From east to west to east to ....

parenthood

2011-05-24T03:49:00.003-04:00

So here I am in the midst of being a parent. I guess this is a status that you acquire and never relinquish, no matter what happens. I think my sentiments is certainly shared by all parents out there. Now that I have a child and the joys that comes with it, sometimes I wonder what took me so long?

I think for me, because we set out and explored the world and "did our thing" before starting a family was very big factor in why we are so happy with our child (so far). I think if we had our daughter 10 years ago, I am sure there would have been mixed feelings. The love and care for the child would have been just as strong, but the feeling of unfulfilled promises would have lingered.

Not too long ago, we considered not even having children due to the burden that it brings. Funny thing, its that precise reason that we decided to have children. We are at a point in our life where many aspect of our lives have stablized. I think the stability has led to a sense of unfulfillment and almost boredom. There was seemingly a lack of purpose in life. Perhaps if I was a CEO or the President there will be plenty of things to keep me preoccupied. The vast majority of us are probably in the same situation once we move past our youth.

I felt that we were very ready to have children and now that she has come, we couldn't be happier. I guess it also helps that so far things have been fairly smooth. But I think we know deep down inside that there will be plenty of challenges, hardships and joy in the years ahead. And that is exactly what we are very much looking forward to. It doesn't seem that there could possibly be anything more satisfying that having your own child. I think this is something I only realized once it happened to me. It even surprised me how strongly I feel about this.

Sometimes parents selfishly say to children that "I gave you life". I get the feeling that this is just part of the equation. The other side is "You gave me life".

A Complicated Image

2011-05-02T20:30:00.003-04:00

So the President has announced that Osama bin Laden is dead. A mission carried out by US special forces has decapitated al Qaeda. I absorbed this somewhat unexpected and stunning news throughout the day here in Shanghai. The announcement came at 11:30AM over here during a holiday so I had a chance to watch the news coverage, analysis and reactions from around the world.

Much has taken place in my life since that fateful day nearly 10 years ago. I was working in downtown Manhattan that morning about 1/2 mile away from the WTC. It was a harrowing experience but thankfully nobody I knew was killed in the disaster.

Life has moved on for me in the past 10 years. I have left that stressful job with the investment bank in downtown Manhattan, went backpacking in Asia for 6 months, moved out to Shanghai for the past few years and this year welcomed my daughter into the world. Life has moved on for sure.

There was coverage on the news of the celebrations back in the US and special attention was given to Washington DC and New York City. There was pure joy, as if one of the local sports teams had just won the Championships. I almost have the feeling that the people celebrating in that way were not from Washington or New York City. And many were relatively young. I find it troubling to celebrate in this fashion as if this was some kind of sporting event. The event that took place is real life, not a game. It's a reflection of the conflicts and struggles of society and life in general. In many ways all of this is a reflection of ourselves, the human race. It is a complicated image and I don't believe it warrents such an absolute reaction.

I personally feel happy that justice was served, but on the other hand it brings back all of the memories of that fateful day. I also feel that in the near future there could be retaliatory measures as I don't think this will end terroism. It also brings to the surface once again that perhaps there are things that we are doing as a nation that brings out such contmept for us in many parts of the world.

I think this is all part of getting older and wiser. Perhaps this is probably why I rarely see older people react as absolutely as the youth. I guess ignorance is indeed bliss.

Family dyanmics

2010-12-29T00:27:00.003-05:00

Here is an interesting article about some of the consequences as a result of the financial crisis in America. It focuses on the issue of family and friends sharing living spaces out of necessity as a result of the economic conditions that exists in America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/us/29families.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

It is well known in America that children are expected to be independent once they reach college age. There is such a culture of independence and freedom that exists in America that one feels stifled under a communal environment. I think most Americans have reached a certain level of affluence where independence is economically feasible. However once economic conditions deteriorate and people are forced to share things again, people have a tough time adjusting.

In China, there is much more of a culture of sharing and community, at least within a family. Families remain intact until the children get married and in many cases it could be intact even beyond that. It is common to see 3 to 4 generations living under the same roof. It seems each member of this extended family have less trouble finding a role to play within it. It is inevitable that are tension at times under these living arrangements but somehow the tolerance level seems to be higher.

What I am noticing is that these types of living arrangements is becoming less prevalent in Shanghai (a prosperous urban center) as compared to the rural areas. Economics definitely plays a big role.

It is interesting to see the opposing trends in the two countries.

the China World Expo

2010-08-13T00:30:00.000-04:00

Its now August and I have discovered that I did not comment at all about the biggest thing that is going on in China that nobody else in the world knows much about - the China..er... World Expo.

The amount of hype that has gone into this event here in China has a very nationalist feel to it. Unlike the Olympics this is very much a China event whereas the former was a global event. In the media, you can't go a day without a mention of the Expo in some way. It has certainly been the event of the year in China. Seems like everyone in the country wants to come to Shanghai to see it. And this all makes a lot of sense.

As someone who has travel the world a bit and had access to cultures from abroad in a city like New York, the most enlightening thing about going to the expo was the myriad of interesting architecture that are standing side by side. The energy of the expo from the Chinese citizens is also very interesting to observe. The exhibits in these pavillions, however are not terribly intersting.

However, from the eyes of the average Chinese this is probably the only chance for them to see exhibits from all over the world and actually get to meet the citizens from other countries who are working there. These are people who have never travel abroad and perhaps had some misconceptions dispelled by attending an event like this.

Whereas the Olympics was an opportunity for China to showcase itself to the world, the World Expo was the world's chance to showcase themselves to China.

上海话

2010-08-08T12:14:00.001-04:00

我也住在上海有几年了。不过我还没学上上海话。现在只能听懂比较基本的词。有可能我这几年还在漫漫掌握中文和普通话。我在外面听到上海话我也没去注意他们在说什么。上海话对我来说就是背景噪音。其实这也很可惜，学上一个新语言对一个人很有成就感。我希望再过一段时间，我可以起码说一点上海话。

Drastic changes

2010-07-31T00:07:00.004-04:00

Well, I guess its finally going to happen to me. I am going to be a father soon. This is the event that I have been avoiding for the longest time because I had other interests to pursue and things to see.

I think i just went through the most interesting 5 years of my life. To be able to have the courage to extricate myself from the daily grind that I found mundane and going down a very unusual path has been so fulfulling that my outlook on life is that anything is possible. Nothing seems unusual to me now, because there are always very simple reasons behind them. I am now able to empathize with people that I would have otherwise not understood. The great thing is that I have a partner in life who went down this path with me with the same outlook in mind.

Now that we are on the precipice of parenthood, I think I am as prepared as I can be to become a parent. I don't think the full impact of this has hit me yet, but I now feel absolutely ready to take on this drastic change in our life. There will be a new addition to continue on our very interesting journey.

Time marches on

2010-06-03T20:41:00.002-04:00

A few days ago, perhaps just an afterthought in the newspapers was the the news of the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr at the age of 40. Ken Griffey was a superstar player for the Seattle Mariners and Cinncinati Reds for much of his career. I grew up an avid baseball fan and even though I was a fan of the New York Yankees, Ken Griffey was an symbol of my youth. I am only 2 years younger than him and his retirement from the sport of baseball reminds me again that I am getting on in age. I still remember Griffey as the young player who debut in the major leagues at the age of 18. He was one of those players who was so natural and graceful at the sport of baseball that made it a pleasure to watch. In his prime, Griffey was probably the best all around baseball player I have ever seen. He was truly a baseball polymath.

To me, his retirement reminded me that there is nothing more relentless than time.

The Pizza Tour: Epilogue

2010-05-11T23:34:00.004-04:00

My recent pizza tour in New York was a really fun way to catch up with friends, visit various parts of the City and gorge myself on the best that pizza has to offer. Its funny how I never thought of doing these kinds of things when I was still living there. Now that I only go back once a year, there is incentive to think of creative ways to explore the city that I was raised and see the familiar as well as the changes. In some ways, I feel that the quality of the time I spend in those two weeks in NY as being better than while I was living there. This pizza tour was just one of the many wonderful experiences for me this time back.

Now, to summarize my findings over this pizza tour. My rankings of the 7 pizzerias that I visited:

1. Keste
2. Co.
3. Luzzo's
4. Grimaldi's
5. Veloce
6. Artichoke's
7. Posto

Considering that the number 1 pizzeria in my book prior to this tour was Grimaldi's and I discovered my top 3 pizzerias on this tour I would consider this was a very enlightening experience.

The only problem is now my standards has been raised, its back to Shanghai where Papa John's is considered good pizza. Oh, the pain....

Pizza Tour III

2010-05-10T20:50:00.001-04:00

On one of my last days back in NYC last month I met up with my buddy Joe, another pizza lover to taste the number 1 pizzeria rated by New Yorker Magazine. During my trips back to NYC in recent years me and Joe have always had pizza when we meet. I feel like he is my kindred spirit when it comes to the humble bread from Italy.

Keste Pizza & Vino
271 Bleeker Street
New York, NY 10014
212-243-1511

http://www.kestepizzeria.com/menu.html

So I met up with Joe at 6PM after a day of last minute shopping before going back to Shanghai. Joe just got off work and insisted on meeting early because he heard that the lines at Keste was really long after 6:30. Keste is in the heart of Greenwich Village surrounded by restaurants and bars. That area has some of the best that NYC had to offer. I've always wondered how students of NYU can focus on their studies in an area like that.

I walked into Keste and I realized why Joe was probably right. Even though there were a few empty tables, the place was fairly long but narrow with seating for about 15-20 people. If this is indeed the best pizzeria in NY then it is probably too small to accomodate the hordes of pizza lovers. In a place like Manhattan you find ways to make things fit into small spaces.

Joe showed up about 10 minutes after I arrived and we proceed to order two personal pies - my standard Magharita and Joe orders a butternut squash pizza. During our wait, I inquired about the making of our pies. Our server informed me that these pies are cooked in 900 degree ovens in a brisk 57 seconds. Our pies arrived and it looked strikingly similar to the other two Neopolitan discoveries - Luzzo and Co. I took a bite into my Magharita and it was just as I expected, crispy and airy crust, sweet tomato sauce and just the right amount of mozzarella and basil. I was in heaven again, savoring every bite. I sampled Joe's butternut squash pizza and it was quite interesting to say the least. It was quite sweet but the butternut squash sauce just didn't feel quite right being on top of a pizza. I think I will stick with my Magharita. Its a classic for a reason. After washing it down with a cold Italian beer, I was content. Hard to beat great pizza and a cold beer on a spring day on vacation in New York.

Pizza Tour Part II

2010-05-06T21:55:00.004-04:00

My first weekend in NYC in a long while rolled around, and I sold the idea of the pizza tour to my buddies Ari and Bryan. Ari is more adventurous when it comes to food while Bryan pretty much disqualified himself from enjoying meals with a myriad of self-created food allergies. Of course being allergic to tomatoes does not bode well for a pizza tour but Bryan accompanied us anyway because he hasn't seen his buddy in about a year.

The day started with me and Ari traveling to Manhattan from our suburban enclave of Little Neck. The plan is to hit a pizza joint before meeting up with Bryan for the rest of the day.

Co.
230 Ninth Ave. (near 24th St.)
New York, NY 10001
212-243-1105

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/co/menus/main.html

After getting out of Penn Station we headed to the nearest restaurant on my list - Co. The restaurant's layout was wide and open, the walls were of wood paneling. There was a contemporary showroom feel to it. The menu consisted of soups, salads and of course pizza. We decide to share a personal Margherita pie since we plan on going to about 4 other pizza places throughout the day. Our waitress was very friendly and we discovered that she was from Chicago and an aspiring actress. We told her that our plan for the day was to hit as many pizza joints as possible and she joked that she wanted to join us for the day. When our pizza came, it looked very much like Luzzo's. The crust was slightly burn and the crust is airier than Luzzo's. Again, it was the classic Neapolitan pizza cooked under a very hot (700F) oven for a short period of time. The mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil were all perfect toppings for the crispy but airy crust. I think so far, Co has taken over as my favorite pizza with Luzzo's a close second.

Posto Pizza
310 2nd Avenue (18th street)
New York, NY 10003-2724
(212) 716-1200

http://www.postothincrust.com/inhousemenu.html

After a delightful snack at Co. we got a surprise call by my other buddy Qi. Qi had told us he was expecting to work on that Saturday but he called us at around lunch time to take a break for his midday meal. Instead of going to one of our other planned destinations, we detoured to a Zagat rated pizzeria - Posto's. Posto's was to be a very different pizza experience. I read that they specialized in ultra thin crust pizza. The restaurant was on the corner of 18th and 2nd and from the outside it looked like a cafe with outdoor seating but the interior looked like a bar. I didn't pay attention, but this place probably doubles as a bar in the evening. We proceeded to order 3 personal pies. These pies were a bit of an anomaly. The crust was indeed very crispy and thin, but they were so thin that it crumble under the weight of the toppings. The taste was well, disappointing. After experiencing my 2 favorite pizzas in the past 2 days, expectations were running high for a new pizza experience ultra thin style. The experience, well crumble under the weight of expectations.

Artichoke
328 East 14th Street (1st ave)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 228-2004

http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/artichoke-pizza/menu

We said our goodbyes to our friend Qi as he returned to the Saturday grind and we proceeded to meet our other buddy Bryan on the L train station at 14th and 1st. There we hit Artichokes Pizza. Unlike all of the other pizzerias that I have reviewed so far this was not a sit down place. It was basically a store front with a cash register with guys kneading pizza doughs next to pizza ovens in the back. There was very basic foyer before the cash register counter. A nondescript place by all descriptions, except for one thing: the line. The line was just as long as two nights ago when I passed by and it was about 20 people deep. Normally I would just leave upon seeing such a line, but what the heck it was a lazy Saturday afternoon hanging with my two buddies and our mission was a search for good pizza. When you have three guys debating about the Mets and Yankees time really flies.

When it came to our turn to order, I stuck to my methodology of Margherita. Ari went off the deep end ordering a slice - yes by the slice - of crab. There wasn't much to choose from anyway - the other choices were artichoke and Sicilian. There was no seating in the place so we went out to 14 street to eat al fresco. The slice was actually kind of sloppy, a thick dense crust with mozzarella and oil dripping off the side. I was a bit apprehensive as I prepared to take my first bite. The first bite met my tempered expectations. The crust was dense as I expected (almost Sicilian like) and the toppings was very greasy and the oil exuded probably from the mediocre mozzarella. I took another bite for confirmation and I proceeded to throw the rest of the slice into the garbage bin. I did not dispose of the majority of my slice because it was so bad, but my belly was already full of pizza and I had one more place to go so there was no space for any more mediocre pizza - Posto had already taken up enough room. For 4 bucks a slice, I am not entirely sure if it was worth the price. I did have a chance to sample Ari's crab slice and to be honest it was interesting. Maybe next time when I am not as full maybe I will give the crab slice a chance. Honestly, if I had this pizza last year, I think I would have been quite satisfied with it but after having tasted Luzzo's and Co.....

Veloce Pizzeria
103 First Ave., nr. 6th St.
New York, NY 10003
212-777-6677

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/veloce-pizzeria/menus/main.html

As we approach our next destination - Veloce I was already quite full. Veloce rated very high on New Yorker Magazine's survey - and the reviews were that it was a different type of Sicilian pizza. The three of us walk into the restaurant and the entire restaurant was adorned with bottles of wine on wine racks. It felt like a wine bar and as expected as we ordered, the waiter recommended wine to go with our pizza. Not me, I think beer is better with pizza - leave the wine for steak. Me and Ari proceeded to order a $15 12 inch square pan Margherita while my tomato allergic friend ordered an order of calamari.

The pie comes and it looked a bit different than the normal Sicilian. I take a bite into it and it was indeed quite different. The texture of the crust was crispy on the outside but quite dense and spongy at the same time. The bread had the texture of Ethiopian bread that is used to sop up sauce with. It was actually quite interesting. I asked the waiter what accounts for this interesting texture and he informed me that potatoes had been added to the flour. The sauce and cheese were just OK so overall I would give this pizza a good effort to be different but probably would not make my list of favorites. Its not that it tasted bad, but the taste did not stand out from the crowd.

That concluded my day of pizza gorging, and overall I was very enlightened with the possibilities of pizza. The classic "New York style" pizza will never be the same.

Accountability

2010-05-04T21:23:00.004-04:00

I don't consider myself as a tree hugging environmentalist, but I do consider myself a conservationist. What is developing in the Gulf of Mexico is not just solely the fault of British Petroleum, the owner of the oil rig responsible for potentially the biggest oil spill ever. I think this is a much bigger problem than that. Consider the hubris of the oil industry to drill into the sea bed miles below the surface of the ocean. We as a race do not even have a clear understanding of what goes on in the oceans, never mind at the sea bed and we have the arrogance to believe that we can disrupt that delicate environment safely.

Perhaps it's not hubris, but greed that is at play here. Its analogous to Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. People without a real comprehension continue to head down a riskier path in search for higher profits until a tipping point is reached.

Ultimately, we cannot place the entire blame on the oil industry either. We as a society all contribute to the problem. The complacency that exists in society leads us to take things for granted. We expect to have certain conveniences in life and we are intolerant of any disruption of that lifestyle. So can we as a society really put the entire blame on an industry that is there to fulfill a demand? The kind of "accountability" we place on oil companies and Wall Street banks makes it very convenient to scapegoat. We are not even aware of our own role in contributing to the problem. What if we all made a conscientious effort to conserve? Perhaps then the demand would not be high to the point where companies take undue risk in the pursuit of profit.

Let's for once look ourselves in mirror and be accountable.

Pizza Tour - Part 1

2010-04-25T23:09:00.004-04:00

I consider this the beginning of my pizza tour. The first place I went to was Grimaldi's - a place that I was familiar with and the standard up to this point. Going back there and re-familiarizing myself got me prepared for the real tour. Let's get started!!

Luzzo's
211 1st Ave
(between 12th St & 13th St)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 473-7447
www.luzzos.com

On my second day back, I met up with my buddy Siu at a bar near Union Square in the early evening for some catching up and talked about the state of world affairs and other interesting topics. After a couple of hours and a few beers we decided to search for some real food. Since it was my time back, Siu deferred to me to choose a restaurant for the night. I told him briefly about the pizza excursion that I was to embark on. He was OK with it and I thought it would be a good idea to find the place closest to Union Square. Luzzo's was only a few blocks from where we were and it became the destination for the night.

The restaurant was small and cramp - typical by Manhattan standards. I noticed the hostess and many of the servers spoke Italian and for me that was a good sign. I ordered a personal size Funghi ( tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, basil) for $18. The large version was $23. It was a bit pricey for a personal size but being that we are in Manhattan, my only trip to NY this year and a for taste of the future, I happily plunked down the money for it.

When my pie came, I immediately noticed that this was very different from what I am use to. The crust was the first thing that I noticed... it was not dense like the typical New York pizza but airy and light, enveloped by a crispy exterior. There were some burnt spots on the crust which I expected from reading about 900 degree oven that these pies cook under for about 1 minute. I took my first bite into it and immediately entered my personal pizza nirvana. I feel as if I had broken out of consuming mediocre pizza and realized a new realm of possibilities. The crust was as it appeared - crispy and yet light and airy on the inside. The texture reminded me of my favorite bread - nan. I had always imagine that pizza made on nan bread would be a marriage made in heaven and I think this was close. The mozzarella was just enough in quantity and not piled on thick like some pies and most importantly it tasted fresh. The sauce, fresh basil and mushroom just enhanced the whole experience.

The one thing that spoiled the whole experience a bit was the service. They were friendly most of the night, but by the time we were close to finishing up our meal they were kept coming by trying to clear our tables. It became quite annoying as we were still trying to finish up our conversation while this was happening. It really gave the evening a bad ending. However, I was not going to allow the service get in the way of my evaluation of the food since these are separate aspects of the experience.

Here is a link to the menu of Luzzo's

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/luzzos/menus/main.html

Pizza, the next frontier.....

2010-04-20T22:41:00.011-04:00

During my preparation for my trip back to NYC, I decided that I have to get my share of quality pizza in NYC that the Shanghaiese can't seem to get right. I spotted the following articles during my research:

http://nymag.com/restaurants/cheapeats/2009/57893/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/dining/08pizza.html

I decided to take a pizza tour this time back. I was determined to squeeze as many of these restaurants between family reunions and meals at Sushi Yasuda and Peter Luger. As it turns out I was able to eat at 5 of the top 20 from New Yorker Magazine (http://nymag.com/restaurants/cheapeats/2009/57893/) and a two others not on the list which includes a New York institution - Grimaldi's. My mission was clear - to try the "new guard" pizza that has pervaded Gotham while I have been away. Before I go into details of each restaurant, I will say that these excursions have rendered my personal top 10 list obsolete. It is safe to say that my expectations of pizza have changed forever. That really sucks since this elevated sense of pizza does not bode well living in the barren wasteland of pizza known as Shanghai.

The methodology was simple, I will use the standard margherita pizza as the barometer since this represents the essence of pizza. Just the crust, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and basil for a dash of seasoning. No pizza on steroids and whacked out toppings to interfere with the essence. Maybe the next trip I will venture into alternative pizzas but this time I will start with the basics.

I will introduce each pizza joint in the chronological order of my visit.

Grimaldi's
718.819.2133
242-02 61st Avenue
Douglaston, NY 11362

My first night back in NY, I took the family out to a NY institution - Grimaldi's. Everybody knows the original location in Brooklyn under the Brooklyn Bridge, but the one that we went to was in Douglaston, Queens - only a 5 minute drive from my parent's house. This is a place that I am familiar with since to me it represents one of the pillars of pizza in NY, and is a place I have visited every time back to NY since I left for Shanghai. When it came time to order, I had to compromise a bit on my methodology since we had a wide spectrum of palates at the table. From my 5 year old nephew Spencer to my 87 year old father, compromise was a necessity. We ordered 3 pies for a table of 8 - one sausage and two mushroom/onion:

I enjoyed the thin crust, slightly burnt and the fresh but slightly tough cheese. The crust has a bit of crunch to it and the sauce was nice and sweet. It satisfied me but I must admit, it was not as good as I remembered. Even though I was a tad disappointed, to me it still served as the stardard that all other pizzas be compared to. I looked forward to exploring the next frontier now that I had a belly full of good quality pizza.

Back from the Wild West

2010-04-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

We just took a trip to Toronto and New York and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. For some reason, this time back felt really good. Much better than the last time back. Perhaps getting reconnected with friends and family was the main reason. Perhaps it was seeing the City again that gave me a dose of how good things could be. NYC is a great place to revisit for former residences since we know exactly where to go when we are back. These are places that really represents the essence of NYC. They are not the tourist attractions that a resident never goes to unless taking out of town visitors.

Anyway, this time back I fulfulled my cravings of pizza, steak and hot dogs. I even took a "pizza tour" where I ate at 5 of the top 20 pizza places according to New Yorker Magazine. I will be reviewing each of these restaurant in upcoming entries.

Anyway, I am now back in Shanghai and back to reality for the time being....

distancing friends

2010-03-17T01:40:00.000-04:00

Our recent trip to Malaysia over the Chinese New Year period meant reunions with friends and family. My wife was raised in Malaysia and still has many friends who she keeps in touch with. I tagged along with her to many of these reunions and discovered a phenomenon that also exists in my circle of friends on visits back to NY. It seems that our homecoming was a reason important enough to get a group of friends together, but without such an occasion people don't find the time to gather anymore. I had friends tell me that the previous time that they had a group gathering was the last time we were back. Its a shame, but I think its just a reality that exists in us.

It seems as we go through life, there are bonds that tie us together with our friends. However these bonds don't seem to stand the test of time especially when people start to evolve as they age. At one time perhaps it was school that tie some of us together, then it become work colleagues and friends of significant others. It then could become parents of your children's friends.

That being said, when I heard about a classmate in need that I no longer stay in touch with, somehow I still tried to lend support in some way. I guess these bonds never really break, perhaps they just become dormant for a while.

food of malaysia

2010-02-18T20:05:00.001-05:00

Another Chinese New Year means another trip to Malaysia, the homeland of my wife. Other than the family reunions and the well needed break from Shanghai, one of the joys of this trip is to indulge in the rich diversity of cuisines that exists in this country. One type of food that I really have a hankering for when I come here is distinctly Malaysian - Mamak food.

To explain what Mamak food is, a very abridged version of Malaysia's history and culture is in store. Malaysia is a diverse country with three main races - the indigenous Malays, the Southern Chinese and the Tamil Indians. Obviously the latter two are immigrants to this country and accounts for a minority in this mostly Muslim country. The Tamil Indians are the purveyors of the delicious but rustic fare known as Mamak.

Mamak establishments started out as inexpensive street food enjoyed by the masses, and has now evolved into an integral part of the Malaysian food scene. Now many popular Mamak fare is served in a more established restaurant partially indoor, partially al fresco. It still has its place as a cheap, informal dining alternative. Many establishments are opened 24 hours a day and becomes a great place to watch football games while enjoying a late snack (there is a 8 hour difference between Malaysia and Western Europe making it a perfect time to catch European Football matches during after hours). This is the type of ambiance that I really enjoy here in Malaysia. As a lover of food and the outdoors, there are few things better than eating roti canai, sipping on a ice lemon tea and watching Arsenal-Manchester United in 25 degrees (77F) nights of Kuala Lumpur along with other football fans that I surreptitiously met that night.

As for some of the favorite dishes that I would order are roti canai, paper dosai, fried chicken, fried fish,satay and nan. Most of these dishes are high in fat and are not authentic Indian food (Malaysianized), but who cares - its cheap, unpretentious and delicious.

Where is home?

2009-10-08T01:47:00.002-04:00

I recently went back to NY for a short visit. This visit like the one previously last Spring left me confused. The source of my confusion is that for the first time, I felt an urge to go back to Shanghai by the tail end of my visit. I don't think I would have ever thought I would feel that way about Shanghai. And maybe its not because its Shanghai, maybe its just my life has taken root in a certain place.

I no longer have a place of my own in NYC and for every visit, I have been staying with my parents. Even though it is the house I grew up in, I just don't have the same feeling about it anymore. Everything seems to a bit "off".

Now that I have been here in Shanghai for a couple of years, things have become routine. We have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, gotten use to certain conveniences in life that were not realistically attainable in NYC. I never would have thought of it that way while living in Shanghai, but when I spend about a week or two in NYC, I become very aware it.

When we first arrived here, I would have never thought that we would ever settle here. At this point, that is actually within the realm of possibilty.

Childhood memories

2009-07-08T04:04:00.004-04:00

So today I had a chance to watch part of Michael Jackson's memorial services on TV. I would not categorize myself as a Michael Jackson fanatic but I find myself with a feeling of loss during this time.

Michael Jackson was at his peak as a star in the early to mid eighties when I was in my early teens living in NYC. I always thought that he was an incredibly talent performer and I really enjoyed his music back in the "Thriller" days. As the years went by, Jackson's life began to go down a very strange path. In my mind, he became more and more irrelevant as the years went by.

When I learned of his death, I began to reflect on his music and how relevant it was during those impressionable years of my life. The more I reflected on it, the more I realize that this was a loss of a significant figure in my childhood. I use to remember how incredibly popular he was back in those days. Many of my female classmates use to get angry at those of us who criticized Jackson (some of this was intentional to get the desired reaction).

As I started to watch some of his classic music videos and concert performances over the Internet, I was reminded of just how incredibly talented this man really was. As a performer, he is without a doubt true to the word - a genius. I believe another reason that his death has garnered this much outpouring of emotions was also how tragic his life was despite all of the success.

It seems in death, Michael Jackson has become very relevant again.

I guess all genius are tormented. Perhaps they just don't belong in this world, but the world is probably better for it.

blogger blackout

2009-07-07T03:59:00.000-04:00

Well, this is my first post in over a month. This has been a combination of a busy travel schedule and the fact that blogger has been blocked in China. There are ways for me to get around it but I just haven't had the chance to get around to it until today.

Anyway, I guess with all of the politically sensitive events going on in China, they've decided to really clamp down on the Internet.

I will try to make up for some of the information vacuum in future posts.

Spring Attire

2009-05-18T02:30:00.000-04:00

So Spring is in the air here in Shanghai. As Spring attire appears on the streets of Shanghai, more skin is exposed. When it comes to attire, women here in Shanghai are more daring than I would have thought before coming over here. I would say they are no more conservative than their counterparts in New York.

What is quite interesting is the reaction to women dressed, let’s say on the high end of the skin exposure scale. In America, when a woman dresses like that, they quite literally turn heads and elicit some whistles or some other comments from men. Here in Shanghai, the reaction is muted. Nobody turns their head when a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in a miniskirt and fitted top walks by. No whistles, nothing. You might see a man move his eyeballs towards her direction while passing accompanied by very little head movement.

I think this is quite consistent with other differences between China and America. Chinese don’t like to create a scene and would rather “fly under the radar”. Any reaction from men in that kind of situation would be embarrassing for both parties. It’s not as if the men here does not admire the beauty of the fairer sex. I think I have 1.3 billion pieces of evidence of the contrary. In fact, I would say that almost every man and women on that street have already noticed that woman, except they are very discrete in their admiration and or envy.

Chinese on my blog

2009-05-06T09:01:00.003-04:00

I just want to explain the abrupt change of language in my previous entry to my non-Chinese readers. I have decided to use my newly-acquired though rudimentary Chinese writing skills in a way that I would have not thought possible just a few years ago. Going forward, I will occasionally blog in the language of my roots even though it is not my native tongue. This is something that is quite personal to me and I feel it will further the growth that I am undergoing here in China. No, this is not making it convenient to my non-Chinese readers, but if you are that interested in what I have to say in Chinese there is always google translate.

我的博客中文版

2009-05-04T11:14:00.005-04:00

我在中国已经有一段时间了. 来中国前用中文写博客是一个不可思议的事. 当然,也许我的中文程度现在只有小学的水平,不过有这一天也不容易. 我六岁就从台湾去美国定居. 到了三十几岁才回到中国. 那么多年在美国没当中文是一件事. 回来这几年才开始复学中文. 在美国那么久我只保持了最基本的中文口语水平跟我父母用普通话交流. 所以我起码还有一个基础, 不过读不了几个汉字.

在中国生活不可能不顾中文. 所以我就慢慢的吸收中文. 现在我还可以看看报纸, 基本上可以看得懂. 我的却是进步了不少,不过还有很长的路来走. 我希望我离开中国以前可以提高我的中文到流利的水平. 看看这个期望可不可以显示.

aciremA and anihC

2009-04-27T08:33:00.005-04:00

What a difference a few years make! So America started last year with the classic reversal of fortune. First, as the center of the most important capitalistic society we got ourselves ensnared in a financial crisis not at our making, but certainly as the leading catalyst. China, whom America has scolded on many occasions for their command economy has emerged from this downturn in relatively decent shape thus far. Now word that the swine flu has emerged from Mexico, right at the doorstep of America. This after years of suspicion that the avian flu will likely emerge from China due to the perceived backward lifestyle and little attention paid to public welfare. The tables have certainly turned this time around and don't think the world has not taken notice. This is not to say that every thing China has done in recent years has been the gold standard and America has become the leper of the world.

This points to the fact that complacency has insidiously crept into the American mindset. After all, complacency only exists when one has success and America have experienced a long period of success on the world stage. This has led to the mindset that what we do must be correct and the best way to do things. This has led to the current state of complacency that is in the process of humbling us. We should no longer be as arrogant to believe that whatever we do is the best. We can still lead, but it requires us to consider that others may have good ideas as well and not to be quick to dismiss. One hopes that the current Obama administration is on that road and can turn this around.

Civilized or Ingenuous

2009-04-23T09:57:00.000-04:00

In America, we view ourselves as "civilized" and likewise, I think of myself as being a civilized person. I personally believe that in modern society, we should have certain rules and structure in place to make our lives more livable and comfortable.

That being said, sometimes you find yourself in situations where civility might have to take a back seat to primal urges. The classic example is the need to urinate with no bathrooms in sight. I would dare say that most Americans would probably hold their urine as long as they can while searching for the loo until succumbing to nature. This problem is really no problem at all here in China. If one, especially a man has to go, he probably will just head towards the nearest dimly lit corner. Some men are even more brazen and would do this with no peripheral cover into some greenery. Such activities are not just restricted to dark alleys, sometimes you can see this in relatively busy streets in front of women and children. These sights are not even worth a second look from passerbys

Another example is the expulsion of gas. I think we all have had experiences where after a meal, especially a hearty one where one needs to expel some gas. We in the civilized world will either try to belch quietly or swallow one's gas until they are in the company of oneself. Here in China, diners have not qualms about belching during the meal. This is viewed as a natural bodily function and it would not be helpful to suppress it.

In many ways, I understand why we in the civilized society want to take such painstaking care to keep these activities private. However, from another perspective, I find that the attitude of the Chinese toward some of this is quite refreshing. There is no pretension when it comes to such bodily functions. After all it isn't as if you are the only person in the world to have these things happen to your body. So why bother to hide or suppress them?

Formula 1

2009-04-20T08:53:00.000-04:00

I can't say that I am much of an auto racing fan. However, when the F1 tour came into town here in Shanghai, I was intrigued. My only exposure to auto racing back in the States is the Indy 500 and NASCAR; the exposure was limited at best. NYC was not exactly a hotbed of auto racing. After all, when most of one's driving experience in NYC is being ensnared in bumper to bumper traffic on the LIE or the Grand Central one does not view auto racing as a viable concept.

Being abroad, I started to learn about things that go on which dwarfs the popularity of similar activities in the States. World Cup soccer comes to mind and so does the F1 circuit. It is from that point of view which prompted me to go 20 miles out of the downtown area where I live on a rainy day to see if I can get some tickets from scalpers to witness something that not too many Americans have in person for the a race that only occurs in Shanghai annually. All of this trouble and the only race car driver I know from the F1 circuit was last year's champion, Lewis Hamilton.

Anyhow, me and my friend Kanlin (who is not even a sports fan never mind F1) made our way to the race track. We secured a pair of standing room tickets for 250RMB (face value 600RMB) after the race had already commenced.

The conditions were far from perfect as a steady rain accompanied by brisk wind gusts made not only the driving treacherous but viewing quite uncomfortable even with rain gear on. The first thing that struck me as we arrived at our viewing area was the noise from these engines. Instead of a roar as one might expect, the sound was a relatively high pitch whirring noise that was incessant. As I would find out later after I left the track the exposure to this noise continually for nearly 2 hours would leave me with a temporarily hearing deficiency.

Other things that struck me was the speed of these cars and just how surreal the entire spectacle was. Here I was, watching vehicles that one never sees on the road traveling at breathtaking speeds on straightaways and turns alike. It was a very different experience than watching it on television where we are use to viewing the fantastic.

Overall, I must say that despite the weather conditions, I really enjoyed my first experience at F1. It might not be my last.

Wolverine

2009-04-09T10:05:00.001-04:00

So the other day I was out on the streets of Shanghai browsing through a street cart of DVDs and saw copies of "Wolverine" being sold. I don't really follow movie releases very closely, but I seem to remember seeing advertising for the movie recently. For that reason, I thought Wolverine was a recent release and when you see DVDs of recent releases on the streets of Shanghai, they typically are of very low quality. Usually they are copies of people recording the movie from a camcorder in the movie theater.

I asked the vendor if this was a good copy or a bad copy. He told me that it was a good copy. I told him that I did not believe him so he promptly whipped out a portable dvd player to show me the quality of the DVD. He played the first 2 minutes of the movie and indeed it was of DVD quality. So I plunked down my 5RMB (73 cents) and happily brought it home. I watched the movie the next evening and started to see some funny things. Certain scenes such as the overhead view of an island was composed of skeletal graphics. And some of the scenes that required special affects looks as if it was computer animation. In some of the fight scenes cables could be seen strapped to the actors to provide lift.

After the movie, I did some research on the movie over the internet and discovered that the release date is on May 1 which is 3 weeks from now. I realized that the copy of Wolverine that I just viewed was probably one of the pre-final versions of the movie. It seems that somebody on the inside must have made a copy of it and sold it to the DVD pirates.

I just spoke to a friend in NYC and found out that pirated copies of Wolverine has made it to the States. He has not watched it as of yet, so I wonder if the States got the same copy. My guess would be yes.

Digital age is a double edge sword.

The Blame Game

2009-03-11T01:07:00.000-04:00

OK, I think I am getting to the breaking point with all of the finger pointing when it comes to this financial crisis. We all know the usual suspects when it come to the guilty. Wall Street, government regulators, predatory mortgage agents, banks, etc. These groups are certainly the most obvious of the culpable. The less obvious are the regular folks who went ahead and purchased homes by leveraging themselves to the point of bankruptcy.

I think the problem was insidious because it was very gradual in its nature. Little by little, as the lending standards loosened, and people on main street just like the ones on Wall Street began to adjust their actions to the new landscape. This meant it was actually acceptable to take out second mortgages to finance the renovation of a new kitchen. It was acceptable for somebody without much business experience to use their homes as collateral to raise capital to start a small business. It goes on and on. It became a money grab as people thought of new ways to consume as available cash was everywhere.

I think when a person making $50,000 a year qualified for a mortgage to buy a $600,000 home and decides to go ahead with the purchase because they believed the value of it will rise to $800,000 in a few years at which point they will sell it and downsize with a tidy profit before the mortgage rate resets really knows exactly what they are doing and cannot possibly claim ignorance and pass the responsibility to the banks. To do something like this one must already have an understanding that there is considerable risk being taken or they will not plan on taking such drastic actions before their rates increase to an unaffordable rate. Perhaps they did not understand just how big the risks were because in recent past the landscape has temporarily shifted where nothing could go wrong.

For average folks to claim that they were not educated enough or were swindled by cunning bankers and mortgage brokers is really just passing the responsibility. I don't think this is very constructive because as long as people blame somebody else for their mistakes, a valuable lesson will not be learned.

This is analogous to the gambler or alcoholic who blames everyone but themselves for their transgressions.

Lets be perfectly clear, there is plenty of blame to go around. Sometimes you might have to start with the person in the mirror.

mirror reflection

2009-02-08T03:50:00.004-05:00

Last night Major League Baseball and baseball fans (including me) around the world received earth shattering news that the best baseball player in the world and perhaps one of the greats in the history of the game tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Alex Rodriguez currently of the New York Yankees reportedly tested positive for steroids in 2003. The history and records of baseball is very integral part of being a fan of baseball. Currently the sacred record of baseball - all time home runs is held by the notorious steroids user Barry Bonds. Alex Rodriguez was to be the player who embodied the ideal athlete who through diligence and talent was to restore the integrity of the sacred records of baseball.

Listening to the New York sports radio stations over the internet, the disappointment of the fans is palpable. For fans, sports is the diversion to escape from the rigors of real life. It affords people to be entertained by seemingly larger than life heroes who one can live vicariously through.

Unfortunately, the sports world is very much part of real life populated by real people like us all. The competition is high and the payoff for the top performers like any other industry can be very high. Its actually not surprising that people are willing to take the risk and take performance enhancing drugs to give them the best chance to succeed. This sort of thing happens in all walks of life. Here in China, parents line up to buy Chinese medicine reputed to enhance cognitive activity in the days leading up the College entrance exams for their children. Scientists are engaged in genetic engineering that may one day produce intelligent babies. What parent wouldn't want a child like that? How many people lie on their resumes in hopes of getting their foot in the door of a better job?

Trying to get an edge on the competition is an inherent character trait that all species have. I think it is safe to say that at this point, humans has gained such an advantage over the rest of the animals that it has become unfair.

So just how unfair is what Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez have done? That is a tough question to answer, as they are only doing what we humans are programmed to do. Just like any other subset of society, sports is just a reflection of who we are. Sometimes we don't like looking in the mirror because we might not like what we see. Unfortunately, heroes are just creations based on standards and ideals that nobody can never live up to.

Shanghai Comfort Food 生煎包

2009-02-04T21:22:00.002-05:00

So the other day, I had some spare time and decided to head over to one of my favorite restaurant that specializes in a Shanghaiese type of pot sticker pork bun (生煎包）. The restaurant is located near the biggest square in Shanghai - People's Square (人民广场）and the famous pedestrian shopping street - Nanjing Road. The restaurant is called Yang's Fried Dumpling (小杨生煎）。

The first thing you have to realize about these buns is that it does not pretend to be healthy. It is pan fried and has lots of soup with pork and some pork fat, but the taste is very satisfying. The bun is slightly larger than the size of a golf ball and the bottom of the bun is fried to a perfect crispy texture but the top half has a doughy soft texture - a nice contrast. When you bite into one of these - like its soup dumpling brethren which I will profile in a later entry - you have to be careful because it encases a nice size pork ball along with copious amounts of soup from the pork itself. You would be advised to take a small careful bite, just enough to open up a hole on its soft top side so you don't blind one of your fellow diners with hot pork soup squirting out of your bun. Then you should suck out a good amount of the soup before continuing on to finish off the bun. The price of these are a minimum purchase of 4 pot sticker buns for 4RMB - 58 cents (exchange rate of 6.84) with each additional bun at 1RMB apiece.

The restaurant itself is basically a hole in the wall with a bare minimum of service and decor. The menu contains some complementary dishes such as beef soup with soy bean noodles , duck blood soup (another topic for another day), fried tofu soup, etc. But make no mistake about it, the star of the menu is the pot sticker bun. For the uninitiated, in order to get your buns, you have to pay for the meal first at the cashier then proceed to the line to get your buns located next to the front entrance of the restaurant. After getting your buns, if you have any other complementary dishes, you need to present your receipt to the servers inside the restaurant. Finding a table is another adventure, as during dining hours the place is normally packed. You can either wait for about 5 to 10 minutes, take out and eat on the street, or find an empty seat on an occupied table (there is no sanctuary here).

I am not a big fan of Shanghai style food, but if it is known for anything it is this pot sticker bun (生煎包）。

The particulars of the restaurant:

Yang's Fried Dumpling (小杨生煎）
97 Huang He Road (near People's Square) 黄浦区黄河路97号

Other locations include:
54-60 Wu Jiang Road (near West Nanjing Road) 静安区吴江路54-60号(近南京西路)
720 East Nanjing Road 黄浦区南京东路720号食品一店内

The Bailout, The Stimulus

2009-02-02T22:06:00.000-05:00

So now that we are in the middle of the global financial crisis, governments are scrambling to attempt the remedy the situation. Since we are in the internet age, problems have to be addressed by yesterday or the natives will become restless. Therefore, governments - notably the US Government have been engaged in a campaign to save the economy.

The question becomes this, how can governments faced with an economic crisis of unprecedented scale and complexity be expected to tackle this issue in a intelligent, pragmatic way? I think the answer has been partially answered already with the seemingly haphazard fashion that governments have responded so far.

The latest theory is to throw massive amounts of money into the economy with the hope that it will stimulate it. I am certainly not smart enough to figure out if this will work or not. But I think in the big picture sense this credit bubble was created in the first place by massive over consumption by everyone around the world.

A few years ago, when I was still back in New York and was observing the real estate bubble growing, what struck me was that the real estate around the world were also growing at an unreasonable pace. In the newspapers all you read about was that countries as varied as China, Ireland, UAE, England,India, Poland, Vietnam, etc were experiencing even bigger real estate booms than the US. I read stories of economies in those countries booming and its citizens enjoying an accelerated rise in standards of living. All of this consumption were directly or indirectly related to the cheap credit available at the time, and that is how interconnected we all were. Therefore, spending was more and more dependent on the house of cards named credit.

Now that credit has been effectively cut off, I think we are in a process of returning to normalcy. The problem is that from where we came from this is a drastic change of the credit landscape. The actions taken by governments around the world to lower interest rates and throw money into the system in hopes of stimulating the economy is the obvious short term answer to cushion that fall. The problem is that I hope that all of these actions will not act as a catalyst to return our economies to the broken model that pervaded globally in the past 10 years in the long run. I am not sure if the answer is to get people to buy more cars by lowering the standards of issuing credit again by stimulating the banks. Maybe its better to just go with the scorch earth way. Clean up everything in sight and start anew. Maybe everyone has to suffer in the short run and take a step back before moving forward again.

The other problem that we don't have is time to intelligently and carefully consider these issues in this day and age of the internet before people become agitated. Patience is a virtue that not many of us have these days.

Happy Birthday God of Wealth and Fortune!

2009-01-30T00:45:00.002-05:00

Chinese New Year this year fell on 1/26/09. Traditionally, the Chinese set off fireworks on the 1st of the lunar new year. As tradition evolves, in Shanghai people have started to set off fireworks on the 5th day to celebrate the birthday of the fortune god. As you can imagine, if there is a day to celebrate money then it is a reason to set off fireworks in a city like Shanghai where money is paramount. Local Shanghai residents I have spoken to about the topic told me that setting off fireworks on the 5th is a practice that started to take hold only within the past 30 years and is uniquely Shanghaiese.

Buying fireworks could not be any easier here in Shanghai as temporary fireworks stands pop up everywhere this time of year. I am not sure as to the legality selling fireworks, but either they are legal or law enforcement is looking the other way.

As I am writing this entry it is half past midnight of the 5th day of the lunar new year. For most of the evening leading up to midnight, the people of Shanghai has been setting off fireworks sporadically. By 11:30PM the rate of pyrotechnic activity builds until it reached climax at around midnight as the 5th day approaches. The minutes before to about 15 minutes past midnight, it is an absolutely spectacular and mad scene outside my 16th floor apartment window. All kinds of fireworks and firecrackers are being set off everywhere you look. At its peak, the illumination of the sky is enhanced by the light from the fireworks reflecting off the smoke created by such a profusion of pyrotechnic activity. The sound is deafening and continuous. At one point the smoke was so thick, that it lowered visibility to the point where the firework display was almost completely shrouded.

There were a few rounds of fireworks that were set off directly on the ground level below my apartment. I can literally see the incended shell being propelled to about 20 feet outside my window then exploding with the residue hitting my window. That is how close to the action I was. I have never seen such a display anywhere in my life. Fourth of July is nothing compared to what I saw outside my window tonight.

Even though these were not professional fireworks, it was probably the best fireworks show that I have ever seen. This has to be seen to believe. The whole experience was quite surreal.

Hope the god of fortune brings us luck this year,'cause we really need it right now.

The Sanctuary

2009-01-18T12:01:00.001-05:00

Its funny at how much more tolerant I am of certain things now that I have lived in China for a while now. Being a Chinese-American, I am able to somewhat penetrate the realm of the local Chinese. Therefore, unlike other expatriates here in China I am able to get a better sense of what life is like for a local. It also helps that I am open minded enough to try things that would have made me uncomfortable in America.

One such example is embedded in the dining experience. In America, dining is very much a social event especially when dining out. It is a time when one relaxes with food, drink and conversation with friends or family members. There is an expectation of privacy in order for that ambiance to pervade. This is true no matter if you are dining in McDonalds or Lutece.

Here in China, there is a somewhat different expectation from the dining experience. It is more about the eating that is emphasized rather than the social interaction especially at the mid to lower price of the spectrum. It seems its all about getting seated and having your food, therefore it is very common for people to share tables in restaurants during peak dining hours. I had experiences where I have sat at a table for 4 and every person at the table is a stranger to one another. Since everyone is a stranger there is an aura of awkwardness where no conversation is taking place. This leads to a strange dynamic of just putting your head down and eating your food as fast as possible to get out of that awkward situation. Its almost akin to the experience in the men's urinal where every man is staring at the wall in front of him so he doesn't accidentally look at the private parts of the man standing next to him.

Sharing tables would have been something that I would never consider in America and its something that I would still avoid even here in China, but sometimes during peak dining hours and my stomach is growling I will make the sacrifice. Besides, you really can't control the situation if a stranger plops himself next to you while you are in the middle of your braised pork.

Of course, this is not to say that this is true in every restaurant in China. First, business has to be good enough where table sharing becomes necessary. Second, this is less true as your move up the price spectrum. Therefore, the sanctuary of your own table in a restaurant can still be had here in most cases.

NY Times updates

2008-12-22T11:37:00.003-05:00

Mysteriously, without any explanation the NY Times website appeared in my firefox window. Of course there was an article in the NY Times announcing their reappearance in China. The Times could not get any explanation as to why the site was blocked in the first place.

The NY Times are constantly running articles about China - positively and negatively but did not suffer any censorship in my two years in China. I don't even want to surmise as to what happened. As things always are in China, there is no explanation for anything.

Anyway, I am just happy to have access to the Times again.

NY Times web site blocked

2008-12-19T22:33:00.002-05:00

Agrrrrahhh! Probably the website that I get most of my news these days is now blocked in China.

I heard recently that the Chinese government have resumed their tight censorship over internet access recently after a period of relaxed control around the time of the Olympics. It seems that the NY Times website is one of the casualties. Its funny that for a couple of years now I have not experienced any censorship of the NY Times. Anyway, the funny thing is that the global version of the NY Times, International Herald Tribune is still up and running. I think if you try to figure out China, all you will do is come up with questions with no answers.

Wii

2008-12-02T07:49:00.001-05:00

I finally purchased the game console Wii on an impulse. I have heard plenty about how wildly popular it is. When I finally got a chance to play it, I realized that the Wii has taken this form of gaming to another level.

Gaming up to this point in the past 10 years or so has made tremendous strides in graphics. This has taken games from cartoons to look almost like movies. Games have also gotten more and more sophisticated and complicated over the years and this translates well to the hardcore gamers. What was left behind was the regular person who was not very sophisticated when it comes to games. They are typically intimidated by the complicated controls. At parties if you were to bring out the X-box or PS3, you would only be able to get a small percentage of people to play it. The Wii has brought the fun to every person at the party with controls that makes the user interaction with the game intuitive.

I owned the PS1 and XBox in the past and could never get my wife to play with me, but now she has as much fun with the games as me. Nintendo really hit a home run with this machine. An added bonus is the fact that my Wii has been modified to play copies of games which are being sold throughout Shanghai for a measly 5RMB (current exchange rate of 6.8 translates to 73 cents).

Election thoughts

2008-11-16T10:31:00.004-05:00

The results of the US presidential elections was not a shocking one by any stretch considering the state of the US economy. However, the results was historic as the first minority ever ascends to the top position in the most powerful nation on Earth.

The significance of this event transcends race relations in the United States. This was a significant event for race relations world-wide. This was not just an African-American becoming the president but a Asian-African-American if there is such a title. Here is a man who was born in Hawaii, with ties to Kenya and Indonesia. He is truly a man of the world and following his win there were mass celebrations throughout the world. The celebrations were especially poignant in his father's hometown in Kenya and his home for 4 years of his childhood in Indonesia.

This event gave people hope worldwide that the person leading the most powerful nation in the world can understand other points of view. I believe that is the factor that Obama brings to the table. This factor can be very effective in many regards if it is used properly. It forms the foundation of a strong tailwind for an Obama administration. I don't know if Obama can be the great president that many hopes he can be, but I can say that the conditions are right for that to happen. I hope he steers the plane along that tailwind even though there will be turbulent times ahead.

Qingdao

2008-11-04T22:19:00.001-05:00

The first week of October is known as "Golden Week" (黄金周）. This is one of two weeks in China (other being the week of Chinese New Year) where the country is off from work for the entire week. Needless to say this is a perfect opportunity to take off and to a little traveling.

During this period me and the wife traveled to Qingdao in Shangdong province, about a hour's flight north of Shanghai. Qingdao is known in China and internationally as the city that produces China's most famous beer - Tsingtao beer. This city was under the control of the Germans earlier in the 1900's and it was at that time that the Tsingtao brewery was established. German influences are evident here in its architecture.

The city is situated right along the ocean, and despite its Chinese name 青岛- literally translated as "Green Island", this city is not an island.

While planning for this trip we were pleasantly surprised and then apprehensive when we discovered that the Tsingtao Beer Festival was being held right at the time we were planning on visting. We were happy that we stumbled upon the highlight event of Qingdao on the calendar because normally this event is held in August. This year Qingdao held the sailing events in both the Olympics and Paralympics from August to September. Therefore the beer festival was postponed until October. What we were apprehensive about was the specter of going on vacation during a weeklong holiday to a city holding its biggest festival of the year. This had all of the ingredients of a week filled with a sea of humanity vying for all the recreation resources the city had to offer.

In reality while there was some sites where there were crowds of people, our worst fears were really never realized. The beer festival was attended by lots of people, but just enough to make the ambiance festive instead of becoming overcrowded. The food at the festival was overpriced and not too tasty, but the combination of beer, music and a general festive atmosphere made for a great time.

We also toured the Tsingtao beer museum which detailed the history of the company and there was a live brewery along with a bottling facility. The end of the tour in the museum brought us to a bar where we were given samples of Tsingtao draft and Tsingtao raw draft beers. The beer museum is also located in Qingdao's "Beer Street". This street is strewed with seafood restaurant serving of course, Tsingtao beer. This is a great place to relax in the evening especially when there are lots of people sitting on outdoor tables.

When we were not drinking beer, we were touring the city with its German influences. The city has a leisurely pace that was quite welcoming considering where we live.

Overall, I found Qingdao to be a nice place to visit for a few days to get away from the madness of urban life.

Ferrari on the streets of Shanghai

2008-10-24T13:16:00.003-04:00

With traffic like this, why bother with a car like that?

Global financial crisis

2008-10-11T11:44:00.003-04:00

After blogging for over a year and touching on the oft-mentioned theme of the Chinese stock market meltdown, I am now confronted with a meltdown of global proportions.

Ironically, the Chinese economy might be in a better position than many to withstand this global crisis. I think at this point, the Chinese economy will no doubt feel the effects of this crisis roiling in the US and Europe. The effects will be indirect - lower demand for Chinese imports and less overseas investments.

The banks in China was not plagued with the same problems with their counterparts in the west ironically because the economy here in China is not as mature. Credit is not used as much as America as a tool to finance investments and purchases. Therefore, the impact on China will be coming externally rather than internal. The key for China and its large eastern cities will be their own credit markets and the real estate market. After the stock market meltdown, China can ill-afford to have a real estate meltdown. The real estate market have shown signs of weakness, and are indeed very much over priced. If this part of the economy starts to deteriorate, things could become quite ugly as well

Of course, it still remains to be seen if things will get as bad here in China as elsewhere in the world. One thing is for sure, Chinese economy is not as leveraged as Americas, and that just might be enough to keep things from getting really ugly.

haircut for life!!

2008-10-05T10:03:00.005-04:00

I have been sporting a military style buzz cut for the past 2 years. This new hairstyle started during my backpacking trip in 2005. This was done with pure practicality in mind as it minimized the amount of grooming time during our trip to the third world. The other reason was to see how I would look without much hair since we have a history of male pattern baldness on both my maternal and paternal sides. After the trip I decided to keep the look because I was never a hairstyle kind of guy anyway.

I have been cutting my own hair with a pair of electric hair clippers since my hairstyle has uniform length on all sides. Before people start to draw conclusions to my thriftiness, I must tell my side of the story.

Barbershops, like many service industries here in China like to promote the pre-paid membership pricing strategy. What this means is that when you go for a haircut that costs about 15 RMB (around $2.20) including hair wash you have to endure sales pitches from nearly every person who services you. When the haircut is over and you are ready to pay, then you would typically get a hard sales pitch where you would have to reject the offer about 5 times before they retreat.

The deal typically goes like this: you prepay 1000RMB value for a prepaid/membership card and enjoy a 20% discount for all services at the store as long as you keep a prepaid balance on the card. The absurdity of the whole thing is that a prepaid 1000RMB card gets you monthly haircuts for 5 years before the value on the card is depleted. Of course, the typical barbershop offers many other services that the card can be used for such as that hair washing, back massage, earwax removal, etc.

This give some insight to the mentality of the Chinese consumer where they can be enticed into "buying in bulk" to enjoy discounts. To me, when you buy in bulk, you also tend to consume in bulk.

The high pressure sales pitch and a new outlook on my hairstyle are the top reasons that I now typically cut my own hair. Its funny but its true.

Visit to Taipei

2008-09-25T11:34:00.000-04:00

I had a revelation on a trip to Taipei last month. The place where I was born has become a modern world class city right under my nose.

I left Taiwan in 1978 and did not make a return trip until 1994. Since then I have been going back there every 3 to 4 years. On my initial trip back to Taiwan, the country was evolving. Conditions reminded me of the way Shanghai looks outside of the downtown area. Things were still under construction and had somewhat of a third world feel to it. The air was very polluted from factory pollution and construction sites. The traffic patterns was very much like they are currently in Shanghai - wild and not for the faint of heart.

Even though I have been going to Taiwan every so often since that initial trip, I somehow did not noticed the changes as they were subtle. During this trip, I reminisced about that initial trip and realized just how much the city has changed. The city now has a new subway system which has alleviated much of the traffic problems that plagued it the past. That along with the move of the manufacturing sector to mainland China has really lessened the pollution. The development of a highway system along with the completion of a high speed railway system has also led to an efficient transportation system.

The other aspect of improvement in Taiwan is the culinary scene. The native Taiwanese food has always been a favorite and is best eaten in the multitude of street stands. This is an aspect of dining that is far better than what Shanghai has to offer. There is also a high quality of fare of foreign influence.

Service has improved to an excellent quality in all aspects of the service sector. It appears that what American would consider a middle class lifestyle is within reach of many Taiwanese.

I still remembered on my initial trip back to Taiwan in 1994 I never thought that I could actually live in Taipei, but after my recent trip I must admit that my birthplace has become a very livable place.

Turmoil on Wall Street

2008-09-20T23:58:00.005-04:00

The past two weeks have been incredibly eventful in the financial world. Several of the biggest names on Wall Street have either gone out of business, forced to be sold, or saved by the US Government.

This is very relevant to me since I use to work at one of the two remaining independent investment banks still embroiled in the turmoil. I have spoken to some of my former co-workers and can sense the nervousness about their uncertain future. It is likely that they will have to be forced into a merger considering the adverse market condition for an independent investment bank to operate under. This will most likely result in layoffs as there will be redundancies in any merger.

As this financial seismic event was taking place on Wall Street, people in China also felt it as their stock market dove in concert with the global markets. Its actually pretty amazing how many people in China actually know the names of Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. I don't think most Chinese actually know what these firms do, but then again it seems like the firms themselves don't seem to either.

Mid Autumn Festival (中秋节）

2008-09-14T11:00:00.000-04:00

So today is the Mid Autumn Festival (中秋节）. This will be the first time in China where this holiday will be observed with a day off from work. Even though the actual holiday this year (its 8/15 on the lunar calendar) lands on a Sunday, businesses will be closed on the following Monday.

The Mid Autumn Festival is marked by the gifting of mooncakes (月饼）to friends and family members. I like to compare these mooncakes to fruitcakes that traditionally gets gifted around during Christmas time. Neither are particularly tasty but are both ubiquitous.

The gifting of mooncakes is such a tradition here that it is taking on a life of its own. Its similar to Christmas in some ways, except the only gift to give is the mooncake. Businesses make sure that they give mooncakes to their important customers, not doing so will be seen as a sign of disrespect.

I personally don't like to eat them, but we get so many from friends and business associates that we don't know what to do with them. Well, at the very least I get a day off from work and that would be the best thing about this holiday.

The bubble that was

2008-09-05T09:58:00.003-04:00

This recurring theme continues to bear fruit. Who can resist talking about money? The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite sits today 9/5/08 at 2202, a 64% drop from its high of 6124 on 10/16/07. This is also a 22% drop from my last blog entry (6/11/08 - 2856) about this historic collapse.

I no longer consider this a bubble anymore. By conventional measures, this index is probably close to its fair value (but still a bit on the high side). Of course this does not mean that the decline will halt because during a panic, stock market values tend to overshoot fair value to settle at below value. This could mean another several hundred points of decline in store for this market. To their credit, the Chinese government for the most part have not made any dramatic policy changes to placate the investors who have lost a considerable amount of their investment. Accountability should rest on the investors in order for capital markets to reach maturity.

The retail investors have really taken it on the chin. A cross section of society have been affected by this, and that is a pattern when a market is in a bubble. It can only get to that point when all kinds of people start to invest in it. Where I work there are people who are mail room clerks, landscapers and chauffeurs all investing in the stock market. Our maid have also dabble in it. This correction was necessary and imperative in order for this stock market to mature.

The latest development in the real estate market in China is that it is following the stock market in a correction. Sales volume have really slowed to a trickle for the past year and the prices are dropping throughout the country. We will see where all of this end soon enough.

Fortune Cookies in China

2008-09-01T10:11:00.003-04:00

This goes to show you that something that is as ubiquitous as fortune cookies in America is actually not what it seems:

Olympics hangover

2008-08-30T07:20:00.003-04:00

So the Olympics ended last Sunday with the closing ceremonies. The funny thing is that if you turn on the TV here in Shanghai, you can still watch the Opening Ceremonies, the Closing Ceremonies, selected events such as the USA-Spain basketball gold medal game and the USA-China basketball match.

After being inundated with wall to wall Olympic coverage on 5 CCTV channels and the Shanghai sports channel, you can say that I am pretty much Olympicked-out (if there is such a word). But its been a week after the Olympics and its almost as if the country cannot put this event behind them. I guess it is no wonder since this is the first large scale international event that China has hosted where it gave the country so much "face" (面子）, and we all know how important that is to the Chinese people.

Fall of an Icon

2008-08-18T11:33:00.004-04:00

Today, the Chinese 110 meter hurdler Liu Xiang withdrew from his first race thereby ending his dream of repeating as Olympic champion in his event. I think it is fair to say that this sent shock-waves through the collective Chinese psyche. This is the last athlete that anyone in China would want this to happen to.

To understand the magnitude of this development, one has to consider the place that China sits in the world today. China is an country whose people believe that they are on the threshold of being a superpower, even though in reality it probably already is. There is a deep seated inferiority complex in the Chinese psyche. The times of chaos, upheaval and poverty was only a generation ago. There are deep scars from those times. The education system very much emphasizes how tough life has been for the Chinese in the past 100 years. From being occupied by the western powers in the earlier part of the century to the atrocities committed by the Japanese during WW2. Even though the madness of Mao is not taught in the schools, they are very much fresh in the memories of the middle aged to the elderly in the Chinese population. The Chinese very much recognize their shortcomings.

The other factor is the obvious fact that the Chinese do not excel in track and field events. The rare events that the Chinese had previous success are in the endurance events, not the short distance track event that are normally dominated by the black athlete. The Chinese excel at events where skill, quickness and hand-eye coordination are important. The 110 meter hurdle and other sprint events represents power and speed and machismo. Liu Xiang represents the rarest of the Chinese athlete.

This confluence of factors has stirred up very strong feelings for Liu Xiang. He symbolizes the image of a new China, one that is constantly improving and ready to show the world what they are capable of.

I personally believe that the Chinese would trade all of the ping pong and badminton gold medals that they have won in these Olympics for Liu Xiang to get his gold. It may take another 30 years for the next Liu Xiang to come along.

Olympic controversy

2008-08-14T06:55:00.005-04:00

What would a world event be without a controversy? The Spanish Olympic basketball team apparently posed for an advertisement for a Spanish courier service where they used their fingers to push the side of their eyes upward to mimic a "slit-eyed Chinese". I think the image speaks for itself. There will be prejudices among us no matter what because of our differences. It is just part of our nature.

For me personally, I found the pose offensive since I grew up in America in the 1980's, a period of time where a place like New York was not as diverse as it is now. During my childhood these kind of insults were commonplace. It speaks to the deep-seated prejudice that exists in all of us that emerge from ignorance. Children are the most honest, so it is in that environment where you see the true image of society. In that environment, there wasn't a day that went by where I was unaware of how I stand out among the crowd. I think my surroundings let me know all of the time. So for me, I recognize the gesture by the Spanish Olympic basketball team immediately.

The more interesting thing is that when I showed the picture to my colleagues who are native Chinese, they couldn't figure out what the pose stood for. I suspected that the reaction would be as such. The Chinese people who grew up in China live in a more homogeneous society where they were the majority. They have never been exposed to the type of racism that those of us who were raised overseas experienced. If anything, they were the ones perpetrating the stereotyping of the ethnic minorities in China such as the Tibetans and the Uighers.

I have learned over time, that every once in a while you are reminded of some the ugliness of human nature that exists in all of us.

Olympics thoughts 2

2008-08-08T22:09:00.003-04:00

I just had a chance to see the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. I must admit that even though I grew up in America, there was a definite sense of pride that I had for the country being able to host these games.

The opening ceremonies started with a 75 minute tribute to the 5000 year history of China. For those with some knowledge about Chinese history, there was some meaning to these performances. However, I am sure for most people in the States, about the only thing that they could specifically understand is probably during the Tai-Chi performance.

The parade of the athletes was a drawn out, near 2.5 hour affair. Honestly it was interesting to watch in the beginning but after about a hour of seeing countries being introduced and circumnavigating the stadium mostly from nondescript countries it became a bit mundane. The most anticipated event was the lighting of the Olympic torch. It certainly did not disappoint as the former 3 time gold medalist (and 6 time medalist) Li Ning from the 1984 Olympics circumnavigated the top rim of stadium hanging from thin cables to light the torch.

Overall, it was a celebration of China and its willingness to engage the rest of the world. I was struck by the spirit of the volunteers who performed in the ceremony, as there was a definite sense of excitement and enthusiasm one typically does not see in Chinese people. It was almost as if they knew everyone was watching and they just wanted to connect with them through the television screen. I think I underestimated how important the Olympics is to a country like China who have been secluded and shrouded in mystery to most outsiders. I think now I understand, and I hope this marks the beginning of a true understanding of the culture and the people of China. I hope it changes the perception of China from the rest of the world.

weekend trip: Huangshan

2008-07-21T06:09:00.007-04:00

One of the goals during our stay in China has been to travel and explore Asia as much as we can. With this sentiment in mind forms the basis of our spontaneous weekend trip to Huangshan （黄山）.

My wife's co-worker was planning to go to Huangshan with relatives and asked us to go. This was last Wednesday and we were to go on Saturday. Visit a place in China with a legendary status that we have never been? Absolutely.

Huangshan has a special place in Chinese history as it is often acclaimed in Chinese art and literature. It is known for it beauty and spectacular scenery. One of the most surreal and beautiful sights is the "sea of clouds" (云海）. Since the peak is above cloud level the ebb and flow of the clouds between and through the ranges can be observed at these mountain tops.

Huangshan is about a 6 hour bus ride from Shanghai or an 11 hour train ride. Why the difference? This is because Huangshan is on the western side of a mountain range and since Shanghai is east of Huangshan, there are quite a bit of mountain terrain between them. The railways of China has been in existence for many number of years while the highways have only been developed on a mass scale recently. This means that the railway track were built around the mountain range in the distant past, while newer technology was available to build the highway through the mountain range.

We decided to break up the trip by leaving Shanghai for Hangzhou, another place of legendary status in China that is situated at nearly the half way point between Shanghai and Huangshan. This affords us a shorter bus ride Saturday morning and more time and energy for the hike.

There are 3 trams that takes visitors up to the peak. These trams rides can fit up to 6 people and takes about 10 minutes to go to the top. When we reached the top the, the Huangshan revealed itself in a surreal way. It had rained earlier in the day and the peak was intermittently shrouded in fog throughout our 2 day visit. Certain lookout points revealed views of the clouds shrouding and moving between the peaks. Other areas offered stunning views of deep gorges on artificial concrete trails cantilevering off the side of the mountain.

Our first day and a half consists of hiking on trails that were sparsely trekked, that is probably because we were no where close to the more famous areas of the peak. This afforded us the feeling that we were really in tuned with nature. One trail we hiked on - the Western Steps was a 5 hours hike that was physically grueling as it interval between climbing and descending steps. This was also where we saw the deepest gorges. By the end of day two we descended on to the more touristy side of Huangshan. It was every bit the China tourism nightmare. The trail was narrow and there were throngs of people clogging up these trails. Some parts of the trail was hazardous as there were too many people trying to climb and descend on the same trail. We were so busy dodging people that I don't remember seeing anything worth remembering. It was a good thing that we got to this area to take the tram down the mountain and we only spent about 1 hour in this area.

Overall, if one were to visit Huangshan and hike off the beaten trails one will be rewarded with the best that nature has to offer.

Logistics:

In visiting Huangshan, one should plan to stay overnight for at least one night. Lodgings are available at the peak and at two different points at the base of the mountain. At the base of the mountain there is a small town called Tangkou (汤口）which is right outside the front gate of the Huangshan recreation area. This is about 20 minutes bus or cab ride to the trams. Accommodations here are spartan by western standards, with rooms available for around 80-100rmb. The other area at the base of the mountain is the city of Tunxi (屯溪), which is about an 1 hour cab or van ride away from Tangkou. As this is the main springboard point to Huangshan, there are hotels of all types and the area airport is located here as well. If budget permits, I would recommend that a visit to Huangshan should be spend overnight in hotels at the peak. Hotels up there are 3 star quality and they run about 1000rmb and up. Dorm rooms costs about 220rmb but the rooms tend to be dirty and uncomfortable. The quality of all accommodations at the peak do not justify the price, but the walk to see the sunrise at 4:30 in the morning might. The tram to the peak of Huangshan costs 80rmb and the entrance fee to the Huangshan recreation area costs 202rmb.

To get to Huangshan from Hangzhou, there are buses available for 100rmb from the west bus station to Tangkou (3.5 hours) or 85RMB to Tunxi (2.5 hours). From Shanghai, there are buses available from the Hutai street station to Tangkou (6 hours) for 130rmb and 100rmb to Tunxi (5 hours).

Here is a map of the Huangshan area:

http://www.maps-of-china.net/tourism_map/h_touristmap1.html

dogs days of summer

2008-07-16T08:13:00.003-04:00

I am starting to realize that I really hate summers here in Shanghai. Temperatures have been hovering in the low to mid 90's in recent weeks and topped out at 100 last weekend. Humidity are also at intolerable levels. This misery is compounded by hazy, polluted air. I think I rather be in Las Vegas where temperatures are in the mid 100s than be here in Shanghai.

Heat waves like this are common during summers in New York, but that is exactly what it is, heat waves. Over here in Shanghai, this type of weather is the norm with very few "cool waves".

Olympic thoughts

2008-07-10T11:56:00.001-04:00

Well, the Olympics is finally in its last month of hype.

When the IOC first announced that the Olympics has been awarded to Beijing a few years ago, I was still living in the NY. Even though I had never lived in China, I felt a feeling of pride that an event like that was finally to be held in China. My plan back then was that when 2008 rolled around that I would try to attend the Olympics somehow. This was before I ever visited China.

Now that I live in China and know how difficult things can get logistically, I shuddered at the thought of going to Beijing during the Olympics. The sea of humanity, trouble getting flights, troubles at the airport, trouble finding a hotel, trouble getting to the venues, etc. I was also becoming nauseated with the media bombardment here in China hyping up the games. How this is the such a showcase of the country that seems like everything being done is in the name of the Olympics.

I have felt almost a disdain for the Olympics until recently. Now there is a part of me that want to go to Beijing during the Olympics just to check out the festivities. I am interested in seeing how the local Chinese deal with so many foreigners in their country. This is not NY, where there are many foreigners living there. China is still a relatively homogeneous society. Will I see the local Chinese put up a facade? I suspect that they will.

I am also interested in seeing the dynamics of so many foreigners descending upon a city. Will the foreigners like what they see in China? I don't think I need to even attend an event, in fact I would prefer to avoid the events especially the large ones.

Well, I am going to have to convince my wife to go since she is not as interested as me in going to Beijing.

The incredible shrinking bubble

2008-06-13T11:11:00.004-04:00

Well, if you have been reading my blog since the beginning you know this has been a recurring theme - the bubble that is the Shanghai Stock Market. The latest is the bubble has shrunk to a level where things are starting to look reasonable. Seems like this market is destined to bottom out sometime around the Olympics. The Shanghai index has taken an eye-popping 53% haircut since last October (6124 to 2869). Reminds you of the NASDAQ bubble doesn't it?

I think there is still some more to go. I think a fair value for this market is around 2000 but in a situation like this the correction will surely overshoot. So I would not be surprise if it hits 1500. This market stood at 1161 on 1/1/06 so if this market falls to 1500 it would still be a return of 30% over a period of around 3 years, still not too bad by traditional measures.

Surprisingly, most of the regular small investors taken all of this in stride. It seems like they view stock market investing as gambling anyway so they can accept the fact that they lost money. That is a bad state of affairs when people have so little faith in the stock market.

The invasion of the American Fast Food

2008-06-04T06:44:00.003-04:00

You didn't think it could happen in China, but yes even the Chinese have succumbed to the fast food addiction. Take a look at this video:

The business model that McDonalds has is absolutely brilliant because it is so deceptive to their customers. In the modern world where everyone is busy, McDonalds has created a convenient, children-friendly dining environment. Make food that kids like, have facilities where they can play and you have weaned a whole generation of people on their products.

This model has worked well in many parts of the world and it is doing the same in a place where one would not think it would work since the traditional eating habits doesn't seem to be lend itself to McDonalds.

Weekend Trip: Wuzhen

2008-05-29T08:06:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I took a trip to Wuzhen in Zhejiang Province. This is about 80 miles southwest of Shanghai and is a city along the Grand Canal in China.

Like many places of interest in China, the government has taken the opportunity to make money on it. This use to be just a sleepy village along the canal, but now the government has renovated it into a tourist destination. The old houses along the canal has renovated interiors while leaving the exterior in its original state. It is hard to tell how much of the town is the original structure and how much is actually replicas of the original architecture.

The entry fee for this "park" or village is 120RMB ($17) and the renovated hotels cost 268RMB ($38) for single room, 468RMB for a double($67) and 528RMB for a triple($76). Once you enter the village, if you wish to stay overnight, you must stay in one of these hotels. These prices might sound reasonable in US dollar terms, but for the locals it is a large sum of money. The people who can afford to stay in these hotels tend to be white collar types.

The scenery in this village is quite nice, especially at night when the banks along the canal are illuminated.

Overall, this town is a quite relaxing place to spend a quiet weekend.

Charity

2008-05-28T07:05:00.004-04:00

There has been an incredible amount of sympathy from Chinese citizens showered upon their compatriots who have suffered through this earthquake. People have found many ways to help out the victims. The government has dispatched upwards of 150000 troops to the region to help in the rescue effort. There has been stories of regular citizens who have made their way into the area to help in the rescue effort. For the vast majority of the people, going into the earthquake region to help is not a realistic option so many have donate money to various charitable organizations.

During this period of time, there are inevitably certain expectations made of the rich and famous to do their part. What has surprised me is the close attention the Chinese has paid the the contribution of the wealthy. There has been lists made of famous Chinese and their contributions on the internet, The ones who made contribution that seem small has been roundly criticized on internet BBS and forums. This has led to the practice of people dissecting every celebrity's contribution in comparison to their perceived wealth. I understand that human beings love to gossip like this, but I don't ever remembering discussions about this topic to the extent that they do here in China compared to the US. Some celebrities like Yao Ming who initially contributed 500,000RMB ($71500) changed his contribution to 2,000,000RMB ($290,000) after a shower of criticism from netizens. After all, Yao makes about $10,000,000 right?

I find this type of behavior very counterproductive and petty. The extent of the peer pressure in Chinese society has exceeded my expectations. Even though I did not live through the Cultural Revolution (1960's - 1970's), I am starting to get an idea as to the mentality of the Chinese mass that let to it. Even though Mao was the instigator of the whole episode, it was the mass who exacerbated the situation. If it wasn't for regular people reporting "counter-revolutionaries" to the government, the Cultural Revolution would not have gone to the extent that it did.

So now if a person like Yao Ming does not contribute his "fair" share, he is branded a traitor. People were declaring that Yao is not Chinese anymore, he has become American. I have heard instances where workers of American companies being angry because they believe their employer's contributions were too low.

In some regards even though I grew up there, I sometimes feel like an outsider in America. But in many more regards, I am relieved that I am not an insider in China.

How to rebuild

2008-05-26T09:07:00.002-04:00

The topic I am about to write about is a sensitive one - how does a government, and in this case China rebuild an area ravaged by natural disaster? I must emphasize that I will be writing about this topic from the perspective of the government, not from the perspective of any individual who may have suffered through the catastrophe.

The area that has been ravaged by the earthquake in central China in Sichuan, Gansu and Shanxi province are earthquake-prone areas which will inevitably suffer through another one sometime down the road. This area has seismic activity due to the Indian plate colliding with the Eurasian plate. The result of this collision is the Tibetan plateau (and the Himalayan mountain range) of which this area is a part of. The next big earthquake is not a matter of if, but when (although that could be hundreds if not thousands of year away).

The areas that were especially affected are mountainous regions that were relatively heavily populated. It seems in China places that one might not think would be heavily populated actually are. This part of the country has not take part in the economic boom as extensively as the eastern coast of China and is relatively undeveloped due to the tough terrain. The part of the population who are in the prime working years have already migrated to the large cities for better prospects. There is a disproportionate amount of the elderly and children in these areas.

I think the Chinese government is in a tough position because a few of these towns has been completely destroyed. I am sure if you were to ask the citizens of these towns if they want their hometown to be rebuild, the answer would be yes. But as the government who is in charge of the best interest of the entire country as a whole it is difficult to put the kind of resources necessary to an area that is not very productive and prone to earthquakes. Perhaps it would be better to put the resources to relocate the people to safer areas.

Of course I think where and how to rebuild has to be on a case by case basis. This is a complex issue, and I am just suggesting that this is an option rather than the emotional, defiant reaction of rebuilding the area as good as before because an unwillingness to admit defeat.

Chinese solidarity

2008-05-19T06:49:00.002-04:00

When a nation suffers through a tragedy, national unity usually follows. This is what is going on in China. Scenes of unspeakable tragedies are being transmitted into people's home via various medium. Massive outpouring of sympathy has been showered upon the citizens of the earthquake affected areas in China.

Today there was a 3 minute moment of silence throughout the country on the 1 week anniversary of the earthquake at 2:28PM. Anybody in control of a horn were encouraged to use it during this 3 minute period. Cars stopped on the streets, people stopped what they were doing, trains stopped running. For 3 minutes sounds of car horns and air raid sirens were ubiquitous. I guess it had the affect of a country wailing.

I don't think I have observed people in China so emotional about any other subject before. I observed and felt a similar experience on 9/11/2001. I think human beings are all the same everywhere. We all may have different ways of doing things but ultimately people want the same things out of life and when certain things happen to take that away, we react in the same way.

Earthquake update

2008-05-15T11:39:00.003-04:00

The situation in the Sichuan and Gansu province is growing more grim. The primary earthquake and the numerous aftershocks have cause massive damage to many parts of the region especially the towns in the mountains which were close to the epicenter. There were many towns that were developed in the valleys of this mountainous region. Unfortunately, while the valleys were perfect for habitation during normal time has proven to be a death trap after a massive earthquake. Roads leading into the towns have been blocked by landslides and much of the stones that were jarred loose from the earthquake have dropped into these valleys. These factors have exacerbated the initial problems of the earthquake. The people who were not killed during the initial quake are now either buried but alive or free but injured. Rescuers are having a very tough time getting into these towns and the equipment necessary to dig out the buried are even tougher to get into these areas. So far over 20,000 are confirmed dead with another 30,000 buried or unaccounted for. The death rate is sure to be higher than 20,000.

This is the latest in a series of unfortunate events in China during 2008, the Olympic year:

1. The collapse of the stock market. Even though the market has recovered a bit lately after some government action it is still 40% below its high.

2. The Tibetan uprising and the subsequent world-wide protests including the embarrassing reception (or lack thereof) of the Olympic torch.

3. The snowstorm of the century affecting much of the country including areas in the south which were severely ill-equipped to handle it.

4. The highest inflation rates in many years (over 8%). This was exacerbated by the snowstorm which disrupted much of the food production in China for a good period of time.

5. The outbreak of the Hand, Foot and Mouth disease which has killed over 30 children. While the casualties have been low, this is an embarrassment for the government since the outbreak was covered up by local officials in the area where the outbreak initially occurred. This is especially embarrassing since the country will be welcoming thousands of people from around the world for the Olympics.

6. There was a suspicious bombing of a bus in Shanghai.

7. The biggest earthquake to hit China in a populated area in over 30 years and casualties will be well into 5 figures.

Some of these problems were just tragic events that no government could prepare for but some were problems that the country created.

Lets just hope the rest of the year will turn out better. I also hope China learns from their mistakes and emerge stronger and better equipped to handle problems faced by a world superpower.

earthquake in Wenchuan

2008-05-12T21:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, 5/12 a powerful earthquake registering 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the town of Wenchuan. This is 55 miles away from Chengdu, the hub of western China with a population of 12 million. The earthquake inflicted massive damage to the region with estimates of 10,000 casualties thus far. That figure could go much higher. Chengdu city itself was spared of major damage. Had the epicenter of an earthquake of that magnitude occurred in Chengdu the casualties would be exponentially higher.

The effects of this earthquake was even felt by Shanghai residents. I work in a building of only 2 floors so I did not feel the tremors at all. However many office workers who work in skyscrapers felt the effects and many of them emptied out onto the streets in the late afternoon. I was out of the office in transit to a meeting and I saw many people milling around the plazas of office buildings.

There was basically no damage to the Shanghai as it is 1100 miles away from the epicenter the equivalent of the distance between New York and New Orleans.

I think it is safe to say that the planet has its own way of taking control.

Sean Bell and Guns

2008-05-10T06:58:00.000-04:00

During my trip back to the NY, the biggest news item to come out of the city was the Sean Bell trial. Since I have been away from the city for two years now, I had to read up on the story to find out what had happened.

It seems like a typical American police tragedy. Bell, an African-American attended a bachelor party at a strip club and got into an argument. He then proceeded to leave the strip club and said he was going to get his gun to resolve the dispute. Undercover police were at the strip club to look for prostitution activities which was unrelated to Bell's party. Bell got into his car and drove away where it crashed into the undercover police car. The police who overheard Bell's threat proceeded to shoot Bell over 50 times, Bell dies at the scene but was found to be unarmed. The trial concluded last week and found the 3 officers doing the shooting to be not guilty. The African-American community is up in arms and is calling this a racial issue. The media coverage of this events focuses on the race issue.

What the media and the government does not address is the more important issue - guns. Yes, guns don't kill people, people kill people. While that statement is true, what is missing is that guns make it extremely easy for people to kill people and very often people are not in the right state of mind when the gun is used. Once a life is taken, it will never return so there is a finality that should not be reached especially in the heat of the moment.

Should 3 police officers have take over 50 shots at an unarmed man? Absolutely not. There is an environment in America where guns are everywhere. Americans have by far the highest gun ownership rates in the world (http://www.mibazaar.com/gunownership.html) This breeds a very tense environment.
Therefore if the police officers operate in an environment where they potentially encounter citizens with guns it is understandable how they could be quick with the trigger. Especially when they have already overheard a person say that he is getting his gun to settle a dispute. If somebody has a gun in his hand and believes that they are facing somebody who is also armed, don't you think it is possible that they will shoot first and ask questions later? He certainly does not want to be killed by the other person.

Is it possible that these police officers were incompetent to be working the beat? Absolutely. If people put themselves in that position, I am sure that many would have reacted the same way that these officers reacted regardless of their race. Does that mean that these officers should not be disciplined? Absolutely not. These officers should probably be off the street and be working behind a desk, but I don't think they deserve to go to jail. These officer are doing work that most of us would not be willing to do. The problem for them is that if they make a mistake at their job lives could be lost. How is that for accountability? How many of us want to take on that kind of responsibility? The action of these officers is a symptom of the gun culture/problem in America.

Growing up in the US, I was not aware that the gun environment is not the same throughout the world. One of my former co-workers who is from England told one day that he was shocked at how heavily armed the New York City police officers were - that they carry guns. I thought at the time it was a strange question, thinking to myself "don't all law enforcement personnel carry guns?" He informs me that the police in England just carry sticks and they don't carry guns. Judging by the murder rates in England compared to the US, I say that they don't carry guns because they don't need to.

Here in China, the police also does not carry guns. The police are armed but they are not the personnel who patrol the streets. The guns are back in the police station and when there is a need for them, they will be called upon. Gun ownership and murder rates are extremely low in China.

The NRA and their proponents always say that gun ownership is a right protected by the constitution. The constitution was written over 200 years ago in a very different environment. Do people seriously think that they still need guns to protect themselves? From whom? I think they are protecting themselves from other gun owners. So take the guns out of the hands of all civilians and people would not think they need guns to protect themselves.

shopping

2008-05-09T23:02:00.004-04:00

During our trip back to NY we spent quite a bit of money on shopping. Even though we have been here in China for almost two years, there are still things that we cannot get over here that are available in America.

My wife is a tall woman by Chinese standards (5'8") and with that type of build come large feet. She wears a size 8 and she has a lot of problems finding shoes of that size in China. Usually if there are shoes of that size in a store (that is rare) they are very often only available for one or two styles. Women seem to be inherently addicted to buying shoes and my wife is no exception so this was a very troubling problem for her. She compensated for that by buying herself 4 pairs of shoes during this visit back to the states.

There is another good reason for buying shoes in the US. Even though about 70% of the shoes being sold in the US are made in China the shoes being sold in China is not subject to the quality standard of their trans-pacific counterparts. Shoes that I have purchased in China have felt very thin with very minimal support for my feet. I had to throw out one pair of sneakers because the lack of support caused a pulling sensation on the bottom of my feet when I was wearing them. I am not too picky with how I am dressed but I feel that the comfort of shoes are very important to the well being of a person as the entire weight of a person's body is being supported by them.

Believe it or not, electronics are more expensive in China than they are in the US. This statement is true if you are purchasing electronics that is made outside of China. China has a fairly high tariff on imported items so it is actually better to buy electronics in the US than it is in China unless you want to buy the mediocre stuff that China makes. Of course if you are satisfied with China made electronics then you are all set over here.

Outside of shoes, clothes and a new Nikon DSLR we also purchase some things like salad dressing and cereal. Yes, salad dressing. In China, if you were to go to a restaurant and order a salad the default and only dressing you will get is thousand island. Therefore, I had to get a few bottles of Italian dressing for the days that I need to get a break from the greasy local fare. And of course cereal, have to have my Honey Bunches of Oats that I cannot find over here.

I think to summarize the shopping situation in Shanghai is that if you want to get high quality imported goods you very often might not find them in China and if you do you will be paying a higher price due to the heavy tariffs. But if you are looking for Chinese made goods then you will be in paradise.

I am back!!

2008-05-07T21:49:00.000-04:00

Well, its been a long hiatus for me on this blog. I guess it was a combination of being lazy and our two week return to NYC in the past month.

Our trip back to NYC was a hectic one. Its amazing how short two weeks can be when the time are filled with reunions with friends and family. I think I had nearly every lunch and dinner in a restaurant with various friends and family members. I think this is probably the thing that I missed most about living abroad is the companionship of friends and family.

We have made some friends over here in China, but I think once a person reaches a certain point in life it becomes difficult to make real friends. Perhaps there are too many other reasons to be acquaint with someone at this age that might have very little to do with true friendship. Perhaps because at this age, we have the lost the innocence and cannot truly open yourself up to new acquaintances.

In any case, I really enjoyed our time back in NY. There were moments that I thought "it would be nice to come back and live here again" and there were other moments I thought "now I remember why I left in the first place" and other moments I thought "Wow, this is something that I can't get/do in Shanghai" and then there were other moments I thought "Man, I can get/do that in Shanghai but not here".

Well, whatever we do in the future, the one thing that I can always say that NY is my home.

Transportation on a long weekend in China

2008-04-09T10:10:00.005-04:00

I wrote about our long weekend in Yangzhou in my last post. That was about how we spent our time while we were in Yangzhou. I wanted to dedicate that post to our experience as tourist within the city. What I left out was our experience leading up to the trip and at the tail end of it and that will be the subject of this post.

This Yangzhou trip was hatched only about 3 days prior to the day of the trip. After we made the decision to go, we made the appropriate plans to go. Since we don't own a car here in China (mostly for our own safety) we can either take the extensive network of trains or buses. Here in China the cost of riding the trains is lower than long distance bus. This is probably due to the very high ridership on the railways. The train is a very important mode of transportation because of the affordability over flying

For us the better alternative is the train since it is faster and safer than riding a bus where the driver thinks he is Michael Schumacher. Besides, there are no flights available for such a short distance. We were able to secure train tickets on an express train going to Yangzhou, but all trains coming back to Shanghai were completely sold out. This meant that on the return leg we had to take our chances with the bus. We made our way to the long distance bus station in Yangzhou Sunday morning as we were going to leave for Shanghai that evening. The bus station was packed with travelers buying tickets and this foreshadowed things to come.

We purchased tickets for the 5:20PM bus for Shanghai. We arrived at the bus station that afternoon at around 5:05 and we immediately realized things are different from our previous experiences. The bus depot was more crowded than normal and as we approach the Shanghai departure counter we realized that there was a scrum of people waiting desperately to leave. There was no way to make our way to the counter to even inquire about our 5:20 bus as the wall of people was about 15 deep. We immediately realized that we better make our way past the ticket takers and to the buses outside to see if we can get on our scheduled bus. We went to the Suzhou departure counter which was less crowded. After about 5 minutes of waiting the ticket taker at the Suzhou counter left her post for a brief moment. That was the opportunity that everyone was looking for and a stream of people including us went though the ticket counter to the waiting buses outside. We quickly spotted the bus to Shanghai and frantically boarded the bus to Shanghai. The driver who was taking the ticket did not even bother check our tickets to see if we were boarding the right bus to Shanghai.

After we boarded and had time to reflect, I began to realized what has happened. Basically the bus depot was not able to control the large crowd in the bus station. The mentality of the riders when encountered with this kind of situation is to make sure they are able to get on a bus and not get stranded in case buses got overbooked. This created a situation where the crowd became agitated and eventually the authorities lost control of the crowd. I wondered how long we would have had to wait if it wasn't for a ticket taker at a different departure counter leaving her post for a moment. This was a potentially dangerous situation, which I am sure has been replayed in China many times as there isn't an adequate infrastructure to handle the large population of China.

This is a period in China's history where a burgeoning middle class have leisure time. This creates a strain on its infrastructure especially during holiday weekends and holiday weeks (yes holiday week imagine the horror of that).

These are the kind of experiences that makes me think twice about living in China permanently. There are many benefits that I enjoy from living here in China over America, but there are also many difficulties where there is nothing one can do.

Yangzhou weekend

2008-04-07T09:07:00.005-04:00

No that is not me.

This past weekend was a 3 day weekend. Last Friday was the Qingming holiday or 清明节 in Chinese. This is traditionally the day were one "sweeps the tomb" in remembrance of deceased family members. This sounds like a solemn day, but now in modern times the Chinese have turn this into a day to enjoy oneself after the duty of tidying up the tomb has been completed.

Since neither me or my wife has any deceased close family members entombed in China, we chose to spend the 3 day weekend in Yangzhou, an old city in nearby Jiangsu Province. The trip to Yangzhou from Shanghai ranges from 2 1/2 to 4 hours depending on the mode of transportation. The travails of our conveyance will be covered in an upcoming blog.

The main attraction of Yangzhou is the Slender West Lake (瘦西湖). It borrows the name from the more famous West Lake (西湖) in Hangzhou. Calling this a lake is a bit of a misnomer since it reminds one of a river or stream than a lake or pond as hinted in its name. The site itself is quite scenic with a winding body of water and its numerous bridges. If one had time to stop, reflect and enjoy the scenery this could be a very pleasant place to visit. However, this is one of a few long weekends on the Chinese calendar so the place was swarmed with people, many from Shanghai. Therefore, I could not really described this experience as pleasant.

One of the other things that we noticed about Yangzhou is that since it is located along the Grand Canal of China (of which Slender West Lake is a part of) there were many small canal within the city. There was a charm to the city that does not exist in Shanghai.

The city has an interesting dining experience that is similar to the dimsum experience in Cantonese cuisine. The Yangzhou people have a tradition of the weekend brunch just like the Cantonese. The food at these events however, pale in comparison with the dizzying array of delicate and delicious food at a Cantonese dimsum. Not to say that the food at a Yangzhou brunch is not good, as a matter of fact the food is pretty good. It primarily consists of steam buns filled with various fillings, wontons, steamed tofu slivers in a crab based broth and the crab soup buns. The crab soup buns are very interesting as it consists of no meat, just crab broth. One uses a straw to draw the soup from the bun before eating the floury skin otherwise the soup will be spilled all over your plate and table.

I found the city to be a nice mix of old and new with a pleasant backdrop of water and greenery.

Mock people's daily

2008-03-27T08:52:00.002-04:00

Here is an interesting story about a mock People's Daily:

http://time-blog.com/china_blog/2008/03/_here_is_a_mock.html

Rumblings out of Tibet

2008-03-18T09:34:00.005-04:00

As another historic event is unfolding in China I again find myself in a situation where I am able to see things from a perspective that I never had before.

Last week, Tibetans commemorated the uprising of the Tibetan people against the Chinese 49 years ago. As evident by the fact that Tibet is currently part of China that uprising was not successful. It lead the the exile of their political and spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to India.

As this is an Olympic year, the Tibetans took the opportunity of a government compromised by its image to the world right before their big showcase event to boldly protest against the oppression that they have suffered over the years. The protest was initially peaceful, but turn violent when Chinese police began to beat some of the monks who were protesting in Lhasa. This lead to a groundswell of violence throughout the Tibetan community in other parts of China against the police and the Han Chinese majority. This is the basic picture that is being portrayed from the Western media outlets that I am able to access through the cracks in the Great Firewall of China.

Many, but not all stories about this incident from the foreign website are blocked on the internet over here. Youtube has now been blocked completely as well. The coverage in the Chinese media expectedly differs from the West. Their version is basically this: the Tibetans have resorted to violence in order to gain independence from China. This violence has led to death of many innocent Han Chinese people and the Police has shown restraint in handling this uprising.

How does one reconcile the difference in these two versions of the same story? While I know that the Chinese media is reporting primarily government propaganda, I will also say that the coverage by the western media is probably slightly biased towards Tibet as well. The Chinese have earned a bad reputation around the world for their lack of human rights. The perception of Tibetans is one of peace loving peoples who have shunned the world of materialism. These two perceptions gives the Chinese no chance in the coverage of this story.

My personal opinion of this situation has been shaped by the western media over the years. As I now reside in China, I now see a different angle to this issue. Whereas the Chinese have certainly earned their reputation over the years for their hard-line policies, I definitely feel the western media portrays of the Tibetans in a sympathetic light. No matter how one feels about how the territory was take in the first place, Tibet is currently part of China. If there are movements for independence there is a need for the government to do something about it before it begins to fracture the country. I think there are certainly more that the Chinese government can do about this but I think for the entire western world to come down against China before things have taken its course is a bit unfair.

It is hard to one to judge another unless they have been in their shoes.

air out of the bubble

2008-03-13T10:48:00.003-04:00

It appears that bubbles of all sorts around the world are in the process of deflating. China's stock market, probably the biggest bubble of all is doing its part. On 10/16/07, the Shanghai Index stood at 6092 and it represented its peak. For perspective, the index stood at 1161 on 1/1/06. Today, the index finished the day at 3971, a 35% correction so far. Even after this correction the PE of the index is still around 40 which indicates there is still ways to go. The scarier proposition is that if an Enron can occur in the US with its matured capital markets, imagine the veracity of the data in an emerging, unregulated market like China; the real PE could be much higher.

Another bubble - real estate seems to be taking a breather as well. Sales volume in Shanghai on residential real estate have been declining for the past 4 months and the prices have become stagnant. As we see in the US real estate market, it takes a period of declining demand for the prices to eventually follow. We may be at the precipice of the deflation of the real estate bubble here in Shanghai.

The amount of investment that has been poured into China in recent years have really created a possibility that the entire Chinese economy is a bubble. Time will tell whether this is true.

The Chinese people here have all been saying that they believe that the economy will be strong leading up to the Olympics and they are cautious about the post-Olympic days. It looks like this might become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Re-exploring Shanghai

2008-02-24T09:51:00.008-05:00

Last weekend, one of my close friends Siu came to visit us in Shanghai from New York. It was one of those weekends of exploring Shanghai that I have not done in a while.

We have now lived in Shanghai for nearly 2 years and we have settled into our routines. So it has been a while since we have had a chance to explore the city that we are still newcomers to. We took Siu to some of the typical tourist areas such as Yu Yuan and Jin Mao Tower in Pudong. Since Siu was originally from Hong Kong he wanted to see some of the underbelly of Shanghai that a typical first time visitors to Shanghai might not be interested in seeing.

We took him to the Shanghai old street near Yu Yuan for some local fare. This is not an area where you will find tourists eating local food; this is where the locals, if not the newly minted Shanghai residents from other parts of China would eat. Here are some pictures:

The food stalls in these pictures are serving food from various parts of China and it reminded me that Shanghai has its parallels to New York in its diversity. Its just that in New York the diversity is on a global scale while in Shanghai the universe is within China. This also indicates that the influx of people from other parts of China has accelerated in recent times.

We also had a chance to visit an area called Taikang Lu. This is an area where the traditional houses in Shanghai known as Shikumen are still around. For a basic explanation of Shikumen please refer to this link:

http://www.answers.com/topic/shikumen?cat=travel

Taikang Lu is an area which has become a marriage of the old and new. Shikumen are traditional housing compounds for the local Shanghainese. On Taikang Lu, Shikumen are now being renovated to house cafes, bistros and small art galleries. It has a bit of a feel of Soho with a Chinese backdrop. The last time that I visited this area about a year ago there were only a few shops and galleries open, but now it has become a bustling area that caters to the expats and the younger generation of local Chinese.

I had a very good time showing Siu around Shanghai. It was especially interesting since Siu grew up in Hong Kong before moving to New York so there was a sense that he could relate and understand what we were showing him.

Snow in Shanghai

2008-02-01T09:25:00.000-05:00

This has been one of the most difficult week for inclement weather in China. In Shanghai, they recorded their heaviest snow in a long time. The snowfall totaled about 2-5 inches earlier in the week and it is snowing today and will tomorrow. These snowfall total is a bit of a joke for a New Yorker, but for a city that rarely experiences snow this created quite a bit of havoc. This city is totally ill-equipped for snow. There are no plows nor salt spreaders one would see everywhere in New York during a snowstorm. The snow was removed for the most part by manual power.

The airports were closed for a day earlier in the week with this snowstorm. I guess the airports are not equipped with snow plows either.

For us we are looking forward to leaving this wintry mess during the Chinese New Year period for Cambodia. Hopefully, the snow that is falling as I am writing this entry will subside in time for me to take that flight to Cambodia. I will update the blog with our experiences in Cambodia.

Chinese New Year

2008-01-29T03:44:00.000-05:00

This year, Chinese New Year will fall on 2/7/08 which is next Thursday. This holiday period is by far the most important holiday period on the Chinese calendar. There is really nothing comparable on the American calendar. It is something along the lines of a combination of Christmas, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July.

As China's economic engines have shifted to the large coastal cities in the east, numerous migrant workers live and work there. Chinese New Year period will mean that many of these migrant workers will be traveling back to their hometowns and villages. This period of time will see the severe usage of China's infrastructure. Train and bus stations are jammed packed with people weeks in advance trying to purchase tickets for that time period. This is exacerbated by the fact that these tickets are only available at the train stations and not over the internet. There are stories where trains are so packed with people that ones who must endure long train journeys have resorted to wearing adult diapers because there is no way for them to get past the crush of people to the toilets.

This is the only time of the year for these migrant workers to make it back home to see their family and friends. It is a time where gifts are expected from these returning workers. These workers represent the best of these far-flung villages, the ones who are capable enough to land jobs in the urban areas from the menial to the white-collared. It is a time where petty crime in the cities will rise leading up to the holidays from the migrant workers who did not do so well for the year but need to live up to their family's financial expectations when they return home.

On the positive side, this is a time where people reunite with their family and friends to catch up on each other's lives.

It is funny how many of the sentiments felt at this time of the year by the Chinese is so similar to the ones felt in the US during their most important holiday season.

Bubble

2008-01-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

Anybody who has been reading the business sections of their favorite publication will undoubtedly know that the US economy has faltered and is in danger of falling into a recession. The reason is pretty basic; there has been a housing bubble which has led to an excess of liquidity in the economy. This excess liquidity has spurred consumption and investment which has overheated the economy. This impending recession is just a normal process where things return to where it should be. The stock market has reacted and I believe that things may turn painful for a year or two but it should be nothing that we cannot recover from.

The interesting part from my perspective is what will happen here in China. The Chinese investors have felt that their economy has been fairly insulated from the rest of the worlds’ ills. This has led to the unabated climb of their stock and property market. As these markets get hotter and hotter, less sophisticated investors (or should I say speculators) enter the market and raise the temperature further. This process has fed on itself for quite a few years now in China. It started in the property markets about 5 years ago and the stock markets 2 years ago. The prices of these assets have climbed to levels that cannot be justified by conventional measures. While bad news have come out of US banks and investment firms about the subprime losses, the Chinese stock markets have pretty much ignored it. Well, yesterday it has been reported that the Bank of China, the second largest bank in China and by some measures one of the largest in the world may have up to 2 billion in US subprime mortgage losses when they announce earnings. This could represent the first evidence that the Chinese economy is not so insulated from the world economy. I think this could be a big blow to the psychology of the market and lead to a re-evaluation by investors about just how safe their stock market really is. Just like the feeding frenzy that led to the bubble, the same mentality could lead to the panic that results in the crash of two very important markets in the Chinese economy.

The interesting factor in this scenario is the belief held by many investors in China that the Chinese government will somehow make sure that the stock and property markets will be performing well leading up to their coming out party that is this years Summer Olympics in Beijing. This kind of common belief could lead to the self fulfilling prophecy of a large withdrawal of investments out of these markets sometime around the Olympics. How this interplays with the possible global recession will be very interesting.

My interactions with the local Chinese tells me that many people are currently participating in this stock market bubble - mostly unsophisticated investors who think they know how to invest. It is basically the same kind of stories that I heard and saw during the days of the NASDAQ bubble back in the late 90s and early 00s. Its amazing to realize even with such differing cultures we are all the same. What this also tells me is that when this market crashes there will be lots of pain among the people and they really have nobody to blame but themselves.

Of course this is just speculation on my part, but having been through the NASDAQ bubble and the recent housing bubble in the US, I think it would be pretty safe to say that the similar outcome will take place here in China.

Street food

2008-01-16T06:48:00.000-05:00

I think one of the things that really gives a city an identity is its cuisine. This is something that I always enjoy sampling where ever I go. It can tell you quite a bit about a city.

I think if you really want to know the heart and soul of a city you just need to sample its street food. This is where you get to see the composition of a city. Just like any urban centers anywhere in the world Shanghai has a variety of people residing here. It may not be as diverse than New York City but Shanghai has people from all over China and many parts of the world. You will find international food in proper restaurants but if you want to know about the kind of people who have come to Shanghai from other parts of China just check out their street food.

Here are some pictures of some of the street food that are available here in Shanghai:

Various meat and vegetables on wooden skewers being pan fried over a metal plate. Love that recycled oil!!

This one is a flat bread that is being "baked" in a home made oven. The oven appears to be a commercial metal drum that has been reincarnated.

Another home made oven used to make baked yams.

Build it and they will come.

2008-01-05T08:21:00.000-05:00

The new year ushered in three brand new subway lines consisting of 59 new stations in Shanghai which took approximately 2 years to build. This kind of change sharply contrasts with New York where it takes years to build a few new stations along the E line about 10 years ago.

There are now 9 subway lines in Shanghai. We took one of the lines from end to end. This particular line extends into the suburbs of Shanghai. When we New Yorkers think suburbs, we think of places like Queens or Brooklyn. These are places where it is more residential but still developed. The areas that some of the subway lines here in Shanghai extends to are underdeveloped to even rural areas. This is indicative of how nascent the development of Shanghai is compared to other cities around the world. The downtown areas are as developed now as any big urban centers around the world, but the concept of suburbs is still taking root. With a population of over 15 million, there is a desperate need for a suburban area because the urban areas are so densely populated.

What is happening here reminds me of a PBS documentary that I viewed about the history of New York City. When the subways of New York extended to Brooklyn and Queens, people wonder "Why there? nobody lives there anyway - its all farm land." This is kind of what I saw out of the windows of the elevated number 9 line here in Shanghai. Of course, once the subway is in place commuting from those once isolated areas will become easier thus stimulating development.

The process is continuing at a feverish pace. There are more lines under construction currently and will continue to make transportation more efficient.

In closing, if one has the resources or patience it might not be a bad idea to invest in some property along some of these new subway lines; but that is another conversation.

Secret ingredients in your Chinese food

2007-12-26T09:16:00.000-05:00

For the readers who are not Chinese, ever wonder how some of the Chinese food gets its flavors from? Well, the Chinese have historically been very analytical when it comes to eating. Some of the techniques are very creative and imparts a great deal of flavor to the food. One of the most popular techniques is drying certain ingredients in order to concentrate the flavor. Then these ingredients are typically used in soups and other dishes.

When I was in Hong Kong this past month, I took the liberty of taking pictures of some of these ingredients. Please be forewarn that if you see these pictures, you may never look at your seafood special the same again!

Some dried shrimp

Some roots

Dried Oysters, very flavorful.

Shark fin. Actually imparts very little flavor, but it is damn expensive.

I am not even sure what these are. Looks like dried lizards

Some squid and shrimp being dried on a street somewhere in Kowloon.

Tobacco Road

2007-12-19T08:45:00.000-05:00

Ask anyone who has traveled through China and I think one of the deepest impressions that will emerge is the prevalence of smoking. Smoking is very much a social activity as drinking is here in China. The vast majority of the smokers here in China are men.

There is very much a boys club in Chinese culture where men would gather socially. These gatherings could be among friends or business associates. Sometimes it is very hard to differentiate between friends and business associates. Smoking, like drinking is a bond that ties these social groups together. Offering another man cigarettes is a sign of friendship. It is common etiquette to see packs of zhong hua (中华)cigarettes place at each table of a Chinese wedding banquet. Zhong hua are the most expensive brand of cigarettes in China costing around 50 RMB (6.75USD) per pack compared to the common cigarettes costing between 3 to 7 RMB (.50USD-1.00USD). This is almost akin to men passing out cigars to friends to announce a child is expected in the family back in America.

Of course, once a man starts to smoke to get ahead socially he will carry that into his personal life. The result of that is you will see men smoking almost everywhere.

One of the most annoying thing for us here in China is the second hand smoke in restaurants. With very little laws that deals with smoking, restaurants are filled with smokers puffing away throughout their meal.

For the most part, the workplace is no sanctuary for a smoke free environment. In some offices like where my wife works, smoking is allowed after 5PM. She tells me that when she works overtime (which is often), over half of the office is puffing away.

I took the above picture in a men's room stall in an office building. As we can see China makes it very convenient for smokers to puff away even when they are in the crapper.

Hong Kong

2007-12-04T08:06:00.000-05:00

Me and the wife visited Hong Kong last weekend and had a pleasant time. This was the first time that we both visited Hong Kong together.

There is a distinctly different atmosphere between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Even though both have spanking new high rise buildings, fast pace and Chinese people, there was a different feel to Hong Kong. The pace was actually faster than Shanghai, but there is far more civility in Hong Kong. The streets in Hong Kong was perhaps even more congested with humanity than Shanghai in areas like Causeway Bay and Mongkok. The thing that was noticeably missing in Hong Kong are the ubiquitous bicycles and motor scooters present in Shanghai.

We did some shopping for things which are lacking in quality in Shanghai. For me it was a pair of shoes. Chinese branded shoes in China are decidedly inferior. I purchased a pair of Chinese brand sneakers about a year ago and after a month, I had to toss them because the soles of my feet were starting to hurt me. The imported brands are more expensive in Shanghai than Hong Kong due to the high import tax in China. So I made out with a pair of good comfortable shoes during our visit.

The food in Hong Kong is also much better than Shanghai. The best of all is that many restaurants are open late into the night which is really not the case in Shanghai. The kind of night life that I experienced in Hong Kong exceeds even New York and I really missed that during my time in Shanghai.

Needless to say, I think I will be visiting Hong Kong sometime in the future again.

Perspective

2007-11-26T07:05:00.000-05:00

I was on the phone with my parents the other day and my mother brought up the topic of this blog. She told me vehemently to stop writing this blog. Since I never told her about writing this blog, I realized that she found out from one of my sisters. Just her tone of voice made me realize where this vehemence is coming from.

My parents were people who lived through the turmoil of the World War II and the Communist revolution. They experience the former on mainland China and the latter in Taiwan. These are people who left China precisely because of the turmoil that was going on. I would say that they were lucky (and so were me and my two sisters) to have left China at that time for Taiwan. Some of the most tumultuous times occurred after the rise of the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong. This played out on a stage that I am sure captivated not only the mainland Chinese but all of the overseas Chinese as well.

My parents are a product of that environment. I think for any ethnic Chinese living or not living on the mainland the most horrifying period must have been the Cultural Revolution. This is a period of time where rights were taken away and people faced persecution from their peers for saying or believing the wrong things.

I think it is from that perspective that my mother gave me that kind of reaction about my blog. Somehow, I think her perspective about China will never change no matter how great the changes are. In some ways, I find this to be true in China even to this day. Even though much has changed I still feel the distrust the citizens of China has for their government, especially among the middle aged and elderly. It is not always obvious, but every once in a while you hear or see something that makes you think.

Being in Taiwan for the first 6 years of my life then growing up in America, I also heard plenty of bad things about mainland China. Just before my first visit in China in 2002, I had trepidation about what I would say to people during the trip because all that I have heard from my parents. But during the trip, I found that things were quite different from what I perceived. Then I spend 6 weeks backpacking in China in 2005 and again no obvious evidence of this oppressive regime that I heard so much about. Now having lived here in China for over a year, again I don't notice anything in my everyday life. I know that the Chinese government will censor the internet and other modes of communication that they deemed to be bad for the "harmony" of the country. This is not always obvious in everyday life. I think that there is certainly a degree of control that the Chinese government will exert on the population, however it is not the same China as it was 30 years ago.

Grace is one of my co-workers here in China who told me of an interesting experience. Grace is a middle aged Shanghainese woman who had spent her entire life here in Shanghai. I would categorize her as a middle class person with a husband and a grown daughter who lives a comfortable life. She went to America - Los Angeles for the first time in her life a few years ago for training. She took the opportunity to take a few extra days to do some sightseeing and joined a city tour of Los Angeles. In the tour group she was the only person from mainland China and everyone else were Chinese-Americans who were probably around my mother's age (60's). These were probably first generation immigrants to America who became naturalized citizens. They noticed immediately that Grace was from mainland China and became friendly with her during that day. At the end of the day right before they said good-bye, a few people in the group told her that she already made it this far (meaning she somehow got herself out of China) and that she should just stay in America. They told her that they know people who can help her to settle in America. I think these people somehow saw Grace symbolizing relatives that they left behind in China and that she was still living in that horrible world that they had left. Grace was amused and politely turned down their offer. She had friends, family and a comfortable life waiting for her in Shanghai. This just show you that as you gain perspective on things surprising results will follow.

Despite my mother's warnings, I will continue to maintain this blog as I value the freedom of speech too much. I also know that I am operating under a different China so I would not expect to be arrested for writing on topics that I am writing about. However, what I will take from my mother's comments is that a degree of vigilance is always something one should maintain.

the road warrior

2007-11-15T07:45:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, I met up with a former co-worker, John who was passing through Shanghai in the midst of an extended hiatus.

Me and John were co-workers at a prestigious investment bank's IT department on Wall Street. The culture at that firm was work, work and more work. Both me and John are about the same age and we both left the firm in the same year. We both had an extended hiatus traveling the world. In my case it was 5 months in Asia, for John it has been over 2 years and counting.

I think we have this in common because we are both in our mid 30's and it is a time where people like us have a good deal of work experience and many battle scars to show for it. It is a time in one's life where one is done proving oneself at the workplace. Some people get burned out and I guess we are in that group.

When I was traveling with my wife for those 5 months in Asia, it was the most liberating experience in my life. Just seeing parts of the world that are so unfamiliar from home was such an eye-opening experience. I don't think I view things in the same way ever since. In many ways that experience has continued here in Shanghai.

As for John, he is not done traveling after over 2 years. He plans to continue traveling for another year before settling down to "regular" life. It would be safe to say "regular" life would never be the same.

Me and my wife have talked about possibly taking another break after we get our fill of Shanghai sometime in our future. My belief is that since you only live once, you might as well get the most out of it.

Westerization of Shanghai

2007-11-05T07:57:00.000-05:00

Sure you expect to see Starbucks, McDonalds and even Pizza Hut over here in Shanghai, but Cold Stone Ice Cream?

Tipping

2007-11-04T06:12:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I have gotten use to very quickly in China is that when you dine at the restaurant, the price you pay is the price on the menu. No extra tax nor extras for tip. Now the opinions that I will espouse will probably offend some people in the food service industry in America or the personal services in general - but why do we in America reward individuals for doing their jobs?

I hear the excuses all of the time from Americans - "oh the waiters depend on the tips for their income". How is it now my responsibility as a patron of the restaurant to pay them if their employers decided that they can get away with paying them below minimum wage? Why don't the restaurant owners just pay the waiters their fair share and price them into the meal instead of giving us the bait and switch?

Here in China if you were to try to tip waiters in restaurants or at the hair salon you will get a confused response. They have no idea what you are trying to do. They don't expect anything more for doing their jobs. Most of the time they will not accept the tip.

As I made my way through early adulthood in America, I was never struck at how ridiculous tipping was until I purchased my first co-op apartment. As Christmas time came, I get this Christmas card from the co-op. It gave the name of every employee my apartment complex from the doorman, to the main super to the assistant super to the porter to the landscaper, etc. All in total about 25 names on the card. Now I am suppose to figure out how much to tip these people when I had only come in contact with the doorman that year. So is the idea that this is a threat where if you don't take care of the others this year that if something goes wrong in the future you will get sub-par service?

To me tipping is an elitist idea, but the funny thing is that some in America actually think that tipping is a way to help out the working class. I have no doubt that the waiter or the doorman does not make much money, but why don't their employers just pay them their just pay and be done with it? Tipping only causes the working class to give preferential treatment to the the rich who can afford to tip more. So if you really think about that then you realize what tipping is all about. If everyone stopped tipping waiters, don't you think the laws of supply and demand will kick in? Without that tip less people will want to be waiters and the restaurants owners would have to raise the salaries to entice people to the job. With this extra cost, restaurants will charge extra for the meals and everything finds its equilibrium again.

Sometime things are so simple and yet we make them so complicated.

Shanghai Hairy Crabs - 大闸蟹

2007-10-28T11:08:00.000-04:00

Going forward, I will periodically profile the different types of food that can be found in Shanghai. Some will be good, others will be bad.

For today's post, I am introducing a type of seafood that is in season right now in the Shanghai region - the Shanghai Hairy Crab or in Chinese - 大闸蟹。 This type of crab differs from the blue crab that is found in the Northeastern part of the US (this is the type that I was familiar with in my days in New York). Physically, the hairy is somewhat smaller than the blue crab. The main distinction is the very bushy hair that grows on its front large claws.

The hairy crab has a reputation of near religious proportions. This time of the year, nearly all good restaurants will be serving them, and every market will be selling live ones. You couldn't go a day this time of the year without seeing them a few times a day.

Having had both the hairy crab and the blue crab I can say that the blue crab's meat tastes better and there is more of it than the hairy crab. The meat of the blue crab has a sweet flavor to it while the hairy crab has a neutral taste. It is also not as difficult to get to the meat in the blue compared to the hairy. If the hairy crab has a tougher shell, less meat, and less flavorful meat than the blue why does it receive so much attention here in Shanghai? It is the brain and the egg of this crab. Since this is the peak time that this crab breeds, there is plenty of eggs to be had in the females and that is why it is so ubiquitous right now.

The hairy crab is not cheap this time of the year, they go for 100RMB for a pair of live ones (a male and a female). This is the equivalent of $13. I can get 6 live blue crabs in NY for about $8 so you can see how expensive the hairy crab is. Think of it another way, 100RMB means a lot more to a Chinese living in China than $13 means to an American living in America.

I personally think that the hairy crab's brain and egg are just sublime, but after you consume that part you will expend a lot of time and energy going after the little meat that it has.

The topic of food takes on such importance here in China. You can bring out the topic of food and get into a serious discussion with anybody over here. This is one of the things that I really enjoy about living here.

Good Bye, China!

2007-10-24T08:04:00.000-04:00

Well, that rise in readership was short lived. Looks like blogspot is blocked again. Wondered if the computer programmer in charge of blocking blogger realized his mistake last week and made an emergency migration (programmer talk for making changes to a program) today.

China Giveth, China Taketh Away

2007-10-18T07:50:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess the other shoe has dropped. As mentioned in my previous post, I just realized that Google blogger or blogspot is no longer blocked in China. But guess what? I realized yesterday that youtube is now blocked in China. I can't even maintain my account in youtube anymore which differed with the partial block previously with blogspot. At least I could still maintain this blog even though I could not see the home page.

Based on what I am reading, it seems that youtube recently expanded into China and I guess this is just another measure to keep the natives rested. I guess the Chinese government knows what they are doing. Keep the natives happy with a sizzling economy, soaring property values and a skyrocketing stock market. Right now I get the feeling some people in China thinks money grows on trees and they are reveling in it. I guess there is another shoe ready to be dropped...

Welcome, China!

2007-10-17T10:23:00.000-04:00

China works in mysterious ways. For whatever reason, my blog is now viewable in China. Once I realized it I e-mailed the url to some friends outside of Shanghai and they also confirmed that my blog is not blocked.

I also discovered that all blogs hosted by blogger (google) are now viewable here in Shanghai. I don't know what happened and how long this will last but I guess I will enjoy my wider reader ship while I can until the other shoe drops.

I don't know if it is a coincidence, but this past Monday 10/15 marked the beginning of the 17 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. There has been daily sessions for the whole week where the leaders of the China give sort of a "State of the Communist Party" speeches. Also on the agenda will be future plans of the Party along with reshuffling of positions within the party. Don't know if the new political year marked a loosening of the media. Perhaps the fact that blogger.com is now viewable might be an indication. Then again let's wait and see what happens. I will be sure to give an update on this if things change.

The communications/information superhighway

2007-10-16T08:42:00.000-04:00

The internet. I remember the days before that ubiquitous word. I remember the days of going to the library if you needed to do research. Times when you need to read a newspaper to get the news. Times when you have to actually pay bills with a stamp.

Since coming to Shanghai, the internet has impacted my life in a different way than the way it did when I as back in NY. Now I can stay in touch with family and friends via e-mail, IM or even be able to speak via messenger programs such as Skype or Yahoo Messenger. This does not take the place of actually physically meeting up friends and family but considering I am over 10000 miles away its not bad.

The biggest impact the internet had on my life here in China is that I am able to follow the news and happenings back in the States. It has become a double edge sword. While I am able to follow news about things the I am familiar with, it has in some ways inhibited me from really plunging myself into my new surroundings. I think sometimes I am not really in tuned with what is going on over here in China. While I am able to stay informed about national news here in China, I don't get to follow local news as often simply because they are not really covered in English. I also know less about events that are being held locally.

Despite some downside, I really feel that the internet has really enhanced my life during my time over here in China.

Gore for President?

2007-10-12T23:57:00.001-04:00

So the headlines blare "Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize".

I must admit, my initial reaction was "huh?". I always associated the Nobel to people like Ghandi (even though he never won it but certainly is the embodiment of it), Mandela or Martin Luthur King; people who stood up to oppression by peaceful means and inspired others to do the same. As I thought about it more and more I realized that Gore does deserve to win the award. I even debated my friend Siu in New York via Skype about this. I think the spirit of this award should include the person who made accomplishments that furthers the betterment of mankind, and I think Gore did that this past year.

I watched his movie "Inconvenient Truth" last year. Even though I am not a scientist, I am a bit of a science enthusiast. After watching the movie, I realized that some of his assertions are going to be a bit controversial since it was not proven entirely, such as some of the associations between global catastrophes to global warming.

When such a high profile politician makes such a splash in Hollywood there are going to be suspicions that he could be doing it for his own political gain.

For the many who criticize Gore and the movie about these things are missing the point about the importance of this movie. What this movie has done is heighten the awareness of this very important issue from just the science enthusiasts like me to the mainstream. When the dialog about this topic reaches the mainstream that is when important things can be done.

Many of Gore's supporters are now calling on him to run for President so he can "save the world". I think that is a mistake. The reason Gore was able to go on this crusade was precisely because he was not as intimately involved in national politics after his defeat in the 2000 Presidential election. He was able to extricate himself from the world where votes could be bought, where one's beliefs are compromised in the effort to appeal to more voters. This is a place where you don't necessarily do what is right, but what will appeal to the masses.

Now the he has won the Nobel Peace Prize, there is no doubt that Gore has become the undisputed leader in this cause and he can do far more good by staying out of the mainstream politics. He will now be an even more powerful voice for the environmentalism movement.

Look out below!!

2007-10-10T20:58:00.000-04:00

Just to provide an update on an earier post. I mentioned in a post on 8/22/07 about the rampaging stock market over here in Shanghai. The Shanghai index on that day closed at 4980. Well in less than a month the index now stands at 5771. This mania has even spilled into the Hong Kong stock market since the Chinese government announced that they will start to allow Chinese citizens to invest in the Hong Kong stock market. Since that announcement on 8/20/07 the Hang Sang index has risen from around 20,387.13 to 28,569.33 where it stands today, a 40% rise. As this bubble continues to roil seemingly unabated the inevitable crash will be more and more painful.

Quotes for the Shanghai index:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=000001.SS

Quotes for the Hang Sang index:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EHSI

Different place, different pace

2007-10-04T10:49:00.000-04:00

October 1, 1949 is the day the People's Republic of China was founded. So the Chinese celebrate this day by granting the entire week off for its citizens. Me and the wife took advantage of this period by returning to her hometown of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It just so coincides with the wedding of her brother.

As I am writing this entry in Malaysia, I am struck by how different the pace is between China and Malaysia. Malaysia is a tropical country near the equator where the population is primarily made up of 3 ethnicities - indigenous Malays, Chinese, and Indians.

During my travels, I have discovered that people who live in tropical areas tend to be more laid back about life than most. This is definitely the case here in Malaysia. This is really the first time that I have gone directly to Malaysia from China and I can feel the difference immediately. It is most evident when one is just doing normal everyday things like walking on the streets, shopping or eating out.

In Shanghai it is a controlled chaos. When you are out and about there are constant challenges facing you. After I have lived there for 1.5 years I am use to it, and it takes going to a place like Malaysia to remind you how tired you are of a place like Shanghai. There are no hordes of bicycles whizzing by you from all directions as you walk on the streets. There is no pesky salesperson following your every move when you enter a store. There isn't a sense where you are being rushed to do anything like there is in China with nearly everything that you do. This aspect is quite possibly the most annoying thing about living in China. For instance, when you are on queue paying for something in a store you can either be cut in line by some impatient soul who was not on line to begin with, or you could be cut by the person behind you if you are slow to present you items for payment when it is your turn. This is the case in all aspects of life in China. They take the saying "You snooze, you lose" to an exaggerated level. This mentality creates tension in nearly every thing that you do in China.

Well, I am going to enjoy my remaining 4 days relaxing over here before going back to the chaos that is Shanghai.

Hip Hop Nation

2007-09-25T10:59:00.000-04:00

Bet you never expected this out of the youth of Shanghai. Then again that is the beauty of being young, the willingness to do and try anything

Steroids from China

2007-09-24T06:22:00.000-04:00

Well, if China-US trade relations can't get any worse it gets worse. I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse before things stabilize.

In the past year it has been toys, food, cribs, toothpaste and now steroids and HGH.

Performance enhancing drugs has been part of the world sports scene for a long time now but it has received its brightest spotlight this year with the breaking of the most legendary and fabled record in American sports. Barry Bonds' anatomic makeover reputedly began about 7 years ago. At that time Bonds was considered a sure hall of famer, but nobody thought he could challenge Hank Aaron's all time home run record of 755. In the past 7 years Bonds has had some of the most productive home run seasons even though he has been in his late 30s to early 40s. Last month Bonds broke Aaron's record and the reception was muted from baseball fans everywhere.

With all of this going on this year in the realm of world trade and sports, now we have the news of a drug bust of unprecedented size where it has been discovered that China supplies about 75% of the world trade in performance enhancing drugs.

Seems like the secret behind the China's economic miracle in the past 20 year where GDP growth has been averaging around double digits annually is being revealed. The Chinese have been engaging in not just legitimate industries but the illegitimate ones as well. It seems there is no industry where the Chinese would find immoral to get involved with. The problem is that they are so damn good at it just highlights everything that much more.

Sometimes as an ethnic Chinese, I can't help but to feel embarrassed about some of the shady business that the Chinese are involved

Man in the Mirror

2007-09-18T01:31:00.000-04:00

So I was reading the Wall Street Journal the other day and came across a very telling article about America. The article focused on a woman who for conservation reasons began to hang her clothes on clotheslines instead of drying them in a clothes dryer like most people in America. For environmental reasons this makes perfect sense. Apparently, clothes dryer account for 6% of the electric consumption by US households, third behind refrigerators and lighting. For an appliance that is for total convenience, this is quite high. You can justify refrigerators and lighting as more of a necessity than clothes dryers.

The woman's actions set off a firestorm of controversy with her neighbors and her community association. For reasons such as property value and the image that the neighborhood wants to portray this was very much frowned upon by her neighbors. She has received numerous letters from the community association threatening lawsuits since the bylaws of the association prohibits clothes hanging apparatuses appearing in clear view. It has gotten so far that the woman is considering moving from the area.

You can read the article here:

http://www.realestatejournal.com/homegarden/20070919-chaker.html

Here in China, drying clothes on clotheslines is the norm. Very few people use clothes dryers.

America finds it very convenient to blame countries like China for the global pollution problem. There is no doubt it is a big problem here in China. Especially with large industries using cheaper but environmentally harmful methods to conduct business. However, it is because of the gluttonous consumption by the first world countries especially America that gives the incentive to the businesses in China to do these things; after all much of the manufacturing are for products being exported to the first world. I think the blame are on both sides.

Ordinary citizens in China consumes far less that their counterparts in America. Just the differences in the way clothes are dried will tell you a lot. Most people here uses bicycles and mass transit as their main mode of transportation while the Americans drive. You will see differences such as these in all facets of everyday life. But make no mistake about it, as the China's economy rises, you will no doubt start to see some of the same wasteful consumption that the Americans are indulging themselves with. The American lifestyle is the benchmark for emerging countries. Therefore instead of blaming, perhaps Americans should set an example for the rest of the world of how to live responsibly. They can start by giving up their clothes dryers.

Phone ettiquette

2007-09-14T10:18:00.000-04:00

After I got my cell phone when I first arrived in Shanghai last year I realized that people here does not believe in voice mail. It is not available in the standard package of your cell phone contract; if you had voice mail nobody will use it anyway. The longer that I am here the more I realized the reason for this. When people make a phone call they expect the other person to answer their call. If you commit the mortal sin of shutting off your phone, boy will you get it. People will take it personally if you do not have your cell phone on when they call.

I think the reason that for this is the nature of how things are done here in China. Usually when someone wants something to be done, they want it done right away. Therefore if they were to call somebody on the phone about something, they will not trust the voice mail to deliver their message. They want to personally speak the to other party. I believe that they feel that if they don't convey their message directly to the other party that whatever needs to be done will be delayed.

The cell phone in China is as ubiquitous as it is in America and that is surprising to some extent considering the economics. Cell phones here take up a considerable amount of one's finances; much more than in America. Yet nearly everyone has it. Text messaging is a very popular method of communication as well. The reason is partially economic and partially cowardice. Text messaging is far cheaper than a call, so for the messages that can be conveyed succinctly then text will be the preferred method. The other reason for the popularity of text messaging is the unwillingness to convey awkward messages. Text is a way to dodge the confrontation. I heard of stories in China where relationships have ended via text messaging. I have also heard of people getting fired via text message.

Its interesting to see different cultures utilize the same medium in different ways.

Popcorn caution

2007-09-10T09:19:00.000-04:00

OK, this blog is not about China, but then again not everything on my mind is.

I was perusing the New York Times website today and found a shocking headline. "Doctor Links a Man’s Illness to a Microwave Popcorn Habit". Was this some sort of microwave oven problem? I remember when I was a child when the first microwave ovens hit the kitchens of Americans I had heard of horror stories of people getting their flesh cooked because of faulty switches that did not shut off the microwave ovens when the doors opened. That may have been an urban legend but you tend to remember things that you hear as a child no matter how irrational it was. Perhaps the article was about somebody's weight related illnesses from eating too much microwave popcorn.

So I proceeded to the article as you can:

www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/us/05popcorn.html?em&ex=1189483200&amp;amp;amp;en=0ba2a1d76e6b4409&ei=5087%0A

Hmm, the guy got sick from heated diacetyl - an additive to enhance the butter flavor of popcorn?!! This is certainly the first time that I have heard of this issue.

There is actually an occupational hazard namely "Popcorn Worker's Lung" and it can be fatal!

My goodness, what has the world come to where one cannot even enjoy the pleasures of popcorn without some health hazard. This just show you that our civilization has gotten to the point where we are so far removed from the natural world and are in this synthetic world that we are creating hazards for ourselves. We humans think we are smart, but unfortunately I think we are just smart enough to get ourselves into trouble.

Profile of a Chinese Worker

2007-09-07T11:14:00.000-04:00

To expand on my previous post, I want to paint a picture of what a typical Chinese migrant worker's life is like from my perspective. I mentioned previously that we occasionally have clothes made by a husband and wife team (actually I just do it occasionally, my wife does it regularly). We talk to them when we see them and have somewhat of an idea of what their life is like.

I took some video clips of their environment. The first footage that I took are of the exterior and the second footage is of the interior of their home/shop. They are located in an older part of Shanghai called Dongjiadu. It is not too far from the Huangpu River so I think it is a matter of time when this area gets leveled for high rise waterfront apartments. Their home is located within a labyrinth like area. If you don't know the area your are likely to get lost. What struck me when I first entered their home/shop is how small it was. I think the space is probably around 100 sq ft. If you look at the footage you will see that most of the space are for work. They built a make shift bed that is elevated above one of their work tables. There is no bathroom in the space so they use communal bathrooms located down the street. Their sole source of entertainment in this kind of environment is the TV set placed on a table between their workbenches that is always on when I have been there. They have two sewing machines and two workbenches. The makeshift kitchen is in a separate space and it is entered from the exterior.

This couple is from Jiangsu province and the town that they are from is an 8 hour train ride from Shanghai. The reason they came to Shanghai is because they can make more money here than their village. There is a deep economic and social chasm between large urban areas like Shanghai and the rural areas. The couple left their son who is now a teenager back in the village where his grandparents are caring for him. They work 7 days a week and each day they work long hours to make as much money as possible. Therefore, there is no time to go see their son except for the Chinese New Year period. This is a period of time not unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one. Most migrant workers in China will stop working for one to three weeks to go home and visit family and friends. Unfortunately for many this is the only time they get to go home and see their immediate family members. It is not uncommon for a family of three to live apart and see each other on Chinese New Year. The father and mother may be working in different cities while the child is cared for by the grandparents back in their village.

Back to our couple. Most of their business come from owners of small clothing shops scattered throughout the Shanghai. They also have a client who sells clothes via the Internet and target Koreans since they can pay more for these clothes than the Shanghaiese. So these tailors are at the bottom of the food chain.

This couple rarely has any leisure time. Its not only because they are so busy trying to make money but also the little money they make will not go far in Shanghai where costs are much higher than where they are from. Also since they are outsiders in Shanghai, they are treated differently than the local Shanghaiese. This is a typical story of the migrant workers who come from rural areas to the urban centers of China to seek a better opportunity. In Shanghai, I would say that vast majority of the menial work is done by these migrant workers.

It is difficult to imagine such a life where I am from.

Cheap Labor

2007-09-04T09:12:00.000-04:00

OK, enough about the negatives of living here in Shanghai. One of the best things about living here in Shanghai as an expatriate is the power of your money. When you are an American expat coming to China, you probably already have a decent amount of money saved up in the US (but in many American's case maybe not) . That sum is probably not enough to retire on the US, but in China that amount may very well be a fortune. Combined that with an expat income, you can live very well.

What this means is flexibility. You are able to do things in your life that you normally would not because the cost will be too prohibitive. It could mean being able to live in the middle of the city. These things also extend into small things in your everyday life. For instance if you don't want to do house work and want to hire domestic help it is very cheap. It costs between 7 to 10 RMB per hour for a maid (called ayi here in Shanghai), that is about .93-$1.30 per hour. For a live in maid or nanny it could only cost about 800-1200 RMB per month ($105 - $155). Rates depends on experience and believe it or not where the maid is from (maids from within Shanghai can command higher rates than the ones from outside of Shanghai; prejudice in China is another topic for another time).

Other things could be getting a massage on a regular basis. Getting a Chinese style message for 1 hour would cost about 50-60RMB ($6.60 - $8.00). This could be a foot massage or a back massage.

Tailor made clothes is another inexpensive indulgence. There is an area in the older part of Shanghai called Dongjiadu where one can buy fabric of your choice from textile vendors then bring them to a tailor who can do a pretty good job of producing a knock off of your choice. You can bring a sample for them to copy or even a picture of that Armani is good enough. Usually for a man's cotton shirt you can have tailor made for about 100 RMB ($13). For women's clothes the possibilities are only limited by the ability of the tailor. In general the quality of the clothes depends on the tailor. From my experience, the skill level is pretty decent.

The reason for the cheap labor is no secret. There are 1.3 billion people in this country who only around 30 years ago was under the iron grip of a totalitarian regime that for all intents and purposes stopped progress for about 30 years (1949-1979). Some could argue that China may have regressed during that period. 1.3 billion dwarfs the population of the US (300 million), and some believe that it is a low estimate. Some estimates have the actual population of China in the neighborhood of 1.5 -1.7 billion. Can you imagine the margin of error exceeds the population of the US!! When there is such fierce competition for everything including jobs, food and services it is very difficult for people in this environment to stand out. This keeps wages low and working conditions poor. The Chinese are also notoriously frugal which also keeps prices down. The Chinese are some of the most price sensitive consumers in the world.

My last story is about the time we moved from our first apartment in Shanghai to the one we currently reside at. We had an appointment with movers for a Sunday. Well, on that Saturday we realized that we were fully packed and were actually ready to go. I half joked but half seriously told my wife that we should just call the movers and see if they are free, after all it is China and for these types of blue collar workers they are willing to work at any time. We called, and sure enough the movers were free and could be at our apartment in 20 minutes. About two hours after that idea was hatched all of our stuff had made it to our new apartment. That will never happen in NY. If we even had the nerve to inquire with movers in NY of such an idea I am sure we would have been told that we were crazy. BTW, the final bill was 250 RMB ($33) for 4 movers.

Anyway, cheap labor is good from my perspective. However, when you look at it from the other angle things look quite grim.

Movie nights

2007-08-28T09:38:00.000-04:00

One of the ironic things that has happened to me during my time in Shanghai is that I now have a chance to watch quite a bit of critically acclaimed movies. I have never been much of a movie buff. I know plenty of people who flock to the theaters to watch movies during its opening weekend. I also know people who subscribe to Netflix and developed a system where they burn copies of DVDs that they received and quickly turning the DVDs back to Netflix so they can get more. They don't even watch the movies right away; they are only interested in quickly amassing a large collection so they have their pick to watch on a rainy day. I know others who are addicted to pay-per-view movies. Well, I am not any of those people. I tend to watch movies once in a while when my friends or my wife are in the mood. I also tend to watch the Oscar nominated movies after they get nominated. So you can say that I am a passive movie fan. I enjoy a good movie just like the next person, but I rarely go out of my way to watch a movie.

Then I discover www.imdb.com and came to China. I don't think it will come as a shock to anyone that China probably has the biggest knock-off DVD market in the world. When you are in Shanghai it is difficult to pass a day without either passing some street vendor or a small shop peddling counterfeit DVDs. You can get nearly anything that is popular in the world of cinema or television. The selection is decidedly American-centric; although there is also quite a bit of Korean, Japanese, mainland Chinese, and Hong Kong movies and TV shows available as well.

My pattern of watching American TV shows now that I am in Shanghai has become buying a seasons worth of DVDs during the summer months after they go on hiatus. That is how I have been able to follow "Lost". Most of the highly rated American TV shows are available in this way. This also includes the classic TV shows like "Seinfeld", "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or "Friends". One season (24 episodes) of DVD quality video will be on 8 DVD disks costing 5-7RMB per disk (.65-.92). One season of compressed video files will fit on 2 DVD disks again costing 5-7 RMB. You do the math, it’s pretty cheap.

I recently started to check out the imdb top 250 of all time movies and realized that I may have seen about 50 of them. Then I realized that this was a good list for me to check out some good movies that I missed. Some of the DVD stores here in Shanghai have a pretty good collection of movies that include quite a number of the movies on this list. These stores tend to be in the areas that where foreign expatriates live. These are the people who drive the demand for these older movies. Lately, I had a chance to watch "Taxi Driver", "Fight Club", "Seven Samurai", "Reservoir Dogs", "Kill Bill", and "Leon" to name a few. I will probably try to check out some of the the top 10 movies soon, like "The Godfather", "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".

Anyway, here is the list for those of you who have not seen it:

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

At 5-7 RMB a pop for these movie classics, you just can't beat it.

BTW, Fight Club was a much better movie than I thought. I thought it was going to be one of those blood sport movies and wondered why it was on the list. Well now I know.

Getting Around in Shanghai

2007-08-24T13:52:00.000-04:00

I think it is safe to say that NY traffic is reputed to be the most notorious in America. It would be also safe to say that NY drivers are probably the most aggressive in America. In Shanghai on the other hand, its every man for himself. In the US, the pecking order is usually cars yields to pedestrians although not always the case in NY. Here in Shanghai, cars do not yield to pedestrians so it would take a brave soul to walk in front of an oncoming car. Usually in that kind of situation the car will stop but he will do so about 2 inches from your body and it would be of the screeching variety, or he just might hit you. Add on top an onslaught of bicycle traffic going in every direction on sidewalks and the road and about 18 million Shanghaiese and you have a fairly harrowing experience for the uninitiated.

My commute to work is a 18 minute bus ride or a 18 minute taxi ride. With the kind of traffic we are talking about taxis are no faster than the bus. In Shanghai, people commute primarily by either bus or bicycle. The subway system here is not too extensive (5 lines) so far so for now bus and bike are still king. These buses are usually filled to the brim with people and in that kind of situation you throw civility out the window and yield to physics. Just move with the flow and don't fight the force pushing you in a particular direction. Most bus rides within the city will run between 2-3 RMB (26-39 cents). These bus drivers all think they are Mario Andretti, swerving between lanes, cutting off cars and missing cyclists and pedestrians by inches. There are lots of car accidents in Shanghai (for that matter China in general), but considering their rules of the road I am surprised there aren't more.

The aforementioned subway system is still a work in progress here. The long term plan is to build the most extensive subway system in the world by 2020. With the amount of people living and working here they need it. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the congestion above ground. There are only 5 lines in operation currently and by 2020 they plan to have 24 lines in operation. Generally, the fares on the subways here are 2-7RMB depending on distance (26-92 cents) traveled. The trains are far more modern and surprisingly cleaner than their NY counterparts. There are flat screen monitors on the station platform that lets the riders know when the next train will arrive. I think that they can do this because in most cases the subways are punctual. There are no mysterious stoppages of the trains in between stations that are a part of life in NY. Usually, the trains are fairly crowded and during rush hours, intensely crowded.

The taxis here in Shanghai, like their brethren around the world are the most aggressive drivers on the road. If bus drivers are Mario Andretti, then the cab drivers are Evel Knievel. 11RMB for the first 3km (1.87 miles) and 3RMB for each additional km. Most of the taxis are Volkswagen Santanas.

Despite all of these problems, I still would not trade my current commute with what I had in NY. Go from 80 minutes to 25 minutes door to door is not too bad. Of course most of that has to do with the fact that I can afford to live in the center of the city here while that is not as attainable in NY.

Greed

2007-08-22T08:04:00.000-04:00

What better way to describe greed than looking at the psychology of the stock market? Here in Shanghai, the Shanghai Composite Index has risen to record highs day after day. On 1/1/06 this index stood at 1161 and in just 20 months the index is currently at 4980. This a staggering 328% gain in 20 months!! If you want to take a look at the data here it is:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=000001.SS

It seems like everybody, their parents and their grandparents are in the stock market. Everybody is talking about the stock market, people are quitting their jobs to day trade, and brokerages are popping up everywhere. At current levels the Shanghai Composite is trading at 55 times last year's earning as an aggregate. Does this sound familiar? I feel like I have traveled back in time and were back in the late 90's again when the NASDAQ rose to similar heights only to crash back to reality.

The problem with the bubble in China is that it has risen even faster than the NASDAQ bubble and it probably has more room to go up. Currently, citizens of China cannot invest abroad. Their only options are to put their money in the bank, real estate or domestic stocks. They cannot go abroad in search of better investments. On the flip side, foreigners cannot invest in the Chinese stock market either. This is creating a situation where in the short term, there will probably be a continuing rise in the Shanghai stock market. But when it drops, look out. The PE's might be in triple digits before that happens.

What drives all of this? Greed of course. Everybody knows that there are normal ways that things operate, but when greed takes over rational goes down the toilet. People are rationalizing that China's booming economy will sustain these prices and because there is so much saving in China that it needs to find a place go. Well we heard some of same arguments to justify the prices of the NASDAQ and where did that lead us?

I am not smart enough to say what the catalyst will be that will burst this bubble, all I know that it will happen in the near to intermediate future. And then greed will turn into fear and panic.

Censorship in China

2007-08-19T04:37:00.000-04:00

This is going to sound bizarre, but I cannot view the homepage of my own blog at least not at home. This is because all blogs hosted by blogspot (aka google blogger) is banned in China. I am not entirely sure of the criteria necessary for a website to be blocked here in China but it would be safe to say that any criticism of the government through opinions or mention of notorious events in their history would fall under the censorship. Other reasons seems pretty random. For instance, I can view New York Times articles and yet cannot view BBC articles. I don't know what the BBC covers that gets them censored over the NY Times. Also why every blog hosted by blogspot would be censored is strange. Not all blogs on blogspot is about China; but perhaps it is such a popular host of blogs that they decided to give it blanket coverage. Other things seems pretty odd as well, for instance I have a friend who runs a website of his store that sells Japanese animation products in NY and for the longest time I could not view it here in Shanghai. However, at last check I was able to view his website. The products he sells seem innocuous to me, so the secret formula of the Great Digital Wall of China as mystifying as ever.

Now for this blog on blogspot, I am not blocked from my administrative page. This means that I am allowed to maintain the blog in every way - composing the blog, upload pictures, select/edit the look and feel of the blog, etc. - but I just cannot see the blog on its homepage. So is the Chinese government allowing people to let the story out to the rest of the world but feels the need to conceal it from its own people to prevent mutinous feelings at home? Who knows but this is very typical of the ways that China works. Their way of doing things sometimes seem contradicting and are always fluid. There will be many more stories based on this theme in future blogs.

Fortunately, I cannot view my blog only at home. This is because at home my internet access is via a Chinese internet provider so all content flowing through them are subject to censorship. However, at work my internet access is via servers in the US therefore I am able to view the blog with all of your wonderful feedback during work hours.