Harbin celebrates the Olympic torch's arrival

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

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.

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

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

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.