Chinese Revenge on New US Trade Barriers?

Last summer was the first time I visited Shenzhen. I came here to visit my cousin, Annie, and her family. On the last few days of my week-long stay, Annie and I decided to go on a excursion through Hong Kong. We woke up early morning Friday and headed over through the Luo Hu customs. We got into HK without any problems and had an awesome day. This included a ferry ride across Victoria harbor, a tram ride onto the peak, drinks at Lan Kwai Fong and dim sum. All in all, it was an awesome, first visit of Hong Kong.

One thing I managed to (ignorantly) overlook was the Visa issue. I had always gotten double or multiple entry tourist visas when I came to China. However, for some reason, this time I had a single entry. In my ignorance, I didn't think twice about crossing the border because “hey, Hong Kong is now apart of China. Why would I need a visa to go from China to China?” Well, this ended up haunting me. When we arrived at the Luo Hu border, I was unable to get back into China. I ended up stuck in no-man’s land (kinda like Tom Hanks in the movie Terminal. With my US Passport, I could go back to Hong Kong but not into China. What made it even worse was that Annie had already crossed onto the China side, and couldn't come back to the HK side because she didn't have another HK entry with her Chinese identification.

Realizing my predicament, I went back to the HK side and located the border visa center. I was told my a lot of Chinese and HK customs officials that Americans were able to obtain temporary visas there. That was OK with me because I had a flight to Shanghai a day later, and a return flight to NYC 3 days after that. When I got to the visa company, however, I was told I couldn't obtain the visa I so desperately needed. They had just changed the rules a few months back for Americans: Only select travel agencies in Hong Kong could apply for the Chinese visa for Americans. They also took more than half a day to obtain (the quickest way). And since it was a Friday night, I would have to wait until Monday until I could get mine.

Fortunately, I was able to contact friends and family in HK to help me find a hotel for the weekend. However, I wasn't able to avoid paying penalties on my flights back to the US or the hassle to my extended family. It was definitely the longest weekend ever.

Finally on Monday, we were able to get my visa. While waiting for it at the China Travel Service, we asked the branch manager (who we knew) about the current laws for Chinese visas for Americans. The manager explained the laws had only changed in the past couple of years. Americans were treated like citizens of every other country for the longest time. They could obtain visas quickly and freely. They only changed after Americans changed their laws. It seems that the attacks on 9/11 and the subsequent acts of legislation (ie. Patriot Acts), including immigration ones made it incredibly hard for Chinese citizens to travel to the US. All visas were difficult to obtain, with drawn out processes and paperwork.

This was China’s way of responding. “We’re going to make it more difficult for your citizens to do what they want in our country as well.”

I recently applied for a 1 year business visa through my company. I only got a 6-month visa because the regulation for this only changed a few weeks ago. I guess China’s just trying to fuck with US citizens as much as possible…as retribution, or even revenge for American acts.

Last week, I read a NY Times entitled U.S. Toughens its Position on China Trade, regarding the recent US action of taking China to court in the WTO. It seems that the US Congress is not happy with the growing trade deficit with China. This means democrats in Congress are going to take action. However, no one will know what’s going to happen next…and the Chinese response:

What China will do next is an open question in the administration. The answer may not be clear until Mr. Paulson’s economic meeting with the Chinese in May.

But many Chinese experts warn that the latest steps by the administration will not help persuade China to change its reliance on a low-valued currency and other restrictions on imports and investment. The power and influence of Communist Party leaders tied to the export sector is too great, they say.

“If the U.S. takes more actions against China, it will harm Paulson’s dialogue with China and future trade meetings,” said Chen Jianan, a professor of economics at Fudan University in Shanghai. But he said the most recent actions could compel both sides to negotiate.

In my understanding of China, there is great possibility that China will retaliate in some stealth way just to screw with the Americans. I would argue that there will not be incredibly large action since there’s too much at risk, but there will be small ones. Just look at what China did to Wal-Mart and unions. Wal-Mart agreed to establish unions in China (that it doesn't have anywhere in the world) since the traditional Chinese union is powerless in collective bargaining. Then after this is established, China changes the law regarding the power of unions, totally screwing over Wal-Mart.

That’s the Chinese way.

Ultimately, we’ll see what happens. The NY Times already has a prediction:

All sides agree that the latest American actions portend a period of rough weather in United States-Chinese relations.

Shenzhen: Diversity in Languages

On my last foray into HK, my friend, Jason, and I were waiting in the Luo Hu customs line. The paperwork usually goes by pretty quick, but for some reason, it took really long this time. So we stood there and exhausted all the small talk we could think off. In the middle of our 35 minutes wait, Jason said something very interesting to me.

“Check this out, there are atleast 10 languages being spoken in these 3 lines.”

This was very true. Since we were in the “foreigners” line going into HK, we were next to people from all over the world (HK is the world’s city right?!). People were speaking French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Cantonese, ect. It was incredible. What was interesting was also being able to recognize all of the languages being spoken. Although I didn't recognize the content, I could most definitely differentiate the Hebrew from the German.

In general, I consider myself decently knowledgeable about different languages. Here are my stats:

• I studied French and a bit of Spanish when I went to school. Although my vocabulary has waned, I can still understand it if people talk slow enough.
• I am a native speaker of Chinese. I have traveled to many parts of China and can understand many of the variations on 普通话 (Mandarin). Although I still need to improve in my reading and writing abilities, I’m slowly getting there. My current gf is helping me with Cantonese, but that’s definitely a work in progress.
• I am a native speaker of English.
• I have traveled to many places and have met many different people all around the world. They have spoken languages from Portuguese to Arabic, and from Japanese to Swahili.

Although I consider myself a relatively “global” or worldly person, my language training didn't prepare me for a day on the 106 bus going to work.

It was a Saturday morning and I was going to work for my required half day. I was hung over from the previous night’s partying at UBar (the Shenzhen westerner’s bar). After getting on the bus, I was sitting near the back and trying to relax. There was basically no one on the bus.

After a couple of stops a group of 5 migrant workers got on and proceeded to sit directly behind me. The peace & quiet I was accustomed to quickly became loud rings of conversation. Maybe it was my sensitivity to sound (from my hang over), but the talking I heard came in a deep voice, saying “aiufbhalh gapia lsdkljgi uhrja, aiutaerla gjkd fgak;iu wregiuha.”

What the hell is going on? Why is this guy speaking gibberish?

I quickly turn back and see what’s going on. I see that the oldest guy in the group was preaching didactically to his friends. Everyone was attentive and nodding their head, processing what he was saying. Even after I focused in and concentrated on his voice, I still could not understand. Further yet, I didn't recognize it at all. It was just “wirue, owyqpkdh oiurh (point, headnod). Ihwe oeiu pjkhf woihns woeinf woieu kljsder!”

I seriously could not even recognize that these people were speaking a language, let alone what they were saying. With my extensive experience with languages, I found this “ignorance” fascinating and disturbing.

Here’s what I was thinking:

• How good are these migrant workers’s 普通话?
• How come I cant understand a dialect of Chinese? I’ve seen, heard and experienced soo many things in this country. How do I have no ability to even recognize what’s being said as a language?
• Shenzhen definitely surprises me every single day. This is one reason it is incredibly fun to live in a diverse city. I’ve lived in NYC and I frequently commute to Hong Kong. I just never thought Shenzhen could be as eclectic as these 2 global cities.
• This is the reason Mandarin is sooo important. Without it, Chinese people would never be able to communicate with each other. Thank god秦始皇 (the First Emperor of Qin) united the country and established the common language.
• This is definitely the reason why Cantonese is way less important now in Shenzhen than ever before. People have stated that just 10 years ago, it would be impossible to function in Guangdong province without Cantonese. Now Cantonese is just an afterthought. Mandarin rules.

I guess I’m just glad that I can speak and understand two of the world’s most significant languages: Chinese and English. Otherwise I would be most lost everywhere.

Door to Door Male Cosmetics

Something interesting just happened.

At 4:45 pm Sunday, my apartment door bell rang. After opening the door, I found 2 guys, about 20-25 years old attempting to sell me cosmetic products. How weird.

Here's the low down:

• Guy 1 wore a nice suit and seemed to have his stuff together. Guy 2 was a younger "intern" who looked lost and didn't know what he was doing... standing back in the hallway
• Guy 1, who was making the pitch, first showed me his name card and introduced his company. I was then told that my line of apartments in the building (the H-line) had been targeted for a promotional cosmetic items for men and women. Lucky me.
  
• He let me smell the different aromas as well as rubbed cream on the back of my hands.
  
• He asked what my name was, if my girlfriend was in (because she would be really attractive), if I was from HK and what kind of products I use.
  
• He showed me another set of French branded, female products that my hott girlfriend could use... but didnt want to explain too much about it because... hey, we're guys... and we dont talk about girl stuff.
  
• For only 99.95 RMB, I could receive a unisex package of 5 products that retails for 600 RMB. On top of that, I would get the female package of 5 products for free! What an outstanding deal!!

Being that I only have 50RMB cash on me, I refused the offer. No biggie. I was also questioning the legitimacy of what they were saying. I could imagine 2 guys, who have nothing to do, buying a set of cosmetics for 40RMB wholesale, walking around trying to make a buck.

Nonetheless, I guess the sales industry is pushing forward... door to door. I just didnt expect 2 random guys. Cute girls would be a much better sell.

McDonald's Goes Wireless Ordering in Shenzhen

Last Saturday I was in the 东门 shopping area to buy some bootleg DVDs. It was actually the first time I’ve bought DVDs since I’ve lived in Shenzhen. Not only was it cheaper than in other places (it was 5RMB compared to 7RMB or 8RMB in the north), but there was really good selection as well. They even had Spiderman 3! I didn't even know that they finished filming that yet!

There has been greater regulation recently on the sale of fake DVDs in China. Many of the old shops that sold them were disbanded by the government and now run mobile, makeshift stores in the middle of nowhere. Although the market is still there, it is much harder to sell it in the open.

After buying the DVDs, I went to McDonald’s to grab some food for my friend, Jason, who had thrown up in my bathroom the previous night. The 东门 McDonald’s that I went to was actually the 1^st McDonald’s opened in China. There is a big plaque in the store. It’s kind of cool.

McDonald’s (and KFC) has been in the news lately regarding being cheap and not even following the Chinese minimum wage of 7.50RMB/hour for its workers. Capitalist pigs! Articles here, here and even CNN discussed this issue.

Well, I completely agree that McDonald’s and Yum Foods suck ass for not giving their workers even $1 per hour, especially for such a fast paced and demanding job their doing.

When I was standing in line, I saw something very interesting. There were tons of people in the restaurant that Sunday. All of the registers were overcapacity with more than 4 people in line. To deal with the huge demand, there were many McDonald’s employees walking around the back of the line to take people’s orders. What was beautiful was that this was done wirelessly through a handheld device!

Here’s how it went:

• Employees walked in the back of the lines to take the orders of people waiting in line.
• The used a wireless PDA-sized device and quickly entered their order into the touchpad buttons.
• At the end of their order, the employee wrote down a number for the customer to tell the cashier so that he/she could access what the person had ordered and receive payment.
• There were employees also walking around by the open seats to take orders as well. This is because since the restaurants are usually full, people often find seats before they order.

I looked it up online later and found the company called Infologix that provided this.

Infologix states that this wireless ordering system:

Increases sales by serving more drive-through customers (or waiting customers), improves McDonald's order accuracy, and makes everything more efficient."

I would agree. This is a innovative, thoughtful and much needed way for ordering in a lot of busy restaurants.

Has anyone else seen it?

Blogspot is back up! Is the Chinese gov't just Fucking with us.

Just a couple of days ago, I discovered that blogspot was not blocked anymore by the Chinese government (Xanga is still blocked). This means I can read more and write more without having to play around with the various proxies people have suggested.

This latest 2-week shutdown has been talked about everyone in the China blogging world. It has annoyed the hell out of not only people writing blogs in China (just ask the 1-year English teachers anywhere) but also the people reading blogs in China.

Why is this happening? Why did the Chinese government shut down blogspot for 2 weeks and then turn it back on? What the hell? As a good friend of mine said: The Chinese government is really pissing me off! I feel like that’s the sentiment of a lot of people.

Many people in the western media would answer these questions by talking about the crackdown of Chinese officials on blogging in general. Although China is seen to be a increasingly open society, the government still wants to keep control, and this is one way to do it. “Just look at how they are hampering the right to Freedom of Speech!!”

This argument would explain why some individual blogs or individual messages are filtered through the system. However, it wouldn't explain why they turn it off and on, back and forth.

Here are some of the other reasons I can think of (I’m assuming that there is a governmental office that is in charge of this):

• There is a constant change of leadership in the office. Since its not too great of a job to head this department, leaders are filtered in and out. It’s almost like Easy Company in the 7^th episode of Band of Brothers. After a few weeks to a few months, the new head of the department is done paying his due, and gets reassigned to somewhere else.
• There is a constant change of policy. I’m sure that people in this department have seen the interesting and valuable facets of blogging and the internet. I’m sure that many of them read specific blogs all the time, just as I read the Shanghaiist, Danwei and China Law Blog. This means there could be constant discourse and disagreement on white sites to block and which sites not to block. “Are we going to restrict access to the entire blogspot or will we target the specific ones we don't like?”
• This department realizes that their efforts are wasted due to proxies. Since there are ananomouse and scoobidoo out there, it is much more difficult for the department to have complete success blocking all of the sites. Although I have noticed that sometimes the proxies don't work, there are so many of them that any dedicated blogger will be able to access what he/she wants. The department knows that and doesn't want to bother anymore.
• They are just fucking with us. They have the power to control a lot of people’s enjoyment, entertainment and emotions by flipping on and off a switch. How fun would it to be just to fuck with people every once in a while when they’re bored. I think this is the best explination.

As a kid growing up in China (I was born here and moved to the US when I was 6), one of my favorite activities during the spring through fall, was to try and capture dragon-flies. My friends and I would buy or construct a big net and sweep through the grassy park, trying to catch as many as possible. After the thrill of catching them was over, we would fuck with them until they were dead. In the past 20 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the dragonfly in China was extinct.

When my grandfather was a little kid, he did something that was similar to my chasing of dragonflies. When he lived with my family in Columbus, Ohio, he revealed that he loved to go out at night and try to catch as many of those backyard flies (that look like a bee, but lights up instead of having the stinger) as he could. He would then put them in a jar and have them serve as a light. Since there were a lot of them flying around at night in Ohio, my grandfather and I had a great time catching them. The only thing is, they would die within a day. I have honestly never seen one of those flies in China. They probably got killed by all of the kids.

Here's the USA equivalent:

Ant City

Chinese people are sometimes very cruel. We like to fuck with insects, animals and other people without regard for anything. Just take the example of the bus driver who wouldn't let me off the bus in a traffic jam until I annoyed him to death, complaining. When Chinese people have authority, we like to use it…with disregard for others’ welfare. This nature is within the majority of the Chinese population, and I bet, within the department for internet censure as well.

Just wait for the next time blogspot is inaccessible. It will be caused by another bus-driver who doesn't want to open the door.