if the Republicans will listen.

US Press Makes Hu Jintao Sweat Over Human Rights Question. Really??

2011-01-21T06:50:00.002+08:00

I have been eagerly watching the coverage of the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, and his state visit to the US for the past 2 days. It has been made a big deal by media in both countries and occurs at an interesting point in China/US relations as China is now the 2nd largest economy in the world, surpassing Japan.

I read all the articles I could find online from Foreign Policy, Time and other sources to give me a sense of public discourse on the subject. Not only did I find more ideas for future blog posts, it gave me a feel for how the US viewed this visit and what the media wanted to accomplish.

The thing that most stood out before President Hu's arrival was the inclusion of a media press conference held with Obama. Multiple media sources stated that this was a concession the Chinese had to make in order to "get the State dinner." It would also be a symbol for human rights and free press to see the red China president take questions from a free media.

As the official "day of pomp and ceremony" arrived, I waited for the highly anticipated joint press conference. After brief opening statements from both leaders, 2 US and 2 Chinese reporters would be called to ask questions.

When the 1st US reporter began to ask his question, I knew it would be on the issue of human rights. It fit perfectly with the "finally, we can put him on the spot" mindset established in the US media. After the reporter asked his long question to Obama, he asked Hu:

How do you justify China's record, and do you think that's any of the business of the American people?

In reality, this was a softball question. It fits perfectly with (what I believe) the established Chinese answer:

A major part of human rights is providing citizens with food, shelter, jobs, healthcare, ect. and China has done that by lifting 500 million people out of poverty in the past (whatever) years. And no, its not any of your business because we believe in non-interference wrt other countries' internal affairs.

However, as I anticipated this answer when Obama first finished his, there was only silence. Hu Jintao didnt answer the question?! Instead he stood their with a confused look while the US media waited for his answer. After a brief silence, he went on to take a question from the next Chinese reporter.

I personally never thought he tried to dodge it. The question was too easy. Instead, I thought that he probably didnt hear it. After the first question was raised in English, Obama answered in a long monologue. Only after that was there a translation of the question and Obama's answer. The translator also SUCKED! Not only did he constantly stumble on his Chinese through out the press conference, he translated many things wrong and omitted a lot of content.

However, if Hu didnt answer the question, I knew there would be a problem. The major news in the media following would focus on it and say, "we put him on the spot and he just dodged it", "thats what an commie does" and "thats why the US system is so much better", ect. That would be terrible for China's rep.

Thankfully, the 2nd American reporter addressed the initial human rights question. After explaining he didnt hear it initially, President Hu gave his answer.

Thank god he answered it or all hell would've broke loose or will it anyways?

Today, while reading coverage of the visit online, I stumbled on Dana Milbank's op-ed piece on the Washington Post. The response and description of the press conference from the day before was exactly what I had anticipated.

Something about human rights just doesn't translate for Chinese President Hu Jintao.

President Obama granted him the full state-dinner treatment that President George W. Bush denied him five years ago - but in return, Hu had to put up with a news conference, which he had refused to do when Obama visited China. For a repressive ruler, facing a free press is about as pleasant a prospect as attending the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

After the leaders' standard opening statements full of the blah-blah about bilateral cooperation, the Associated Press's Ben Feller rose and asked a gutsy, forceful question.

Obama answered. The translator translated. All eyes turned to Hu - who said nothing.

Instead, he looked to a woman from China Central Television - the state-run network that answers to the Communist Party's propaganda department - who tossed him a softball about "friendship and mutual understanding."

But the next questioner, Bloomberg's Hans Nichols, gave Hu a lesson in press freedoms (by addressing the first not-answered question).

In Beijing, that impertinence would get a reporter jailed. But Hu wasn't in Beijing. During the translation of Nichols's question, Hu held a palm up and smiled, as if he couldn't see what all the fuss was about. "Because of the technical translation and interpretation problem, I did not hear the question about the human rights," he explained - falsely, as it turns out.

It was a good moment for the American press. Feller and Nichols put the Chinese leader on the spot in a way that Obama, constrained by protocol, could not have done. On Wednesday afternoon, Obama and the press corps were justifiably on the same side, displaying the rights of free people.

Hu, however, ignored that question in favor of the gentler one from his employee at Chinese television. As luck would have it, Hu was perfectly prepared for the question, and, in his reply, looked down to read statistics from his notes.

Reporters glanced at each other, puzzled over Hu's ignoring of Feller's question. During the interminable translation into Mandarin of Hu's answer to the Chinese reporter's question, Obama flashed a grin at Gibbs.

Hu, his forehead shining, had another plant waiting in the crowd, a reporter from the state-run Xinhua news agency. But before Hu could get that lifeline tossed his way, the microphone went to the American side, where Nichols demanded an answer to the human-rights question. This time, Hu couldn't claim it was lost in translation.

"China is a developing country with a huge population and also a developing country in a crucial stage of reform," he explained. "In this context, China still faces many challenges in economic and social development, and a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights."

No wonder Hu doesn't like questions: He might have to give an honest answer.

Of course it was a good moment for the US press. You posed a hard hitting question and made the President of China squirm. You made him sweat and succumb to the demands of the righteously free media. USA! USA! USA!

Freeway Parking Lots in Beijing

2010-12-26T13:48:00.000+08:00

If my memory serves me right, the traffic during the Beijing Olympics were awesome! Even though there was a dedicated lane for Olympic vehicles only on every street traffic was swift. Due to the implementation of the odd/even number system on alternate days, only half the allotted cars in Beijing were allowed on the road. That's the government taking charge at its best.

As the Olympics ended, local citizens discussed the necessity of policies such as the odd/even car plate system and others that helped combat pollution. Everyone agreed that it was preferable to keep the policies in place but not realistic.

Fast forward 27 months later and finally taking some kind of action to curb the congestion problems in Beijing. The government will begin to limit the amount of new vehicles coming onto the streets to only 240,000 next year. Although theres a rule that limits car use one day per week, the number of cars in Beijing has sky rocketed in the past 2 years. Reports claim that

...as of December 19, the capital had 4.76 million vehicles, 700,000 more than that at the beginning of 2010 and contrasting with 2.6 million in 2005.

What are you going to do about the almost 5 million cars already on the roads?? How can the average speed of cars on Beijing roads be only 13mpg? ONLY 13?

Traffic in Beijing is not like normal cities where there is a rush hour in the morning going to work and in the evening getting out of work. The only time where there is not rush hour is between 9pm and 6am. At all other times, there will be consistent bumper to bumper traffic where its impossible to go above 20mpg.

The traffic is so bad that its difficult to schedule any kind of business dinners or dining out with friends unless someone comes incredibly late. Combine this with subway cars absolutely packed during rush hour and theres no real way to get around the city. That's why I always stay around one specific area (East 3rd ring) and rarely venture out anywhere when I'm in Beijing.

Please, Beijing gov't, take charge and get all of these cars off the street. I don't understand how you put this problem off until now, but do something! I understand that China wants to develop the auto industry as a pillar industry in China. I also understand that people buying cars increase GDP, but shouldn't there be a consideration of the social good? What good are cars if they just sit on freeways that resemble more like parking lots??

WSJ Tells the Truth on US/China Trade Deficit

2010-12-17T10:31:00.006+08:00

With all of the anti-China mongering before the recent midterm elections, and constant pressure to adjust Chinese USD exchange rates, finally a US media source addresses the real issues.

In yesterday's WSJ article, Not Really 'Made in China', the author makes the point that the iphone, although thought of as ubiqutously American actually added almost 2 billion dollars to the US deficit with China last year.

Two academic researchers estimate that Apple Inc.'s iPhone—one of the best-selling U.S. technology products—actually added $1.9 billion to the U.S. trade deficit with China last year.

How is this possible? The researchers say traditional ways of measuring global trade produce the number but fail to reflect the complexities of global commerce where the design, manufacturing and assembly of products often involve several countries.

"A distorted picture" is the result, they say, one that exaggerates trade imbalances between nations.

Trade statistics in both countries consider the iPhone a Chinese export to the U.S., even though it is entirely designed and owned by a U.S. company, and is made largely of parts produced in several Asian and European countries. China's contribution is the last step—assembling and shipping the phones.

So the entire $178.96 estimated wholesale cost of the shipped phone is credited to China, even though the value of the work performed by the Chinese workers at Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. accounts for just 3.6%, or $6.50, of the total, the researchers calculated in a report published this month.

Since the traditional trade deficit/surplus calculation counts the entire wholesale cost of the iphone as part of China's trade, there is a distorted view of the actual situation.

The vast majority of Chinese exports are made with various components that are first imported to China. Therefore, even if China implements currency exchange inform - the traditional view of US politicians, very little would actually change with respect to Chinese exports. Although components of cost will rise for Chinese manufactures (ie. labor, overhead), the costs of parts that are foreign imported actually decreases for the factory. This means that the final price is about the same as the price before the currency adjustment.

This means that the new currency policy would have little or no effect on the competitiveness of Chinese products wrt to American products. Although it would give China greater purchasing power for American goods, unless the US lowers export restrictions on high tech goods, exports wont increase much either.

Although there are issues with current US/China trade, its important for Americans to better understand that its not a black and white cause of Chinese exchange rate policies. There needs to be better analysis of the fundamental problems with the US economy and less Chinese fear-mongering. Thank you, WSJ for helping out.

China's Electrical Cars

2009-04-11T13:49:00.002+08:00

The New York Times reported today on the future of electric cars in China and the committment to consumer subsidies and investment in safety and technology. At the same time, I started to watch the first commericals on TV for the BYD electric car. How interesting...

Chinese Savings = Religion

2009-02-09T12:05:00.001+08:00

For the past few weeks, I've been spending more time with my grandparents. They came to visit our extended family for Chinese New Year and are enjoying the warm weather and nice accommodations here in Shenzhen. I try to see them at least 3-4x a week and I usually take them out to eat western food - something they enjoy but don't frequently do.

Even though each of my grandparents still receive more than 3000 per month in retirement from the government as well as consistent money from my mom and uncles, they always stash it away. (My grandparents also have all of their medical bills taken care of by the gov't.) I have been trying for some time now to convince them to spend more money to enjoy their golden years. What’s wrong with more traveling, taking taxis and eating well? They won’t do it, but are always saving. Although they like eating McDonald's and Pizza Hut, they don't like to pay for it.

While the western media argues that due to the lack of a social safety net and social security system, Chinese people absolutely need to save - because the gov't won’t take care of them. I disagree with this notion.

Saving money is a religion in China, especially for older generations. While some people have plenty of money saved away already, they still do it. Their daily lives have been routine for so long that there’s hardly any time or anywhere to spend the money. Buying groceries in the morning, cooking at home and playing cards and mahjong can only cost so much.

Migrant workers are another example of savers. They typically make about 2000RMB or less every month and save the majority of it - sending some home. However, if you look at them, they all wear some decent clothes, laptops and all have better cell phones than I do. They just typically save on everyday expenses and sometimes make that big purchase, buying something more than one month's salary.

I've recently thought that with improving living standards - esp. in the cities, Chinese middle class and white collar young people will evolve to a western-style lifestyle of using credit and spending lavishly without regard for price and cost.

Some of my friends are like this. They spend most of their relatively high salary 10,000 RMB/month on iphones, designer clothing and taxis. They travel all over China and SE Asia. They're living the good life. I worry that if these people are the next generation, China will save less.

One recent CNN report made me feel optimistic about these Chinese middle class. It is reported that there is an online group who tries to spend 100RMB/week. That's incredible! These people want to be more consceince of day-to-day spending and to be more mature of managing their own finances. Maybe there is hope yet for China and its future...

Check out the report:

China's (Optimistic) Future

2009-02-05T20:45:00.001+08:00

During this current global recession and financial crisis, I've had many debates with fellow American friends living in Shenzhen on what will happen in China in the future. My friends (some of them have been in China for more than 5 years now and speak Mandarin fluently) often believe in a similar view as western media.

"Chinese people let the totalitarian Chinese gov't rule in exchange for economic growth - at least 8%."

If this statement holds true, the current closures of thousands of factories directly linked to the export industry and the millions of workers that has join the unemployed poses a huge problem for the stability of the gov't and society in general. Recent unrest and footage of protesting workers have shown to be initial reactions of this issue. One of my friends even hypothesized that China will invade Taiwan just to distract the Chinese people and to increase nationalism sentiment.

I personally don’t understand where this "trade-off" between the Chinese people and gov't idea came from - because I disagree with it whole-heartedly. Although there have been riots - they have been relatively isolated and usually protesting justified inequalities perpetrated by local officials (often corrupt). In the video above, the toy factory closed unexpectedly and didn’t pay any of its workers. Is that the government's fault?

I personally see Chinese people as hard working, resilient people who have a history of getting through hard times. My parents lived through hard times with rationing and the Cultural Revolution where no one had anything. Just a few years ago, my hometown Harbin, didn’t have water for a week because of a chemical spill upstream that polluted the Songhua River. My extended family and grandparents still live there. Did people panic and riot? No. Everyone worked together to get through it.

Look at the recent earthquake in Sichuan and the aftermath of that event. China is populated with people pulling together through hard times. In the absense of gov't help, villiagers banded together to help each other. People did what they could. While this happened, the gov't mobilized quickly and was on site immediately to help. Compare this to the 2005 Katrina disaster where the gov't didnt do anything for many days at the same time people were just waiting for people to "save them" at the New Orleans Superdome.

The definition of a Chinese person's character is that he first blames himself before blaming someone else. He works to improve his own situation rather than waiting for the government to do something (Only when it’s too unfair do people take action). He is adaptive and stable.

My outlook for the future China has always been optimistic. Here are the steps I foresee:

1. Although Chinese exports industries are getting hit hard; this is a natural situation that will realign the Chinese economy. Different businesses have already started to focus on selling their products, once destined for the US and Europe, in China.

2. The Chinese consumer, although not too confident currently, has savings and an ample appetite to spend. As Americans are riddled with debt and are saving more, Chinese consumers are still spending. Just walk around restaurants and malls and you won’t see any signs of recession here in Shenzhen.

3. Migrant workers who lost their jobs are not going to riot. They are going to go home, start families, start businesses and live life. Less people are going to come back into the urban areas after Chinese New Year. In a recent report, China estimates about 20 million people have returned home. Most people have made money in the past and have it saved up at home. And since living costs are drastically lower back in the smaller towns and villages, the savings go a long way.

4. Thousands of 海归 (haigui - overseas Chinese) have returned to China - many with high level degrees. Since opportunities in the US, Europe and other areas of the world are gone, they have come back to China to find jobs. This will greatly enhance Chinese competitiveness and future development.

5. Local and provincial governments understand the importance of high tech industries as well as economically sustainable green technologies. This focus will help future economic prospects.

6. The government is trying to aid in everything it can. It’s helping small businesses get loans through banks and helping consumers spend with subsidies. More importantly, the Chinese stimulus package focuses on infrastructure projects that will greatly improve Chinese transportation efficiency. During the last Asian Financial Crisis, China's lead in investing in its infrastructure helped it sustain economic growth for more than 10 years.

7. As the economy starts to realign away from exports, the Chinese gov't will slowly sell off US debt and appreciate the Chinese RMB to higher levels. With a higher RMB, China will then go buy even more assets all over the world to further its future development.

Shenzhen Mass Transit: For the People

2009-02-04T15:11:00.006+08:00

During the Spring Festival break, I was able to spend time and talk with my extended family at the different dinners and tennis outings we had. At one of the outings, I had to chance to discuss the Shenzhen public transportation with my aunt's colleague - an official who is in charge of government municipal projects. Currently Shenzhen is going through a massive expansion of its metro system.

When discussing the effects of the economic crisis and the current government investment in infrastructure, our family friend mentioned that currently, the Shenzhen metro system had an operating loss of 500 million (五亿) RMB in the past year. That's a lot of money.

I was first stunned at this number and was interested in why this is the case. The Shenzhen metro system is already the most expensive in the country with a graduated ticket price based on distance. Also with increasing traffic congestion, more and more people are choosing to ride the metro everyday in their commute. Even with these factors, the operating cost of the metro is still much higher than the revenue.

As the official explained:

The metro runs as a regular company, but with the Shenzhen government as the controling party, we set the ticket prices. Our goal is to provide affordable transportation for Shenzhen citizens. We make sure that the bus system and the metro system are not profit driven so that we can give the citizens a great service at a reduced price. This is also why all people over the age of 65 ride free of charge as well.

As the expanded network comes online, we believe that even more people will ride the metro based on its convenience. Shenzhen will be a much different city. We believe the 500 million loss we incur every year will be reduced but in reality, that isnt too important. Cheap, reliable service to the people are.

When comparing the Shenzhen metro system with the NYC subway, there is a huge difference in thinking. Because the NYC system is profit based, price fares are constantly rising with subsequent lower service and convenience. I remember a few years ago, the MTA wanted to increase the fare price because of a loss while trying to hide millions of dollars worth of revenue from the public.

The government promoting public transportation in China not only helps the citizens, it helps reduce the use of private cars and improves the enviorment. Currently China is building more than 10 different subway lines across the country with more planned. This is on top of the increased investment on railroads and other mass transit systems.

Chinese 海归 (Turtles) Returning Home

2009-02-03T20:17:00.003+08:00

I was in Beijing a few weeks ago, talking to some expat friends when we started discussing the changing dynamic of English speakers in China.

As one of my friends noticed, there were noticably more Chinese people who graduated from overseas universities in the Beijing social circle. These include those who have grown up in the foreign country and those who went there to exculsively study.

Talking to a family friend a few days later, he estimated that more than 250,000 海归 have come back from different countries abroad in the past year. This friend, who is involved in many academic and business circles, explained that the recent financial turmoil has drastically increased the rate of return of both recent college graduates and experienced professionals. "The world economy is helping to bring the best and brightest home."

For years there have been a brain drain on China. After President Nixon's visit to China, many promising Chinese have traveled to and studied at American universities. These were often the best and most promising students in China. While some came back, most remained abroad to make their new home. My family is an example of this process. Those who did return to China have done quite well. These people are influencial in business, academica and politics. (Many friends of my parents are CEOs, university presidents and influencal policy makers after returning in the mid-90s.

In recent years as the Chinese economy has boomed, many people who otherwise would have stayed abroad are returning to China. I am one of these people. The China story was too strong for me to not come back to China and experience it first hand. Although I plan to go back to the USA (who knows when), I definitely know China will be a big part of my future.

It seems now with the economic crisis in full swing, this desire to return to China has caught on with more and more 海归. Just as there are record layoffs in the US in just about every industry, China is still experiencing a high growth rate and a bright future. Why wouldn't people come back. Jim Rogers even moved to Asia so that his daughters can learn Chinese.

The current return of 海归 creates some interesting issues for the future:

1. As fast as China is changing now, more Chinese with experience in other countries will increase the momentum. Armed with new thinking and new ideas of the west, they will make a lasting impact on Chinese society. This includes lifestyle, culture and day-to-day life things.

2. Chinese competitiveness in the global market will increase dramatically. An increase of western thinking combined with current practices gives large Chinese companies a boost.

3. More successful small businesses will be created in the long term. With practical experience in western corporations, returning Chinese will take advantage of low labor costs and set up more and more SMEs.

4. There will be more competition in every field - from jobs to bank lending and resources.

5. The government will have to find a way to best utilize the skills, talents and influences of these 海归.

6. There will be a change of social dynamics between locals and 海归 as well as the relative relationship and negotiation of idenity and diaspora with the changing China.

Ultimately, the return of soo many foreign Chinese will only change China faster and improve its place in the world. This currently hidden phenomenon will have a big impact in the future development and modernization of China.

Cheerleading in China. Yay!

2009-01-30T23:57:00.003+08:00

One of the newest developments in the realm of Chinese sport has been the interest in cheerleading and cheers competitions. Since before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there has been a drastic increase in mainstream fascination, participation and expansion of the "sport". Although this seems like less of a blog-worthy development, it is still an interesting aspect of Chinese culture that is changing.

When I first arrived in China, there were very few, if any cheerleaders of any kind. Although there were forms of dance in traditional Chinese culture, there was definitely a lack of a performance art that combined athletic maneuvers, performance and peppiness. One can even make the argument that traditional Chinese culture frowned on this type of performance for it wardrobe and style.

Earliest forms of cheerleading in China were glorified jumping around of cute girls in relatively skimpy outfits during timeouts at Chinese Basketball Association (CBA - the Chinese national basketball league) games. These performances were often elementary and actually quite embarrassing to watch.

However, as the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears influence on pop dancing (as well as Korean and Japanese pop) changed somewhat Chinese pop singers, this influence has also translated into the increased recognition and better accented moves in cheer circles. In the past months, there has been a noticeable improvement in everything cheerleading related.

During the preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, cheerleading professionals from the US were invited to come to China to help mentor, train and develop girls who were going to perform at the games. In total, China trained 200,000 people to cheer in preparation for the Olympics. This national initiative really helped improve Chinese aspiring cheerleaders.

Without knowing how many Chinese schools have cheer programs, it is notable that many TV programs include cheer performances and competitions of many Chinese schools. There has been definitely an increase in peppiness.

While these programs are becoming more frequent, coverage of international competitions have also been broadcasted. As I am writing this post, I am watching the 2008 World Aerobics competitions on the main Chinese sports channel (CCTV5). Other events, including the US cheer championships usually held in Disneyworld, have also been given prime exposure to Chinese audiences.

Although this type of performance dance/sport is still in its infancy in China, it has been marked by notable investment and development (just as in every other industry in China).

Counterfitting the RMB

2009-01-28T21:31:00.002+08:00

One of the most notable and influencial topics discussed by all of my family during CNY this year has been the availability of new high-quality counterfeit bills. China has great skill in duplicating things of all types - including electronics, dvds, shoes, bags, ect. Now it seems that someone has helped improve on counterfits that they have been passed into banks and atms. Anyone living in China deals with this issue everyday. There are fake 1 RMB coins all the way up to 50s being passed around in the population, but never at this rate and quality.

When talking to my Chinese uncle and his friends a couple of days ago, they hypothesised that the fake bills orginiated from Taiwan. They described it as a relentless competition between the mainland and taiwan. The goal is to access the others' financies and undermine the currency. They suggested that China has also done the same in Taiwan.

No matter what the origions are, it is still very intimidating to know that fake bills are so prevelent among the population. Friends in the banking industry who handle and count money everyday have also discussed the current situation and the different countermeasures the banks are trying to implement. However, when people depsoit the fake currency in the ATM, it is automatically recycled when others retreve money.

Here's a recent CNN report on the situation:

Shenzhen: The Posterchild of China's Economic Development

2008-12-19T12:34:00.005+08:00

Yesterday while riding back to my apartment on the bus after Thursday night basketball with team 老外 (Lao Wai）, I saw a new report about China's government meeting to commemorate the 30 year anniversary of the opening up policies of Deng Xiaoping. In these 30 years, China has gone from a tremendously poor country to the world's 3rd highest GDP. It's no doubt been quite a transformation.

In this time of celebration of the opening-up policies, Shenzhen has been on the forefront on the conversation - a figurehead of sorts of China's transformation.

Recently, I have been looking for a new apartment in the downtown area. Here is a view of the Shenzhen skyline from one of the places.

Here's a CNN video discussing change in Shenzhen:

Expat Frustration in China

2008-11-27T18:10:00.004+08:00

China is a frustrating place.

There i said it. Everyone is thinking it. You know you are too.

I would like to first state that I love China. I was born here and have been living here for more than 2 years. I have family here and a lot of friends too. I feel a incredible pride of being Chinese in the current state in the world as well as understand the burden of its history. I really do understand. It's in me.

As much as I enjoy living here, I have found China to be an incredibly frustrating place to live. People from the outside would make general arguments for this fact... ie. the water is dirty or the air is polluted, but the real frustration comes from all of the little things. These little things cant be seen or even understood by someone who hasnt lived in China. It builds up slowly until one day, you know you have to just get out of here.

When one first moves to China, everything is new and exciting. It can even initially be fun and interesting as something that is embrassed. However, given the right amount of time, these things become less fun/interesting. It's ok to laugh it off for a little bit of time, but after actually living with it everyday.... things change. Of course all of these little things can be properly explained and put into context of cultural difference, social development, a large population, ect. As a visitor in any new country, one has to accept the local society and its customs. However, that doesnt make day-to-day life easier.

So what are these little things? Here's a list:

1. The inability to just relax. The sheer number of people in China makes it so that is are people EVERYWHERE. I have never been anywhere where it was just me and no one else - where I can take a deep breath and get away from it all. 就不能安静下来. Even in places like your own apartment, the bathroom or anywhere else private, there are tons of ambiant noise caused by all of the people.

2.The horrible service. Although the general service is improving, it still lacks a huge amount to a solid benchmark. Examples include:

Waiting for hours in line at the bank where there is only 1 teller serving dozens of people
Any small mistake on any form will mean redoing that form
The amount of BS paperwork and incovenient transaction materials for just about any service including banking, general utilities, phone, ect.
Really long waits for any service at restaurants where a question or request can be left unanswered for more than 15 minutes
Some employees telling you the wrong thing while managers tell you the right thing
Basic lack of common sense where the idea that the "customer is right" doesnt exist
General inefficency

3. Lack of common courtesy by (not all) people. This issue depends on city and location, but it definitely happens just about everywhere. It is worst in a place like Shenzhen where there is a large migrant community. Although not all people are so bad, the small percentage of 1.3 billion is a lot. Some examples are:

Spitting on the street to spitting on the floor indoors and even airport terminals
Blatent littering when trash cans are close by (I've found myself picking up after other people)
Smoking in McDonald's or other non-smoking places
Not waiting in line for anything and pushing your way through to the front
Really loud disturbing conversations in restaurants or on cell phones

4. Life threatening transportation. With more and more cars on the roads everyday, the streets are not only more conjested but even more dangerous. Some basics are:

Taxi drivers swirving left and right in and out of traffic
Drivers sometime ignoring red lights or going in the wrong way on a street
Cars parked waiting for someone along the side of the road that blocks off traffic for
People standing in the street for buses
Jaywalking on really busy 8-lane intersections
People dragging carts along the street filled with random stuff.

5. For people not of Chinese decent, they get stared at all the time and approached with hi's, hello's and impromptu conversations. That's cool for a while but it gets annoying too.

All of these isses and problems all combine after a certain amount of time to build up incredible frustration in just about everyone I know. Good people become the epitome of the "ugly American" with this built up in their system.

I was talking to a friend of mine who is the nicest girl you would ever meet. She told me a story of how she just flipped out at a taxi driver after he said he couldnt take her to her destination becuase he was about to go off duty and had to return the car. She felt horrible afterwards and felt bad for the taxi driver who was only doing his job. That didnt prevent her from venting out yelling at him. That's something I would never expect from her.

Even my mom agrees. She has lived 60% of her life in China and 40% in the US. She comes back on business trips every year and loves it for a while. However, she would never be able to live here for an extended amount of time anymore.

I've seen myself become increasingly frustrated over time as well. After a while, you just cant help it but to be chippy douche to people, even friends. It's just one of those things. Maybe this is why all of the Chinese rich people are moving out to places where there are less people.

The only remedy is to get out of China for a while and go on vacation. The key is to get back to a place where these small things dont exist, or that they exist but are interpreted by a tourist mindset of acceptance, not a constant annoyance. Thank goodness Shenzhen, is so close to Hong Kong, Macau and SE Asia. A couple of days on the Thailand beaches really does wonders. Bali, here I come.

Sex, Love & Money in China

2008-11-25T01:02:00.006+08:00

Anyone who knows anything about Shenzhen knows that it is the "wild wild west" of Chinese capitalism. Although some would argue Shanghai or Hong Kong as the major financial centers, Shenzhen is the real place where all the most able and capable entrepreneurs go. Maybe in 10-20 years, Shenzhen will develop into a international city, it is still currently a culture-less metropolis with a specific focus on money and everything money related.

I like describing Shenzhen as a melting pot of the most able people in China. The young worker in the factory is usually the eldest and most responsible or able in his/her family while the company owners are hotshots from every part of China. It is certainly a weird and unique place with a young population that like to get ahead.

One of the more interesting and somewhat unfortunate aspects of his money-hungry city is its hidden cultural intersection between sex, love and money. Here's the rule: those who dont have money will do a lot to get it. In this case it has led to a system of mistresses and

In a article published online by Telegraph.co.uk entitled "China girls: 'The only luxury we can't afford is love'", it describes the current and growing issue of 2nd wives and "concubines" in China. It follows a variety of individuals who are in this community of "二奶 [ernai]" and discuss the various social, political and personal issues that are involved.

Anyone who lives in a major city in China can see the various signs of this system. It is as simple as going to a club/bar on a weekend and seeing all of the 40 year old guys sporting the beer belly with a young and attractive girl in her 20s.

Even yesterday as I rode the elevator down from my apartment building at dinner time, I chatted with a really pretty girl in her 20s. I noticed that she was wearing expensive jewlery, clothing while radiating Channel purfume. As we parted ways outside of the building after some small talk, I saw her go directly into a high priced Mercedes waiting for her, driven by a 40-something guy.

Most 二奶 receive "rental on a fashionable penthouse in one of the city's dazzling white apartment blocks, plus a 5,000-yuan (about £350) monthly budget for clothing, haircare and skin-whitening treatments. That's more than double China's average monthly income."

In turn her 'husband' - a successful industrialist whose factories stud mainland China - entertains Little Snow once or twice a month. The nights are raucous, but the sex lacklustre, to Little Snow 'a function no different from brushing my hair or drinking a glass of water'. He's up before the sun rises, sometimes leaving a rose on the pillow.

Is this wrong? Is this right? I don't know. However, I do know that this is all created by the income disparity that exists between people from the countryside and those from the cities, between the young and old, between women and men.

As long as men in China have most of the wealth and the distrubution disparty between the different classes are so large, this system will always exist. As the Telegraph article states:'

The country has changed rapidly; but Chinese thinking hasn't caught up with this new reality,' says Yang Erche Namu, aka Namu, one-time mistress to a diplomat and now a postergirl for modern Chinese feminism, whose ballsy bestselling books urge Chinese women to pursue emotional and financial emancipation. 'Some men are getting very rich, with cash to throw around, but at the same time the wealth gap is widening and the countryside is full of young girls living in poverty. So it's natural that love becomes a transaction - it's a simple case of supply and demand.'

In addition to the young 2nd wives, there are also 2nd husbands, gigalos or 鸭子 [yazi] in Shenzhen. While this usually occurs less frequently, it is still a part of the culture. A recent Malaysian article described a young, 22 year old Shenzhen man blackmailing his 50 year old wife for 1 million HKD.

This just shows that its all about the money in Shenzhen.

Note: Many people have written about the issues relating to prostitution and brothels in Shenzhen and other Chinese cities. I have been recently reading China Inc. by Ted Fishman and it gives a great summary of the situation for girls who go into the pay-for-sex industry and its links with economic and financial struggles.

Also, just to show that Sex & Money is related in every culture, below is a recent ABC News report describing the growth in the US brothel service in the current bad economy.

China Takes Action. US Hangs Out

2008-11-10T15:38:00.003+08:00

For the past few days since Barack Obama was elected President, I've been trying my best to keep up with the news about his presidential transition and the economy. Although it has only been a few days since the historic election, there has already been a lot of politics and fighting between the various interest groups in the US.

The main issue currently in the US is the economy. As GM is almost going bankrupt and more people hit the unemployment lines everyday, the country has sought a change from the current status quo and is looking to Obama as the savior. It seems that most people want him to start doing things right away and try to pursue his policy direction he laid out during his campaign.

Obama has announced his desire for middle class tax relief, help in healthcare and unemployment insurance for the poor as well as investments in infulstructure and public work projects all over the country to stimulate the economy. The issue right now is that:

1. He's still not the president. He only becomes president in January.
2. Even though he has a "mandate" from the election, he has to get past the lame-duck congress and lame duck president bush to see any of his proposals become law before he's sworn in.
3. Even when he is officially president, he will still have to play the politics game back and forth with congress to get anything done. As we've seen the $150 billion in amendments and pork addes on to the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, there will definitely more of the same to any new stimulous package.

So in the midst of an economic crisis for the ages, the US government cant act because of procedural issues and infighting.

On the flip side, look at China. Just before I went to bed last night, CNN reported that China, in all its "red, commie" glory, has announced a $586 Billion spending plan for the next to years to bolster its economy in this downturn. Without too much debate or infighting, China has acted urgently to combat this crisis.

And surprise surpise, the investment is for "infrastructure and social welfare" projects/programs. I guess this is what Obama was thinking about doing in his plan. Now lets see how long it takes the US to do the same exact thing as China.

Unity in the USA and China

2008-11-05T19:15:00.005+08:00

I spent last night with a couple of fellow American friends to watch the complete and full election coverage on our little 3-monitor setup here in Shenzhen. After a rather quick electoral landslide, Obama will become the next President of the USA. This almost improbable moment just years ago - in a country with a racist and problematic past, the US voted for change.

Even though I am on the other side of the world, watching what is going on through video monitors, I could still feel the great aura of the moment. I could almost feel the excitement and sheer awesomeness felt all over the US. Many friends emailed, texted and even called me talking about their excitement, where they were and what was going on. Some partied in the streets of Harlem on the 125th and some were present at his acceptance speech with 70,000 others in a Chicago park. Just a great moment.

This moment, that brought together millions of Americans created a new communal feeling of togetherness and unity that has not touched the US for such a long time.

In actuality, this moment resembles a lot of the past few years in China. Yes its true. As much as a lot of people criticize China for "autoritarian gov't" and other "non-democratic" ways, it is a place that has this collective conscienceness.

Thinking back, I remember when China was awarded the 2008 Olympic games way back in 2001. I was in China for a few days and saw the millions of people celebrating in Tiananmen Square and all over the country. I remember the Sichuan earthquake and how that brought the Chinese people together. I experienced the sheer awe-inspiring 2-week Beijing Olympics and the subsequent liftoff and the 1st space walk of the Shenzhou 7 mission. All of these events (among others) are underlying reasons why China has been able to become what it is today.

Again this feeling of community, the collective idenity and conscienceness creates a great feeling of unity. With the looming economic crisis increasing in scope, this is exactly what the US needs. Just as it united the USA after the attacks of 9/11, it will make the country resiliant and powerful again. Even though i'm over here in China, i'm proud of my country and see a bright future ahead even with the problems that will come. For a country to be able to build the A-bomb and go to the Moon, nothing is out of reach.

Shenzhen's Greater Plan: No Manufacturing, No Problem.

2008-10-26T22:52:00.009+08:00

There has been a recent plethora of news regarding the effects of the global recession on the Chinese export industry, especially in Shenzhen. Many articles have been devoted to bigger factories that used to produce toys, furniture, other consumer products while employing thousands and thousands of workers closing down. One even says it will cost the Pearl River Delta area "millions of jobs".

In reality, this situation has been going on for a while now. The downturn in the US economy many months ago changed the dynamics of manufacturing. With changes in regulations and demands, rising RMB vs. the Dollar exchange rate and other factors, previous factories that employed 100-200 workers couldnt maintain cash flow and pay for their workers.

While talking to managers at plants, some said that it was better for them to go idle than to manufacture something because the things they made was almost always at a loss. Other factories didnt even have the convenience of deciding to manufacturer or not. Once booming factories couldn't get any new orders from their clients in Europe and the US. No orders = no work = no jobs = plants closing down. Fast forward to the present and we see factories with 2000 workers collapse. That's intense. I've seen recent stats that more than 50% of all toy companies in Shenzhen have closed down.

The thing is, as much as this economic downturn in the globalized economy has hurt a lot of export-driven businesses, and its workers in Shenzhen, it's really helping Shenzhen transform itself to what it wants to become. For the past 2 years since I've been living here, there has been a constant trend and push by local officials to develop Shenzhen as a city dominated by high-tech research rather than lower value-added manufacturing. It wants to go from labor intensive, basic and easy things like the toy industry to industries higher on the totem pole of innovation.

As much as Shenzhen was able to get its start from being that factory town "across the border" for Hong Kong businessmen, its goal is to move away from that persona into an international city of something other than toys, eye glass frames and furniture. It wants to be a city on the same scale as Beijing and Shanghai, or better than Singapore.

So while Shenzhen has slowly tried to shed its own manufacturing persona (these are well documented and that I wont go through), it has done many things to promote innovation, whether its opening a office in NYC or being ranked a leader of innovation in Asia in a recent study. Other things include:

Establishing favorable policies for high tech industries - this includes lower taxes and cheaper office buildings (among others)
Attracting more and more Chinese people back from overseas, whether its recent graduates or seasoned professionals and intellectuals.
Maintaining a high education work force. Supposedly more workers in Shenzhen have advanced degrees than any other city in China. I'm sure most of these are in fields of engineering, mathematics, ect.
Increasing its financial clout. Shenzhen has developed the Nasdaq-style exchange for SMEs (adding to its current Shenzhen Stock Exchange) while more and more investment banks and financial companies are established here.
Promoting greater cooperation with Hong Kong (which is definitely an international city). This work might culminate into a "mega city" metropolis of 20 million people that combines both cities.
Investing in an amazing, state of the art Terminal C at Shenzhen Airport.
There has been recent emphasis on art, music and culture in the predominantly money-hungry and business rich environment.
Focusing on the legal industry. Peking University recently opened a regional campus in Shenzhen as the 1st American-type law school in China. They even invited Justice Anthony Kennedy from the US Supreme court to give the Keynote at the dedication ceremony.

Shenzhen already can be considered one of the most expensive Chinese cities and its development for the future looks bright. Even with the global economic downturn, UPS has just started construction on its new Intra-Asian hub in Shenzhen and it has been ranked 10th on the list of "most powerful emerging cities in the world."

I don’t think anything will stop the development of Shenzhen into the international power city it wants to become. As long as there are no unforeseen problems with the unskilled laborers who have been getting laid off at factories. If you want to get in on the Shenzhen story, better buy a house now before the prices start going up again.

China Related Links

2008-10-15T17:28:00.002+08:00

I've recently come across many interesting, in-depth articles related to both Shenzhen and China. While I would love to post reactions to all of them, there are just too many interesting things to say. See for yourself.

A Massive Migration - describes the life of the typical migrant worker with interviews, statistics and current developments of migrant issues

The New American - An interesting yet sometimes ignorant Esquire magazine article relating to entrepreneurialism in China for young American expats.

Shenzhen Starts Spreading the News - An Australian perspective on the development of Shenzhen, its future and entrepreneurialism.

Silent Busts - An Economist article analyzing collapsing Chinese companies in recent months and the insufficient Chinese bankruptcy laws that govern them.

Keeping it Green - An Newsweek article focusing on the environmental success of the Beijing Olympics and how the city can keep recent gains regarding environmental quality.

China Sneezes, Latin America Catches a Cold - An article describing the interdependncy of the world economy and how China's slowing economy will shake Latin America

The NBA Pushes on in the Chinese Market

2008-10-14T16:55:00.000+08:00

The NBA is making a bigger play within the China market. It has announced a venture to build/renovate/create 12 NBA-caliber arenas in China over the next 20 years. There are only 2 NBA-caliber arenas in China currently, the Wukesong Basketball arena in Beijing (host of the Olympics basketball events) and the arena in the Macau Venetian hotel.

As reported on ESPN.com:

The NBA has formed a joint venture with Anschutz Entertainment Group to design and develop about 12 multipurpose arenas in major Chinese cities.

"We think of this over the next 20 years, not the next year or two," he said, adding some would be new arenas and others would be created by renovating existing facilities.

"You're going to see a combination," Leiweke said. "Most of them will be built and designed from the ground up."

"Where feasible, the arenas will be developed in conjunction with surrounding cultural and entertainment districts potentially comprised of restaurants, retail outlets, cinemas, hotels, residential areas, sports training facilities and smaller live entertainment venues," the NBA said in a statement.

The NBA already has a considerable footprint in marketing itself in China.

Basketball is officially the most popular sport in China.
US Basketball team members at the recent Olympics made a big marketing push in China to promote the NBA & USA Basketball
It also has 3 Chinese-born players in the league, Yao Ming (Rockets), Yi Jianlian (Nets) and most recently, Sun Ye (Lakers) - all in big markets.
"The NBA currently has relationships with 51 Chinese telecasters, including a partnership of more than 20 years with national broadcaster CCTV," the NBA says. This means NBA games are on all the time on Chinese TV.

Healthy Eating in Shenzhen

2008-10-13T17:42:00.002+08:00

Ever since I returned to Shenzhen from my incredible Olympics trip to Beijing, I have put myself on the Mike-diet/exercise plan. It is a strict regiment combining working out, health living and healthy eating. When I implemented my plan back in college, it worked wonders. I lost weight and increased my muscle mass - perfect for spring break at the beach.

One of the most difficult things to keep up with during my diet is eating healthy. Back in college, although John Jay dining hall and all the other Columbia University places for food wasn't overwhelmingly great, they still provided a lot of options for low-calorie diets. I could go in, pick up some grilled chicken at the salad bar with some egg whites. In restaurants, there were always options for meals that were more healthy - low in cholesterol, low fat/oil and low calories.

Food in China is much harder to deal with. Unless I cook the meal myself, I really don't have too much confidence in the contents of food... healthy-eating wise. Don't get me wrong, Chinese food is clean, really delicious and cheap, but on the oil usage side, it leaves something to be desired.

With the price of food skyrocketing in recent months, its only logical that small restaurants would want to conserve costs in every way possible. This presents even more problems with a healthy-eating lifestyle.

Here are some of the issues I've been experiencing.

Often times dishes are covered in oil and are high in salt content. Salty foods makes you want to eat more rice = hidden calories
Lots of dishes are smothered in thick, rich sauces. While these sauces taste awesome, they are another source of hidden calories.
The price of pork has increased by more than 50%. This means restaurants use more fatty pork in their dishes than they would traditionally to reduce cost.
Restaurants sometimes use old cooking oil that has been used in friers. As with the same problem in McDonald's fries, repeated use of the same oil is unhealthy.
Eating at Chinese restaurants can be problematic with regard to portion. After having a little bit of a lot of different dishes in a potluck/communal way, its really difficult to measure how much you are eating.
Only relatively healthy American establishment is Subway. Since I live more than 5 miles away, it's not a viable option.

The only main restaurant I order food from is a local Korean restaurant. The selections are cheap and diverse while carolie and fat content stays low. Kimchee soups only cost 20RMB with starter dishes and rice. Not a bad deal. Other than the Korean restaurant, I usually cook at home. While I make just about the same things as local restaurants make, I can better control the quality. By using olive oil (100RMB/liter), less salt and sauces, it's the best way to eat healthy in Shenzhen.

Here are the main foods that I rely on available at the local supermarkets:

Boneless chicken breast is available everywhere. Although Chinese people generally love pork, for some reason, stores sell chicken breast too. For about 6RMB, I can get a healthy portion that I cook on the George Foreman grill after marinating it in soy sauce.
Canned tuna is widely available as well, but a little expensive compared to the US. Individual cans go for about 11-14RMB at the foreign foods aisle.
Salads are big for me. Since veggies are relatively cheap, its a good way to eat healthy. The only thing is dressing selection is limited. This means, I buy dressing every time I'm back in the USA.
The availability of cheap sandwich meats have been a recent phenomenon. Pastrami, ham and beef ham cost about 7RMB for 10 circular slices. Place that in some mutigrain bread with some mustard and it kind of feels like the US.
For drinks, I stick with Dole OJ (16RMB fora typical jug), water and the recent introduction of Coke Zero to the Chinese market.

Changes to the One Child Policy

2008-10-12T23:07:00.004+08:00

I just got back from Shenzhen after an eventful weekend in and around Chengdu. I went with a friend to her cousin's wedding back in her hometown. We hung out with her huge extended family and had a wonderful time. Even better, this trip has given me a lot of interesting topics to write about for my blog.

One of the more interesting topics I stumbled across was a new regulation regarding the 1 child policy. Officially adopted in the early 1980s as a way to control population growth in China, it stemmed from the fundamental belief that society is a big stakeholder on everyone's life. Given China's huge population, in a person's life, not only does he/she need food and shelter, but also the opportunity to go to school, find a job, have health care, ect.

It's not only a family decision to have a child, but a big part is society's ability to support this person throughout his/her life. In a country dominated by overpopulation and not enough resources even more people is a big problem. While there were some exceptions made for ethnic minorities, people in rural areas and people living in mountainous habitats, the rule was otherwise strict. Violators faced fines and other actions, sometimes including sterilization (reported).

Due to the importance placed on having a son, the government also placed strict laws against families finding out their baby's sex until he/she is born. This would prevent families wanting to abort the pregnancy after finding out they are having a girl instead of a boy. Although this policy can be circumvented through some back-door guanxi at the hospital, it's proven relatively effective.

The 1 child policy also changed the basics of family dynamics in China. As an only child myself, I didn't have any brothers or sisters. My mom was the oldest of 3 while my dad was the 2nd of 5. My grandparents were both the youngest of 7. Traditionally big families all over the country were now only allowed one child. No more brothers and sisters just cousins. In a country where family is really important, this is a big deal.

There have also been bigger problems that have come out of the 1 child policy. In a disturbing report by Al Jazeera, child abductions have been more and more frequent.

I personally agree with the 1 child policy. Although western "human rights activists" oppose it, the 1 child policy has been one of the reasons China is not at a 2 billion population right now. While having a child can be considered a right, the ability for this child to live in society is just as important or even more important.

It seems like the rules have been modified a little bit. From my conversations with numerous people on this trip, it is said that if a couple are both the only child from their respective families, this couple can have 2 children. I don't know if this is absolutely true across the country, but my friend confirmed this fact. (She and her husband just had a baby girl 5 months ago).

Although this doesn't seem to be much of a concession, it feels really big. It gives couples more opportunity to have the boy they sometimes greatly desire. It also signals a shift in the belief that China's society can support more people in the future given its economic development. Maybe its also the need for more young people in the future to support the aging population. Whatever it is, it's a big change.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Volunteers EVERYWHERE!

2008-10-11T18:21:00.000+08:00

Immediately after the closing ceremonies, there were nonstop coverage by the Chinese media on the end of the Olympics. As every event completed its final game or match, the final medals had been handed out and the crowd had left, only the volunteers were left.

After a month's long work as an Olympic volunteer it was a perfect time to relax and unwind at the venue they had worked so hard in. People were running around the bases in the baseball stadium and taking pictures in the beach volleyball sand in Chaoyang Park. Everyone was enjoying a job well done and a successful Olympics.

The number of volunteers that were employed during the Beijing Olympics was unbelievable. Not only were there thousands of official volunteers selected by the city, there were also local mobilization of citizens. At all of the major tourist sights, in the subway stations, on the streets, in the small neighborhoods and everywhere in between, there was someone to help out. All of these people were constantly looking over Beijing - making sure it was safe, friendly and welcoming to both the athletes, coaches and tourists from all countries.

As my mom’s friend in the China All Women’s Federation said: Just give these volunteers a T-shirt and arm band and they’ll mobilize together. These old people in the neighborhoods constantly gossip and know just about anyone. Terrorists? Yea right.

Here are some of the volunteers I came across:

At Wangfujing - these people know 4 different languages

A girl got lost in the metro station! Here come the volunteers.

China Mobil Volunteer station near the Beijing Military Museum

Old People hanging out

Young People hanging out

Everyone's an volunteer.

China Mobile Volunteer Stand near the Guo Mao area

Craigslist Enters the Shenzhen Online Community

2008-10-09T14:04:00.000+08:00

While browsing online yesterday, I noticed something new to the Shenzhen online landscape.

For people who don't live here, most people go to Shenzhenparty.com for just about everything including applying for jobs, parties, classifieds and apartment hunting. It is the most dominant site in the area. While there are some issues with its graphics, interface and user-friendliness, it is a useful platform that just about everyone embrases.

In recent months, Shenzhenstuff.com has developed a nice, more interactive site in the Shenzhen online community with it's Ning platform for social networking. This site has personal profiles, fictures, blogs, news and message boards. It has become a hit for both expats and English-loving local Chinese. While sometimes it is more of a place for weird white guys to hit on random Chinese girls, it does create a interesting interactive community.

Recently in response to this more interactive community, Shenzhen Party has started its own Ning-created network to comepete with Shenzhen Stuff.

The newest addition has been the addition to Craigslist. Originally started in NYC, it has now spread to China to 6 cities - Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Although Craigslist: Shenzhen has very posts and relatively few users currently (it's only been online for a few months max), it creates an interesting new addition to the Shenzhen's expat market. I wonder if Craigslist has or will be opening up a Chinese language version of its services soon. That would be a much better investment with a possibly much greater pool of potential users.

Shenzhen Opens Office in NYC to Promote Trade & Relations

2008-10-08T17:38:00.000+08:00

In a recent press release published online by Marketwatch, on Oct. 27, 2008, Shenzhen will officially opened a office in New York City.

The City of Shenzhen, China announced today that it will be hosting a luncheon ceremony on October 27 at the Marriott Marquis in New York, to celebrate the opening of the New York Representative Office of Shenzhen and to discuss key economic developments as well as business opportunities between Shenzhen and the U.S.

The opening ceremony will not only include government officials and representatives of Shenzhen and the Chinese consulate in NYC, but it will also include prominent leaders of major electronics and financial firms based in Shenzhen.

What seems most likely is the continued expansion of ties in the financial and high tech industries. Shenzhen has already planned a NASDAQ exchange for small and medium sized companies that can supplement the already existing Shenzhen Exchange. It is also focused on decreasing the number of value-added companies (that produce toys for example) and promote the high tech industry. This would push it away from just a factory town to a city of innovation, design and creatvity.

Great move by Shenzhen. Silicon Valley anyone?

Chinese Health is Trending Towards Obesity

2008-10-07T16:31:00.002+08:00

China is getting fat and less healthy. It's true.

I first wrote about this problem more than a year ago with my analysis of McDonald's in China. Others have also ventured into this realm.

A USA Today article written more than a year ago, Obesity of China's kids stuns officials, described the shocking changes in Chinese children.

New figures from the Health Ministry show that urban Chinese boys age 6 are 2.5 inches taller and 6.6 pounds heavier on average than Chinese city boys 30 years ago.
The average 6-year-old in Beijing or Shanghai weighs nearly 47 pounds and is 3 feet, 10.5 inches tall, ministry figures show. The average American of the same age weighs just over 50 pounds and also is 3 feet 10.5 inches tall, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chinese children have a lot of factors working against them in the battle against bad health and obesity:

Children are traditionally considered more healthy (and better) if they are fatter.
Due to the 1 child policy, Chinese children are often spoiled by parents and grandparents - meaning more trips to fat-happy places like McD's.
The demands on a child's academics is such that some kids start going to after school classes when they are as young as the 3rd grade. More classes = No playing outdoors after school.
When students do have time on their hands, its often spent online playing games like CounterStrike, WoW or chatting on QQ. This not only results in muscle atrophy but also a decreased people-skills ability.
There are very few, if any, outdoor clubs and organizations to join. In the US there are basketball, soccer, football teams, little league, boy & girl scouts. In China ... I've never heard of any.
When kids get into high school, academics is still the end all be all preparation for the College Entrance Examination (高考）. School sport systems are very rare and active lifestyles really disappear.

Even after kids grow up, there are many other things working against them.

More meat and dairy products are available due to increased economic development. Many Chinese enjoy strictly eating meat almost exclusively. This is even worse when meat is usually prepared with a solid layer of oil/grease.
When graduates enter the workforce they usually find white collar jobs. Instead of physical labor, people sit next to their computer day in and day out.
With more and more cars on the road, people are travel less by foot or bike and more by car.
It is very difficult to eat healthy.

Due to all of these factors (and others), it is not surprising that Chinese people are getting less healthy and more obese.

I can state from personal experience that this is occurring. My cousin in Harbin is 18 and is starting college next year. He grew up as the "little emperor" and was a cute, chubby kid. My extended family obsessively fed him while focusing stringently on his future academic prospects. He was decent at school, but he was aided with constant help and review classes beginning at age 10.

My cousin never really played any sports nor did he even go out to hang out with friends. (I honestly dont know if he has any friends). The only things he does is stay home, go online, study and eat. The expectations on him by his parents and grandparents are to study. I dont know if he even does chores around the house.

What began as a promising kid is now a rather fat, unmotivated, friendless and people-skills-less person who grew up like many other kids in China. I honestly dont know how he's going to survive in modern society.

Of course, China isn't standing still waiting for this problem to expand. There has been not only government initiatives to step obesity but also private sector developments. Re-examinations of the educational system and parental responsibilites are also occuring.

Fat camps have popped up all over the country for obese children. TV programs similar to the US "The Biggest Loser" are also appearing on TV.
Chinese people, while getting more lazy and less active are still relatively more active than counterparts in other countries. The use of public transportation and walking in China helps this cause.
Chinese people for some reason enjoy climbing up and down mountains as weekend functions of fun. That definitely helps.
Some more affluent Chinese families are promoting a more healthy and active lifestyle for their kids. This includes more traveling, more exercize and joining clubs
Basketball is increasingly popular meaning more people are excercizing everyday.
Preventative health is big in China. People often eat vitamins and stay away from pain killers and antibiotics.
In my opinion, however, the biggest development has been the huge expansion of exercise in cities among the urban population.

Hopefully all of these factors can help the Chinese people develop in a healthy and sustainable way.

China Mostly Immune to Global Financial Crisis

2008-10-06T23:56:00.003+08:00

For the past few weeks, I've been engrossed with the current US election. As a person who has volunteered for campaigns, canvassed in low income neighborhoods and helped register people to vote in the US, it has been an interesting election season so far.

The main issue this year has been the economy and the current financial crisis affecting the world. As a friend who works for McKinsey Consulting told me more than a year ago... "it'll be really really bad. Just wait, Mike." I guess he was right. Another one of my friends who used to work for Lehman in Hong Kong is looking for a new job.

(Yep, the Dow Jones just went under 10,000. This is getting even more crazy.)

What's great news in China is that the main Chinese banks are largely unaffected by the crisis plaguing the rest of the world. It seems that Chinese leaders didn't really understand financial derivatives back a few years ago. Since they didn't understand them, they didn't invest in them. This act of conservative and cautious investing has greatly benefited the Chinese economy. Even though the Chinese stock market has taken a hit - as have just about everyone, the "robust" Chinese economy is said to be able to muscle through while the rest of the world struggles. - CNN.

I guess I'll just have to put my Bschool plans on hold and stay in China for a little longer. It's really the only place where there are jobs.

Expat Exodux = Easy to find a Job in Shenzhen

2008-10-03T17:14:00.006+08:00

In the past few months, there has been a huge exodus of foreigners from Guangdong province. Due to the Olympics, China employed a lot of regulations that could help control the flow of foreigners into China. Not only was it much more difficult to obtain a visa but it was almost impossible to get a visa in Hong Kong.

Also, foreigners who were living in China and working on Tourist visas were shooed away. This usually stemmed from police approaching expats on the street to see adaquate identification. For people who were employed, he/she faced increased scrutiny in applying for a work visa. While most of these regulations were a surprise to expats, they were all on the books but werent really enforced until recently.

All of these efforts led to a huge decline in the expat community in Guangdong. As a friend of mine described to me, supposedly as much as 90% of the foreigners in Guangdong had left before the Olmypics started. That's just crazy.

Just walk around the Shekou area and you can see the effects. Once filled with foreigners from all over the world, Shekou is now mostly empty. Business is down for both restaurants and bars. I went there on a night out with friends this past Wednesday and there were barley anyone there. Woah.

Another side effect of this exodus deals with jobs. Many foreigners working in Guangdong were employed as project managers for various trading or manufacturing companies - usually under tourist visas. Since most of these people have left China, it has created a vaccum of talent for people seeking jobs. It is now incredibly easy to find a project management job in Shenzhen that pays a very attractive salary. I would assume this is the case as well in other cities like Beijing and Shanghai. It was always easy to find English teaching jobs in Shenzhen, but it's definitely even easier now.

As the US economy tanks and the world economy goes into a recession of sorts, I see China becoming an increasingly attractive place for young people to come to. Recently, another 100+ newly college-grad English teachers have deceded on Shenzhen through the CLTC Program's deal with the Shenzhen Government Education Bureau. Students are arriving every semester to study Chinese at different universities all over the country from places like the USA, Europe, South America, Mexico, Korea and Japan. Even people who have gone back to the USA are returning to China for round 2.

If you want that job, get over here early.

WWE Wresting is in CHINA! WHAT?!?!

2008-09-30T00:12:00.003+08:00

As I'm writing in my blog right now, I have the Guangzhou sports channel on (Channel 67 on Shenzhen's local cable). To my surprise, the programming being broadcasted right now isnt a European Champion's League soccer game nor is it a replay of an 2008 Beijing Olympic event - that has been often on TV recently. It's not even a boring strategy guide of Chinese chess.

No. It's WWE's Monday night RAW with John Cena wrestling in a 2 on 1 event.

What?!

Yes. You heard it here. The World Wrestling Entertainment is here in China. As I've noticed in the brief time I've been checking the show out, it seems like unedited segments of the live events broadcasted in its natural form. The viewer can hear the English broadcast, plot lines and music but the entire production is voiced over by a Chinese commentator. This guy explains each wrestler's history, their technique and special moves, the plot lines, situations and almost a play-by-play of the matches. I wonder how these commentators made up the Chinese vocab for a Stone Cold Stunner...

Best Quote: "[In Chinese] Don't do these submission moves at home, kids."

What is with WWE events being broadcasted in China of all places? What are they thinking? Although I dont know if fake wrestling is as popular here in China as it is in the midwest and south in the USA, I do know that the WWE is making a play at the China market just like the NBA, MLB, NFL (not to mention just about all other western companies).

In my opinion, it's incredibly funny that this is on TV here in Shenzhen, China. If Chinese people actually watch this programing, what would they think about how crazy US sports are. I wonder if the China version shows the girls wrestle in skimpy bikinis too??

Shenzhen Gov't Make Arrests After Deadly Fires

2008-09-29T22:29:00.006+08:00

In the past few days, the Shenzhen government has taken action and arrested more than 2o people in association with recent unexpected fires in the SEZ.

The first action, 13 people were arrested for the fatal fire that killed party-goers at a Longgang night club a week ago. As China Daily reports, Investors, club workers and founders were all taken into custody for their involvment and neglegence in the event.

As of 12 am on Friday, family members of 31 victims of the fire had signed compensation agreements with the local government, according to the Longgang district authorities.
The Longgang district government is paying kin of those who died 250,000 yuan.

The property of Wu Wang Club has been frozen and the lawsuit over the fire is expected to take a while. Family members of the victims can file a suit and claim for compensation from the frozen club property. The club will pay back the government after the court ruling, said Huang Wei, spokesman for the Longgang district government.

Some 43 people injured in the fire are still in hospital. Four of them are on life support. Medical experts assigned by the Ministry of Health said the injury to their nervous system as a result of suffocation is most likely beyond recovery.

Despite a citywide drive to preempt such incidents following the nightclub fire, a fire broke out at an old factory of a Taiwan-funded company in Shajing of Shenzhen's Bao'an district around 4 am on Friday. It was put out in five hours. There were no casualties.

On the following day, Xinghua reported the arrest of officials allegedly involved a factory fire that happened back in February in Shenzhen.

Nine people including four government officials have been arrested in connection with a fatal factory fire that claimed 15 lives in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, in February.

The four officials, identified as Huang Hanguang, Zeng Hongbo, Lin Guozhong and Yi Rao, were from the city's fire fighting bureau and environment protection bureau. They were arrested on charges of neglecting their duties and misconduct, said the press office of the Shenzhen government on Sunday.

As I have seen personally in the past few days, hopefully this kind of attention will bring greater awareness for fire safety in the city.

Shenzhen Clubs Adjust to Fire Safety

2008-09-27T17:45:00.003+08:00

Last night I spent a night out in Shenzhen. As I posted before, ever since the deadly fire and stampede a week ago in Longgang district, a lot of changes have been made to Shenzhen nightlife.

Here are some of the stuff I noticed:

Chocolate, Ubar, Yellow, InClub and Rox were all closed. No lights were on and no people were around.
Popular hang outs like Soho, Face and Richy were somehow open.
Since all of the other clubs were already full, Soho had a huge line outside trying to get in.
At Face, there was much less people than there are usually.

I spent the majority of my time at Richy, the typical high-scale hongkong and shenzhen elite hangout. While there were no lines, it was much more difficult to get in than usual. A lot of people were being turned away at the door due to the limits on the amount of people inside. More foreigners than usual were being turned away as well.

After going inside Richy club, it only looked like it was 70% capacity as it used to look before the incident. The dance floor was gone while at least 8 tables next to high traffic areas were taken away. This left huge spaces for people to walk around. Some of the VIP sofas were also removed in favor of wider paths for club-goers. All of these measures definitely walking around earlier but a lot of the ambiance was destroyed. Now instead of a packed, really intimate feel, it felt like it was 9pm and people were just kind of hanging out.

Things were definitely different than before.

Shenzhen Gov't Takes Action After Deadly Fire & Stampede at Club

2008-09-26T16:20:00.004+08:00

Almost a week ago now a fire at a nightclub in Longgang district in Shenzhen left at least 43 people dead and another 45 people injured. During a show, fireworks ignited the ceiling tiles overhead causing a fire. While the fire was relatively small, it ignited panic that caused a stampede out of the club. News outlets from China and all over the world covered the event.

I personally have never been to the Longgang area. It is as far and different from my Luohu and Nanshan clubs as the Bronx would be for Meatpacking district Manhattan. (So thank you to all of my friends who messaged me asking if I was ok).

Fire safety awareness in China is very lax. Whether lack of awareness is from ignorance or intentional I dont know. It is, however a big reason why a lot of fatal fires have occurred in China's public places (To be fair, fires in NYC clubs have been frequent as well). While there are proper stairwells and emergency exits, most are not maintained well. Poor lighting and using it as storage are the major problems. While there are solid and concrete laws on the books, the implementation and enforcement of these laws are lax until an event like this takes place (again, just as i've seen in NYC). Also, Chinese clubs really try to pack people into a small amount of space. Even for really big bars and clubs, there are soo many tables and chairs that walking around is incredibly difficult, not to mention any kind of reaction to a fire.

Since the fire, local government have taken action. My friends have mentioned that popular bars like Ubar, Yellow, Face, and others all over Shenzhen have shut down temporarily due inspections for safety. While some opened back up immediately, others that don’t conform to standards are still closed.

Bars and clubs are not the only issue either. These fire safety problems are present in office buildings, hospitals and other facilities as well. My hope is that the Shenzhen gov't will actively address all of these issues in light of the recent event.

Shenzhou 7 is on Final Countdown

2008-09-24T22:42:00.005+08:00

We are on final countdown till the next group of Chinese taikonauts go into space. Tomorrow night, 9/25/2008 at around 9:50pm, Shenzhou 7 will lift off for a mission in space. This will mark the first space walk ever by an Chinese astronaut, or 太空人.

I've been reading about the imminent launch recently on CNN and Google News, however, I haven't looked that much into it. Talking to a friend a few days ago, the most important and interesting aspect of China going into space is that the technology was basically all developed in China. Although some of basic designs were originally taken from the Souez of Russia, it has been extensively re engineered and redesigned. All of the technology necessary for the life support, power, communications, operations, everything has been made in China. This is because Europe and the US will not give China any help in anything space related.

After getting back to my apartment from the gym today, while surfing the channels, I saw a CCTV News channel special feature on the mission called 中华看神舟. Hosted by news anchors from the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. This feature included the dedication ceremony held by officials in the space agency as well as personal profiles of the astronauts.

One of the features of the Shenzhou 7 mission is that all 3 astronauts are from northern China - 2 from Heilongjiang province (where I was born). Both came from humble beginnings in relatively poor families. The leader of the mission and one of the alternates for the 1st manned mission into space, his grandmother sold sunflower seeds as snacks to help put him through high school. Only though dedication, luck and hard work did the astronauts get to where they are now.

Interesting other parts of the program includes: 中华看神州

The 3 astronauts still do not know who will make the first Chinese space walk yet.
All 3 were born in 1966.
The main training compound for astronauts is located ini the suburbs of Beijing. The astronauts stay on campus from Monday through Friday and have all activities, meals and facilities on campus. Only during the weekend can they leave campus.
After the interview, the program showed an extended graphic of the mission which included the preparations, liftoff, separation, orbital patterns crew working, crew compartments, preparations of the space walk and the actual walk - all in 3D graphics.
During the interview with one of the taikonauts, although he wanted to be the person who did the first space walk, he quickly reiterated the importance of this mission and the collective pride of all the astronauts who were chosen for this mission and their dedication to it.
There was no doubt in the astronauts' mind that the mission would be successful.
There are more than 200 reporters and correspondents on site at the launch pad.
The launch pad complex has more than 20,000 people living there, complete with schools, restaurants, offices and entertainment.

I'm going to try to watch the lift off with my extended family here in Shenzhen. It's going to be quite a show.

Shezhen Investing $200 Million in Vietnam

2008-09-14T13:03:00.003+08:00

For the past year a lot of factors have been hurting Shenzhen factories manufacturers.

1. Huge increases in the cost of commodities, from plastics to iron and everything in between
2. Inflation in China
3. Appreciation of the RMB - making products less competitive when exporting to the US
4. New worker standards in China = higher wages for the same jobs
5. The inability to pass the rising costs to the clients overseas
6. Tax breaks and customs tax rebates to Chinese companies exporting internationally have been repealed

All of these factors have severely hurt once profitable businesses into lagging money-losing enterprises. The owner of my new apartment i'm renting in Nanshan is a part owner of a factory who does business with western clients like Walmart. He said that every month he loses 400,000 RMB on workers salaries and factory overhead costs. However, if he actually worked on any orders, his loses would INCREASE to 600,000 RMB. He loses money if his factory makes product. This means that the factory stays idle while he and his partners look for new sources of income.

In the west, companies are already exploring other sources of low cost labor. Vietnam is supposed to be the Next Guangdong province. A lot of foreign companies have already left China for greener pastures in Vietnam. Realizing this trend, Shenzhen is taking action. In a recent Thanhnien News article, Shenzhen is reportedly investing $200 million in a economic trade zone.

The park, 125 kilometers from the Vietnamese capital, aims to attract 170 Chinese manufacturing companies in the clothing and electronics industries to take advantage of the country’s cheap labor and the government’s preferential policies and tax incentives...

So it seems, not only are western companies leaving Shenzhen for more inland provinces and other southeast asian countries, so are Shenzhen factories themselves. Maybe in a few years, the same factories will be doing business with the same clients only in Vietnam instead of Shenzhen.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Comparing US's NBC and China's CCTV Coverage of the Opening Ceremonies

2008-09-12T13:09:00.002+08:00

I finally came back to Shenzhen after staying in Beijing for the Olympics and post-Olympic festivities for about a month. After a few days of movie watching, video games playing and takeout in my new apartment, I finally decided to venture out into the local neighborhood in the Nanshan district.

At the local bootleg 5RMB bootleg DVD stand, I was able to get the new Mummy 3 as well as a great version of the Iron Man and Batman movies. (Note: Although the government has definitely cracked down on the sale of bootleg DVDs for the past few years, they are still found in different neighborhoods sold by a few people.) To my surprise I also found the DVD with the full version of the NBC broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympic opening ceremony. Wow.

After watching the live ceremony in Ditan park in north Beijing with 5000 people and rebroadcasts on Chinese TV multiple times, I wanted to see the NBC version. (My friend actually interned for NBC during the Olympics and helped edit and translate footage for different events.) I wanted to see how the US viewed the opening ceremony and the games. Remember back in 1996, Chinese people in America protested Bob Costas for his comments about Chinese athletes.

Overall, the coverage was very positive. Here are some of the things I saw:

NBC did an excellent job with the political issues surrounding China hosting the Olympics. They showed China in a pretty positive light with only a few comments referencing political issues. You could even see the commentators tread lightly on the political issues.
NBC camera work during the artistic portion at the beginning was better than the Chinese CCTV coverage. CCTV spent a lot of time focused on specific performers during each stage while NBC used many more wide-camera angles to get the big picture.
Bob Costas and Matt Lauer “warned” the American viewers about the sheer size and scale of the ceremony before it started. They also commented during the initial drum performance that viewers might consider it “awe inspiring and perhaps somewhat intimidating.”
In his post Opening Ceremony press conference, Jiang Yimou explained that the entire cost of the ceremony was less than the previous opening ceremony of the Doha Asian Games held in 2007, held in a oil rich Arab country. He wanted tog et the maximum effect for the least cost.
A huge amount of emphasis was put on the importance of the Olympics in China and the “overwhelming sense of pride the Chinese people in the days leading up to it. The same amount of importance was also on the idea of “harmony” in the Chinese psyche and the theme of the Olympics.
Commercial interruption on NBC really sucks for an event like this. No commercials in China. FYI, the transitions were pretty flawless just like the rest of the ceremony.
Quotes by Bob Costas: “Woah” (when Li Ning was lifted up to light the flame) and “When it comes to opening ceremonies, retire the trophy.”
NBC invited their China expert to co-host and give more perspective on the games. He did an excellent job with the symbolism invoked in the performance as well as more interesting tidbits into Chinese history. A lot of the political issues were also put in a historical context, something a lot of Americans lack while looking at China.
A great explanation of the combination of people doing "karate" around a group a school children was just an example - a harmony of man with nature is the only hope the children of the future have to solve all of the problems in the world.
There were a lot of shots of the members of the “Redeem Team”, the USA Men’s Basketball team. With a lot of star power and constant presence, Lebron James, Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant were repeated shown to be taking pictures with other athletes from different countries.
While CCTV commentators were part of the event, reading scripted material that aided the audience in every piece, the transitions and symbolism in very Chinese artistic language, the NBC trio was very spontaneous, joking and dumbstruck by the show. This was probably because they weren’t “in the know”

NY Times is Beginning to Like China

2008-08-27T18:44:00.002+08:00

During the entire Olympics period, the NY Times has many more "objective" articles regarding China. Recently however, they've taken it to another level - basically suggesting that the US should learn from China. Previously it was the interesting pros of having an authoritarian government and the benefits of being a communal society. Now its the inward focus and own-nation building.

In today's NY Times op-ed article A Biblical Seven Years by Thomas Friedman, China's emergence in its 7-year preparation for the Olympics is compared to the US and the 7 years since 9/11 and translated into an election contest between Obama and McCain.

Without even getting into the article itself, it is quite amazing the amount of "good press" China has gotten in the past few weeks because of the Olympics. It seems that the success of these Games have given China a better platform to showcase its achievements. Even though the human rights and Tibet issue is always raised in any general article, at least it is moved down further near the end of the article.

Here's the complete NY Times text:

After attending the spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and feeling the vibrations from hundreds of Chinese drummers pulsating in my own chest, I was tempted to conclude two things: “Holy mackerel, the energy coming out of this country is unrivaled.” And, two: “We are so cooked. Start teaching your kids Mandarin.”
However, I’ve learned over the years not to over-interpret any two-week event. Olympics don’t change history. They are mere snapshots — a country posing in its Sunday bests for all the world too see. But, as snapshots go, the one China presented through the Olympics was enormously powerful — and it’s one that Americans need to reflect upon this election season.
China did not build the magnificent $43 billion infrastructure for these games, or put on the unparalleled opening and closing ceremonies, simply by the dumb luck of discovering oil. No, it was the culmination of seven years of national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work.
Seven years ... Seven years ... Oh, that’s right. China was awarded these Olympic Games on July 13, 2001 — just two months before 9/11.
As I sat in my seat at the Bird’s Nest, watching thousands of Chinese dancers, drummers, singers and acrobats on stilts perform their magic at the closing ceremony, I couldn’t help but reflect on how China and America have spent the last seven years: China has been preparing for the Olympics; we’ve been preparing for Al Qaeda. They’ve been building better stadiums, subways, airports, roads and parks. And we’ve been building better metal detectors, armored Humvees and pilotless drones.
The difference is starting to show. Just compare arriving at La Guardia’s dumpy terminal in New York City and driving through the crumbling infrastructure into Manhattan with arriving at Shanghai’s sleek airport and taking the 220-mile-per-hour magnetic levitation train, which uses electromagnetic propulsion instead of steel wheels and tracks, to get to town in a blink.
Then ask yourself: Who is living in the third world country?
Yes, if you drive an hour out of Beijing, you meet the vast dirt-poor third world of China. But here’s what’s new: The rich parts of China, the modern parts of Beijing or Shanghai or Dalian, are now more state of the art than rich America. The buildings are architecturally more interesting, the wireless networks more sophisticated, the roads and trains more efficient and nicer. And, I repeat, they did not get all this by discovering oil. They got it by digging inside themselves.
I realize the differences: We were attacked on 9/11; they were not. We have real enemies; theirs are small and mostly domestic. We had to respond to 9/11 at least by eliminating the Al Qaeda base in Afghanistan and investing in tighter homeland security. They could avoid foreign entanglements. Trying to build democracy in Iraq, though, which I supported, was a war of choice and is unlikely to ever produce anything equal to its huge price tag.
But the first rule of holes is that when you’re in one, stop digging. When you see how much modern infrastructure has been built in China since 2001, under the banner of the Olympics, and you see how much infrastructure has been postponed in America since 2001, under the banner of the war on terrorism, it’s clear that the next seven years need to be devoted to nation-building in America.
We need to finish our business in Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly as possible, which is why it is a travesty that the Iraqi Parliament has gone on vacation while 130,000 U.S. troops are standing guard. We can no longer afford to postpone our nation-building while Iraqis squabble over whether to do theirs.
A lot of people are now advising Barack Obama to get dirty with John McCain. Sure, fight fire with fire. That’s necessary, but it is not sufficient.
Obama got this far because many voters projected onto him that he could be the leader of an American renewal. They know we need nation-building at home now — not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in Georgia, but in America. Obama cannot lose that theme.
He cannot let Republicans make this election about who is tough enough to stand up to Russia or bin Laden. It has to be about who is strong enough, focused enough, creative enough and unifying enough to get Americans to rebuild America. The next president can have all the foreign affairs experience in the world, but it will be useless, utterly useless, if we, as a country, are weak.
Obama is more right than he knows when he proclaims that this is “our” moment, this is “our” time. But it is our time to get back to work on the only home we have, our time for nation-building in America. I never want to tell my girls — and I’m sure Obama feels the same about his — that they have to go to China to see the future.

Harmony and the Dream: The Difference Between East and West

2008-08-26T22:11:00.004+08:00

In the 2nd semester of my sophomore year of college, I was honored to take a class with professor Jeffrey Friedman entitled Liberalism, Communitarianism and the Good. POLS V3027 was a political science class focused on theory and the development of political beliefs based on various factors, cultures and influences.

Not only did the class have an interesting focus, but it was taught extremely well. I can say that my life has been visibly changed since taking his class. These were some of the comments that students made after taking his class on CULPA.

Professor Friedman is the best teacher I've had. He is brilliant (you may think you've had brilliant professors before but this experience will make you re-evaluate that), intellectually rigorous (what do you say about a teacher who is able to tie all the tangents together), challenging (you WON'T find anyone who thinks like him and he expects you to think for yourself as well) and compassionate (really listens to students and seems to care). I have also never taken a class with such devastating intellectual and political implications.

He made people feel self-conscious about the quality of their comments in class. But, I will be forever grateful that I took this class because I got over my fear of public speaking and it really opened my mind and challenged me to think constantly during the class. He comes off as opinionated, but I think that's just because he knows he's right :). He really took the discussion to places I have never before nor since traveled to in any other class here. Always challenging us NOT to assume things, not to be lazy in thinking liberal ideology is always right, to read critically - to have our "bullshit detector" always on.

He's simply mind-blowing, funny, and the smartest person I've ever met (and that's genius level, because I like to think I'm pretty smart myself!). His democracy class was the best class I've taken at BC-- the readings on public ignorance and human fallibility were so compelling that I can no longer read the NY Times in the same complacent way I used to. Really, he should write a book and change the world.

After his class, it has been has almost been impossible to find worthy reading material on the NY Times ... until now.

Going through all of the NY Times daily emails that I had forgotten about during the Olympics, I found an amazing article entitled Harmony and the Dream written by op-ed columnist, David Brooks. It describes the basic difference between individualistic and collective societies (exactly like my liberalism and communitarian class) under the auspice of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing where the idea of friends living in harmony was a central theme during the Games.

The world can be divided in many ways — rich and poor, democratic and authoritarian — but one of the most striking is the divide between the societies with an individualist mentality and the ones with a collectivist mentality.

This is a divide that goes deeper than economics into the way people perceive the world. If you show an American an image of a fish tank, the American will usually describe the biggest fish in the tank and what it is doing. If you ask a Chinese person to describe a fish tank, the Chinese will usually describe the context in which the fish swim.

These sorts of experiments have been done over and over again, and the results reveal the same underlying pattern. Americans usually see individuals; Chinese and other Asians see contexts.

This concept translates further than just the Olympics. It is embodied in politics, business, society and even personal friendships. It is the small, yet overarching difference between the East and West. And I believe it is the key for mutual understanding between the different worlds.

David Brooks should continue this train of thought and help Americans and the western world examine and reexamine its view of China. There is much more to be written and seen.

Here is the full text of the article:

The world can be divided in many ways — rich and poor, democratic and authoritarian — but one of the most striking is the divide between the societies with an individualist mentality and the ones with a collectivist mentality.
This is a divide that goes deeper than economics into the way people perceive the world. If you show an American an image of a fish tank, the American will usually describe the biggest fish in the tank and what it is doing. If you ask a Chinese person to describe a fish tank, the Chinese will usually describe the context in which the fish swim.
These sorts of experiments have been done over and over again, and the results reveal the same underlying pattern. Americans usually see individuals; Chinese and other Asians see contexts.
When the psychologist Richard Nisbett showed Americans individual pictures of a chicken, a cow and hay and asked the subjects to pick out the two that go together, the Americans would usually pick out the chicken and the cow. They’re both animals. Most Asian people, on the other hand, would pick out the cow and the hay, since cows depend on hay. Americans are more likely to see categories. Asians are more likely to see relationships.
You can create a global continuum with the most individualistic societies — like the United States or Britain — on one end, and the most collectivist societies — like China or Japan — on the other.
The individualistic countries tend to put rights and privacy first. People in these societies tend to overvalue their own skills and overestimate their own importance to any group effort. People in collective societies tend to value harmony and duty. They tend to underestimate their own skills and are more self-effacing when describing their contributions to group efforts.
Researchers argue about why certain cultures have become more individualistic than others. Some say that Western cultures draw their values from ancient Greece, with its emphasis on individual heroism, while other cultures draw on more on tribal philosophies. Recently, some scientists have theorized that it all goes back to microbes. Collectivist societies tend to pop up in parts of the world, especially around the equator, with plenty of disease-causing microbes. In such an environment, you’d want to shun outsiders, who might bring strange diseases, and enforce a certain conformity over eating rituals and social behavior.
Either way, individualistic societies have tended to do better economically. We in the West have a narrative that involves the development of individual reason and conscience during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and then the subsequent flourishing of capitalism. According to this narrative, societies get more individualistic as they develop.
But what happens if collectivist societies snap out of their economic stagnation? What happens if collectivist societies, especially those in Asia, rise economically and come to rival the West? A new sort of global conversation develops.
The opening ceremony in Beijing was a statement in that conversation. It was part of China’s assertion that development doesn’t come only through Western, liberal means, but also through Eastern and collective ones.
The ceremony drew from China’s long history, but surely the most striking features were the images of thousands of Chinese moving as one — drumming as one, dancing as one, sprinting on precise formations without ever stumbling or colliding. We’ve seen displays of mass conformity before, but this was collectivism of the present — a high-tech vision of the harmonious society performed in the context of China’s miraculous growth.
If Asia’s success reopens the debate between individualism and collectivism (which seemed closed after the cold war), then it’s unlikely that the forces of individualism will sweep the field or even gain an edge.
For one thing, there are relatively few individualistic societies on earth. For another, the essence of a lot of the latest scientific research is that the Western idea of individual choice is an illusion and the Chinese are right to put first emphasis on social contexts.
Scientists have delighted to show that so-called rational choice is shaped by a whole range of subconscious influences, like emotional contagions and priming effects (people who think of a professor before taking a test do better than people who think of a criminal). Meanwhile, human brains turn out to be extremely permeable (they naturally mimic the neural firings of people around them). Relationships are the key to happiness. People who live in the densest social networks tend to flourish, while people who live with few social bonds are much more prone to depression and suicide.
The rise of China isn’t only an economic event. It’s a cultural one. The ideal of a harmonious collective may turn out to be as attractive as the ideal of the American Dream.
It’s certainly a useful ideology for aspiring autocrats.

2008 Beijing Olympics: It's OVER! Onto London 2012

2008-08-26T14:15:00.005+08:00

The 2008 Beijing Olympics have officially come to an end. The stadiums are silent. The medals have been given out. The athletes have left. I cant believe the Olympics are already over. After spending soo long perparing for it, the 16 days quickly passed and we're now at Post-Olympics Day 2.

Walking around the streets of Beijing, I feel like there is something missing. For the previous 2 weeks, my first instinct when I woke up in the morning was to turn on the TV and watch Olympic coverage. While there are still some coverage on the local stations, and some rebroadcasts of certain events, it definitely feels like i'm going through some type of withdraw.

At this current moment, i'm watching a rebroadcast of the closing ceremonies. It was a great way to end a specactacular games. There was glamor, spector, symbolism and feeling put into every bit of it. My favorate part of it was the 3 athletes who unfolded the scrool and thought about the memories of the 16 days of competition, ending with the Olympic song and the putting out of the Olympic flame. Just awesome.

Immediately after the Closing Ceremonies, focus has been put squarely on the London 2012 Games. The concensus is that the spectacular performances have put a ton of pressure on London in what they can come up with. Even the IOC has stated that London souldnt look at it as a compentition to top Beijing's extravaganza.

I just received a email with the response of local British citizens after the closing ceremonies. They are already embarassed and worried about 2012.

"The Chinese did it again the closing was amazing. First class and out of this world. The one negative was the London Show what in the heck was that. In Athens when the Chinese did there welccome to show it was amazing and you knew you where going to get something special in Beijing. I hope that London does better than what they showed to-day."

"It has been a long time that I felt embarrassed for 8 long minutes. I really hope the organizers get there act together for the 2012 Olympics in London, because whether we like it or not the Chinese did a wonderful job from beginning to end. Whether true or false, let us hope the Red Arrows will do a fly past at the opening ceremony in London because that will be something worth watching, unless of course Boris has something up his sleeve to surprise us all."　　
-Rose, Bicester

"The Chinese showed their rich heritage and history in a dignified and beautiful performance. Us? We showed just what a farce 2012 will be. Our country's heritage (prior to the last government!) is one to be proud of. We have customs and a richer history than many others. So why are we showing a logo from the 70's (I'm a designer, it's shocking!) and a display of ageing rock, one-hit wonders, chavs and only modern London? I'm proud to be English, but in 2012? I may be moving..."
-Angela, Chesterfield

Good Luck London. My mom and I will be there in 4 years to cheer the Olympics on! 奥运加油！

2008 Beijing Olympics: Rampant Ticket Scalping

2008-08-25T10:19:00.002+08:00

My first Olympic event that I went to was the Men's basketball preliminary game between the USA and Angola.

After receiving a free ticket to ride the metro - all people with a ticket to any of the day's event had free access to any of the public transportation, my mom and I arrived at the Wukesong stop.

Before walking over to the beautiful and state of the art basketball arena, we had to walk about 500 yards. In that single stretch, we were constantly approached by ticket scalpers either looking to buy "tickets you were refunding" or to sell the tickets they had just acquired. I personally saw or came across 50-100 ticket scalpers in that general area.

Without thinking too much of it, my mom and I proceeded into the arena to see the game. It turned out to be a wildly entertaining and overall solid performance by the All-Star NBA cast on the "Dream Team 8" or aka "Redeem Team."

A couple of days later, my friend Dave somehow got his hands on some USA v. Greece men's basketball tickets. He said it cost him about 2000RMB (285USD) each. I won the same ticket in the ticket lottery for 100RMB a ticket. That's a difference of 1900RMB or a 20x increase over the face price. That's ridiculous.

I was later told that tickets to the men's basketball prelims were the toughest tickets to get. They were sometimes going for 4000RMB for some games and even 10k RMB to 20k RMB for the China v. USA game. Tickets for the swimming & diving events in the Water Cube, the track and field events, the gymnastics events and all other events that China was supposed to do well were going for crazy prices as well. The primary locations of this included the area just outside the basketball area (where I was) and the subway entrance to the Olympic Green - where the bird nest, water cube and many other venues are.

There was so much extraordinary demand for tickets from Chinese people that these prices were maintained throughout the Olympics. It was a quick way to make money for everyone who did it. Even foreigners got involved. Only after more than 11 days of competition did the police start to crackdown. My Chinese friend explained, "It is soo hard for us to find tickets to buy that we'll buy at just about every price. Can you help me find some tickets?" On August 18th, Beijing police arrested more than 200 ticket scalpers. They placed anti-scalping signs in visible places just to deter further scalping.

It didn't work. On August 19th, when I went to the Bird Nest to watch track and field, I was still approached by scalpers who wanted my ticket. Some were offering 500RMB. Others were offering 1000RMB. The face price was 200RMB. All of them were doing it in front of anti-scalping signs. While I saw a few people being arrested, there were still more than 20 people out there. I thought about selling my extra ticket, but my friend who came along would've been really pissed.

I thought about joining in the scalping fun. The ticketing website, Cosport.com was constantly selling tickets that had not been bought up by foreigners during the initial ticket selling phases. They were offering these tickets to only westerners in Beijing through their online system. No Chinese could buy from them. At the end of multiple tries to obtain tickets - I almost got my hands on 6 tickets for the final swimming event (cost 500RMB that could be scalped for 2000RMB) - I gave up on the pursuit. Those tickets could've paid for my entire trip! I guess that's why so many others were doing it.

Cultural Captialism: Modern Dance Festival in Beijing

2008-08-24T12:30:00.003+08:00

Last week, my friend and fellow Columbia Alum, Gigi, invited me to a modern dance performance in Beijing. I personally jumped at the opportunity since it was almost 2 years since I had been to a dance performance. As we all already know, Shenzhen is lacking in culture.

As Gigi reminded me in a text message: "Modern dance is supposed to play with the idea of free association of body movements and break the rules of traditional aesthetic styles"....blah blah.

The JK booking Dance Festival Beijing 2008 was held at the Nine Theaters in Chaoyang District. had a total of 8 total numbers with 5 different groups from both the US and China. The US participants were Odyssey Dance Theatre from Salt Lake City and Kim Robards Dance from Denver. Their Chinese counterparts included the Beijing Modern Dance Company and choreographers from the National Ballet of China and TAO Studio,

The dance performance was very impressive. The Chinese performances were displayed in interesting cultural costumes and backgrounds. The American performances were mostly in a traditional western context. The Odyssey Dance Theatre even performed "The Factory", a hip hop piece (I was at one point brought onto the stage and proceeded to dance with the performers for a few minutes). 2 of their dancers were even finalists on the American show, So You Think You Can Dance.

At the end of the performance, Gigi and I stayed for the discussion with the various directors. Most people in the audience asked about specific pieces that they enjoyed. What was the inspiration for it?

As a relative novice in art and dance, my question for the directors reflected on a overall view of the development of modern dance in China as well as how it felt have this kind of cross cultural collaboration.

All of the directors responded positively. They discussed the honor of being able to perform together with Chinese groups and the amazing expansion of modern dance and art in China in the past few years. They also talked about collaboration and learning from each other.

The most interesting comment came from Director Derryl Yeager from the Odyssey Dance Theatre. He discussed his excitement for his dance company and the future possibilities for more traveling tours and performances in China. He enthusiastically wanted to do more of these performance festivals in China.

By spending so much time in Shenzhen and Guangdong province, my primary experience has been associated with trading goods and services. This usually revolves around using cost advantages in one place to arbitrage in another. With my education company, it involves giving students the opportunity to experience another place through travel - almost a trading company dealing in people, instead of physical things.

At no point did I ever consider the idea of trading in culture or "cultural capitalism." All of the American directors had the expressed goal of promoting their own group in China. Just as the NBA and the MLB are heavily investing in China to further expand their market, or multinational corporations expanding their operations in China to expand their own market, these dance companies are in effect doing the same. They are using their time and energy to promote their own art.

These dance companies are also proceeding in a similar way as their business counterparts did. To begin tapping into the Chinese market, western corporations began by established joint ventures with Chinese counterparts. This was not only the only way they could get in at the time, but it was the best way to understand how to navigate China. This is almost what this festival was.

Also just as corporations passed on certain technical aspects or management ideas to their Chinese partners, so did the American dance groups show off their techniques and creative intensions.

What is most interesting is that it seems that there are truly a huge number of people who are interested in China's potential other than for business. Collaboration in academics, art, law, sport, society, culture and other areas are just as important as for pure business.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Medal Count Politics

2008-08-24T12:27:00.003+08:00

Before the Olympics started, my friend Amy, made a wager with one of her Chinese coworkers which country would win the most gold medals in the Olympics. For 100RMB (15USD), Amy took the US while her colleague took China.

At that time, I personally believed that if Michael Phelps was taken out of the equation China could win. Otherwise, there would be only a small chance that China could stand on top of the gold standings.

At the beginning of the final day of competition, no matter what the US win today, China has won the total gold medal tally. The only question is whether or not China will eclipse the 50-gold mark.

I haven't talked to Amy yet, but I bet she is upset that she lost the bet. She probably feels the same way as most people in the US.

The most recent discussion online has been with regard to who won the medal race for the Olympics. In the US, the medal count has always been ranked by total medals won, gold + silver + bronze. I remember that from the 1992 games in Barcelona and in '96 in Atlanta. If that's the rubric then the US wins.

In just about everywhere else in the world, as well as the International Olympic Committee, the rankings are based on the numbers gold medals won. In this rubric, China wins.

Which one is correct?

The Koreans have a different idea. They think it should be ranked based on gold medals per capital (the number of gold medals with respect to the population). If that is the rubric, surprise surprise - South Korea is best.

Some in the US think it should be the amount of people with gold medals on their necks (since a gold in Basketball means 12 people have medals vs. weightlifting where only 1 person receives a gold).

I personally adhere to what the IOC's formula - since it's been used since 1894. I would also like to politely ask my fellow Americans to just accept the fact that China won the most golds and congradualte them for it. For a country and culture where being #1 is first and foremost, it should also embrase that winning gold is most important.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Blue Skies and Marathon Olympic Record

2008-08-24T12:14:00.002+08:00

After running for 2 hours 6 minutes and 32 seconds, Samuel Wansiru, from Kenya won the Men's marathon in Olympic record time. He ran the marathon along bright blue skies in Beijing. This was one of the final events in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Just a few weeks ago, the constant question and speculation over the air quality in Beijing was circulating in the western media. How would the bad air effect the athletes? Will China's efforts to have blue skies for the games work? Will athletes come to China and not compete because of the air?

No matter what happened, everyone always said that distance runners wouldn't break any records since they would have the most exposure to polluted air when competing.

Just as the Olympics is coming to a close, this issue of Beijing air quality has been almost entirely forgotten about. Very few articles about the air quality were written after the Olympics actually started.

Not only was the marathon ran under blue skies, but for the majority of the games have been competed in favorable weather. Beginning with the rain-less opening ceremonies to the splendor of the final day, the Olympics have been an overwhelming success.

Note: Wansiru's record in the marathon wasn't just a new Olympic record, but was one of the top 10 times this year for the marathon.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Lebron James Marketing Push

2008-08-23T17:07:00.003+08:00

One of my favorite things during the Olympics happens after all of the competitions are over. Everyday at about 9pm Beijing time, there is a daily variety show called "Champion's Circle" hosted on CCTV5 aka the CCTV Olympics channel.

On this show, the host invites numerous Chinese gold medal winners or famous athletes & coaches onto the show. Just about every gold-winning Chinese athlete has been on. They have an intimate interview with jokes, personal questions and serious questions. These include feelings about winning the gold, their personal story for how they got to this point. Other discussion topics include different cute or unique habits and other friendly and humors content for the studio audience. Before each guest leaves, they leave their handprint in a mold with their signature and date onto the "wall of fame".

In the background is a huge circular LCD screen showing graphics and videos while background "variety" music accompany the interviews. Between segments there are dancers who entertain the crowd.

On the night of August 22nd, after an joint appearance of 4 members of the Chinese Men's national basketball team - that included Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, a surprise guest showed up on the show.

It was Lebron James.

Earlier in the day, Lebron and Yao Ming had made a joint appearnce at a event bringing together athletes from different countries to promote cross cultural understanding. The was Lebron's second stop.

Joking around with the host through a translator, Lebron James was interviewed for about 10 minutes with a huge mural of him dunking in the background LCD.

Questions posed included.... what did you think of the opening ceremony? Why didn’t you take up ping pong instead? Which color medal do you like better, silver or bronze? Lebron kept his cool and even made a few jokes himself.

At the end, Lebron James signed a basketball and gave it to the youngest kid in the audience so that the kid can forever love the game of basketball.

As Lebron James left, he was given a framed photo of himself as a gift. He then also made a hand print and hung it on the wall of champions.

I personally love Lebron James. He’s one of the best basketball players in the world, has a great personality and is a huge fan of Ohio State (probably the college he would’ve attended if he didn’t go to the NBA directly) which is my favorite too.

As a person who is establishing himself as a international icon and brand, Lebron James had the 2nd highest gross income for an athlete in 2007 (Tiger Woods was first). His marketing presence in China, a country where basketball is the most popular sport – and everyone loves the NBA is a great idea. Even though this show is produced in what Americans would consider a “variety show” format with cheesy music and sometimes even cheesier jokes, it is watched by millions and millions of Chinese viewers.

Lebron James is not only taking advantage of his opportunity to participate in the Beijing Olympics to the fullest (by appearing in events like this), his Cleveland Cavs also came last year for the first preseason NBA games ever in China – held in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Macau.

While his Nike posters in China are not as big as the one in Cleveland, or his fame in China isn’t as big as Yao Ming or Kobe Bryant (who has a huge following), Lebron James will have a great future in the China market.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Liu Xiang Withdraws, Mayhem Ensues

2008-08-19T11:38:00.001+08:00

After waking up this morning after a long Sanlitun night, I was able to catch the prelims of the Men's 110m hurdles race featuring Chinese superman, Liu Xiang. Without even knowing what's going Liu Xiang suddenly took his competition numbers off and walked out of the stadium. Everyone was in shock. How did this happen?

Although I was stunned by what happened, I wasn't necessarily surprised. Everyone already had Liu Xiang in the finals winning the gold medal. I even have tickets to the semifinals competition. However, all of those expectations can be quickly destroyed when a false start or an injury prevents the athlete from competing.

Immediately after the withdraw, a press conference was called with the Chinese Track & Field coach and Liu Xiang's personal coach. They explained that this was an Achilles tendon problem that only manifested itself recently. It had nothing to do with the previous hamstring injury or something that was hidden. He also explained that the pain had to be intolerable for Liu Xiang to withdraw – that it was his dream to compete in the Olympics ever since he saw that China was awarded the game 7 years ago in 2001. Liu Xiang was 18 (the same age as me).

What is most heartbreaking is that during his last training session the day before the opening ceremonies, it was reported online that he was running at around 12.9 seconds. After the press conference, an emotional CCTV5 reported that the actual time was around 12.8 – faster than world record time.

Liu Xiang has been the idol for so many Chinese for so long that he won't be discarded so easily. Even though he didn't compete in this Olympics and didn't win gold for his country, he will always be loved by his countrymen.

This response in already there. Within a few minutes after the press conference people already have understanding and would like to encourage him to fight back. Beijing TV's commentary show on the Olympics is taking text messages and emails from viewers. All comments have been positive and understanding. This Beijing TV show went on for the entire afternoon with the 4 hosts (2 male and 2 female) taking about this withdraw back and forth.

I was texting back and forth with a friend and she said she cried when she heard the news. In her text: "Liu Xiang let his country down, but he's the only person in the world with 1.3 billion exectations on him."

At 10pm, Liu Xiang gave an interview with CCTV apologizing to the Chinese people. He said that there was no way he could compete and that it was too much pain to bare.

At the same time, China just won its 39th gold.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Best Story of the Games

2008-08-14T14:00:00.002+08:00

One of the best stories for this Olympics is the story of Du Li, the Chinese women's shooter. She has been a consistent force in women's shooting for the past few years, repeatedly winning various world level shooting events. She was the reining Olympic champion of the Athens games for the 10m air rifle.

On the first day of competition she was supposed to be part of a 2-women Chinese team that was dubbed "双保险" "a double insurance" for the gold medal in the 10m air rifle competition - the 1st gold medal awarded for the Beijing games and the 1st gold for China.

The first event came and went without any news. The final result was shocking. Of the 3 medalists, there were no Chinese. The perennial favorite, Du Li, finished 5th.

A female Chinese CCTV reporter caught up with Du Li as she was leaving the competition. During the brief interview Du Li was visibly crying under her visor. Her emotions - from losing the 1st gold medal, from the pressure she put on herself, from the pressure of expectations from her fans, from the Chinese people - these all out. This feeling even made the interviewing reporter cry while encouraging Du Li that she could come back.

Katerina Emmons, the gold medalist of the event said in her press conference that she really felt bad for Du Li. "The media put so much pressure on her. I know that she can shoot so much better than she did today. If possible, I want to give my flowers [that she received for winning the gold medal] to her."

Fast forward a few days. China has had a very successful Olympics. Men's gymnastics won gold. Women's gymnastics won gold. More than 15 gold and 20 plus medals later, Du Li was back center stage competing in the final of the women's 50m rifle competition.

Leading by 1 after the qualification round, Du Li's first shot was a 8.7, the lowest of all the competitors. The air was sucked out of the venue and the fans could feel a sense of unease.

However, this time the happy ending was meant to be. Du Li pulled away at the end, winning by almost 2 points.

When asked by the reporter how it felt to have 4 years of hard work come to fruition, Du Li responded that it was actually the past 4 days that have been so incredibly difficult. Crying tears of joy, she thanked all of the fans who went out to support her, sending her gifts and cards, encouraging her to keep on fighting on. It was that motivation that pushed her through.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Attack on Americans

2008-08-11T00:17:00.004+08:00

A few hours after after the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening ceremonies, a Chinese man stabbed 2 Americans at the Drum Tower in a random act of violence. This has been distributed in the western media as well as the local expat population in Beijing. It seemed like people were somewhat on edge this past weekend.

Some have also suggested that this could lessen the Olympics and China's organization of it. ESPN recently had an awesome article that said it clearly.

What the Chinese know now is that even the most prodigious planning cannot prevent every bad occurrence. We don't know whether this was indiscriminate, individual violence or something larger, or whether the victims were singled out because of race or nationality. However, a U.S. State Department release Saturday said, "Based on the information available, this incident does not appear to have been a targeted attack, but, rather, a random isolated incident."
And those can happen anywhere, as most Americans know all too well. So does the rest of the world. A man recently stabbed and beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in a remote section of Canada, seemingly out of the blue.
Bad people can do bad things almost anywhere -- even at the Olympics. The people of Atlanta learned that horrible lesson 12 years ago in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.

That act did not define America or Americans, and this act shouldn't define China or Chinese. But for a people who have invested so much effort into these Olympics -- so much of their self-worth -- this was a devastating occurrence. Especially in a country with a low rate of violence.

Here's to ESPN journalistic foresight.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Craziness @ Ditan Park - Opening Ceremony

2008-08-10T17:20:00.002+08:00

The Washington Post was present at Ditan Park for the opening ceremonies. As reported in For Chinese, A Long-Awaited Occasion of Hope and Pride...

"Everyone is crying out, 'Go, China!' I feel the park is going to explode," said Liu Jian, 29, a composer who watched the ceremony in Ditan Park.

Audiences cheered loudly for Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei, as Taiwan is referred to at the Olympics. They applauded loudly for allies such as Pakistan and Cuba, for soccer nations Brazil and Spain, and for Iraq. In Ditan Park, there were no discernible boos for the United States or Japan, both targets in the past of virulent expressions of Chinese nationalism.

When a towering Yao Ming entered the stadium at the head of the Chinese delegation bearing a giant Chinese flag, thousands of people sitting on every available inch of pavement rose to their feet screaming and cheering until their faces were red.

I was one of the people yelling and jumping on my feet. Here was the scene when China entered:

2008 Beijing Olympics: Media @ Opening Ceremony

2008-08-10T17:12:00.003+08:00

Here are some videos of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony celebration at Ditan Park on 8.8.08.

European or Aussie journalists interviewing an old lady who was sitting right next to me. There were tons of media everywhere!

A lot of American journalists were on site to capture the moment.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Opening Ceremony

2008-08-09T18:24:00.002+08:00

Within a few hours of the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, some foreign papers already have it wrong. In Telegraph.co.uk's article, Beijing Olympics: Chinese told to watch opening ceremony at home, the author, Peter Foster charges that ordinary citizens were not able to watch the event publicly.

I dont know what your talking about, Peter because I just came back from Ditan Park (地坛公园) after 4 hours of watching the opening ceremonies on 2 big broadcast screens. The park was filled with (what I estimated as) between 3000-5000 people watching the broadcast. Not only were there foreigners from all over the world - who cheered for their own countries, but most of the viewers were local Chinese, young and old. Everyone cheered for China. An old lady sitting next to me was interviewed by an Aussie news station and adamantly mentioned how proud she was.

Not only is this article incredibly ignorant, but it shows a lack of journalistic ability. There were tons and tons of media from all over the world at Ditan park taking pictures, filming, conducting interviews, ect. Why were you not there?

I know the LA Times was there.

They might not have tickets to the Games. They might never set foot in a stadium. But wherever there was a TV screen, big or small, the people of Beijing on Friday gathered and cheered, soaking up this brief moment in the long history of this ancient capital when the Olympic flame illuminated the Chinese sky.

Despite suffocating heat and the threat of a summer shower, locals poured into designated parks and viewing areas, grandparents and babies in tow, some waiting hours for a foothold among the standing-room-only crowds of thousands that roared past midnight.

"I am so proud to be Chinese tonight," said Ju Ke, a 19-year-old animation student who got a front-row seat on the grass of Ditan Park before two giant monitors.

"This is such a huge deal for Chinese people," said Li Shengli, 78, a white-haired grandfather and retired electrician who had passed out eight times in the heat since showing up at the park after lunch to get a spot where he could sit. "I don't know if I can live long enough to see the next Olympics. So I had to be here, to participate, to show I care."

"Look at the spirit of these people. Isn't it exciting!" said Liu Jianhua, 57, a neighbor of Li, as young people around him with red flags painted on their cheeks chanted in unison, "Go, China, go!"

Here are some of my pictures from the event.

This was a great event - once in a lifetime. Peter, please cover this event fair, or just Go Home already.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Parade of Nations

2008-08-09T03:14:00.004+08:00

One of the coolest things from the opening ceremonies has always been the parade of nations. This is where all of the athletes and coaches of different nations are announced to the crowd. They then march along the track while waving to the fans and the world.

This year, the traditional parade of nations had a twist. The procession is usually done by alphabetical order (A to Z) with Greece (the origin of the Olympics) first and the host country (China this year) last. This time it was not done with Alphabetical order but with the number of Chinese strokes in the first character of the country's Chinese name.

For example, the USA (美国, meiguo), where the character 美 has 9 total strokes. That makes it the 140th country compared with Japan (日本, riben), where the character 日has 4 strokes - making it the 23rd country in line.

Not only is the Olympics being held in China, but this is a sign that the Chinese are doing much of it in its own terms. It is a vastly different approach to a traditional event.

Go China.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Men's Soccer @ Wangfujing

2008-08-08T12:19:00.005+08:00

Yesterday I was walking on Wangfujing at night. It seemed to be like a good area. There were a lot of people walking around, hanging out and enjoying themselves.

3 building-sized screens have been put up on the buildings of Wangfujing. They were broadcasting Chinese channels and various Olympic coverage. Local citizens even brought out their stools to hang out and just watch TV with everyone else.

As a friend and I walked up Wangfujing, we saw a huge crowd gathered watching the Men's soccer prelim match between China and New Zealand. After a brief discussion, my friend and I got a beer and joined in the festivities.

I estimate that there were atleast 500-1000 people in my area watching the soccer game. There were people yelling and screaming. There were "中国加油" chants and even imporptu Chinese National Anthem singing. It was definitely a sight. A lot of media were present. Some took pictures and others even joined in the fun.

At around the 65th minute, New Zealand scored their goal. There was a sense that the collective air got knocked out of everyone's guts. The chants went silent and everyone was nervous.

At the 87th mark, and after more than 20 minutes of unsuccessful scoring opportunities by the Chinese team, it seemed that it was almost over. The crowd had almost lost hope that China would score. Finally someone got everyone to stand up for the final few minutes.

So just as everyone stood up, it happened. China scored a GOAL!!

It was pandemonium. Everyone was going CRAZY. I high-5ed a lot of people and miss high-5ed some too. But the feeling was great. For the final few minutes of the match, everyone was yelling and screaming, greatly enjoying the match, especially the CHinese team's performance. Remember, this was the first goal in Olympics or World Cup history for Chinese Men's Soccer.

What a way to start the Olympics!

2008 Beijing Olympics: Scenes from Tiananmen Square

2008-08-08T11:40:00.011+08:00

Yesterday, on 8/7/2008 - 1 day before the opening ceremonies, I took a stroll along Wangfujing (王府井), Tiananmen Square (天安门广场). Here are some of the things I saw:

Tons of media from all over the world, interviewing, shooting, performing. This group is interviewing artists in 798.

This group is interviewing Olympic Volunteers.

Young, Middle-Aged and Old people - All supporting the Olympics

Security going in and out of Tiananmen Square

T-Minus 1 day 2 hours 41 minutes and 8 seconds till the opening ceremonies

The scene at Tiananmen Square

2008 Beijing Olympics: Hotel Price Rollercoaster

2008-08-06T18:17:00.005+08:00

One of the more interesting aspects of the Beijing 2008 Olympics has been the evolution of the price of hotels and different types of accommodations.

In July 2007, I was working with a few different Chinese universities in Beijing on a summer camp for American teenagers. When asking about the possible cost of the basic university dorms during the Olympics, the managers and deans all stated that none of the hotels could give us an accurate price. These hotels (about 2 star level) usually cost around 30 USD per night for a double room. It seemed like all of the different universities were preparing for a huge increase in price due to anticipating huge crowds for the Olympics.

During the same time, all of the major 4 and 5 star hotels in Beijing were preparing for the same surge – of price and of tourists interested in the Olympics.

Fast forward a year and the Olympics are upon us. The prices have quadrupled across the board. No matter if it is the cheapest hostels, the 5 star hotels or everything in between. My friend was planning of traveling in Beijing during this time for 2 days. The price for Leo Hostel in Beijing is 550RMB or almost 80USD for a single room. Dorm rooms with 8 people cost 40 USD. Typical hotels costing 50 USD are now asking for 200. This is amazing.

At the same time, a combination of factors has changed the scope of the Olympics with respect to visitors.

1. The increased regulations of visa applications have made it much more difficult for foreign visitors to participate in the festivities.

2. Due to the same visa issues, many westerners already in China have left. One friend told me that 80% of all foreigners have left China in the past 6 months. I don’t really believe the ratio is truly that high, but its definitely true. Many friends and friends of friends in Shenzhen and Guangzhou have left.

3. Recent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang province have forced the government to increase security measures. Not only has this possibly affected foreign tourists, but many Chinese tourists have stayed away from Beijing.

“They’ve even mobilized surface to air missile defense systems around Beijing. You know if something happens, it’s going to be in Beijing.” – My Aunt

Combine these reasons with protests from some European heads of states, the Tibetan issue and the Sichuan earthquake, the amount of foreign tourists at the Beijing Olympics are drastically less than the 500,000 previously expected. As The Times of India reports:

People connected to the travel industry were expecting a flood of visitors coming to Beijing two weeks before the Games.

Instead, there is a small trickle of visitors just three days before the start of the Games apart from the athletes and sports officials from different participating countries.The arrival lounges at the Beijing airport, including the recently opened Terminal 3, are not at all as crowded as one would expect at the airport of a city hosting the world's biggest sports event.

Though exact numbers are not available, most observers feel there are lesser foreign tourists seen at Beijing's airport on a given day now than what was visible few months back.

Without the amount of foreigners expected, many of the hotels have changed pulled back on their previously ridiculous rates. Although rates are still higher than before, they are much more "reasonable".

"I am getting very low price quotations from three-star hotels. They are ready to sell rooms at nearly half the price they were asking for two weeks back. Lot of hotels are losing hopes of 100 per cent occupancy during the 16 days of the Games," Chang Qing, a travel agent, said.

Some news outlets have even reported that many 4 star hotels have less than a 50% occupancy rate for the entire Olympics. Who knows what the figures are for 3 star hotels and smaller establishments. I guess all that preparation starting a year ago was really a waste of time.

2008 Beijing Olympics

2008-08-06T16:52:00.005+08:00

I’m officially on my way to the Olympics.

I have my bags packed.
I found a relatively cheap business hotel in Chaoyang District for about 400 RMB per night.
I have my tickets ready – 4 events including a basketball game between the USA and Angola.
I called friends and family who I’m going to hang out with
I’m going to attend a pre-Olympics Columbia alumni function in Beijing
I have the Olympic spirit
I even have an Olympic T-shirt

In the past few days, there has been a lot of talk about increased security for the Olympics. Due to the recent terror bombings in Xinjiang province, the security ramifications have affected the entire country.

I have seen guard dogs and increased security in Shenzhen’s subways.

I’ve been searched and re-searched in the airports, and even had to take off my shoes. That never happens in China.

I tried having a family friend help book me a hotel room that would be cheaper than I would be able to find. She could use her connections and book the room in someone else’s name to book a 4 star hotel for about 350 RMB. Typical 4 star rates are more than 1500 RMB. However, due to the terrorist bombings, all hotels are requiring that all guests be registered in his/her own name. So much for the 4 star hotel.

Even with all these possible issues, the Olympics experience is going to be great!

Barak Obama's Brother is in Shenzhen

2008-08-06T16:01:00.001+08:00

In the past few days, it has been exposed that the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Barak Obama, has a half brother living in Shenzhen, China. That’s cool. A lot of foreign media sources have picked up the story.

Friends say he has a long-term Chinese girlfriend in her 20s from Henan, a poor landlocked province that sends millions of migrants to the coastal cities.

He lives in Nanshan, a brash new district of high-rises and streets teeming after dark with young migrants eating spicy street food and cramming into bars, karaoke joints and massage parlors.

“He is big, strong and full of energy, speaks good Chinese and is a really easygoing guy,” said a Chinese friend, “He always wears a hat over his shaven head. I believe he has several consultancy jobs.”

Chinese officials said there are unanswered questions about his internet-based company, Worldnexus Ltd. It has provided corporate communications and website design to Chinese firms seeking customers in English-speaking markets, of which the United States is the biggest.

It seems like Ndesandjo is experiencing the typical American – or Westerner – in Shenzhen life.

He lives in Nanshan, where most expats live – and where I’ve recently moved.
He has a younger Chinese girlfriend. No surprise there.
The girlfriend is from Henan – everyone it seems is from Henan.
He speaks Chinese and is really easy going.
He has his own company that does some international import/export – all westerners work in import/export and/or teaching English. EVERYONE!
The company isn’t officially registered in Shenzhen – yea, not many foreign businesses are registered in Shenzhen. Most are registered in Hong Kong.

I would be interested in meeting Mr. Ndesandjo to get his prospective on Shenzhen, living in China and that the best bars in Nanshan are.

Pastic Bags in China Renewed

2008-08-01T12:35:00.003+08:00

Ever since June 1st of 2008, just about all Chinese cities have imposed a fee for using plastic bags at 7/11s, Wal-Marts, ect. Bring your own bag, or pay 1RMB (.15 USD) to use ours. That's how the government wants to reduce the amount the white waste and help the environment. (I wrote about it here)

Since this regulation has gone into place, there has been a lot of media coverage on the effects both in China and Internationally. Some have even suggested that China will save almost 37 million barrels of oil per year.

Radio and TV news has interviewed employees of many companies and the situation seems to be the same. Across the board, plastic bag use has decreased by almost 80%! That's incredible.

However, that's not the whole story.... Not in China, atleast.

I went to Carefore today to pick up some orange juice. It keeps my energy up and is rich in vitamin C. Honestly, it's an acquired taste. So i'm waiting in line with my medium box of OJ (12.5 RMB) waiting to checkout and I notice the lady in front of me putting her stuff on the checkout belt Little by little, she places her fruits, veggies, frozen food, meat, ect. on the belt.

When the clerk asks her if she would like to purchase a plastic bag, or if she had her own bags, she replied that she didnt need any. However, in my point of view, she didnt have any bags with her (I constantly carry one in my pocket just in case). Instead, she was holding a small roll of still-connected plastic bags in her hand - the ones used for holding fruits and veggies. She then calmly seperates the bags and without any thought, places all of her items in.

This is outrageous! Instead of doing the good thing of bringing her own bag, or thinking to help the enviorment, or even following the basic rules, this lady (kinda grumpy lady) finds away around it by just using the other bags. According to different media reports, while use of the regular plastic bags have drastically fallen, the use of fruit, veggie, rice holding bags have increased almost 10x! The retailers and the markets don't know what to do about it.

While watching this lady do her thing, I also looked around me to see how other people were reacting. Everyone was just minding their own business, talking on the cell and waiting patiently (or sometimes impatiently) in line. No one thought anything wrong was happening.

Maybe in a Chinese culture where "face" 面子 matters, some social pressure would easily solve this problem. Only if someone would actually care.

TIC.

Wow, it's Embarassing: The Official Chinese Olympic Cheer

2008-07-21T03:22:00.004+08:00

As a Chinese person observing the buildup to the Olympics, one of the most embarrassing (and almost annoying) aspects of the prep is watching the official Olympic cheer being constantly promoted by the respective authorities and the people adopting it.

Turn on just about any of the CCTV channels, news or pre-Olympic programing and you will find constant reminder of this chant. "Go Olympics, Go China!" Too bad it looks horrible.

As Danwei first described it...

The cheer is a joint product of the Party Office of Spiritual Civilization Development and Guidance (GODPP), the Ministry of Education, BOCOG, and CCTV. Here's an illustrated guide, which will appear on television and promotional posters in the near future:
Step 1: Clap two times (while chanting 奥运, "Olympics")
Step 2: Hands in fists with thumbs up, arms extended upward (while chanting, 加油, "Let's go!")
Step 3: Clap two time (while chanting 中国, "China")
Step 4: Hands in fists, arms extended outward and upward (while chanting 加油, "Let's go!")

One of the more annoying Chinese-things is that we dont know how to cheer as a people. Without "加油, 'Let's go'" we have nothing else to say! Why is this? Can't we get our 1 billion people plus to say somehting else. We could possibly even learn a thing or 2 from our lil cousins, the Japanese and the Koreans.

Incredible. I promise I will not be doing this cheer when I'm in the Olympic stadium watching a Track & Field event on August 19th. So Embarassing.

Hu Jintao in Qingdao w/ Destoryers escort

2008-07-20T22:34:00.002+08:00

Hu Jintao was in Qingdao today. Trust me, I saw the 2 naval destroyers patrolling on the coast when he was visiting the Olympic sailing venue. No joke.

Qingdao's Olympic Preperations: Alge Cleanup & Torch

2008-07-20T01:19:00.011+08:00

After more than a week in Harbin, I am now in Qingdao. As the 2nd biggest city in Shangdong province, and one of China's major ports, Qingdao is a semi-host of the Olympics this year. It has the honor of hosting the sailing competition.

After the moment I stepped off the plane from Harbin, I found that the Olympic spirit was everywhere. Here's what I've seen:

1. Billboards for the Olympics are everywhere. Just everywhere.
2. Qingdao airport is incedibly clean and ready to receive tourists. A visit to the train station today showed that it will be looking good as well after its ongoing expansion is over.
3. Numberous volunteers were camped out at the baggage claim helping old people find and carry their luggage.
4. 5 star hotels like the Shangri-la and the Crowne Plaza (among others) are being very strict with security. All vehicles driving up to the door are being examined by mulitple officers. Metal detectors and x-rays are mandatory for all patrons.
5. Hotel prices are definitely increasing. I dont know if they're going to increase 4x like they are going to be in Beijing though.

One of the major issues that Qingdao has had to deal with is the inconvienet increase in sea alge. It has been in the news constantly and has been considered a threat to the sailing event. However, the government officials have mobilized voluteers, military members and other resources to clean things up. I was privilidged to see local officials walk through lines of volunteers at the Lao Shi Ren beach 2 days ago. It was the "sea cleanup day."And trust me, the beach definitely needed some help. Some kids were even helping out.

Not only was the local government mobilized in its cleanup, but it is about to host the Olympic torch relay. The torch is scheduled to arrive on Monday, the 21st. However, i've already spotted a Olympic Relay Coke truck parked close to my Hotel (Sophia) all the way on the eastern end of town. Workers are everywhere constructing barricades while right beside them are young merchants selling fake Olympic T-shirts. I love China and the Olympics.

Harbin Olympic Torch Relay Live Journal

2008-07-12T09:46:00.003+08:00

To commiserate Harbin welcoming the Olympic torch, I decided to keep a running journal of the TV coverage of the relay in Harbin. Later in the afternoon after the relay was over, I actually took a few pictures on the route and the beginning of the relay. Needless to say millions of other people were doing the same thing.

I also later saw a video on CNN showing off the best parts of the relay. That's cool.

7:50 We start on the Harbin TV channel. The pregame coverage includes traffic reports on the torch path, introductions on Harbin tourism and a brief overview of the torch relay.

8am The programming starts precisely at 8am. The relay starts at the flood monument, a symbol of Harbin. Floods destroyed Harbin throughout its history until 1958 in which the flood gates were built. This monument commiserates that achievement.
The first speaker introduces the vice Mayor of Harbin. Before she can come on stage, she is introduced with the theme song of Star Trek, The Next Generation. Random.

8:06 The first torch bearers are the famous figure skating pair. They do a combined length. My mom: I love the first relay. They run on the red carpet. At the end of their leg, the guy picks up the girl in a pose. How cool is that?

8:08 The first transfer was less than successful. Wacky camera work and a lot of Harbin dudes in Black Ts surround the torch. People blocked the route and the guys in the Black Ts went to action. As they progress through the first street, you can see officers, Olympics officers and Black Ts getting into a confrontation with people in the crowd.

8:10 My grandparents and my mom have all commented about the quick transfer process. Mom: “You now they all gave money and bought the right to be apart of the relay. They’re all really rich.”
Grandma: “You know that there are gonna be some laundry ladies out there later on too.”

8:13 The 12th person is a random white dude. Every guy gets an introduction and some commentary. Before he could get into a job, he quicly passes it off to the next dude. The next dude, accepts the torch and does a kung fu move. Awesome. Just Awesome.
The transfer process is really interesting. After the “10 step trip” as my grandma says, each person quickly transfer it to the next person. After the lighting on the 2nd person’s torch, the 2 of them do a simulated performance/pose/celebration. Usually it’s an awkward hand slap where both miss each other. The best is when one person tries to do their prearranged move while the other person is awestruck by the moment and totally forgets what to do. Really funny.

8:17 A dude with a pony tail.

8:19 A guy who has fixed tens of thousands of shoes for free. Only in Harbin. A female support runner next to the torch barriers constantly waves at the camera when the transfers are made. When someone realized it, she gets pulled out. The torch is put onto a van and carried to the next torch area.

8:26 We transfer over to the CCTV 5 coverage of the torch relay. During their introduction of what Harbin is like, they just opened up a bag introducing a huge piece of bread. “Da weiba.” It’s a hard bread specialty of Harbin that originated from Russian influence. This bread is the reason my mom loves French bread. Combine that with the “soupa tang” or soup soup – a tomato based soup with tomatoes, cabbage and potatoes and we got a hearty meal.

8:31 The vehicle transfer is over… on with the relay. We’re at a much wider street now. Behind the runner, there are a total of 4 male support runners, 2 on each side.20 meters back on either side are 20 guys running along the crowd wearing all white. About 50 meters back, there are 5 motorcycles and behind them is a trail of minibuses, cars, vans, at least 30 vehicles.
We’re now running on the famous Harbin bridge that I almost fell off of – into the Songhua river – when I was 5 years old.

8:37 A old lady finishes her part of the relay and almost strangles the next girl. After the girl starts running, she keeps on running along behind the group, confused and not knowing what’s going on. No one notices what she’s doing and no one controls her until the next transfer. Way too funny.

8:41 The 40th guy starts dancing and does superman poses during his leg. He almost makes out with the next guy before transferring.

8:52 Harbin channel is split-screening the tour coverage with information on the ice lantern festival. I think I’m going to have to come back next winter to see it. Our family friend is in the Harbin tourism bureau and is charge of putting on the festival every year.

8:59 We’re now passing the Harbin Science Museum. Harbin is known throughout the country for its science knowledge and knowhow. It is in the forefront of robotics and is a big contributor to the Chinese space agency’s manned program.

9:02 Interesting Fact: Harbin is the only Chinese city without a city wall or hasn’t had a city wall in its history.

9:05 Harbin Fencing coach does 4 fencing moves during her leg. Everyone’s surprised.

Best Quote…
Mom: Chinese people are really bad at giving a high five. They should be like Obama’s wife and just do the pound. You know that’s the new high five right? Did you see her go on the View and give everyone the pound?

9:06 Grandma: Is this a guy or girl?

9:12 This guy sells roast duck. He’s not walking, he’s not running. He’s niuyangge.

9:15 A random Chinese guy in an army uniform gets his friend to take a picture of him right behind the runner. He is enabled by the 20 photographers who run in front of the runner van, temporary stopping the procession.

9:21 A girl running as a support runner is lumbering through. She’s not only fat but panting. I don’t know how she got that job.

9:23 Another white guy.

9:27 After not understanding previously, of the 4 support runners, only 2 of them in the front are security members. They wear hats, wear black gloves and help in the different transfers. The 2 people behind them are people who was supposed to be a torch barer but wasn’t able to because of the reduced length of the relay. So, instead of being an officer barer, they run behind the security members for an extended amount of time.

9:30 30 minute break in the relay.

9:30-10:15 Constant information about Harbin, the tourist sights, the food and sites. Very ignorant understanding by the CCTV people. “It seems that southern people have very little understanding or knowledge of Harbin while Harbin people know a lot about the south.”

10:25 Coke has 2 consecutive torch bearers followed by 1 from McDonald’s. I guess the official sponsors of the Olympics should get some perks.

11:00 We finally have a couple of younger people along the route that do something interesting and different.

11:06 “Is that a guy or girl?”

11:12 “That’s a girl right?”

11:14 The final torch bearers are another figuring skating pair. Of course when they first receive the torch, the guy picks up the girl and keeps her up there for about 5 min. In the competition for the most "unique pose" after people receive the torch, it definitely ranks up there. They run across the red carpet to the Sun Island statue. 11:17 “I wonder how much money they spent to make this happen.” “What are they going to do with all that money anyways?”

11:19 People are throwing up sunflowers in the air during the closing ceremonies. They’re wearing yellow tshirts to match the sunflowers.

Harbin celebrates the Olympic torch's arrival

2008-07-11T07:40:00.002+08:00

At 8am Beijing time, the Olympic Torch relay will officially commence in Harbin.

I personally have a lot of connection to the Olympics. I took my first steps during the 1984 Olympics in LA. During the 1988 one, my mom was preparing to study in the US and begin our journey to becoming Chinese Americans. 20 years later, I am living in China with several tickets to various events during the 2008 Olympics.

I first saw the torch when I was 13 in Columbus, Ohio during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. My family and family friends camped out on the route, hyped about the upcoming games. We waited on the route for about an hour - in the scarcely populated route without that many people watching. After a couple of false-alarms where I hastily ran after the support vans and vehicles that go prior to the actual runner, we were finally greeted by the moment we were all waiting for.

A thunderous applause and cheers from the people, albeit only a few were there, roared closer to us. Finally the moment of truth, a young women - about 26 years old carried the torch, jogging while waving to the light crowd. She was followed by 2 support members who followed close behind jogging while a van led the way. They ran for what it seemed as forever. Even though the experience was quick, it still left a lasting memory in my mind.

Fast forward to 2008 and the Beijing Olympics, I will witness the torch for the first time in this Olympic cycle. Compare this to the 2004 Olympics relay in which I saw the torch when it was in New York City, Beijing and Shanghai. I missed it when it arrived in Shenzhen a couple of months back because I was in the US at the time. My friends and colleagues saw it, cought in the hordes of people and heat near Diwang Building while losing a camera and a wallet at the same time. They said it was a lot of fun.

Due to the Sichuan earthquake, the Tibeten issue and the sensitivity of it all, this year's torch route has had a lot of changes from the past. The torch route has been changed at the last minute to bypass prostesters and "high-risk" areas in semi-unfriendly cities. The torch relay length has been reduced to a maximum of 14km. Dates for the relay has also been changed due to scheduling conflicts.

Yesterday during dinner with family friends, I was told that it was going to be incredibly difficult for normal Harbin citizens to see the flame in person. Supposedly specific danweis, working units, schools and companies are invited to participate in its viewing. It would be incredibly difficult for everyone else to get close enough to sneak a peak.

However, the most interesting part of the relay is that in the 14km route, more than 200 people will be part of the relay. If we do some basic math, that would mean about a total run of about 70 meters per person. That is a definite change from what I first saw during 1996. This event is more of a face-thing, China partiotism-thing, personal enjoyment-thing than something just about sport. That is very Chinese. Something small, or relatively small becomes something really big, really different and done with face involved.

It's going to be an awesome relay. If i'm happy, ill give a live blog of the relay from watching on TV.

The 2nd tier city: Harbin

2008-07-10T23:09:00.002+08:00

For the past week, I’ve been staying at my grand parent’s house in Harbin. I was born in this border city many years ago and lived here until I was 6 – after which I moved to the US. I come back intermittently every so often to visit friends & family – especially my relatives on my mom’s side.

Since moving to Shenzhen almost 2 years ago, I have went to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou and other cities in China many times. I have even been to Bangkok twice. I have yet come back to Harbin, until now.

Harbin is the typical “2^nd tier” or “3^rd tier” city that all business people talk about. It is the 10^th biggest city in China, famous for its winter Ice Festival and ready to grow like its counterparts.

Personally, going from the most modern city in China (Shenzhen), to a less-developed city (Harbin) in which its population is synonymous for eating with their shirts off, drinking a lot of beer during lunch, being “rednecks”, loving to fight and being generally uncivilized and barbaric when compared to the rest of the China. This is the place I call my “hometown”.

In the past couple of years, however, there has been a growth in construction immediately outside where my grandparents live. A medium sized mall has been built with a KFC, McDs and Carrefour about .5km away. The “Paris apartments” now tower the skyline with five 30+ floor buildings within view of our 2^nd floor balcony. Even a highway, overpasses and parks have been connected nearby as well. Walking around the city in the past few days, I’ve been unable to recognize many neighborhoods in which my family used to live. The amount of construction in the past 3-4 years has been tremendous – a constant cycle of demolition and construction.

What I’ve seen as the best part, or the most interesting part of Harbin is that it still has some of the same charm, innocent & traditionally Chinese life it has had in the past. I see this very keenly from my grandparent’s house.

My grandparents’ house is nestled in a small community of about 30 6-8 story buildings within the grounds of a university. I can honestly say that very little has changed in this area. The same old people are walking around in the morning and outside playing cards or mahjong in the afternoon. Every morning at 4:30am, scores of old people go out to parks, tracks and local gathering places to practice qigong, exercise and do the same routine they’ve done for such a long time. The same fruit & veggie markets are still selling the same cheap produce right outside the gates. Even the day-care kindergarten that I went to when I was 4 years old – more than 20 years ago – is still in the same place still taking care of small kids. Starbucks still has not opened its first coffee shop in Harbin.

Wages have also been lacking. The average monthly wage of my cousin’s wife, a social worker in Harbin, is 1000 RMB. She’s 40. My cousin is now working as a driver for the 271 bus route. His previous job was a taxi driver. They can live and get by due to the low living standard.

The people here in Harbin seem to be much more content with living life. They might not have the income of the people in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai. They might not have the starbucks-drinking, bar-hopping, constant traveling life of the people in the 1^st tier cities. They don’t have these luxuries. They do, however, have the constant relaxation of enjoying life, not taking things too seriously and having a slower pace to life. They don’t need the stress and constant desire filled consumerism existence that comes with it. Coming from a place like Shenzhen, this is something new and really special.

Not to mention, I really like the densely blue skies and the long-sleeves summer climate as well.

No Mao on new 10 RMB bill.

2008-07-08T11:55:00.002+08:00

6 Million New 10-RMB bank notes will be issued that will feature pictures of the "Bird Nest" National Stadium, the Temple of Heaven and a Discus Thrower. It will be the first time in nearly 10 years that Chairman Mao's picture will not be on the bill.

Blogspot unblocked (finally) in China

2008-06-10T21:10:00.000+08:00

Woah. Look! Blogspot is back up in China. That's weird. How many months was that??

One of the reasons I wasn't posting was because it was blocked. I guess that excuse is out.

Shenzhen Increases Minimum Wage

2008-06-03T22:31:00.002+08:00

Shenzhen has announced that its minimum salary level will go up on July 1, 2008. This makes the minimum wage higher than that of Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Under the adjustment plan, four districts within the Special Economic Zone including Futian and Luohu districts will see their minimum wage level reach one-thousand yuan per month, up over 17 percent from previous year.
Elsewhere, the minimum wage will rise 20 percent year on year to 900 yuan a month. The local government says the move aims to enhance the city's competitive power and to attract more talent. Shenzhen now has more than 7 million migrant workers, but it is still short of over 740 thousand laborers. Increasing salary may help labor-thirsty companies to employ more staff.

In reality, the minimum wage doesn't effect the vast majority of Shenzhen workers. Even the factory worker on the bottom of the pyramid makes atleast 1600 to 1800RMB per month. If anything it helps the workers of McDonald's and KFC.

Plastic Bags no More

2008-05-29T17:22:00.002+08:00

Starting on June 1, 2008 (in 3 days), Shenzhen retailers will stop offering free plastic bags. As an effort to help the environment and reduce the reliance on plastic bags, Shenzhen - as well as other Chinese cities - are beginning to implement this new regulation.

As Shenzhen Daily states:

Retailers will be fined up to 10,000 yuan (US$1,429) for providing free plastic bags or selling plastic bags to customers at lower than cost from June 1, the city's pricing watchdog said Friday. The ban has been instituted under a regulation drawn up by the Commerce Ministry to save energy and reduce white pollution.

Stores like Walmart, ABest and Carrefore have all promoted the use of clothbags. They have done promotions and free giveaways as well. Use of plastic bags will cost 0.50 to 1RMB.

Shenzhen Democracy

2008-05-26T23:26:00.003+08:00

For the past 30 years, Shenzhen has been the big Chinese experiment on capitalism. This Special Economic Zone started from a fishing village to become the most modern Chinese city. Not only is the economy in the forfront, but the rule of law, transportation and civil systems are among the best in China. There has even been talk about a Shenzhen - Hong Kong mega city in its future plans while the development of Shenzhen's airport has been mentioned in Kanye West's blog.

This big experiment seems to be ready to expand to politics as well. Reported in the Pakistan Observer, Shenzhen's steps Toward Democracy describes the future development of an“intraparty democracy.”

The Shenzhen local government published a draft of a document titled “Shenzhen Future Reforms” on its Web site for the public to comment upon . The draft summarizes tentative plans for political, administrative, economic and cultural reforms in Shenzhen and describes 19 key tasks, including the holding of mayoral elections in Shenzhen when “conditions allow.” Members of the regional National People’s Congress will be allowed to run directly in these elections.

By conducting China’s “intraparty democracy” experiment in Shenzhen, Chinese President Hu Jintao is paying homage to the legacy of Deng Xiaoping and signaling that if the test proves successful, intraparty democracy will spread to the rest of China.

The document is a result of the National People’s Congress in March, when “intraparty democracy” the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) version of “rule by consensus” was put in place as one of the key planks of Chinese President Hu Jintao”s legacy. The groundwork for the Shenzhen experiment originally was laid in March when Wang Yang, secretary of the CPC’s Guangdong Provincial Committee, visited Shenzhen and officially announced that the city would “set an example for the nation.” Such initiatives have been tried at the village level before but never in as large or as prominent a city as Shenzhen.

Long a showcase for new ideas from the center, Shenzhen was one of the original sites of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s groundbreaking economic, political and social reform programs and was home to China’s first special economic zone. By formally launching China’s intraparty democracy experiment in Shenzhen, Hu is paying direct homage to Deng’s legacy and signaling that if this test proves successful, intraparty democracy will spread to the rest of China. The province of Guangdong has never built the political power base that Shanghai has, so this latest spotlight on Shenzhen does not signal an impending central government “crackdown” on disobedient local officials.

Beijing wants to build some sense of accountability in the prevailing system and emphasize that the party and government are owned by the people.

I have been recently been considering leaving Shenzhen, but I might just have to stay a little bit longer to see these things happen firsthand, undercover.

China's New Path

2008-05-21T19:23:00.004+08:00

As a resident of Shenzhen, I've been able to see both the best and the worst of China - relative to change.

As many people already know, Shenzhen is a wonder of capitalism in China. It has grown out of nowhere in the past 20 years. It is the most modern Chinese city. It is a place with limitless opportunities and possibilities. It is a place where all of the able people from all over China and the world come to gather for commerce. It is a place of law and order - the best in China.

Shenzhen is also a lot of other things. It is one of the only places that has absolutely no culture within a country and civilization that has lasted more than 5000 years. It is a cut-throat world where money is first and foremost. Everything else is secondary. It is a place of questionable morals and the air quality is just as bad.

Shenzhen was famously created by Deng Xiaoping who famously announced that "to be rich is glorious." Ever since those famous words were uttered, China has transformed from a place focused on equality to that of money. It was a place where personal possessions and wealth were not the focus, but community was overriding. People helping people even though everyone had very little. It has emerged to a place where money and materialism is paramount while the community is just an afterthought. Now the discrepancy between the haves and have-nots is incredible.

In the past few years, this path of money has never been questioned on the grand scale. Although certain events have brought the Chinese people together (the spy plane incident, the japanese textbooks, the Olympics), everything was still on the same trajectory.

That was until 5/12/2008 at 2:28pm.

In the past few days - and during the mourning period - the only thing on TV has been coverage of the earthquake. Every single channel. All Bars have been closed. All KTVs have been closed. Even online games have been abandoned. It is a national mourning in every respect. During this time, people from every walk of life, from every region and province have come together to do what they can in support of the recovery efforts. If you can donate money, ok. Time and effort, good as well.

Candlelit visuals have been everywhere. The only real topic of conversation is the earthquake. Everything else is secondary. It is something that I've never seen, but so immensely proud of from my fellow countrymen.

During the events of 9/11, I was in my high school in New Jersey. In the past 7 years, those events have completely and utterly transformed American society. Whether it is political, environmental or social, so many things have been altered.

I predict that the earthquake of 5/12/2008 will have a comparable effect on China. Not only will government initiatives change, but the people will too. The people have been reminded of what it once was, a place where people cared about its fellow people. It has woken up from a period of rapid growth into something thats more wholly rounded and responsible for all in society. Not only will there be much more social activism but the compassion and empathy of the people will increase.

This is now the path of China. Not a path towards "democracy" (as the western media states) but towards a embrace for the communal-ness of its past.

Earthquake Memory

2008-05-19T16:26:00.004+08:00

At 2:28pm local time, there was a 3 minute moment of silence nation-wide. While people were silent, city sirens, car horns and bells rang loud. It was a nice moment to reflect on the tragic earthquake that occurred just 1 week prior.

Before the silence, I received text messages from a lot of friends and family reminding me of the event. Everyone seemed to care a lot for it.

The Real Chinese Earthquake Story

2008-05-15T09:00:00.004+08:00

吃苦。 "Eat Bitterness"

In China, 吃苦 is a enduring state of being for all Chinese. Whether its employees going the extra mile at work or kids spending hours on math homework - the ability to 吃苦 is something that everyone looks to have and is proud to have AS A CHINESE.

For the past few days, I have been adamant about watching the news. There has been 24/7 coverage on most of the major channels in China. There are stories of tragedy and heartache but also stories of charity and empathy.

As I recall, a group of 8 friends, all with cars got together, filled up their cars with supplies - water, food, medicine and drove 8 hours to deliver the aid. They have since stayed to help in any way possible.

There has been major movement online to donate money to the cause. Even my mom wanted me to donate 10,000rmb for her to the China Red Cross.

I have been consistently following the coverage in the New York Times and CNN as well. While many of the articles have been opinion-neutral, there are always glimpses of politicizing in the coverage. For example, any mention of the Chinese government's quick response to the disaster isn't followed with praise, but with a statement about political legitimacy.

From CNN's Soldiers Press Search for Quake Survivors:

Gareth Leather, an analyst for The Economist magazine, said the communist government was criticized for its response to the 2002 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

"The government was very secretive about it, which in turn allowed the disease the spread across China and Asia a lot quicker than it otherwise would have done," Leather said. "This time they have been very open about it, which I think is maybe showing signs that lessons have been learned."

From NYT's A Rescue in China, Uncensored:

China’s Communist Party leaders are keenly aware that their approach to the earthquake will be closely watched at home and abroad. And after two bruising months of criticism from the West over its handling of Tibetan unrest, the government can ill afford another round of criticism as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in August.

Dali Yang, the director of the East Asian Institute in Singapore, said the government might have come to the realization that openness and accountability could bolster its legitimacy and counter growing anger over corruption, rising inflation and the disparity between the urban rich and the rural poor.

Maybe the leaders do care. Maybe the people do care. Maybe the country is coming together, just as the US did after 9/11. Just maybe.

In the past few days, I have been quite proud to be Chinese. That pride has been perfectly reflected in the CNN article Earthquake Victims Eat Bitterness.

In Che Jia Va, survivors of the deadly earthquake that struck central China wait patiently for aid. They don't complain.
Among them is a woman with back injuries who cannot walk, and moans loudly. Soldiers eventually found the woman and took her away.

Sheets of plastic protected some of these victims from the rain that came down after the quake. But despite a lack of food, water, phone service and supplies, most of the victims were undemanding and uncomplaining -- some playing cards to pass the time -- confident they would be looked after.

We've had some of the nicest people help us out. There was a guy who had a packet of cookies and wanted to share them, because we were reporting the quake story.
A woman at a gas station, which has a $13 limit per purchase, let us buy $100 worth for our two SUVs. She just came up and helped. There actually were soldiers at the gas stations to ration it out.

That's the China I know.

China Earthquake.

2008-05-14T08:25:00.003+08:00

In the past couple of days, I have received numerous questions from friends and family back in the US about the aftermath of the 7.8 earthquake in Sichuan province.

There has been constant 24-7 coverage of the earthquake and rescue effort on TV.

I have personally visited Sichuan province on 2 occasions. I have been to Chengdu, Chongqing as well as the Wulong Panda Preserve.

While some of Sichuan is flat, the entire area at the epicenter of the earthquake has a mountainous terrain where the only roads are 2 lanes that run on the sides of massive cliffs. These roads have been blocked by rock slides and broken pavement. This has stranded rescue workers.

Chengdu seems to have held up pretty well. Otherwise the death toll would be much greater. The government has mobilized tons of soldiers to help with the aid of survivors. Also good is the fact that Chengdu was center to a lot of new construction. Cranes, and heavy equipment from construction sites have been used as well.

This is crazy.

I'm Back

2008-05-04T11:19:00.002+08:00

It has been exactly 6 months since my last post. Wow, long time.

I would like to first apologize to my readers（atleast I thought I had a few) for my absence. However, I do have an excuse. I started a business with a friend in Shenzhen. So instead of having the ample brain capacity to properly write a blog and worry about our business (constantly), I prioritized my commitments and made a decision.

Not that the business has been created and running with less time commitment, I now have enough time and mental energy to restart my blog.

Here, my goal is to focus on observations, (as I did before) as well as current events and running a small business in Shenzhen.

Shenzhen YouTube Models

2007-09-23T18:28:00.000+08:00

I'm sorry for not posting recently. I've been really busy with a number of projects. I've also been traveling a lot on business trips. Blogspot has also been re-blocked by the great firewall sooo... ugh.

Anyways, to kick back posting, I wanted to show everyone a Shenzhen video on Youtube. While there are normally thousands and thousands of videos from the west, Chinese content is rarely posted. This is definitely a needle in a haystack...

Talk about Shenzhen "model" culture...

Olympic Tickets

2007-09-03T15:52:00.000+08:00

When I first moved to China, I promised myself that I would go to the 2008 Olympics. I have a lot of friends and family in Beijing and it seems about right that I go for the festivities. Not only will there be awesome events, it's a great way to celebrate China's growth and revival.

A few months back, I applied for tickets online. A couple of days ago, i received confirmation of the tickets that they're going to give me. Out of the 10 different events I wanted to go to, I didn't get anything in ping pong, basketball, badminton or swimming. Those tickets were already lottery-ed off. I going to see fencing, beach volleyball and a event in the National Stadium, though.

There has been rumors that not a lot of foreigners are going to come to the 2008 Olympics. I dont believe this. I bet there are going to be a ton of travelers coming for it, and if they don't come, Chinese people will just have to take all the seats.

加油。

Inside the toy recalls: Mattel's sins

2007-08-29T18:30:00.000+08:00

It's been a few weeks since the Mattel toy recalls first started. Since then millions of toys have been taken off the shelves all over the world, a Chinese factory owner hung himself and the "Made in China" name is being dragged through the dirt in the US media.

Just about everyone in the US has jumped on the hating. There have been countless examiniations into the saftey of everything China makes and an unseen fervor has developed. Democrats and Republicans alike are attacking China as the now "irresponsible" global production machine.

While I can not make any statements regarding food recalls or underware, as a person who has worked in the toy industry (my job was to liason between the factory and the US design staff), I see this situation really clearly:

It isnt really the Chinese company's fault!

During the design process, there are a lot of considerations for safety. Only certain materials could be used for certain aged kids and the spacing between motorized parts had to be a certain width. Above these basic restraints, all of our toys had to pass a RoHS standard. This applied to the entire packaging, the paint, the materials used, the parts, everything. Before being able to ship any toys, we had to submit them for testing at a hong kong third party. Only with certification from this third party could we ship to Walmart, Target, ect.

In order to pass these tests, we had to control our supply chain. Every shipment of materials were individually checked by our on-site Quality Control team. If anything was wrong with the shipment, the QA team would not accept the entire stock and demand the sourced company to redo it.

In essance, there were atleast 4 different levels of quality assurance: During design, supply chain, manufacturing and third party testing before shipment. Of course not all shipments were perfect and things did slip through the cracks, but no products were recalled when I worked there. None.

So with my own first hand experience, I was terribly shocked when I heard of Mattel's recall. How could the biggest toy company in the US allow so many millions of toys be shipped? What happened to all of the different layers of testing and retesting. Also, why didnt the US media find the real reasons for the problems instead of making China the scapegoat?

Well finally, someone did. Only in today's NY Times has there been any mention of the innate problems within Mattel's business.

Mattel has been manufacturing in Asia far longer than many companies (the first Barbie was made there in 1959). That led to long-term relationships with certain Chinese contractors, many spanning decades. Paradoxically, that appears to have contributed to Mattel’s problems: the longer it outsourced to a factory supplier with good results, the looser the leash became.
During Mr. Eckert’s tenure, the company has scaled back the number of companies it uses and the fraction of Mattel toys that they make, but it allowed its more reliable suppliers to do their own regular toy testing — with spot tests by Mattel only every three months.
The two contractors that caused this month’s recalls were among the most trusted. Lee Der Industrial, the supplier involved in the first recall, had worked with Mattel for 15 years. The Early Light Industrial Company, the contractor that made the Sarge cars in the second recall, has supplied toys for 20 years.

Mattel became so confident in their China production that it basically gave all control to their subcontractors. Instead of making sure they had final say of what toys were being shipped, the left it up to their Chinese counterparts. What responsible company would decide to do that? No smart company would ever think of giving all control for their products to someone else.

Still Mattel execs want to refocus the blame on the Chinese:

“I think it’s the fault of the vendor who didn’t follow the procedures that we’ve been living with for a long time,” Mr. Debrowski said.

I guess Mr. Debrowski has never worked in a Chinese factory (like I have). Maybe if he worked there for 2 weeks, he would see that Chinese employees need constant attention. Only micromanagers with attention to detail can actually confirm that any processes are used. Without this oversight, any "procedures" are just random words on paper.

All in all, the real issue is money. The real reason why Mattel gave so much autonomy to their contractors was because they wanted higher profits. In order to have their own staff oversee and manager the production, QA and other processes, it would cost Mattel much more money. Instead, they calculate the cost and overhead of the Chinese manufacturer, add 15% for the Chinese company's margin and not worry about anything else. For a toy that costs the Chinese company $1.20, Mattel sell it for $4.50 to Walmart. That's quite a profit.

Whey they're making that much money, who cares about a little lead in the paint?

Ultimately, no one is really blaming Mattel for this. If you read the NY Times article, you can see that the underlying tone of it is pro-Mattel. Even the title, After Stumbling, Mattel Cracks Down on China, shows the bias.

The US (and world) media will continue to attack China while the real culprits enjoy their high profit margins. I guess it's just another symptom of globalization.

Chinese Version of the "Birds and the Bees"

2007-08-21T13:46:00.001+08:00

I was hanging out with a friend a couple of days ago, just screwing around, wasting time. My friend has a belly button ring, so I was joking around that she was hampering her reproductive organs.

This might not make sense for my western readers....but in China, when kids ask the world-wide question: "mommy, where did I come from", they are told, the belly button. This answer, although weird, seems like a very natural choice now. This is what my parents told me when I was young.

When this topic came up, I continued to ask what my friend's parents also said to her. She responded with: They told me that they found me in a dumpster. （我是在垃圾里面检出来得。）

What?! What are Chinese parents thinking? I know it is hard and uncomfortable to talk about sex with a kid so sometimes, flat out lying is not too bad.

However, Chinese customs have gone way beyond this. Parents, instead of doing the "birds & bees" story tell their children that they were adopted. Not only were they adopted, but their previous family threw them out into the trash, only until your parents rescued you.

What a fucked up thing to say.

Come to think of it, my parents told me that I was found in the trash too...

China & Morality

2007-08-15T00:03:00.000+08:00

One of the most interesting things about living in China is the underlying sense of morality.... or the lack there of.

From my time living here, I really believe that anything and everything can happen. Although the vast majority have a decent sense of what's right and wrong, a lot of people clearly don't have it.

Business ethics? Who cares.

Insider Trading? Common place.

Cheating for self gain? Standard.

One recent event that shows the turbulent and frequent questionable nature of what is real/fake and right/wrong occurred in journalism.

The west often accuses Chinese journalism as censored, government approved and basically propaganda. Although everyone and their grandmom knows that there is a natural sensitivity for the government on certain issues (like falonggong, protests) on the national scale, journalism on the local level is more open than I had previously thought. There are definitely news reports, on the radio, in TV and print describing corruption, crimes, and other unsavory events. Although there is a vail lifted over the average Chinese person, it's not as thick as everyone thinks.

Well, about a month ago, a Beijing journalist described a very interesting story about food vendors putting cardboard and other undesirable materials into food. This scary story caused a stir in local and national headlines and was quickly picked up by CNN international sources.

The whole country was in outrage. Police and health inspectors started checking everywhere. Foreign press lamented and criticized China, ect. ect.

And all the while, the story was fake...

As CNN reported through Reuters:

Beijing police have detained a television reporter for allegedly fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China's food safety is under intense international scrutiny.
Beijing authorities said investigations had found that an employee surnamed Zi had fabricated the report to garner "higher audience ratings", the China Daily said on Thursday.
"Zi had provided all the cardboard and asked the vendor to soak it. It's all cheating," the paper quoted a government notice as saying.

After I read the original report, I spent a while thinking about the stuff I put into my body every morning before going to work. I also thought about the other crap that could be in the foods out there. I was almost freaking out.

So while I, and many other people were freaking out (like me), while the whole country was in outrage investing food processes, standards and regulations, and while the international community criticized the Chinese government and its standards as another example of inept corruption of the "communist regime," the story turned out to be fake.

So, creating this panic and international incident was just a chance to get higher ratings, and a future promotion. Wow.

This is China.

The reporter has since been tried and sentenced to 1 year in jail and a fine. Good times.

Before leaving this topic, there is another issue that is involved here. I would not be surprised if the story was true and the reporter was telling the truth. Instead, the culprit could be the authorities who are trying to damage control. Different agencies could have ordered that the reporter be the scape goat so that the government could deny these accusations with more footing to foreign trade partners... what if...

Ultimately, no one knows what the hell is going on. It doesn't matter if you believe one side, or the other. They are all playing with the same, cheating deck of cards.

Chinese Thieves Revealed

2007-08-14T03:10:00.000+08:00

This is an issue that everyone who lives in a big city has to deal with. It's something unpleasant, disgraceful, kinda sad, and ultimately just sucks.

Yes, I’m talking about thieves, pick-pockets, purse snatchers, whatever you want to call it.

As a relatively forgetful person, I’ve had many encounters with people taking my stuff. The first time was probably in the 1st or 2nd grade when someone stole my bike in Ohio. My BMX "Batman" bike was great but some kid probably saw how cool it was and rode it away when I didn’t lock it up tight.

During my time in China, I have always been warned by my friends and relatives to be careful of thieves. They often recount horror stories they hear on the news: A guy walking around is stabbed for a cell phone or wallet, and guys on motorcycles drag a yuppie for a ways while trying to snatch her purse.

There are other stories about gangs of people working as a pack (ie. Ocean's 11 or Gangs of NY). I believed that these stories were true, but I had never experienced it myself.

Tuesday Morning, 7:10am, 东门中 bus stop.

I was waiting at the bus stop to go to work in the morning. Suddenly, a bus stops in front of me. Out jumps 2 guys followed by an angry women yelling and screaming, kicking 2 guys. You assholes, you tried to steal my cell phone!!! Fuck you!!

After her rant, she got back on the bus and it drove off. I watched this episode play out right in front of me. I had nothing else to do and it was kinda funny. Before I went back to sending a text message, I took a quick glance at the 2 guys as they walked away. No big deal.

5 minutes pass and I get hungry. I'm still waiting for my 106 bus, but I wanted to grab some breakfast nearby. I start looking around my stop to search for street vendors, and I immediately see one of the guys on the other side of the bus stop, creeping around.

I cant believe it, these thieves were going to work my stop!!

Different scenarios immediately popped into my head. Did I want to beat them up for being thieves and be the savior? Did I want to pretend I didn’t know what they were doing and try to be a "victim" of theirs? I finally decided on passively observing their interactions and how they operate.

As I watched them work, it seemed clear that they were not "professionals." When “professionals” come to mind, I think of Matt Damon pulling some guy's wallet on the bus in Ocean's 11, or the train snatch in Ocean's 12. These guys, although they probably did it for a living, were not that good. They didn’t have the look, feel or skill of a professional. What they did have, was the balls.

These two guys operated as a set. One guy (thief1), the one in the white dress shirt with black, cross shoulder bag pretended he was a regular guy going to work. He definitely looked the part. He walked around the stop, looked at the bus schedule, huffed and puffed and pretended to be late. At other times he would bust out his cell phone and pretend to start talking on it like he had important business to attend to.

Good concept, bad acting.

It was ultimately his job to locate the target, start talking to the target and work that avenue.

The 2nd guy (thief2) in the team of two was the guy dressed in all brown and his arms crossed. He stayed back, leering at different people and waited until his partner to make the initial move. After the thief1 started talking to someone, the thief2 would slowly move up behind the potential victim and set up shop. Again, the picture above shows them in action targeting a young guy in the black shirt (who's talking to thief1).

I observed thief2 much more than I did thief1. What I saw was that thief2 was very blatant in what he was doing. He would stay back and hang out to let his partner initiate the contact. However, when he was standing there, instead of being discreet and relaxed, he started looking around, almost too excited to maintain secrecy.

Whenever someone passed him, he immediately looked at their bag, wallet, cell phone, ect. There was no discreteness at all. It was like a fat kid looking into the glass of a cake store. Half the time when he was staring at everyone's bags and cell phones, almost drooling at them, I wanted to grab him, beat him up and then give him a lesson about covert operations. I'm no thief/pickpocket, but I bet I could do it a lot better than he could!

Ultimately, after these guys stayed around for 10 minutes, they didn’t see many good targets so they moved on to a different stop.

What's funny is that on 2 days later, I saw the duo again working the bus stop. However, after I got there, they immediately got onto a bus and left.

From my observations of this duo, the easiest way to recognize a thief is to look into his/her eyes. Most of the people doing petty theft are amateurs from the countryside. They are usually too greedy and too stupid do be discrete.

The eyes reveal all.

Sex and China

2007-08-13T16:40:00.000+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was with a bunch of friends and cousins at KTV place in Shenzhen, singing kareoke. Although I dont do that much singing (i'm a drinker at these things), I did notice something very interesting.

In between when songs are played, there are different ads and commericals displayed on the monitors throughout. These are usually promotional material for various drinks or cars. However, one really stood out to me.

It was a 10 second ad that featured, what I thought, was a cartoon figure shaped like a condom with disclaimers. At first, I didn't really understand it, but after conferring with my Chinese cousins, I figured out what was going on.

It was an ad for condom use and awareness for HIV/Aids. The ad basically wanted everyone to use condoms, and stated that the KTV places would distrbute them for free to any of its patrons.
Wow, I thought... some KTV.

So, it looks like it's working.

When issues of human rights, politics and censorship comes up to westerners, many use the argument that more trade with China will not only open up the country and its 1.3 billion people as consumers, but also help change the society and culture with it as well.

Well, i guess its partly working... in the form of a mini sexual revolution.

By no means am I refering to a trend that more people are having unprotected sex with a side of drug use (like in the American 1960s). What I am seeing is the quick and rapid development of a more open understanding and acceptance to sex and human sexuality.

A recent International Herald Tribune article entitled "A People's Sexual Revolution in China", describes the current explosion of sexuality in media.

Even five years ago, mainland books and magazines were banned from showing pictures of scantily clad models or publishing content that was deemed offensive or morally corrupt. The only sexual content to be found was in sex education pamphlets or books of nude Chinese women sold as "art works" at big city airports.

Today, however, with the Chinese economy booming and the government loosening its hold on the personal lives of everyday citizens, magazines are beginning to publish soft-core pornographic photographs, sexual fantasies and even clues about where to pick up call girls.

This change in sexuality has also been seen in the governmental policy towards HIV/Aids and condoms.

A few years ago, there were very few places where condoms could be bought. The Chinese government also denied the existence of HIV/Aids in China as well (kinda like the Reagan years in the US) Fast forward a couple of years and condoms can be bought everywhere. In every supermarket and convenience store, condoms are displayed and sold at the cashier next to the Peanut M&Ms. Recent reports by Reuters confirm that various government ministries have

has ordered all hotels, holiday resorts and public showers to provide condoms, part
of nationwide efforts to fight the spread of AIDS.

What I originally thought of as a progressive KTV place being responsible for its patrons has actually turned out to be a nation-wide campaign that not only helps prevent STD/STIs, but also, in a sense, further liberalizes and modernizes Chinese conceptions/stigmas regarding sex and sexuality.

Good job, China. Keep up the good work.

Chinese Bus Inspection

2007-08-09T14:27:00.000+08:00

I hate working on Saturdays.

I’ve said it once; I’ve said it a thousand times. Working a half day on the weekend really changes my whole routine…and it’s probably one of the more annoying parts of my job.

However, every time I commute to work to work on a Saturday, it seems that I see something interesting. Last time I wrote Shenzhen: Diversity of Languages that was initiated from my Saturday bus ride. On my most recent Saturday commute, I saw something interesting regarding regulation of buses.

I have a lot of choices for buses going from my apartment to the factory. Although there are direct buses that do the job, when I’m pressed for time, I take more frequently occurring buses and transfer later. I would take the first bus about 90% of the way and get off at the 沙弯海关 stop. I would then wait for a Shenzhen mini-bus (which is still allowed to operate outside of the main city limits) to the front of the factory.

On this particular day, I was waiting at the沙弯海关 stop and saw a group of 3 men in official uniforms, hanging out at the stop. I didn't make that much of it at first, but when a minibus finally arrived, it got pulled over. One of the men in uniform boarded the bus and asked for the workers to get off. From a distance, I could see the officer examine the interior of the bus. The bus driver quickly and very “graciously” showed the officer all of his proper paperwork for the vehicle as well as the necessary worker permits for the employees.

Although I thought the inspection was interesting, I was initially more annoyed than interested. My boss at work gave people shit for being on time. If you were late, he would castrate you in front of everyone. With this in mind, I was constantly waiting for other buses that would take me the final few stops.

During my wait, 3 buses came and went without stopping at the designated stop. Just as these buses were slowing down, the driver would notice the minibus being examined by the officers and speed off. When I noticed that no one wanted to be inspected, I just had to find out more of what’s going on.

As I walk back towards the minibus to talk to the 2 officers on the side, I noticed that the examining officer was now onto the bus exterior. The officer walked around the minibus, checking out the bumper, the sides, license plates, everything. It was definitely very thorough.

When I asked the officers what was going on, they explained that this was a standard inspection that takes place every 2 months. They are looking for anything that violates safety and regulatory standards for buses. There were also supposed instances where some buses were “fake”. These black buses were not registered and were impersonating real buses. (Anything is possible in China).

The minibus ended up passing the inspection which took about 8 minutes total. And since no other buses were stopping, I quickly got on. As we left the stop, the driver quickly got onto his cell phone and radio intercom to warn other bus drivers that an inspection was happening at the沙弯海关 stop. I guess everyone wanted to avoid these safety exams.

I guess it’s just another day in Shenzhen, China.

Chinese Firing @ the Factory: Power to the People

2007-08-08T20:59:00.000+08:00

Since I’ve been working here in Shenzhen, there have been a lot of people that have been fired. While I haven’t yet witnessed the firing processes in American companies (for myself), I think I have a good idea of how its handled and the necessary customs. In my experience, the Chinese process is…let’s just say, different.

As I’m writing this my secretary is in the process of cleaning off her desk and gathering her personal belongings. The head of the R&D department just fired her at 8am on Monday right after she came in for work.

To tell you the truth, I never really liked my secretary from the beginning. Although she was a smart girl and proficient in computer work, she was lazy and forgetful. It seemed like that she was always sitting at her desk (which is right in front of me), doing nothing while other people were running around. She had no initiative in doing anything. I personally would have never hired her (but our hiring process for my department sucks too).

From my sideline view of this current firing, and other ones previously, I have noticed 3 distinct parts: the before, during and after.

The Before

Before a person is informed of his or her firing, everyone else in the office already knows. It spreads like wildfire. Before my secretary was fired, there were mummers of it for the previous week. “Oh, the manager 马上要赶走她,” my costing engineer whispered to me a few days ago. All of this is talking is done quietly in the background. People whisper the info back and forth until just about everyone knows. Well, everyone except the person getting fired.

In reality, it is pretty well known who is going to be fired a long time before it actually happens. For subordinates and lower ranking members of the staff, their fate is always controlled by their boss. If the boss doesn't like you, there is a good chance that you’re going to get the ax sometime or another. The only complication to this is that sometimes your boss does not have the authority to fire someone (like me). So when my previous project engineer, Thompson, was fired in December, I had no say. Instead, my boss did it. He didn't consult with me or any members of my department on anything. He thought that Thompson sucked and needed to leave… so he acted on it. Simple as that.

For higher-level managers, the process is more secretive, but just as clouded and immediate. Just a couple of weeks ago, the 2^nd highest ranking person at the factory (who was in charge of all of the production) was let go. Her firing was a surprise to many of her subordinates, but not to the higher ups. I had heard a conversation between the owner and COO about the possibility that she was “skimming off the top” more than 5 months before the event. That’s a long time to be working when your boss already knows you’re going to be gone.

Although there are “justified” firings, most are just a play for power. Anyone and everyone is expendable at any given time. No reason needed. The thought of what is right and wrong goes out the door. Power is the only thing that matters.

The During

After a person is informed that he/she was fired, he/she are immediately on an island. It doesn’t matter if it is the highest manager or a low subordinate; everyone is somewhat frustrated, embarrassed and quiet. No one talks to the person getting fired.

In reality, what does one say when they’re friend was just let go and told to clean off their office? I don’t know. Instead of getting involved with the person and having compassion, everyone goes right back to work. The person that was fired is left to his/her embarrassed/shocked/angry state before going to HR to collect their pay before they officially leave. It is a miserable time.

This process of collecting one’s stuff and filling all of the paperwork takes atleast 2 hours. Due to the extended time this takes, in some instances, the fired person’s replacement is already on the job before he/she leaves. That’s just not cool. Not only does the company blindside you, but they’ve been preparing for it for a while. That’s the only way they have your replacement all ready to go. Awesome feeling.

The After

After the person officially leaves everyone basically returns back to normal. They start talking again, reminiscing about the firing process and how the company sucks for doing what it did. They talk about how just or unjust it was. This standard tradition is always in the form of shallow whispering.

Almost immediately after the person leaves, a notice is sent to all relevant departments, informing them that certain processes (that the fired person was in charge or apart of) will be altered. There is no fanfare or nostalgia from the company. Business as usual.

As a partial observer of this always ongoing drama, one thing has always bothered me. 65 years ago, the communist revolution in China brought power “to the people.” The proletariat and the peasants got all the power from the oppressive and corrupt land owners. How is it that now, in a still “communist” society (whatever that means), the people at my factory, have no power… or any semblance of power.

There is no collective action or unionization. There are no negotiations for worker’s rights, wages, benefits and working conditions. There is only silence.

Whenever someone is fired, no one speaks. Even if their firing was an awful display of corruption in the most unjust manner… nothing.

Just silence.

A few days later, 2 guys in the prototype department were let go. This time, it really did come out of the blue. No one knew what was going on. They were called in, and told to leave immediately.

When I asked the rest of the proto department what had happened, they were silent. Each and every person just looked down and went about their business. The 2 guys had been working in that department more than 5 years each. They were great buddies with everyone, consistently going out, eating, drinking, playing basketball and working together. Now they’re gone and no one could (or would) do anything about it.

This is the state of Chinese communism.

Power to the People.

Challenges ahead for the iPod & iPhone in the China Market

2007-06-27T21:04:00.000+08:00

In college it seemed like that I was the only one without an iPod. Everyone had one. Not only did consumers in the US embrace the iPod, Shuffle, Nano, ect., they also bought up the Powerbook laptops, G4s and now.. iPhones. Everyone.

In China, its a different story. Apple has very little presence here. Although all of its products are manufactured in the factories in Guangdong province and Shenzhen, no one actually has them here. When I have my iPod out on the subway or bus, everyone stares at it. They've never seen it.

What Chinese people have seen are the generic iPods. Since everything is produced here, there are hundreds of small factories and software houses that have copied all of Apple's products. These generic mp3s, and mp4s (with color video capability) have been out on the market for many years. It's possible to get these wholesale for less than $10... and Chinese people have been buying them. Apple and its products have little, if any presence here.

Well, i guess Apple is attempting to change that. In recent months, there has been a significant and growing presence of Apple marketing. Not only are they opening more specialty shops in the most glamorous malls, but they are also putting up ad campaigns on the street.

2 days ago, I also (finally) saw an iPod commercial on Chinese TV. It was the same exact one that Steve Jobs showed off at this year's Apple convention (where he introduced the iPhone)... instead it had Chinese subtitles on the bottom. Good start.

We'll see how the Chinese market develops for Apple and its wide range of products. It's success here is far from certain, however, as many people have discussed the issues of it. A great post on Silicon Hutong called "The iPhone is not for China" has already described a hard market for Apple to tap into. This is probably why a Chinese company has already made an alternative to the iPhone. Only time will tell.

Chinese College Entrance Examination - 高考

2007-06-09T10:01:00.000+08:00

June 7,8,9.

Every year, these 3 dates are the most important dates for millions of Chinese students (and their families and friends) taking the annual Chinese College Entrance Exam.

The Contra Costal Times has a great article titled "College exam impacts all of China" that accurately describes the test process that influences soo many people each and every year.

College admissions in China is strictly based on the score from the test.

Unlike the U.S., where standardized test scores are just one factor weighed by universities, how Chinese students do on the "gaokao" determines everything. Students list their top three schools and their major and hope their score is high enough to win a place.
Extracurricular activities do not count, and neither do high school grades. And forget writing about volunteer work; there are no essays to persuade admissions officers.

Every student is tested in 5 different areas. Each student is required to take the Chinese, English and Calculus test. The final 2 areas are different depending on the student pursuing a Bachelor's of Arts or a Bachelor's of Science degrees. They take History and Social Studies versus Physics and Chemistry, respectively.

Each test is scored on a scale of 150 points for a maximum possible of 750 points. Each university has a low cut off point. The top universities like 北京大学 choose first and pick the best students. Students with more than 600 points are considered. Those who were not chosen are then available for the next schools. This process goes on until all of the spots in every university are filled.

This process is accurate for the vast majority of students in China. A few percent of students go to school in other ways. These might include going to a specialized school where the student was recruited. Just as schools in the US recruit for sports, Chinese schools recruit for sports, as well as other areas of study.

Chinese gaokao has been such a important thing that kids are tutored and nurchered at a young age, to be ready for it. College exam impacts all of China describes a mother waiting for her daughter to finish the test.

Li Yukun gripped a bouquet of pink roses, a gift for her 18-year-old daughter who has been tutored every weekend since middle school.
"These 12 years have been so hard. These roses are to show her that I care, it's been so hard for her, not one day of rest," the mother said.

Due to the importance of the test, high school in China has also become a "breeding ground" and very different than its US counterpart. The typical Chinese high school lasts 3 years. In the first 2 years of high school, a student takes all of the classes as a normal US high school student with new material. In the 3rd year (senior year), high school transforms from a place of learning to a place of preperation. Instead of learning new material, the entire year is used to review and focus on the old material (in order to be ready for the entrance exam). Students prepare with extensive study sessions, mock tests and outside tutors.

Years of study, hope, investment and hard work all comes down to the exam. Make or break. Win or go home.

June 7,8,9.

Shenzhen Restaurant Sanitation

2007-05-22T15:46:00.000+08:00

When I first moved to Shenzhen almost a year ago, one of the first thing I adjusted to was the food. It is very well known that different areas of China have vastly different cusine... which means that I wasnt initially used to the soups and the seafood.

One of the things I didnt expect to see was a difference in pre-meal practices. In Shenzhen, before any ordering or eating is done, everyone washes their bowls and utensils with tea. The process goes something like this:

First the hostess pours tea in the customer’s tea cup
The customer swirls the tea back and forth in the cup so that the tea touches all sides.
After doing so, the customer pours the tea from the tea cup into the bowl in a process that also passes the tea by the chopsticks and spoon.
The customer swirls the tea inside the bowl
He pours the tea into a communal bowl depository, which the hostess takes away and discards.

This process is supposed to help clean the utensils and make them more sanitary to eat from. (I don't know how effective it is.) It is definitely an established tradition that everyone here in Shenzhen participates in.

Recently, there have been increases in the number of restaurants that send their china and utensils out to be sanitized. After cleaning the china with their heavy duty machinery, the sanitizing company then sends the cups and bowls back in convenient and individually wrapped plastic. This is to ensure that all of the materials are clean and sanitary. Restaurants usually charge the customer 1 RMB for this service.

Although many customers do not think this charge is a big deal, the majority of Shenzhen is talking about this outrage. I recently heard talk radio programs condemning this unjust charge. Here’s their argument:

It is the restaurant’s duty to provide clean and sanitary china and utensils for their patrons.
Because it is the restaurant’s duty and responsibility, (many believe that) any cost for this should be within the operating cost of the restaurant and should not be directly charged to the consumer.
If this charge is to be charged to the customer, then it should be done in a fair way. The average cost for a restaurant to perform this sanitation service is only 0.40 RMB. Why are restaurants charging 1 RMB for the service?

This issue has been debated and talked about for the past weeks on the internet and different radio shows. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, keep a watch out for the nicely packaged china and utensils at a restaurant near you.

Future China/US Trade War?

2007-04-25T00:15:00.000+08:00

There has been an abundant amount of coverage on the possible US sanctions towards Chinese goods if China doesn’t appreciate the yuan at a faster pace than it is doing currently. Paulson: China must implement reforms describes current US Treasury Secretary’s view of what’s going on.

Paulson said there is agreement in principle between the U.S. and China on the need for greater yuan flexibility. The discussion is about "the pace" of change.

"They're moving, but they're not moving, in my judgment, quickly enough," he said. "China is by far the largest" economy that doesn't have a market-determined currency, but enjoys the benefits of the global economy."

In a 4/21/07 Bloomberg.com article entitled Paulson Says China Must Yield `Tangible Results' on Yuan, Trade, Paulson described the possible consequences and repercussions if China doesn't act quickly.

"The American people are concerned, Congress is concerned and there's a lot of protectionist sentiment'' toward China, Paulson said in an interview on the ``Charlie Rose'' show on PBS television following his speech in New York." The more tangible reforms we see, the easier it is for me to deal with Congress.''

"There will be some, I believe, unattractive bills that are voted on in Congress,'' Paulson acknowledged. "I think the Chinese are very well aware of this -- I think they should be aware of it.''

Other parts of the Bush Administration have also taken action by imposing import duties on Chinese glossy paper and by filing 2 complaints to the WTO for copyright infringement and piracy.

The feeling of uncertainty in Chinese and US relations changed 2 days later in another Bloomberg piece by Matthew Benjamin. In his story, called Paulson May Be Unable to Get China, U.S. Off Collision Course, Benjamin painted a grim picture if reforms in the Chinese currency doesn't happen soon.

Without steps to allow a significant increase in the yuan, which most economists consider unlikely, Paulson may not be able to continue holding off moves in Congress to punish China.

"After years of talk and bluster, protectionism no longer seems like an empty threat,'' says Stephen Roach, chief global economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. "Trade sanctions against China are now all but inevitable.''

These increasingly real threats come with the backing of Congressional democrats who maintain that they would achieve “strong and effective legislation is likely to pass with a veto-proof margin.”

Although it might seem that the appreciation of the yuan is all but unavoidable, Benjamin also shows the hidden side of the currency struggle, relating both US and Chinese workers and businesses.

When China allowed a small rise in the value of its currency in 2005, Hangzhou food-company executive Wang Yuzhou saw his profits squeezed. Any further move threatens the livelihoods of his 1,000 workers and the 5,000 rural households that supply his plants, he says.

John Walker says China's currency policies have already cost 100 jobs at his Lewisburg, Tennessee, die-casting company. He wants the U.S. Congress to do "whatever it takes'' to force an increase in an undervalued yuan that he contends gives an unfair advantage to Chinese competitors.

Citizens on both side of the Pacific Ocean have money, family and livelihoods at stake. It is often easy for Americans (me included) to jump into the US perspective (of John Walker) while being ignorant of Wang Yuzhou’s plea.

But what can China do other than to appease the US on their currency appreciation wishes? The answer lies in a recent 4/18/07 NY Times article. China Leans Less on U.S. Trade describes the readjustment of China’s global trade strategy.

At booth after booth at China’s main trade fair (Canton Fair) this week, the refrain from Chinese business executives is the same: the American market is not as crucial as it used to be.

Instead, Chinese producers of everything from socket wrenches to sport utility vehicles say, their fastest growth these days lies in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America and elsewhere in Asia — in other words, practically anywhere other than the United States.

So it is throughout China. With ample support from the Beijing government — including a flurry of trade missions to Africa and assistance with trade fairs in Germany, Australia or someplace in between — Chinese companies are poised to expand into the markets of many of the world’s rapidly growing economies.

By placing the focus on new markets for the abundant amount of Chinese goods (produced in cities like Shenzhen), Chinese businesses are beginning to hedge their profit margins and risk.

The government and companies across China increasingly see a danger in becoming too dependent on a single market (USA). So they are stepping up efforts to sell to other countries, particularly those outside the industrial world.

This change in direction is a small but important step for China. Maybe in the future, they will not need to be so dependent on American politics and their tariffs.

On the other side: what would happen to the US if cheap Chinese goods start decreasing?