China Hand 2

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Taiwan Relations

On a recent broadcast of CCTV 9's Dialogue current affairs program viewers might have been left with the impression that the US is now so supportive of China, and opposed to Taiwan President Chen Shuibian's referendum on re-entry to the US, that it might not support Taiwan if the referendum went ahead and China was 'provoked' into military action as a result.

Even a reporter calling live from Taiwan, probably a KMT member, gave the impression a large enough number of Taiwan people believed this and so may be deterred from supporting the referendum.

While this might be a desirable outcome for the US and China, it would be dangerous to make this an operating assumption to guide government policy for either country. Even if the Bush government ignored its obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan has so successfully promoted itself in the US as a shining model of freedom and democracy whilst China is still under the yoke of the Communist Party, that it would be politically impossible for the US to ignore any military action by the PRC.

Remember that US people strongly supported Bush's mission to liberate the Iraqi people, a people with no tradition of democracy, and no apparent desire (in retrospect) for one.

An attack on a free democratic people by a communist country would necessitate immediate and overwhelming opposition or the people of America would take the street. The Congress and Senate would certainly be up in arms demanding action to support an old ally with close emotional ties built brilliantly by Mdm Chiang Kai Shek over the war years and then subsequently in exile in Taiwan.

China should not deceive itself that the US us capable of a pragmatic response in such a situation.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Christmas in Suzhou

Christmas music has been playing incessantly at the shops and the restaurants - almost without exception the staff don Father Christmas red hats with white trimming. Christmas trees are set up all over the city, the latest one being in the commercial area near the school dormitories which is managed by the Suzhou Industrial Park authorities. children in Chinese cities demand Christmas presents and parents who refuse would be in a lot of trouble from the spoiled 'little Emperors'. But there is no national holiday.

Just recently the government added three holidays Qing ming Festival (ancester grave sweeping) , Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Racing) and Mid Autumn (Harvest) Festival - most kids these days couldn't tell you much about them and wouldn't know the traditional way to celebrate them. But they have been celebrating Christmas - at least the commercial aspects for a couple of decades and yet the government digs up these obscure festivals to try and make the place a bit more Chinese while ignoring the only one that seem to matter. But that's China.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Insecurity in China: The End of an Era

A small incident in our development last week led to a revelation which may lead to increasing insecurity in the future for us denizens of 'gated communities' with uniformed guards ling the entry of all unregistered people.

Australians, and some Americans, still living in small friendly communities where they may go out without even closing the doors, are largely contemptuous of this lifestyle, which, oddly here in China, we regard to be luxurious.

My wife was passing a small restaurant in the 'gardens' (nearly all these high rise havens are called gardens in Chinese) when she saw a noisy conflict between the guards and some outsiders. The argument quickly escalated into a fight and my wife quickly passed on to escape the melee.

Enquiring of a friend later, himself an ex-guard, we found out the whole story. A guest at the restaurant had carelessly parked his car blocking an exit for some of the guests. The guards asked him to move it and he refused. He became obstreperous and when the guards tried to remove him he called on his mobile for support. His friends turned up, by now outside the restaurant, and as a result of the confrontation the guards, now in full number set upon the threatening group with their batons.

Such events are rare in China and in my experience they are caused not so much by lowly criminal gang members (of which there are also plenty in China) but by children of higher level leaders, contemptuous of the police and security guards due to their high level contacts.

This was no big deal. But a revelation made in the course of this discussion did cause some consternation. It turned out that the guards these days in our development are no longer ex soldiers, demobilized from the PLA. They are simply young boys recruited directly from villages. Oh yes they still have uniforms, stand formally at attention, and do drill as they did before but they lack the fundamentals of the previous guards - military training and discipline.

How has this come about you might ask? Well it goes back to the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) when China built up a massive land army of five million in order to protect China's vast borders and at the same time to make the infrastructure, roads, bridges and rail needed to get troops to and part of the country in good time.

After the Cultural Revolution, the excesses of which were followed by de facto martial law until the beginnings of the Reform and Opening Up (GaigeKaifang), Deng Xiaoping changed the thinking of the PLA from more troops, less administration, to less troops, more advanced technology and began to demobilise on a massive scale. All the PLA construction corps were changed into construction SOEs, state owned enterprises, but that still left huge numbers of regular army which, demobilised, could become centres of dissatisfaction. So the government, noting the trend to modern gated communities with large security guard establishments, made a regulation that all security guards must be ex-PLA.

And so it has been, for us fearful denizens, a source of comfort that our guards at least have full military training and discipline. Young, fresh faced and boyish they were in their green sandshoes, as all regular PLA soldiers seem to be, but at the sight of an unauthorized intruder their steely resolve and swift, co-ordinated action satisfied us that we were well protected from the undeserving poor. But it seems the supply of demobilised regular soldiers is drying up. Or perhaps they are better educated now and get managerial jobs in logistics. Whatever the reason is China's standing army seems stable now at around 2.5 million and the mass demobilisation has come to an end.

Is it a co-incidence? My wife has been greeting me with stories of burglaries, and even kidnaps of children (the most dreaded happening in China) in neighbouring developments for the past couple of weeks since we found out. The sense of security is fading a bit and each time we pass the guard house we notice the slightly dishevelled way they wear their uniform, or the complacent salute (yes we get saluted!)or the slouch when standing up. Recently we came home late and the guard was sitting down in front of a huge heater. 'Fat lot of good he'd be' we thought.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Lament for the Past

"Ay yah" she sighed as our school bus passed into Suzhou's industrial park. "You know there is a saying that when the Suzhou harvest is bountiful, all China can eat rice. But now look at Suzhou! Just factories. What will China eat now?".

She was right of course - you only have to look at the old Chinese character for "Su" - The character for rice and the character for fish together under the grass radical. A crystal clear image a rice paddy - the rice stalks poking out above the water and the fish swimming underneath. Suzhou was indeed famed as the food basket of China. But it has all gone now. The industrious peasants have been herded into housing estates and offered menial labour jobs cleaning the roads of dirt fallen from construction trucks, planting the thousands of full-grown trees which line the new estate roads, making the colourful brick footpaths and weeding the hectares of green lawn which temporarility cover development sites. When they run out of work for them they simply tear down something and do it all over again.

"Well" I opined glibly. "That's the price of progress! You can't be a fully modern country until everyone is working in a factory, and office or a shop. "Do we have to follow America?" she asked rhetorically. "It's not following America" I said, "It's just the way of a modern economy since the industrial revolution. Only when peasants come out of the fields and leave them to modern agricultural industry managers that you can generate wealth efficiently", I said labouring over the standard economic rationist platitudes.

"You know Alfred, in my town, the mayor has refused all attempts to set up industry. He won't permit any industrialization!" I was surprised of course and asked naively "So where does the money come from?". "Oh there isn't any" she replied "Our town is very poor. We are known as the place of ten thousand fields". This was said with no regret at all. Indeed a degree of satisfaction permeated it. My colleague is a party member, one who is still proud to hold that honour. Strange to think that Mao's ideal of rural socialism still lives on amongst the younger generation here in modern China. People who believe it is better to be poor and happy than rich and discontent. Something I can't relate to at all. But then I'm an economic rationalist.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Suzhou Hong Kong Club Inaugural Dinner

Four tables of Hong Kong 'expat' families got together at the Hong Kong Zen Restaurant last Saturday evening for the first get-together of Hong Kong Belongers. They decided to call it the Hong Kong Club (???????) which is common overseas.

The idea of overseas Chinese getting together by themselves is a very old one. They form belongers associations for each xiang, or township, they come from. They have in common the local dialect, and it is the desire to speak that dialect with others that drives such associations.

Similarly at every university which accepts overseas students there are usually two Chinese student clubs. A club consisting of Chinese from all over the world including Mainland China who had in common their ability to speak Mandarin Chinese, and a Hong Kong Students Club who could not speak Mandarin but only Cantonese.

Earlier on, Hong Kong's position as a rich, free- trade port governed under a benevolent British colonial system meant that the Hong Kong students tended to take airs, assuming a level of sophistication they did not often find in overseas, or mainland students of the time. But with the advent of rich mainland students, usually the children of high officials, they've been forced to accept a degree of equality.

Hong Kong students lack of Mandarin had been contrived at by local and British officials who mandated the use of Cantonese as the means of instruction in local schools. But many parents, excited by the opportunities for their children both overseas and in Hong Kong, insisted they attend school where English was to be the means of instruction. In few of these schools Mandarin was taught. Generally only schools run by ex-Kuomintang officials taught Mandarin.

In his early years when conspiracy theories were a great comfort to China Hand, he believed the British contrived at this policy as being a handy way to isolate locals from their mainland counterparts, but it surely goes back to pre-Revolutionary days and is just as likely due to local intellectuals' prejudice that Cantonese was far superior to Mandarin. Indeed after the 1911 Revolution, which installed Sun Yatsen temporarily as National President, there was great pressure by Southerners to make Cantonese the national language!

Anyway we had had a very pleasant dinner and of course all were perfectly fluent in Mandarin as is becoming common these days in Hong Kong with Mandarin now compulsory for all students. Hong Kong's isolation from the mainland is being battered down by a daily flow of officials, tourists and immigrants for whom Mandarin is a first language. Fifty percent of professionals in Hong Kong do mainland related work and locals are reluctantly accepting that they will have to look in China for positions of real opportunity for the future although their strong preference still is for the unique Hong Kong lifestyle.

Freedom of the Blogsphere

Sad to say the curtains have come down again on Blogspot.com in China. It is no longer available to China based readers so I am indebted again to my online mentor, Dr John Ray of Dissecting Leftism (his mirror here) for mirroring this site here.

I don't think it is due to subversive activities online, I rather tend to believe it is the officials' reaction to the immature and often racist ravings of the newly graduated (mostly American) teachers who come here for a 'working holiday' and find they don't like work and certainly can't put up with levels of comfort below luxury despite the usually generous and overwhelming Chinese hospitality. So they close it down for a while. But usually the logic of keeping it open prevails and it is freed again. Let's hope so.

Six Powers Update

Well North Korea has its paltry $25 million and has promised an immediate (i.e. within 60 days) close down of its nuclear plant. Cynics have suggested that as an old and out-of-date plant they lose nothing, they're probably setting up a new own somewhere else. Needless to day the cost of decommissioning an nuclear plant is probably well in excess of $25 million but the Koreans do get a deliveries of heating oil to help them through their nuclear winter. Inspectors from the IAEC are already on their way if not in place. Does this mean 'peace in our time' in North Asia? Will Kim Jong Il prove to be another Deng Xiaoping delivering another, albeit much smaller market to the global festival of consumerism? Will North Korea become just another destination for US pension fund flight capital and Koreans start buying their own cars and apartments as in China? I doubt it.

If you followed the implicit logic of the last dispatch you may expect another major crisis to arise before the elapse of the 60 days. It can either come from the US, ratcheting up pressure on Kim, sure he must go the way of the USSR before long, or from Kim deciding the region is ready to make even more concessions, i.e. send more oil, money and nuclear power plants in order to make Asia-Pacific even more so.

I'm sure you wont have to wait too long.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

When I came to China in September 1978, I had studied modern Chinese history fairly extensively and even written a dissertation on the Cultural Revolution and so knew roughly what to expect. Most of my fellow students at the Beijing Language Institute had mostly studied Chinese only and so knew the conventional wisdom that China was a totalitarian state in which people's lives were totally regulated and controlled by an all power, all seeing state.

I knew enough about China to know that what Beijing said tended to be diluted to a large degree by the time it got down to the local village level far away from Beijing. Nevertheless you could not help but be impressed by the communication system that ensured that where ever you went in China, the village cadres were up-to-date with all the rhetoric, especially given that at the time China had a total of 3 million fixed telephones and of course no mobiles.

One look at the village however told you that nothing much had happened since 1949 despite land reform, cooperatives, collectivization, communization, roll-back to production brigades and private plots, socialist education movement in the countryside, cultural revolution, restoration of private plots again and then finally the production contract system of Deng's reform.

The idea that, even in the communist period, Chinese people uniformly acted in total accord with directives from Beijing can be dismissed as communist propaganda. Despite that it must have been with great fear and foreboding that many in Beijing witnessed the devolution of power from Beijing to the provinces in the early years of the 80's. In a tribute to the communist party's belief in the market and the local people to guide their economic destinies, they let go of all but macroeconomic powers and the omnipresent influence of the party.

The local party cadres realised that so long as they delivered the right increase in GDP they had a lot of freedom and most took advantage of it. Investing in a southern provinces became an extended negotiation during which many basic legal requirements such as customs rates, taxation rates, minimum wages rates, etc were all negotiable. The unwary investor suffered however, particularly Americans bringing in advanced technology. All too often they found that they were losing a lot of machinery and raw materials to a plant, often opened nearby, producing identical products at cheaper prices.

On appealing to the provincial leaders both civic and communist, they found they were all major shareholders in the deal and had no interest in closing them down. On appealing to even the very highest powers in the land they found they were powerless outside Beijing. So long as they were delivering on their GDP figures and keeping employment up, and perhaps sharing part of their ill-gotten gains, the local government officials and party cadres were immune from pressure from above.

Beijing has tolerated this situation for over two decades as it fulfilled the basic criteria - the cat caught enough mice. Two urgent problems now severely threaten this system. First of all the massive pollution this system has spawned which has destroyed the air and water and threatens the lives of the very people producing and enjoying the goods and services. The second is the sudden discovery that all the bogus products flooding the Chinese markets are finding their way relentlessly into the export markets and destroying a credibility which had been deftly crafted with shoes, clothing and electronic products. China's exports of food and medical products are not inconsiderable and if in less than a year they find the international market closed to them they will face a crisis of falling exports they simply can afford.

The threat of internal unrest is always uppermost in China's leader's minds and the only antidote to the venality and avarice of local leaders is a constant source of new jobs. Given Chinese dependency on export, and foreign investment lead growth, any threat to their hard won foreign markets and capital sources is terrifying.

The focus of China's wrath at present is on the former minister of health who gladly accepted bribes to approve poor and even dangerous medical products. Multiply his greed by the large group of other ministers one assumes are doing the same thing and the shine begins to fade from the Chinese economic miracle. The dilemma for the party now is to rein in the out-of-control leaders, or how to call back the horses from the stable. Or as the great economic manager of the socialist economy, Chen Yun, might have said, how to get the canary back into the cage.

Suddenly, when China needs an efficient, selfless, and incorruptible bureaucracy, it is nowhere to be found. Did it ever exist? You can find both local and overseas Chinese who aver it did in the communist period. But close reading of the documents during those days indicated even Mao's frustration that you could 'buy' a party cadre for just a packet of cigarettes. If your child have been sent down to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, a present of a gold watch the fellow in charge would soon fetch him back. For foreigners doing business in China in those days, this was invisible. China presented a corruption free face to the world. One famous Australian businessman whose father had been doing business in China since the 60's told me that until 1980, he had never been approached for a 'kick-back' in all his time in China, but then gradually it increased and became common. Few in the eighties sold anything of substance without it including an extensive study trip to Western countries for the buying company or department. Such trips often ended in Hong Kong where all picked up colour TV's and video players. The other favourite was assistance getting a Western education for the children of the buyers.

Beijing will flail about rhetorically trying to get it's bureaucracy free of corruption, arresting more, and meting out draconian punishments, but there is only one effective solution which they all know, and none have the power and influence, or perhaps even the desire to bring about despite it being clearly in the national interest - placing the members and leaders of the communist party under the rule of law. It will never happen!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Loose Change Standing in the Way of World Peace?

Christopher Hill, the indefatigable US negotiator on the Six Party Peace Talks dealing with North Korea's nuclear aspirations, has arrived again in Beijing to try and revive the stalled talks. The last round of talks ended suddenly when North Korea walked out saying that as the US had promised to release the $25 million held in the Delta Bank account in Macau, they would wait for it to be delivered and then begin the process of dismantling the nuclear plant designed to produce weapons quality uranium. The meeting, including North Korea, had made a resolution that this would occur within six weeks, and all were left with the impression that payment of the $25 million was now just a formality. Indeed the Chinese side indicated they had opened an account in the Beijing Bank of China, to facilitate receiving the money from the Macau Bank. The US side left disingenuously indicating that they had removed all impediments to the payment.

Six weeks have well and truly passed, and the money has not been paid, and the North Koreans have done nothing to begin dismantling the offending plant. One might imagine there was a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity designed to get that $25 million freed and back to North Korea. But nothing appears to have been done. The Americans, again disingenuously have said it is a complicated matter. But no-one has explained why.

So here we have the entire world, but especially the six 'littoral' states of China, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the US, endangered by one of the greatest rogue states of history, promising to 'defend itself' with nuclear missiles unless it gets its $25 million back and no-one appears willing to help.

Twenty-five million dollars! What a huge amount. The amount put aside by a typical corrupt senior party member in China, or awarded out of profits to the shareholding family members by South Korean Chaebols, or skimmed by a Japanese cabinet member in his housing allowance, or spent by a US billionaire on a trip into space, or by a Russian billionaire for a motor racing team.

But to any of the governments involved? $25 million is loose change. Very small loose change. The US budget is over $3 trillion. They give $25 million to a few large farmers so they can swamp the world market with subsidised goods. The Japanese will easily spend such an absurdly small amount on whale meat consumption research. The South Koreans will slip as much to a struggling car factory to keep it going for another few months. The Russians will spend as much for some icons for the Russian Orthodox Church. in China a small provincial town will spend as much building itself a grand palace for the municipal offices.

So the extraordinarily dangerous situation of Kim Jong-Il getting his hands on nuclear weapons, which threatens to undermine the strategic balance in north Asia, is held up by $25 million. In Australia, when some eager zealot tries to draw attention to himself by refusing to pay a fine on a point of principal and risk being sent to gaol, an anonymous benefactor will pay the fine and disarm a potentially embarrassing situation. Logic suggests that if the situation is as dangerous as portrayed, and that North Korea sincerely wants to disarm and that the only thing keeping them from it is the paltry sum of $25 million, then someone, Japan, Russia, US, China, or South Korean, might have suggested they put in $5 million each and send it to the North Koreans as a goodwill gesture to get the process re-started. But no-one has.

One conclusion is that the stand-off is not really as dangerous as being portrayed. That North Korea has not, and never has had, a nuclear capability, real or potential, and that they can posture as much as they like, everyone is just going to ignore them. An alternative conclusion is that no-one believes that Korea has any intention of disarming - $25 million or not. But then is the logical reaction no action at all?

Kim Jong-Il's Korea has a totally bankrupt economy. His regime has no credibility anywhere in the world, not even among the overseas rusted-on socialists who still defend Sadaam and yearn for the good old days of Stalin and Mao. Kim's only weapon is his unpredictability and threats to a world which is becoming addicted to peace. Maybe it is best just to ignore him and allow his country to simply run down to a stop - turning the problem into a massive refugee problem for China and South Korea.

Whatever the ultimate outcome it is a puzzling situation, one which suggests there is much more going on than indicated in public.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Growing Pains in China

Suzhou is really two cities. One, the old city, gathered within the old city mote, is largely preserved and such new buildings as do get built, e.g. the New Sofitel Hotel which just recently opened on Ganjiang East Road, are made to conform to the low-rise, white wall, black tile roof style of Suzhou. Even the New Suzhou Museum, designed by U.S. architect I.M.Pei,whose family came from Suzhou several generations ago, conforms to this while accommodating the obligatory triangles we are familiar with in his oeuvre. Only six of the original one hundred and thirteen brilliant gardens have been renovated and opened to the public - the rest have been occupied by local government departments and aren't likely to be relinquished soon. Still there are many attractive areas, parks, walls, even a unique 'water gate' which could be opened both to water and land traffic.

But outside this traditional Chinese city there springs a bolder, brassier, modern city which many say just looks like another Singaporean suburb. On the one side is the Suzhou Industrial Park to the east, proud creation of the Singaporean government, which they abandoned in the face of relentless competition from another industrial created by the Suzhou government to the west of the old city. Some say they had it coming. More than any others, Singaporeans appear to come to China in the belief it is their duty to assist China back into the civilized world. I have often laughingly chided my Singaporean friends that they carry the "White man's burden" with them when they come to China.

As offended as any Westerner by the lack of hygiene, manners, and respect for law, as well as the unbridled corruption, Singaporeans are often seen as too proud, too Western, and inclined to lecture the locals and apply Singaporean ideals to their management. So perhaps the way in which the SIP was set up, to act as a model for industrial development in China, offended the Suzhou officials, who immediately set up a counterpart in the west and heavily undercut the rates being charged by the Singaporean firm.

So the park languished for many years until around 2002 when industrial investment in Shanghai started to be squeezed by high property values and fled to nearby Suzhou. By 2004 annual industrial investment in Suzhou had exceeded that for Shanghai. The SIP began to move and the government began to build up an attractive new town and residential centre. Central to this new city project is Jinji Lake, or Golden Cockerel Lake, an old lake which is the northern half of a lake with a large island in the middle which has been joined up with the mainland. The southern half is called Dushu Lake, or Villa Lake.

In common with the Suzhou canal system of which is it part, Jinji Lake is full of human and industrial pollution and totally unsuitable as leisure place for new city stroller. So the blocked it off, drained it, sealed the bottom, and refilled it with clean water. As it was to be the Centre of the New town, they created a government administrative centre along the eastern shores, and a financial and commercial centre along the west. Being closer to old Suzhou of course, the eastern part filled up first. When China Hand arrived much of the residential construction around the town centre was complete, but the town centre itself, consisting of about ten huge blocks only consisted of two blocks of monumental bank buildings, and a long strip of restaurants. Around the lake's west was a recreation area for walking and picnicking along with a small cluster of new and mostly empty restaurants.

Today the almost abandoned look of the centre and the recreation area has already gone. People

throng the recreation area at the weekend attending a fabulous musical fountain, laser, and fireworks display most evenings. All the restaurant spaces have been taken up and its hard to get a seat there now on the weekend. In addition a new promenade across the south of the lake, completed by the and of 2006, has provided areas for a dozen new, high class restaurants. It is called Li Gong Di, Grandpa Li's Promenade. At night it is lit up like fairy land and is a wonderful sight from the nearby high-rise apartments. Construction has begun in most of the remaining spaces promising huge retail complexes and luxury housing.

As a baby-boomer myself I naturally see echoes of our own experience of post-War development. No-one could have anticipated the way we embraced consumerism, with car and home ownership ending up the entire purpose of being. Nor were our city planners ready for it. The past few decades have tried to build the freeways and car parks needed but it could never be enough.

So similarly in China, in developments which were thought to be for foreigners, they filled up with aspiring nouveau riche locals. The token car park, buried underneath a manicured concrete park and garden, turned out to be just that. When it filled out, cars parked all over the footpaths or parked outside when they could not get in. We are woken every morning by the sound of horns and shouts of anger from car owners trying to drive in both directions along a narrow two-lane road clogged by double parking. The immediate and obvious solution of making the road one way is in the too-hard basket, or perhaps not even considered.

Even a government building completed just this month, which was proudly designed by an Australian firm, was discovered by the newly arriving staff to have only 300 car spaces underneath, not nearly enough for its new, conspicuously consuming, middle class mandarinate.

Moreover a vacant block when we moved in between us and the Renaissance Hotel is now filling up with a huge, block sized, three floor retail complex topped with a commercial office tower as well as a residential tower. While both towers have dedicated car parks, the retail complex does not. What do they expect customers to do? Catch a bus? They must be kidding. Even though it is right next to the anticipated light rail, customers are more likely to go to the new Wal-mart, when it is built, as it surely will have at least some car parking.

Noise from the pumps pouring cement when they do a pour keeps up awake as they are building on two 12 hour shifts around the clock. They have another fifteen floors to go! Meanwhile the dust is everywhere. We have to keep the place locked up which we dislike intensely. Unlike other places however, this seemingly unstoppable juggernaut does not cause the frequent disruptions in power, gas and water. The SIP is on a top priority.

So we don't complain too much. We regard ourselves privileged to be in a place so dynamic, which gives so much hope to the people for a better life to come. A place where people aspire to hi-rise rather than deplore it, where environmental pollution is seen as a necessary evil, even a sign of progress. We look askance at places like Hong Kong where a massive popular (well amongst the rich elites) campaign is being waged to retain Queen's Pier, for its historical connection with the colonial past. It is just a concrete pier with no architectural value whatsoever, but the government is being forced to promise to re-build it somewhere else.

Significantly the heritage people failed to find a single redeeming characteristic in the wharf to the chagrin of the campaigners who really just see the pier as a symbol of the loss of their historic harbour which has been filled in and reclaimed to great profit for nearly a century.

Hence in one country I can see the forces at work which create a massive dynamic for change which brings hope to millions, as well as those which militate against any change and so bring to a halt that which has enriched so many lives, and will ensure the children of that generation struggle to find work. In a life time I have gone through that in Sydney. My home there is in the notorious suburb of Sutherland Shire, surrounded by rivers, and peopled, it seems, entirely by children of the original settlers. When we moved in in 1949, there was only one house on the block. We had to cut down seven large gums just to clear the building site. Building continued for a decade or more before they had to move further south and west of Sutherland.

The old settlers now sternly resist any development, but especially hi-rise, clinging on to their large 750 sq metre blocks. No matter that their children have to commute far outside the suburb to work, and finally to buy a small house, twenty or thirty kilometers into the sprawling west. A large brick pit opposite my family has remained in pristine condition since the brick yards closed down in the 60's. All attempts by the local council to develop it have been stymied by popular opposition to high rise, or even medium rise. The site is on the top of the ridge which runs down from Sutherland railway station to Cronulla beach in the east. I would pay a lot of money for an elevated apartment there facing north as it would have panoramic view of Botany Bay and the Sydney CBD as well as well as being 2 minutes from a train station.

With all too predictable certainty, environmentalists came in and found 'unique' species of Roma's tree frog in the water which filled the pit. This so-called 'endangered species', seems to be indigenous to every country in the world. At one stage it was held up as a reason for not proceeding with the development of the new Hong Kong airport. Several projects have been raised for the 'brick-pit' and failed the 'community consultation' process. Developers have black-banned the 'shire' and started rumours that the locals are rather hirsute on the upside of their feet. Hmmmm - now you mention it.....

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Third time lucky!

Last Thursday I went to Shanghai to attend a conference of the China Supply Chain Council with my colleague, David Liu. The one-day 'Summit' on Supply Chain Risk was poorly attended with less than forty participants. A previous conference I had attended attracted over one hundred.

It is a reflection of the attitudes of logistics professionals they they assume supply chain risk is the domain of the actuary when in fact it should right up in front of their thoughts. The dramatic experience of several presenters brought home the massive risks of outsourcing all your production to one factory in China. A presenter for the Goodyear company outlined how they got their shipment back to 80% in only 20 days after only one plant in Asia burned down. One of at least eight in the Asia-Pacific region. If you have only one factory you must ask how long will it take to get your shipments back. Not many seemed interested in that question.

Another presenter talked about the problem of corruption amongst purchasing staff citing the major operation one company had to get rid of one particularly clever operator. There were no quick fixes discussed, just constant vigilance and checking of systems to make sure they are not being perverted.

The meeting was held in the new Millennium Hotel in Gubei district, Yan'an West road out towards the old airport and it was a good venue decorated in a subdued art-deco style.

After the meeting we set out to visit Fuzhou Road, People's Square to check out possible textbooks. One the way back we passed through Raffles looking for the under ground entrance but it had been closed for some time. So we went up and crossed the Xizang Road at ground level. While waiting at the side of the road however my pocket was picked and I lost my wallet with a lot of cash and my railway ticket. We did not get far into the metro before I discovered the loss so we went back, reported to the policeman on duty, looked in all the bins around the area, then hurried off to try and get on the train home before it left.

Arriving at Shanghai station David explained that I had lost my ticket and we couldn't buy another as it was the Bullet Train which is always sold out. They immediately looked at me, completely stressed out, sweating with the heat and anxiety, and motioned us to the gates where the attendant was instructed to let me through. As there was no ticket check on the train I just walked in and sat down. I began to relax and forget all the contingency plans to catch a last bus, hire a taxi, etc.

The Bullet train is a very welcome innovation in Chinese travel, reducing the trip from Suzhou to Shanghai to 40 minutes including a stop at Kunshan. It has wide comfortable seat that tilt back for comfort. Of course they are spotlessly clean but for some strange reason the omnipresent attendants of the old tradition don't get much of a look in. Everyone finds their own seats, sorts out confusion themselves and gets on with enjoying the trip. An attendant looks in from time to time but generally does not get engaged. Hot water is available however.

I was feeling very bad about myself as you can imagine. Old hands don't easily get caught out even by the Shanghai tricks. I slept poorly and so when the phone rang at 7:30am I was shocked to hear a strange voice say that he was a street cleaner and had found my wallet (sans cash) in a rubbish bin near People's Square. We tried to get him to deliver it to the police or a nearby friend but he would not. He wanted us to pick it up in People's Square, or he was even happy to bring it to Suzhou if we paid the bus fare. This plus the lack of a phone number made us very paranoid thinking that he had the bank card and meant to force us to take the money out. We made some tentative arrangements for 10am that morning to stall him off and I went straight to the bank to freeze the account.

When he rang back we put a final proposal to him that he deliver the wallet to the lobby of a building where my friend works. We would leave Yuan 200 in cash there in an envelope for him. Reluctantly he accepted and within an hour my friend reported that he had gone down personally and passed over the cash as there was no service desk in the lobby. All my ID documents and bank cards were present! I was greatly relieved. I told my friends that it was the third time I had my wallet stolen in Shanghai albeit, spread over 28 years, it wasn't too bad a record. All who heard of my plight in Shanghai were very sympathetic & helpful. This time at least I got my valuables back.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Is Confucianism a religion?

This question was asked of me by an old friend who opined that it was more of an ethical system than a religion. The following is my reply which I wrote quickly without any reflection. I have made some minor changes for clarity.

Quote

"Your instincts are correct H. Confucianism is actually an amalgam of all the best of Chinese ethical and political thinking as Chinese thinkers seem highly eclectic, drawing freely on rivals, supporters, and even other religions like Buddhism to produce an entire life philosophy which guides conduct for the ruler, the official, the father, even the businessman. Confucius and his fellow philosophers were never the slightest bit interested in metaphysics, nor did they think it the proper subject of philosophy. The rituals of ancestor worship which are essential to Confucianism were seen, even in Confucius as simply being acts which encouraged the younger generation to have respect for their elders. Similarly for the other rites which Confucius promoted. He was quite agnostic on the subject of spirits, including those of ancestors. He was, like all his peers very passionate on the subject of heaven, but this is not to be understood in the popular Christian religious sense, a place in the sky where God lives, but in the sense of the whole of creation, the total forces which affect man."

"Sadly the tendency of businessmen to become too influential in politics lead to business being looked down on in the social hierarchy, rather as it was by the British aristocracy. Rulers will always rely on the rich however to finance their ambitious so they are tolerated. As a result China never became a great mercantile power trading with other nations, but rather like Rome, simply accept tribute as a form of taxation from its suzerains. "

"The fundamental difference between Western and Chinese philosophy is that the former emphasizes the scientific method in order to understand the nature of matter in order to create utility whereas Chinese philosophy despises usefulness and emphasizes only self-cultivation. Once a gentleman becomes cultivated - he solely exists to appreciate nature and has no use for art. Once a ruler understands the way of nature, he rules virtually by doing nothing. "

"Hence the Chinese contempt for Western 'toys' and contraptions. Only their stunning loss in wars, especially that against Japan, convinced them there must some merit in science and artifice. Their many attempts to replicate Western science and industry all failed until Mr Deng said, Let there be markets! And behold - China now has world class scientists and industry. The incredible success of this revolution, following on the total destruction of Chinese, specifically Confucian, values, which began in 1919 and did not stop until the Cultural Revolution, means that China has a young generation of spoiled brats who, like our own children know nothing save international pop culture."

"So begins the critical reexamination of what from the past can be revived to become the 'Chinese characteristics' they have been talking about so long. In essence the question is being asked - What is that makes a Chinese Chinese? If not Confucianism then what? Surprisingly several new mini-series from Korea have presented what they have recognised as Chinese cultural past in terms of medicine, cooking, governance, family relations, and everyone is asking - why couldn't we have done that? The answer is simple - the Koreans never at any stage set out to completely destroy their cultural heritage the way the Chinese did."

"As Australians we know the same phenomenon. The cultural deconstructionists set out to destroy Australian(British derived) culture in order to prepare us for their socialist, multicultural dystopia. Our children are shielded from Australian literature, even literacy in order to facilitate the coup. You well know what happened when all our fellow radical revolutionary students accepted jobs in the public service or academe so many years ago. "I'm going to undermine the system from inside" they said sheepishly. Well the irony is that they did. Completely and beyond saving. Blayney notwithstanding. And you let them!"

Unquote.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Xitang - Water Town #5

On Saturday we visited our fifth water town - Xitang, just across the border in Zhejiang Province. The Yangtze Delta has six famous water towns, three in Jiangsu: Tongli, Zhou Zhuang, Luzhi, and three in Zhejiang: Wuzhen, Xitang, and Nanxun.
The delta is characterized by an intricate and extensive network of canals and often the housing butts straight onto, and even over the canals with picturesque results.

Since we have been in Suzhou

we have visited all those in Jiangsu, and two in Zhejiang. While there is a sameness in the layouts, each has its own unique character that makes it worth visiting. Inevitably each is commercialized to a large degree but also has its own story and local products - especially snack food. If you tire of the commercial section, there is always a nature looking stretch of canal just around a corner.

Xitang's speciality is a fermented glutinous rice wine and crispy green beans, both sweet and salty. We tried both dutifully. But Xitang has moved with the times and has not

been content to rely on the old to maintain her edge in the competitive tourist market. Do you wonder whatever happened to the much celebrated international beauty pageant, Miss Queen of Tourism? Well we found it in Xitang where it has been held for the past three years. Pictures of Miss Queen of Tourism adorn the walls of the old mansions there. No doubt pictures of Xitang cover the pages of those magazines specializing in be uty pageants but I must say that apart from a few references to the pageant in English China Daily, I had never heard of it.

But Xitang has a much more famous distinction which outshines this sad little beauty pageant like the sun does the moon. It was the location of parts of the film Mission Impossible III and so pictures of Tom Cruise dominate the walls: a bloody Tom Cruise recovering from a stunt gone wrong, action-figure Tom jumping over roof tops, Tom with Chinese kung fu book author Jin Rong (what was he doing there?), and number of cast group shots. China always manages to surprise you with a strange juxtaposition of the old and the ultra-modern.

Sadly as we left I turned and caught a sewer opening up into the canal spewing forth the foulest, blackest stream of sewage you could possibly imagine. No wonder the water in all the water town canals is always so evil looking. A reminder of the puzzling dark side Chinese modern economic miracle.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Luxury Holiday in Koh Samui

China Hand, Mrs China Hand and another expat couple from China spent their Chinese New Year break in a luxury resort in Koh Samui, the popular holiday island in the Gulf of Thailand.

Yes it was an expensive holiday but well worth it. As one friend reflected the view was worth a million dollars! We didn't pay anywhere near that but you'd have to pay more than

double that to own it!

Our resort, Miskawaan Villas, was on Mae Nam beach, north facing and remote from any other villas or developments so we had the beach to ourselves. It was beach front so after breakfast by the pool we could step out on the newly swept beach and plunge into the inviting, calm, and crystal clear sea. (Picture-> It's just a rolled towel!)

Our villa was one of eight in the complex built a couple of years ago and managed by an affable Kiwi called Mike. It is staffed by five servants including a driver and gardener. The name of the chef and maitre d' was Poi and she cooked Thai food so beautiful we stopped going to the local restaurants and ate at home each night. During the day

driver John would drive us around to all the sights on the Island and we tried the local fare. When we wanted to buy anything he drove us just down the road to the local, well stocked Tesco.

The villas are built on a U-shape with the top facing the sea and closed by the pool. There are four double bedrooms (five in others), a courtyard tropical garden, a luxurious kitchen fitted out with the latest top model Siemens equipment, a meeting room and TV room cum bar. We mostly ate at the outdoor table by the pool as we were blessed with

warm sunny weather on each of the six days there. The bedrooms were very large with satellite TV and wireless internet connection available 24 hours. It was a treat to shower in a large glass lined bathroom opening to a small courtyard (once you got over the embarrassment). Even the bathroom had double sinks.

We were totally pampered as the staff did everything for us except the long relaxing oil massages which were outsourced (but done onsite). I preferred to just read, as did our friends, although there was plenty available to do such as dining, diving, taking sea trips to nearby islands or other spots in Koh Samui. We even tried one of the top restaurants down in Chaweng. Great but not as good as Poi! (Picture-> One of several Thai carvings decoating the courtyard walls)

For us it was a once in a lifetime experience we'll never forget. Our other China hand friends, Klaus & Ulrike agree!

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

New Freedom Mixed Blessing

Only months after the restoration of blogspot.com to the Chinese blogsphere, there has been a new extension of Internet freedom which for China Hand at least is a mixed blessing.

Since I discovered audio-streaming of radio stations in China some five years ago it has been completely impossible to stream any radio station outside China which broadcasts in Chinese. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, even Chinese community stations around the world - all were systematically blocked. This has not been a great concern to me, but since she joined me in China, my wife has been asking me to get Hong Kong radio stations, just the way I stream the (Australian) ABC or the BBC World Service. The best I have been able to do for her has been to occasionally stream in Sydney's 2CH - a golden oldie's music channel which she does enjoy.

But Chinese channels, outside China that is, were all completely blocked. During the recent Taiwanese earthquake, which severely affected telecommunications in China, especially from the US, Australia and the UK, I was checking around for other sources of news when I got RTHK - the Hong Kong public broadcaster. As they have Chinese channels, they have been completely inaccessible. As they do a morning rebroadcast of the BBC I was momentarily happy. Then I thought to check the Chinese channels and to my surprise Cantonese blared out from my PC's speakers. I called my wife who was overjoyed.

Well you can guess the rest. Telecoms to Australia et al have been restored, but do you think I can get the headphones* from my wife? Even the nightly ritual of watching CCTV English news together I now do alone as my wife reluctantly disconnects the headphones from the speakers in the kitchen so I can listen to the TV while she continues listening to RTHK Radio One in headphone mode. We do converse from time to time but you know how frustrating it is talking to someone with full ear covering headphones!

Oh yes, there is a technical solution. I could set up two computers and put the DSL connection through a router to split the signal so I can listen to the ABC while she listens to RTHK. That would require two FM broadcasting points in the one apartment, something I'm told may not be good for the health.

I'll just have to get my NewsRadio fix at work and buy some good books in my next Hong Kong visit to read during the evenings. Can all this freedom be good for us?

* China Hand has long used the PC to stream radio stations in China, but only since arriving in Suzhou last year has he overcome the problem of not being able to listen in another room without turning the speakers up too loud. He simply bought a set of remote headphones which use an FM signal to send to the headphones anywhere in the apartment, even outside on balconies. A handy output jack fitted in the 'phones allows them to be connected to any audio system in other rooms for FM quality sound. When lying in bed a single ear plug can be used to allow tossing and turning, something impossible with the bulky earphones. A handy solution to insomnia and ABC NewsRadio 24 hours a day without the annoying shortwave distortions. Just the thing for a news junky.

Labels: Internet, media, streaming, telecommunications

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Two Cheers for the Chinese Internet Censor
Well it seems Blogspot.com is back and all us naughty foreign bloggers who venture the occasional ill-tempered and ill-considered remark are able to vent our spleens again. Well let's hope none of us abuse the privilage and strive to be balanced and considered in all our observations.

Speaking of ill-considered remarks China Hand was following the 2nd Cricket match in Australia, known as the Ashes Series, via an online website with ball-by-ball commentary. The last one in England was so exciting I even bought the DVD of the series. Australia lost the series but 4 out of the five matches were high scoring nail-biters. Rare in Test cricket.

I become very annoyed by the flow of comments which frequently included words and expressions totaly unfamiliar to me. The commentators appeared to be both Australian and British which seemed a departure from the usual practice of using Indian or other Sub-continental commentators.

I finally sent an email commenting on my lack of comprehension and suggested they bring back the Sub-continentals for the third test. A spelling mistake and an ommitted word on my part allowed them to reply in kind. I thought it an unjust reply until I saw a comment by Shane Warne after the match. He mentioned that at one stage the Australia team appeared likely to be "Rissoled and rock-and-rolled" by the British team. I give up. It must be me who's out of date with the English language, at least in respect of cricket.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Did I speak too soon?

It would appear that with the departure of Dr Condoleza Rice that the blocking of blogging site blogspot.com has resumed. It would appear my celebrations were premature. There are times when the Chinese government acts like a naughty child, reverting to good behaviour only while his parents are around, and when they are not turning into a little tyrant again. The government makes great ado about relations being on a basis of equality when in fact they don't act like it.

Back in the 1980's, after the two governments had signed the agreements to alllow the return of Hong Kong to China, the Queen was invited for a visit. Again the government acted like a teenager, rushing to clean the city up before 'Mother' arrives and finds what a mess it was in. Each of the buildings along the Bund was given it's first clean up since the departure of the British in 1949.

Dr Rohan Williamson has also departed and his claim that 'the Church'(not Christianity!) could contribute to China's 'Harmonious Society' was featured on the front page of China Daily which usually runs material to titilate the foreign community while having no impact on the vast majority of Chinese who have no access or interest in the English language publications. This is also a practice of the government, having two versions of the news. One for foreigners in English and another, more sanitized version, for the locals. It's as if the Internet did not exist.

Speaking of His Grace's, China Hand was in Beijing in the 80's when a former Archbishop of Canterbury visited. A reception was arranged for the British community and China Hand, the representativbe of a British trading firm was invited. Things were very relaxed at the reception and when His Grace arrived, embassy personnel circulated inviting attendees to join a line and ask him about his visit. I couldn't think of any particulary question I wanted to ask, so when the person in front of me asked "Did you also meet with Catholic Chinese during your visit?", His Grace answered: "Oh yes I did, my visit was ecumenical". Recalling that his grace frequently met with the Pope I blurted out, "And did you have a message for them (the Catholics) from the Pope?". His Grace's face contorted and he choked on his drink and he in turn blurted "Who are you? Are you a reporter? How can you ask me such a question?". His handlers dragged him away coughing and splutering and terminated the Q&A session. I was left as usual rueing my lack of tact.

October 15 2006

SCENIC CHINA

One of Huangshan's Spectacular pines

China Hand, exhausted, steps off the path for a rest

Huangshan's mighty bambo groves

Huangshan's misty peaks

Black Tiger Pine

Mrs China Hand by the Source of the Dragon pool

The colours of Huangshan

Sunrise at Huangshan

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

We Finally visit China's Top Scenic Spot

In twenty eight years in China, my wife and I have seen quite a few places of note. Each one proudly proclaiming to be China's No 1 Tourist Spot. Indeed a feature of China, especially in more rural settings, is the air of hollow boastfulness that surrounds their claims to supremacy in one field or another. Well as we say in China, everyone says their home town is great, so I guess it's understandable.

We certainly have visited places were we were inclined to agree. Jiuzhaigou or Emeishan in Sichuan, Lijiang in Yunnan, Taishan in Shandong, all have a claim to the title. But we've concluded that Huangshan has no equal.

Situated in the south of Anhui province, just five hours southwest of Nanjing by bus, Huangshan (which means Yellow, or Imperial Mountain)is not just a single peak but a whole complex of peaks, each with its own extraordinary beauty. Of course to appreciate Huangshan, you need perfectly clear weather with just a hint of mist to provide some atmosphere. Too much mist however and you can't see anything. Being part of a mountain range means that it rains many days a year, again detracting from the extraordinary vista.

China's Hand's luck came to the fore this time. There are just eighty days a year when Huangshan can be viewed advantageously, and few of those days are perfect. Well we got just two perfect days. Enough to flatten the battery of my Olympus 740C, Susanna's Nikon Coolpix S5, and finally even my new phonecam Samsung SGH-D600. But we got just about everything in. See below for some typical snaps.

Huangshan is so compelling for Chinese people that accommodation and villas begin many miles from the actual peak complex and the nearby town of Tangkou. There is a large amount of accommodation at the foot of the mountains and even a large number at the top. At very intimidating prices however. Don't come to Huangashan unless you have a very large bag of money - an be prepared to spend it all! A room for two at one of the mountain villas? Starts at RMB Yuan 1000 sir! A dormitary room for four with two double bunks and a television? Yuan 250 extra for each person. We shared a room with six double dunks. It was included in the cost of the tour package from Nanjing. Males in one room, females in the other. Clean laundry, clean concrete floors. No windowes, no ventilation, no aircon. The old men in the group lit up cigarettes the moment they got into the room. So soon the floor was littered with butts. They only desisted when I pointed out the lack of ventilation and the impoliteness of the action. They had ignored signs saying no smoking as Chinese men will do.

Arriving in the Huangshan area the first thing I noticed was the milestones. 1549, 1550 - our bus driver confirmed they told the distance to Beijing. It was obvious after all - the quiet reminder of where the power lies. After winding around in hills we pulled off the road at a place called Jade Valley, or Lover's Valley as they like to promote it. A large poster, featuring Chow Yun Fat and Zhang Ziyi, indicated that this part of the Huangshan area had been used to film the bamboo grove fighting sceen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

After a quick lunch in a typical rural hotel restaurant featuring a lot of wild herbs and vegetables, we were send to our rooms. Clearly it was a honeymoon type place with pictures of half naked women on the walls. Our friends Bosco & Linda, who are evangelical Christians, objected to this.

Once settled in we went off the the afternoon tour of two of the local sites, including the famous bamboo grove. The whole of the Huangshan area is covered with Bamboo groves. Strong, think bamboo which can grow to full height of 10-15 metres. The new shoots were fresh green while the older ones were grey. They grow to about 10-15 cm in diameter. The name is Maozhu, or spear Bamboo. The grove used by Ang Lee to film the famous bamboo grove fight was actually on a mountain side and must have used a lot of very clever angles to make it look like level ground. Later we visited a waterfall which unfortunately did not have a lot of water so there had not been a lot of rain recently in that area. Our guides were local people and very nice - usually quite apologetic for the inflated prices. One lady, once she got our confidence told us she had to refer us to the local teashop after the tour. It was a bit expensive, but if we stayed more than 15 minutes her company would get a certain commission even if we didn't buy anything. So we went.

The tea grown in the Huangshan area, Huangshan Maofeng, is touted as once of China's top ten teas and boasted gold medals at the Panama Grand Exhibition ih 1910 or some such. We tried about five different types and at the end of a decent interval Bosco surpised us all by buying several packets. Excellent gifts for visitors he felt. The bulk purchase ensured a big discount so Susanna also bought a packet of Yilan Xiang tea, good for women and an aid in sleeping. Of course at prices well above the price in the resort shop. But at some places the local women were trying almost to give the stuff away for five yuan a packet which suggested to us that there must be significant variations in quality.

That evening we decided not to have dinner at the hotel restaurant as there appeared to be a lot of private restaurants around of the rural family food types but the homes also had rooms for rent and were recently constructed in excellent quality decoration which Bosco stated was clearly Victorian in style. A small girl only twelve years old was our host and she explained they had ten rooms for rent. The dining room had only two tables but another two could be set up in the large living room. When her father came in Bosco and Susanna negotiated a dinner which again emphasized the use of many wild plants, mushrooms and fungi. The young girl had a big sister who helped her parents. The younger daughter was mostly away at a boarding school. Her English was just ok so we spoke Chinese with her. Outside the home we noticed a new Toyota Crown, of the type now made in Tianjin and speculated that it may belong to our host. Clearly a bit more than a rich peasant in the old marxist terms. The food was simple and good. After the day's exercise we ate heartily and put away a couple of bottles of beer.

Early the next morning we set off for Huangshan itself - some thirty minutes away by car. We changed to a tourist bus there which took us to the Cloud Valley Cable car station. Once there we found that the wait for the cable car was over three hours so there was no decision about waiting as the climb should be no more than three hours.

The last time we attempted such a climb was in 1981 - twenty four years ago when we climbed Taishan in Shandong. Then we walked from the railway station in Tai'an to the top in just nine hours. Old women with apparantly bound feet plodded past us as did coolies with a dozen bricks or so for building. This time we set off just as resolute but with a few more breaks. The 7 kilometer climb took us over the three hours but the guide was waiting for us so we did not miss any of the site seeing at the top. Our friends Linda and Bosco took a couple of hours longer than us and were waiting for us at the hotel when we returned.

It must be said that every view from Huangshan, given the perfect weather, was spectacular! Bare grey rock jutted boldly out from multi-hued shubbery - resplendant reds, yellows, and many shades of green. The massive groves of Maozhu - spear bamboo - whispered long nourished hopes and dreams. Thin cotton strands of mist rushed headlong over the crests of jagged ridges. Gurgling mountain streams bubbled, laughing at our panting exhaustion. The experience is totally overwhelming and cannot be compared to any other in China. Too bad the guides try to over-trivialize the experience with whymsical descrption of rocks looking like a pig writing a letter, two turtles mating e.g.

Truly words cannot portray, nor even still photography satisfy! You will run out of what ever film medium you do take - there is a 100 shots around every corner!

The first night we stayed over in the dormitary as described above. Exhausted we slept until 4am when we rose again to catch the sunrise at Brilliant Peak, some 1800 meters above sea level. A further, very steep three and a half kilometer climb before arriving at a small viewing platform, much too small for the huge Golden Week crowds. Despite being in the van we were well back from the railings and hence while I could see over heads on my tippy toes - Susanna could see nothing. I craned while Susanna gazed at the forest of digital camera viewers over our heads. Ill-informed viewers got impatient and some scuffles broke out. Long thin strands of cloud lit brilliantly golden by the still obscured sun, seemed to roll across the eastern sky like beach waves in the sunset.

But finally, long after our arrival, the dark red disk of the sun burst through the now golden clouds to a huge roar of delight from the crowd. Only Susanna groaned with frustration - she could see nothing. It will taunt her for the rest of her life that she came so far and missed the primary experience in Huangshan. Her chagrin none the less for discovering that our slow friends, Linda & Bosco has been guided to a platform nearby, by local sherpas, completely free of humanity which allowed them to set up their camera tripod and take perfect pictures and video!

From there we went from breakfast and then down to the famous Ying Ke Song - the Guest Welcoming Pine. Chairman Mao made this precipitous pine a very tired cliche by so praising it that every restaurant in China felt compelled to mount a picture of it and display it prominently. Sadly the actual pine is dying and held up by pieces of wire. Suggestions are that some of it is already fake. Still the visitors line up hundreds deep to be photographed with it. From there we go down to the Jade Screen where a cable car is waiting to whisk us to the foot of the mountain again. Thankfully the wait is less than twenty minutes and my shaking legs climb in gratefully. Our Huangshan odyssy is at an end.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Nanjing Revisited

Although I visited Nanjing several times in the 80's I haven't visited much since then. Oh, there was a visit in 1984 when I was taking my parents around China. As usual we did not do through agents but traveled just as I had always done in China as a business person - just by turning up. Things went well in Guilin and Hangzhou as it was a quiet period and we enjoyed the local sights without alarming my rather travel-shy parents. But when we arrived in Shanghai late one night it all broke down.

Shanghai was full - not a hotel room to be had anywhere. A complete disaster! The only solution that presented itself was the late train to Nanjing. And we headed off to the Shanghai station again, arriving in Nanjing at 2:3am. My wife with a one-year old in her arms, and me with two exhausted but stoical parents.

We booked in to the newly built Jinling Hotel which was very comfortable and went out to the usual Zhongshan Ling (the tomb of Dr Sun Yat-sen) and visited the old home of Soong Mei Ling, wife of Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China who fled to Taiwan in 1949. Anything else we did has escaped my recollection. Nanjing did remain in my memory however as a place which gave us refuge when Shanghai turned us away. I never went back however until this National Day holidays.

My wife booked the fast train and a hotel and our friends Bosco & Linda Ho joined for a well deserved break. Bosco is a chemical engineer setting up a research laboratory for the US water treatment firm, Navco. Linda is a web-site design specialist who has been doing a project for a US real estate firm trying to enter the local market.

We traveled soft class which always provides a degree of comfort as well as not having many standing passengers traveling with their life possessions and smoking, littering, spitting etc. Generally China Rail is an excellent example of a socialist enterprise which works well at the operational level - the trains are cleaned many times during a long journey and they always leave exactly on time. There is a constant supply of hot water as well as meals of various degrees of sophistication.

Getting long term bookings, return tickets of course is another matter. China Rail would no doubt like to reform but it can't. It must carry coal all over China almost free of charge to serve the government's mis-conceived and disastrous cheap energy policy. This means it must always be subsidized by the government and privatization, or even commercialization are out of the question. There are signs however that the government are realizing the policy of cheap energy, which universally results in gross waste of energy and air pollution, may not be working. This may mean the railways will be able to charge closer to market rates for coal carriage and hence allow it to move towards commercialization - and hence modern management using computer booking schemes and so on.

Our first impression of Nanjing was strongly positive as the new Nanjing Railway station rivals some of the best airports in China for impressive modern style and efficiency. Our hotel was very cheap for this peak holiday season at RMB yuan 300 per night - so we looked past the poor quality and obligatory disfunctional plumbing.

China was the world leader in irrigation and river control, but household drainage is a complete mystery as they never had water in the household which wasn't brought in a bucket. Making a ceramic bowl and flushing tank are simple for the world leaders in ceramics, but how to connect them up so they flush effectively, drain all waste and not smell disgustingly is one challenge too far. Even in the most expensive of modern apartments the odours coming from the toilet floor drains can be quite discomforting. The two keys to the problem seem to be the use of very narrow down pipes leading to frequent blockages unless paper is not placed in the bowl (the local practice)and a lack of understanding of the siphon principle which sucks `down the contents with the water.

The weather did not favor us in Nanjing as it rained all the first day. But we beat that problem by grabbing lunch at a nearby hotel and then having a nap for the afternoon. That evening Bosco's cousin, a retired medical doctor from the PLA and her husband, also a medical doctor, joined us for dinner at a Cantonese restaurant in Hunan Road near Food Street. Here the decor was modern and the food excellent. We learned a little of life for Bosco's cousin who returned to China in 1950 from Hong Kong and studied medicine in Xi'an before coming to live in Nanjing. We asked for an email address but they confessed to not having computers. Nor did their children have one. Modernization has not reached all levels of the PLA yet. Well they were retirees - even though they still consulted frequently. Bosco's cousin, despite her long time in China under the discipline of the PLA, spoke Cantonese the whole dinner, even to me. Her husband does not speak Cantonese so most of the time I spoke to him. After dinner they took us down to walk around food street which is very large and pleasant, then back to our hotel.

The next day we did the usual city tour: the jade market at the Nanjing Museum (Chaotian Gong), the Confucius temple, the Taiping Rebellion Museum, a Zen Buddhist Temple (Jian Yuan), the Yuhua Tai, monument to communist martyrs and youth league as well as a display of Nanjing's famous stones; the Donghua Gate of the city walls and the Zhongshan Ling, tomb of modern China's founder Dr Sun Yat-sen. Well we actually didn't get there - for a state one of the tour group booked herself into a fortune teller at the Buddhist temple and so delayed us half an hour - so we were just going to do a photo-op stop - but not even that was possible - some dignitaries decided to visit and so the whole site was shut down under the claim that too many people where there and it had become dangerous. This is not uncommon during Golden Week holidays. So we returned to our hotel.

The theme of many Nanjing tourism sites is the importance of Nanjing as a seat of central government in China. It had been the centre of the state of Wu which covered much of the land south of the Yangtze as well as some north two and a half thousand years ago. It became the centre of the Six Dynasties in the first millenium AD and then lapsed until the Ming Dynasty in the 14th Century decided to locate outside Beijing, the capital of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Three Ming emperors sat it out in Nanjing before they decided Beijing had better weather and moved back. For a brief period in the middle of the 19th century the pseudo-Christian Taiping Rebels set up a capital in Nanjing,the Taiping Tianguo Ir'rI_1o until they were crushed by Qing Hunan General Zeng Guofan with some (minor) help from the famous British General Gordon. Dr Sun Yat-sen took it as his capital in the Chinese Republic in 1912 but Yuan Shih-Kai in Beijing still undermined his power and stole the presidency away. Still the KMT stayed in Nanjing, renaming Beijing, which means northern capital, in 1927 as Peiping 'r or Northern Peace. Finally, to get away from the seat of power of the KMT Mao set up in Beijing and Nanjing languished as the provincial seat of Jiangsu - totally overshadowed by the mighty metropolis of Shanghai downriver.

That evening we went back to Food Street for dinner and walked the length and breadth looking for inspiration. We looked at the local food restaurant - the Lion Gardens but it was already full. Bosco looked up a lane and saw a sign indicating an Italian restaurant. I was enthused and we went to have a look. It looked good but we still checked out all the other placed in the lane before returning to Jack's Place (????). There is a Jack's Place in Suzhou which had been highly recommended by my Singaporean program coordinator, Lynn. Her group really get around and seem to like the western style restaurants so I thought we should take a chance on the Nanjing iteration.

The recommended dish of the evening was lasange but I went for a pizza and my wife took the ravioli. Bosco had a steak and Linda had a set meal. Due to a mix up I got served Linda's soup and salad which I ate with gusto before the waiter noticed that I had not ordered a set meal. So she then had to serve a soup and salad to Linda as well. This was all handled well and cheerfully and we enjoyed the Sino-Italian ambiance and well trained staff. Later we got talking to Shirley Ding, the owner, who actually owns the Suzhou restaurant as well. She apologized for the food which she said is much better in Suzhou due to an almost hundred percent expatriate patronage. As a result she must prepare very authentic Italian food there, but in Nanjing where the patronage is almost one hundred percent local - she must make compromises with the local taste. I must say we didn't notice it. Shirley is one of those attractive, charming, open, and intelligent Chinese who are very popular with the expatriate community. She is obviously very entrepreneurial, a fast learner and a great manager. I'll be going to Jack's place in Suzhou very soon. I hope Shirley will be there!

Suzhou Manners

I used to think that the people of Fuzhou were the least friendly of anywhere I'd been in China. I visited twice in the 80's and the reception there was far from the usual overwhelming friendliness Chinese businessmen extended to all foreigners. I may have been unfair to them however. I was visiting first on behalf of, and then with a delegation from an Austalian firm interested in a joint venture in Fuzhou to make PVC building materials. My host seemed very standoffish, and did not offer the usual standard of cooperation and courtesy I had come to expect in China.

It was not until some years later that I learned that the firm had already begun joint venture negotiations via their Hong Kong agent and had become dissatisfied with the flow of information via the agent. Without informing me of the history they sent me in to arrange a meeting so they could get a better feeling for their potential partner than the HK agent was prepared to impart.

After my initial contact however the Chinese side contacted the HK agent to see what was going on. Presuming the Aussies were trying to cut him out (not an unreasonable assumption) he asked the Chinese side not to cooperate - hence the cool reception. I never forgot the slight however and never failed to tell people when I had the oppofrtunity, that the people of Fuzhou were the most unfriendly in China.

I may have cause to revise that unfair prejudice. Although I have had a good experience in Suzhou with most of my associations - my wife often complains of the attitude of service people here. Now I know what you're thinking - expat wives do not have a great reputation for getting along with the locals, regardless of where they are. Expat wives are often a particularly embittered race, withdrawn, protesting from their homeland, they have none of the rewards of the expatriate bosses who have the satisfaction of working with willing, intelligent and friendly local employees and the approval of head office when things go well. The business entertainment can also be very enjoyable depending on your appreciation of the local food and customs. Husbands are often away from the home over 12 hours a day including weekends. So the expatriate wives often take out their frustrations on the servants and local service people.

Well my wife is not like that. For a start she is Chinese from Hong Kong, and for seconds she has been living here in China with me since 1980. She appears to have a fine way with local people, fluent in their language (while making it plain she is a native Cantonese speaker)and she doesn't have the airs of social elevation some imagine they gain by marrying a foreigner. She seems to get along well with both government officials and local service people.

Today I went shopping with her to the local supermarket called Bairunfa (oUE>�>)on the city East Inner Ringroad. It is one of several in Suzhou which includes Aushang, Ole, and Metro (wholesale only). They generally follow the Western design priciples but largely stock products suitable for the local market. At one corner of the shop will be a few imported items. Twenty years ago supermarkets were shunned by locals shocked by the high prices. Now such places throng with the teeming masses, espceially on days like today which comes just before the traditional Chinese Autumn Festival (Zhongqiujie). So it was a revelation to see just how impossibly rude and ignorant the shop assistants there were. They didn't just argue with my wife, but with everyone! My wife avers it is the same in all supermarkets here. It is not universal of course, we did find one or two courteous and well informed staff. Sullen service was mostly the norm with gratuitous rudeness being just as exceptional as courtesy.

The large number of people thronging the stores cannot be the cause. In Huizhou there is a similar number of supermarkets locked in bitter competition, and the assistants generally appear well trained and courtious. Nor would anyone accuse the Hakka Cantonese of taking the World Best prize for politeness. So I have to return to my wife's refrain: Suzhou people appear the least pleasant and well manner of anywhere we have been in China. It seems to be a similar pattern in buses, restaurants, the famous gardens and all. Odd for a major tourism centre don't you think?

Monday, September 25, 2006

Time to Celebrate?

After four years of blocking the blogspot.com site in China, it appears there has been a respite. I have been able since yesterday to see my original site rather than the mirror site set up by John Ray of Dissecting Leftism fame.

Of course it could be an abberation. My local carrier may be falling down on the job. It might be a temporary lift of censorship due to the imminent visit of a US VIP. Whatever it is I have been encouraged to update my blog and make a weekly list of my comings and goings where they are of note.

The censoring of Blogspot.com was always a bit of a mystery. It did tend to be the place where a lot of disgruntled English teachers vented their collective spleens. And indeed many were splenetic. Most were fresh graduates having a paid holiday in China, with no, or little qualifications in English teaching. Their main beef seemed to be that things didn't go as easily in China as they do in the good-old US of A. Being young, and knowing no constraint, they really let fly with trenchant criticisms. Many were personal, directed at school leaders, or program developers.

Nothing much different to any blog you'll see. Immoderate, even foul, language. Libal with no limit. Often grossly illiterate. You can see where I'm leading. In a society where criticism is often expressed in elliptical terms, if at all, a lot of sensitivities were trampled on.

The natural reaction may have been to add the website to the huge number of those blocked in China. Either due to ignorance, or lack of concern, the site for uploading the blogs was left unscathed, so the cacophony could still be heard around the world but not in China. A wonderful example of 'head-in-the-sand' thinking.

Anyway it will be worth watching in the next few weeks. All recent signs, such as Xinhua cornering all financial news streams, point towards increasing levels of censorship. If this is a straw in the wind, then it might be a comforting one.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Language Reform

Lets make a new political rule. Lets call it China Hand's Rule on Political Policy. Here it is: Any policy, effectively implemented for long enough, will lead to a new policy which is effectively its negation. That doesn't sound very elegent. I once heard a better formation called the Paradox of Unintended Consequences: A policy, though effectively implemented, may lead to the opposite consequence of those intended.

That doesn't really work for my first test case in which the consequences were exactly as forseen, only now we regret it. In the 1950's, after the People's Repubic had become established and stabilized, the government turned to implement the policies it had promised, such as land reform and nationalization. This was a key policy of the Mao Zedong Communist government, vital to secure the support of the peasantry, who he correctly believed were central to his success.

But other policies had little to do with Mao's socialist vision: for example stabilizing the currency was vital to political stability. Another raft of policies must have come out of the Mirror of Government, the ancient guide to government these young revolutionaries are said to have consulted. Examples are repairing of the Grand Canal running between Beijing and Hanzhou, and repairing the levee banks of the main flood-prone rivers.

One central policy implementation of the 1950's was language reform. All good dynasties in China, in addition to the above measures, are required to assay a new standardization of the language. In a country with over 200 officially recognized dialects and 56 minority languages, there is a vast diversity of pronounciations available for each character. Moreover sloppy or creative scholarship over the years led the 10,000 basic characters to bloat out to 45,000. No great meaning was added by the extra 35,000 characters, many were just wrongly written versions of older characters which had fallen into common usage.

This project was seized upon with great joy by the scholars of Beijing, no doubt irked by the offensive accents of the peasant revolutionaries now dominating their city. After much discussion they published the ubiquitous New China Dictionary (DA_YxT`,)with a final say on tone and pronunciation of each character. The Chinese Phonetic Spelling System (O<''O")was also standardized.

This was very commendable and we are all very grateful that they managed to prevail in the use of Beijing Dialect (the official version) being adopted as the basis for a national language to be called the Common Language, or Putonghua('OI"_o). Grateful that is that Mao did not insist on his own dialect, that of Shaoshan in Hunan, which is somewhat less than music to the ears.

Mao did insist on character reform, or simplification however, and after much acrimonious debate the scholars emerged with a tranch of 800 commonly used characters whose complexity was reduced from average 16 strokes to 8 strokes. Generally the scholars used simple forms already common in China. Ironically the Chinese character for 'hoe', which Mao had used as an example (By the time the peasant cadres had written hoe, the meeting was half over he joked!)was not part of that tranch. A later tranch of 700 in the mid-70's was dropped however as too controversial. (A pity as I spent a lot of time learning them!)

Well Mao now had his standards and set out like a good emperor to ensure they were implemented universally. The New China Dictionary guided pronounciation and for the most part it was fairly successful. Only a few were ignored in normal speech which is a miracle in terms of such a dynamic thing as a language. Phonetic Spelling, known in English as pinyin, was enthusiastically embraced, even in the Open Door period, and signs and brands in pinyin prevailed (producing such comic effects as the word pixie, meaning leather shoes, but looking like something completely different to an Englishg reader.)

Enforcing the use of Putonghua, however was another thing. Having spent a lot of time around Cantonese (particularly those from Hong Kong) I know there is a clear protocol: if there are two or more Cantonese speakers in a room, regardless of the number of non-speakers, they must use Cantonese for all verbal communication. Not so elegent I know - but it is universally observed in Hong Kong and amongst Hong Kong people wherever they go in the world. I guess there might have been similar rules for other dialects too. But Putonghua was made almost universal in schools in China, apart from Guangdong Province. Even in Mao's China, exeption had to be made for the Cantonese!

But even in Guangdong, I now hear parents carefully bring their children up in Mandarin, sorry Putonghua. Again apart from Guangdong, all radio and television broadcasts had to be in Putonghua. The only place dialect was allowed was at home and in performances of the local opera. This was rigidly enforced and now the level of Putonghua usage in China is very high, albeit still not universal.

Just this year however I have noticed a change. The Shanghai Daily ( now complete with ads for local massage parlors!)wrote recently that the local opera - Yueju (Or_O)- was in danger of dying out as few could understand it. Other articles this year have regretted the declining use of Shanghainese dialect due to the influx of newcomers in Shanghai who could not speak Shanghai dialect.

Now the negation! The government has begun to experiment with classes in Shanghai dialect at a few schools. Suddenly we hear the term, 'cultural heritage' being used with great fervour. In Jiangsu all local cities are allowed to have programs in local dialect to promote knowledger of the local culture. The policy was simply too effective. It almost wiped out some local dialects. It's opposite will now prevail. Chinese policy, as it does so often, mirrors the developments in all modernizing countries. Having promoted uniformity until it looked like working, they now preach diversity. Welcome to the new China!

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Recent activity in sweltering Suzhou

Today, despite the 36 deg heat we got into an old intercity bus for the town of Shengze, just an hour away to the south of Suzhou. Shengze is the place where they make all the silk cloth. Otherwise it is just another small town, indistinguishable from all the others except by a large number of flash imported,cars. Many of them two door coupes.

The bus was clean and old fashioned albeit with fixed windows and (ineffective) air conditioning. It wasn't full when we left but we stopped at four small bus stations on the way, picking up and putting down, full most of the time. Shenze is in the city of Wujiang which borders Zhejiang province, tothe south of Jiangsu where we live.

The road runs alongside the old Grand Canal which I must say is a very busy artery, with very large motorized barges full of mostly building materials, sand, gravel, brick, dirt, steel and concrete girders. They move along at about 20 knots I would guess. In some places they are lined up forecastle to aft, in others they are spaced out.

The canal is quite wide allowing the barges to pass each other easily in the opposite direction. As you all know the Grand Canal is said to run from Hangzhou in the south to Beijing in the north. But I must admit I've never seen such big barges around Beijing.

We ate in a small Taiwanese style fast food food place. Bean milk, onion oil cake, Shanghainese dumplings (Xiao long bao), noodles and some sweet buns. Very filling and mostly very tasty. Yes we got the dry msg mouth soon after! The place was relatively clean and not every table had smokers. After a full lunch was wandered down to the silk shops to try and buy some ties for son Ollie who has been promoted to Duty Supervisor at the St George Sailing Club and so works regular hours now, albeit still three evening shifts. He was a dit diffident about applying for the job when it came up but the other supervisors urged him to go for it and his colleagues were supportive. At 23 he might have thought he was a bit young to be taking authority, but everyone seems to be very supportive. He is learning the paperwork and has made the very corrupting discovery that supervisors don't have to run around like blue arsed flies all the time!

Susanna went into a couple of shops and we checked out the ties. Not too bad. Good quality but fairly conservative style. Anyway we got about five ties so he is sure to find one or two he likes. Susanna had good fun negotiating the prices down until the owners where in tears about the massive losses they were making.

Then she had a look for a silk top and came up with something nice there as well. By this time I was in the mood for a nice silk shirt if we saw one but we didn't. Local style is very old.

The trip back was uneventful except that I miscalculated the sun direction and we found ourselves sweltering on the sunny side of the bus. I have a sore arm from fanning Susanna. I felt guilty about getting the call wrong!

We didn't do much yesterday except have yum cha with Bosco and Linda, our American Chinese friends at the Haiyi Dynasty Cantonese restaurant.

Well the Hungarian Grand Prix will be broadcast late tonight so I will finally have motor racing to watch. If it get any more exciting I might have to go and watch the Shanghai GP here Oct 1st.

Finally I have to announce the end of the world (well the solar system) as we know it. Pluto is not longer a planet. I thought that after a lifetime of memorizing the 11 and 12 times tables and then the government bringing in decimal currency, I would have no more big shocks in my life. But I spent the rest of my liersure hours memorizing the planets of the solar system and as some may recall, I was foundation president of the James Cook Junior Astronomers which met at the old Ambulance station in Sutherland (I think). Well now there are eight. I am devastated. My world will never be the same. Old age doesn't seem so attractive any more.

On Friday night we had a farewell dinner for Robert Smith, the English Coordinator and his wife. He has got a plum job at the Nottingham University College in Ningbo, to the east of Hangzhou, and is the envy of everyone as Nottingham is new in China and has raised the bar in pay for academics it is famous all around China! He is denying his wages have taken much of a leap. The rest of us are waiting for draft contract to be circulated and of course the rumour mill is ugly. Fear and loathing is the order of the day so the dinner was very merry as we all hit the (Wolf Blass) red wine.

Photos: The ties, the Great Negotiator and a victim, a pic from the dinner, and street scenes from Shengze including the restaurant where we ate.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

PICTURES FROM OUR HAINAN HOLIDAY

Mrs China Hand on the sweeping Bo'ao beach.

China Hand at last gets his much delayed second wife.

Hainan version of white water rafting.

A monkey's reaction to being told he descended from the same ancestor as man.

Not quite Diamond Head - Yalong Wan - The Hawaii of the East.

Tribute

While Blogger.com allows me to post in China, restrictions by the Chinese government do not allow me, or anyone in China to read the posts. They are blocked by all ISP's apparantly due to some extreme postings by foreigners living here. These appear mostly to be by immature young graduates who got a teaching job in China as a way of seeing the country at the locals cost.

Not all fit in well of course and as is the nature of blogs they sometimes put their frustrations into unrestrained language. As we all know China still is sensitive to even the most minor criticism and so has blocked the site from locoal readership while still allowing the rest of the world to read it which is odd.

My old mentor and prolific blogger Dr John Ray, has always encouraged my blogging and enabled it by creating a mirror which can be viewed in China, and holding photos so they can be viewed in my blog, so I am very grateful. His China mirror site can be viewed here, and the original here.

Hainan Travels

We had a two week break over the Chinese New Year (CNY) and being chilled to the bones in Suzhou decided at the last minute to go to tropical Hainan to defrost at the beaches. Well, too bad, it rained mostly and especially when we arrived at beaches. We got one afternoon relaxing on a beach - me in a hammock rereading a History of Britain and Susanna on a bench getting a foot massage. It didn't occur to us to go in the water. Those who did were in full wet suits and wore breathing apparatus.

We flew down via Shanghai airport and did not arrive until about 7:30pm. Had dinner on the plane and went to the hotel. Nothing to do as we appeared to be in the countryside. Some of the young ones went into the city for a snack but the older ones were too tired from waiting around in the airport. When we woke in the morning we found we were in the middle of a well developed suburb - but the power must have been off as we could see nothing from our window at night.

Second day we set off for the east of the island and landed in Bo'ao - a conference centre made famous by Bob Hawke and a few regional leaders who set up an Asian regional forum to attract business leaders and political leaders to Hainan. A nice beach and resort area but nothing else around except a very poor provincial town called Qionghai. Then we went to a local botanical gardens with some exhibits and products of research into coffee, cocoa and coconuts - coconut flavoured tea and coffee, coconut flavoured sweets, coconut powder, black and white pepper, etc all very well packaged and presented. A sign of technical and commercial progress - we came away with full bags.

Then we went to a 'cultural village' where we sailed down a quiet river on a bamboo raft with small children's chairs sitting on top being polled by local villagers, then for RMB 50 yuan I got married to a very attractive young girl. Very easy - very cheap. Just like we guys would like it. Susanna even took the pictures!

The last time I was in Hainan was in 1988 and it was just opening - there was a lot of optimism due to the potantial of the place to become a huge and cheap tourist resort with lots of natural beaches. Only problem was they left it all to the locals to do it with a few leaders flown in from other parts. Apart from prostitution, which flourished, and the illegal imports of motor cars, not a great deal was achieved. The free market message from Beijing was stifled by a system which brought all the tourism companies under unified control which ensures all the money goes to the leaders and the government and very little is left to 'trickle down'.

The huge amounts of foreign money ready to flow in were discouraged by locals who felt they wanted to keep all the profits in Hainan, and while they do that - the amount generated is about 10% of what it could be due to very poor execution. Virtually no foreigners go there - far from being the "Hawaii of the East" which was their slogan, it's just the poor backward Hainan of China. I was treated like a rarity. In a sauna all the staff came to shower me, dress me, charm me and pander me, cries for service from local patrons went ignored - they thought I would tip them, but the guide warned against taking money in so I had none to tip them. Their disappointment was palpable.

The tour group was interesting - people not only from Suzhou but nearby towns and counties as well as Shanghai and Xinjiang. The people from Xinjiang were very proud of what they had achieved in Urumchi - the autonomous regional capital. A modern Chinese oasis in a bleak desert. Of the local Weiger turkic minority people - they dismissed them as liars, thieves, drug addicts and shirkers. Everything there had been achieved by Han people they said.

A group of three young couples came from a small town where they all ran small factories - one thousand factories in their town they boasted.They were relatively rich and very cocky. They were resourceful and once the tour had ended at night they jumped into cabs and found interesting places for 'yexiao' - or supper.

A little girl, six years old, stayed on the bus with me once while per parents went to sightsee. She boasted that she had tricked her mother by telling her she was tired and wanted to sleep, but in fact she wanted to play with an older boy some eight years old who also stayed on the bus. Like all young mainland children she was very high spiritied and cheeky. She liked to flirt with me and then report my reactions to her mother. "The foreigner did this, the foreigner did that".

A guide told us that the tour groups from Shanghai and the surrounding areas had the highest purchasing power and always spent more during the tour than the cost of the tour whereas most other groups had blown all their funds on the tour cost.

The driver complained about mainland Chinese tourists who befouled the bus with their rubbish and sat it for the whole tour as the driver refused to clean it out every night. Only the foreigner's corner (ours) was clean he said as we kept our rubbish in plastic bags and took it out with us.

Sadly this is still a characteristic of mainland Chinese - they befoul everywhere they go - spitting, pissing, littering, shouting. It's all someone else's problem as far as they are concerned. The driver rated Japanese the cleanest, Koreans, Taiwanese and HKers - mainlanders a very distant and disgusting last. Well you can take people out of the village, but you can't take the village out of the people.

Sanya had some of the development it promised in 1980's. The two main beach areas had been extensively developed so they were unrecognizable apart from the shore line. The infrastructure was there but so were the same people as before selling the same trinkets - shells, local fruit, coconuts, herbs and so on. Many of the 'Huimin' or local muslims. Most of the larger businesses were run by outsiders. Several guides we met were from Shandong in China's east.

We stayed in a nice hotal on the last night although the food was the same as any other day on the tour. Tour food in China is fixed by a centrally controlled system and everyday you get eight dishes per table of ten people - and incredibly they are nearly always the same dishes. One night you will have a special meal of local food after that it will be the same regimen again. Even when we went to Europe it was the same - one night in Paris we had French food at a popular restaurant - after that the same Chinese food every day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Very basic Chinese dishes - better fill up on rice or rice porridge- that's all there is in bulk.

It was situated in a nice long beach with a lagoon and the hotel actually built over the lagoon. That night was New Years Eve so we bought beer, sweets and fireworks at a shop on the way after a long fight with the guide who would have made a good red guard.

We went to a temple in one place where the guide arranged for us all to have our fortunes told. My wife was disappointed to be told there was no great fortune ahead of us but a quiet and stable life which would be full and healthy if we stayed near water but didn't go swimming, and which would be better if we could be closer to our children and family!

Still it was very relaxing for us and we got lots of exercise climbing up mountains and walking out to sites despite the cables cars and tourist buses that dominate these days.

When we arrived back in Suzhou at 2:30am on Sunday moring it was misty, cold and and wet. We slept until 11:30am.

Friday, December 23, 2005

To all our friends & family - Alfred & Susanna wish everyone well for the holiday season and a bountiful and satisfying New Year.

Photos - Logistics Students at the class Christmas Party. Yes that's Alfred leading them in a spirited rendition of Jingle Bells. Takes after his mum. Half of the students come from Malaysia and one from Taiwan.Rest are locals.

Monday, November 14, 2005

SUZHOU LIFESTYLE

Suzhou Industrial Park

Our apartment is located in the centre of the Suzhou Industrial Park, a large industrial development project initiated by the Singapore government in cooperation with the Suzhou government. It is located outside the old city to the east. It was touted as a model project and it was the Singapore government flagship project in China. They were going to show both the Chinese and the Westerners just how to do things properly in China. Well the project foundered. The Suzhou government turned out to be incompetent and corrupt and milked the Singaporeans for their own benefit, to the detriment of the city. Just as many other projects in China have been.

A couple of years ago Beijing finally managed to rout out the incompetents and install a better government. They set about spending money on infrastructure for the Park. An example is the Dushu Lake Higher Education Town where we are. New roads were built over the canal network. At the same time a lot of smart investors in Shanghai realized that setting up industry in a city destined to become the commercial heart of Asia, if not the world in the 21st Century, was becoming a very expensive and short term prospect. Investment started bypassing Shanghai and coming to Suzhou instead a couple of years ago. Last year Suzhou scored more foreign investment than Shanghai and a real estate boom hit the city. Apartments selling for RMB 250-300K suddenly escalated to Yuan 750-900K.(A$120K-$150K).

The Industrial Park city centre is a grid of roads with major banks represented including the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (which is handy for us), many restaurants, parks, and is surrounded by huge residential projects. Ours borders almost the whole north of the grid and consists of over 80 buildings in five phases, mostly low-rise, while the fifth is high-rise.

Our Apartment

Our apartment is in the 4th phase and was built a few years ago. It is low rise with five levels - top apartments being duplex. We are on the third floor. In the Chinese system there is no ground floor so we have only two and a half flights of stairs to walk up. We are near the south gate and overlook it. Our main bedroom and living room face south so get the sun all day. This will be hot in the summer but air-conditioning sets are throughout the house. I'm not sure of the cost but in our small, well sheltered east facing apartment in Huizhou we spent around Yuan 300 (A$50) per month for electricity. I suspect the much larger units we have here may well be kilowatt-guzzlers. We'll see.

The former owner has decorated the apartment in modern style with a high quality reddish wood floor in the upper (bedroom) area and creamy tiles in the living areas. It has two balconies, a large one to the south and a smaller one, standing room only, to the north. The present owner, at our request bought some balcony furniture so we can have breakfast on sunny mornings, or a beer at night out in the open. We like that.

We go up about three stairs to the bedrooms. There is an en-suite plus a guest bathroom where the shower recess and the washing machine are located. It has the latest in water mixers, a four globe heating lamp, and a good strong exhaust fan.

There is a good guest room on the left of the stairs albeit with only a large single bed. It has the stand for a TV but the last owner took it away. It has a large built-in wardrobe now full with Susanna's clothes. Further along on the left is the main bedroom, large bay windows and the ledge covered with foam in case we get the urge to sleep in the sun. A double size bed at 1.5 metres, it again is a little smaller than we have in Australia, but the same width as the Huizhou. Surprisingly it is longer at 2 metres long. Most doubles are 1.9M. Our Huizhou fitted sheet is really over stretched to cover it. Perhaps it reflects the generally taller northern people. We have to buy a heaver duvet than we had in Huizhou as it should get colder here for longer over winter. The local one is 2m x 2.3m so quite large. Susanna should be able to wrap it twice around herself and still have some left for me. I hope.

Surprisingly all windows and doors are fitted with fly screens but that is sensible in a place with so much water. It reflects the very high level of decoration the previous owner did. The new owners, a young, not-yet married couple, did little except buy a sturdy and functional dining table. There is very little wear and tear -- the house appears to be in pristine shape except for a slightly ragged huge leather couch set. Alongside the guest room is a filled-in balcony just used for drying clothes. Very sensible again, it gets the sun, is well ventilated, and keeps the stuff out of sight, unlike most high-rises in China which sport ugly "International flags" -- the day's washing on outside lines or poles.

Opposite the main bedroom is 'my' study which has an 'L-shaped' desk, a small book cabinet, 5 drawers and a cupboard. It also has large bay-windows covered in foam mattresses which suggest a boy-scout troop could comfortably sleep-over.

Susanna's 'office' seems to be to her satisfaction. Plenty of working area, cupboard space, double sink, good fridge, water cooler, microwave, flat toaster, two gas rings, and extractor fan. She's turning out delicious, healthy meals again.

Work

Well that's the physical environment of our life in Suzhou. As you may know I have been asked to teach the two logistics courses: transport logistics and supply chain logistics for this semester and as they constitute a separate subject group I have been appointed a specialization leader. I teach marketing as well which is a challenge as I have done a lot of B2B (business to business) marketing but no retail and our course is basically retail. As a result I have to prepare three lessons a week. This was hard going until I started ferreting out packaged PowerPoint presentations in the CD-ROMS which came with some of the text books. As I still have no real text book for transport, I have to make my own but marketing and supply chain are getting a bit easier.

In order to get onto the crowded buses to the campus, I have to get up at 6am (just like the last job!) in order to be on the 7am bus (which comes between 6:55 and 7:05am). I am at work by about 7:20 which gives me plenty of time to prepared for my 8:30 lectures. There is a students' canteen and a more up-market one for lecturers (and rich students). You can't get into the student canteen after 11:30am when they all come out of lectures. So I go to the other one with a Singaporean and a Malaysian lecturer. Both my age (all born 1947), retired and drifted into teaching in China. Mr. Tham is ex-Singapore Airlines and also worked with Brunei airlines. He teaches management. Mr. Ding, a Malaysian Chinese, teaches economics. They seem to have grown up speaking mostly English, although their Mandarin is better than mine. They also speak Cantonese so we can swop back and forth among the three.

Sometimes I take in a sandwich, and now have a common room with a microwave, so I can bring in a Chinese style lunchbox and heat it up. It is usually a repeat of dinner the night before. Nice anyway.

On Thursday we all got a shock. One of the lecturers, an older Englishman who has been in China as long as me and was teaching philosophy and English suddenly disappeared. He told the students he would be away for the day but when he didn't come back that night his room was searched and it was found that he had gone. Picked up his October wages and flown the coop. Ok it's a little tough here trying to teach with some things not working. But no excuse to do a runner. Very poor form. Upcoming exams and a difficult textbook seem to have put the wind up him. Oh well it makes the leaders appreciate us more. I hope. After getting no wages at the end of October I checked with the financial guy who said he had heard of me but never received a copy of the contract so couldn't prepare wages. Well I rectified that quickly and I a few days they credited my new ICBC account. Money! I'm liquid again.

Susanna's been kept very busy doing the micro-biological, fastidious cleaning she thinks is incumbent on the conscientious wife as well as organizing to pay phone, utilities, etc in advance as the local system requires. They are all done by smart card and you have to go and buy more credits each month and then insert the card in to the meter to add the extra units of gas, water, or electricity. She is exhausted but happy. Last Wednesday she went back to HK to pick up new ID and China cross-border cards she lost when her wallet was stolen in HK while looking after 'Drew and Delie' (my son and his girl-friend). She also has to go Huizhou to try and get back the massive deposits we had to leave in Huizhou to get phone and broadband. A friend tried but failed.

Last Saturday we went to the local Bunnings or Home Depot equivalent (called B&Q it sells home supplies) with another couple who also moved into an apartment nearby. They had a bit to buy. We didn't! Everything we needed was either there, or we brought it with us from Huizhou (24 boxes of the stuff!). He is a Pom who traveled around Oz for a few years, follows cricket, and comes from Bristol, home of the Morgan sports car. His wife's from Tianjin and they seem to be expecting. They've got a ground floor garden flat and her parents have already moved in along with one of her nieces. Nice people. We're going to see a lot of them I expect.

Last Sunday we went for a walk to have a look at Central Park opposite our development. There was a pop-concert sponsored by a local telecom firm. We listened to a few songs and then we walked over the road to the Renaissance Hotel nearby and had a luxurious cup of coffee and some delicious cheese cake. We felt like a million dollars.

URBAN PLANNING

In the early 80's Old China Hand Ted Rule used to complain about China's new romance with the ring-road as the be all and end all of urban modernization. Beijing, for example has a six ring roads. "Who needs to drive around a city?" he would argue. "We all want to get in and out of cities as quickly as possible, not circle around it". He blamed it on the fact that all China's urban planners up to that point had been educated in Moscow or by Russians and so naturally copied slavishly everything that the then Soviets did. Still to this day all modernized Chinese cities are ringed by ever-widening concentric circles, or ovals, or rounded squares, or some other shape appropriate to the scheme of each city. Even Shenzhen, set out on a conventional grid system does manage to squeeze in one ring-road - well half of one anyway.

With China's then predominant use of the bicycle, all major roads were made 4-8 lanes wide, a nature strip along each side and then a full lane's width for bicycles each way. One such was built in Huizhou recently joining up a major city road with the road to Huiyang which took it past the gate of the Huizhou University. Some RMB Yuan 16 million alone was allocated to the trees which line the sides and the hedgerow dominating the centre strip. Naturally full width bicycle lanes were built as they are required for all major urban roadway. But they are never used! Apart from the occasional peasant needing to get into town and who's missed the truck going into the markets, they are completely empty. City folk hardly ride bicycles these days. Those not on the modern and comfortable buses are in their own cars or those of the firm. Motor cycles generally stay on the main road so this tribute to out-of-date planning ideas is just a huge waste of space.

Another strange anomaly is the almost universal construction of footpaths with a narrow path constructed of special upraised tiles. China's standard pavement tile is about 20cm or 8 inches square and is flat with a symmetrical pattern. This special path, often in a contrasting colour, is made with the same tile which is reversed. Underneath the normal tile has some upraised lines to ensure stability. These are used to create a path along which a blind person could find their way without running into anything.

It is a tribute, I suspect, to the lobbying power of the wheelchair-bound Deng Pufang, presently the Special Olympics representative on BOCOG, and son of the late Deng Xiaoping. Every new footpath in China I have seen features this impressive expression of concern for the visually impaired. It does not cost much as the same tile is used and laying cannot be more difficult. But I have never seen a blind person using this feature in my entire time in China. Never. When I have seen blind people they have chosen to trust their white cane rather than the path. It's just a nod to political correctness.

Friday, November 11, 2005

The Politics of Language

Riding the No.78 bus through the outskirts of Suzhou this morning I saw a big red banner urging on all the importance of speaking in putonghua, the so-called "common language" of China. You may know that in other parts of 'Greater China' the language of the Chinese is known by other names. In Singapore it is Huayu - the language of the Chinese people, in Taiwan it is Guoyu - or the national language. In English is it known as Mandarin - or the language of the court officials. But in Hong Kong when they speak of Chinese - they mean Cantonese. When they mean the Beijing dialect they say mandarin or putonghua. In China it can also be called Hanyu - the language of the dominant Han ethnic group.

The Beijing dialect is the standard the model for putonghua although it is a very formal version of Beijing dialect which is just as unintelligible as any other dialect to a Mandarin-only speaker.

The reason it is called putonghua is that to call the language of the Han people, the national language would be to suggest non-speakers did not constitute part of the nation. As Taiwan does not have a large group of minorities perhaps they are not too sensitive to that. China is a nation of many nationalities (56) by its own definition and so mandarin, or the Beijing dialect is seen as being the medium of communication common to all.

Teaching throughout China appears to be uniformly in putonghua with the outstanding exception of Guangdong where Cantonese appears to be tolerated, even encouraged in primary schools at least. Guangdong alone has Cantonese TV channels. The use of dialect anywhere else does not seem to be tolerated.

It would be pure speculation to suggest that the presence of a "Cantonese Gang" in Beijing throughout the early years of the republic allowed that anomaly. But the so-called "Shanghai Gang" now dominant in Beijing, do not seem to be encouraging the use of Shanghainese in Shanghai. Indeed they seem to be emphasizing the importance of putonghua.

Being in Suzhou, I am reminded that the dominance of Hanyu pinyin is again being threatened. Hanyu pinyin is the standard romanization scheme adopted by the government in the 50's. It is responsible for the Chinese word for leather shoe being rendered 'pixie' - albeit with a totally unfamiliar pronunciation- 'pee-sea-air'. Well almost. Newspaper editors around the world were bullied into changing the famous old name of the capital from Peking to Beijing. Everything was standardized. The only stand out I can recall is Tsingtao beer - named after the Shandong city of Qingdao. It guess it was successfully argued it was an internationally recognized brand. As China had so few it prevailed.

Only in recent years has the iron hand been relaxed for some other well known brands in an area which was previously not regarded to be marketable - education. Peking University, Tsinghua University, and as I have seen here - Soochow University. It will be interesting to see how far it can go. Will Guangzhou revert to Canton? Will Shenzhen revert to Shum Chun? Fortunately Shanghai is the same in pinyin so there is no pressure from there.

I see some sign of looseness also with personal names. Some students in Huizhou enrolled in the school with the Cantonese romanization - e.g. Leung for Liang, Chan for Chen, Lee for Li etc.

My guess is that the pinyin system will remain as the standard romanization system but proper names will become the same as in English - you can romanize them anyway you like!

Finally re Suzhou - several of my colleagues, overseas Chinese speakers of Mandarin, have been having fun trying to make sense of the local dialect spoken by our cleaning ladies. Few in the office could make them out except for locals. This reminds me of the old saying - It is better to be cursed in Suzhou than to be praised in Canton.

Monday, November 7, 2005

Banking in Suzhou

You may remember me speaking about Chinese banking in the past after a few experiences in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. The fact that branches are open on the weekend until 2:30pm and that despite the usual bank tendency to bureaucracy, a wonderful willingness to make anything possible for customers they know. For example after having seen Susanna with me just once, the staff at our local branch cheerfully allowed her to draw funds from my account and even change the access codes when they changed from 4 digits to 6 digits.

Well we had another glimpse of that this week when we had to transfer money from Huizhou to the landlord's account in Suzhou. As a result of a fundamental misunderstanding of the two different access codes we had for the Huizhou account, we locked up the card (you can't use your bankbook in another province), and could not get access to our account. I was for drawing money from the HK bank account as they have a branch near our home. But Susanna was convinced she could get the money from Huizhou through her friends, the City Gardens branch bank managers, using a very suspect method suggested by the people at the Orchard Manors branch where we live.

So she called them up and they told her a way to do it, by ringing up the manager of the branch where the account was (in another part of Huizhou) and giving the card access code. The manager would then verify the amount to the Suzhou branch managers and authorized the transfer.

So Susanna rang the manager of the Henan'an Branch and told her what to do but the manager, who was new and so did not know us, was adamant she would do nothing so dangerous as to take the card access code as that would endanger the security of our account.

In frustration Susanna rang back to the City Gardens branch and they said, "Don't worry; we'll do it for you." So these people, who did not even hold this account, confirmed our balance to the Orchard Manors branch, and arranged for the entire contents of the account to be transferred to Suzhou there and then. We opened another account on the spot in Susanna's name and paid the landlord. Now such a complicated thing would not be needed in Australia where a bank account is a bank account so long as it is with the same bank. But in China where all the banks seem to operate as independent franchises with little or no connection to each other it was a typical example of an impossible system overcome because it was for "friends".

I must say we didn't know the people in the Suzhou Orchard Manors branch either but they seemed equally concerned to help us. We were so impressed we went out and bought the bank! Well 40,000 China Construction Bank 'H' shares that same day at par value.

BTW Suburban branches in Suzhou are open until 4:30pm Saturday and Sunday. Tell that to your Aussie Bank - they'd have a fit - they think Saturday morning is a big deal!

Thursday, June 11, 2004

China Grand Prix Circus

China Hand decided last year when the China GP was finally confirmed he would make a pilgrimage to the first China GP in Shanghai. While I have been a life-long fan of Formula One - I have never been to a race since the first Australian Grand Prix in Surfers Paradise in the 60's.

Yes Ok I just watch it on TV - the coverage is much better and I am much more comfortable. I attended motor racing in Sydney during the 60's and while I loved the racing - drinking beer in the hot sun just gave me a headache! But as a sinophile the prospect of a GP in China was irresistable. First it was due to be held in Zhuhai in 1999 but Beijing got in the way - realising that Shanghai just had to be the place for an annual event which would bring world wide attention to the venue. Shanghai is Beijing's Hong Kong. The Anglophile Democrats in Hong Kong seem determined to fight for democracy if it means the end of Hong Kong as China's foreign investment capital!

Feisty Zhuhai which had commissioned a modern, built to specification circuit from the firm which build the Adelaide circuit, Kinhills Engineering, was trumpted again. Zhuhai had always played by the rules and did spectacular things like build international airports and a beautiful garden resort city. But Shenzhen and Guangzhou intervened to ensure the airport never got the nod from Beijing. It was inconceivable, in retrospect, that Shanghai could ever allow Zhuhai to dominate the F1 GP for ten years - the usual GP contract. Shanghai is the designated New York of the 21st Century. Zhuhai could not be allowed to get in that way of that!

Every year Zhuhai has a motor racing series with the help of Macau which holds the highly successful Macau Formula Three Grand Prix with the clever combination of both motor bikes and cars on the Monaco-like circuit.

So I have been very anxious to get everything booked up. Indeed I was so enthusiastic about it my brother Don in Australia, a motorGP fanatic (bikes), decided to come too! Even his wife, by no means an intrepid traveller, decided to come with him. Since that resolution - again last year, we have been desperately trying to book up hotels, airlines and circuit entry tickets.

Well I may as well have been in China in the 1970's. Airlines just won't take bookings more than 3 months ahead! Hotels decided all their riches would be made in one weekend and demanded US$220 per night even for 3 star hotels. I have made two attempts to book entry tickets on the China GP web-site but to no avail. The first time I was told they were not selling general admission (US95) tickets and I would have to buy Grandstand tickets. The second time I reluctantly agreed to part with US$171 per ticket for a grandstand on Sunday - I was told they are not selling one day tickets - I should buy three day tickets! Well as much as I love motor racing - I am not about to submit my tired old body to three days on an overcrowded circuit in the boondocks of Shanghai. Nor am I about to pander to event organizers who think they are about to make a killing. I am a teacher on a very basic salary.

During my hotel booking attempts and much earlier, last year already, I heard that all hotels around the circuit, in Anting west Shanghai, were all booked up. But Shanghai is full of hotels these days - its not like the old days in the 80's when I lobbed into town with my elderly mum and dad and wife carrying a one year-old son at 9:30pm and found there were not hotels to be had in Shanghai. We had to get on the 10:30pm train out of Shanghai to Nanjing where we arrived at 2:30am! So when I had my second atttempt to buy the advertised grandstand tickets rebuffed I was understandably exercised and penned the following missive in reply to the offhand rejection notice:

Dear Linda

This is the second attempt I have made to buy tickets - how many people have you convinced by now that going to the China Grand Prix is JUST TOO DIFFICULT!!!!!

Many times in Hong Kong we have seen hotels put their prices up so high for a special event that everyone arranged alternative accommodation or they don't come at all! The hotels ended up at 50% capacity!

You may think you have a clever strategy to maximize your income - let me assure you as a marketing professional - it will not work! You will end up with half empty stands.

People of good will wanting to support Shanghai are doing their best to be your eager customers and you send their money back! You refuse to take the booking! Can you understand how foolish this makes you look? Can you see that with every hotel refusing bookings unless you pay US220 that only the extremely rich and relatives of the drivers will come to Shanghai?

I am just a teacher at a Chinese University. My income is modest - I am saving everything for this event but you refuse to sell me tickets! When you are ready to sell tickets I have no doubt whatsoever that there will be none left because they will all have been given away 'under the counter' via the Back Door to friends and relatives of the race organizers. How much income will you have then? How can you capitalize guanxi?

Do not alienate your old friends! Motor racing has loyal supporters. I have lived in China for 25 years and I am a fan of motor racing. It would be nice to come to Shanghai on 26th but I do not wish to risk disappointment.

Alfred W Croucher

Lecturer, Raffles HU International College

Huizhou, China.

The following was the reply from China F1 GP offical website which sparked of this tirade:

Dear Alfred,

All tickets released on the market are weekend 3days tickets. And I don't know when to sell the one day tickets.I advise you to buy 3days tickets.

Best Regards!

Yours sincerely

Linda

__________________________________________

Spring International Travel Service(Group)

Add: 1558,Dingxi Road, Shanghai

Tel: 86-21-62520000,62526039

Fax: 86-21-62523734

Web: www.f1china.com.cn

Email: f1@china-sss.com

While typing this insane letter my colleague Ulrike urged me to calm down and remember we are in China! But I went ahead and sent it off anyway.

That night I got an email from Ulrike telling of the experience of a German friend who went to a China GP trial meeting at the circuit on the weekend - here is his hilarious email (plus translations):

*man spricht von ca. 10000 zuschauern. waren auch dort und nach dem theater eigentlich sehr froh das ich keine F1 tickets gekauft habe. It was reported that about 10.000 people were there. He was quite happy that he did not buy tickets for the F1 race after having experienced the chaos there.

*Parken, das totale durcheinander und chaos. Complete parking chaos

*Lange strecken zu laufen. Long walking distances

*Kein bier, nur warmes wasser in flaschen. no beer, only warm water in bottles

*Nur KFC, halbwarme fettige chicken stuecke., only KFC, lukewarm fatty chicken pieces

*Fahrstuehle gehen nicht, lifts were out of order

*Kein toiletten papier, kein handtuch papier., no toilet paper, no paper towels *

Chinese laufen auf den sitzen rum mit ihren dreckigen schuhen.Chinese walk on the chairs with their dirty shoes

*Sehr wenig platz zwischen den sitzreihen (fussraum). very little space between the rows

*Alle stehen auf, sodass die sitzenden dahinter nichts mehr sehen und auch aufstehen (lawinen effect). everybody is standing up so you don't see anything

*Spucken sollte man verbieten. spitting should not be permitted

*Rauchen sollte man verbieten, dann bekommen die plastic sitze auch nicht die burnmarks. smoking should not be permitted, then the seats would not have burnmarks.

*Anfahrt / Abfahrt ein typisches China chaos. way to and from the circuit a typical Chinese chaos

*Event am sonntag zu lang gezogen, typisch Chinesisch. Sunday event too long drawn-out, typically Chinese.

Ulrike's clever comment: "It surprised me a bit that the abscence of beer only came third. Have fun!"

Is it too much to ask that China could hold an international event with some semblance of order! God help the Olympics!

Monday, May 24, 2004

The Taiwan Relations Act

A recent article in the South China Morning Post by columnist Frank China noted the difficult situation the US was in at present with Taiwan refusing dialogue with the mainland. He pointed out that while the act, which governs the US relations with both Taiwan and the mainland, calls for preservation of the status quo, each of the three sides have a different view of the status quo.

Moreover the lack of dialogue has forced both sides into using the US as an intermediary - a role not sought by the US. He notes that Beijing realizes that their threats are no longer taken seriously by Taiwan and so they prevail on the US to restrain Chen Shuibian's seemingly suicidal lurches towards independance.

I agree it is a difficult situation for the US but the situation in the straits is quite fraught. If China does believe that threats are now useless then the likelihood of a pre-emptive attack increases. As we saw in 1989 - China's National Interest is slave to no other issue. And the foreign firms were back within months picking up advantageous deals, assuring China that a short bout of contained political turmoil was manageable. Taiwan's relative isolation (vis. the WHO decision) must also be assuring. The only thing constraining China is the certainty of US intervention - if they are quick enough to avoid a fait d'accompli. So I am more than usually concerned although I have seen nothing here which might suggest grounds for concern.

Self Censorship in Hong Kong

Recently in Hong Kong three popular radio political commentators in Hong Kong resigned from their jobs citing hints from China they should consider their positions given their alleged patriotism.

While I strongly believe that the Democrats are either irresponsible or naive in agitating for pre-emptive democratic reform - blatant attempts to silence all comment would be a cause for concern. Of course all HK media here in China is censored - primarily for any criticism of China. As recently reported Mrs China Hand had her copy of the HK Economic Daily taken at the Luohu border crossing the other day. I believe that China can be more tolerant of the normal political discourse in HK.

The anti-Communist rhetoric of some, and the contemptuous way they refer to Beijing, makes me very nervous however. In many civilized countries, not necessarily the Anglo-Saxon ones - polite terms are used in referring to the government and most politicians. E.g. in Germany even his fiercest enemies referred to "Herr Hitler". I think this is appropriate for HK. One day I won't be surprised if China exercises her Foreign Affairs role over HK and revokes entry rights for a couple of the least prudent.

China is not England. Nor is it a British colony. The style of public discourse tolerated in the Anglo-Saxon countries is not permitted anywhere in Asia - democracy or no. Is it too much to ask for a little civility? Does that amount to censorship? I for one do not think so.

Saturday, May 15, 2004

Bergman in China?

China Hand is not by any means a rabid film buff. But a few directors in his youth were influential, not the least of which were Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa. Yes, Yes - you only get to seem them at film clubs run on university campuses apart from the occasional Art cinema. So I had a mis-spent youth!

I have bought DVD's of both via Amazon.com and have copies of Kurosawa's Seven Samarai on videotape, laser disk and DVD. As well I have the latest DVD version of Bergman's brilliant The Seventh Seal. I play it whenever I think my view of the world could not be bleaker!

Now you must know by now that in China there is a DVD/VCD shop on just about every corner in the shopping areas - even in the smallest villages. Prices range between 8 yuan for a cheap rip-off to 20 yuan for the fairly sophisticated product. As often as not they don't work but you just take them back until you find one that does.

I don't spend much time in these stores - a quick look at the usual Hollywood Blockbuster type titles of the English language collection tells you not to expect to find much of depth or artistic content so it was with a profound sense of shock, while I loitered in the narrow isles of the DVD shop my wife frequents, that I noticed a partularly non-descript looking collection of DVD's with no English titles whatsoever. Something about the woman's face depicted in sepia-like tones caught my eye. I glanced at the Chinese titles and spelled out "Ying-ge-ma. Bo-ge-man". It couldn't be! The only other writing indicated it was a 6 DVD collection. I grabbed at it like a madman thinking it an illusion - but it was real - a six film collection of Bergman films. The face of course belonged to Liv Ullmann.

When I got it home and opened it they turned out to be:

Serpent's Egg
Shame
The Passion of Anna
Hour of the Wolf
Persona

Plus a Documentary on Bergman.

What a treasure trove! And what an unlikely place to find it! What next? A Complete Kurosawa? I shall indeed pay more attention to the rows of thrill/sex/action flicks in the future - you never know what I'll find!

Postscript - Mrs China Hand and I watched Shame this afternoon with me having to do a lot of guesswork to explain the story to her. Bergman films are nothing if not mysterious even to the devotee. It was not the ideal film for a depressed person to watch!

Friday, May 07, 2004

Western China Perambulations

NB Thanks to John Ray of Dissecting Leftism for the webspace to display the photos in this blog.

China Hand has been travelling again with his good wife. Well, you know how it is, age is catching up and we are conscious the day will dawn when strenuous travel will be a thing of the past. So we are making the best of the time. Over Christmas we went to Dali and Lijiang in northern Yunnan, then Phuket over New Year, followed by a trip this May holidays to Jiuzhaigou in Northern Sichuan.

As is our practice, we always go to Hong Kong to book in order to ensure proper arrangements. China Travel has improved mightily but one does feel that even these days external tourists are going to get preference over internal ones. The tour brochures promised 4-5 star hotels all the way and usually they are not too bad although when you do get out of the big towns the stars tend only to be in the eyes of the owners. The decoration is tacky and usually peeling off. Things work sporadically.

This tour flew all the way via Chengdu so we would be spared the 12 hour drive over roads -- which can be covered with ice this time of the year. We landed at Huang Long Airport on the morning of the second day. It is a spectacular sight, being 3,500 metres above sea-level and at the top of a small plateau thousands of feet above the surrounding countryside. Moreover it is new and appears to work well. This was to prove vital when later we were marooned there for over four hours due to heavy snow.

The two hour drive down to Jiuzhaigou is equally exciting and an apt precursor to the sights of the Nine Village Valley as it is called in Chinese. We went straight into the first arm of the Y-shaped valley and drove to the end in LPG gas powered buses where Long Lake dominates the scenery in a way eerily reminiscent of Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. Here the water is an incredible green caused, they said, by traces of Calcium sulphate in the water. Certainly trees which had fallen into the lakes over the (thousands of?) years have developed a thick coating of calcium which precluded their removal. They remain there as part of the unique scenery.

We then drove down the first arm, stopping at various lakes and waterfalls and snapping away, struggling with a digital camera with its own mind. This time we didn't forget our battery charger and so snapped around 350 pictures over the six days. One of them is here. Each lake was more fascinating with multiple hues of blue and green, some of them up to 80 metres deep but clear as a glass of lager. We snapped pic after pic of the greenery with its many shades. The guide told us we had come at the wrong time as in autumn some of the leaves turn brilliant hues of red, highlighting the brilliant greens and yellows already present.

That night we attended a concert put on by the local Tibetan and Chang minority people. They looked a tall, proud and athletic people in contrast to the Hans. I used to feel uncomfortable during these performances which used to be fairly perfunctory and amateurish, feeling that the Han had imposed cultural performances (all in Putonghua or Mandarin of course) and they were not a source of great joy to the performers, if they were indeed non-Hans at all. These days they tend to be very professional and slick with lasers, brilliant lighting and massive amps. They are not the simple folk performances of yore but entertaining mixes of old and new, folk and pop, done by well trained, talented artists. The costumes now are more hints of the old, made with modern cloth and a lot of imagination. The performers are no longer embarrassed but thrill to the audience rapport.

The next day we awoke to the sight of snow-capped mountainsides as there had been a heavy fall overnight and our whole experience for the second day would be different, as snow covered all hillsides in the morning and gradually melted during the day revealing the splendid greens, browns and yellows underneath. This day started at a primeval forest at the top of the second arm of the Y. We again drove down past pleasant waterfalls and blue-green lakes with many happy-snap stops until we got home again.

On the third day we drove back up the road to the airport at the top of the plateau, only this time it was icy in parts and we saw several vehicles in distress on the roadside. Having slid off the frozen tarmac onto the verges several meters below they were unable to return. The trip to the airport takes almost two hours, depending on conditions, but when we got there we found the snowfall had frozen all the airplanes and we had to wait four hours while they defrosted them. It was a small airport and already full when we arrived due to groups of tourists who had lobbed in the previous evening expecting to fly out. As the morning wore on more busses full of tourists pulled up and disgorged soon-to-be disillusioned tourists. Happily the kitchen seemed to keep up with the demand for food and hot water. Luckily we had bought cup-noodles! Fortunate also I had bought a good book and so settled down to read Diana Preston's detailed account of the Boxer Rebellion, mostly seen through the eyes of the foreign participants. It seems we will never know the true story of the Chinese participants, which is covered over by much revisionist history lauding the Boxers as good, patriotic people whose only wish was to slaughter troublesome foreign missionaries until they all decided to go home and leave the good Chinese to their traditional venality. It was the venality of the Foreign Powers themselves in China that is the subject of this well written history which I would recommend to all who are not already well read on this subject.

Arriving back in Chengdu late in the afternoon we downed a quick lunch and rushed off to the Chengdu zoo to catch a fleeting glimpse of a panda before boarding the bus again, this time for Leshan or Happy Mountain south of Chengdu. Leshan is the home of a 71 metre stone sitting Buddha pictured here. As time was short we did not climb all over this giant monument to piety but hopped instead on a boat which took us out into the middle of the Minjiang river which the icon gazes over. Back on land we headed for our last port of call - Emeishan - Lofty Eyebrow Mountain.

Emeishan is at the end of a long drive through narrow mountain roads often carved into sheer cliffs. All the way our rattly old mini-bus was passed by private vehicles while approaching crests and around blind corners into the face of constant traffic - most driven by the nouveau riche type totally untrained to drive anywhere but city streets (where they have had any training at all!). There were many instants of indrawn breath and cries of Yow mo gow chor (How can they do that?) from the anxious group of Hongkong tourists not the least of whom was my good self.

Finally we arrived at the cable car terminal and clambered aboard a brand new, highly efficient and quiet gondola type cable car and sped to the top. Ah! Tourism is not what it once was. Once we spent an entire morning (4am to 12pm) climbing to the top of Mount Tai in Shandong. Old women in bound feet passing our stumbling forms at a trot. They now have a cable car there too. At Emeishan it was much appreciated - in the thin air at 3,000 metres we gasped and wheezed all the way the to top of a short climb to the cable car.

Emeishan appears to have been a plateau uplifted by tectonic plate collisions to around 3,500 metres. At the top is a small gold pagoda which gives the name to the peak - Jin Ding - Gold Peak. You can see a pic here. Actually the highest points are provided by huge telecommunication towers and a Buddhist monastery, jostling each other for primacy on the flattish summit. We bought small yellow prayer flags hand written by a monk for mounting later to commemorate the occasion.

Finally we returned to Chengdu for a visit to the local Taoist Temple and a wonderful performance by local artists doing the unbelievabley skilled quick change opera masks, and an astonishingly supple hand shadow artist who made the usual ducks, swans, dogs and rabbits come alive dancing, running and flying.

On the tour we met a couple of similar age to ourselves. They were American Chinese who had been in the electronics industry since graduation in the US for over thirty years until finally returning as part of the Chinese reverse diaspora fueled by the move of world electronic manufacturers to China. Paul runs a business making 'fast memory' for devices such as mobile phones in Shanghai. He admitted that although born and bred in Hong Kong, his first couple of years in China were difficult and that he often felt more American than Chinese. During one luncheon he admonished a local for smoking while selecting dishes from the 'Sushi Train' style Sichuan hotpot. The local, who did comply, gave him a very dirty look on departure. Smoking and eating in China go together just as naturally as eating and drinking to westerners.

Much of the excitement in China has been the ability of excellent young electronics graduates who could be had for around Yuan 10,000 per month(US$14,400pa) however the huge demand for electronic graduates from Beijing, Tsinghua or Fudan Universities has meant the best can command up to RMB 20K or US$29,000 a year. Not much short of the US$50,000 commanded by similar graduates in the US. Nevertheless the level of Chinese graduates is increasing and they seem to be readily trained to understand the requirements of the newly transplanted US, Japanese, German and Korean firms flocking to China. Shanghai is at the epicentre of that influx. Bangalore might get the software developers but Shanghai is getting the hardware companies. We parted promising to meet up in Shanghai when we go there for the China F1 Grand Prix in September this year.

On the way back across the border to China that same day Mrs China Hand had her Hong Kong newspaper and two apples confiscated. The second time this year we have had fresh fruit confiscated and the second time in my twenty six years in China. Could it be that China is developing a case for phyto-sanitary controls on the import of fresh foods modelled on the iniquitous Australian model? It seems possible that the day when present controls are phased out by WTO requirements they will be replaced by the dubious science spouted by Australian quarantine in its successful attempt to prohited import of fresh foods - plainly hypocritical for a land that thrives on the export of fresh cheese, milk, fruit, flowers and meat. It seems hard to accept that in these days of free travel and massive foreign trade, Australia alone remains free of all known cattle and plant diseases.

As to the newspaper, it is mute testimony to the seige mentality of the CCP which despite enormous economic success still fears the wrath of a fully informed populace. Daily our cable broadcasts of news on the Hong Kong channels are blocked out and many internet sites, including this one, are unavailable to the huddled masses. The Hong Kong television channels are only permitted because they are magnets for locals craving the news and Cantopop (Hong Kong popular music) and the local advertisers can play their own expensive ads over the Hong Kong ones. Mostly this has been done illegally but with tacit approval from local leaders. Whenever Beijing dignitaries arrive the system reverts to local channels only. Hong Kong ATV and TVB channels have in vain sought to either ban the process or negotiate license agreements. They have negotiated deals with some major cities in Guangdong but most do it illegally. Once after I wrote to Star TV complaining about their signal here, the formerly Murdoch owned channel suddenly disappeared from our network. The signal strength of the Hong Kong channels has always been strong which suggests they courted the Guangdong audience so they only have themselves to blame.

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Four Wheel Mania

China Hand has got the bug for a car. Not one of the expensive boxes being made in joint venture factories all around China and selling for a King's ransom. No, China Hand is nothing if not a sports car buff and he did the rounds on the weekend looking for a real sports car in Huizhou!

Actually the week before we did do the rounds of the new car yards looking at Nissan Sunnys, Citroen C5s, Mazda 6s, Volkswagon Boras, Fiats, Fords, Buicks, Toyotas, and a few local products. Prices for the medium cars like the Passat, C5, Mazda 6, etc are around Yuan 225,000 or US$27,000. There is another group of small cars beginning Yuan 90,000 up to 140,000. In the middle are the Buick Excelle and the VW Bora around the Yuan 180,000 mark or US$ 22K. Generally the finish is good and all except the cheaper models sporting alloy wheels and four wheel disks. But we weren't impressed. They were all boring econo-boxes devoid of any character.

Hence our trek in search of a second hand car yard which was rumoured to be in Huizhou's Henan'an district somewhere down behind the Ren Ren Le department store. We wandered around asking locals and didn't have any luck until a shop owner told us about a second hand car exchange just back of the new car yards. We hastened down and found a small cluster of shops and repair garages with a big Second Hand Car Information Exchange sign outside. They also did real estate.

Once inside we were invited to inspect a wall of photos. Nothing exciting, a few Lexuses, Mercedes Benzes, a Pajero, the rest just econo-boxes. We tried to describe what we wanted but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. He directed us to a small Nissan sedan outside. '97 model, aircon, leather seats, sun-roof - apparently in perfect nick. We hopped in and accepted his invitation to take a turn at the wheel.

It had a 1.6 litre engine but with the auto-gear box it was very tame. Still putting our foot into it to join a stream of traffic caused the agents's heart to jump and he begged us to join the leisurely pace of the local traffic. As I hadn't driven in China for many a year I was reluctant but not wanting to bingle his pride and joy I slowed to a crawl and completed the quiet lap around the block. He wanted Yuan 110,000 (US$13,000) for this pristine lovely but we weren't tempted.

He then tried to interest us in a more recent Camry but the price was Yuan 220,000. He justified the high prices with the argument that they were imported cars - a completely different level of quality than the locally made rubbish. How could we even suggest buying a locally made car?

So we went back to try and clear his mind again and get back to looking for a sports car. We had seen some interesting Celicas we said. This made him get out a big black phone book and start ringing around. Sure enough he had one - a '94 model - would we like to see it? You bet. Now I know a Celica is not by any definition a sports car, but I have driven Celicas and they do give a vague thrill from time-to-time at least in the manual form. So we went along. The car was in the Donghu Gardens where Sonny and Jean-Guy live and when we saw it a small flame of lust lit in our hearts - well mine anyway. Mrs China Hand loves her old Camry that our son Andrew drove into a tree in a terminal manner. So she is not a driver for its own sake!

This particular vehicle was jaffa orange color. Not the fruit variety but the sweet of yore. Would that I had taken a photo! The silver mags were in almost pristine condition and although the car had probably been sprayed it looked a treat. An elevated wing graced the back of the boot - it was a middle aged boy racers wet dream. Squeezing in, I lined up a dotted line and opened it out a little. No great surge as it was an auto, but I knew it would do me. My blood rushing I imagined the queue of attractive students lined up at the end of each school day hoping for a lift back town! If I was concerned about power the owner said he could drop in a 2.2 litre motor for more grunt. But I said it would do. It would do! What did they want for it? Yuan 85,000 or AUD 14,000. I recently bought a Nissan Pulsar for that much in Australia - it was only a few years old. But I thought I could get this one for around Yuan 60K. How I yearned for it.

The owner was skinny, anaemic looking young fellow with a brace around his lower back. Hurt it in an industrial accident he said - couldn't drive it anymore. Anyway they had a Merc. His wife looked about 10 months pregnant - I could not imagine how she squeezed into the car let along drive it. This car was taut. I couldn't believe it. I did the usual tricks - pulled the wheels around looking for play. Wiggled the steering wheel, crawled under and over it, did all the usual wheel kicking stuff. This car was pristine. It had never had a serious shunt. All the panels looked straight and original. This just doesn't gel with the local road conditions but I was told the couple just kept it in a garage and drove it around on the weekends for show. It sure looked like it. The mileage was low at around 130,000km but you can't put much faith in that anywhere.

Anyway I was sold. What do I have to do I asked? They said well you can see the plates are from out of town. But it's no big deal - you just a sign a contract with the plate holder to accept all legal liabilities and he wil help you each year to get the car registered. The old owner lived over in Dongguan - just an hour away. It seemed many people buy cars using this system designed to get around the usual bureaucratic impediments. No big deal.

Registration seems to cost around Yuan 5,000 all up per year and I would have to fork out yuan 200 a month for a parking space in City Gardens. It was affordable. Waiting for the great RMB revaluation I have kept my pay in the China Construction Bank for over a year so I am sitting on a yuan mountain (well - a small mound my wife insists) so the cash is burning a hole in my bank book. If my wife doesn't hurry and buy an apartment here, well, I'll buy a car!

We walked away on a cloud after promising brief consideration and consultation with a lawyer on the subject of the out-of-town plates. We went around to where Jean-Guy usually drinks and joined him for a beer and told him our good news. Soon after his friend Yu Ping joined us and and we regaled her again with the story of our wonderful find. Well Yu Ping hardly let the words out of our mouths before she began a very extensive monologue on the subject of the dangers of out-of-town plates. If discovered by the police it can result in huge fines up to 8 times the rego fees. You can lose touch with the original plate owner quite easily. It looked a potential minefield and bottomless money pit. So we reluctantly had to agree to drop the idea.

The next morning on the bus to work I was telling the story when the very car crossed the road in front of us. Sonny said he often saw it around Donghu which was mostly where they drove it. He confirmed the driver was always a very pregnant woman. Ah youth! Reluctantly my dreams of a renewed boyhood receded and I acdepted the reality that I may never drive a sports car again. I have already accepted that I may never own any form of interesting car in Australia again. Australians are free to vote for whoever they wish but on the roads it is a police state with cameras and laser speed checks at every turn, straight and crossroads. Last time back in Oz I lost my license for three months in a series of speed traps - two along one road on the same night within 20 minutes of each other. I have tried restraint but can't keep it up for long.

China by contrast does not allow a free vote. But it does give you the freedom of the road. No lasers, no radar, no pursuit vehicles or bike cops. Well that is of course if you don't stray outside your city. It will cost you to leave and cost you to enter the next town. Road tolls are so pervasive that it can be cheaper to fly to some places according to the local papers. But I am willing to pay. At the end of the month I will still have my licence. Ah freedom - I'm willing to pay the price!

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Huizhou Bureaucracy

An acquaintance of Mrs China Hand runs a small business in the city. She met her today while shopping and she was invited in by a very disconsolate owner. She had set off the day before to get approvals for a business extension. She required nine in all. She spent the entire day fruitlessly searching for, and being turned away by unhelpful, uncaring officers who did nothing to facilitate and everything to frustrate her search. We they looking for bribes my wife asked? Well if they were, our friend wasn't paying. She is determined to run a clean business!

This lady, who comes from another part of Guandong, was understandably angry and down on the Huizhou government for doing nothing to facilitate small business operators, while lavishing services on big business investors. Like everywhere else one suspects small business owners hire the majority of people in Huizhou.

It's true that conditions in a small business can be very primitive and that you might have to share living quarters with the owner's family. You might only be offered Yuan 400 (US$50) per month but that can be a fortune to a peasant from remote places in China. It will do until something better comes along.

My wife, who was considering opening a business herself, was deterred and put off the idea for another year or so. Oh well, we'll have to spend our money in Hong Kong or Australia!

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Personal News

Well China Hand finally signed a contract with Raffles to remain a further two years in Huizhou. We will probably remain in the present apartment in City Gardens as we have spent money decorating it. Again we welcome visitors and as usual we will return to Sydney each year in September.

Raffles, a Singaporean design education specialist, is still expanding in China and recently we began to set up a school in Wuhan to add to those in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, Beijing, Changchun, and Chongqing. Sydney Raffles LaSalle Institute is also doing well I gather. Might be worth buying shares!

Here in Huizhou we have reached break even point after five years and look forward to the July and October intakes which last year almost doubled our numbers. The quality of students has improved due to an increased intake from Shenzhen where young people are very motivated having been exposed to a very competitive society.

We are at the end of the Winter Term and will begin the Spring Term on April 5th. A new teacher will join us from Guangzhou. He's a West Aussie which means he won't speak to me once he learns I'm a Sydney-sider. He's also an Ex-Pommie which won't help. Our young Canadian teacher found the going a bit tough here and is headed back to Changchun where it seems a little more relaxed. Here we are becoming more rigorous as the Shenzhen students are very demanding and of a higher calibre. We plan to make Raffles H.U. into a centre of Business Admin excellence.

This weekend our degree students set off for the Philippines on a four-day study tour of business there plus a couple of days at the beach. Sonny, our Academic Director is taking them, and Jean-Guy, my Canadian colleague, decided to join them. Susanna has seen enough of the Philippines so we didn't go. She has book us on a tour of Korea from Mar 27-31.

There are only seven students in the degree class this year and next year we begin an MBA course which has been packaged by Leeds University in the UK. Should be interesting. I must upgrade my credentials this year and plan to enroll in a DBA (Doctorate of Business Administration). Sonny is also completing his.

Meanwhile in China generally the signs seem positive so far. The NPC (National People's Congress) meeting in Beijing introduced constitutional reforms protecting property and elevating businessmen to eligibility for party membership. Truly communism with Chinese characteristics! There are elements which threaten stability and the government makes a lot of noise about addressing such as the rural-city gap in incomes and the huge reservoir of unemployables in state owned corporations who will have to be stood down. Bank reforms are still glacial and the number of private firms on the stock exchange still minimal. One hopes that the incredible rush to a modern middle class lifestyle will provide inspiration and hope to keep Chinese off the streets. Continued attacks on corruption will assist in that process.

Generally you find no-one is interested in politics these days and if you ask about the NPC you usually get blank looks. The Taiwan problem has been high profile lately but one feels the close election result and the failure of the referendum will ensure a thaw in relations over the next few years.

Well that's all from us in Huizhou. Once again visitors are welcome! We look forward to seeing all our friends sometime in the future.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Backward China Catching Up? No! Now World Best!

It was my third visit to Yantian International Container Terminal in the west of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in the past two years. A joint venture between Hong Kong Hutchison Terminals and Yantian Port Group in 1994 it has become the busiest container port in south China outside the HKSAR. In 2003 it exceeded 5 million TEU movements for the first time, accounting for half the movements in the SEZ which now has three container ports. In addition to Yantain, there are Chi Wan and Shekou in the west of Shenzhen. Together they account for over 10 million TEU movements a year, already half of Hong Kong's steady 20 million and catching up. All container tracking work is done online although they do have to manually enter the documentation of each container as it enters the port facility. Once in the system however it is checked by Customs and Quarantine online and subject to a random search of 3% of containers or 150,000 each year! Each time I have been there a new, more advanced IT system has been in the process of being installed.

Infrastructure around the port is superb. A rail line feeds in containers and elevated roads curl around overhead like monster spaghetti. The normally staid government services sector seems to be making a huge effort to be friendly and maintain an advanced service.

Phase one and two of the port are in full operation and phase 3, with two more berths will start operations this year and two more are planned. Given the huge amount of goods made for export around the Shenzhen SEZ it is no wonder expansion plans are a permanent feature of the area. Ships handled tend to be behemoths which hold upwards of 5000 containers each, or over 100,000 dead weight tonnes. Every Wednesday a ship from Far East Shipping or Columbo Lines heads for Sydney and Melbourne ports as well as calling into Manila and Kaohsiong in Taiwan.

Yantian attracts all of the world's top 20 shipping lines and ten others besides. It is entirely state-of-the-art using the most modern terminal management equipment. The local employees have plenty of opportunities to go to Hong Kong and other places for training where Hutchison manages terminal such as in the UK and Australia. They are selected from amongst the best in China and have a huge amount of justifed pride in their accomplishment. There are no HK expatriate employees these days - it is entirely localised.

Yantian is located just an hour's drive south of Huizhou at the end of a fast freeway where our van sped along comfortably at 130 kph. YICT shares part of the port and just manages it's own section. Raymond, our host, lives in uptown Shenzhen and commutes in a shuttle bus each morning. Through the heavy morning traffic it takes him an hour to reach work. Speeding from Yantian to central Shenzhen took us only about 40 minutes at lunchtime.

The most interesting part was when he mentioned the number of crane movements per hour which averaged 30. Their target was 35 and they often got to 33. I lamely commented that Sydney had one of the slowest crane movements in the modern world at a peak of 25. Before the big Patrick's Stevedoring push in the 90's, it had been under 20! How much we have to learn from backward China!

Although being a very busy company with over 700 employees, YICT is very welcoming of guests, particularly students whom they see as potential customers, if not employees. So Raymond's welcome was warm and professional. As we walked into the lobby a large LCD screen welcomed us by name in a most becoming fashion. He showed us the latest promotional video before ushering us to the state-of-the-art control room with its banks of monitors and CCTV screens.

After an hour we sped off to visit the Shenzhen offices of Maersk Logistics - the world's biggest shipping line, out of tiny Denmark. Here again we were welcomed with a sign in the lobby with our names and greeted by Shumin, a recent employ who comes from Singapore. A sign of the reverse diaspora which has begun to manifest itself as China leaps into the modern age. She introduced us to the sophisticated cargo tracking system which Maersk has perfected for tracking the huge amount of goods going into Walmart stores around the world. Again Maersk appears to be entirely run by locals, albeit who pass a battery of highly demanding tests, and who display enormous pride in the excellence of their operation. One is used to Chinese running down everything in China, but you won't hear it from these people. They are setting themselves World Best targets and look set to become leaders in their field.

Soon it was time to rush back to dusty of Huizhou, leaving glittering, brassy Shenzhen behind. A traffic snarl on the way out of Shenzhen reminded us that no amount of expensive infrastructure can hope to cope with car ownship which is doubling every year! Even Huizhou, which has an offical population of only 350,000 in the main city area, is a dust bowl as all major roads are being totally rebuilt to try and cope with the explosive growth in traffic.

Monday, February 23, 2004

The Medium is the Message

Of course all my students have a mobile phones - that goes with saying in China, especially at a private college like Raffles. But recently I noticed a new trend. Like all young consumers, Chinese students like to upgrade their phones. But they don't always throw the old one away. Here in Huizhou we have a new mobile system. It is very cheap. But it only works in Huizhou. So students keep two phones. One for the cheap Xiaolingtong system, and one for the national mobile network. Why not?

Naturally our school has a rule that all mobiles have to be turned off, or at least muted during class. But it is mostly obeyed in the breach. Students frequently leap up heading for the door and groping for the mobile phone vibrating away in their pockets. Some just surreptiously send and receive SMS messages while nursing the phone in their laps. Well I can't complain - once or twice I have forgotten my own mobile in my pocket and had it ring - to the amusement of the students. Sorry - urgent family business! (Wo jiali youshi!)

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

The Price of Progress

Those in the West who went through the post-war boom know well the phenomenon of road disruption. In Huizhou of course we have that in spades. Raffles HU is south of Huizhou on the road to Huiyang city centre, Danshui. It is an old, broken two lane tarmac road running through a a series of small villages generally called Mazhuang - Ma Village.

A few months, well before the end of 2003, we noted on the way to work signs of an opening ceremony on the south side of the southern city third ring road - a ringroad which exists solely on plans apart for the stretch from the road to Shenzhen and the road to Danshui, a couple of kilometres at most. A large sign informed us that it would be a major road, by-passing Mazhuang but going right past the university front gate. Finish date - May 2004. We congratulated ourselves and set our mental clocks to May when we would enjoy a more comfortable commute. The Danshui road was narrow, bumpy, and had many parts where a single accident could delay traffic for hours.

No sooner had we filed this information when we noticed something alarming - at the same time the by-pass was being constructed, the Danshui road was also being prepared for major renovations. We could not believe that renovations would begin on an old road before the new by-pass road was completed. Well it happened - our formerly uncomfortable commute now became a nightmare. Each new section of drainage, each new section of road, blocked the road resulting on a long, tiring and frustrating commute - some nights it took and hour and a half just to get into the city - a journey which formerly took half and hour. There was never any sign of an attempt to re-route trafic or plan construction in way which would minimize disruption. Sometimes a couple of ineffectual police made desultory attempts to sort out the traffic snarl. But it was in vain.

To complicate matters the intersection of the ring-road and the Danshui road was deluged by a drain failure and was often underwater. Regularly gravel was poured into the hole and just as regularly the heavy truck traffic tore it out. There was no sense in repairing it as new drains were part of the plan. This had been occuring since June 2003 however so we were used to it.

Finally some of the conrete road is down and the commute improving - but last Friday night was the worst of all for no apparant reason. Maybe traffic coming into Huizhou for Valentines Eve dinners. We can't wait for May.

New Purchasing Law?

China Hand was discussing purchasing management with students from a local firm recently. He emphasized the importance of long term - high volume agreements locking suppliers into prices to insulate manufacturers from price inflation. Furrowed brows soon informed me I should ask if they had any questions. But no! They objecteded to my ridiculous purchasing strategy.

We buy in the smallest amounts possible and are always in the market looking for lower prices, they told me. Lower prices I queried? Yes in China there is the Law of Falling prices when it comes to industrial raw materials and components sourcing. Law of Falling Prices? Yes of course! I hit myself over the head with disgust. Increasing industrial efficiency due to more competition and falling tariffs results in constant falling prices for low tech items which can be manufacturered here in China.

Hence the strategy is to buy small and keep out in the market, demanding even lower prices. No wonder China is becoming the factory of the world!

Friday, February 06, 2004

Guangzhou Again

China Hand returned to Guangzhou again recently for a flying visit. My second attempt to get a new passport. This time all went well as I had the required photos - specifications to permit face scanning technology - and all the required ID's - health cards, driver's license, old passport, same tired old face, blah blah. The look on the passport officer's face was one of plain disappointment as she confirmed that I indeed appeared to have everything.

In ten working days I would have a new - high tech (but not high enough) passport. The high tech is to prevent changing IDs - but the real high-tech will come later when a smart chip will have to be incorporated to include bio-data. Never mind I still have to pay for a new one - now Yuan 970 for a basic 32 page. It would have been Yuan 1270 for a 48 page one. But what is the point? In August this year the deadline comes up for the bio-data and I may well have to pay for a new one. I wonder if it will have taxation information as well?

My wife and I walked down to the Garden Hotel. We have been there many times and this was its 20th anniversary. It has changed and the Greenery Coffee shop where we had lunch as not there when we first went there. But there is a new food centre - or Dim Sum buffet lunch place called Lai Wan I think. Well in Cantonese anyway.

The hotel was holding a special VIP luncheon and there were pictures in the lobby of the opening ceremony and VIP guests down the years. The owner of the Lee Gardens Hotel in Hong Kong was the investor.

It is a giant property with a main lobby the size of a football field. Just the wind lobby between the driveway and the main lobby is the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

We had lunch, bought some bread and returned home. Everywhere we go we buy bread - it just can't be made in Huizhou.

Sunday, December 28, 2003

China Hand's Christmas Newsletter 2003

Well here it is at that time of the year again where we are obliged to let your friends know what we have been up to during the year.

The Kirrawee Crouchers have been divided again all year except for the altogether too brief period over the Chinese National Day when Alfred can scrabble together two weeks off from his crowded teaching schedule.

Alfred has almost completed his two year contract in Huizhou and is looking around to see if there is anything better on offing. It would be lovely to be able to continue his newfound career in Australia but it appears the universities are full for the time being and the high schools subject to trade protection. I.e. you can't get in without an Australian teaching qualification. So the possibilities look remote.

Meanwhile China still rewards effort and experience. The job continues to be challenging and he is learning how to teach, how to empathize and gradually how to lead students to understanding. Indeed he is becoming indispensable to his department albeit this will not be reflected in his remuneration due the company policy (no-one is irreplaceable!).

For Susanna also this year has been a year of achievement. She has completed a TAFE course in catering which is designed for people who seek to work in restaurants for coffee shops. The course took six weeks and taught her all the tricks of the trade. She is determined to own her own coffee shop one day!

She spent the first half of the year in China although she only planned a short stay. SARS intervened and kept us hunkered down in Huizhou fearing lengthy detention for quarantine on a premature return. It was nice for Alfred coming home to home cooked food every night! She filled the time by tutoring groups of local and Korean students in English which she proved to be very good at. Teaching the locals was no challenge. But the most interesting was the Koreans -- they were two 13 year old students living with their parents here in China. They communicated with Susanna in Chinese. So we thought it amusing that a Hong Kong Chinese (native language Cantonese) was teaching English to Koreans in Mandarin Chinese.

The boys are continuing their own path to development. Oliver has done the two certificates which allow him to work in clubs and bars, the alcohol service certificate and the gambling control certificate. He worked for most of the year at the Kogarah Bay Golf Club but his shifts there diminished so he is filling in at the local Italian restaurant, Caruso's, delivering their extensive takeaway menu. Meanwhile he is looking for a good club job which will provide a better living. He is also considering the course Mum did to improve his employability in the catering industry. He has met a very interesting young lady, Maria, who hails from Columbia and is just finishing her HSC while helping out at the local courts with Spanish translation. She is also a Japanese speaker.

Andrew was been flirting with self development via the Wing Chun school of Kongfu. He is big man now with muscles like iron and a little goatee which says, quietly, watch out. He also moved on from his old job selling computer games at Harvey Norman's Caringbah and is currently pursuing positions in the retail industry. He is constantly improving his computer with new sound systems and video cards. He should be able to make and play a full length movie! He also has a regular girlfriend -- Adelie and they seem pretty close. We knew they would bring us daughters-in-law eventually!

The time is not one of unalloyed joy however. As I was writing this I learned of the death of my father's last surviving sister -- Auntie Ruth. Auntie Ruth looked after me when I had to be rusticated at the age of 8 with rheumatic fever -- actually a heart condition. I lived with her for 5 weeks as I recall in Binnaway, a small town on the Macquarie River in inland Northern NSW. Susanna and Mum will attend her funeral, with my two sisters, Marilyn and Roslyn despite it being tomorrow, Christmas Eve in Coff's Harbour. Auntie Ruth never forgot the time Susanna took her out of the hospital in Sydney and took her to yum cha in China town -- it was the first time for her. I will never forget her kindness and constant interest in my career. My love goes out to her children Richard & Alison and Richard's wife, Dresna and children and grandchildren.

Friday, November 14, 2003

Hong Kong & National Geographic

All traditional society is conservative as a matter of definition and Hong Kong is nothing if not a traditional Chinese society. In many cases Hong Kong preserves Chinese traditions wiped out in Chinese cities a generation ago. The break point is 1842 when Hong Kong became a colony of Great Britain. All teaching of Chinese history stopped at 1850. Only university students were given a bowdlerized version from the 80's on as the UK prepared Hong Kong for the handover.

As income levels rise however it more and more resembles a modern society with a more open approach to lifestyle and culture. Western arts and culture are being assimilated by the intellectual class. Alternative lifestyles such as gay-lesbian hardly bother to hide themselves any more. Still the public profession of traditional values is very strong and a requirement in many area, not least the performing arts area, where film stars and pop singers are bound to observe the traditional mores.

Even Hong Kong's dynamic newspaper sector is not exempt. Hong Kong has surely the most daily newspapers of any major city in the world. At one stage there were seventeen daily newspapers although there has been some consolidation since then. Only two of these newspapers however are in English, the rest range between serious financial to raunchy tabloids.

In keeping with the fierce competition not much is held back and of course celebrity gossip and pictures are the front page story leaders. And yes, they do have page 3 girls, many such pages with lots of lovely topless girls of all shapes and sizes and degrees of undress. There is only one anomaly however and that is that all the girls are European. No Chinese girls. Why no Chinese girls? Well it would be indecent for a Chinese girl to be photographed like that. And nobody would feel comfortable with that would they? A decent Chinese would only feel uncomfortable. So they are European. We don't feel uncomfortable with that because it is normal and natural for European girls to strip off. Why they're doing it all the time!

This reminds me very much of the old National Geographic magazine policy which frequently showed black women in various stages of undress as, after all, it was their natural state. I guess it didn't hurt circulation either. Cynics however dubbed National Geographic Black Playboy. Similarly some might infer there was a little hypocrisy in Hong Kong but I guess there is in all societies.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Hong Kong Trip Report and Reflections

China Hand visited Hong Kong for the first time since his return from Australia. It was a last minute decision so no friends were called and so there was no list of dinners and lunches as there often is. Still my wife's family turned up for lunch at the Kowloon City Plaza, a large mall built just below the site of the old Kowloon City - the so called Walled City which retained Chinese nationality while all around was ceded to the Poms (Brits!). This was a standard practice of the Chinese to cede territory outside walled cities. In Shandong in the 19th century China ceded territory outside the city of Weihai called Weihaiwai. It was returned to the Kuomintang government in 1933 but the local warlord did not live up to the agreements. I never mentioned this during the Hong Kong handover when China asked rhetorically when they had gone back on an international agreement.

My wife's family lived opposite the 'Walled City' of Kowloon for many years in a public housing estate at a token rental. From the time I knew them (from 1980) the city did not have a wall. I forget when it was pulled down. It was not until 1984 with the Joint Declaration between China and the UK that the HK police gained any jurisdiction over the area. It had always been a refuge for criminals and drug addicts. Christian missionaries of course found it compelling and more than one made their reputation as a compassionate (albeit relentlessly self promoting) aid professional. Never once was I offered a tour by my family. It was off limits. Way too dangerous. I never asked.

Part of the Joint Declaration was an agreement that the Hong Kong government could tear it down. This was duly done during my period of residency - 1986-1996. The negotiations with residents was difficult. Business owners invented fantastic sums for their profits in calculating compensation. Ultimately they came to believe them themselves and refused to moved out despite the imminent destruction. After the successful demolition they lived in tents opposite the site, demonstrating every day for their ridiculous compensation claims. I always thought they should be paid compensation on the basis of the tax they paid in the three previous years but of course as denizens of the ancient city they felt they had immunity from tax.

Anyway the demolition complete, the site has been reconstructed as it may have been around the takeover in 1842. The old magistrates Yuan rebuilt and the rest done up as parkland. It is very pleasant.

During my visit I also visited the Hong Kong Museum of Art which has just been built next to the Space Museum on the Tsimshatsui Peninsula near the Star Ferry. This is an excellent collection of modern art, ancient artifacts, and calligraphy through the centuries. There was also an exhibition of Indian Art. It is an excellent facility, built to have each landing overlooking the harbour just like the old exhibition centre across the harbour. Entrance was only HK$10 plus $10 for a CD based audio guide to the entire museum.

I looked in vain for any calligraphy by either Chairman Mao or from the Taiping Tianguo which I have always liked. Still it was a couple of hours well spent. Still much of the cursive style was similar to Mao's. I recall the ridiculous Simon Leys, or Pierre Ryckmans as we knew him in Australia condemning Mao's calligraphy as having 'bloated endings' like he was an expert in calligraphy. I have never found a Chinese who found any fault with Mao's calligraphy in 25 years. It was quite conventional. Indeed so conventional that other detractors, such as my mentor Ted Rule, aver that it was all done by 'court' calligraphers.

Ryckmans critique of Mao was the typical European socialist reaction which found that China did not live up to their dreams of a socialist utopia so they turned on Mao, not as conservatives, but as outraged Trotskyites or anarchists such as Antonioni who felt that Mao had betrayed them. Ryckmans was unique in that he was outraged by everything. Even 'Revolutionary Beijing Opera' offended Rickmans, especially the elimination of the atonal gongs designed to attracted attention and the adoption of the modern piano. Rickmans affected to find the piano gross and offensive! Had he ever heard the gongs in traditional Peking Opera? They clearly had no musical role and were just designed to attract crowds. The affected hatred of the piano sat oddly on someone who was in Beijing as the Cultural Attache at the Belgium Embassy. But that was Ryckmans. Anything associated with Mao had to be excoriated. Even the piano!

I also bought a new digital camera from Fortress in Tsimshatsui. I bought the Olympus 740 Ultra-Zoom after a lot of research. It is only 3.2 Megapixels but a 10x optical zoom - the best in the business. An official urger tried to push the Kodak Zoom model which has a 10 power zoom, 4 megapixels of memory and with sound in addition to the video facility which the Olympus does not. But the price differential was HK$800 so I was happy with the Olympus. The vast majority of pics I take will be shown on a PC so 3.2 Mpix is adequate. I suspect I will never use the video feature. It cost HK$3750 or US$480. Old hands in HK only shop in Fortress or another reputable shop chain called Broadway. All the rest are very likely to rip you off with 'parallel' imports, ie not covered by guarantee, or non-standard accessories. Pity. I point out to my students the stupidity of dishonesty in business where it is assumed you will never see the buyer again. But Hong Kong businessmen only think as far as the next deal. Another strange irony. Mainland people mostly go to Hong Kong to buy jewelry as they can't trust local jewellers. Stange that there should be such an ethical gap between fellow retail industries. The friends I know who bought electrical goods or cameras were ripped off!

Thursday, October 30, 2003

Health Report

Well this is my first post since my return from Oz. I can't explain the lack of enthusiasm but as usual I blame it on the latest blood pressure medicine I am now on. Old vaso-dilators which have succeeded for the first time since I started taking blood pressure medicine in reducing my blood pressure to the normal range. Well for me around 135/90 is unexplored territory anyway. I am not getting any drowsiness like I did with some. But maybe a bit more depression and lack of drive and organization.

Anyway enough of that. I am back in the harness in Huizhou turning out tomorrow's Chinese business geniuses, for another term. This term ends on Boxing Day (Dec 26) officially but we have assured the boss that productivity will drop off drastically after noon on the 24th! We have a week off then back into a new term.

Eating Out

Huizhou continues to surprise. Although the locals are unadventurous eaters, sushi restaurants are becoming popular. One opened recently on the city ring road just up from the Shopping Precinct which the locals call Walking Street or Buxing Jie. I tell them in vain a better translation would be pedestrian mall but they ignore me of course. It is just a large sushi train totally dominating the small shop with the usual stools around the outside.

I was in the mod to try it out tonight as a student had made a new business presentation today for a sushi restaurant and used as a background a slide of a plate full of sashimi. My mouth watered all through the presentation. I headed there tonight inviting colleagues to join me. Most had other engagements but Richard, the principal, joined me. Another colleague, Lisa, refused to join saying she'd never eaten uncooked food in her life and didn't intend to start now! Her loss. Chinese can be surprisingly unadventurous when it comes to food.

The food was excellent of course although lacking in variety. The Sashimi was excellent salmon, and only RMB 48 ($5.5) a small plate. Richard loved the wasabi and called for a second serving. I was happy with my tear inducing, sinus expanding paste too but forebore to call for more. With a dozen plates of sushi the bill came to RMB 110 ($13.50). There were several groups there although the place was not full. As we ate a group of four girls left, mounted new motor scooters, and drove off. Another day in prosperous Huizhou.

Cars

A colleague's husband recently bought a new VW Bora. For around RMB 190,000 ($22,800). He already has a motor scooter but I believe his firm offered to finance the purchase. One interesting stipulation - no Japanese cars! He looked around at a lot of the small cars about. There is an excellent looking medium Buick called the Excelle which sells for only RMB 160,000 but they appear to be out of stock. He looked at the new Honda small car, the FIT which rivals the Toyota VIOS.

He found the quality of the build to be very poor which surprised me. I didn't think Honda would compromise their name like that. But then I have recorded that the Guangzhou Honda which drove me around Shantou last year broke down with gearbox problems. I'm not sure why he ruled out the Toyota -- oh yes -- no Japanese! So he bought the Bora. It is interesting that the new private corporations still try to act like the old state owned corporations in providing benefits to employees above wages

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

China Hand In Oz

Back in Australia for a two week break, China Hand is noticing all those things which make the Australian experience different from the Huizhou one. Not surprisingly some are positive and some are negative.

First of all I reserved a lot of medical and dental work for Australia due to the free medical system in Australia and some bad experiences with Chinese dentists. I can get medical work done in Hong Kong but the price is prohibitive. A recent pathology cost HKD 1500 or USD 192.

First of all I ran into the controversy with the free medical system which is called Medicare here in Australia. In order to provide a diminishing free medical service Medicare provides a system whereby GP's can 'bulk-bill' the government for 'free appointments' for which they receive AUD 25 for each consultation. At 4 consultations per hour our highly trained GP is getting USD 68 per hour. Not much when you subtract the costs of running a medical practice. In fact some GP's hardly manage on this basis and in fact most have given up bulk billing and charge a fee, usually around AUD35-40 Patients can get a rebate of AUD 25 from the nearest Medicare office. The government's reply is that GPs should only allow 6 minutes for a consultation!

Dental care however is quite different having never been subject to welfarism. My dentist fitted two crowns to my teeth which took an hour and a half and he charged AUD1600 or USD 1088 which works out at $725 per hour. In Australia the GP takes six years to study and a two years hospital internship to qualify whereas the Dentist does a four year degree before he can practise. Entry qualifications for medicine are the highest in the land. It seems incredible that the government could distort the market for medical services in such a drastic way without serious ramifications. But politically in Australia the idea that health services are a right and should be free is embedded despite only 28 years since its inception 1975. The only fallout I have heard of is the flight of Australian trained Hong Kong doctors who head for the free market in Hong Kong where they can charge what the market will bear.

In a recent televised debate on the crisis all speakers with one exception spoke on the above premise. As a long term resident in China I witnessed the change from free medicine to fee-for-service. The effect has been remarkable. Private hospitals and clinics are springing up everywhere. Fees are not cheap by local wage standards, nor is the medicine, but the hospitals are rapidly catching up with Western standards and often boast joint ventures with prominent Western doctors, hospitals or universities in order to establish their credentials. Naturally the higher rated hospitals charge higher fees but that leaves plenty of low fee hospitals for the poor. Just outside City Gardens in Huizhou there are two medical outpatient centers, one set up by a Hubei hospital and the other by a Guangzhou hospital. They check my blood pressure free whenever I ask. Their fees are reasonable however they do have the annoying the trick of prescribing a glucose drip for everything and charging a fortune for it e.g. I had two drips for the 'flu' at about Yuan 180 or US 22.

One example of an area in which the Chinese hospitals already appear more advanced than our Australian ones is in the area of pathology. As part of a regular check up in Australia the (bulk-billing) GP ordered blood tests for my wife and myself. I noted that this procedure used very old fashioned needles of huge diameter which were not only extremely painful but left a large bruise on my arm. By contrast the annual compulsory blood test in China is done with a needle not much thicker that a human hair and I feel nothing at the insertion which is merciful as I am squeamish. The Australian pathologist claimed the smaller needles damaged the blood platelets. My doctor said I could request a smaller needle if I wanted one! I think it is just public medicine which doesn-_t care!

There are obvious shortcomings in the Chinese medical systems and some practitioners, notably the "Chinese Medicine" dispensers but also the glucose drip purveyors, try to make an unfair profit. Well-known foreign medicines are rapidly appearing. My former heart medication, a beta-blocker, is made there. Ventalin is made there. Claratine is made there.

Communication with the doctors in Huizhou is difficult as none appear to be able to read or speak English. My colleagues consult the doctor and ring local colleagues for translation using their mobile phones.

When I went to the local Central Hospital, the top hospital in Huizhou, for a cavity. the Dentist filled it in only 10 minutes and charged just a few yuan - I was impressed until the X-ray in Australia revealed it was just a temporary cover which did not properly fill the hole. Another done at a prestige new dental hospital and cost Yuan 60, fell out shortly after.

My resolution is to search for a competent dental practitioner in China as my dental bills in Australia could easily add up to five figures. Still three hours in dental chairs this week convince me that I will have to be in a lot pain in the future to want to go back for more!

Thursday, September 11, 2003

One the Censors missed

The headlines from the English People's Daily email news service this morning was:

China Reigns in Brutal Police Tactics

The article which followed pointed out that China was attempting to curb illegal excesses in torture, interrogration, and abuse of 'on-the-spot' fines.

One wonders if the original wording was 'reins-in' and a too clever sub-editor sought to 'sex it up'. Who ever it was one suspects that they might be invited to an extended holiday in an outer province.

The article pointed out that police could no longer issue - ''on the spot' fines to prostitutes nor hassle breast feeding mothers!

China Censors Itself!

Whenever local students ask me what they should do to improve their English I recommend they watch English channels on the TV. But for many locals there is no access to the two Hong Kong English channels carried by the Huizhou cable operator. So I suggest they watch CCTV 9 - the local 24 hour English News channel.

But CCTV 9 is not aired in Huizhou. Not by the cable operator and not by the local channels as far as I can tell. So it was a relief recently when one of the Hong Kong channels - ATV - recently took up an hour of CCTV9's news each morning at 8 to 9. It was certainly more international and more informative than either the US ABC or CBS which comes before it.

Just this week however the local cable operator has begun to flood this program with a 100 percent overlay of local commercials. Just as they do when they are censoring sensitive materials on Hong Kong and the mainland. It may be that they do not realise the Beijing origin of this program with its attractive young news readers and bright format. Perhaps the northern perspective scares them. It could be that they are concerned the "Chinese accents" might put off their budding English speakers.

The problem is that it is one more nail in the coffin of English studies here which have hardly any local stimulus. There is no English paper apart from China Daily. There is very little material English learners can turn to other than pirate DVDs.

It would not be true to say there is any anti-foreign feeling here in Huizhou which still basks in the coup of getting the Shell Petrochemical complex at US$4.6 billion in addition to a growing number of global electronics manufacturers headed by Siemens, Sony & LG. But there would appear to be evidence of concern at the level of foreign cultural influence. Just inside the entrance to the new campus of Huizhou College (once Huizhou University), hidden away from view, is a large stand of stone busts - larger than lifesize statues of the world's greatest thinkers, Karl Marx, Engels, Darwin, Confucius and so on. These were ordered, it is said, by a previous college head who appears to have been too progressive in his thinking. They were to have been set out around the campus to inspire students to 'World Best' achievement.

They remain hidden, covered in growing shubbery, a mute testimony to local sensitivity to foreign influence. And the Shell money has not even started to flow!

Tuesday, September 9, 2003

China Hand's 25 years in China marked by a Typhoon.

Well we survived our first Typhoon in Huizhou this week. A big one was picked up on the Hong Kong news on Sunday night heading straight for Hong Kong. It was presently wreaking havoc in Taiwan. It started to blow on Tuesday afternoon and as I taught I heard this slamming sound behind me. A student ran to close the classroom door detecting immediately that the wind was blowing into the classroom through the windows in the front of the classroom on which the locks were broken.

As I looked out on the campus the trees were beginning to bend and wave precariously. The school bus was ordered an hour early as the clouds brought the light down to night time levels.

I jumped from the bus at City Gardens around 6:30pm in light rain and several times got nearly blown off the footpath by gales in between the buildings. It was blowing from the north west and we stood on our protected balcony and watch the forces of nature try to destroy everything in its path.

Bamboo stands bent double then snapped back the other way, the palm tree fronds tore themselves into a frenzy before departing from their formerly secure trunk tops. The magnolia trees which line the access roads snapped above their protective railings about 2 metres from the ground. At seven thirty, just as the English news was to be broadcast the power went off and I ran for the torch which I had just bought new batteries for. An eerie light lit our living room and I jumped a foot as the shadow of a giant insect crossed the wall only to realize it was a fly on the torch lens.

Finally we went to bed after turning off all the light switches and disconnecting the computer. Around 2am I woke to find the lights on in the opposite apartments but no-one around. I checked the television and was surprised to see all the typhoon signals were down in Hong Kong. The typhoon had passed. In fact it had hit the hardest in Huizhou which took the greatest impact. Local papers later revealed over 36 people were killed in the worst typhoon in 24 years. Regina later informed me that the greatest strength hit at Xiachong on the coast of Daya Bay where every concrete power poles snapped at exactly the same height throwing the village into the dark --were it remains today. She said there was a total of four thin steel reinforcements in each pole!

As we drove through the town the next morning the roads were lined with uprooted trees --one a mighty centurion in the CBD which had torn up a huge concreted area with it --the roots towering into the sky for what seemed 20 feet. When we returned that night it had been replanted and the garden was being rebuilt. The government here is efficient!

During a recent walk we checked out the new Sports Centre --it was undamaged apart from a large, flimsy looking roller-door which had caved in under the pressure and which would have to be cut in half to remove. Over the eaves of the large auditorium two large panels had been bent back --that was all. The complex sail structures over the two smaller halls or administrative blocks appeared undamaged --it must have been something to see them billowing in the 100km plus gusts.

Next day at school was had no power but taught on through the morning until the light was reduced and we could not see the white boards. We sent the students home when the power did not return by midday.

So we survived the storm. The wind blew through our apartment but did no damage. We didn't get any time off --we had to stay at school for the dark afternoon and just chatted with the students who preferred not to go home.

That day also China Hand had planned a celebration with the staff of Raffles to mark the day he arrived in China, just 25 years ago. The 3rd of September, 1978, He arrived at Beijing Airport on an Air Iran plane from Tokyo to be met by Wu Laoshi and Hou Laoshi who were to be our mentors for the next year and a half. As we walked from the plane we saw a huge portrait of Chairman Mao over the old fashioned (Stalinist Monumental) terminal building. It was to be the first of many which would accompany us wherever we went in China in that period.

Well some 20 of us assembled in a small Hakka restaurant outside City Gardens that evening and quietly marked this remarkable event. Much to my embarrassment my colleagues kindly bought me a complete Hakka tea service which is an interesting piece of equipment. In all my time in China I have never come across this form of tea ceremony. Only in Hong Kong where they drink the bitter Tie Guan Yin tea from Fujian, exclusively in Chiuchownese (Chaozhou & Shantou --just West of Huizhou) restaurants in the tiny cups, had I seen anything like it before. Just after I arrived in Huizhou I went to buy a computer from a friend of my colleague Bob, who is our systems man and a local Hakka.

They sat me down at a table and before we got to the technical requirements they began the tea ritual. Firstly there is a wooden tray about the size of a TV dinner tray but deep and made of dark wood. It sits on top of a table. It has one large cup (about 250ml) with no handle which sits on a saucer and has a lid. This is filled with dry leaves and hot water poured in covering all the leaves. This stands for a moment and then the water is poured into all the smaller cups, the lid being used to ensure no leaves go in. The cups are then all drained into a bowl and then washed in the bowl using a large pair of wooden tongs. The tea is then discarded into the tray where it drains into a container underneath.

The cups are set out again and a new lot of water is poured into the large cup. The lid is used to ensure the leaves are thoroughly soaked and then the tea is poured into the small cups and handed out to guests. The tea is best drunk in one gulp. This is repeated until the negotiations are completed --a process which takes almost two hours or longer according to taste. By then you have had enough of the highly fermented tea to keep you awake for 48 hours.

In Huizhou also there are many tea houses. But unlike Hong Kong where Yum Cha is a euphemism for excessive eating, the teahouses of Huizhou simply provide an alternate venue for business talks or relaxation while you drink your favorite beverage, usually in a private room. Yuan 160 (US$20) for the use of the private room, there are no public areas, unlike a Yum Cha place, and extra for tea and snacks. Young attractive girls serving the teas seem de rigueur.

So there it is. 25 years in China, albeit with a total of 7 years living back in Oz from time to time. It is possible to feel that I have learned incredibly little in my time, especially my Chinese which is still just adequate and does not allow much philosophizing. But above all it has been rewarding. I have never been long out of work in China or Hong Kong. I have had some remarkable opportunities and while I have mostly passed them by without fully exploiting them (i.e. I'm not rich!) I must say my time here has been very happy.

Even now as a semi-retired teacher I am fully occupied and enjoying new challenges and anticipating more, e.g. a DBA or an Australian teaching qualification. I blog regularly here on the subject of life in Huizhou or occasionally on the subject of Australian politics (Aussie Expat Whine).

I don't know yet what next year will hold. Another two years at Raffles is tempting albeit not a great challenge though there is much to be done here to improve the teaching materials and methods and resources. Return to Australia to a teaching position is unlikely as I lack the appropriate qualification. I have yet to look for another position here in China. Must get around to it.

Susanna has had a great time here teaching English and she will return to Sydney on the weekend. I will follow a week later but I return on October 4th. The boys have indicated that they might not welcome Susanna's early return. We'll see how long that lasts!

Monday, August 18, 2003

Bold Media Reforms Planned for China

The People's Daily this week announced that planned media reforms first envisioned by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) were being brought forward as a result of the experiece of SARS when the media became part of the problem instead of the solution by covering up the developing disaster.

The radical plan calls for the end of government patronage for all but a handful of strategic journals such as the People's Daily and the party theoretical journal Qiushi (Seeking Truth). At the provincial and municipal level level the party organisation will be allowed a one newspaper each. And that's it!

Apart from these all other newspapers will be required to operate freely in the market place. It is anticipated that many newspapers and proganda outlets, supported by compulsory subscriptions will fail. The GAPP seem quite relaxed by this. Indeed they insist that anyone caught trying to compel subscriptions will be punished.

The trial balloon in the CCP's main organ also suggests that foreign ownership will also be allowed up to 49% albeit with no editorial control. The plan is said to have been 'accepted in principal' at the June conference of the Central Committee's working conference. A rumoured release in July has been held up as leaders argue over possible pitfalls. Strong resistance from some of the doomed newspapaper and government departments with their own propaganda outlets is also said to be preventing early release.

The present advertising revenue stream is set to be about Yuan 100 billion (US12.5b) this year so the stakes are high. Most of the revenue is centred around the top 100 TV stations, newspapers and magazines however. Insiders suggest the plan could be implemented over the next three years with only modest trials of foreign equity. There's no suggestion however that China will give up tight control of the media as recent criticism of media outlets revealed.

Cultural Cringe

China Hand is overjoyed of course at another plank of China's modernization being implemented however he would feel a lot better about it if Australia was a long way ahead in the area of media deregulation. Sadly Australia is still a poor relation in this respect with a plan to protect our cultural values at all costs, i.e. force us to watch locally manufactured drama whether we like it or not. This plan has resulted in one media baron becoming rich beyond his dreams. Our ex-media baron, Rupert Murdoch, has campaigned against the regulations on "cross-media" ownership unsuccessfully.

Our poor actors and directors even protest about the CER with New Zealand as that would bring in cheaply made NZ drama and documentaries which Australians would apparently much prefer to their pap. They don't say this of course, they blame the greedy TV stations who are also jealously protected, and say they will buy any old cheap rubbish. As socialists of course they don't seem to realise that 'free-to-air' TV companies operate under the imperative of getting an audience and of course if good old Aussie Joe was so keen to watch home made Aussie drama they'd storm TV stations trying to pass off Kiwi lookalikes. The socialist imperative of course is to force people to do what's good for them and not let them do what they want!

China Hand has always been an enthusiasitc supporter of Australian film, but you only have to go to a big video chain to realise it is not even on the radar of today's youth. Only one major video chain carries Australian movies and their collection is tiny. It you tried to buy video of Australia film classics it is impossible for the most part as the government bought up all the rights and then lost them a long time ago.

It is true that New Zealand film makers and directors are just as distinguished internationally as Australians and have made many first class films but some of their local productions however have such strong accents that even Australians would be giggling all the way through a drama.

Australians, I think, invented the term Cultural Cringe. Our performing arts sector exemplifies it.

Saturday, August 16, 2003

Mrs China Hand Blossoms as Lu Laoshi

Mrs China Hand is enjoying a renaissance in Huizhou. She has become Lu Laoshi, Teacher Lu. She has been teaching English to two of the employees at the real estate agency who rents out our apartment now for several months. Nothing remarkable in that. But recently she was approached by some Korean mothers whose daughters have been going to the local school but who will head off for local high school in September. The girls are fairly fluent in Chinese and can read and write as a result of attending local schools. But their English, learned in the Huizhou school, is naturally very basic. My wife is brushing up their English using a bi-lingual (Chinese-English) textbook which they will use here. The remarkable thing about it is that my wife, a HK Chinese (and thus a native Cantonese-speaker) is using Mandarin to teach English to two Korean 13 years old. She is enjoying the new status immensely and is being approached by more students who have had the benefit of expat teachers but who were unable to understand them. It is a new vocation for her and she is blossoming after long, hard years being a housewife and mother in Australia.

Mrs China Hand took many years to recover from the shock of moving from the dynamic, bustling Asian giant, Hong Kong, to the lazy, quiet suburbs of Asia's White Trash in Sydney. She busied herself setting up an apartment and then renovating an old house which we moved into at Christmas 2000. She looked after our boys until they both completed high school, and this year she joined China Hand in Huizhou.

Mrs China Hand is a China Hand in her own right of course. Her first foray into China was in 1980 when she took a Texaco Oil representative to Zhanjiang in Guangdong province near Hainan Island. At the same time China Hand was setting up office in the Beijing Hotel. She came to Beijing in July that year and from the time she met China Hand she was no longer a free woman. Her combination of graciousness, beauty, traditional Chinese values and a thorough knowledge of western culture were irresistable to me at a time when I was ready to take the plunge at the tender age of 33. She worked for the US General Electric company in Beijing briefly before joining the old German trader Melchers. After our marriage 1981 she worked for the Australian Westpac Bank as their office manager until the imminent birth of our first son Oliver -- when she flew to Hong Kong, eight months pregnant. At that time I was working for Ted Rule and Barry Neal, a couple of Austrade officials who had retired to make their fortune in China. I was their Beijing Manager and co-ordinated all China work while they rounded up a client base in Australia. I worked for them until the end of 1982 when I was asked to join Elders IXL Ltd as their China Business Mananger.

Mrs China Hand was made Beijing Office Manager and for a while we were high-profile in Beijing in both the Australian and the British business communities. The Elders office actually was set up by the British Wood Hall Group which they had purchased year earlier. It was not until mid 1984 that we finally moved to Hong Kong -- as there were no schools for our children in Beijing.

In Hong Kong, after the birth of our second son Andrew, Mrs China Hand worked for an American firm which sold American dissertations and British theses in micro-fiche, micro film and book form plus copies of academic papers - something then in great demand in China in the pre-internet days. And she also represented American and Bristish book publishers in China and Hong Kong. She travelled China visiting prominent libraries and doing seminars on the available academic resources to China's Open Door policy which promised to redouble the economy in twenty years and which, to everyone's surprise, did.

She was then approached by another China hand, Margaret Sullivan, who also lobbed into Beijing in the late 70's, about the same time as China Hand began studying Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute (now Beijing Language & Culture University). Ms Sullivan, who ran one of the most famous secretarial recruitment companies in Hong Kong, wanted to set up a specialist China recruitment agency and asked Mrs China hand to head it for her. She turned this into a successful operation but then fell out with the strong willed Margaret and left to set up her own firm. She ran this firm, Mandarin Personnel Consultants, until we left Hong Kong in mid-1996.

Sunday, August 10, 2003

China's Farmers are on the move!

China Hand's wife has just returned from a tour of Shunde, her grandfather's home town. She is very impressed with developments in this city which is famous in China as a furniture manufacturing centre as well as for domestic appliances. China Hand visited in the early 90's when modern development was just beginning. Even then there were some outstanding factories. Not particularly modern -- but very well managed with impressive labour utilization and productivity. Shunde is famous for two other things as well. First it was the home of the many Amah's or domestic servants who worked in Hong Kong. There is a story they formed a secret sisterhood who swore never to marry. Anyway they were great maids and were surrogate mothers to many a young Hong Kong child.

Also Shunde is famous as the home of the great Dragon Boat teams. Each year the winning Guangdong team comes to Hong Kong for the Dragon Boat races. Each year it is Shunde. There is a famous story which exemplifies life in this delta city - go out the front door and step into a boat - go out the back door and step into a boat. The whole delta is fish ponds.

Mrs China Hand seems to have spent most time at a high end luxury development which is featured extensively in advertorials on HK TV and came back very excited. High end villas around 2500-3500 square feet decorated to please a king. Prices at around US$100,000 - 150,000.

The previous weekend we went to Hong Kong to celebrate her sister's birthday at a very nice seafood restaurant in Sai Kong last weekend. Much more successful than the Sichuanese place in Central (called The Orange Door I think) I reported on a few months back. You know -- with the John Cleese style service.

HK is getting much cheaper as wages and property drop. Only the public servants selfishly refuse to accept any but token cuts (6% over three years!). The Financial secretary who tried to cut further they got sacked. But real wages have dropped there as much as 40%. Property even more. HK is now affordable! Suburban apartments which used to sell at HK$3-4000 (AU$670-890) per sq ft now sell at $1,500.(now AU$300). Remember - per sq ft!

All China is going soccer crazy as Real Madrid have done a lightning tour including games in Beijing, Tokyo and Hong Kong. All my students know who "Bik-Hahm" is but is you ask in English if they know who David Beckham is they will shrug!

Meanwhile exciting developments as China opens up further by loosening the residency permit system and allowing unfettered travel to HK by those with Shanghai, Beijing, and West Pearl River residency permits. Locals should be freer to work in new places and can also accept out-of-town assignments without losing their precious Beijing or Shanghai permits. Farmers coming to town to look for termporary work will no longer be arrested as vagrants, jailed and deported. Interestingly this policy, which was brought in in 1982 is now being spoken of as a mistake in the official media. They now say farmers will be free to look for work in the cities.

Actually the system has been a dead letter in Shenzhen now for years. Of the some 8 million residents only 3 million have permits. No employer (except the government) asks for anything but ID's these days. Last time I went to Shenzhen I took two minivans full of students - only half of whom had permits to enter Shenzhen. They only checked at the border for ID's. But my heart was in my mouth - as a foreigner I am used to following the letter of the law in China. But Shenzhen is a long way from Beijing and they want as much business as possible. HK is buzzing again and China has reinforced the idea that HK stands and falls on China's goodwill.

I mentioned the graduation ceremony in my last post. For Western students graduations are a drag and they refuse to attend. But it did create a huge buzz on campus when the graduands came to get their gowns, get photos done and rehearse. My students were totally distracted and when the power went off they begged me to cancel the afternoon lecture before the ceremony. As I hadn't had my lunch due to rehearsals - I reluctantly agreed. No doubt about it - graduation ceremonies (and all the photo ops) really go down well here. I must have been in a thousand photos on Friday.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Monday, December 31, 2007