I do not consider China the enemy of the USA, though there are some members of the old guard in Beijing, especially in the military who would disagree with me.  Competitor yes, but not enemy in the way the Soviet Union or the PRC under Mao was.

Marshall’s famous quote came to mind watching this stunning piece on the new “ghost cities” – an inarguable sign of a serious property bubble.  I know there are major skyscrapers in Shenzhen that look complete on the outside, but are unfinished and completely vacant on the inside.

I cannot urge you enough to spend 15 minutes watching this.

My post the other day which scornfully mentioned the Chevy Volt produced snark from my co-worker Adam, who is from Michigan.  Yes, it was voted car of the year.  It also is insanely expensive, and only in reach of some consumers because of very generous government rebates.  Its sales are also anemic and consumers are reporting serious problems with battery range, especially in cold weather, as was forecast by critics.

The Volt is an interesting idea, but it is still essentially an old idea – batteries and internal combustion.  Maybe a better version of that combo is the future, but I am still keeping my eye on fuel cells.

But more concerning should be the states with continued high birthrates.  They still are far below the average for life expectancy, but many times above replacement rate.  And they are all among the poorest countries on Earth.  From where I sit, I don’t see any of them developing rapidly à la China and India.  Cross-reference with the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom for the bright stars who have some hope, but the rest are a recipe for unrest and continued poverty.

What this picture shows me is that beyond maybe India or maybe Brazil (probably not, but maybe), there isn’t going to be a “next China”.  If anything costs in China will rise to the point that companies in the USA and EU look to bring business back home.  I don’t see the next economic titan rising out of sub-Saharan Africa or the Islamic world.

So it will be China for a while.  Let us know if PassageMaker can be of assistance.

However, when the IT team is motivated to re-post a sales brochure to freshen up the homepage, I guess that is a sign I best get moving on the blogging front.

I will try to re-establish my blogging discipline, with at least a few posts per week.

In the meantime, here is the article that got me off my duff (hat tip to Dan Beach, aka, “Canada Dan”):

China’s ‘miracle’ Shenzhen marks 30 years.  I first visited Shenzhen in 1994 and at the time never imagined it would become my second home.  How different it is today than the ugly, gray city 16 years ago.  China has a long way to go, but the distance it has traveled has been astonishing.

Other fun stuff:

• MSNBC – Clinton says world must respond to N. Korea
• Financial Times – US warns over Beijing’s ‘assertiveness’
• DER SPIEGEL  – Interview with Economist Nouriel Roubini: ‘We Will Have Even More Crises in the Future’ (hat tip Matt)
• Real Clear Politics – Depression 2010? (whether you agree with him or not, this future is not clear or bright – there is much excitement yet to come I fear)
• Reuters – Factbox: Sources of tension between China and the U.S.
• Reuters – China and U.S. look to close world’s biggest trade gap
• Reuters (again) – Clinton avoids China disputes, hands out teddy bears (avoid confrontation and carry a teddy bear – not exactly what the Teddy for whom the bear is named advised, but then he never had to deal with being in debt to your competitors)
• CNBC – US Plays Down European Crisis but China Worried (as they should be)
• USA TODAY – Private pay shrinks to historic lows as gov’t payouts rise (that’ll work)
• Reuters (yet again) – How Greek debt crisis could save America (God, I hope so)

Maybe get to some travel blogging tomorrow.  Or not.  You’ll have to check back to see.

Too many American industries rely on illegal labor to remain cost competitive, thus the constant drama on the border issue.

The China nearly every Westerner sees is the coastal veneer.  The majority of China still dwells in the poor, mostly agrarian interior.  Their source of cheap labor in internal.

And as this article in Slate by Brett Edkins points out, in a sense, many of those Chinese migrant workers are “illegal” anyway.  Key paragraphs:

The United States could begin by conceding one of China’s principal arguments: Human rights are not just about individual liberty, but also economic opportunity. The Chinese “economic miracle,” which lifted 500 million people out of poverty in just one generation, is itself an unprecedented human rights achievement. Yet it gave rise to other pressing human rights concerns, including an issue that threatens to destabilize China’s Communist regime—growing discrimination against the roughly 200 million Chinese citizens who left their rural homes to find jobs in China’s booming cities.

In many ways, these rural migrants resemble undocumented immigrants in the United States. In China, they provide indispensible labor for vast urban construction projects and work in menial jobs as guards, waiters, cooks, or barbers. They are often mistreated by employers, generally live in poor conditions, and receive few social benefits and limited protection from the police. And their children are regularly denied public education.

Chinese newspapers, “Netizens,” and even Communist officials are calling for reforms. Their main target is China’s 50-year-old household registration, or hukou, system. Began as part of China’s state-run economy, the hukou system labels individuals as “rural” or “urban,” indicating their proper place of residence and binding laborers to the land. Today, rural residents are permitted to travel to the cities, but they can still be fined or forcibly returned home if they are caught working or living outside their designated hukou. Obtaining a temporary urban-residency permit from the police is beyond the means of most migrants, requiring a fee and employment documentation. Permanently changing one’s hukou by attending university or joining the military or the Communist Party is similarly out of reach.

Life for a city dweller with a rural hukou is difficult. Their hukou denies them urban welfare and access to public housing. It also excludes them from publicly funded health-insurance schemes. Since fewer than 3 percent can afford health insurance, most avoid medical care altogether. City judges often impose harsher sentences on rural migrants, and employers frequently withhold wages, knowing undocumented workers cannot complain to police without risking exposure.

I will admit I not a fan of the author’s wording, “undocumented migrants”.  If you illegally cross a national border anywhere else in the world (including Mexico), you’ve broken the law.  Only in the modern American journalist and politician world does that deserve an obscurant euphemism.

However, the point of the article is that despite the rapid advances, parts of the Chinese state are stuck in the Maoist past.  One good thing about dealing with PassageMaker, you know our employees are treated well and legal.  As a foreign owned firm, the government would come down on us like a ton of bricks were it otherwise.

Regardless, I am happy to see people in China, including members of the Communist Party, start to address the problem.

Since my return from China two weeks ago, I have been working like crazy trying to bag all the new business raining down on PassageMaker, SafePassage and China Quality Focus.  The world economy is not out of the woods but we are definitely seeing an explosion of new RFQs, led by Australia.  They are booming exporting the raw materials for China’s industry.  Let’s all raise our glasses to Australia!  More on that later…

I have been picking away at the travel log in my minimal spare time, but here are some interesting articles (some a bit old, but nonetheless).

• Nixon wasn’t so bad after all – USSR planned nuclear attack on China in 1969 – and Tricky Dick stopped World War III.  This is the kind of stuff you do as President that you can’t talk about, you have to hope historians get it right.
• From Instapundit, a link to great blog about Japan, Ampontan.  Today’s post is called Lame and Shameless, about ridiculous Western reporting on Japan.  I am reminded of Andrea Martins, our representative in Brazil, who was actually born and raised in Beijing, the first and only Caucasian I’ve met who truly speaks native-level Mandarin.  She told me once that if you visit China for a week, you can write a book.  Stay for a month, you can write an article.  Live there for 25 years, you have nothing to say.
• Every once in a while you need to remind yourself how utterly insignificant you really are – Jupiter loses one of its stripes and scientists are stumped as to why.
• Every once in a while you need to remind yourself how great your life really is – N.Korean women up for sale in China: activist.  Tragic and terrible.  I hope China steps up.
• Interesting article from Mother Jones.  Yes, really.  The Last Taboo.
• The New York Times finally realizes that many jobs aren’t ever coming back – The New Poor: In Job Market Shift, Some Workers Are Left Behind.
• Speaking of vomiting…U.S. posts 19th straight monthly budget deficit.  (hat tip to Dave Learn)
• Dear God, let’s hope so – N.J. gov. sets tone for US – I have heard Christie speak, and it is QUITE refreshing.  He sounds like a no-nonsense CEO sent in to save a company on the ropes.  Math doesn’t lie.  There is no money tree.  You  have to cut spending.  However, if you could just raise taxes on The Real Housewives of New Jersey and leave the rest of the state alone, I think you could sell that.  My God, what tacky people.  The rise of China should be seen as largely a good thing, and maybe the Chinese economy will grow larger than the USA’s, but that was never a foregone conclusion.  Our current political leadership across the board seems hellbent on making sure it happens ASAP though.  As someone who has business interests in both USA and PRC, I just wish the USA would quit shooting itself in the foot.  We businessmen would be just fine if we knew from one day to the next what was coming out of Washington.
• Globish – I love it.  What a great word.  And the author nails it; I have had similar experiences many, many times in the Chinese-speaking world.
• And finally, I can’t resist – Dog on the menu for Chinese astronauts.  Actually, dog is pretty tasty, though I’ve only had it prepared in Korean restaurants in China, so I haven’t tried the Chinese version.  Have to put that on the to-do list.

Many young souls seem to want to be bankers or lawyers, as though these are highly lucrative careers that guarantee a sweet life in the Hamptons.  Certainly they can, but most bankers and lawyers slog along without ever making the big bucks.  Moreover, they are careers without a real product that you can point to and say “I made this”.  I tried explaining there are no safe corporate career paths anymore, and believe me when the cost cutting starts, they start in middle management.

I remember reading an article written by a British MP maybe 20 years ago that has formed part of my philosophy ever since.  At the time he was writing about the challenge posed by Japan to the British manufacturing base, what was left of it anyway.  I am going from memory and as the article predated the internet, I have had no luck finding it.  But the quote went something like this,

British Leyland did not go out of business because of the Japanese.  It failed because it made dreadful cars.  Our economy today is almost entirely based on people in London trading bits of paper.

Real economies make things.

Did this make anyone substitute “Chrysler”, “Chinese” and “Lehman Brothers” in their heads?

The issue has been much debated of late about whether China’s economy is a bubble, perhaps the greatest bubble of all (see here, here, here, here, here and here).  Certainly the yuan is undervalued.  Certainly much of what you see in the Chinese cities is pastiche – empty buildings abound in any major city.  There is vast overcapacity in many industries, driven by cheap loans from government banks to drive development and keep unemployment manageable, similar to the government role in the Japanese and Korean economies during their early growth periods.

But my mind and my gut keep coming back to that quote from the Brit – “real economies make things“.  There is real manufacturing know-how in China and it grows stronger daily as they gain more experience.  The infrastructure and man-power are real.  These are not paper assets that vanish in the blink of the eye like the billions lost in the last two years in the USA.

Does the Chinese economy need to make adjustments.  Yes, indeed it does.  So does the USA.  And as with all things, we will all be forced to one way or the other.  But the knowledge gained in this Chinese industrial revolution will persist and remain a real asset even if the bubble does burst.  Japan is still the #2 economy despite 20 years of stagnation.  They have not fallen back to the misery of late 1940′s.  I am confident China will survive as well, even with their monumental challenges.  They have come so far in 30 years, I just don’t see them giving up, and when the world economy does recovery, they will still be the largest source of low-cost manufacturing capability on the planet.

And future bankers of America need to remember it is a whole lot easier to move a financial center than the infrastructure required for manufacturing.

PS – If you have never watched Top Gear, I highly recommend it.  The 30 minute episode on British Leyland is well worth your time, if only to remind yourself of how awful cars used to be.

Not that China is necessarily our enemy, but they are certainly a competitor, and I don’t normally borrow money from my competitors.  Some interesting articles covering all sides of the USA declining(?) debate and other silliness.

• America On The Rise – I sure hope so, and the author’s demographic points are very valid
• 10 Mega-Themes That Spell The End Of Western Dominance – for a contrary view, if a bit overly pessimistic IMAO
• How America Can Rise Again – a very good overview of our dynamic creative culture and moribund political system – he had me until he started pointing to the Carter Administration as his example – please – but overall a very worthwhile article (hat tip to David Bradley)
• Foreigners cut Treasury stakes; rates could rise – if the US government was spending this borrowed money on upgrading our infrastructure, that would be one thing…
• Foreign demand falls for Treasuries – more detail
• Jitters over China’s waning taste for T-bills – more if you can stand it
• Uncle Sam vs the Dragon – this is a good strategic overview
• EXCLUSIVE: Help Wanted — ‘Arrogant Americans’ Need Not Apply – worth a laugh
• Flip-flop diplomacy with the Dalai Lama
• The Global Debt Bomb – interesting interactive report – I feel like I need an aspirin
• China to release pollution-fighting fish in lake – and this is just odd

Sorry nothing more for today, too much catch-up from Chinese New Year.

View from the apartment window.

view facing Hong Kong New Territories

Note the mosiacs in the pool. It is amazing what you can accomplish with a massive supply of inexpensive labor.

And though it feels cold here because of the damp, it is about 62 F.  Salem, VA was in single digits in comparison.  The company apartment is decorated with Chinese art (Mike has good taste).  We even have a life sized terracotta warrior.

Rather imposing

These are iron door pulls that would have been mounted on a pair of double doors (love the screws)

A window - the screen is hinged internally to swing inward when mounted

Our apartment complex, taken Day 5 before the rain started. The pool with the mosaics is up the hill to the left.

Entrance to the apartment complex in the rain

The walk to the office takes maybe 5-6 minutes.  The rain was coming pretty hard and the wind overwhelmed the umbrella.  One thing you notice about side streets like ours is how poorly they are sloped to drain the water.  Makes for enormous puddles.

Stopped at my snack shop for dumplings and a tea egg.  I make tea eggs at home, and they are just that – eggs boiled in tea, dark soy sauce and spiced with star anise.  The flavor is very subtle – it is 90% a regular hard boiled egg, but the last 10% makes all the difference.

Breakfast (10 dumplings and 1 tea egg = 4 RMB = $0.60)

Worked the morning in the office, and then had lunch at the restaurant around the corner.  It has a few dishes that are wonderful, but is certainly not fine dining.  The highlights:

This is the best use for broccoli - it goes fast - garlic and what I think is chicken broth. A savory delight. In the background are fried pork ribs. Awesome.

This is the best use for squid - crispy golden brown and delicious!

Back to work until late in afternoon, then I head to Futian district to take an old friend from Taiwan to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  We were the only ones there, so service was exceptional, as was the food, as was the wine, AS WAS THE PRICE.  Dinner for two cost 7 times as much as dinner on the street the night before!  Luckily she is bringing some of her USA friends to PassageMaker, it was a legit business dinner, but man it is easy to get spoiled by the cheap food over here.  I figured we all know what Italian food looks like, so I’ll spare you photos of gnocchi and tiramisu.

Day 7 – A clear day, rain has stopped.  It’s knocked the smog out of the air, so a bright blue morning.

Clear blue skies

The streets around our office are narrow and crowded

Off early to our Assembly Center in Buji.  I’m working on continuous improvement initiatives there as part of our new ISO 9000:2008 certification, something we achieved just last month.  My background is in manufacturing, and since we are gearing up for what we think will be a very strong 2010, Mike asked me to come over and assist with introducing the alphabet soup of kaizen related initiatives – 5S, JIT, OJT, etc.  Meet and greet the staff, which is dominated by women at the manager level.  Only one man on the senior staff.  You are seeing more of this in China, but my impression is PassageMaker is ahead of the curve here.  On to lunch, which is fabulous as usual.

An even better use for squid - a superior version of the dish I had yesterday

The best use for duck, although I hate the way they cut through the bones. Makes eating very difficult and slightly dangerous. And yes, that's the head.

I love these little fish

Man they do vegetables well

You have to get used to your food staring at you

On the way out, we passed the fish tanks that hold the seafood fresh and alive until it’s time to cook it.  Everything in China is prepared fresh.

If I'd known they had had geoduck I would have ordered it. Never had it before.

Duck fish

Later that afternoon we headed back to the office to pick up Julien Roger of China Quality Focus, our sister company.  Mike, Julien and I flew to Shanghai for the Global Sources trade show, a trip that wasn’t scheduled for me when I came over, but I’m glad I went.  The show went well and I’ve never really been to downtown Shanghai before, just the industrial area around the old Hongqiao airport.  We flew into the new Pudong airport and I am convinced the planning went something like this – “To demonstrate the greatness of the People’s Republic of China, we will build the longest airport in the world!”.  We landed late at the last gate and walked for 10 minutes in a straight line down the terminal until we got to the baggage claim area.  This is a seriously long building.  And thoughtfully they included no people movers like the trams at the Detroit airport.  Considering the late hour and the lack of other arrivals, you’d think they could’ve found a found a gate closer to the exit.

Heading to the hotel, Ibis, a chain of affordable hotels owned by Novotel, a French company, what struck me about Pudong at night were the vast highways.  Six to eight lane interstate grade roads as compared to the cramped streets typical of most Chinese cities.  Pudong was farmland just a few years ago, and it definitely has a planned feel.

Although they fed us on the plane (a 2 hour flight with meal service – haven’t seen that in the States in decades), Mike and I were still hungry, so we found an American bar, Malone’s across the street and had a very good hamburger while listening to a GREAT Filipino cover band.  Every bar and hotel in China has a Filipino band, all playing English cover tunes, even when the clientele is Chinese.  And nearly all of them suck.  This was an astounding exception.  They were tight and the covers were quite good, including good hard rock and heavy metal.  The singer had some serious pipes.

Back at the hotel, I noticed the bathroom is a pre-fabricated assembly.  Smart idea for a chain.  It was one of the nicer bathrooms I’ve had in China.

Notice how all the parts are manufactured. I'm willing to bet Ibis just plops this into each room as a completed assembly. The big button on the way flushes the toliet, which is a European wall mounted unit.

Day 8 – After the best night’s sleep so far, up early to get to the show and set up the booth.  On the way to the convention center, I saw this:

Just bizarre

They switched us at the last minute to give us a corner booth, which meant we had to cut up the posters to make them fit.  I think the booth looked pretty good, considering.

Mike Bellamy (L) and Julien Roger (R)

I’ve been to a fair number of trade shows over the years.  Heavy truck shows are dull unless you really like trucks and truckers, car shows are fun, and motorcycle rallies are a blast.  But in every case before, I was selling a product.  If the guy’s got a Road King we have something for him, but not if he has a Dyna.  We’re on this model of Peterbilt, but not that one.  But now that I’ve done it, nothing beats selling a service.  EVERYONE doing business in China needs Quality Inspections, Product Testing, Sourcing Feasibility Studies, Vendor Coordination, Intellectual Property Protection, Logistics and Assembly Inspection & Packaging.  The industry doesn’t matter, they all needed at least one of our services.  This was a gift and clothing fair, but it is the same at every show.  It’s like we are selling beer at a NASCAR race.  We got business cards from USA, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Israel, Nigeria, Iran, South Africa, New Zealand, etc.

Mike is a featured speaker at every Global Sources trade show (including Dubai, Hong Kong, Mumbai and South Africa this year), and he gave a two-part presentation spread over the first two days of the show.  He did a great job and it was extremely well received by the standing room only audience.  Rather than a canned sales pitch, he tells it like it is, barely mentioning PassageMaker or China Quality Focus.  The soft sell works and many attendees stopped by the booth afterward to tell us so.  They figure anyone with enough confidence to NOT shove his company down their throats must have it going on.  And they are quite right.  We do.

Mike is a featured speaker

Mike giving his presentation

Julien Roger is also a tremendous salesman and very knowledgeable.  I learned a great deal from watching his methods.  Selling China Quality Focus’s services is easier, as Quality Inspections are very straightforward compared to PassageMaker’s services, but the combined message of the two companies meshes very well.  We often have the same customers.

The convention center is still under construction and gigantic.  As with the airport, the point seems to be making you walk as far as possible to get anywhere.  Despite the impressive size, they apparently forgot about effective HVAC.  It is unseasonably cold and I packed for south China.  Day 1 of the show had no heat at all, which made it a real grind.  Day 2 was a little warmer, but still uncomfortable.  By Day 3 they’d gotten it going to the point it was now actually hot inside.  HVAC needs some work for sure.

They also have very little in the way of food.  The restaurants inside looked just plain bad, serving cold rolls and sandwiches wrapped in plastic like a vending machine.  However, there was a McDonald’s right across from our hall, W2.  It turned out to be the world’s smallest McD’s, about the size of a broom closet, with one little girl selling horrible looking “chicken sandwiches” out of coolers.  I put that in quotes, because they were actually pork.  Menu says chicken, she will say in English it is chicken, the box says chicken, but she insisted in Chinese that they were pork.  We passed and were directed to the other McD’s at W5.

W5 is an international airport runway away from where we were.  In 30 F weather, I was not interested in the walk, but there was nothing else, so walk we did.  Entering W5 was a shock as it was still under construction, freezing cold and reeked of paint fumes.  The McD’s was even colder than the rest of the building.  It was a huge McD’s, brand new and manned by an army of eager young staffers in winter parkas.   McDonald’s can’t heat their own place.  It was also completely deserted.  We were it for customers stoopid enough to walk that far in the cold for genuine simulated food.  Our “food” in hand we sat down to eat our rapidly cooling cheeseburgers (with cucumbers instead of pickles) in 25 F comfort, huffing paint.  Then the staff helpfully turned on the Backstreet Boys at headache inducing volumes to entertain us, because what lao wai doesn’t love the Backstreet Boys?  We’d shout over the music to tell them to turn it down please.  And they would, just a little.  As it was the only food around, we ate there all three days of the convention.  Our experience was exactly the same each time, including the yelling over the music to turn it down.  Note to China:  the progress over the last 30 years has been astounding, but build convention centers with decent places to eat and heaters.

Holy crap this place is big!

Holy crap this place is big!!

Holy crap this place is big!!!

This is the smallest McD's in the world, right across from our exhibit hall.

So why put the real McDonalds as far away as possible?

W5 under construction

Way to plan fellas

The interior of the McD’s was just as bizarre.

Huh?

What is it with women and fruit and vegetables?

This is a joke, right?

The rarest sign in China

With the first day of thee show successfully behind us, we head out into a bitterly cold Shanghai sunset.

Shanghai sunset - the pollution makes it prettier!

For dinner, we are off to meet friends at Shanghai Hooters.  Yes, really.  This turns out to be loads of fun.  Mike, Julien and I meet up with one of our sales reps, Dan Welygan, who worked in our Shenzhen office for about 4 years.  Also in our quintet is a classmate from the University of South Carolina now living in China.  Many, many wings and beer later, I have a new found appreciation for Hooters.  It was a bold decision to open this restaurant, as typical Chinese girls lack the requisite body type required of a Hooters waitress.  And they have to be attractive and be able to speak English.  A pretty small labor pool.  Our waitress was very good, spoke solid English and really new how to work a room.  A very bright young lady, she has a future in sales for sure.

Our waitress Elva

Hard to find the body type in China - the Chinese are blunt about weight and appearance. I am sure every one of them would describe themselves as "fat" and not be the least self-conscious about it.

Day 9 – Second day of the show went as well as the first.  Part two of Mike’s seminar was very well received and many of the attendees have stopped by the booth, several 2-3 times.  After the show, we meet our web developer, a French graphic designer living in Shanghai, at a trendy coffee shop for sandwiches.  This place was in a glittering new mall, still decorated for Christmas.  My cameras does a poor job in low light, so my apologies for the quality of the photos.

Christmas decorations in Shanghai

First of two Ferraris I saw in less than 2 minutes - notice the Christmas lights on the trees.

yep, that's a Christmas tree!

This is what irony looks like. The sign says "The site of the first national congress of the Communist Party of China". This historical marker is in front of a brand new shopping mall and a Ferrari had just driven beneath it. China is not a politically free country, but it ain't communist either.

So far no Chinese food in Shanghai.  After the meeting, off to meet another USC classmate at The Boxing Cat Brewery, the nicest brewpub I’ve ever been to.  As I was once in this business, that is quite a statement.  It was in a 100+ year old home in the old part of Shanghai, beautifully refurbished.  The brewpub was 3 stories, with a bar on the 1st and 3rd floors.  It felt exactly like a British pub, with beer selection and menu to match.  Since we had already eaten we did not order anything, which now that I know the chef was trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I heartily regret.  I have a feeling it will not be my last trip.  My, how far this country has come in just a few short years.  However, even The Boxing Cat has moments that confound.

Where the heck do you want me to put it? You really don't want to know the answer.

Day 10 – Last day of show, and the pollution is pretty bad today.  Traffic is light, and some exhibitors start packing up almost from the opening bell.  We stayed until nearly the scheduled end at 5:30 PM, though we give up when they start dismantling the booth around us at about 5:10 PM.  Global Sources has been good to us and we thought it the honorable thing to do to stick it out to the end, though honestly the show really ended around noon.  Off to Pudong airport (which is even more gigantic from the outside and has the coolest road system connecting it I’ve ever seen) to catch our flight to Shenzhen.  Our first Chinese meal of the trip is some very good Cantonese cuisine at the airport.

Smog

Always a bad sign when the gates are in triple digits

Cantonese beef noodle soup - Chinese airport food is MUCH better than USA

Shrimp dumplings, they go fast

Mike's 'set menu' meal

Day 11 – Worked all day to get caught up from the show.  Verizon’s data service here stinks, a pale comparison to my old AT&T service (of course, that is reversed in the USA, which is why I switched).  Many emails did not come through to my blackberry.  I also discovered that Verizon is charging me $2/minute to RECEIVE CALLS.  This was one of the specific questions I asked before adding the “China plan” for this trip.  I have already written about how woefully trained their salespeople are, and this takes the cake.  Since the trip began, I have been receiving calls from clients, family and friends – including a call a 3 AM from a client who had missed I was not in USA.  My team in the USA is having words with Verizon about this, but let’s just say, it was a cute phone bill.  China Mobile by comparison, charges nothing to receive an international call.  Heck, their rates to MAKE an international call are less than Verizon.  So, if you want to get in touch with me, send me an email and I’ll give you my China Mobile number.

I join Mike and Adam Supernant for dinner at a local place in Liantang.

Chinese donuts - I like the fried ones, steamed ones not so much. Sweet dishes are not for dessert, but served as part of the meal.

This is essentially braised fat - gross.

It's very common to have fire at the table.

Quite tasty dish of tofu and pork finished on the burner at our table.

After dinner I was invited to join some of our Chinese co-workers at a nightclub.  I was flattered to be invited and went along.  After several hours, I had my first run in on this trip with the dreaded Mao’s Revenge.  I am trying to tell it like it is for those of you who don’t travel overseas, and if this strikes you as TMI, it isn’t.  You need to know what you are in for.

While western style “sitters” are becoming more common, squatters still dominate.  In a sense this is good, as sitters are not as sanitary ( I mean, everyone else is sitting there too).  But when you’re in an emergency situation and you are not used to squatters, this can get dicey fast.  My advice for survival in these situations:

1. Wear sensible shoes with good rubber shoes – I prefer Blundstones.
2. Wear jeans.  Avoid khakis – not the color issue but the way the pockets are cut.  I always keep everything – wallet, keys, passport, phones – in the front pockets of my jeans.
3. This is a very uncommon position for a Westerner.  I have pretty strong calves and thighs, and have learned how to balance, but if you never done it before, try it and hold the position for 2-3 mins.  It takes some getting used to and you don’t want to find out the hard way you can’t do it.  Luckily the squatting position is more conducive to the situation at hand, and so things tend to go quickly.
4. Carrying a small packet of tissues is a good idea.  Toilet paper in a public restroom anywhere in the world is never a given.  Handkerchiefs and socks (single use of course) will do in a crisis.
5. Carry a bottle of prescription Lomotil or the generic.  I always do and there is no OTC medicine that comes close.  It WILL stop the drama.

My evening cut short, off to sleep.  Day 12 is Sunday, market day in Liantang, and Mike and I head to Mian Dian Wang, or “Noodle Snack King”, my favorite fast food chain in the world.  14 line cooks actually making the food by hand.  Total cost of the meal is about 60 RMB, or less than $9.

Noodle Snack King

Knife cut noodles

Seaweed salad, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts

Soup dumplings

Lamb dumplings

That evening, Mike threw a dinner party at his home.  It was great to see old friends and an even better meal.  Simply the best food I’ve ever eaten in China.  Mike’s wife and the maid did all the cooking.

Two women, in this kitchen...

with this equipment and about 2 hours...

made this.

Day 13 – Monday – Last night there was a little too much “medicinal wine”.  Whenever you hear that phrase, run screaming in the other direction.  After such an amazing meal, we needed something basic to calm the acid seas, so off to Subway (yes, really).  A steak and cheese later and all is right with the world.  With some lingering Mao’s, I head to the apartment to work from home.  It was a glorious day, 70 F and clear blue skies with a light breeze.

Our apartment complex

Later Mike asked me over to finish up the leftover ingredients from the dinner party – there was no left over dishes, just raw materials.  This is the modest result.

A light meal - those ladies can really cook!

Two customer visits tomorrow and time at the factory.

All for now…

This article in The Washington Post gives a good overview of the steps China is taking to make that ‘yet’ come quickly.  Nuclear may not be everyone’s idea of clean energy, and certainly there is a large CO2 cost upfront to build the reactors, but once past the hurdle, you aren’t burning coal anymore.  As someone who was once lost on the streets of Beijing in clouds of coal smoke, this would be a very good thing.

OK, so I was blind drunk at the time, but less than 100 ft of visibility is still really, really bad pollution.  I make the point to American environmentalists all the time – you really don’t know what pollution looks like if you’ve never left southwest Virginia.  Heck, I would argue you don’t have a clue until you’ve left the United States

China in general is progressing at an astonishing rate – industrialization, legal framework, financial systems, the largest mass migration in human history – and hopefully rational environmental policies follow suit.  As I see it, the Chinese labor pool is so vast (at least until the demographic time bomb that is the one-child policy causes an economic implosion in about 30-40 years) that they can maintain their manufacturing cost advantage and still provide a (marginally) healthier environment for their citizens.

I hope for the sake of our staff in Shenzhen, that the government gives this effort more than lip service.