More articles and weird stuff:

• Toxic Linfen – regardless of Climategate, there is still room for commonsense pollution controls in developing nations
• Think You Know China? Eight Things Foreigners Get Wrong
• Interesting talk on Vested Outsourcing – not sure if I care for the new buzz word, but worth a listen
• Fox Premiers Its First Chinese Film

Day 31 – I awoke early and found that our apartment complex had been decorated with live flowers and orange trees for the Lunar New Year.

Flowers for the New Year

We had a productive morning at the Assembly Center, working on streamlining and improving our process documentation.  I have a manufacturing background and enjoy working on such kaizen initiatives.  Where I wear out is the day-to-day scheduling and personnel management.  I can do it, but it quickly becomes tedious, especially HR (which is admittedly less of a problem than in the USA).  For the next year we will have so many opportunities to make improvements, I don’t see myself getting bored anytime soon.  It also helps we have so many new assembly-inspection-packaging projects rolling in, each of which needs process engineering to get it started.  2009 was actually a strong growth year for PassageMaker, with 19 new assembly projects launched.  Selecting tools, writing work instructions, designing jigs and fixtures, laying out the line and setting the Drum-Buffer-Rope targets is the fun stuff.  I really have an awesome job.

The managers and I head to the cafeteria for lunch, which is notable for a couple reasons.  First, they order Coca-Cola.  Now in the USA I might go six months without drinking a soda.  I don’t particularly care for them and I have alternatives I prefer in the States, such as iced tea (unsweetened with lemon, if you please).  Not so in China, where I know that sodas are safe to drink, and no one has iced tea without a pound of sugar in it (and then usually only in rare SE Asian restaurants).  So I drink sodas pretty regularly in China, but I am the one who orders them, not the Chinese.  More important to this anecdote is why my co-workers ordered the Coke.

The cafeteria was out of tea.

Being out of tea in China is like being out of wine in France or out of whiskey in Lynchburg, TN (Pop. 361).  It doesn’t happen.  It’s a sign of the apocalypse or something.  I felt like walking outside to see if the sun was going nova.

They didn’t even have any 开水, kāi shuǐ, boiling hot water, which is also commonly drunk, the concept of sanitary cold (bottled) water being a recent innovation.  This was truly bizarre.  So we drank Coke from tea cups.

How can a Chinese restaurant IN CHINA run out of tea? We drink Coke instead.

Lunch was also memorable for four dishes, one I can’t wait to try in the USA.

Beef with sweet peppers - I don't eat the peppers, but the flavor they impart on the meat is subtle and exceptional.

Spicy pork & wood ears. This was great - keep in mind this is like getting excellent food at your high school cafeteria.

Tomato & Egg soup - actually very good.

Bitter gourd (also called bitter melon, 苦瓜, kǔ guā) omelet - this was absolutely exceptional - one of the best egg dishes I've ever eaten - the gourd tastes a bit like cucumber and matches beautifully with the egg - I can sometimes get 苦瓜 at our local Chinese market and I am going to try this at home. Awesome.

At around 4 PM, things start to wind down and everyone migrates about 10 minutes away to the banquet hall, because tonight is the joint PassageMaker, SafePassage and China Quality Focus annual Chinese New Year party!  These companies have grown rapidly over the last few years, and we had about 160 people in attendance.  I tried to capture the event, but my camera did a relatively poor job.  Apologies in advance.

we had an upstairs room at this banquet hall

downstairs a much larger company was also having their CNY party

their 'stage show' was far more formal than ours

our banquet had 160 people total

each table prepare with drinks and snacks

this is about 1/3rd of the refreshments for the evening

Christina Feng, our Office Manager, did an exceptional job organizing this party. She and Marc Yue, Production Manager of the General Assembly Center, acted as our emcees

Anita Tang-Bellamy, Mike Bellamy and Julien Roger of China Quality Focus. And hand signals.

Anita Tang-Bellamy, Jesse Chang and Aileen Wang - now it's a party! Don't ask me about the hand signals - all Asian women do this.

Candy Cheng & Teresa Chen - our very effective purchasing team. Teresa also serves as Mike's right hand for company-wide operations. Again with the hand signals.

Hebe Wang, Honey Wu & Teresa Chen - I worked with this team (and others) on streamlining the format of our Product Quality Manual. I've got to find out about the hand signals.

Jesse Chang, Accountant and Master Drinker; Pramod KC from Nepal, head of Project Management for those projects that have moved into regular production ("Vendor Coordination-Export & Logistics" in our parlance); and Adam Supernant, Project Manager from Michigan. And more hand signals. WTF.

Most of the management from our General Assembly Center (the precision Medical Assembly Center has a separate team). My lao pengyou, Sabrina Liao is on the far right. I caught them by surprise, so no time for hand signals.

L-R - Dave Learn, head of Project Management for those projects still in development ("Vendor Coordination-Product Development"; once they go to production, they transition to Pramod's team). Our distinguished guests - Mike Lopez of Campus Emporium, Tyson Daniel of LimbGear, Collin Peel of Camrett Logistics, and Brian Garvin, Director of New Project Development, my sales counterpart based in Shenzhen.

Brian's wife, Ada, who also does hand signals. A wonderful lady.

Buji staff enjoying an evening away from the Assembly Center - they typically work 6 days a week, well into the night to prepare for CNY. All of them would be back at work by 9 AM the next day, a Saturday. Whenever I hear Americans bitch about "all the Chinese holidays", I kind of want to tell them to shove it. This is one of the hardest working groups of people I've ever met. In the foreground is Josephine Ji, Manager of the Assembly Center and a very competent woman. Sadly, this is clearest photo of her I got all night.

Hunan cuisine - many of our employees are from Hunan, the province to the north

hand knotted noodles in duck soup - very elegant

Mike and Teresa give the annual state of the company address and announce the new profit sharing program to raucous applause. Most of our employees are farm kids from the provinces. The idea that they were going to be able to earn a piece of the action blew them away. The party really got rolling after that announcement.

Can I get a witness? Mike had the crowd going.

Mike presenting a 红包, hóng bāo, literally "red bag", a small red envelope containing money. Typically these are token sums, perhaps as little as $0.05, meant to foster luck and prosperity in the new year. Ours had real money and each one that was awarded had more than the last. The final hong bao had over US$100. Everyone also got a bonus hong bao for the New Year.

Julien Roger of China Quality Focus was a big hit with his French-accented Mandarin.

One of the top prizes was a LimbGear t-shirt and a very generous hong bao from our guests.

Jesse Chang toasting an honored guest, Tyson Daniel of LimbGear.

All the lao wai's were asked to speak, draw names, hand out hong bao's & drink...

...everyone drinks...

...and drinks...

...and drinks...

...and drinks some more.

all are rapt with attention as the grand prize is announced

Later things got a little crazy, with dancing, card playing, and for some bizarre reason, arm wrestling.  I was reminded of the Festivus Feats of Strength.

Jesse Chang referees the arm wrestling

All in all, it was a wonderful evening.  Our guests were impressed by the camaraderie and team spirit and by shear amount of fun everyone was having.  Having seen the USA go through the politically correct wringer in the last 15 years, during which all forms of corporate sanctioned fun were done away with and replaced by silly and useless “team building” exercises, aka “manufactured fun”, it is nice to be someplace where “corporate bonding” means cutting loose and eating and drinking and dancing and, you know, having fun.  I left the automotive industry because the lawyers and the accountants and the buyers had drained every ounce of enjoyment and excitement out of it until it became a soul-draining slog.  Life is to be lived and thank God the Chinese understand that.

I recently re-connected with an old friend from B-school living in Switzerland and he is much better networked with our class than I am.  He tells me nearly all of our classmates have taken dull domestic jobs.  What was the point of getting a degree in international business, he quite rightly asked?  I know I did it to get out and see the world, to live a life less ordinary.

Some reading this will think our company frivolous.  If you get that impression, I’m sorry you missed the point.  PassageMaker, China Quality Focus and SafePassage all provide professional, affordable and reliable services in a timely fashion.  Our Endorsed Service Providers do the same.  A big part of the reason we are able to do our job so well is we still have the joie de vivre that keeps us excited about our work of helping our clients succeed.  So have a drink and Happy Chinese New Year!

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

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

My daily walk takes me right beside the HK border fence. There was a photo shoot going on, a local musician being photographed looking cooly oppressed and morose sitting with his guitar next to the razor wire. The more things change...

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

The ramp in the middle is for strollers, carts, luggage and the very occasional wheelchair. The angle is horrendous - lawyers in the States would have a field day - but it is better than nothing and it is crudely effective.

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

Flatbread for breakfast

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

Salt baked shrimp skewers - I should add that is sweet & sour pork in the background. I don't particularly care for it, but it is one of the very few dishes that tastes the same in USA as it does in PRC.

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

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

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

Beef tongue - looks lovely

Japanese fried chicken and the cooked beef tongue. Japanese food is heavy on sweetened mayonnaise, which is every bit as nasty as it sounds. The dollop of the stuff meant as a dipping sauce for the chicken went untouched by both of us. The chicken was quite good, boneless and not too oily. It actually tasted great with lemon juice, an innovation this Southern boy raised on Sylvia's fried chicken will try when I get home.

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

Japanese potato omelet with bonito shavings - not good

Japanese lamb chops - pretty hard to mess up lamb

Japanese salad, with okra and daikon radish, very tasty

Japanese fried tofu with bonito shavings - pheh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

View from the apartment window.

view facing Hong Kong New Territories

Note the mosiacs in the pool. It is amazing what you can accomplish with a massive supply of inexpensive labor.

And though it feels cold here because of the damp, it is about 62 F.  Salem, VA was in single digits in comparison.  The company apartment is decorated with Chinese art (Mike has good taste).  We even have a life sized terracotta warrior.

Rather imposing

These are iron door pulls that would have been mounted on a pair of double doors (love the screws)

A window - the screen is hinged internally to swing inward when mounted

Our apartment complex, taken Day 5 before the rain started. The pool with the mosaics is up the hill to the left.

Entrance to the apartment complex in the rain

The walk to the office takes maybe 5-6 minutes.  The rain was coming pretty hard and the wind overwhelmed the umbrella.  One thing you notice about side streets like ours is how poorly they are sloped to drain the water.  Makes for enormous puddles.

Stopped at my snack shop for dumplings and a tea egg.  I make tea eggs at home, and they are just that – eggs boiled in tea, dark soy sauce and spiced with star anise.  The flavor is very subtle – it is 90% a regular hard boiled egg, but the last 10% makes all the difference.

Breakfast (10 dumplings and 1 tea egg = 4 RMB = $0.60)

Worked the morning in the office, and then had lunch at the restaurant around the corner.  It has a few dishes that are wonderful, but is certainly not fine dining.  The highlights:

This is the best use for broccoli - it goes fast - garlic and what I think is chicken broth. A savory delight. In the background are fried pork ribs. Awesome.

This is the best use for squid - crispy golden brown and delicious!

Back to work until late in afternoon, then I head to Futian district to take an old friend from Taiwan to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  We were the only ones there, so service was exceptional, as was the food, as was the wine, AS WAS THE PRICE.  Dinner for two cost 7 times as much as dinner on the street the night before!  Luckily she is bringing some of her USA friends to PassageMaker, it was a legit business dinner, but man it is easy to get spoiled by the cheap food over here.  I figured we all know what Italian food looks like, so I’ll spare you photos of gnocchi and tiramisu.

Day 7 – A clear day, rain has stopped.  It’s knocked the smog out of the air, so a bright blue morning.

Clear blue skies

The streets around our office are narrow and crowded

Off early to our Assembly Center in Buji.  I’m working on continuous improvement initiatives there as part of our new ISO 9000:2008 certification, something we achieved just last month.  My background is in manufacturing, and since we are gearing up for what we think will be a very strong 2010, Mike asked me to come over and assist with introducing the alphabet soup of kaizen related initiatives – 5S, JIT, OJT, etc.  Meet and greet the staff, which is dominated by women at the manager level.  Only one man on the senior staff.  You are seeing more of this in China, but my impression is PassageMaker is ahead of the curve here.  On to lunch, which is fabulous as usual.

An even better use for squid - a superior version of the dish I had yesterday

The best use for duck, although I hate the way they cut through the bones. Makes eating very difficult and slightly dangerous. And yes, that's the head.

I love these little fish

Man they do vegetables well

You have to get used to your food staring at you

On the way out, we passed the fish tanks that hold the seafood fresh and alive until it’s time to cook it.  Everything in China is prepared fresh.

If I'd known they had had geoduck I would have ordered it. Never had it before.

Duck fish

Later that afternoon we headed back to the office to pick up Julien Roger of China Quality Focus, our sister company.  Mike, Julien and I flew to Shanghai for the Global Sources trade show, a trip that wasn’t scheduled for me when I came over, but I’m glad I went.  The show went well and I’ve never really been to downtown Shanghai before, just the industrial area around the old Hongqiao airport.  We flew into the new Pudong airport and I am convinced the planning went something like this – “To demonstrate the greatness of the People’s Republic of China, we will build the longest airport in the world!”.  We landed late at the last gate and walked for 10 minutes in a straight line down the terminal until we got to the baggage claim area.  This is a seriously long building.  And thoughtfully they included no people movers like the trams at the Detroit airport.  Considering the late hour and the lack of other arrivals, you’d think they could’ve found a found a gate closer to the exit.

Heading to the hotel, Ibis, a chain of affordable hotels owned by Novotel, a French company, what struck me about Pudong at night were the vast highways.  Six to eight lane interstate grade roads as compared to the cramped streets typical of most Chinese cities.  Pudong was farmland just a few years ago, and it definitely has a planned feel.

Although they fed us on the plane (a 2 hour flight with meal service – haven’t seen that in the States in decades), Mike and I were still hungry, so we found an American bar, Malone’s across the street and had a very good hamburger while listening to a GREAT Filipino cover band.  Every bar and hotel in China has a Filipino band, all playing English cover tunes, even when the clientele is Chinese.  And nearly all of them suck.  This was an astounding exception.  They were tight and the covers were quite good, including good hard rock and heavy metal.  The singer had some serious pipes.

Back at the hotel, I noticed the bathroom is a pre-fabricated assembly.  Smart idea for a chain.  It was one of the nicer bathrooms I’ve had in China.

Notice how all the parts are manufactured. I'm willing to bet Ibis just plops this into each room as a completed assembly. The big button on the way flushes the toliet, which is a European wall mounted unit.

Day 8 – After the best night’s sleep so far, up early to get to the show and set up the booth.  On the way to the convention center, I saw this:

Just bizarre

They switched us at the last minute to give us a corner booth, which meant we had to cut up the posters to make them fit.  I think the booth looked pretty good, considering.

Mike Bellamy (L) and Julien Roger (R)

I’ve been to a fair number of trade shows over the years.  Heavy truck shows are dull unless you really like trucks and truckers, car shows are fun, and motorcycle rallies are a blast.  But in every case before, I was selling a product.  If the guy’s got a Road King we have something for him, but not if he has a Dyna.  We’re on this model of Peterbilt, but not that one.  But now that I’ve done it, nothing beats selling a service.  EVERYONE doing business in China needs Quality Inspections, Product Testing, Sourcing Feasibility Studies, Vendor Coordination, Intellectual Property Protection, Logistics and Assembly Inspection & Packaging.  The industry doesn’t matter, they all needed at least one of our services.  This was a gift and clothing fair, but it is the same at every show.  It’s like we are selling beer at a NASCAR race.  We got business cards from USA, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Israel, Nigeria, Iran, South Africa, New Zealand, etc.

Mike is a featured speaker at every Global Sources trade show (including Dubai, Hong Kong, Mumbai and South Africa this year), and he gave a two-part presentation spread over the first two days of the show.  He did a great job and it was extremely well received by the standing room only audience.  Rather than a canned sales pitch, he tells it like it is, barely mentioning PassageMaker or China Quality Focus.  The soft sell works and many attendees stopped by the booth afterward to tell us so.  They figure anyone with enough confidence to NOT shove his company down their throats must have it going on.  And they are quite right.  We do.

Mike is a featured speaker

Mike giving his presentation

Julien Roger is also a tremendous salesman and very knowledgeable.  I learned a great deal from watching his methods.  Selling China Quality Focus’s services is easier, as Quality Inspections are very straightforward compared to PassageMaker’s services, but the combined message of the two companies meshes very well.  We often have the same customers.

The convention center is still under construction and gigantic.  As with the airport, the point seems to be making you walk as far as possible to get anywhere.  Despite the impressive size, they apparently forgot about effective HVAC.  It is unseasonably cold and I packed for south China.  Day 1 of the show had no heat at all, which made it a real grind.  Day 2 was a little warmer, but still uncomfortable.  By Day 3 they’d gotten it going to the point it was now actually hot inside.  HVAC needs some work for sure.

They also have very little in the way of food.  The restaurants inside looked just plain bad, serving cold rolls and sandwiches wrapped in plastic like a vending machine.  However, there was a McDonald’s right across from our hall, W2.  It turned out to be the world’s smallest McD’s, about the size of a broom closet, with one little girl selling horrible looking “chicken sandwiches” out of coolers.  I put that in quotes, because they were actually pork.  Menu says chicken, she will say in English it is chicken, the box says chicken, but she insisted in Chinese that they were pork.  We passed and were directed to the other McD’s at W5.

W5 is an international airport runway away from where we were.  In 30 F weather, I was not interested in the walk, but there was nothing else, so walk we did.  Entering W5 was a shock as it was still under construction, freezing cold and reeked of paint fumes.  The McD’s was even colder than the rest of the building.  It was a huge McD’s, brand new and manned by an army of eager young staffers in winter parkas.   McDonald’s can’t heat their own place.  It was also completely deserted.  We were it for customers stoopid enough to walk that far in the cold for genuine simulated food.  Our “food” in hand we sat down to eat our rapidly cooling cheeseburgers (with cucumbers instead of pickles) in 25 F comfort, huffing paint.  Then the staff helpfully turned on the Backstreet Boys at headache inducing volumes to entertain us, because what lao wai doesn’t love the Backstreet Boys?  We’d shout over the music to tell them to turn it down please.  And they would, just a little.  As it was the only food around, we ate there all three days of the convention.  Our experience was exactly the same each time, including the yelling over the music to turn it down.  Note to China:  the progress over the last 30 years has been astounding, but build convention centers with decent places to eat and heaters.

Holy crap this place is big!

Holy crap this place is big!!

Holy crap this place is big!!!

This is the smallest McD's in the world, right across from our exhibit hall.

So why put the real McDonalds as far away as possible?

W5 under construction

Way to plan fellas

The interior of the McD’s was just as bizarre.

Huh?

What is it with women and fruit and vegetables?

This is a joke, right?

The rarest sign in China

With the first day of thee show successfully behind us, we head out into a bitterly cold Shanghai sunset.

Shanghai sunset - the pollution makes it prettier!

For dinner, we are off to meet friends at Shanghai Hooters.  Yes, really.  This turns out to be loads of fun.  Mike, Julien and I meet up with one of our sales reps, Dan Welygan, who worked in our Shenzhen office for about 4 years.  Also in our quintet is a classmate from the University of South Carolina now living in China.  Many, many wings and beer later, I have a new found appreciation for Hooters.  It was a bold decision to open this restaurant, as typical Chinese girls lack the requisite body type required of a Hooters waitress.  And they have to be attractive and be able to speak English.  A pretty small labor pool.  Our waitress was very good, spoke solid English and really new how to work a room.  A very bright young lady, she has a future in sales for sure.

Our waitress Elva

Hard to find the body type in China - the Chinese are blunt about weight and appearance. I am sure every one of them would describe themselves as "fat" and not be the least self-conscious about it.

Day 9 – Second day of the show went as well as the first.  Part two of Mike’s seminar was very well received and many of the attendees have stopped by the booth, several 2-3 times.  After the show, we meet our web developer, a French graphic designer living in Shanghai, at a trendy coffee shop for sandwiches.  This place was in a glittering new mall, still decorated for Christmas.  My cameras does a poor job in low light, so my apologies for the quality of the photos.

Christmas decorations in Shanghai

First of two Ferraris I saw in less than 2 minutes - notice the Christmas lights on the trees.

yep, that's a Christmas tree!

This is what irony looks like. The sign says "The site of the first national congress of the Communist Party of China". This historical marker is in front of a brand new shopping mall and a Ferrari had just driven beneath it. China is not a politically free country, but it ain't communist either.

So far no Chinese food in Shanghai.  After the meeting, off to meet another USC classmate at The Boxing Cat Brewery, the nicest brewpub I’ve ever been to.  As I was once in this business, that is quite a statement.  It was in a 100+ year old home in the old part of Shanghai, beautifully refurbished.  The brewpub was 3 stories, with a bar on the 1st and 3rd floors.  It felt exactly like a British pub, with beer selection and menu to match.  Since we had already eaten we did not order anything, which now that I know the chef was trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I heartily regret.  I have a feeling it will not be my last trip.  My, how far this country has come in just a few short years.  However, even The Boxing Cat has moments that confound.

Where the heck do you want me to put it? You really don't want to know the answer.

Day 10 – Last day of show, and the pollution is pretty bad today.  Traffic is light, and some exhibitors start packing up almost from the opening bell.  We stayed until nearly the scheduled end at 5:30 PM, though we give up when they start dismantling the booth around us at about 5:10 PM.  Global Sources has been good to us and we thought it the honorable thing to do to stick it out to the end, though honestly the show really ended around noon.  Off to Pudong airport (which is even more gigantic from the outside and has the coolest road system connecting it I’ve ever seen) to catch our flight to Shenzhen.  Our first Chinese meal of the trip is some very good Cantonese cuisine at the airport.

Smog

Always a bad sign when the gates are in triple digits

Cantonese beef noodle soup - Chinese airport food is MUCH better than USA

Shrimp dumplings, they go fast

Mike's 'set menu' meal

Day 11 – Worked all day to get caught up from the show.  Verizon’s data service here stinks, a pale comparison to my old AT&T service (of course, that is reversed in the USA, which is why I switched).  Many emails did not come through to my blackberry.  I also discovered that Verizon is charging me $2/minute to RECEIVE CALLS.  This was one of the specific questions I asked before adding the “China plan” for this trip.  I have already written about how woefully trained their salespeople are, and this takes the cake.  Since the trip began, I have been receiving calls from clients, family and friends – including a call a 3 AM from a client who had missed I was not in USA.  My team in the USA is having words with Verizon about this, but let’s just say, it was a cute phone bill.  China Mobile by comparison, charges nothing to receive an international call.  Heck, their rates to MAKE an international call are less than Verizon.  So, if you want to get in touch with me, send me an email and I’ll give you my China Mobile number.

I join Mike and Adam Supernant for dinner at a local place in Liantang.

Chinese donuts - I like the fried ones, steamed ones not so much. Sweet dishes are not for dessert, but served as part of the meal.

This is essentially braised fat - gross.

It's very common to have fire at the table.

Quite tasty dish of tofu and pork finished on the burner at our table.

After dinner I was invited to join some of our Chinese co-workers at a nightclub.  I was flattered to be invited and went along.  After several hours, I had my first run in on this trip with the dreaded Mao’s Revenge.  I am trying to tell it like it is for those of you who don’t travel overseas, and if this strikes you as TMI, it isn’t.  You need to know what you are in for.

While western style “sitters” are becoming more common, squatters still dominate.  In a sense this is good, as sitters are not as sanitary ( I mean, everyone else is sitting there too).  But when you’re in an emergency situation and you are not used to squatters, this can get dicey fast.  My advice for survival in these situations:

1. Wear sensible shoes with good rubber shoes – I prefer Blundstones.
2. Wear jeans.  Avoid khakis – not the color issue but the way the pockets are cut.  I always keep everything – wallet, keys, passport, phones – in the front pockets of my jeans.
3. This is a very uncommon position for a Westerner.  I have pretty strong calves and thighs, and have learned how to balance, but if you never done it before, try it and hold the position for 2-3 mins.  It takes some getting used to and you don’t want to find out the hard way you can’t do it.  Luckily the squatting position is more conducive to the situation at hand, and so things tend to go quickly.
4. Carrying a small packet of tissues is a good idea.  Toilet paper in a public restroom anywhere in the world is never a given.  Handkerchiefs and socks (single use of course) will do in a crisis.
5. Carry a bottle of prescription Lomotil or the generic.  I always do and there is no OTC medicine that comes close.  It WILL stop the drama.

My evening cut short, off to sleep.  Day 12 is Sunday, market day in Liantang, and Mike and I head to Mian Dian Wang, or “Noodle Snack King”, my favorite fast food chain in the world.  14 line cooks actually making the food by hand.  Total cost of the meal is about 60 RMB, or less than $9.

Noodle Snack King

Knife cut noodles

Seaweed salad, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts

Soup dumplings

Lamb dumplings

That evening, Mike threw a dinner party at his home.  It was great to see old friends and an even better meal.  Simply the best food I’ve ever eaten in China.  Mike’s wife and the maid did all the cooking.

Two women, in this kitchen...

with this equipment and about 2 hours...

made this.

Day 13 – Monday – Last night there was a little too much “medicinal wine”.  Whenever you hear that phrase, run screaming in the other direction.  After such an amazing meal, we needed something basic to calm the acid seas, so off to Subway (yes, really).  A steak and cheese later and all is right with the world.  With some lingering Mao’s, I head to the apartment to work from home.  It was a glorious day, 70 F and clear blue skies with a light breeze.

Our apartment complex

Later Mike asked me over to finish up the leftover ingredients from the dinner party – there was no left over dishes, just raw materials.  This is the modest result.

A light meal - those ladies can really cook!

Two customer visits tomorrow and time at the factory.

All for now…

From the Telegraph (UK), “The dollar is dead – long live the renminbi”

I try to stay away from politics in this blog, but regardless of your party affiliation, you can’t honestly avoid the conclusion that Washington (and London) have spent too much money in the last decade.  This profligacy was matched by most individual Americans, as the country went on a credit-fueled bender.  I remember feeling the odd man out for not having a $400k mortgage.  But while individual Americans seem to have learned their lessons, and are now saving and investing at record rates, the US government has not learned and continues to issue debt at an astounding clip – $7 trillion in debt in 2009 alone.

This is not about politics, but simple math.  The USA cannot afford to spend this money, and the political class is failing the polity by not acting responsibly to control this accumulation of debt.

To date, the producing nations – Germany, Japan and most importantly, China – have underwritten our debt to keep the USA consuming to fuel their export-driven growth strategies.  But reality is going to force a brutal readjustment and a change in behavior for both the producing and the consumer nations:

A seminal shift in behaviour is being forced on the deficit nations [i.e., USA, UK, Spain - ed.] where, despite massive fiscal, monetary and financial system support, there is a continuing scarcity of credit and a growing propensity to save. Neither of these two constraints on demand will reverse any time soon.

This, in turn, is forcing change on surplus countries, whether they like it or not. Export-orientated nations [i.e., China, Japan, Germany - ed.] can no longer rely on once profligate neighbours to buy their goods. Against all instinct, they are having to stimulate their own domestic demand.

The most startling results are evident in China, where retail sales grew an astonishing 15.4 per cent in August. Fiscal action has succeeded in boosting consumption in Germany, too, despite mistrust of what one German politician has dubbed “crass Keynesianism”.  [emphasis added - ed.]

So what does this mean for PassageMaker and those wishing to do business in China?  From the sourcing point of view, there will likely be inflation in the renminbi, but I expect that to be outpaced by dollar inflation.  No matter how you slice it, China is here to stay as a manufacturing center.  And the Chinese are in much better position to enforce sound monetary policy with so much cash on hand.  In this inflationary environment, PassageMaker’s services – Sourcing Feasibility Studies, Vendor Coordination and Assembly-Inspection-Packaging – are more valuable than ever.  Think of them as an insurance policy or a hedge; you simply cannot afford the risk of a China learning curve any longer.

Though there will be increased wages for Chinese workers, especially in coastal zones, the reservoir of inexpensive labor is too vast to be exhausted for decades.  China will retain the edge on cost of labor.  And with the US government beholden to the Chinese, don’t expect any protectionist measures to last long.  I do not expect a broad resurgence of US manufacturing.

BUT…for producers of unique products, especially agricultural products, like wine or coffee, this could be a grand time to start selling to China.  As the Chinese middle class begins to consume to fill the gap, there is a huge opportunity for foreign firms to provide those goods.  PassageMaker’s sister company, SafePassage specializes in doing just this, helping clients identify, establish and manage sales and distribution networks in China.

The future is as clear as mud, but I know we are all in for an interesting ride.  In these times especially, you need to work with a company with solid experience in China.  I hope you will consider PassageMaker and SafePassage as your business partners in an increasingly uncertain world.

“China is threatening to cut off imports of American chicken, but poultry experts have at least one reason to suspect it may be an empty threat: Many Chinese consumers would miss the scrumptious chicken feet they get from this country.

“We have these jumbo, juicy paws the Chinese really love,” said Paul W. Aho, a poultry economist and consultant, “so I don’t think they are going to cut us off.”

Chicken exports were thrust to the forefront of American-Chinese trade tensions on Sunday when China took steps to retaliate for President Obama’s decision to levy tariffs on Chinese tires. The Chinese announced that they were considering import taxes on automotive products and chicken meat, a development that some trade experts feared could escalate.

American executives expressed concern about losing what recently has become the largest export market for their chickens, one that is expanding rapidly as the Chinese population grows more prosperous. But the executives also expressed relief that, so far, Chinese importers have told them to keep the feet and wings coming.”

Most people look to China as a source for low-cost goods, but I don’t think many USA or EU clients are looking to buy tires without a name brand to assure them of the quality of this most important piece of safety equipment (my wife runs Michelins for instance). But while Chinese products have a reputation for poor or inconsistent quality (after all this is why PassageMaker assists clients with inspections and it is the ONLY business for our friends at China Quality Focus), foreign products often enjoy a privileged place in the Chinese marketplace. Especially foreign agricultural products, and it is far harder to copy a Georgia pecan, Scotch whisky, Spanish wine, etc. PassageMaker’s sister company, SafePassage, exists to help foreign sellers research the Chinese market and establish distribution partners, much like a Sourcing Feasibility Study in reverse.

Let’s hope this increasing integration of the USA and PRC economies encourages expeditious and rational resolutions to such trade fights.