Sunday, November 11, 2007

Want to move to China?

Are you a dairy farmer who wants to move to China?

If yes, China apparently wants you. After we returned home from China, one of our Chinese hosts e-mailed to say that he thinks the following incentives could be arranged for dairy farmers who would move to China "with their cows and necessary working machine tools that would be needed to successfully run a dairy farm":
  • free land
  • free labor
  • fixed milk price for a period of years
  • no Chinese taxes
If that interests you, please contact Secretary Roger Allbee at the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets for more information. Click here for contact info.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Notes on Quality

Do you remember when "Made in Japan" was synonymous with junk? Now Japanese goods are the highest quality. Similarly, Korean goods are higher quality now than just a few years ago. China is on the same trajectory. We were told numerous times that China is intent on both producing higher quality goods than in the past, and on consuming higher end products. The Chinese are quite brand conscious.

As we were walking near Tiananmen Square, I saw a sign for a trade show that captured this notion: "Luxury Personal Goods for the Distinct Consumer."

Somehow the stepladder, which had blown over and put a hole in the sign, seemed symbolic. The Chinese aren't quite there yet. Two minor examples:

First, my hotel room in Beijing had minor flaws in construction and maintenance (fastener heads showing through the top of the shelf next to the desk, mildew around the bathtub). These would not have been noteworthy in a two or three star hotel, but this was a five star hotel. One would not find such flaws in a five star hotel in the U.S.

Second, while walking around the Temple of Heaven, my camera batteries died and my spares were back on the bus. So I bought new batteries from a gift shop. They appeared to be new Duracell batteries, but they died after about 15 pictures, before I even left the Temple of Heaven. They must have been knock-offs, not genuine Duracell batteries.

On the other hand, the quality of service we received was excellent everywhere: hotels, airports, airlines, restaurants, taxis. The airlines were better than U.S. airlines. There were no overbooked or canceled flights; our flights were on time or nearly so; and no one lost any luggage.

I expect that we will see the Chinese work to bring everything they do up to this standard of quality.

Misc. Travel Notes

In downtown areas it was not unusual for establishments to broadcast music outside, especially in Harbin and Anda.

We encountered roundabouts (traffic circles) in Harbin and Beijing, but not elsewhere.

Beijing and Shanghai had subways. Didn't notice them elsewhere.

I noticed one light rail line (on the surface) in Beijing, but not in the other cities.

Buses were common in every city we visited.

From Daqing to Anda we traveled on a country road, the only time we did so. The quality of the road was good. Horse-drawn carts were common on the road, in addition to cars. One saw a horse-drawn cart in the cities only occasionally.

In the fields one saw horse-drawn carts, small trucks and motorcycles. Once I saw a 4-wheeler.

Corn was dried by laying out the husked ears on the ground or on rooftops.

The Chinese often answered cell phones in meetings.

Public spaces were often warmer than optimum (e.g., Beijing airport on 10/20, mall and restaurant on 10/19).

The refrigerated cases in stores for soft drinks and bottled water were not as cold as we are used to.

Coke cans had the old style tab which separates from the can.

In bookstores it was common for titles on books to be shown in English on the cover, but for nothing else to be in English. Same for magazines on the domestic airlines.

Cabin crews on the Chinese airlines were uniformly female, young and thin. Cabin crews on United Airlines were more diverse.

When flying internationally, keep a pen handy. There are numerous forms to fill out at various stages of the journey.

The best book I found to read in preparation for this trip was "Culture Smart! China: a quick guide to customs and etiquette," by Kathy Flower. This small book is easy to read and covers a lot of ground. (Actually, Nancy found this book for me. Thanks, Nancy!)

Notes on Cell Phone Service

The Chinese used cell phones all the time, and several people in our delegation used cell phones and Blackberries regularly. I was not so successful.

The Blackberry service that I subscribe to is limited to the continental U.S. My Blackberry worked in China only after my assistant back home called Verizon to do something to change my service, and even then it sounded expensive (I haven't seen a bill yet). It sounded like it would have been better to have called Verizon to change my service before going to China, instead of after I got there. I used my Blackberry only occasionally for phone service, and never for e-mails.

I was never aware of any blackout areas. On the day that we visited the Great Wall, I used my Blackberry successfully from the bus while traveling in the mountains (try that in Vermont!) and from the Great Wall itself.

My suggestion is that if you are going to China, check with your service provider before going.

Notes on Internet Service

I never had any trouble accessing the Internet, except that I could not always get to every site I wanted to (see this earlier post).

Accessing my virtual private network (VPN) was another story. Essentially, VPN allowed me to access the Internet through a U.S. portal. Otherwise I was accessing the Internet through a Chinese portal. (And I used VPN to access my company e-mail.)

Shanghai - VPN worked reasonably well. I was only dropped occasionally.

Jinan - VPN was the best here. I was never dropped.

Harbin - VPN worked poorly. I was dropped frequently, and for about a day early in our visit VPN did not work at all.

Beijing - At first VPN worked well, only dropping me occasionally. But for the last 2-3 days, it did not work at all. I don't know if this was a network quality issue, or a deliberate blocking issue. There were reports in the media at home that the Chinese government had further tightened Internet controls in advance of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China which commenced while we were in Beijing.

Notes on Electrical Outlets

Electrical service in China is 50Hz, 240V as compared to 60Hz, 110V in the U.S.

Nevertheless, if you are traveling to China, you may not need any adapters. Check the devices that you want to plug in. If they say 50-60Hz, 110-240V then you are all set. You don't need anything else. Furthermore, our plugs will fit into their outlets. It doesn't look like it, but they do. (At least our 2-prong plugs fit. I don't know about 3-prong plugs.) I had four electrical devices with me: laptop computer, Blackberry, AA battery charger, and an electric razor. They all worked just fine without any adapter.

(Thanks, Susan, for giving me this tip before I went.)

Notes on Toilets

The usual name for a bathroom or restroom was toilet.

Private toilets, such as in our hotel rooms, were just like home. (Granted, we stayed in nice hotels.) The following comments apply to public toilets.

Men usually rinsed their hands but seldom used soap (often there was no soap). They almost never dried their hands. Usually there was no means of drying one's hands except sometimes a seldom used electric dryer.

Sometimes men and women shared the washup area.

Men tended to stand back from the urinal.

Every public toilet I saw had urinals. I never had to pee in a trough. However, on the road to Daqing it was common to see men urinating beside the road. The Buddhist temple in Daqing was for female monks (nuns) only, and so there were no facilities for men. Men peed outside in the bushes.

The most unusual stall facilities I encountered were in the rest area on the road to Daqing. Presumably someone came along and cleaned it out once in a while, like a barn gutter.

While walking around Shanghai I saw a pay toilet with an attendant:

You'll have to ask Margaret about the female facilities. It didn't sound like home.

Notes on Meals

Our meals were probably not typical middle or lower class meals. Nevertheless, some comments:

Meals began with a moist, warm (sometimes hot) washcloth to wipe your face and hands. Most refreshing.

Silverware was always available if asked for, and often supplied anyway after the restaurant staff observed our chopstick skills. We gamely stuck with chopsticks most of the time.

Meals were served family style. Everyone could try every dish. As mentioned before, dishes were placed on a large lazy Susan (see the last photo in this post).

Meals did not include a conventional dessert. Meals ended with a serving of fresh fruit slices such as watermelon.

Rice was not a big part of the meals. It was served at the end of the meal, as a filler, in case one wasn't yet full. (Not necessary in our case!)

Dumplings were delicious and considered a treat. If served at all, they were served just before the fruit.

Cold drinks or water were not served with meals. They were available if asked for, but one got the impression that it was unusual to do so. Hot tea was the norm (or spirits). Leaves were in the tea. Iced tea seemed to be something only for foreigners.

Chinese men often smoked after meals.

Our Chinese hosts often treated us to meals as described above for lunch or dinner, sometimes both in the same day. Breakfast was different. We ate breakfast on our own at a breakfast buffet in our hotels. Both Chinese and Western foods were available, in great variety, including plenty of fruit.

Notes on Families

The "one child" policy started around 1979-80, after Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978. Exceptions are allowed for minorities (8% of the population), if the first child is born disabled, for rural couples if the first child is not a boy, and for overseas couples. Parents are fined for children in excess of the policy.

Parents lavish care on their one child. Single children are called "little emperors."

The first single children are about now reaching marriage age. If two single children marry, they are allowed two children.

Young urban Chinese families want to own two things: a car and an apartment. An average apartment costs 15,000 RMB per square meter in Beijing, 20,000 in Shanghai. (1 USD = 7.4 RMB approx.) That's about $225,000 for a 900 square foot apartment in Shanghai.

The current generation is the first generation to use home mortgages to purchase an apartment.

Notes on Crime

We were told that there was little crime, and indeed I never saw any evidence of street crime. I saw little graffiti. I never felt unsafe anywhere I went.

Occasionally we saw bars over apartment windows, as in the photo below. (Note also the leeks hanging out the window to dry. This was common.) In this picture, taken in Harbin, it looks like there is barbed wire below the windows, but I think those were clotheslines.

I did not see large numbers of police anywhere except Tiananmen Square. Airport security guards had "China Security" on their uniforms, which I was told was a private, not government, security agency. Airport security officers were courteous and professional. There were many China Security officers at the China Ag Trade Fair:

If you combine the previous post on poverty with this post on crime, one finds little evidence for the common Western notion that poverty inevitably breeds crime.

Notes on Poverty

As in the U.S., there is a wide range of wealth in China, from rich to middle class to poor. As a general rule, the city centers were the wealthiest. One saw more poverty as one moved into the city outskirts and country. The photo below is from the outskirts of Jinan, and shows less prosperous establishments than downtown:

The following photo shows farm labor housing:

We saw mostly cities, but 60% of the population in China lives in rural areas (as compared to 20% in the US). Judging by what we did see of the country, there is considerable poverty outside of the cities. Even in the cities, I do not think you would consider the average standard of living to be high. We did not, however, notice any homeless people such as one sees in U.S. cities.

China has made considerable progress against poverty. Before this trip I attended a lecture at UVM about China by Nicholas Kristof, and he said that China has lifted 300 million people above the UN poverty level since 1990.

Notes on People

I hope it is clear from my posts that the Chinese people were friendly. They were always gracious hosts. They were curious about us, and they openly talked about themselves. I never felt any hostility, certainly not toward us individually and neither toward Americans generally. I felt more welcome in China than I sometimes do in Canada.

Even strangers were considerate and helpful. An example: On one of the domestic flights, airport security wanted to inspect my carry-on bag. The security officer asked me to open my bag, but after searching it and taking things out to inspect, he repacked it for me. He was most courteous.

This is not to say that Chinese businesspeople are not opportunistic. They will take advantage of opportunities as they see fit.

In Chinese society and business, contacts seem more important than contracts. The Chinese word is "guanxi." Chinese people exert considerable effort building networks of social relationships.

More China Posts

We have now been back from China for two weeks. What a great adventure! I continue to think about the things we saw and learned. And I take much more note of news items about China than I did before. For example, since returning home Time magazine has published an article about China's young urban population and the Wall Street Journal has published an article about philanthropy in China. Both articles are more meaningful to me now. If you have been reading this blog and learning about China with me, perhaps they will be of more interest to you now, too.

I haven't yet finished blogging about China. Today I have a series of posts. On the plane from Beijing to Chicago, I wrote down notes on various things about our trip that I had not yet had occasion to blog about. I have organized those notes into 11 posts, immediately following this post, of "Notes on...." various miscellaneous topics pertaining to our trip.

On the left side of this blog is the blog Archive. This is organized by month. All of the "live" blogging from China is in October 2007. To access those posts, click on "October" under "2007." To see the list of titles of those posts, click on the little triangle next to "October." There were 52 posts in October 2007, most of them about China.