Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Fists Of Fury, Round 1: China - 1, Hong Kong - 0

According to AP:
"A Bruce Lee-themed park with a statue and memorial hall will be built at Bruce Lee's southern Chinese ancestral home of Shunde. The park will also contain a martial arts academy and conference center."

A Bruce Lee park - that's cool. But in China? By all accounts, Bruce Lee made his mark as an actor from Hong Kong, not China, which is why the article emphasizes that Shunde is his ancestral home. Now, let me state that I am aware that Hong Kong and China have an "understanding." However, the fact that people in Hong Kong drive on the opposite side of the road makes it a separate-enough entity in my mind. As such, shouldn't Hong Kong have dibs on the Bruce Lee park?

Well, Hong Kong does have an entire Disneyland theme park that generates billions of dollars in revenue. And now China has a conference center and a statue of Bruce Lee. That's fair.
posted by Rachel @ 3:34 PM  
Monday, November 27, 2006
No Aid For AIDS

Wan Yanhai, a Chinese AIDS activist who was organizing a symposium to help people with the disease fight for their legal rights, has gone missing after meeting with police on Saturday.

Who smells something fishy? This doesn't exactly sound like the work of the Care Bears.
posted by Rachel @ 3:07 PM  
A Ramblin' Wreck Indeed

12




15


What the hell happened?
If nothing else, this serves as further proof that no good can come from my leaving for China and not returning for the Thanksgiving holiday/greatest-football-week-of-the-year. For those who disagree that Thanksgiving week is indeed the greatest football week of the year: I do recognize the significance of the college bowls, NFL playoffs, and Super Bowl Sunday and I will concede that those are the most popular football periods. But on what other week are you given the MOST solid football pound-for-pound (NFL and college) in back-to-back format, PLUS time off to watch it?
posted by Rachel @ 11:14 AM  
Credit Where Credit Is Due

Anyone who has been to this side of the Pacific knows that, other than in specifically tourist traffic-heavy areas, China is a cash-only business. Its move to credit has been, at best, a slow crawl. Well, today I saw progress incarnate.

This morning I was asked by my bosses to attend a meeting, though at the time I was not filled in on the subject to be discussed. Upon my arrival, I signed in at a table and was given a large "gift" bag and guided to a conference room. As my eyes scanned from one end to the other, it was a sea of black coats with giant shoulders, gold patches shaped like shields, and small gold medals pinned on them. I thought maybe these were military or police personnel. But no - these were regular old engineers who worked for Laiwu Steel. (I am of the opinion that they subconciously wish they had a more dangerous occupation and trying to look tough and military-like is just the manifestation of them venting their frustration.) I took a seat toward the back and settled in. I opened the bag of "goodies" to discover a transparent folder filled with papers and a pen, and a bathroom scale. Wow. Really guys, you shouldn't have...

I looked at the materials in the folder. They were applications for credit cards and information about the positive aspects of each of the cards. It was a joint collaboration between one of China's larger banks and Laiwu Steel - they now had a Laiwu Steel credit card. Interesting, no? My question was, when are they ever going to use them? I've been living in Laiwu for two and a half months now. In everything from buying clothing and food to airline tickets, I have never ONCE been able to use a credit card. It's a question of are you putting the cart before the horse (or was it which comes first, the chicken or the egg)? Either way: if there's no credit market in China, what do you expect people to do with a credit card?

Everyone quieted down as a presenter began to speak at the podium. He was introducing the panel on stage with him. They were all upper management of the bank or Laiwu Steel. But it was the weirdest thing - people would applaud after each person was presented (which I understood of course), but after each introduction they clapped five times. EXACTLY five times. No more, no less. And completely in unison. Ever have one of those dreams where droids take over the Earth? I was living it. Last, they presented the president of Laiwu Steel. He got seven claps. At least they have their priorities in order.


They began to talk about the credit cards and bolstering the relationship between the bank and the company. After each speech, yet another set of five claps. After the last speech, seven claps, followed by the management stepping down from the stage. Suddenly, music starting playing, piped in from overhead. Imagine John Philip Sousa with a mandolin. It sounded like a parade was about to crash its way through the room. Two fuwuyuan (employees of the hotel) entered in formal Chinese dress (full-length red crushed-velvet dresses with oriental collars and embroidered dragons and flowers down the sides). They carried a giant sign with a white sheet over it. They placed it in between the presenters as they scurried to prepare for what was a very obvious photo/video-op (I'm guessing the music was targeting the video viewers). The shaking of hands began in front of a blown-up picture of a credit card with the bank's and Laiwu Steel's names and logos on it. Flash bulbs popped one after the other, turning the room into a veritable laser light show.

The fuwuyuan took the sign away and just as suddenly, the music changed. It went from a full blown march, to smooth classical Chinese music (picture yourself meditating on a mountain-top with the breeze blowing through your hair; now imagine the soundtrack music that would accompany that). A second card was brought in. More handshakes, more flash bulbs. Apparently, one card brings your purchases vigour and vitality; a completely different one is required if you wish to purchase with serenity. I couldn't really understand the musical choices or, really, why there were TWO DIFFERENT musical choices. But just then THE coolest thing happened. As the two girls carried the second sign out of the room, a third brought in a bottle of baijiu. Anyone who has read my previous posts about baijiu knows what this stuff can do. Each manager was given a small stemware glass which was then filled to the brim with baijiu. They toasted and knocked the whole thing back. May I remind you it was not yet ten o'clock in the morning. Man, do these people know how to seal a deal.

After their drink, all the management left. Their part was over and done-with. For the next twenty-five minutes, two guys attempted to place a projector in front of a screen. Not a difficult task, and yet it took what felt like ages. With no one to talk to and time to kill, I decided to check out my brand-new scale. On it was a very scary picture of what looked like a half-Mickey Mouse, half-Winnie the Pooh type character. If you're having a hard time picturing it, don't worry. You're better off. I don't know why, but every time the Chinese try to knock off a Disney character, it comes out looking ten times scarier than the original. Instead of nice, happy rounded edges and smiles, they come out with sharp beaks, creepy-looking whiskers and bodies more gaunt and unshapely than Matt Damon in Courage Under Fire (for reference, or those of you who haven't seen the movie, he plays a Gulf-War Vet on massive amounts of heroin - try to avoid picturing it if you can). I put the scary mouse scale away and prepared myself for the "boring" part.

I figured this would be an information session on credit cards attempting to educate a group of people who had never really used one before. As someone who has definitely used a credit card before (my parents can attest to that), I settled in to be told what I already knew. It was strange, but the presentation was less of an information session and more of an advertising strategy. They kept emphasizing the perks. If you spend so much you can get a free trip to the United States. If you want to buy an apartment you don't have to pay it back for fifty days (of course they left out the rather important information about the levels of interest involved). I was shocked at how little concrete information they were given about responsible credit spending. My mother always said don't spend what you don't have. Well in a cash country, you literally CAN'T. But now...maybe credit cards in China are not such a great idea after all.

I can picture five years from now, those 'get-out-of-debt' advertisements all over the television. In a nation developing as quickly as this one, and with so many people who are well-off for the first time, this could be problematic. China does need a credit system, and it's about damn time. But while ignorance is bliss, it's also a precursor to bankruptcy. With presentations like the one I attended, and the way people were chatting about the rewards of using the card without mentioning things like payment periods and interest rates, it's hard not to feel like these people aren't being swindled by a Harold Hill of sorts. I hope information trickles down. I would hate to see something necessary for development turn into a financial nightmare.

P.S. I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday. I hope everyone's Thanksgivings brought them togetherness, merriment, and lots of turkey. Alas, there is no turkey in Laiwu. It's not really a big food here in China. Sure, they have dog and horse meat, but turkey they can't manage. Anyway, best wishes from me to all of you. I will be home soon!
posted by Rachel @ 10:12 AM  
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Having A 'Ruff' Time
Imagine this, if you can:
You go out to dinner with some colleagues at the invitation of your bosses. You're having a great time - conversation and alcohol are both flowing freely, you're all laughing the evening away, and everyone is having a good time. You've eaten all sorts of dishes - sweet, spicy, salty - a myriad of flavors, each one more delicious than the next. Then it comes time for the after dinner snacks. Your boss turns to you and asks, "Have you ever eaten gourou?"

"Gourou?" you ask.

"Yes, gourou. You know, dog meat."

"No, I haven't."

"I'm ordering some. You should try it."

Freeze.

Now, imagine this is no longer a hypothetical. That's right, kids - this ACTUALLY happened. I was sitting there and my boss uttered those exact words to me. If this scene was a cartoon, there would've been a Rachel-shaped hole in the wall of the dining room. However, these are the colleagues I have to face every day, and attempting a Jesse Owens-style getaway was not going to work.

What was my actual response, you ask?

"I'm Jewish. I can't eat dog meat."

Now, for those of you who are Jewish, know the religious laws governing these types of situations, and are thinking to yourself: dog meat is kosher. It may be unappetizing but it's not against any rules - I know and I completely agree. But that's not what I said. I just made two statements:

1) I'm Jewish.

and

2) I can't eat dog meat.

No lies - I AM Jewish, and I can't eat dog meat out of my own personal moral conviction. Any connection that a listener makes between those two statements is pure conjecture. And you know what happens when you assume...

Well, they assumed and I chose not to correct them. I guess I managed to get out of that one relatively unscathed. And instead of dog meat, I substituted a slice of delicious pumpkin cake.


Mmmmmm. Score one more for me.
posted by Rachel @ 11:55 AM  
Friday, November 17, 2006
$17.4 Million?
That kind of transaction doesn't exactly fit in with the Communist path to righteousness.

I bet Mao's turning in his grave right now.
posted by Rachel @ 11:15 AM  
Is Capitalism Humane?
You bet it is.
The proof is here - in the positive changes I observe daily in China. Things are consistently improving: economic development has paved the way for a more efficient and just political system (where people are even beginning to acknowledge corruption and do something about it). The wealth gap is narrowing every year - a VERY positive economic indicator. And in the last 10 years, the percent of the Chinese population under the poverty line has dropped by over 30%.

Even more proof comes in the form of increased political and social freedoms in Vietnam, resulting from both their future entry into the WTO and attempts by the U.S. government to lift Cold War restrictions on trade with the small southeast Asian nation. Major technology and software firms - including Intel, Microsoft, and IBM - are making major investments in Vietnam. And the APEC summit in Hanoi, which will be attended by President Bush, will be pushing a free-market agenda, as the focus of the summit will be not political, but economic exchange.

The very wise man who posed this question regarding the humanity of capitalism - and himself answered with a resounding "Yes!" when many leftists pushed to say "no" to the economic ideal of free-market capitalism - has passed away. Milton Friedman was one of a select few economists whose ideas I could truly agree with and who preached the principles of economic theory in a way that was both scholarly and practical. His theory's governing principles, and the way in which they were presented, made my personal study of economics both fruitful and interesting and increased my passion for its analysis. May he be enshrined in the annals of history, may he inspire new generations of free-market economists, and may his ideas continue to contribute to the betterment of society. Amen.

In his memory, an ode based on lecture by Professor Tom Woodruff -
"A Day In The Stomach Of A Free-Market Economist": A Lesson In The Economic Principles Of Milton Friedman



  • Depreciation leads to an increase in appreciation: First, scoop a bowl of chocolate ice cream. If you like the richness of hard ice cream but the texture of soft serve, get the ice cream first and let it soften - the best of both worlds.

  • Save GNP (gross national product): Once the ice cream is nicely melting, create a salad big enough to revitalize the agricultural industry of a small South American nation. I've read that spinach is really healthy for you, so get lots of it.

  • Have a capital consumption: Get hot food and soup last. That way, they'll still be hot when you eat them.

  • Treasure economy: When you're ready to dig in, assemble your food all at once so that when you sit down you don't have to get up again. It's just more efficient that way.

  • Know your absolute capacity: There's no need to go for seconds when you have a finely honed sense of how much you can eat. The result: always being able to finish everything on your plate.

  • It's a consumer's market out there: Normally, one eats at home, school, or work five plus days a week. On those occasions when that's not an option, you can catch a ride to the family restaurant around the corner, bike to a cafe, or walk to a neighborhood bistro. My personal philosophy: if there's pizza, I'm there.

  • Keep your propensity to consume: When the choice is available, go for the all-you-can-eat model. As an economist, one must practice what he preaches. When you pay a fixed price, the marginal cost of each item is zero. Basic economic models say eat up until your marginal utility is zero. In other words, eat cheaply until you're full.

Now, who couldn't love advice like that?

posted by Rachel @ 10:06 AM  
Monday, November 13, 2006
In Heaven There's No Beer. That's Why We Drink It Here.
Or so the old saying/beer festival motto goes. For those of you who didn't hear it from me already, this past week was Laiwu's beer festival (think Qingdao, divided by 50). Despite its small stature, this event has taught me several things:

  • Being drunk in Chinese is easier than being drunk in English. If you slur your words, remind your companions that it is the "language barrier," not your own personal inability to mix large amounts of alcohol with even larger amounts of alcohol, that is at fault.

  • Drunk karaoke has no cultural limitations. The Japanese may do it the hardest, but the Chinese do it with kung-fu dance moves.

  • You're never too young to get your first hangover. I'm pretty sure I saw a drunk 5-year-old Chinese boy doubled over by a bush and standing next to him was his father - glowing with pride and laughing over his son's first "man's experience."

I may have to take the next week to sleep off the YEAR'S worth of alcohol I managed to consume in the last four days. I spent most of the weekend with acquaintances from the office in an effort to bond and learn Chinese at the same time. But this backfired, as most of my drinking was at the prompting of my colleagues who kept wanting to see me drunk, but kept drinking so much in the process that they were too incoherent to see anything. Well, at least we had some good times (though no one remembers them but me).
posted by Rachel @ 9:35 AM  
Friday, November 10, 2006
Getting Caught In The Shuffle
Yesterday I saw by far the coolest thing I have seen here yet: a Chinese seniors' shuffleboard competition.

I know it sounds kind of hokey, but in the world of shuffleboard, the elderly Chinese could wipe the floor with any American I've ever seen. (Now I wish I was talking about curling - that "wipe the floor" euphemism could've been played off as subtle yet witty double entendre. Oh, well.) And they're very serious about their competitions.

Visualize this: you're taking the SATs. You whiz through algebra and geometry - question after question and you're flying. Suddenly, you encounter an advanced calculus problem. This isn't supposed to be on the SATs! Your brow furrows, your eyes open wide, you stare at the page in fear, and your jaw is clamped shut, your mouth gripped in a combination of grim determination and utter panic.

That, my friends, is the Chinese shuffleboard "game face." And boy, can they pull it off well. This ain't Boca Raton, folks. This is backwoods China. They're not on the same playing field (that one works literally and figuratively). It would be like comparing a basketball game in Plainview, Illinois with a street game in Compton. That's right. In Compton. Because that's just how we roll here in Laiwu.

For those of you currently rolling your eyes at my "street" references, go ahead. But just you wait. Just like Chinese kung fu masters of old, I will be apprenticed by these Chinese elders. I will study their teachings and obey their practices. Once I achieve shuffleboarding of the highest order, I will return to your United States. And then...

Well, then you can roll your eyes at me in person I guess.
posted by Rachel @ 11:03 AM  
Monday, November 06, 2006
The Oddest Couple
And yet somehow, it makes sense. Ever since I began watching Chinese television (the infamous CCTV), I have seen numerous ads talking about China's growing business relationship with Namibia. Half the advertisements on CCTV9 - the one CCTV channel with any English whatsoever - were for increasing travel to the developing and recently stabilized southwest African nation. I thought it was a strange relationship, China and Africa. But this morning, the proof was in the pudding, so to speak:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2439228,00.html

Maybe I should break down and learn Swahili.

As if life isn't hard enough already.

Note: I am once again off the air, as the Chinese blog monitors have realized their momentary lapse in judgment and, after only a brief window of opportunity, have once more refused me and my Chinese fan-base access to my blog page. I suppose that's just the price of infamy.
posted by Rachel @ 10:17 AM  
Thursday, November 02, 2006
A Picture May Be Worth A Thousand Words, But A Counterfeit Bill Ain't Worth A Dime
Since I've been in China, I've heard many people talking about counterfeit money. People kept saying watch what people give you - I heard it especially often from cab drivers. But little did I imagine I would actually come in contact with it firsthand. The story goes something like this:

I went this morning to the market to pick up some fruits and veggies and decided to go pick up a couple of things at the supermarket afterwards. I stepped in the store, grabbed the things I needed, went to pay, handed the cashier the money, and moments later had one of my 20 yuan bills back in my hand. The cashier wouldn't take it. I looked at it. It looked crisp and fresh - very unlike Chinese money which is usually crumpled and time-worn. I argued with the woman for a couple of minutes and eventually gave up. The bottom line: she wasn't going to accept it. I hadn't brought my whole wallet, just a couple of bills, so this morning's shopping run was going to have to be a bust. I was mad, but I understood her position.

I stopped in the bank on the way home, where it was confirmed to me that it was a fake bill. And it was at that moment that I realized that the bill had been given to me as change from the very store that wouldn't accept it that morning. I had a right mind to go back and rip her a new one, but decided against it, figuring my Chinese wasn't up to fighting this morning and it would just put a damper on my whole day's qi. In the monetary sense (at least for me) 20 kuai is no big deal - it's only about 2+ dollars in US currency. But here, it could buy two dinners or almost a week's worth of groceries. Unbelievable, right? I was angered, but resolved to be more careful from then on (and not just check 50 and 100 kuai bills for counterfeit, but also my 20's and 10's). Oh, how jaded I am becoming in my worldliness.

Note: I thought I should also inform you that I can now, once again, access my blog page. I'm not sure if it is the result of my previous post or if Big Brother just decided to cut me a break, but either way I appreciate it. Thanks for bringing me back, boys!
posted by Rachel @ 9:14 AM  
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THE WILD WILD EAST: Everything you never knew you didn't know about life on the other side.
In China, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups. The Chinese, who call this land "home," and the expats who migrate here. My name is Rachel. I am an expat. These are my stories.
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