More China Quick Hits

More China Quick Hits

• VW is the most popular brand of car here. The reason is that VW was the first foreign carmaker to arrive, setting up a jointly-owned factory here as early as 1982.
• It takes time to crack the Chinese market. If a company is willing to invest the time it can be richly rewarded.
• For nearly everything there’s the tourist price and there’s the Chinese price. The final price is usually even lower.
• Recent pics on the Internets show the People’s Congress delagates all snoring in their seats: China’s government at work.
• At my Beijing hotel I met a group of very friendly South African civil engineers here gathering resources and knowledge for building a hydroelectric plant in South Africa. I shall have to visit Cape Town some day.
• I’m confused about how employment works here. I’m told there’s full employment here, yet I saw more than one beggar near the tourist sights of Shanghai (and none in Bejing, I might add). If you’re a firm, are you forced to hire someone simply to give them a job? If they’re incompetent or lazy or not a good fit for the firm, can you fire them? Does the worker have rights?
• Why are Wal-Mart’s Chinese workers the only ones allowed to have labor unions?
• Marco Polo was a blogger.
• There is a curious definition of precision here. Telephone cables are haphazardly strung in some parts of Beijing, while my colleagues freaked out when in the middle of a dull spot of training I suggested we take an impromptu break. I think in general the Chinese value punctuality.
• In an effort to control traffic, Shanghai charges $6,000 USD to license a car. Thus the license alone is often 30% of the car’s cost. One can license a moped here for a mere $1,000. Beijing has free licenses and chokes on the resulting traffic.
• Though cars are becoming more popular here, the horrendous traffic and high license fees make it usually faster to bike, walk, or take the subway.
• Subways are fast and efficient, yet very crowded. Few Westerners appear to take them, though most signs and announcements include English. Fares are 4 RMB in Shanghai and 3 RMB in Beijing, or roughly $0.40 and $0.50 USD, respectively.
• Smoking is allowed everywhere here, leading some Chinese to ignore no-smoking signs. Even so it seems smoking isn’t widespread. Only one of my dozen Chinese colleagues is a smoker.
• I heard a deep Southern accent in my Beijing hotel: a nice Mississippi man was making his third trip to China to adopt a child. Hearing him speak make me think of home. I even slipped some Southern back into my speech for the first time in months.
• My company has long used this atrocious cartoon for marketing our product. I’ve derided it equally as long. To my astonishment I gained some respect for it when I saw how easily it conveyed our product’s features to a non-English-speaking crowd.
• Most Chinese I’ve met love to laugh. They appreciate a good joke, but only as long as its not at the expense of another. The Chinese greatly value ‘face’ and how they’re perceived by their peers. Awkward situations are to be avoided at all times.
• Few Chinese wear jewelry. I never saw one wedding ring the whole time, and during my entire trip only saw two women wearing earrings. I find this ironic considering all the pearl necklaces and jade jewelry made here.
• The show of wealth is discouraged here. Word never got to Hong Kong.
• Some Chinese are not shy about bodily functions. I’ve seen more spitting and nose-picking here than I care to.
• Smiles are multilingual.
• In spite of my feeling very safe here, the Chinese are very protective of their belongings.
• NBA basketball star Yao Ming is China’s biggest celebrity by far, and not just in height. My Chinese friends watch NBA games. Most hold the local CBA teams in low regard.
• Women in many ways are considered equals here, in spite of stories of baby girls being put up for adoption. China has a history of powerful women, being on once ruled by an empress for many years. Some Chinese men will tell you that women are far better equipped than men for success in China.
• Never, ever tangle with a Chinese woman.
• In the past, Chinese couples may have regretted having a boy instead of a girl. This attitude is quickly changing, though. Couples now are happy to raise daughters as well as sons.
• Due to its one-child policy, China’s streets will never be filled with minivans. Nor will baby supply stores and the like catch on.
• Some Chinese looked wistful whenever I mentioned having two kids.
• Though cars are becoming more popular here, the horrendous traffic and high license fees make it frequently better to bike, walk, or take the subway.
• Beijing rush hour traffic was so bad it once took almost an hour to go 10km.
• As cars become more prevalent here, so will overweight Chinese.
• Business in China begins with the relationship. Always. Business grows from that. The Chinese invest heavily on courting their partners. They are not above getting them tanked in order to forge these friendships.
• Virtually no business in China is conducted over the phone. This is an insult to business partners. If it can’t happen face-to-face, it frequently doesn’t happen. Since China is a vast country this can pose some logistical problems.
• Chinese cities, and Shanghai in particular, has many tall buildings. The ones I’ve seen have modern fire-fighting measures like automatic sprinklers and plenty of fire extinguishers. All buildings have clearly-marked exit signs.
• I’ve not seen any fire trucks, or any ladder trucks, though I’m told they exist.
• Satellite dishes are everywhere. Their use makes the “great firewall of China” somewhat moot.
• Some internet sites here resolve to incorrect IP addresses. Wikipedia mirrors and dyndns.org sites seem to do this.
• In China, port forwarding is your friend.
• The horn is as important to taxi drivers as the steering wheel and stick shift. Frequently moreso.
• Taxi rides provide good, frightening entertainment. You must be especially brave to ride in the front seat: the best view to all this chaos.
• In Shanghai, any buildings shorter than 20 stories are endangered species. There are over 3,000 tall buildings here and cranes are everywhere putting up more.