Mei Banfa: Living and Working in China (没办法)

She Buys a Porsche

2011-08-18T06:19:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I got an excited text from a friend who was picking up her new car, a Porsche 911 4S Cabriolet, red with black interior. She was excitedly telling me how pretty the new car was and that she'd let me drive it when I get back to China in early September.

The only glitch was that she didn't really know how to drive the car. She only got her driver's license a year ago, and has already had a couple small accidents in her current car. Trying to pilot this high-strung sports car was not an easy task, so she spent the whole afternoon at the dealership learning how to drive it.

I remember one night she told me that her biggest dream when she was young was to be able to eat as many apples as she wanted. Like most people in China at the time (30 years ago), her family was poor. She grew up in a rural village in Jiangsu province in a simple one-room house with a dirt floor. She remembers how her family would only be able to buy fresh fruit a couple of times per year, and even then she could only eat one piece. She thought that she would be content if only she could have an unlimited number of apples and bananas!

Yesterday she paid for her new Porsche in cash: RMB 1,900,000 or about US$300,000.

Unforeseen Costs of Breakneck Development

2011-08-18T05:57:00.000+08:00

As most have probably heard by now, there was a serious rail crash several weeks ago involving two high speed trains in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. The incident aroused remarkable levels of vocal opposition to the government, particularly on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent to Twitter).

Even though the posts and comments on the issue were being deleted by the 五毛党 (wu mao dang, government censors) almost as fast as people could post them, much of the commentary did get through.

Some of the more extreme stuff has been completely deleted. One particularly disturbing post was one that identified the driver of the second train, saying that maybe he was sleeping or not alert because he was quite old, and calling him a murderer. It reported that the conductor’s body was dismembered but still hanging from the cockpit of the train, and that survivors and bystanders at the scene were throwing dirty water on his corpse and blocking rescuers from removing the body. All the commenters were viciously cursing the driver.

Most of the posts identifying and cursing the railways ministry boss (Zhang Shuguang) are also now deleted, but there was yesterday a big one going around with a picture of his face with a big X across it.

Here are some highlights..........notice the numbers at the bottom, these posts have all been retweeted by tens or hundreds of thousands of people!!

At the top are the 4 biggest party newspapers in the country, and their headline was on some military meeting, with no mention of Wenzhou. Below are all the other smaller newspapers in the country which all had Wenzhou on the front page.

Here the Shanghai subway line 2 company posted yesterday about a 1986 rail tragedy in Germany, which killed 101 people. All the reposts cursed the subway company, basically saying “what’s your fucking point? it happened in germany, and more people were killed to boot, so we shouldn’t be upset and we shouldn’t ask any questions?”

Here is a report that the gov’t had already changed priorities by late afternoon yesterday, from searching and recovering survivors to cleaning up the mess and restoring service on the line. They were clearing the wreckage with backhoes and burying the trains and rubble at the site below the viaduct. A woman was able to escape, and when she got out she beat the workers, saying “my god there are still people alive why are you trying to clean it up so fast when you can still save people?” The top poster says “People are doing, God is watching.”

Here is one response yesterday to the censors which got forwarded by 40,000 people. “Delete it! You delete it again, I’ll post it again! Fuck your mother! Are you not afraid of the people angrily rising?” Since so many posts were being deleted by censors, people were using the screen capture function on their iPhone's to repost.

Here is a post about railway accidents in other countries where the victims were paid huge settlements, while the victims of another Chinese rail accident only got RMB170,000. At the same time it identifies the former Rail Minister Zhang Shuguang who was sacked recently and was found to have 2.8 billion dollars in foreign bank accounts.

Here is a post about how by midday yesterday (only about 15 hours after the crash) the rescue workers were already resting on the tracks and the government leader of the rescue effort was sitting in an air conditioned vehicle. Meanwhile local Wenzhou people were lining up to donate blood for the victims. The post calls it a “landscape painting with Chinese characteristics” and recounts a conversation between a Chinese and a Japanese....the Japanese asks, Chinese people are really good, how can the Chinese government be like this? The Chinese person has no answer.

Here is a post of a picture taken on the day of the accident at the Shangri-La, the best hotel in Wenzhou. It’s directing the Beijing, Zhejiang Province, and Wenzhou City government officials to the second floor restaurant for a meeting. The poster basically says how dare they are still eating and drinking like fat cats at the Shangri-La while not far away in Wenzhou is the tragedy. Forwarded by 141,368 people.

Here is a post cursing the railways minister, but you can see that the original post which this guy was forwarding has already been deleted by censors. The text on the bottom says basically, "Sorry, due to the relevant regulations, this post has already been deleted."

The overwhelming sentiment was anger and disgust not about the accident but about the way that the government and the Railways Ministry was handling the aftermath. With so many people now using Weibo, news travels extremely fast and lots of people have access to information in a way that was unthinkable only a couple years ago.

Porsche in China

2010-10-14T17:33:00.001+08:00

I had the opportunity to test drive a Porsche the other day with a friend of mine who is buying one. We went over to the dealership near People's Square. I always thought you had to show up in a fancy car and act like a big shot to be able to test drive a Porsche, but it was actually remarkably easy. The salesman was a nice guy from Shandong province and all I had to do was give him my driver's license and cell phone number and we were on our way.

The showroom was filled with some interesting characters. The predominant type was very young Chinese girls in designer heels not fit for driving checking out Boxsters and Cayennes while their significantly older boyfriends talked to the salesmen about prices while chain smoking Chung Hwa cigarettes (the brand of choice among the wealthy business/government set). One girl had an LV bag that was so big I don't think it would have fit in a Porsche. Then there was the young guy probably not yet 30, wearing gym shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops, signing the papers on a new 911, paid for in cash.

The level of conspicuous consumption here makes New York City absolutely pale in comparison.

Finally we headed down to the car park below the dealership, where there were about ten Porsches of varying specs. We got up to street level and it was raining pretty hard. Finally driving now. Ripping down People's Avenue (人民大道), with People's Square and People's Park flying by my windows on either side, in the pouring rain, in a bright yellow 911 Carrera 4S was pretty awesome. The sales guy was on his cell phone the whole time chatting with his girlfriend, and seemed not to care or notice that we were doing 150km/h down the crowded city streets. I went for a second loop.

Later I asked the salesman how business was at the dealership. He said he personally sells about 15 cars per month, but that the top salesman sells 30 per month. There were about 15 salesmen on the floor that day. That's about 250 Porsches moving out the door every month, and it's only one of several dealerships in Shanghai. Recession?

No wonder Porsche cited the Chinese market as the driving force behind their decision to produce a full size 4-door sedan, angering some diehard customers. The Chinese business men who buy luxury cars here rarely drive themselves; it's cheap and convenient to have a driver. So Porsche needed a car with a real back seat to compete. Hence the new Panamera.

The really shocking thing about the brisk business at the Porsche dealership is the prices, which are astronomical compared to the (already expensive) cost of a Porsche in the USA. For example, the above car, a 911 Turbo, retails for $135,000 in the US, maybe $150,000 with options. Now check out the price in China:

That's RMB2,783,500 or about $420,000. So the same exact car is about 3 times more expensive in China than in the USA. Why? Mainly it's because of stiff import duty of more than 100% on luxury goods, plus an array of other taxes. The high price sure doesn't seem to be deterring Chinese consumers. The salesman told me that most models have waiting lists of about 6 months.

Shanghai Expo 2010

2010-10-13T16:15:00.003+08:00

Now that the Shanghai Expo is winding down in 3 weeks, I'm finally getting around to posting about my visit there a few months ago. The Expo hasn't really been in the news much lately, as things have quieted down a lot since it first opened. At the beginning, they were getting attendance numbers upwards of 500,000 people per day. Lines at the popular pavilions (China, USA, UK, France, Saudi Arabia) were more than 5 hours long. People were pretending to be disabled and riding in wheelchairs (or finding actually disabled people on the street and paying them to accompany them to the expo and pretend to be related) so they could go in the separate lines for elderly and disabled. Tickets were being sold on the black market at outrageous prices, and people were generally Expo crazy. Now the situation surrounding the Expo is a little more sane.

I went with some friends a couple months ago when the crowds were still huge. Despite the huge crowds, it was still an enjoyable experience and I must give props to the organizers for pulling off such a huge event without many problems. The infrastructure of the place is pretty amazing. A new subway line was opened just to serve the Expo. Free buses run around the site to take you from zone to zone. There were plenty of volunteers (most of whom spoke good English) to direct you. The architecture of some of the pavilions was really stunning.

But, as everyone has noted, the big downside is the outrageous lines. On the day we went, it was pouring rain all day. You might think that would put a damper on attendance, but nonetheless, the lines were daunting. South Korea, Japan, USA, China, UK, Spain, France, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia all had lines of more than 5 hours. So we skipped the popular ones and went to the smaller pavilions where the lines were negligible or nonexistent.

Portugal was pretty cool, with a great movie which highlighted their culture.

Here is a picture of the UK pavilion, which is made of thousands of shiny fiber optic spikes which light up and change color at night.

The Italian pavilion was surprisingly not too crowded. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes. Of course I liked this one because it was filled with Ducatis and Ferraris.

There is one big pavilion which housed all the African countries. Most of them were really similar, showing poor villages, folk crafts, dirt roads, etc. Kenya of course had a poster proudly proclaiming Obama's Kenyan heritage which was pretty cool.

The most interesting thing in the African pavilion was how many of the countries highlighted the recent Chinese investment that has come their way. From the new port in Senegal, to several airports around the continent, to mining sites, railways, and more, lots of the countries were showing off new development projects made possible by Chinese investment. Part of that no-strings-attached investment/aid which China has been spreading around Africa (some say in exchange for access to resources) over the past decade.

The most surreal pavilion was, of course, North Korea. The displays and videos naturally painted a beautiful picture of what it's like to live in the happiest and more prosperous country on earth, highlighting the world-class hospitals, universities, subways, hotels, and stadiums that North Korea boasts.

I snapped this picture of the guy working behind the counter selling North Korean paraphernalia and souvenirs. It's hard to tell from the blurry photo, but I couldn't help but notice the Ralph Lauren logo on his shirt, right next to the obligatory pin of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il. Talk about opposite worlds.

For many Chinese people who will never have the opportunity to leave China, the Expo is as close as they'll ever get to seeing the outside world. Hence the daily crowds of half a million people pouring in from all over China. For a foreigner, the Expo remains a kind of quaint idea, hearkening back to World's Fairs. Anyway, despite the pouring rain and huge crowds, a visit to the Expo was nonetheless an enjoyable way to spend the day and we had a great time.

It's even better to go now that it's not too hot and the crowds are smaller. I also just received an email from the American Consulate in Shanghai announcing that the American pavilion has opened its VIP entrance to anyone with an American passport, meaning that you don't have to wait in line, so I may go check that out in the next few weeks. Though the American pavilion has been plagued by scandal and lack of funding and uncertainty from the start, I might as well check it out. How could I not? After all, Hillary Clinton gave it such a glowing review, declaring on her visit to Shanghai in May, that, "it's fine."

For far better coverage of the 2010 Shanghai Expo, check out the Expo section of Adam Minter's blog: Shanghai Scrap.

Indonesia March 2010

2010-07-08T16:06:00.001+08:00

I spent a week or so in Indonesia at the end of March and now that I'm finally getting around to updating this blog, thought I'd make a few notes.

Overall the first thing that struck me, coming from China, is the overwhelming poverty. It is poverty and lack of development in a way you really don’t see in much of China. I was mostly in the capital Jakarta and an industrial city called Semarang. Jakarta is the biggest and most developed city in Indonesia, but it feels like what you'd imagine Shanghai to have been like 20 years ago. It's much dirtier, more chaotic, the traffic is truly unbelievable, the air is terrible, police corruption is reportedly rampant, it’s 100+ degrees and 90% humidity (in March). The gap between rich and poor is more apparent than that in Shanghai.

The traffic is so ridiculously jammed, that it's virtually impossible to make a left turn (crossing traffic) or a U-turn at a median. So these enterprising street kids have set up an operation whereby they're posted at major intersections and U-turn spots, and when you indicate that you need to turn left, they physically guide your car in the proper direction, literally forcing the oncoming cars to stop and let you pass. For this service, the driver cracks his window and passes down 100 rupiah ($0.01). This is basically the only way to make a left turn in the downtown area from 6AM until 10PM.

They other thing that you notice as a foreigner, especially coming from China, is the very tight security at all buildings and complexes. You approach the hotel and it’s a big, walled compound up on a hill or a cordoned off city block. Big gates and thick cement blast walls. Your car is searched thoroughly when you enter. Trunk is opened, mirrors placed under the car to check for explosives, dogs sniffing, armed guards, etc.

When you actually get to the doorway of the hotel, it is the same as airport security. All bags must pass through an x-ray machine and you through a metal detector. There were also sturdy barbed wire fences surrounding all the factories for some reason, something I've never seen in Korea or Taiwan or China.

Another thing I learned is that a big chunk of the economy (banking, restaurants, manufacturing, transportation) is controlled in large part by ethnic Chinese, so there have been several crackdowns / backlashes against Chinese. At one point it was actually forbidden to teach Chinese in schools, and there were riots and looting of Chinese-owned businesses.

Not really having anything to do or knowing the lay of the land, I went to the hotel bar one night. The bar was filled with 50-60 year old European (lots of Dutch; Indonesia was a colony of the Netherlands for hundreds of years until the mid-1940’s) business men and 15 year old Indonesian hookers in heavy makeup and fake eyelashes. 100 bucks a pop, a huge amount in Indonesia, but not much (especially when converted to Euros) for a Dutchman. Truly depressing. I drank whisky and made friends with the bartender instead, who ended up being Chinese, and told me how lousy it was to be a Chinese in Indonesia unless you owned your own business.

The next night I decided to go for a walk around the city instead of returning to the bar. After no fewer than 5 different bellhops told me “jakarta not safe” as I made my way down the hotel drive, it turned out to be just fine. It seemed like people were surprised to see a foreigner walking out alone, but it was a pretty interesting scene. Wild soccer fans raucously parading through the streets after a victorious match, a bunch of street vendors selling various goods, a lot of street food carts, and about a billion motorcycles. Everyone smiled and I didn’t feel unsafe at all.

Anyway, it was an interesting place to go for a week, a nice change of pace from China, but next time I go I'd hope to hang out with someone who knew the city instead of just going around from factory to factory in the back seat of a car.

Spotted at SIN

2010-07-08T15:35:00.000+08:00

I saw this out the airplane window a few months ago on my way to Jakarta. You can't really tell from this blurry picture but the writing on the side of the plane says "State of Kuwait."

Just as we were about to pull away from the gate, 3 or 4 big black Mercedes-Benz sedans pulled up and discharged their passengers who quickly boarded this private jet, shielded by bodyguards and minders holding black umbrellas. Made me wonder what was going on! A meeting of the heads of the Kuwaiti and Singaporean sovereign wealth funds? A deal to export crude from Kuwait to be refined into gasoline and petrochemicals at Singapore's refineries? Or maybe they just wanted to enjoy some whiskey and cigars and karaoke? Mere speculation...

Spotted in Cixi

2010-02-26T17:17:00.000+08:00

I guess it takes immature bathroom humor to get me to actually update this poor excuse for a blog. The second in the toilet sign series, sighted at a bar in Cixi, Zhejiang:

The poor English translations here never cease to amuse me. With all the laowai around, you'd think they would just hire somebody to quickly proofread menus, signs, etc. But no. Incidentally, this translation is literally correct, 小便 (xiaobian) means to urinate and 区 (qu) means district. This was the sign above the section of the bathroom with urinals instead of stalls. Anyway, I really can't complain because you certainly don't see bathrooms in America with a sign reading 厕所 (toilet). Come to think of it, America is basically impossible for non-English speakers, except for the various Chinatowns, Koreatowns, and maybe L.A and Miami for Spanish speakers? But on the whole the rest of the world is far more accommodating towards English speakers than vice versa.

In other news, I am in Taipei for a quick trip, which is always a nice break from China. Although, it is really too hot here. It is February and it was about 30C here today, well over 80F. Not fun when you're wearing a suit and tie and walking around the city. Flew in here yesterday and now I'm in the airport waiting for the flight back to China. Taiwan is so close to China that you'd think the trip would be easier than it actually is. Although it's much better than before. A few years ago there were no direct flights between Taiwan and the mainland due to political reasons, but now things have opened up. It still takes the better part of a half day to make the trip though. Mostly this is because the airports are not in the city center. PVG is an hour plus from Shanghai's downtown, same for TPE and Taipei. Maybe it's an Asian city thing? It's the same with ICN and Seoul. Makes it less convenient.

It's a sunny day here and I'm looking forward to getting back to Shanghai for the weekend. Sunday I head to Korea for the week. One of the companies I meet with there promised me that we were going to eat dog next time I come, so we'll see how that goes.

Speaking of food, I was at KTV the other night and they served us some drinking snacks. Peanuts, french fries, chicken feet, and duck necks:

This, in conjunction with a friend's vegetarian mom visiting China recently, got me thinking about meat consumption here. It is not really easy to be a vegetarian here. Almost all main dishes have some meat. But it is never served as a big, main hunk of protein like a steak or a chicken breast. Instead you get much smaller pieces of shredded meat used more as flavoring among vegetables and other ingredients, or maybe a few thin slices of beef or pork in a noodle soup. Someone told me that meat us usually cut up very small because that way it cooks faster, and cooking fuel was hard to come by (expensive) back in the day. I have no idea if that's true. Anyway, while most meals really aren't complete without some meat, overall consumption is much less and much different than in the U.S. However, as incomes rise, so does meat consumption, and China is certainly consuming more and more, but I don't think they'll be eating big steaks, whole chicken breasts, or pork chops anytime soon.

Another thing about meat here is that you know that you're actually eating an animal. This goes all the way from purchase to consumption. Most meat is sold in open air markets by actual butchers. You watch him hack the animal (or its pieces) apart, cut to order. You want to eat fish? You'll usually buy it live, pointing out which one you want to the fishmonger, watching as he wails it against the ground to stun and kill it, or maybe cuts off the head and gives that to you separately. At the very least you always buy fish whole. Fillets are very hard to come by. There's no mistaking the anonymous protein when it lands on your table with head and tail. Same is true for poultry and pork and beef. It's usually served with the bones intact. This comes back to the duck necks. You grab one, and it's pretty identifiable as a neck, vertebrae and all. You chew around the edges and tear off the meat. It's actually really delicious, I've come to like them quite a bit. But there's no beating around the bush that you are eating an animal. No shrink wrapped boneless chicken breasts here. It also points to another thing, which is that they eat the entire animal here in a way that Western cuisines rarely do. Sure, the whole nose-to-tail butchery thing has gained some popularity with food snobs in Manhattan and San Francisco these past few years, but here it's a matter of tradition and necessary frugality.

Getting back into it

2010-01-05T04:10:00.006+08:00

It has been a long while since I've updated this thing but I thought I'd throw up a picture and an interesting/gruesome clipping from the trusty Shanghai Daily in an effort to get back into the habit of posting here.

This is from October of last year. A Chinese friend of mine asked me to be the best man in his wedding, and of course I did not refuse. It was quite an experience which I will try and write about later!

This one is pretty self-explanatory. I don't even know if Hollywood could top this level of violence and sex. Everyday in the paper there is a section where they print small blurbs of the bizarre/criminal/outrageous news from around the country.

Airport Music

2009-06-26T15:23:00.007+08:00

Why do airports (and public places in general for that matter) insist on playing really bad music? I was at Pudong airport earlier this week, and the Kenny G-esque, instrumental, synthetic jazz version of “I’m All Out of Love” really made me want to jump out of the window. In the unlikely event that I ever own or run an airport, the background music will actually be worth listening to. And now it’s “Desparado,” rendered excruciatingly painful by fake jazz horns and keyboards...

Say No to Terrorism

2009-06-26T15:19:00.005+08:00

While I’m posting pictures, here’s one I saw on the back of a motor scooter here.

I think this is based on the classy stickers you see on pickup trucks where people will display their loyalty to the brand of their truck. Like if you have a Ford truck, you put a sticker of this guy Calvin peeing on the Chevy emblem. It’s pretty highbrow stuff. Anyway, this one was a little confused. Here we have Calvin peeing on the emblem for Dodge trucks, along with the words “BIN LSADEN.” Does Bin Lsaden drive a Dodge??

Seoul's Muslim District

2009-06-26T15:08:00.003+08:00

I learned that Seoul has a fairly large Muslim population (200,000), both Korean and foreign-born. Anyway, just up the hill from the Itaewon area was a big mosque and lots of Muslim businesses where I spotted this sign. It’s funny that this was so close to Itaewon, the district in Seoul that is famous for its all-out nightlife and general debauchery. It’s the well-known location of Seoul’s “Hooker Hill” which is Seoul’s red light district where you see lots of foreigners (particularly American soldiers) patronizing the “bars.” Anyway, I laughed when I saw this poster on a store window, the dos and don’ts of modest dress. For the record, I saw not a single person adhering to the more conservative standard of dress...

Swine Flu

2009-06-26T14:53:00.004+08:00

I was in Korea a few weeks ago and traveling around Asia definitely makes you realize how seriously they are taking the whole swine flu thing. While it seems mostly out of the attention of American media that I read, it is still on people’s minds here. A headline updating the city’s swine flu count, or some other news about swine flue, is on the front page of the Shanghai Daily almost every day here.

I arrived in Busan, a southern port city in Korea, on June 1 and we were let off the plane like normal. But going through customs everybody’s temperature was checked by a nurse, and everyone working in the airport was wearing a protective mask. This wasn’t a big deal but just meant a longer line at immigration.

The real surprise was on returning to China. Our plane did not taxi to a gate. Instead we pulled off to a corner of the runway. I could see the airport fence out of the window. It seemed like we were as far away from the terminal as possible. There was no announcement about what was going on, so people were starting to get up even though the crew members were telling everyone to stay seated. After a few minutes, these guys in hazmat suits boarded the plane.

Everyone on the airplane started talking loudly and wondering what was going on. The pilot came on the speaker and told everybody to stay seated and take off hats. Lots of people (like me) pulled out their camera phones, amused by the novelty and the “Outbreak” aspect of the whole thing. They came down the aisle and pointed some type of laser thermometer at every passenger. About 10% of people had high readings, and those people were tested with a normal thermometer. Luckily they were cleared and our plane was swine flu free, so we were able to go to the gate and go through immigration as normal.

FML

2009-05-27T00:43:00.003+08:00

I bought a painting a few weeks ago, looking to do something about the very bare walls in my apartment. See the photo above. I think it’s a pretty cool painting, and at 400 RMB (about $50) for a 3 foot X 4 foot oil painting, you can’t really beat it. Notice the oh-so-subtle intersection of an image of Chairman Mao with the ubiquitous symbol of capitalism, the 12-digit UPC barcode. Anyway, the other day ayi was admiring the painting and asked me how much it cost. Oh no, it was really cheap I said, only 400 kuai, I picked it up while walking along Huai Hai Lu the other day, I said very casually. As soon as the words came out of my mouth it struck me, only the day before I had paid her 400 kuai. For a months work. Oops. What can you really say at that point? Oh, no, I mean I’ve been saving for many months for this. Yeah, right. So I guess it’s idiot comments like mine that fuel the notion among Chinese that all Americans are filthy rich and use $100 bills as toilet paper.

That brings up the whole subject of having an ayi (maid who does laundry, cleaning, dishes, other stuff around the house), but that’s another post. Anyway, the whole incident would have fit right in on the very entertaining (in the way that it is entertaining to watch others go down in flames) FML website, but I didn’t have the time to post it.

M1NT

2009-05-27T00:25:00.002+08:00

Speaking of shark fin soup, there was a huge shark tank at the club that I went to on Saturday night. There were about 30 small sharks in a huge tank. That’s the Dom Perignon champagne bar in the background. Only in Shanghai...

Shark Fin Soup

2009-05-27T00:15:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, for the second time in a weeks (it must be in season?), I was served shark fin soup at a business dinner. This is local delicacy which is very famous and seems to be enjoyed by everybody. The soup is made of shark fins, in a thick gelatinous broth that seems to be laden with MSG. Cilantro, bean sprouts, and vinegar are served on the table and you doctor up your individual bowl of soup accordingly. This is not a cheap dish. Kind of like the Shanghai hairy crabs that I wrote about before, it is a delicacy and you pay for the privilege, about $100 for a small bowl at a nice restaurant. The soup tastes OK. In my opinion it is nothing spectacular. The shark fins themselves are fibrous and kind of stringy; they don’t have much flavor. No big deal.

Well, the problem is with the method uses to get shark fins. I had heard from someone recently that they simply catch a shark, haul it on board, saw off the fins, and then dump it back overboard. Without its fins, the shark can’t swim; it sinks to the bottom and dies. I kind of doubted the veracity of this story. Kind of like the one guy who insisted that in Hong Kong they sell babies to make soup. That’s another post. Anyway, this article from CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/10/pip.shark.finning/index.html) confirms that the method used to gather shark fins is indeed pretty problematic:

To satiate the appetites of upwardly mobile Chinese, fishermen traverse all corners of the Earth's oceans in search of sharks or, more specifically, their fins. Because space is limited on fishing vessels and shark bodies are bulky and not considered as valuable, fishermen often catch the sharks, saw off their fins and toss the sharks back into the water. Without their fins, sharks cannot swim and they sink to the ocean floor, where they're picked at by other fish and left to die.

Upward of 100 million sharks are killed annually, almost entirely for their fins for shark fin soup.

So what to do? As somebody’s guest at a meal (especially in China) it is rude to flat out refuse to eat something. You have to at least try it. Plus, one person orders for the whole table, and ordering shark fin soup is a way of showing respect for the guest by ordering a very expensive soup, and thus being a good and generous host. Also, by the time that bowl of soup lands on the table, that shark (to put it harshly) has landed on the ocean floor. So refusing to eat it at that moment has no effect other than to snub your hosts and let the soup go to waste. So you might say, take a stand, lecture the table on why you think it’s problematic to kill an animal for one small part and then throw it overboard to starve at the bottom of the ocean. Well, that’s easier said than done, especially in China, where politically correct American ideas about food politics and animal cruelty are simply not understood and too foreign to have any cultural relevance. In a country where widespread famine killed tens of millions just a generation ago, it’s more like, aren’t we lucky to have enough to eat now, not how was that pig feeling when he was slaughtered.

At least when we kill cows and pigs and chickens we eat most of the animal. Does that make it any better? Maybe there’s really no distinction between eating a burger (which I don’t plan to give up anytime soon) and eating shark fin soup. I’m sure most vegetarians would argue that it’s not much different. Anyway, I haven’t yet decided my course of action for the next time I’m served shark fin soup, but I’m thinking about it.

The $10,000 BMW X5

2009-05-26T23:47:00.005+08:00

See the two pictures above. The first is the BMW X5. The second is the Shuanghuan Sceo, a Chinese made SUV. Surely the resemblance isn’t merely coincidental. I have seen a few of these on the roads here but this was the first time that I managed to get a picture. This is just one example of the many “cloned” cars that roam China’s roads. Take a popular car from a famous international brand, copy the design almost exactly, manufacture cheaply, sell in the local market for a fraction of the cost of the genuine imported article.

To some this is shameless disregard for intellectual property. After all, BMW surely invested a good amount for a design staff for the original car. Shuanghuan, of China’s northeastern Hebei province, sidestepped that detail, and instead focused on their strength, cheap manufacturing. So to others it is just an example of the ingenuity of a developing country doing its best to compete on the unlevel playing field of the global economy.

Here’s a link to the car on Shuanghuan’s website, proudly proclaiming that the Sceo “adopts the style of romantic, vigorous and powerful, and it shows out the vigorous and sport of the youth, and guide the vogue of the current.” Sounds like a pretty good deal.

I know one thing, when I bought The Wrestler and The Girlfriend Experience on DVD yesterday from the guy on the corner for $1 each, I definitely wasn’t complaining.

The Great Firewall

2009-05-26T23:32:00.003+08:00

In a really annoying development, the kind folks behind the Great Firewall of China have decided to block Blogger (any .blogspot domains) so that is why I have not updated here in a while. I finally figured out a way to post through email. We’ll see if this goes through!

Things here have been good recently. Work is picking up and I’ve been busy. The weather has been OK although it’s starting to get more hazy and hotter every day. It’s already high 70s to low 80s most days here. The good thing is that I’ll be in the U.S. for most of the month of August so I will avoid the worst of it.

Local news....Nancy Pelosi is in Shanghai and Beijing this week, meeting John Kerry and a bunch of Chinese officials in Xi’an for talks on the environment and economy later this week. I hope at least that she gets conned by the tea scam. This is where a really friendly local comes up to you in a public place. They say that they want to practice their English and make new friends, would you like to go have a cup of tea? They take you to a predetermined teahouse, where they have an agreement with the owner. You drink tea together, pleased with the new friend you’ve made, impressed by their near-flawless English, enjoying the afternoon. Then, when you say you better be going, you’re presented with the bill, which could be around 1000 or 2000 kuai, depending on how badly they want to rip you off. This is like $150-300. The door will be blocked by some serious looking Chinese dudes. You are forced to pay, and if you don’t have enough money, believe me, they know where the nearest ATM is and they’ll escort you. This happens pretty frequently to foreign tourists here, including to one kid on my trip back in 2006. I like to think that I’d be able to get away, flip over the table, charge through the kitchen, and bust out the back door running. But apparently it isn’t that easy. Anyway, I hope Pelosi gets taken by this scheme!

I went to the most elaborate KTV I’ve ever been to last week. It was modeled after Buckingham Palace. It was fronted by an enormous marble staircase and the building looked like a palace; it was huge. The waiter and hosts were wearing coat and tails. The waitresses (xiao mei) were dressed in white gowns like princesses. The traditional attire did not however extend to the drinking girls (xiao jie). Anyway, it was a pretty luxurious place that I’d never go to on my own but not bad for a night on somebody else’s dime.

H1N1

2009-05-12T14:38:00.003+08:00

Today the first case of swine flu (H1N1) was reported in China. It was discovered in Chengdu (capital of Sichuan) in a man who was returning from the U.S. People here (and around the world) are really much more concerned about this than I think is necessary. I was just talking to a friend and he said deadpan, as we were ending our conversation, "well, if this like SARS then we all dead, so have fun while you can." OK then. Oh, and I ate pork for dinner last night, which people are now warning not to do.

Now I don't want to laugh in the face of swine flu, lest it hear me and seek me out, but is this really a big deal? What are there, a few thousand people sick around the world? 60 deaths? And those that have it get a mild flu? Anyway, this kind of stuff isn't taken lightly here, so I'm glad that the government is quarantining the passengers from the flight that the infected man was found on, but in reality, riding in a taxi in Shanghai poses far greater risk to life and limb on a daily basis than swine flu does.

Thursday Night in Shanghai

2009-05-06T13:59:00.006+08:00

In keeping with my laziness of just posting other people's stuff today.....here's a really entertaining event listing, courtesy of SmartShanghai. It's what I'll be doing tomorrow night. Obviously, I was hooked at the mention of the Talking Heads. Plus it's at C's Bar, home of just about the cheapest beers in Shanghai at 10 kuai.

Baijiu Robot: Robot Panic!

685 Dingxi Lu, near Yanan Xi Lu

Swine Flu. Economic Meltdown. Global Warming. The Death of Western Capitalism. Hype. Join Heatwolves and Mau Mau for their most ghetto party yet. Dance in baijiu and broken glass to Italo Disco, Electroclash, Rick James, disco bullshit (nu and old), Talking Heads, and some hard Brazilian drug dealer booty bass. No cover. Free baijiu in the alley by the la mian. Starts 10pm.

Lucy's Birthday

2009-05-06T13:50:00.002+08:00

This great short story was written by a Chinese guy nicknamed Domy. It's an account of Lucy's birthday party. Lucy is a foreigner teaching English in Hunan province. My friend Rebecca also went to the party and passed on the story to me, so I thought I'd share. It's a pretty entertaining piece of work.

Lucy's Birthday Party

The moment I was offline yesterday afternoon, I swallowed my dinner as quickly as possible and took a taxi directly to the so-called Folk Bar. It was a new word for the taxi driver. He just dropped me off near the walking street and drove off. I had to hold the bouquet of flowers and the folded banner (with Happy Birthday, Lucy on) in my arms and searched for it. It took me almost 15 minutes to find it. It was a bangalow, just across from the Golden Time on Jiefang West Road. It was a small bar with the foreign style. The music makes people intoxicated. Most of the songs are country music, my favorite kind.

The instant I got inside, I found more than 15 foreigners there. I guessed they were all coming to attend Lucy’s birthday party. I went to the bar service counter and handed the flowers to the waiter there. At first sight the waiter looked foreign, so I told her in English who I was and that he had better hind away the flowers and put up the banner. Later I found he was actually a Chinese like me. But he seemed to know so much English. He could speak to me in English. That may be the reason why so many foreigners would go to this bar for chattings so often.

When the banner was put up, many eyes fell on it. “Happy Birthday, Lucy!” Shouts and cheers rose from the crowd. “A good idea!” someone cried out. Hearing this, I felt so proud ‘cause it’s my idea!

Later, I began to find a seat. The bar was small. But there were seats enough. Not big ones, but the rows of chairs along with the counter. With a glass of purified water, I began to find someone to chat with but they had been chatting already. I had no other way but to interrupt them and introduced myself. Most of them are Americans. And when they heard my name, they were kind of surprised. They said they had heard about me. Maybe Karen and Lucy mentioned me many times before them when they were chatting.

It was only 7:40 p.m. They would not come until 8:20. During the long waiting, I had to be associable, so I began to hunt for the objectives to talk about. Otherwise waiting for Lucy and Karen’s arrival would be boring.

I walked around in the dark light and met several acquaintances. One is Menjiao, who is now my co-worker, an artist. He taught fine arts in our school. And he had a great talent in drawing pictures, I think. He showed me the gift she would send Lucy --- a card made by himself. The cover is so special. It looks like a drawing, but with Lucy’s name inside. Very funny and creative. Another is Bridget, a beautiful lady whom we sang and danced in a karaoke hall when I treated her friends. She had a good memory. She recognised me immediately. She remembered me maybe just because of my singing talent. Haha… When I was puzzled and asked her for her name clumsily, she said she knew me and then she hummed to me “every shalalala…every wowowo…” Then we laughed. Yes, no wonder she sounded so familiar to me.

I was then introduced to some of her friends sitting around us. It was hard to remember their names. Rebbeca and Luke left a deep impression on me. Rebbeca is a beautiful young lady, seemingly a little girl. She looked like a teenager, like my senior kids. But she said she was 23! She had a large mouth and a prominent nose. Her smiles are a little exaggerating and charming. She said she is teaching in Hengyang, where I am from.

Steve is my old friend. He is now working in Fuzhong. We had dinner and sang songs together several times. He looks cool with his head bald. I don’t know whether he does it on purpose or natually he has no hair. But he is really humorous. I kidded with him, asking how many girls are after him. He said a little. When I corrected him by saying, “You mean, a few.” He laughingly said “yep”. Then we both laughed heartily.

Bill and Jane came a short time later. They are both my collegues. Bill was a very considerate woman. She came without having dinner and besides she had to be at school that night according to the planned schedule. But considering that she was invited to attend Lucy’s birthday party, she felt it hard to refuse. Jane was the very one who spent her birthday that night. She said she had just had dinner with her family. I felt very excited. How nice of the two! They could not come if they explained to Lucy. When I told it to Lucy and Karen, they were really moved. I was lucky to have such nice collegues.

Before Lucy and Karen came, several other foreign friends joined us. They were from different corners of Hunan province. Huaihua, Xiangtang, Zhuzhou, Liuyang, Loudi, Hengyang, Changsha. Approximately, the number of foreign friends climbed to 20.

Lucy finally came. Screams and blessings roared in the bar. Someone started the song “Happy birthday”, and everyone present joined in singing. The scene was very touching. I guess it must be the most meaningful and unforgettable birthday party for Lucy. It was a surprise party. And it was really a surprise for HER!

Everyone hugged Lucy. Everyone sent their blessings to her. She was happy. And we were happy, too.

Time passed quickly and we took a lot of pictures and chatted for almost two hours. We felt we had better leave first. After all, they knew one another better and had a lot to share. Only at the weekends can these foreign friends go out for relaxations. Living and working in a foreign country for such a long time is really not easy. Let them talk. Let them have fun themselves. We said goodbye to them and left the bar at about 11.pm.

It must be a sleepless night for Lucy and her friends!

Update

2009-05-06T13:21:00.005+08:00

Well it has been a while since I've posted here. I'm back in Shanghai now after two weeks in the U.S. in mid April. Before that I was in Korea for a few days. Being back in Shanghai has been great. The weather here has been really great since I got back.....it has been sunny, blue skies, and 65 degrees here literally for 12 or so days since I arrived back in Shanghai, with the exception of rain showers last Saturday night. It’s been really unbelievable. No smog, no haze, light pollution, really great. So that’s been nice. I figure we'll be paying for it though when it is 90 degrees and oppressively humid and hazy in July and August.

Not much else to say at the moment. I'm just realizing that all I've talked about is the weather which is really pathetic...so I'll try to redeem this by posting some photos.

Hong Kong Harbor view at night

Rugby Sevens bar scene...this picture doesn't really do it justice

The Cungking Mansions, where we were going to stay until Caroline chickened out

Night view of the new Shanghai World Financial Center, currently the second or third tallest building in the world

This guy was standing outside the bar with his pet monkey the other night. When it's him and an old lady begging for money, guess who gets the dough? Come on grandma, don't you have any skills or tricks? No? Just a paper cup? Sorry, this dude has a monkey that does flips and retrieves things and climbs up my leg. With all the beggars and homeless people here, you really need something to set yourself apart.

The remains of one of the frogs I ate for dinner last night. It was pretty tasty. I was the only one in my group of dining companions that did not eat the head (missing on this guy) and torso too, but just the legs.

Hong Kong

2009-04-14T04:31:00.003+08:00

I spent a few days in Hong Kong at the end of March and had a great time. I was struck by how different Hong Kong is from mainland China. Of course I was expecting some differences due to Hong Kong's roughly 100 years under British rule. Hong Kong on the whole seemed much wealthier and more modern, but also dirtier and with a better-preserved sense of history than Shanghai. It is more modern in that the transportation system is better, there is an incredibly dense collection of high rise buildings and a downtown that is more compact and more uniformly modern. But it also seemed dirtier and older than Shanghai in many places. There were more old buildings and much less new construction. The subway stations were old and had some character unlike those in Shanghai which all look the same, brand new. It was also interesting how much English is spoken there. I speak not a word of Cantonese, so my first approach would be to use Mandarin, but whenever that failed (about 50% of the time), I would revert to English and usually people understood. From my casual observation, it seems like there's a much greater percentage of foreigners living in HK versus Shanghai, and the city reflects that; it feels more cosmopolitan and global than Shanghai.

The weekend I went was the annual Hong Kong Sevens, a big rugby tournament. I didn't actually see any rugby, but the city had a carnival like (read: drunken) atmosphere once nighttime fell. It was a fun weekend and I found myself thinking that maybe I could spend a year or two in Hong Kong. There seem to be lots of job opportunities, so it's something I'll consider once I decide to make my next move.

Security is tight

2009-04-14T04:19:00.002+08:00

Random weird experience when I was on the bus from Shenzhen to Hong Kong:

After I bought my bus ticket in the Shenzhen airport I was directed to a waiting room where they checked my passport and interrogated me about the length of my intended stay in Hong Kong, the reason for my trip, and whether or not I planned to return to China. This seemed a little excessive, especially because whenever I've gone to Korea or Taiwan there has been basically no security checks upon leaving China.

Anyway, once we got on the bus we were instructed to sit only in the assigned seats on our ticket. Then the driver collected all of our ticket stubs. Then something a little bit strange happened: the driver stood at the front of the bus, instructed everybody to remove hats and glasses, lift their heads and face straight forward. He came down the aisle with a video camera and recorded everyone, first on the right aisle and then on the left.

While I've noticed video cameras at the airport as you go through the immigration inspection to enter China, I've never seen this kind of security to exit China. It was weird because once we actually got to the border crossing to enter Hong Kong, immigration was a breeze. The officers at the Hong Kong border didn't ask me anything and granted me a 90 day visa on the spot.

Different degrees of political correctness...

2009-04-01T08:54:00.004+08:00

I was getting a few things at the drug store the other day when this strange tube of toothpaste caught my eye:

Darlie toothpaste. No big deal right? Well, the Chinese is 黑人牙膏 (hei ren ya gao) which literally means "black person toothpaste." Can you imagine that in the U.S.? This is a really popular brand here which I've seen all over but never really bothered to look at the box more closely. A little research showed that the Darlie brand is actually owned by Colgate-Palmolive. For a long time the toothpaste was actually called Darkie, but due to "changing sensibilities," the K was conveniently changed to an L in the 1980s.

This is just one example of the completely different attitudes towards race and political correctness. Chinese people here reoutinely refer to themselves as "yellow people," which I think in the U.S. would be at least mildly offensive. White skin is seen as the most desirable. The drug stores are filled with whitening creams and potions. This isn't so much of a racist thing, but rather a way to prove your wealth. In China to have dark skin is a sign that you are probably a farmer working every day under the sun or other manual laborer working outside. It means you're poor and uneducated. On the other hand, having white skin (especially for women) means you're educated, have a life of leisure and don't have to work, or work in an office.

All kids love burgers

2009-03-02T13:27:00.005+08:00

Random event I just remembered from last weekend:

I was at Babyface with some Chinese friends and a friend from Bates. It is a well known club here in Shanghai, extremely popular with wealthy locals but also notoriously unwelcoming to foreigners. It was here where a guy on my study abroad trip in 2006 decided to go for a solo night out and got into a fight (he lost, badly) with a bunch of Chinese guys. Since I was with a bunch of Chinese people, and also like to think that I'm less of a jerk than the aforementioned guy, it was all fine.

The place is really interesting as an example of modern Chinese culture/wealth. It is ultrapretentious and ridiculous in the Chinese “nouveau riche” way. Expensive to be expensive....display your wealth etc. It's pretty amusing. You buy a table and a bottle (Johnnie Walker or Chivas Regal for $150!) and it comes with mixers and ice and a dedicated server who is so ridiculously attentive it’s crazy. Every minute, she lifts your glass and wipes the residual moisture with a tissue. Somebody smokes 1 cigarette and immediately she brings a new ashtray. You drop your dice that you’re using to play the dice drinking game and she picks them up for you. You take a sip of your drink and she immediately refills it. It's crazy. Also, don't think about going to the bar to get a drink. It's table service only and you can only order through your server. Very rigid. Also, just like a Chinese meal, one person will pay for the whole evening. Don't even think about trying to pay your share.

Anyway, I went outside to get some fresh air around 2AM and was greeted by about 10 little kids, about 5-10 years old, who immediately swarmed me, holding on to my legs, raising their plastic cups toward me, wide smiles on their dirty faces, begging for money. "Money, money! Please, please, please money!" Now, I typically don't give these kids money because I think it's pretty messed up that their parents (the ones a few feet away who train them and "direct" them to foreigners to ask for money) use them as beggars. Their parents are always the ones trying to sell you flowers and cigarettes, while their cute kids just beg you for money.

However, I was feeling particularly generous, and mindful of the $400 bar tab inside, so I asked these kids if they had had anything to eat lately. Their parents were shocked that I could speak some Chinese. "Mei you!!!! 没有!!!" (no we haven't) the kids all shouted in unison. I eyed the McDonald's right next door. I told them to wait a minute while I went next door and bought 10 hamburgers. The kids were jumping and I had to shake them off my leg and tell them to hold on while I handed around the burgers. Immediately their parents approached me, thanked me, and pushed their flowers and cigarettes at me. No, sorry, I still don't want to buy anything from you, and why don't you take your kids somewhere to get some sleep? The kids were happy and full for a few hours at least.

Hong Kong's Chungking Mansion

2009-03-02T12:06:00.005+08:00

I'm meeting my friend Caroline, who's coming in from London, for a long weekend in Hong Kong at the end of March. It turns out that our trip lines up with the Hong Kong Sevens which is apparently somewhat to Hong Kong like Mardi Gras is to New Orleans. Supposed to be a big party weekend:

The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens is traditionally one of if not the biggest event on the Hong Kong sporting calendar. As such, there is a tremendous party atmosphere, with particular emphasis on the South Stand, where hordes of rugby fans dress up and dance for most of the duration. Activities that typically ensue as the weekend progresses include the throwing of empty beer jugs around the South Stand, Mexican waves, and streakers running across the pitch. Since 2007 the South Stand has been made officially accessible to over-18s only, due to its hyper and somewhat provocative atmosphere, although this rule is not strictly policed.

See YouTube for more on this.

So we made a deal: she'd take care of the hotel/hostel in Hong Kong and I'd book the flights from HK to Shanghai. We'd settle the difference. Well, I spoke to Caroline last night ans she informed me that she had booked the Las Vegas Guest House. Great, I thought. We had both agreed on booking a hostel or cheap hotel so we could spend our money on food, alcohol, tourist stuff, traveling around the island, etc. No need to stay at the Ritz. At least not when I'm paying. I laughed when I asked a buddy for advice on going to HK, particularly for this weekend, and he mentioned when he went to Sevens he had always stayed at the JW Marriott or the Mandarin Oriental. $500/night hotels? Great when someone else is paying. Plus, this place is called the Las Vegas Guest House. Sounds great. Seeing as I've never been to Vegas, this would be a good substitute. Speaking of Vegas substitutes, did you know that gambling revenue in Macau (the "Vegas of Asia," a small island off of China's south coast which was basically a Portugese colony until 1999) now eclipses that of Las Vegas itself? For more on this, check out this extremely colorful character: Stanley Ho.

Anyway, back to the main subject. When Caroline first told me about the hostel, I thought it'd be fine. Then I did a little research and discovered that it is located in the Chung King Mansion. I couldn't believe it. I thought she was joking. The Chung King Mansion. This was the ONE place where everyone who I'd talked to about going to HK told me to avoid. Seriously, people warned me, don't bring any valuables, don't carry any cash on you, this place is exceedingly dodgy. And I heard these things from some pretty inveterate travelers. Not the kind of people who are accustomed to 5-star hotels. I had been widely advised to just avoid the whole place.

This clip gives you an idea.

See here for a great article on the "chung king experience." Bottom line is that this place is a huge melting pot. It is a big complex made of five concrete blocks which are all filled with hostels and various vendors and shops. It attracts backpackers and travelers from around the world looking to crash on the cheap. It is a haven for immigrants, transients, and vendors from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka. It's also known to be a favorite of drug dealers, petty criminals and thieves, prostitutes, schemers and dreamers, etc. As you might guess, it's also known to have some of the best ethnic food in all of Hong Kong.

In all honesty, I'm actually pretty excited for this to be my first HK experience. I'm sure we'll be fine if we stick to that rule of keeping no valuables in the room and use common sense. I have plenty of time to return and stay at the Peninsula (where they maintain the world's largest fleet of Rolls Royce Phantoms, 14 of 'em at about $450,000 each) and eat at Alain Ducasse. I'm looking forward to doing it this way first. Also, in fairness to Caroline, our hostel supposedly gets good reviews for cleanliness and, most importantly, will cost us each just $19 per night, which is about as cheap as it gets in Hong Kong.

We'll see what I have to say once I actually experience it first hand...

A Typical "Business" Trip

2009-02-19T13:49:00.013+08:00

It all started off, as usual, pretty innocuously...just a one-night trip to an industrial city for a few factory visits and meetings. A nice morning drive to Cixi provides some time to catch up on email and reading. The drive there takes you across the newly completed Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which is the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world at 22 miles. It is definitely weird to be in the middle of the ocean on a huge bridge and not being able to see land in any direction.

The day's meetings were pretty productive. After a quick rest and shower at the hotel it was time for dinner. This dinner wasn't that different from previous dinners that I've had here, but it ocurred to me that at every turn there were examples of the unique culture and etiquette that are part of a Chinese (business) meal. It just seemed to bring together a variety of typical experiences which sparked some thoughts.

Some ground rules/observations/tips...

Don't be shy about what foods you like. You will thank yourself later. I casually told my hosts that the enormous spiny lobster in the center of the table was especially delicious. I have never seen a lobster so big, nothing like what you get in the U.S. They responded by boasting that it was imported from Australia and cost 1000RMB (about $150). The guy next to me then proceeded to place about half of the thing onto my plate. At a table of 12. I felt guilty, but only for a very fleeting moment.
When toasting someone, it is customary for the glass of the older person, the more respected person, the guest of honor, etc., to be above the glass of the other person. It is a way to show respect, by lowering your glass to someone elses so the rim of your glass clinks their glass halfway down. In practice though, this often leads to hilarious situations where you both try to show respect, glasses racing downwards to the table surface, so that finally they're both on the same level. It takes some practice to get used to deftly positioning your glass below the other person's. One guy actually lifted my arm so my glass was above his.
Don't say that you don't like a particular food. It just leads to awkwardness, endless questions, and the attention of the whole table turning to the foreigner (as if you don't already stick out enough being white). Just say everything is good. If someone puts food on your plate, even if you don't want to eat it, thank them. Just bury it in your rice bowl when they aren't looking or subtly catch the server's eye and motion for a new plate. New plates are provided frequently throughout the meal anyway because the fact that all of the dishes are served with the inedible parts (chicken/beef/pork bones, fish heads, fish skin/scales, shrimp heads and shells, etc.) intact means that quite a bit of detritus accumulates as the meal progresses. These plate changes are great opportunities to get rid of the food you can't bring yourself to eat.
You will invariably be asked to pose for a group photo. Why not? Makes you feel tall at least.
When the guy next to you shows off his diamond-studded gold Rolex watch, repeatedly telling you that it cost 300,000RMB (about $44,000), act very impressed. Status symbols are extremely important in China. How else to differentiate oneself among a nation of 1.3 billion? He is not telling you about the watch anecdotally. He is telling you because he wants you to be impressed by his wealth.
That leads into the general topic of money in China. Be prepared for questions about money. It is completely normal to ask people how much their things cost. Almost every time I meet a new Chinese person here, I am asked how much my rent is (they laugh and tell me I'm getting ripped off because I'm a foreigner), how much my cellphone was (they audibly scoff when I tell them it was only 300 kuai, the cheapest one in the store), what my salary is (I don't tell them this), etc. Part of this is just curiosity because I'm an American and they assume all Americans are filthy rich. Furthermore, the American notion that it's impolite to talk about money is completely nonexistent here. There is no such thing as "old money" in China. All the money is new money because it's all been made in the last 20 years or so with the advent of rampant Capitalism that really took off in the 1990s. The accumulation of luxury goods and the comparison of who has what is the new national pastime among China's wealthy.
Always accept a ride from dinner to KTV in the factory boss's brand new BMW 7 series. You know life is good when there's a built-in refrigerator in the back seat...
There is a 100% tax imposed on luxury cars here, so above a certain threshhold, cars start to get really expensive. I was told that a 7 Series or S Class here costs the equivalent of $300,000. Totally insane.
Enjoy the fresh fruit and unlimited alcohol at KTV.
Don't be too freaked out when one of the Chinese guys starts making bird wing shadows on the projector screen. Apparently this is SOP.....?
Never refuse a toast. It's just not worth all the explaining and subsequent disappointment. If you don't want to drink, then just toast the guy and raise your glass and pretend to drink. Or say "yi ban" to indicate that you'll drink only half of your glass instead of the standard "gan bei" (empty your glass). Pretty soon people will be drunk enough to not remember, or at least not be slighted by your moderation.
If at 10:00, you realize that you've been drinking for a good 4 hours and you have to get up at 7 the next morning, don't be shy about saying your goodbyes and hopping in a cab back to your hotel. Never mind the fact that everyone else will stay at KTV until 2AM. By this point all the Chinese guys are very drunk. Think dancing on tables, breaking glasses, screaming karaoke, grabbing the waitresses kind of drunk. They'll be temporarily angry with you and try to convince you to stay, but it'll be fine in the morning. Get in that cab. You will not regret it.
And finally, always use a good western-style toilet while you have the opportunity, like at your hotel. And carry your own toilet paper. Your next option might not be so hot.

Riding the Maglev

2009-02-14T13:40:00.003+08:00

I was taking a colleague back to the airport yesterday and decided that it would be much easier and faster to take the subway and the maglev train. If you try to drive to and from Pudong International at 4pm on a Friday you are setting yourself up for a 4 hour roundtrip journey in excruciating traffic. So we took the maglev. This is the super-high-speed train that runs out to the Pudong Airport. I don't exactly understand magnetic levitation and how this thing works, but bottom line is that it reaches a top speed of 431 km/h (about 270 mph) and gets you to the airport in 7 minutes. It is scary fast.

Anyway, as we were waiting at the station, some guys came up to me with their camera and motioned for a photo. It was clear that these guys didn't have a flight to catch, but were just riding the maglev for the experience. I could tell from how they were dressed and their accents that they weren't from Shanghai and weren't exactly international travelers. They later told me they were from Shanxi province, a somewhat bleak industrial province in north central China from what I remember from a few years ago.

Anyway, I assumed that they wanted me to take a picture of them all together in front of the train, so I reached for the camera, but they said no, no, we want picture with you. It was a shock to experience this in Shanghai. I remember experiences like this from 2006 when we were traveling in parts of rural China where some people hadn't ever seen foreigners before, and we all got accustomed to being extreme noveltys and the subjects of endless fascination. Kids handed us markers and asked us to sign their clothing. We got off the bus for lunch and people came to stare. We walked into the one bar in town in a random small city and were dragged to people's tables to drink and eat for free.

But in Shanghai nobody looks twice at the white guy. There are so many foreigners in this city that everyone is used to it and you rarely feel scrutinized or noticed. I have gotten used to being anonymous and not a spectacle as you often are as a white person in other parts of China. So I was surprised when they each took turns standing beside me and grinning, some putting their arms around me, while the others took photos, and everyone laughed.

Sushi

2009-02-08T13:15:00.000+08:00

I just had one of the most delicious meals of my life in Taipei. I arrived in Taipei a day early, so Saturday night I went out to get some dinner.

I walked in and was seated at the sushi bar and the food started coming. No tuna or salmon to be found (you can have these anywhere, right?) but simply the freshest, most delicious seafood I have ever eaten. All raw, the flavor of the fish mostly unadorned. The weird thing is that because there was no menu and because I don't understand the Chinese for the obscure kinds of fish I ate, I had no clue what I was eating for the most part. A few things I recognized or could understand were mackerel, shrimp, salmon roe, big prawns, scallop, and clam, but there were about a dozen other kinds of fish that I had.

I have never had sushi anywhere near this good. It wasn’t exactly cheap, but at $60, it was definitely a steal for the quality and quantity. I had no say in what I ate. The two chefs across from me just kept serving course after course of sashimi and nigiri. Add to that some grilled kobe beef flavored with salt and pepper and a few beers, and you have yourself a knockout meal.

Finally Returning

2009-01-28T04:11:00.003+08:00

So it's been a while since I've written here, but now seems like a good time since I'm returning to China in 5 days.

After a much longer stay in the U.S. than originally expected (thank you global economic crisis!), I am finally headed back to Shanghai in a few days. I'll be arriving on February 3 and am really looking forward to getting back. It's definitely been nice to be in the U.S., seeing friends and family, traveling a little bit, etc., but I was just starting to feel at home in Shanghai so I can't wait to be there again.

I know it's going to be a bit of culture shock all over again. I've been in the U.S. for almost 6 weeks, which is long enough to get accustomed to drivers who follow traffic laws, service people in stores and restaurants who actually try to serve, internet that works without the infringement of the "Great Firewall," meat served independently of bones, salad, personal space, .......the list goes on. It's nice in some ways, but at this point what I want is to be in Shanghai. I definitely miss things about China. I guess this goes both ways. I miss the everyday routines that I was getting used to in Shanghai. The security guard who wears the same pair of camouflage pants every day and at night sleeps in the tiny gatehouse at the top of my apartment block's drive (I think we're friends but he probably just thinks I'm the crazy foreigner), the fruit and vegetable markets right on my block, the newsstand on the corner where I buy the Shanghai Daily most mornings, the walk to the subway. It's strange to think how quickly one can get accustomed to things.

Some exciting things coming up too. A week of traveling for work (Tianjin, Qingdao, Taiwan) will be a chance to see some new places, especially Taiwan which I've wanted to go to for a while. Also some good live music, albeit on complete opposite ends of the spectrum: Jose Gonzalez on February 18 and Paul van Dyk on February 20. Other than that, just returning to the everyday-exciting life in Shanghai!

Few interesting reads while I'm at it:

Is India now the rightful place of the American Dream?
If you can appreciate bathroom humor, there's this roundup of English streets and towns.
A profile of the guy some call China's Tom Wolfe, documenting the excesses and absurdities of capitalism run wild in modern China.

Slow day at work

2009-01-03T03:51:00.003+08:00

It's a slow Friday afternoon at work...sounds like a good time for an update here since I haven't written in a while. I've been back in the U.S. for about two weeks now, and I'm actually surprised at how quickly I've adjusted back to life here. I guess it's what I've known for most of my life so of course the readjustment period isn't that difficult. That said, I definitely miss living in China and am looking forward to returning. Unfortunately, due to the slowdown in our business, my return to Shanghai has been delayed until February 1. Spending the rest of January in Albany isn't exactly ideal, but it's out of my hands. I just need to keep practicing my Chinese and listening to ChinesePod so I don't completely forget everything!

Some interesting stuff that I've been reading today:

Manufacturing Slows Around the World. This is especially interesting/frustrating because it's what's essentially delaying my return to China!

In the face of falling demand for its exports abroad, China tries to reshape its economy with a greater focus on domestic consumption.

The end of cheap money in the U.S. I wonder if the economic crisis will actually make Americans reverse our negative savings rate and live within our means? And how about our government and its own little negative savings rate, also known as a $10 trillion+ national deficit?

Also, a plea to Barry, because I'm sure he's reading, please put a $1.00 per gallon tax on gasoline as soon as you enter office! He had the wisdom to resist the completely backwards and inane Clinton/McCain proposed "gas tax holiday" during the campaign, so maybe he will also make the tough but right decision to take a strong step in weaning the U.S. from cheap oil.

I saw a great movie last night, well worth checking out for a good (if completely implausible) story, vibrant and strangely beautiful cinematography, a cool soundtrack, and a glimpse of life in Mumbai.

Here's a really interesting interview with Lee Kuan Yew, the man wholed Singapore during its transformation from an impoverished agricultural nation to a global economic powerhouse. He was the Prime Minister following independence from Britain and now holds the somewhat comical title of "Minister Mentor." Sounds kind of like Putin's current role, but probably not quite as malevolent. In a surprising act of modesty, he credits East Asian notions of family and individual responsibility, a strong work ethic, respect for education, and culture as the driving forces behind East Asian (Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, etc.) economic development. He points to the cultural and moral breakdown in Western democratic societies and the belief that government can solve all problems as the ultimate downfall of the West. This is from 1994...I wonder what he'd have to say today.

That's about it for now. Not much to report on "Living and Working in China," since I'm currently Living and Working in Albany, NY.

Departure

2008-12-17T16:10:00.002+08:00

I'm sitting here in the Shanghai Pudong airport about to board my flight for the U.S.

I just got a nice little preview of America as I went to buy a bottle of water. An obnoxious, overweight, silicone-enhanced woman with a Texas accent apparently wasn't getting her fried potato fix quickly enough. As I waited in line at the Burger King, she had a meltdown because the fries weren't coming quick enough. She shouted angrily at the kids behind the counter: "Naw uh, if them fries are all gone, I'm a be pissed. Uh uh, I been waiting for too long now, I'm tellin ya. NAW, you ain't gonna give them fresh ones to him, are you??? I's here first! Now shit, that ain't right. I been waitin'!!!!" All of this was obviously in English (or a dialect thereof). The completely bewildered Chinese employee did his best to placate the rude American, "please wait moment, more come soon, sorry, sorry." I cringed as she went on, "NAW UHHH, come on y'all, now's about time, I BEEN WAITIN'!!!!" So, America's presence in the Shanghai Pudong airport is an impatient Texan heard accross the terminal screaming at a fast food outlet...

That said, I am definitely looking forward to spending some time back in the States. I wish that I knew exactly when I were coming back, and I wish it were going to be for 2 weeks instead of 4, but that's outta my hands. Second to seeing friends and family, I'm mostly looking forward to the food. A nice steak, fresh salad, good bread, cheese, YES.

What I'm not looking forward to is the next 15 hours in coach in a crowded 747. I considered going for one of the business class upgrades that sell on eBay for $300, but decided against it at the last minute.

OK, last call for boarding....

Merry Christmas

2008-12-16T13:59:00.002+08:00

You know it's Christmas in Shanghai when.....

You walk into a convenience store and are greeted by an aggressive techno remix of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" blasting at maximum volume. I could barely hear the clerk tell me how much I owed. No joke. Isn't there a law somewhere against making techno remixes of biblical hymns???

Small Victory

2008-12-12T13:40:00.000+08:00

After nearly 2 months of showers that were always warm but never quite hot despite the tap being all the way on hot, I just pushed a random button on the compact water heater in the kitchen and now the water is scalding hot!!! YES!

Anyway, it has been somewhat of a slow week here. Not too busy with work, thanks to the global economic crisis! It is a really interesting place to be, seeing the effect of the crisis first hand. Every day there are reports in the paper here about how bad the economy is. China's leaders met in Beijing a few days ago to work out a stimulus plan to pump some life into the sluggish economy. Just yesterday the headline in the Shanghai Daily was "China's Exports Record First Decline in 7 Years." This week China Eastern Airlines got a cash injection from the government of about $500 million. Sounds like a bargain compared to what the U.S. auto industry (and inevitably the airlines are next...) is asking for! There are frequent reports of factories in Guangdong province, the center of China's export-focused manufacturing industry, closing down. GDP growth in Q3 2008 slowed to 9%, down from highs of 12% during the same period last year. Foreign investment in China fell 36.5% last month from the same period a year earlier.

Behind all of the numbers, the ramifications are huge. For the first time in recent history, the Eastern coastal cities are now seeing reverse migration, as factories close and migrant workers return to their rural hometowns. Crime seems to be a real concern; especially as the Chinese New Year holiday approaches and people look to return home. Apparently crime in the cities always rises at this time, as people steal to finance journeys home, but this year people are saying it's worse because the economic situation and factory layoffs have made people even more desperate. I have been warned by several people to be especially careful.

On a lighter note, my friend Christian from Bates arrived on Tuesday, so we've been hanging out and he's in the process of trying to land a job and an apartment....not as easy as it sounds but he should get set up in a week or so.

Last night we went out to dinner with one of my Chinese friends. He took us to an awesome barbecue restaurant. It took about one and a half hours on various buses for us to get there, proving how big this city is, but it was well worth it. I said barbecue, but don't think Texas. It's not anything like pulled pork and ribs, but rather food grilled on a stick over charcoal. Every bit as delicious. We had lamb, beef, chicken wings, cauliflower, garlic shoots, sliced potatoes, meatballs, and it was all awesome. Washed down with cold beer, it was a delicious meal. It was just the skewers of crunchy chicken and pork cartilage/joints that I couldn't quite get excited about.

It's hard to believe that I'm headed back to the U.S. so soon, and that I've already been here for 2 months. I'm just beginning to get settled and feel at home, and now leaving! Although I'm definitely looking forward to some of the conveniences of American life....and the food!

Lastly, I saw this creatively named description of the bathroom the other day:

2008-12-09T19:18:00.002+08:00

Sunday night I went to dinner at a Chinese friend's house. Actually a friend of a friend. Rebecca met a guy named Fubin in Changsha, and when he moved to Shanghai he called me and invited me for dinner. He's 22 and lives with 5 other people his age, and they all work at the same IT company here in Shanghai. Anyway, they/the apartment reminded me of the movie L'Auberge Espagnole. 6 of them living in a crowded apartment, always joking and making fun of each other, smoking a lot. They made a delicious dinner, although it was conspiculously absent of meat (aside from a half stick of the processed Spam-like product that is available here), and explained that they can't really afford meat. They each had about a million questions for me, wanting to know about every possible aspect of life in America. They were laughing a lot and Fubin, the only English speaker, explained that they were all just really "excited, nervous, and happy" because it was the first time they had spoken to a foreigner. I even got one guy to demonstrate his gong fu for me.

Goodfellas

2008-12-05T17:11:00.003+08:00

Last night I went out with my friend Joshua who has been living here for 11 years. We went to a few different places and finally to the Cotton Club, a long-running jazz club here that is pretty well known. It's a dark and smoky place with a good band and a laid back atmosphere. You enter and immediately feel like you've stepped into the past, to some kind of golden age before everyone came to Shanghai, before the nightlife scene was dominated by mega clubs blasting techno, back to some civilized Colonial era where people still remembered when there were signs in the public parks that read "No Dogs or Chinese Allowed." Putting aside the obvious negative ramifications of Colonialism, there's something romantic about the place that recalls Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s when it was known as the Paris of the East. Not that I'm advocating a return to those times or justifying the injustices of the concession era.

We were with a bunch of Joshua's friends, including a German named Werner (pronounced Verner) and his young Chinese girlfriend who spoke perfect English and definitely had some stories. These were all people who have been here a long time and live here permanently, expatriates in the true sense of the word, not just kids who come for a year or two.

When we got to the place it was full. Apparently the people I was with have some pull, because as soon as we entered a waiter appeared with a table, threw on a fresh table cloth, and placed it right in front of the stage. Certainly it was not my presence that elicited such hospitality. It reminded me of the scene in Goodfellas, with the awesome tracking shot when they enter the old Copacabana through the kitchen, and the staff makes room and places a table front and center for them. Shots and beers appeared and I didn't pay for a drink all night. Werner's girlfriend told me stories about strange things in Shanghai, including the lesbian waitress and the Chinese singer. More shots and beer appeared. An American who sounded kind of like Nina Simone was performing old jazz songs, and she was followed by a Chinese girl with a strong voice who did a pretty convincing rendition of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. It was an interesting night and a slice of Shanghai that I hadn't seen before.

Mei Banfa

2008-11-30T18:07:00.002+08:00

Yesterday I had an experience that epitomized the difficulties of dealing with bureaucracy in China and also was a good example of a "mei banfa" situation.

Friday night I left my cell phone in a cab. Long story, not worth retelling, but I was unable to get it back even though I had the taxi receipt and called the company right away. So yesterday I go to buy a new phone at the China Mobile store right near my apartment. I brought my SIM card registration packet, which was all I thought I needed. I got to the counter, after 20 minutes in line, and explained my situation to the agent. He said that my phone was registered in another person's name, so he could not do anything on the account because it wasn't in my name. He said it was a stolen number. I realized that this was because I bought the phone at an electronics mall, and not the China Mobile store, and I didn't have my passport when I bought the phone so they just registered it to a random name. My Chinese was not good enough to understand, but I'm sure they explained this to me at the time.

Anyway, the guy tells me that I need to produce a list of ten numbers that I've called within the past month. Sounds pretty simple, right? I think for a minute, and then tell him that I don't know anyone's number by heart, that they're all in the phone that I lost, isn't there any other way I can prove my identity? Isn't the fact that I have the SIM card packet enough? "Mei banfa, mei you banfa," he says. Ahhh, this terrible expression. It basically means "impossible," but it is used in a wide variety of contexts including "no way around this problem," "there's nothing I can do," "I don't want to help you," and "that's life." It is the ultimate indication that you have hit a brick wall in China. I argue with the guy for a little while longer, but he just repeats himself: "mei banfa." I soon realize at this point that I need to somehow scrounge together a list of ten phone numbers. I did not expect buying a new phone would be this difficult.

I leave in defeat and return a few hours later with a list of 15 or so numbers that I'm able to find on scraps of paper and in my computer's address book. I also bring my passport, my Registration Form of Residence (all foreigners have to register with the police), my receipt from where I bought the original phone and SIM card, and my SIM password card. I think I'll surely have no problem now. It's later in the day and the line is longer now. Finally I get back up to the counter. The guy types in the first ten numbers. Half of them go through and the other half come back as not in the system. He tells me that it must not be my account because half of the numbers are wrong. "This must be a stolen number," he says. I assure him that I have called each of these numbers in the past month, and that the phone number is mine. "Mei banfa," he says. I am about ready to punch this guy. His attitude is so bureaucratic and he clearly isn't interested in helping the dumb foreigner. I am reminded that China Mobile is a state-owned enterprise of the People's Republic of China.

This has already taken about two hours of my time today and all I want to do is get a new phone and register my number. I am getting frustrated now and I tell him that it's not my problem, I know I called these numbers, please try again. "Mei banfa," he says again. Then he thinks for a minute, and asks me when I called these numbers. About half of them I'd called the day before. He tells me that sometimes it takes a while for them to come up in the system, so I should come back in a week and then it will probably work. I tell him that I can't be without a phone for a week, that's ridiculous. "Mei banfa," he says again. I think we're up to at least 5 now. I'm really getting pissed now and I tell him he needs to do something, please help me out, I'm not lying, this is not a stolen number. I am begging him. He looks at me for a while, and then gets up and returns with a form. He painstakingly fills out some sort of affadavit, writing my story in extensive detail and giving him the authority to override the system and register my number in my name. He gives me a bunch of papers to sign. I hand over my passport. Approximately 11 signatures later, my phone number is oficially registered in my name and I'm the owner of a new cell phone and SIM card with my original number.

And that's the thing about "mei banfa" in China. There is, in fact, almost always a way to deal with the problem. Nothing is ever really impossible. Sometimes it just takes a while.

2008-11-27T14:16:00.002+08:00

Well, I've done it. Even though I have a lot of reservations about the whole idea of blogging, I've decided to create a blog to communicate with people back home and make sure that I document this crazy experience. On the whole, I think there are probably far too many blogs (read: people who think what they have to say is important) out there, but hopefully I can make this work and possibly even contribute some original thoughts or unique viewpoints. We shall see...

Notes on Transportation

2008-11-26T15:22:00.000+08:00

Tonight I was reminded how big this city is, how many people there are, how urgently they all want to move around, and how the transportation system, massive and comprehensive as it is, is stretched to the breaking point. The journey also extracted all notions of personal space that I previously held to. Crowded subways aren't a new thing, but such sustained and immediate physical proximity to strangers turns out to be pretty exhausting.

My destination was an apartment less than ten miles from mine. I started out by walking from my apartment to the nearest subway stop at Hengshan road. This takes 20 minutes which doesn’t seem too long, but when you have to walk this almost every day you quickly begin to wish they’d build a closer station. I swipe my metro card and walk through the turnstiles. I walk down the stairs to the platform and luckily a train is just pulling in. The platform is crowded with people patiently standing on the markings that show you where the train will stop and exactly where the doors will be. This is a smart design element in theory, except that in practice it leads to everyone standing right in the middle and charging on to the train the minute the doors open, exiting passengers be damned. Anyway, the doors open but the train is completely packed. People are packed in shoulder to shoulder and no one is getting off and there is no way that I’m getting on that train. Some on the platform try to push their way on, but there is physically no room. The platform attendant starts angrily blowing his piercing whistle and yelling at everyone to wait for the next train. So we wait. The next one is crowded too, but I am able to push my way on. No way is there enough room to read the Shanghai Daily that I just bought.

Humanity is now thoroughly all up in my grill (disclosure: not my original phrase). Young professionals listening to their iPods and furiously texting, students in their matching track suits munching on convenience store snacks, migrant workers carrying all of their possessions in huge woven plastic bags, women with their groceries, and assorted other characters are packed onto this train. The guy right next to me shakes his head and (I think intentionally) releases a cloud of dandruff. I brush off my shoulders and try not to vomit. I can tell he’s a migrant worker by his dirty hands, dark skin, evident lack of a recent shower, and filthy clothes. One thing I still don’t understand is why so many people wear suits in China. This guy is the lowest rung on China’s labor force, but he’s wearing a really dirty gray pinstripe suit and black leather dress shoes. Wouldn’t a pair of jeans make more sense? Oh well.

After about 20 minutes we arrive at Shanghai indoor stadium. Here I get off and it’s a long walk through crowded underground tunnels to transfer to Line 3. It is here that I witness another of those seems-like-a-good-idea-but-in-practice-leads-to-chaos things. When you are approaching the platform area through the tunnel, the PA system suddenly blares that the train has arrived. Convenient right? Well sure, but what’s the point of telling this to people who are still a couple hundred meters away from the platform? Most people break into a full blown run, elbows and laptop bags flying everywhere. They’re clearly not going to make this train, but they nonetheless charge like their lives depend on it, jamming the escalator and just creating more traffic.

Finally I get on the Line 3 metro. I take this to Yishan Road, where I think I can transfer to Line 9, which should take me to my destination. I get off at Yishan Road and follow the signs for Line 9. After several long minutes of walking, I am met by the horrible sight of several hundred people waiting in a snaking line to board a bus. What? I thought I was taking the subway? I get in line and ask the guy next to me what this is. “It is waiting for the bus,” he says. Ohhhh, thanks guy. I inquire some more and find out that Line 9 is so new that it does not yet connect to the rest of the subway system, so they have buses that shuttle passengers between the two stations. Everyone is pretty annoyed at this point, and the line for the buses is hostile. As soon as a bus approaches the line swells and everyone pushes forward. The people at the front are screaming because they’re being pushed into the path of the bus. The buses arrive and people pack into every conceivable pocket of open space. Finally, I make it onto the third bus. The bus creaks its way through the crowded surface streets, honking furiously, swerving through a construction site, arriving at the new Line 9 station. Walk walk walk, swipe metro card again, board train. This time the train isn’t ridiculously crowded. I’m able to snag a seat and actually read my paper.

By the time I finally reach my destination, an hour and a half has passed. This isn’t actually my destination, but it’s the closest metro stop to my destination. So from here I have to take a taxi. I emerge from the station and get into a taxi but he turns off his light and tells me he’s going to eat dinner. I wait for another one and finally spot one up ahead. I run for it and reach it at exactly the same time as a confused looking teenage girl. I know I should be nice and offer her the cab, maybe even open the door for her, but my manners and patience have been eroded by the journey. Sorry, but I am not waiting anymore. I give her a look of “it’s dog eat dog out there, baby” and get in the cab. Mom, I know you taught me about all that chivalry stuff, but sometimes you just have to look out for number one.

After a cab ride filled with sitting in traffic, precariously darting through narrow open spaces, slamming on the brakes, confusion about my destination, etc., we finally arrive at the right apartment compound. The guard gives a crisp salute and opens the gate. I find the right building, and thankfully I am greeted by dinner on the table. It turns out to be a feast of beef and lamb hotpot, accompanied by two bottles of 1994 Great Wall cabernet. Not bad. Total travel time: 2 hours.

This Week in Korea

2008-11-23T15:17:00.002+08:00

This past week I went to Korea for business and it wasn’t at all like I expected. It is completely different from China. I guess I had the notion that it would be kind of similar, because it’s not that far away, the people are of similar ancestry, they use chopsticks…….I don’t know. This is obviously completely ridiculous in hindsight; it’s a totally different country.

The first thing I noticed when landing in Busan was the air. Wow. It was clean. The sky was bright blue, not a cloud to be seen, the sun was beating down, and it was about 45-50 degrees. Like Maine in the fall. The blue sky and fresh air was really a shock, because you don’t get this in Shanghai. Ever. The sky is almost always just varying shades of white and grey. It becomes normal for the visibility to be a few blocks because the air is so thick with smog/pollution, or "fog" as many euphemistically refer to it.

The next thing I noticed is that things work. There is efficiency. Things are well designed and well engineered. There is a way that things are done and people behave accordingly and things work. This is very different from China, and it was a welcome discovery. Maybe this is like going from France or Italy to Germany? One example is driving. The roads in Korea are modern and not permanently under construction like in China. The highways reminded me of U.S. Interstates, except here they have cameras every few kilometers that automatically photograph your license plate and send you a ticket in the mail if you speed. I hope they never implement this in America. In the cities, drivers follow traffic laws and rarely need to use their horns. Even in jammed Seoul, there is a definite lack of that sense of chaos and desperate urgency that characterizes Shanghai traffic.

Another scene that reveals the cultural differences is restaurants. In China, you barge into a restaurant, push your way through the crowds and staff, and try to find an empty table. There is rarely a hostess or someone waiting to seat you. When you want more of something, you shout across the room: “xiaojie, xiaojie, fuwuyuan PIJIU” (miss, miss, server, BEER). A minute later she throws down some more beer on your table and everything is alright. Same thing when you want the check, you just yell for it, and she stands over you impatiently while you count out the bills.

In Korea it’s completely different. There are rules and decorum at every stage. When you enter a restaurant you are warmly greeted with bows and smiles. You are kindly instructed to take off your shoes. The restaurant is spotlessly clean, so it’s OK. You are escorted to a table. When you need something, you press a little button on the corner of the table that rings somewhere. A second later a smiling waitress appears, bowing and asking what she can get you. When you pay the bill, you do it up front at a cashier stand. When you leave the restaurant, the staff bows and thanks you. At every stage of every interaction there are bows, pleases, and thank yous. The language also seems to have an unending supply of words of confirmation. Whenever two people are interacting it seems like they are always bantering back and forth, offering words of confirmation that the other is doing the right thing, bowing, saying thank you, OK, yes. This decorum, so rigid in comparison to China, was the thing that really struck me the most about Korea.

At the table

2008-11-13T15:09:00.000+08:00

Something funny happened at lunch yesterday. I was in Cixi for business and when that's the case, lunch is a huge 2+ hour meal without least 15 dishes and usually costs about as much as my monthly rent. Anyway, they ordered a big platter of sashimi, which I was really excited about. This was a treat because sushi is very expensive here and not very common and I haven’t had any until now.

Anyway about halfway through the meal, everyone is just eating casually, picking at the plethora of other dishes and not paying attention to the sushi. The sushi was on a bed of shaved ice, and the shrimp were just stuck head first (head on, raw) into the ice. Well, all of a sudden, one of the shrimp came back to life and started wildly flapping around the table. It bounced off of the sushi platter and all around the table. Then one more did the same thing. This continued until there were five big shrimp hopping around the table furiously. They would coil up, then whip themselves straight, and really vigorously try to get away. These were pretty big shrimp and they were just flopping around the table like maniacs. I’d never seen live shrimp like that.

I guess they had just been stuck into the ice but they weren’t dead, and as it melted they were able to break free and try to escape! So now everyone at the table is madly trying to catch the shrimp with their chopsticks. I am laughing too hard to focus on catching the shrimp. Finally one guy catches one. He squeezes it with his chopsticks tightly to make sure it can't escape, but it's still squirming. He pops it in his mouth and spits out the head and shell with expert dexterity. I am dying laughing, I can't believe this, and the whole restaurant is looking at me because I’m laughing so hard. Am I the only one who things this is ridiculously funny? Apparently. My dining companions just grab the live shrimp and promptly decapitate, peel, and eat. YUM.

The other highlight of lunch was that I ate turtle for the first time. Honestly the meat was really good, but getting to it required an intimate acquaintance with the slimy skin, shell, organs, fat, and bones. Speaking of intimacy, apparently it’s an aphrodisiac and good for your stamina; my hosts told me that if I ate turtle I’d be able to go for 2 hours tonight. We’ll see about that...

On the bus

2008-11-11T14:59:00.000+08:00

I had a bizarre experience on the bus tonight on my way home from the airport. This kid gets on and stands looking at me for about a minute. I move my bags and say he can sit down. He sits and then stares at me for another good minute, before asking me where I’m from and making small talk. He’s with a group of about 5 other kids my age, he’s 23, he’s wearing a suit, and seems pretty nice. He asks me what I do, gives me his card, says the Chinese for “trainer,” shows me some poster of an American guy preaching/lecturing to a huge stadium where everyone has their heads bowed and their arms up in the air. He says he works for a company that is into motivational speaking or corporate training. I don't really understand.

What I’m really thinking is that he’s a missionary or religious cult member. His fancy name card says “oneness of tao,” and he acts like a missionary really wanting to talk to me and asking me every imaginable question. He asks for my card and I give it to him. He passes it around to his friends and now they all want one. He asks me my phone number and I say I don’t have a Chinese one, sorry. Then I forget and a minute later take out my phone and start sending a text message. Oops. I tell him it’s just for work and not for personal, sorry.

He speaks zero English and my limited Chinese is a little bit of an obstacle, but he presses on. He’s from Shenzhen. He says I am his first foreign friend and he is so happy. He will send me an email and hopes that I have a phone number soon. He asks if when he comes to America he can meet my family and stay with me. I say, yeah, maybe, but he wants a promise. I’m not giving it. He’s moving way too fast. I try several times to put my headphones on but he won't let me. Anyway we talk and talk for the 30 minute bus ride and then FINALLY arrive at People’s Square where the bus ends and I'll get on the subway. I say, OK, I’m getting on the subway from here, bye bye. And he goes, yes, we are taking the subway too! WTF. This is getting a little bit weird. He keeps smiling at me and looking at me really intently. Well of course it turns out that they’re not actually taking the subway, but he just want to stay with me and talk more, so they walk me to the subway. Finally I’m leaving and I go to shake is hand, and he says in Chinese, hug, hug. And he hugs me very firmly. Wow, this is getting really weird. Zaijian, wacko.

I have a lot of questions about this kid... I really can’t tell if he was just an overeager Chinese guy who was really excited to meet a foreigner, if he was a missionary or member of some strange cult trying to convert me, if he was trying to sell me something, or what. I’m still laughing about it as I write this. Welcome back to Shanghai!

First days in Shanghai

2008-10-21T13:40:00.001+08:00

Wednesday night when I got here I checked into my hotel and then Thomas (agent here) invited me out to dinner. The American lawyer who was also here working on a case with Thomas joined us, as well as Thomas's wife. So we all went out to this fancy and delicious Chinese meal. It was really nice and the food just kept coming and coming! We had some Shanghainese specialties, including sea cucumber. We also had hairy crabs, because October-November is the season for them and they’re very famous here. Also drunken chicken, a delicious fatty pork soup, spicy green beans, tofu, and an awesome duck soup that sadly came at the end of the meal when I was too full to have more than two bites. Plus about 5 more dishes that I can’t remember. It was an extravagant and delicious meal.

Thursday I got up and went to look at apartments with a rental agent and James. That was a little bit annoying actually, because they kept taking us to places that were in the 9,000-10,000RMB range, when I had said I wanted 5-6. So they were showing us huge places that were too expensive and it was frustrating trying to get them to understand what we wanted. And then I pointed at several decent looking small lane houses, and they just laughed and were like “oh no only poor Chinese people live there, very terrible inside, no satellite TV, we can’t show you!” So it seems that they just usher the waiguoren (foreigner) into the cushy high-rise soulless apartments because they think that’s what you want! But they are super expensive and have no character. Also the ones they were showing us were all in heavily commercial districts, and they say “look, location is very good, right near Ikea and Carrefour!” They just show you what they think you want and they steer you away from anything more local.

However, yesterday I went to look at a great place, which is actually where I will be living. It is in the former French Concession area, which is really nice because it’s mostly low-rise buildings, tree-lined streets, and old architecture. It is a four story lane house type place that I found out about from a contact I got through one of our customers. It should work out really well.