CHINA DEVELOPMENT Archives - Page 2 of 6

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Not (entirely) Safe For Work weekend post

May 23, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

ChinaSMACK is a window into the bizarre world of the Chinese internet. I regularly link to the oddities found therein. And while it is a window into a foreign world, it only provides snapshots that titillate and excite conversation on Chinese chat-rooms. Thus it is often the equivalent of watching helicopter footage of police car chases in LA. You might deduce something useful about life in LA from what you see and the insightful (*snort*) commentary of the reporters, but more likely it is just mindless entertainment.

This article appeared on ChinaSMACK today, Naked Chinese Girl Mentally Ill, Traumatized, or On Drugs?

The frontal images are pixelated, the rear images are not. I would argue that this is harmless, but you judge the culture of your office. WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I post it for the following reasons:

The event takes place in Shenzhen. I swear this is Luohu district. The background looks so familiar, I bet this is near our old office.
Notice the way she just walks through traffic and then hops the barrier fence – the one designed specifically to keep people from walking out into traffic. This is not a sign of mental illness. EVERYBODY does this in China.
Notice the barely controlled chaos – the masses of people, the traffic, the noise. This is not because there is a pretty young woman running around naked. This is all day everyday in Shenzhen and every other place I’ve been in China. Most Americans cannot imagine the demographic density of Asia.
Notice the unguarded construction site. While major digs with have walls built around them, it’s very common for smaller projects to be completely wide open, with people walking right through the middle, dodging around the construction workers.
In my experience, the Chinese gawp at anything that outside the norm, including tall, fat white guys walking down the street. You should see some of the looks I get walking through Liantang.
They are also charitable and helpful in my experience. Maybe it is because I am a lao wai, but I don’t think Kitty Genovese would have happened in China. There is a genuine effort to help her.
The bare feet. The Chinese know that the streets in the major cities are beyond filthy. EVERYONE wears slippers around the house and would NEVER walk barefoot on the street. This is sure sign this is not a stunt. Even if she were a model paid to act crazy for some bizarre promotion, I am confident she would have retrieved her flip flops. That’s why the camera pans down to capture the image of the abandoned footwear.
The omnipresent and yet soft police presence. Cops are everywhere in Chinese cities. Yet, I have never seen them bestir themselves for anything. I mean look at how the cop DOESN’T react when she climbs from the back seat of the cop car into the front seat. That would be impossible for a dozen reasons in an American police car – handcuffs, barriers, cops tasering you and then beating the crap out of you to name a few. I am almost convinced that as long as you don’t murder, rape, steal, sell drugs, or criticize the government, you can get away with anything. Jaywalking, reckless driving, spitting on the sidewalk, littering, public drunkenness, panhandling – those are all just fine. Indeed, it can be argued they are integral parts of Chinese culture.
She’s naked. I mean, come on…

Have a great weekend!

China’s other revolution

May 21, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

I remember hearing the term “monk hotels” when I lived in Taiwan. By that they meant that these hotels did not allow a foreign visitor to bring a “new wife” home with them for the night.

These hotels were already anachronisms in Taipei 12 years ago when I lived there, but China was far more conservative.

Now, it has changed dramatically, and China is as sexually liberated as any place on earth. I say this without any judgment on whether this is a good our bad thing, but it is true that China has opened to the world in more ways than just economics in the last 30 years.

This article from the AP, “Swingers’ case tests sexual limits in China”, highlights the dramatic changes.

The US engagement with China has always been predicated on the concept that through trade we would alter their society and thus diffuse any potential conflict.

Can you imagine a more Western defense than, “How can I disturb social order? What happens in my house is a private matter.”? Summed up in those two sentences are concepts of personal privacy and private property that would would have been incomprehensible 20 years ago.

How much China has changed since then…

Blogging is hard work

May 16, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

In less than a year I have gone from daily blogging to forcing myself to find something to write about once a week if that.

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 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.

Back soon, hopefully with some travel blogging.

“As Europe and Asia become ‘veritable old-age homes,’ the U.S. will enjoy the benefits of a growing population.”

March 25, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

Here is an interesting book review of Joel Kotkin’s new book, The Next Hundred Million, in the Wall Street Journal, entitled “The More the Better“, by Nick Schulz, which I will quote in full, since it is so short.

A gloomy mood might seem to be justified at the moment. Unemployment is nearing 10%. We have just witnessed a bitter financial crisis, a series of debt-deepening bailouts and a bruising fight over health care. Conservatives fret that we’re running out of time to tackle the entitlement crisis. Liberals fret that we’re running out of time to tackle the climate crisis. Roughly 60% of poll respondents say that America is on the wrong track. Meanwhile, China has resumed its torrid economic growth and has become for the U.S. what Japan was in the 1980s—the seemingly unstoppable Asian force that will soon leave America’s economy behind.
How to respond? “Declinists have always projected America’s imminent demise,” the editors of Newsweek wrote earlier this month. “For a change, they’re onto something.” Joel Kotkin would disagree. In fact, he is in a cheerful mood, in part because he has been thinking less about the present than about the near future, when the news, he says, is likely to be much brighter, at least for America.
“In stark contrast to its rapidly aging rivals,” Mr. Kotkin writes in “The Next Hundred Million,” “America’s population is expected to expand dramatically in coming decades.” He points to a slowly rising birth rate and to the continuing in-migration of young workers from poorer countries. Most of America’s population growth between 2000 and 2050, he notes, “will be in its racial minorities, particularly Asians and Hispanics, as well as in a growing mixed-race population.” No other developed country, he says, “will enjoy such ethnic diversity.”
For Mr. Kotkin, population growth translates into economic vitality—the capacity to create wealth, raise the standard of living and meet the burdens of future commitments. Thus a country with a youthful demographic, in relative terms, enjoys a big advantage over its global counterparts. In the next four decades, Mr. Kotkin observes, “most of the developed countries in both Europe and Asia will become veritable old-age homes” because of stagnant population growth. And the economies of these countries, already devoted to a vast welfare-state apparatus, will face crushing pension obligations—but without the young workers to defray the cost.
Inevitably, Europe and Asia will decline, Mr. Kotkin predicts, and America will thrive. Indeed, the U.S. will emerge, he says, “as the most affluent, culturally rich, and successful nation in human history.” What about the billion-person behemoth across the Pacific? Not to worry. Mr. Kotkin thinks that, by midcentury, China’s one-child policy will cause it, too, to suffer from the burdens of an aging population.
If Mr. Kotkin is right about America’s “next hundred million” people being the key to its happy destiny, where are these people going to live? In the suburbs, he believes—and why not? For most Americans, Mr. Kotkin writes, the suburbs represent “the best, most practical choice for raising their families and enjoying the benefits of community.” He adds that, even with one hundred million more people, the U.S. “will still be only one sixth as crowded as Germany.” In short, there is lots of room to grow.
Mr. Kotkin’s vision of America’s next four decades—expanding, browning, adapting and thriving—is largely convincing. He’s no Pollyanna, however. He worries especially that upward mobility is more difficult than it once was and that class polarization is a real possibility, because a knowledge economy like America’s tends to widen class divisions. The result is “an expanding affluent class of the highly educated, a stubbornly impoverished population, and a shrinking middle class.”
Here is one area where Mr. Kotkin might have said more. The collapse of the family in America’s underclass persists—with more families than not headed by single mothers. Mr. Kotkin is delighted to report that the family in America is taking ever new shapes, adapting and “resurging” in different forms. This claim may well be true for the broad middle class. But in that stubbornly impoverished sector, the family isn’t resurging at all. America’s relatively high birthrate—a source of national strength generally, as Mr. Kotkin says—contains a large percentage of out-of-wedlock births. In some urban neighborhoods, the rate stands close to 70%. The most “successful nation in human history” still has some work to do.
Mr. Schulz is editor of American.com, the Journal of the American Enterprise Institute, and co-author of “From Poverty to Prosperity” (Encounter, 2009).

The demographic challenges of China are indeed real and as Mark Steyn pointed out in his much darker book, America Alone, demographics are destiny. What concerns me (and I imagine the Chinese government) more immediately than the aging is the dearth of women. The combination of the one child policy, modern medicine and Chines cultural preference for boys has led to tens of millions of men who will never find mates. The women simply weren’t born.

Some of this is offset by female immigration from other Asian countries, mainly Vietnam and the Philippines, but that is only an option for someone wealthy enough to pay for a wife.

In short, I am not afraid of China. It is a dynamic and fun place, much as Japan and Korea were during their booms. But America can only fail if we defeat ourselves. Sometimes I think some of us are trying…

Arrogant Americans need not apply, the decline (?) of the West and what if the Chinese stop buying US paper?

February 24, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

“The enemy always has problems of his own of which you are unaware.” – George C. Marshall

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
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.

Days 32-36 – Wrapping it up

February 18, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

Day 32 – After recovering from the party the night before, Adam Supernant and I pick up a couple of our clients for a shopping outing to Dongmen. It is actually quite brisk – south China this time of year can go from the 80s to the 50s in one day – and neither of them are feeling 100%. We head to Ajisen, a Japanese noodle chain. Service is atrocious, but food is good. Like McD’s, it’s always the same, which makes me wish we had Ajisen in my part of the USA. Oh what I would give for good noodles here…

That evening we head out to meet [name redacted at the request of her employer on 7 April 2011], aka Banana (adopted from China and raised in Germany and Hong Kong – yellow on the outside, white inside – her term), and one of our Endorsed Service Providers, Ms. Li Yan of the JunZeJun Law Firm. Li Yan and I have been referring people to each other for a while now and she’s done an exceptional job with our clients, 8-0 on IP cases. It was nice to finally meet her face-to-face. We dine at the Da Yu (Big Fish) the crazy teppanyaki place with the all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink special for 150 RMB. The place is packed to the gills for CNY celebrations. Ultimately we are seated and have a spectacular meal.

Since we were one of the last tables to eat, the chef used our grill to make a massive batch of egg fried rice for the staff’s dinner.

The group breaks up after dinner, though some of us go for a few more drinks – Erdinger at McCawley’s (my favorite German beer). Banana is with us and says I’m pouring it wrong. That may be so, but I’m pouring it the way I like it. Besides, my way is more fun for entertaining the wait staff. No way to describe it, just have to show you the next time I see you. Starts raining which sort of kills the fun sitting outside. Head for home.

Day 33 – rained hard all day, forcing us to cancel our trip to Hong Kong and Macau. We did nothing except sit inside all day working and watching movies. When the rain finally started to abate, headed out to get some KFC. Yes, I know, but sometimes you feel lazy. We pay for it later with wicked acid indigestion. KFC is much spicier and greasier than in the US. Later in the evening we head out to Shekou to get rooms at the cruise ship so we can watch the Superbowl live in the morning at the sports bar downstairs. We take our clients to dinner at Tasca, the Spanish tapas bar and have a grand time. Early to bed.

Day 34 – Up early to watch the Superbowl. I don’t care about either team, but fun nonetheless. Our clients head out early via hydrofoil ferry to HKG, which is much quicker than crossing by land (the “business” excuse for our trip to Shekou – have to take care of those customers). This is the first time I’ve been to Seaworld in the daylight in years, and after the rain it is a gloriously clear morning.

Because it’s Monday (China is 13 hours ahead of the east coast of the USA, so Sunday night is Monday morning), after the game we head to work. We have to stop by B&Q again.

On the way home from the plant, we see a VW Santana with a big involved graphic across the back of the trunk lid. It says “SOCCER” and has a picture of some famous footballer. Only one problem – it’s backwards, a mirror image of what it’s supposed to be. You see this kind of stuff all over the place here – English words on t-shirts, handbags, advertisements, etc. that are misspelled or upside down or backwards or just thrown together at random. My wife has a t-shirt from our time in Taiwan that says “I’m Fine Muck”. Yes you are, sweetie.

We are interviewing a Filipino process engineer to work with me at the Assembly Center. He looks like he’ll be a good fit. He’s got loads of plant level experience working for major global companies and has lived in Shenzhen before. He has family in Dongguan up the road. He tells us a harrowing story about his last time in China when he was kidnapped and robbed at knife point in broad day light. I have heard these stories about SE Asians in China, but never about a Westerner. I guess the gangsters assume the police will care less about the SE Asians. Sadly, they are probably right.

Day 35 – Last day at the Assembly Center. We hired the process engineer, Harold Roman, this morning and he’ll spend today and tomorrow with me reviewing our kaizen agenda for the next couple months. I intend to return for the month of April, but don’t want things to go cold after CNY.

The last lunch is celebratory, the first lunch with beer since I’ve been here. Had I been doing the factory visit two-step, every vendor would want to treat me to an alcohol-soaked luncheon. I was not here for that, but in this case, a couple cold beers in the afternoon is an appropriate reward. Only problem, no cold beer. No problem, we’ve got ice. Iced beer. That was honestly a first for me.

When we get back the postman is delivering the mail on his green China Post motorcycle with saddlebags. Very cool. We get back to work until Julien Roger of China Quality Focus calls and asks me to join him for a business dinner. The schedule requires me to wrap things up early and head back to Liantang. We have our closing meeting and say our goodbyes. I’ll be back in April, but will miss these folks in the meantime. A good team all around.

On the way home I finally get a not-completely-blurry photo of the “staircase street” we pass every day. They are not good, but this is a very cool little oddity of Shenzhen.

When I get back to Liantang, the driver drops me at the end of the street. Our street is private, meaning that you have to pass through a gate and take a ticket to get in. If you stay on the street for more than a few minutes, you have to pay to get back out. We have a parking spot outside the wire, so this is typical. Nearly every shop is already shut down for the Chinese New Year, a bit of a ghost town. I come across one scene outside of a restaurant that is very cute and hugely disturbing at the same time.

Julien and I head out to meet up with Renaud Anjoran of the Quality Inspection Blog at a northeastern style restaurant. I love this style, and was wickedly disappointed by the last place I tried, so I went in hoping for a good experience. Julien said this was his favorite place and I see why. It was excellent across the board.

After dinner, I go for my last massage of the trip. I have a bad back, had to wear a back brace when I was a teenager and am used to regular pain and discomfort. On this trip, I have definitely been spoiled by the affordable and effective massages. My back feels better than it has in years. The woman tonight is in her 40’s and her experience shows – she is an expert and despite the momentary thrashing when I wake up in the morning I feel like a million bucks. Total cost around $25. Love. This. Place.

Day 36 – Last day at the office. Beautiful morning. We battle the usual chaos before the CNY, mainly problems with customer payments clearing in time to release goods to get a berth on a freighter. Customers often can’t envision the traffic at the ports during this time of year, and think that if they get the check out on the last day that that will translate to goods on the water. To clarify, no it won’t. If you are one of these customers reading this blog, it is nothing personal and trust me you are not the only one, but in the future, send the money early. The earlier the better. The Chinese have been celebrating CNY for 5,000 years. It’s not like you weren’t warned, and trust me, there is NOTHING I can do about it.

Our favorite local restaurant is still open and so we have our final lunch there. All the favorites plus this that I’d not had before.

We have a very productive day and then select Mao’s House for the final dinner. How I love those chili shrimp skewers. We have at least 4 plates between us – Mike Bellamy, Brian Garvin, Adam Supernant, and Harold Roman of PassageMaker and Julien Roger and Ludovic Larry of China Quality Focus. Much later we head out to meet up with Dave Learn at Viva, running into Banana and other friends on the way. How bizarre it is to have such a dual life. And how exciting as well. I am looking forward to being home and seeing my family, but I will miss this place when I am gone.

Home at a reasonable hour and to bed. Early day tomorrow.

Day 31 – 恭喜发财 – PassageMaker’s Chinese New Year party!

February 16, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

恭喜发财, gōng xǐ fā cái, wishing you a prosperous new year!

Days 27-30 – Plenty of hard work and plenty of visitors

February 15, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

I’ve already returned to the States a few days ago, but the last couple weeks in China were so hectic, I am filing these posts late. Days 31-37 to come shortly.

Articles, articles, articles…

Chinese diplomat: Ties with US deteriorated recently – no, really?
More from Reuters
This is just wrong – Chinese girl, 9, becomes one of world’s youngest mothers after giving birth to a baby boy
India forms new Climate Change body
Uh oh – Fears of sexual frustration among workers in China
Proof there is a God
China’s Debt Bomb – as good a reason as any for Washington to quit spending so much money
Dazzled by Asia – a different perspective, far less rosy about China’s future, and hard to argue with
Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China – a rather silly article in Time magazine, which again reminds me why I no longer read Time magazine. As Dave Learn put it, “it sounds like an article written by someone who read a book about China”.
And this also popped up on the Google search (from the Business Insider) – TIME Magazine’s Ridiculous Five Things America Needs To Learn From China
China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.
Stay rates for foreign Ph.D.s rebound after decline

A little random tidbit from Dave, who is going on another Asian adventure for the Chinese New Year. Airlines are just no damn fun anymore (from the terms and conditions on his plane ticket):

– Guests can no longer carry guns and/or ammunition on flights to or from Indonesia

Killjoys.

Day 27 – A client from the USA arrived today, one of a group of three we were expecting. The other two were delayed by fun winter weather in the USA, so they will arrive tomorrow. After a long day at work, I met the client for drinks at our preferred corporate hotel, the 999 Royal Suites. Nice rooms for a very reasonable price. The bar caters to foreign businessmen and they have the standard Filipino cover lounge singers. Some have been there for years and it was catching up with old friends. The Filipina hotel day manager, Queenie, looks great and I am glad to see her rising in her career with the 999. I once spent 5 weeks living at the older 999 hotel across the courtyard, so I got to know the staff pretty well.

Day 28 – We have visitors today from [company name redacted 7 April 2011], a German 3PL based in Shanghai with offices in Shenzhen [and no sense of humor apparently]. The head of the Shenzhen office is a self-described “banana”, yellow on the outside and white on the inside. She was adopted from China as a baby by a German family and raised in Germany and Hong Kong. Very interesting young lady. We have a great lunch and then they head off to tour our facilities. Here they are with Mike heading into our medical assembly center with clean room and sterile packaging capabilities.

L-R – Mike Bellamy, founder of PM, and anonymous employees of an anonymous German logistics company that no longer wishes to be named in this blog [as of 7 April 2011], prepare to enter our Clean Room Assembly Center. Too funny.

Later the rest of the clients arrive and off we go to the traditional first-night-in-China Xinjiang dinner. Great time. The highlight was the staff practicing their traditional dances out in front of the restaurant late at night. I’ve seen them do this before, and really don’t understand it, because none are from Xinjiang and they don’t work in local costume and don’t perform at the restaurant. But this is one of my favorite scenes from China. I’ve tried before to take photos and this is the first time they were any good.

Day 29 – Very productive day of meetings with our clients from LimbGear and our Endorsed Service Provider, Camrett Logistics. They have a great new family of products and I expect we will see great things from them in 2010. At night we head out for a Northeastern style dinner, normally one of my favorite styles, at a restaurant called 东北人, dōngběirén, literally “northeastern person” or “northeasterner”. We were told it would be awesome. It wasn’t. The food was a warm cup of OK, but the service was bloody atrocious. After waiting more than 10 minutes I actually had to get up to go find a waitress and mildly berate her for leaving us sitting so long with no tea. She was embarrassed enough to come immediately and take our drinks order, but the service stunk throughout the meal. This is extremely rare in China, where most of the time you have almost too much service. If you are in Shenzhen, Dong Bei Ren near King Glory Plaza (GuoMao station on the subway) is one to skip.

Day 30 – Another day at the Assembly Center. I am starting to feel the end of the trip and have so much to do I eat lunch at my desk. When I lived in Taiwan, I loved the lunch boxes (bien dang in the local dialect). Today’s take out was not the same (bien dang are more complete rounded meals) but it reminded me a bit. A good light and healthy lunch all the same. Now if I can just get my TrekDesk (one of our clients!) set up in China, maybe I could actually LOSE weight on these trips.

On the way to dinner, we saw one of the more memorable sights of this trip. We are fast approaching the Chinese New Year, and families stock up on fresh produce to last through the long holiday (1-2 weeks). And when I say fresh, I mean live.

Dinner was one of the best of the trip, which is really saying something.

Everyone’s tired and a little lubricated, so early night. More adventures tomorrow!

Days 15-26 – Pollution, street food, deadlines, Hong Kong and crossing the road in China

February 5, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

Our founder, Mike Bellamy, who evidently doesn’t have enough WORK TO DO posted the Rick Roll the other day under my name. That was his hint that I should blog more often, so here goes. Sorry for the Rick Roll. Sorry for the absence. And sorry in advance for the length of this post.

More interesting articles:

Hong Kong remains world’s freest economy: report
For this American, the idea that the US government can get Google to do anything is silly
Impressive China economic growth numbers
Now IMDB is blocked in China
From Wired, In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits
De-industrializing Detroit
How to Push a Dump Truck Out the Window – the wreckage that was America’s 4th largest city
US slaps duties on electric blankets from China
Bacteria Rebuilt To Make Oil
We Are So Screwed – a fascinating look at financial crises
China protests US arms sales to Taiwan

The last two weeks have been insane. The pollution was unbelievable up until this past weekend, as bad as I’ve seen it in over a decade. I could taste it and feel it on my teeth. Blowing your nose was a bit of an adventure and made me wish for black handkerchiefs.

It has also been fun as the Great Firewall is now blocking Bloomberg completely and Reuters about half the time. Several IT guys we’ve worked with in the past have left China for Thailand because the Firewall is too big a pain in the neck.

Day 15 – Customer visits seem to to be an almost daily event. So far this trip we’ve had them one after the other from USA, France, Australia, etc. I was running late, so I hired one of the gypsy cabbies who hang out by our apartment complex to run me across the street to the office instead of taking 10 minutes to walk. He proceeded to pull straight out into oncoming traffic driving the wrong way down the main road and then cutting across 4 lanes of oncoming traffic to get to our side of the road. Such is life in China. After 10 years here, Mike still doesn’t drive.

Lunch was nothing special, though I am constantly amazed at how fatty the meat here is. In the USA, where nearly everyone can stand to lose a few pounds, fat is bad, horrible, terrible stuff. Here, it is where the flavor is. And hardly anyone is overweight.

At night I head off to Futian to meet an old friend who is now a rep for PassageMaker. He was born in Hong Kong but raised from infancy in the UK, so he speaks perfect British English. He moved back to HK on the day of the handover in 1997. He wanted pizza and beer, so we go to NYPD (New York Pizza Delivery), an outdoor place that serves the best American style pizza I’ve ever eaten. Really.

The owners are a couple American Born Chinese (ABC) from California who developed a dough recipe that is mind blowing. Crispy and soft at the same time, it kicks the pants of anything I’ve tried anywhere else in the world. All ingredients are flown in weekly from the USA. And the beer is dirt cheap, too. Across from our table was a skyscraper with a gigantic TV across the top 5-6 floors. We watched TV while we ate and chatted. My camera sucks in low light, so I couldn’t take a photo.

Sitting outside on a nice night, eating great pizza, drinking cold beer, watching a TV 5 times the size of my house and hanging out with an old friend, all for about 20% of the cost of a similar meal in the USA, I wonder why the heck I don’t live here full-time.

Day 16 – Worked all day and well into the night. We didn’t leave the office until nearly 11 PM. Given the hour, Mike’s wife thoughtfully arranged for dinner – a meal of grilled tofu, potatoes and lamb skewers, washed down with copious amounts of cold beer. Oh, did I mention it was on the side walk, sitting on stools that would be reserved for a pre-school classroom in the USA and eating off a plywood folding table sized for a dwarf? It was bloody fabulous. It cost about $5. I love this place.

Day 17 – A full day at the factory. We are working on a big order that needs to go by the end of the month, and we are using this as the first test case of my ideas for operational improvements.

Day 17 view from our factory managers window every industrial park needs a decorative fountain

That night we picked up some prospective clients for dinner at my favorite Xinjiang restaurant. I’d gotten them hooked up with my old friend from Taiwan as a translator and we all had a great time. One item of note, we saw the world’s most expensive production car outside the hotel.

Day 18 – Mike asked me to join him for lunch on Saturday. On the way down to meet him, I passed a ballot box – the apartment complex is having an election.

We head to an Algerian coffee shop in the center of Luohu. Both of us are in the mood for something other than Chinese food. The place has several things that rare in China – a separate smoking area and SILENCE. The Chinese, especially the Cantonese, are not quiet people. Going to a typical food court on a Saturday is like enjoying lunch next to a jet engine. You get used to it (by slowly going deaf), but it is a shock for first-timers used to the USA where typically people don’t shout in restaurants. We had business to discuss, so it was a good choice.

That night we head to Coco Park area for Brazilian barbecue and to later join friends at Club Viva. I love churrascaria and this one was acceptable. The ones in China just fail on the salad bars, which is a big part of the appeal for me in the States. However there were two items of note: camel meat and beer urns.

Day 19 – despite being Sunday, we go to the office to work most of the day. Not much of note, but a few photos nonetheless.

The day ended with another wonderful dinner by Mike’s wife and the maid. Simply magic from such a small kitchen.

Day 20 – I woke to ghastly pollution. At first it appeared a lovely misty morning, but that soon turned into choking smog that persisted all week. That said, it was a great and productive day at the Assembly Center. The culinary highlight was a fabulous meal at a very upscale restaurant near the factory. The place was part of a large apartment development with Spanish style architecture, a welcome departure from the typical Chinese apartments.

Day 21 – Pollution continues and is even worse. Back early to the Assembly Center to start working on the line. We have a big rush order of a complex assembly, around 90 parts in the BOM, and an agonizing wiring step that takes around 8-9 minutes. No way to automate it, it must be done by hand.

First thing is to head off to B&Q to buy some decent tools to cut down on assembly time as much as possible. For the February order I will get electrical and air tools to speed things up and allow for more people at the wiring operation, but today it is just decent hand tools. By upgrading the tools and teaching some Drum-Buffer-Rope practices, we complete the order 5 days ahead of schedule.

Lunch was at a North West style restaurant.

Day 22 – Another day at the Assembly Center. A good day with more smog. Ho hum. The highlight though was dinner with my old friend, my lao pengyou, Sabrina. She was Mike’s first employee 9 years ago and we have become close friends over the years. We always go for dumplings when I am in China. She is a wonderful project manager, a very tough lady who doesn’t take any crap from suppliers.

Day 23 – Another day at the factory, including lunch at the cafeteria. This time we invited members of the production staff and they played “gross out the foreigner” with the lunch order. Good natured fun and I am used to it. I’ve never yet backed down. Except for the waterbugs a few years ago, but I was already recovering from food poisoning. Oh and did I mention the pollution *cough*?

We join Mike at the office and walk home for a late dinner. This involves Mike’s preferred method of crossing the street – sprinting across 8 lanes of traffic instead of the “long way” using the pedestrian bridge. Chinese pedestrians have no concept of jay walking. The only thing more dangerous than the air in China is the traffic.

Day 24 – We head out in the morning to pick up a prospective client in Futian at the Marco Polo. Dinner involves a trip out to Shekou for dinner at Tasca, a fantastic authentic Spanish tapas bar. Spanish food is the only thing I like better than Asian cuisines.

After dinner we walk over to Sea World, an outdoor mall surrounding an old cruise ship. This was the ship where Deng Xiao Ping signed the papers to create the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, which was sort of the real starting gun for the reemergence of China. They’ve since filled in the harbor, completely surrounding the ship. The place is now a “Little Foreign Town” catering to expats. My camera did not work with the lighting, so no pictures. I am sure you are heartbroken. We went to the original McCawley’s for a drink and then headed home.

Day 25 – It’s a glorious Saturday. The pollution is gone and it is deliciously warm but not hot. Mike’s in the mood for pizza and his wife and daughter want to go shopping. The car drops us off in the heart of Luohu, in the shadow of the “Empire State Building” of Shenzhen, Di Wang Da Sha. It is one of the best looking skyscrapers in the world, IMAO.

Scroll back up for the pollution shot of this building from a distance. If China adopts a better energy source – perhaps modern nuclear as in France and Japan – this a pretty attractive city. The clear days that you do get remind you of how awful the pollution really is.

Papa John’s is the choice for today, and like many US chains in China, they’ve gone upscale and adapted to local tastes. The dining area is an alcove of sorts, shaded with big comfortable chairs. Kind of like eating pizza on you covered patio at home. The recipe for the dough was substantially different than in the States, and while it was satisfying, it is no NYPD. Looking out from our alcove a gleaming new Gucci store dominates. A Mercedes festooned with wedding decorations pulls in to park. To the left is a brand new Hyatt and to the right the Huaan Conifer Hotel, a Chinese hotel that is by far the nicest place I’ve ever stayed in Asia. I spent 3 weeks there once and it is decadent. Next door to the Papa John’s is the most badass fast food restaurant on the planet.

After lunch we go to the Dongmen (“East Gate”) Road shopping area, which is a sprawling warren of narrow streets selling every consumer good under the sun. It was a mob scene. And lots of fun to see that many people out having a good time. We buy some movies and the ladies get squid-on-a-stick (they didn’t ask me if I wanted any, *sniff*) and take it easy instead of going out on the town.

Day 26 – Another beautiful day. I go across the border into Hong Kong with a co-worker, just into the New Territories, not the famous city center. We are going shopping for American style dill pickles (yes, really) for Mike, mainly an excuse to get out of Shenzhen and do something different. We cross the border at Luohu, and see something across the fence in Hong Kong I have never seen in Shenzhen – a grave yard.

Today also saw my first trips on the Hong Kong MRT and the Shenzhen subway system. So now I have an Octopus card for Hong Kong (which can be used to buy all sorts of things, not just riding the MRT, very cool) and a Shenzhen subway pass. I rock.

First we went to a Chinese “wet market” selling an amazing array of fresh ingredients. The smells were powerful and it is not for the faint of heart. I thought it was awesome.

Upstairs they had a food court. As I mentioned above, these places are LOUD, but I feel right at home. This dynamic, barely controlled chaos, coupled with incredible food, is what attracted me to Asia in the first place. We have two 600 ml Skol beers and noodle soup.

After lunch we try a number of Western style grocery stores looking for the pickles. They are located in malls that are part of the MRT stops. Very sensible. Not sure which is the chicken or the egg, but it works well. The grocery stores are 100 times better than when I was last here, but they are still thinly stocked compared to your average Kroger and are positively claustrophobic. I can barely walk down the aisles without turning sideways. After an hour or so of looking, no pickles. We buy Cadbury’s chocolate for the office instead. Couple things caught my eye.

Defeated we cross back into Shenzhen at the new Futian crossing, a far more impressive building than the old Luohu crossing. Reminds me of an airport. In this place the Shenzhen River is much wider.

We take the Shenzhen subway to meet Mike for dinner. Very clean and efficient. Instead of a poster in the car showing the map of the lines, they have an electronic display that tracks the progress of the train. Very cool. We head to a Japanese restaurant that has the craziest deal I’ve ever seen. All the sushi and tepanyaki you can eat and all you can drink – juice, soda, tea, beer, wine, sake, doesn’t matter – for 150 RMB. That’s $22. I have no idea how they stay in business. By my count, I ate $100 worth of food alone, not even counting the beer. There is no restrictions – you can order anything off the menu. The absolute highlight was kobe beef sashimi – raw slices of rice paper thin beef. I ate at least 3 orders, each 45 RMB. It was fantastic. It is now my official favorite thing to eat in the whole world. Note to the FDA – it is far easier to control the diet and health of a cow than a wild fish swimming in the ocean. If sushi is legal in the USA, why not raw beef?

This restaurant is in the basement of one of the big malls in the area, CITIC Plaza. It is a bit of a maze, so we went round and around looking for it, including an elevator with the follow sign:

Last item for today’s blog, the Japanese restaurant had cool bronze dragons on the table. I had seen these before in Korean restaurants, but had forgotten about them. I need to get some of these for my home in the USA.

That’s all for now…

Day 14

January 20, 2010/0 Comments/in China Business Blog /by Mike Bellamy

Day 14 – Tuesday – Some interesting China article links to kick things off:

Daring blogger tests the limits
Power rationing in China
Why America and China Will Clash
Avatar banned in China
chinaSMACK – this is an awesome news aggregation site sent to me by Dave Learn – a real insight into modern China
More on Google v China

I had some customer calls this morning and got to the office later than planned. It was a beautiful day, clear and warm and actually worked up a sweat walking to work. Mike is very frugal (like a good entrepreneur should be) and he sited PassageMaker and the corporate apartment on purpose. Liantang, our “town” in the Luohu district, is not upscale at all, and most Western companies are based in tonier districts like Futian and Shekou. Liantang is very Chinese, we are the only foreigners and there is no Starbucks or other Western shops. We do have a KFC and a McD’s, but both these brands are so well established in China they are almost like local offerings now. KFC especially has a very different menu than in the States, tailored to the local market. When Mike was researching our new home a few years ago, he chose this area because he could buy a house across the street from the office. Also we are an important tenant for the landlord, so we can control the HVAC. In many of the high rise office towers, the landlord controls the thermostat. And rents are also much lower in Liantang.

In order to get to work, you have to cross a foot bridge over the main highway. Chinese steps are instructive.

For breakfast I went to a vendor around the corner selling a type of flatbread. The size of a large pizza but wafer thin, it is fluffy and crispy at the same time. I has green onions cooked into it and is coated with sesame seeds. A real taste delight. I bought half a pizza, cut up into bite-sized pieces and shared with the office. All for 4 RMB = $0.60.

It was a busy day in the office. We had customers visiting from France in the morning and USA in the afternoon. Late afternoon, my friend from Taiwan stopped by for a meeting to learn more about PassageMaker. We gave her the run down on all the companies – PassageMaker, QTP Bag & Case, and China Quality Focus – and their services – Sourcing Feasibility Studies, Vendor Coordination, Assembly-Inspection-Packaging, China Sourcing Office, our Medical Assembly Center with Clean Room and Sterile Packaging, Logistics, VAT Rebate Processing, Simple Factory Audits, on-site Quality Inspections, Market Feasibility Studies, Factory Formation, and our Endorsed Service Provider network. She has USA friends and clients contacting her to help source in China and she wants to introduce them to us. I am confident we will find a good way to work together. Only one dish of note today at lunch, the variation on my favorite shrimp skewer dish, this time without the chiles and salt baked, to give them an intense somewhat smokey flavor.

I head out a bit earlier than normal to join her for dinner. It is not uncommon for folks at PassageMaker to work until 8 or 9 PM, so I felt a little bad leaving at 5:30 PM. My friend is in the mood for Japanese, so we head to Coco Park, a big mall and surrounding shopping area in Futian. Our driver heads off and we are mired in a few minutes time in rush hour traffic. Liantang is on the east end of Shenzhen, almost to Yantian, the most eastern district of Shenzhen and the location of the port. Shenzhen was the first Special Economic Zone set up by Deng Xiao Ping when China decided to open to the West. 30 years ago it was a farming and fishing village that just happened to abut British Hong Kong. Today it is a sprawling city of around 12 million people. From Shekou and Baoan in the west to Yantian in the east, even in good traffic at highway speeds it can take an hour or more end to end. The original Luohu district is crammed right up on the border and it is obvious that the city planners years ago had no idea what was to come. The highway in Liantang running to the port that I’ve posted in the past, was built because this area was almost a suburb. In central Luohu, the highways take crazy S curves weaving in and out of skyscrapers, and in some areas are reduced to two or even one lane. This is the polar opposite of the planned asphalt and concrete expanses of Pudong in Shanghai. Thus the trip to Coco Park takes around 45 minutes.

Coco Park is across the street from the new McCawley’s we visited the other night, and is a big beautiful mall. Lots of stone and neon and every major Western brand represented. In contrast to some of the malls in China, I actually saw people buying, not just looking. In we go to a Japanese restaurant, which if you take the bad blood between the two nations seriously, should be deserted. Instead we have to wait 25 minutes for a table the size of a matchbook, crammed between a large party of Hong Kongers and a couple on a date. This lao wai barely draws a second glance, except when I take a picture of the food. My friend tells them I am a food critic, which I guess is accurate.

We start the meal with raw beef tongue sliced paper thin. We initially opt to cook it ourselves on a portable butane burner, but after nearly giving ourselves 3rd degree burns (the cast iron cooking plate doesn’t exactly fit the burner and keeps sliding around), we send it away for them to cook.

Beef tongue is a bit more unctuous than other cuts, despite having not much visible fat, and is quite good. I am not sure I would be able to tell the difference if I was not told though. I remember that in his book Undaunted Courage, Steven Ambrose reported that Lewis only ate the tongue and the fat of the buffalo they killed. Now I understand.

We rounded out the meal with some sashimi, which everyone has seen so I didn’t bother with photos. My friend is into dessert, so we had ice cream and cheesecake, neither of which were anything special. The highlight for me was the Suntory beer, which I hadn’t had since my last trip to Japan nearly 12 years ago. Suntory is an brand rarely exported (I’ve never seen it in the USA, even in major cities) and it is a good basic lager. Just the thing for the food.

Conversation over dinner gets philosophical. She and I have known each other a long time through a string of career and life changes. She’s met my family and I’ve spoken to her significant other on the phone a number of times, though we’ve never met. She and I may not talk for a year, but whenever we do, the conversation picks up just where it left off like no time had passed. She looks great, hasn’t aged a bit. It has been 5 years since we’ve actually seen each other. It felt like last week. OK, so it WAS last week at the Italian restaurant, but you get my meaning.

Life is nothing but a string of anecdotes, with book learning thrown in for filler. You never really know anything but what you see with you own eyes, smell with your own nose, etc. When Mike asked me to write this blog, it was to boost our search engine results. I immediately realized I couldn’t do it if every post was a string of key words. It had to be about life. It really should be called “Whit’s tiny slice of Shenzhen, Hong Kong, a couple places in Dongguan and Guangzhou, a few trips to Shanghai and Beijing, Singapore from 15 years ago, Taiwan from 12 years ago Business Blog”. I know more about China than most people, but as our rep in Brazil, Andrea Martins, who lived in China for 25 years once told me, “If you go to China for a week, you can write a book. If you go for a year, you can write an article. If you live there for 25 years, you have nothing to say.”

A professor of mine once introduced me to an audience at a speaking engagement as one of the happiest people he knows. I don’t know if that is the truth, but I AM happy. Not because I don’t have anything to be sad about, but because it doesn’t do any good to fret and worry. I have a beautiful wife and a wonderful family, I love to meet people and make new friends. I love what I do, because I essentially made my own path (with lots of help from everyone in my life, including The Man upstairs). Some years ago, I made a silent promise to myself to “live a life less ordinary”. So far, I think I’ve succeeded.

When I am at home I am happy and content. I love Salem, VA and the USA. I love my family and friends. It is a beautiful small town, safe and pleasant. Do I miss China when I am at home? Of course.

When I am in China I am likewise happy and content. I cannot say I love China, so much as I am fascinated by it. Every day is a new experience. Buying a loaf of bread or a carton of milk is an adventure. Do I miss my home when I am in China? Of course. I miss my family terribly.

But there is work to do and money to make. You put it out of your mind. Absence really DOES make the heart grow fonder. I know when I see my family in 3 weeks, it will be a wonderful homecoming.