Spring Attire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Global financial crisis

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!!

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

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

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）

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

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

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

Olympics hangover

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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.