Week of Work

Beijing Diary 30 May 2004

This was a week when I started to feel the stress of ending my time as a student; starting work in earnest and wondering how I might preserve the creative freedom I have enjoyed so much.

Monday 24^th Hong Kong

I went to work with a client in Discovery Bay, a 20-minute boat ride away on Lantau Island and appears to be modelled on the TV show ‘Fantasy Island.’ Working through media interview techniques while overlooking the 18^th Tee with Alex Chelleri, the newly promoted Head of Sales for Quantel, life seemed excellent. Somehow the anxieties of that had kept me awake the night before faded in the sunshine, as Alex made progress I felt confidence at being a good trainer return.

Tuesday 25^th Macao

Jon de Rule and I went to Macao, a short ride from Hong Kong, to check out some venues for a client. Jon is one of the most talented events men in Asia, and a survivor. There is a unique camaraderie among fellow entrepreneurs; we share the excitement of trying to realise a vision, the anxiety of insecurity, and the fear that we will find ourselves late in life without the rewards of stability and too old to start again.

Back in Hong Kong we went to the Gecko bar, and saw how the expatriate community reconstitutes itself. Hong Kong is changing, and according the English language press, it is for the worse. Police rejected claims that three popular radio show hosts have been intimidated by Beijing-connected heavies into resigning their slots called ‘Teacup in a Storm’ and ‘Close Encounter of the Political Kind.’ In practical terms the ‘One Country- two systems’ is being seen as a sham, with the radio hosts being the latest flickering flames of opposition to be snuffed out. In the club we could have been in Ronnie Scotts as Alexia Gardner[1] sang jazz – it was hard to believe Alexia was from Birmingham; just one of the many contradictions that make Hong Kong a stimulating place to spend time, but for me not a place to live.

Wednesday 26^th Hong Kong to Beijing

Hong Kong is becoming more like another mainland city, while Beijing is trying to become a pre-eminent global city. It is like a pageant queen not wanting to be outshone by her offspring. The Hong Kong issue of the China Daily had a photo of D. Wolfensohn in Shanghai opening the Global Conference on Scaling Up Poverty Reduction. The Beijing issue of the China Daily had a photo of a proud farmer in blue Mao suit proudly showing off his prize winter melon, Wolfensohn and the conference a second story. The editors appear to recognize the different levels of sophistication of those watching the pageant.

Thursday 27^th

Time becomes increasingly pressured. Megan was in the Beijing United Family Hospital[2] with what would be diagnosed as kidney stones. The Hospital is considered to be the most expensive in Beijing at US$1600 per night. The room was ultra modern and while Megan said there were some hiccups in co-ordinating her tests, the doctor had called her physician in the USA and Megan felt reassured. There is no real middle ground in medical care in Beijing, unlike in Singapore where patients can enjoy professional care with variable levels of personal comfort and concomitant expense. I wolfed down a Starbucks sandwich and headed to town.

The Quantel offices are in a shiny new tower block, and I had arranged for the publishers of State Administration for Radio Film and Television magazine to come to the offices with one goal, but they had two it seemed. The interviews went well, and I am pleased that after 3 months in China I have started to open up an entirely new range of publications for the client. Over dinner, without Quantel there, Frank Yao of SARFT brought up the topic of investing in EASTWEST PR. Reading the sentiment in Hong Kong I am aware of the potential pitfalls. I left it that Frank should talk with his management, and then we can take it further.

Friday 28^th

Maria, an Argentian class mate, arranged for a group of us to sing at the PartyWorld Karaoke. Karaoke was first started by the Japanese, and may go down in history as one more of their atrocities. PartyWorld is the size of a mid sized hotel, with each room centred on a massive 30 inch TV, variable lighting, and computerized jukebox that contains mainstream and obscure classics. Maria and Laura sang like songbirds, while David and I belted out the ‘House of the Rising Sun.’

Saturday 29^th

With an eye on my trip to Helsinki next weekend, I went shopping. As a student I have been living in jeans and unpolished shoes, changing occasionally for the trips to the Quantel office. It is wonderfully stress free. In the mall at China World Hotel I found myself faced with the world of fashion, and realised I was starting out again, acquiring things and worrying if they match with each other and with my personality.

Sunday 30^th

David, Sabine and I cycled to Yuánmíng Yuán Yízhĭ (old summer palace) on our bikes. Established in the 12^th Century and remodelled on European designs by Emperor Qianlong, ironically it was sacked by Anglo French troops in 1860 (Opium war) and so if full of ruins. The lakes, pagoda’s, acres of trees and flowers make it restful place to study Mandarin. As we unlocked our bicycles a group of kids giggled excitedly, fumbling with their cameras. At 11&12 they have been learning English for 2 years in a class of 46 students at the Sha cheng liu xiao school; they answered our Chinese questions in enthusiastic English. In sequence they pronounced their English names: Sally, Lilly, Ann. As we cycled away, I thought that some of them may be working during the Olympics – China is preparing the welcoming committee early.

In the evening David and I went to the Shaolin Warriors performance at the Haidian Theatre. It opens with a boy asking a monk “What is Shaolin Kungfu,” and the monk replying, “It is something which you will not only see with your eyes, but you will also feel with your heart.” In 527 Emperor Wei built the Shaolin Temple for the senior monk Bodhi Dharma to teach Bhuddism. The monks are amazing acrobats and weapons masters practicing the “72 Arts.” Behind us a boy the age of the one on stage chattered and cooed the whole time. His father, Zhang Sheng Li, is the founder of the Beijing Mu Lu School of Kung Fu and 3 new styles of the art. His son had been to Shaolin already, or so David and I interpreted, which accounted for his excitement.

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[1] (http://www.alexiajazz.com)[2] Http://www.unitedfamilyhospitals.com

A week in the life of Dong Wang Zhuang

Hong Kong
Sunday, 23 May 2004

Here I am sitting in Hong Kong away on business, at the end of a week in which I was enjoying being a student and resident of the Dong Wang Zhuang community in Beijing.

Beijing
Monday 17th

There are large signs around the zhuang aimed at encouraging civic pride, payment of taxes on-line and even welcoming foreigners like me. A 1.5m x 4m wide sign on the side of a block of flats reads, ‘The emerge of nonative population added vigour to the economic development of Haidian District. At the same time they should enjoy equal service. To provide the same public, service and management for them is one of the principles we stick to. Therefore, whenever you came from, you have the night to our reproductive & health service.’ This is encouragement indeed to become part of the community, even if only for the night. It is perhaps unfair to be critical of the translations, for the spirit is what is important – and the fact that there are even signs in English. Interestingly the signage is not in Korean or Japanese in spite of their large numbers.

My confidence for the postal service was dented by news that a company was suing the Postal Service because several million direct mail flyers had been found not in the homes of the addressees, but rather at a paper recycling plant. The enterprising postal officer had subcontracted delivery to a friend who no doubt realized the environmental benefits of saving the intended recipients the task of finding a recycle bin. Chinese law says that a plaintiff cannot sue a publicly owned entity and as the Post Office is not allowed to subcontract delivery, technically the delivery did not take place; in spite of the large sums of money paid by the company for the distribution.

Tuesday 18th

The zhuang, ‘village’, is a self-contained world and I have decided that it makes a better university than the campus. I have taken to buying things that I don’t really need just to practice my vocabulary, including a variety of fruits. There are about 30 blocks, each 8 storeys high with two apartments at each level. Wang Wei Xin, a 32 year old who ferries passengers in his Santana on the weekend, is buying his 3 bedroom place for RMB300,000.

Wednesday 19th
I spent a quiet day studying and enjoyed a relaxed evening in the zhuang for almost the first time since moving here in March. I bought a batch of DVDs’ for RMB8 (US$1) each, including ‘The Last Boy Scout’ starring Bruce Willis. Almost all the American movies in the neon lit box like shop were action packed, with gun toting heroes and innocent people becoming victims. What kind of impression of America does this give to people in the zhuang? I have lived in America and even I have started to believe everyone carries guns and might have a head on collision with a drug-crazed teenager. Tenley, one of my American classmates, said that after 911 and the Washington DC sniper shootings, she felt it would be safer to live in China.

Michael Jordan arrived in Beijing, and the police had to cancel his first appearance because of the huge crowds who pulled down fences and crushed a car. All things American still hold such a dual fascination.

Thursday 20th
While learning Chinese may be less and less useful to talk to the young, it is helping people to connect to their family and their roots. Winnie, a German/Hong Kong mix, shared that she had spoken to Chinese Mum in Mandarin for the first time. They both cried with joy, and I nearly did too. For many Eurasians who have grown up in western language homes, one of their parents has lived in linguistic isolation, and I was so happy for Winnie that she could dissolve that barrier with her Mum.

An official in Changchun was found guilty of embezzling US$988,000 over 4 years, and received the death sentence. Justice, if it is that, is quick and intolerant.

Friday 21st
On Friday night Rebecca and I made it to the China Philharmonic Orchestra performance of Carmen. The performance was sponsored by American Express, which can’t be used to book nor to pay for tickets. First opened in 1991, The Poly Theatre has 1,338 seats, this show selling at RMB680 to RMB 80. Kirsten Chavez of America sang Carmen with great bravura and Jianyi Zhang, who didn’t have the charisma to match Chavez, played Don Jose. I was interested that a Chinese female opera singer was not chosen to play the morally loose Spanish Gypsy girl. The Opera by French composer George Bizet (1838-1875) is set in Spain and is a tale of the pursuit of freedom and unrequited love, in the end the disloyal Carmen is slain by her spurned lover – was there a coded message for the increasingly liberated Chinese women in the audience I asked myself. I was distracted by the English subtitles as Carmen sang, “If you love me, you spurm me.”

I was caught short at the theatre by having to use cash, and realized how little I use my credit card in China. Apparently there are some 560 million bankcards, mostly deposit cards, and only 1% as credit cards. Rebecca told me that when she makes purchases on Amazon.com, she has to pay a surcharge for using a China bank credit card. One reason for the lack of cards issued is because there is no unified credit risk appraisal system. Britain’s Standard Chartered Bank has said rules and regulations covering credit cards in China are still too vague for them to consider entering the field. The rumoured reason for the sluggish redress of the credit system is that China is worried about issuing RMB denominated credit cards, as people will be able to take the currency out of the country.
Hong Kong
Saturday 22nd
I flew to Hong Kong for a business trip, leaving the comfort of the zhuang. I first came to Hong Kong in 1992, 160 years after it was ceded to the British, and most years since 1997 when the residents have been fighting a losing battle with their new parents in Beijing. The newspapers are all writing about the disappointment at Tung Chee Hwa and his role as lip servant to Beijing mandarins, the disastrous Harbour fest that cost US$10m, and the pollution coming down from the mainland. In 1841 the British occupied the Chinese island of Hongkong after the Opium wars, and the Treaty of Nanking formally ceded it in 1842. I am convinced that lingering distrust and dislike over the Opium wars and Hong Kong has hampered British business interests in mainland China ever since.

Sunday 23rd
On Sunday I went to Lama Island, and passed by places that I used to know, where friends of mine used to live. I undressed to swim, and nearly blinded myself with the whiteness of my own skin after 4 months in Beijing. I quickly nipped into the South China Sea, safely behind the shark nets, and I thought of all the people that I used to know here, and who have moved on. Hong Kong was always a cosmopolitan but transient place, and today I feel that it is me who has moved on, while also feeling comfortable being in a place that I used to know, or perhaps just more comfortable in myself.

End note:
The excitement of business is pulling me back, as much as I enjoy the seclusion of Dong Wang Zhuang. Tim Charlton urged me to continue studying, and I agree, even though I see an ever-growing number of Chinese speaking English – it is almost a race to learn enough Mandarin before they won’t have the patience for me to stutter along in Putonghua. As I have only two weeks before I go back to Europe, this business trip to HK is perhaps the beginning of the end of my 4-month study break. Reality calls.

My Dad’s parcel arrived in the UK. Less than one week after it was sent. Confidence restored.

Thoughtful days

Beijing Diary May 16, 2004

This week has not felt like one separated by days, but more by a series of decisions that I have to take: To stay on at the BLCU classes, how much Chinese I believe I can learn and what is the right path for me over the coming six months to three years.

To BLCU or not to BLCU, that is the question

The language lessons continued to fail me, or me the lessons, and the remnants of enthusiasm I had were destroyed by a test that Dan Jiang gave to a diminished class on Wednesday. I decided that I am not going to making conversation and reading and writing emails in my impatient timeframe, and while writing characters is nice, it is not a priority. Instead I bought an MP3 based learning kit for RMB128 (US$16). As the audio files contain no English translations as implied on the packaging, the next day I had to purchase the companion book for a further RMB28. This is a crafty rouse that I come across often – sell a customer 85% of what they need the first time, and they have to come back for the next product to make the first one complete.

Deciding not to attend class is at once liberating and alarming. I had relied on BLCU to guide me through my linguistic ignorance to a level of competence, which I am disappointed to believe is no nearer today than 2 months ago. At EASTWEST I have done a fair amount of coaching and training for clients, and this experience as a ‘customer’ has made me acutely aware of my own shortcomings. I am resolved to find ways to experience being a customer on a regular basis, and encouraging the rest of the team to do so too. In this way we might achieve greater objectivity about our own service.

Service matters

Service, and understanding how to offer it is not a strong point at BCLU, but it is a proposition that they will need to offer once the government starts to allow liberalization of the education market. Having walked around the department store in Changchun looking at consumer electronics, I was interested to read research that shows consumer preferences are experiencing a seachange. The Research Institute of Market Economy[1] says that in 2000 83.4% of respondents said that low price was the number one purchase requirement, yet in 2003 85.1% regarded good quality and performance as being more important than price. What amazes me is the pace of this shift away from meeting essential needs to consumption of premium products. I think I am witnessing the establishment of a new discerning middle class in Beijing, as consumers start to become segmented by their earning power in a way that hasn’t been seen before. I say Beijing, and one could probably include other urban areas, but as I saw in Jilin province, for many Chinese price is still the one condition of purchase.

Timing is everything

I was given some advice by a good friend of mine from China, Cherry Cheung, whow told me that I must choose the right time to start a business in China, and not to make the mistake of entering too early. As the infrastructure is developing and the market is becoming more sophisticated, I am asking myself if now the time is right for a professional services company like EASTWEST PR. News that Sino-UK trade is at last taking some of Mr Blair’s time with a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao to London and the signing of US$1.5bn of contracts is welcome. With the Olympics, World Expo and frequent news of trade agreements, my daily thoughts are ‘Is this the right time?’ Too early and the market won’t support my costs, too late and the competition will already be intense. After 9 years of wrestling to keep EASTWEST alive in Singapore, I feel as though taking the decision to open an office here will the biggest one I have made since I left England in 1995.

The task in China may be the same, i.e. find ways to add value for customers, but the challenges feel quite different. Now the challenges are emotional ones, as I have learnt that relationships are the real source of wealth, and moving to China threatens the bonds that I have with my family in Europe and my great friends in Singapore. News that my Dad is having a minor operation has made me feel the anxiety of physical separation, and I question my need for the thrill of always starting risky ventures along way from England. However, when I read the papers of Europe’s sluggish economy and America’s roller coaster ride and the latest revelations of mutual abuse in Iraq, I feel that the next few years of opportunity for me are here in Asia.

News that one couple have moved their 75 year old mother, Mary Eudy, from the USA to an old peoples home in Chengdu at a cost of US$81 per month, casts a new light on the term filial piety. I don’t think my parents would agree to share dorms rooms with three Chinese pensioners, but it is certainly the case that the rewards of living away from my family are counterweighed by my sense of not fulfilling my own filial duty. After nearly a decade, it is perhaps inevitable that I have become slightly ‘Asianised.’

Staying in touch

This is my 13^th Beijing diary, and now after 3 months staying in touch with people seems easier and easier. This week I posted my Dad a copy of ‘The Last Emperor’s diary’ that I bought for him from the Palace in Changchun, along with ‘teach yourself Taiji’ VCD’s. The package cost RMB140 (US$17) including the padded envelope, and should arrive in 7-10 days. This is comparable to Singapore prices and timings; interestingly sending a card to Singapore costs the same amount as to Europe – RMB4.20. Last week I was amazed to receive a post card in my Dongwangzhuang post box from my aunt on holiday in France, not because she never writes, but as the address was naturally written in English. The postmark said it took 8 days to arrive. I wonder how many letters with addresses in Chinese would find a letterbox in the suburbs of London or leafy lanes of Kent. In the careful translation of my aunt’s post card I saw the commitment of China to embracing English and the foreigners that speak it. It is the small strokes that transform the canvas of my experience in Beijing, and trusting that I can send and receive physical things is adding another colour to the palette.

End note:

It’s funny how some days are memorable, and some seem to have just come and gone without instance. I try to make every day count, and in doing so resist the temptation for routine that can make the hours fall into a thoughtless sequence. Ironically in order to learn Chinese, fulfill my duties to family and company, I have to plan and be predictable. This week I lived more in my head, without a sense that I have accomplished a great deal, laying the framework for what I might try to accomplish, and weighing up the scale and price of my ambition.

Currency rates:

RMB8.33:US$1:GBP14.5

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[1] Source; China Daily, Tuesday 11^th May.

Heavenly Pool to Urban Development

Beijing Diary 9th May 2004

Monday 3rd – Jilin city (population 4.31m) Jilin province
It was still raining in Jilin when we woke up at 06.00, and we were pleased to be setting off for Er Dao Baihe at the base of the Changbai Shan national park. We nipped across the road to look at the Songhua river, twice the width of the Thames at Westminster, embroidered on either side with young trees, newly planted flowers and elegantly laid paving stones. Nearby was the one and only Catholic Church in Jilin built in 1917 and the victim of ransacking in the Cultural Revolution (1966-‘70), now emblazoned with overlarge golden lettering. I was reminded of my conversation in Beijing with Shelley , who told me that the Chinese don’t have religion; at least here they had a place to try.

Rob and I were the object of some fascination and confusion on the train to Dunhua, some 150 km and 4 hours train ride, and the place where we could get a bus to Baihe. No seats were allocated on this train, and we were almost too polite to get seats. We inserted ourselves on seats at the end of the carriage, next to the toilets, as usual the last place available. Curious passengers watched me study, one taking the book without asking, giving me an impromptu lesson. As foreigners we are somehow public property, our things open for review, men want to smoke and drink beer with us, and mothers push their teenage children forward to practice their English. Our average speed was just over 30km per hour, and the hard upright seats made the journey tiring.

The climb into the mountain region that lies on the border with North Korea is a slow and arduous one, much like the lives of the people that live there. The disposable income in urban areas in Jilin Province in 2002 was US$756, and in the rural ones US$285 per year and it didn’t look as though that has changed. I noticed that houses didn’t have TV aerials, and I didn’t see any animals, domestic or working, except one bullock used to pull a cart of farm goods.. After 6 uncomfortable hours (did you want to put a number of hours or leave it as ‘uncomfortable hours’?) we had covered 75km, arriving in Baihe. We had traveled a total of 10 hours for a wholesome 225km – rural travel isn’t quick.

Tuesday 4th – Baihe
This was the day that I had been waiting for; a visit to China’s largest nature reserve, covering 210,000 hectares of virgin forest and home of Tian Chi which lies at 2194m, and the border of North Korea. Our driver had bought his ‘Chinese built’ Cherokee jeep for US$15,000, and for RMB400 took us to the base of Tian Chi – Heaven Pool. Entrance to the park was RMB60, then we had to pay to climb to a waterfall, and then again to get to the lake. We were feeling ripped off. We ascended by the side of the waterfall inside a concrete drainpipe made slippery with frozen water, and saw one of the most stunning sights I have seen. A huge volcanic crater thick with ice, and half way across, the north Korean border.

We wondered if hiking outdoors is a new phenomenon in China, or if people simply don’t have the money to buy special clothing, or uncharitably if they just lack common sense. We couldn’t believe it as Chinese women were clambering up in high heels and men in office shoes wearing little more than office suits – it was 5ºC. As another complete stranger asked if her sister could be photographed with us, I wondered who these people would say we are when they show their friends – they didn’t even ask our names.

There are apparently only 450 Manchurian Tigers in the world, and at Dong Bei Hu Lin Yuan we saw 12 of them. For RMB60 we could watch a live chicken be given a chance to outrun a tiger, and for RMB1000 a goat would have a race for its life.. Never an opportunity missed. No carnage was available that day however, and instead we were left unattended by the unlocked cages, where we mustered up courage to poke at a cubs paw protruding through the fence.

The rest of the day was an anticlimax really, apart from traveling in a tiny bubble car on the way to buy train tickets for the next day, waiting for the office to open while drinking beer in the bar of the station controller. Rob really wanted to ask the old man with a leathery face that stared at us continuously, “What did you do in the cultural revolution?” It was a recurring question for Rob, but luckily he didn’t pluck up courage to ask.

Wednesday 5th Baihe to Dandong, nearly
Our plan had been to travel to Dandong, to see the North Korean border, but the length of all the journeys changed our minds. We took the 08.10 ‘fast’ train #4242 to Tonghua, which covered 200km at an alarming average speed of 50km/hr. Tongua was wet, like Jilin, with absolutely no redeeming features except for the buses and trains that take one away from it. How depressing a place can be, with rain filled potholes, ramshackle flat roofed buildings, and no colour except for the pink middle school that tried to overshadow the massive disused warehouse next to the cinder running track. I thought of the book I read as a child, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’ by Russian author Solzhenitsyn, and how it described the damaging effects of a lack of beauty – and here was a near living example. We just wanted to leave.

The 250km journey to Dandong would take 9 hours, having nearly walked to North Korea, and become less adventurous, we opted to travel to Dalian on an overnight train.

Thursday 6th Dalian (population 5.4m) – Liaoning province
I was at once pleased and disappointed to have returned to civilization. We lost our celebrity appeal (although 4 youngsters still wanted to be photographed with us), and people spoke more English. The shops brimmed with western goods, especially in the glass fronted department stores, where cars were being raffled and a shrill voiced girl promoting Whirlpool washing machines entertained the crowd by embarrassing men who couldn’t pronounce the ‘Wh’ sound quickly enough – progress is coming, and it is women who are cajoling the men to get with the future. That night at the Mutual Bar, two men joined our table, uninvited, and proceeded to tell us how much they hated the Japanese and asked on our views of Taiwan, Northern Ireland and Iraq. “Why are there so many Japanese cars?” asked Rob, at which Max brought out the Wan Wover (Land Rover) keys – the other issues required more diplomacy.

Friday 7th

Dalian is 100 years old with 1906km of coastline, much of which has been ruined by concrete and attempts to harvest money from holiday makers. ‘The world great landscapes are all created for you’ reads the brochure of the grandly named ‘Xinghai national treasure’ condominiums – where a 3-bedroom apartment costs US$300,000. On the hillside ruining their view was a medieval castle to rival Camelot, the dream of Zhang Yi, President and Party Secretary of Liaoning Ocean Fishery Group and housing a lonely 20,000 seashells and opened in 2003. Having earlier seen the ‘Love Coast’ marriage chapel and hotel along the coast, and several disused hotels, we wondered whom, if anyone is managing urban planning. The legacy of this ‘get-rich quick’ era will be a series of follies and environmental nightmares that future generations may or may not be able to repair.

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th
People live strange lives, none more so than some of the expatriates that we met in Dalian. While chef Pablo from Argentina wistfully told us of being stranded in the town’s sole Tapas bar, upstairs Malcolm of Newcastle was plying his offshore oil team with the 37th bottle of champagne. At Sphinx bar, where Malcolm said we should go, Big Tony and Gerry were also Newcastle refugees, having spent 14 years in Korea. At Sphinx, Gerry told us, the girls aren’t working and would go with a customer if they liked them, but at Alice’s they pay Alice for the opportunity to pick up a westerner who might give them between RMB400 and RMB1000 for the night. Opposite Alice’s bar is Russian sailor’s hotel. Gerry handed over RMB400 (US$50) to the waitress in return for a bottle of Sambuca (pronounced sanbookka); the same amount she will earn for the month, if she can resist the Russian sailors.

End note:
As the Chinese travel overseas more and become wealthier, more sophisticated, I wonder how each of these places will change. It takes one hour to fly the 450 km from Dalian to Beijing, and costs the average monthly salary of an inhabitant of the province.

Changchun, Jilin showed me the sheer scale of these second tier cities, dynamos in their own right. Er Dao Bai He embodies a nascent tourist industry, one that has yet to develop a service culture and to defend the environment from the side effects of the tourism industry itself. Dalian wants to be Shanghai by the sea, the Brighton of China, but with signage I doubt the Sussex council would allow such as on the ‘lugaes tnaruatser’ that failed to give us the confidence to eat there. As the changes inevitably take place, I hope that the selfish traits of the last emperor Puyi, whom by his own accounts betrayed the lives of countless Chinese to save his own are not embedded in the Chinese psyche, and that people will make decisions in the interest of the community and the environment, not just themselves.

Journey to Jilin Province

This week I started to get excited about the prospects of setting up a business in China, was getting impatient with my teacher at BLCU,and set off to the Jilin province in north east China for my first proper road trip in China.

Baihe, N.E. China
Monday 25 April
On Monday I sat in the language class and decided that if teacher DAN Jiang was a member of my staff, I would have to sack her. She is useless. I stayed at DongwangZhuang in the apartment and thought about how to study more effectively. I realised that part of the challenge has been going back to pen and paper, with a stack of messy and unstructured notes on my desk. When computers are turned off, they look neat and tidy no matter the mess on the desktop.

I opened up the laptop and started to create animated presentations that enlarge the characters and simultaneously test me on the meanings. Later I showed these to Megan, Sophie and Sabine who all liked them – we resolved to key in all 20 chapters of our text book, and I’m tempted to see if we can sell our multimedia work as on campus almost all the study aids are cassette based.

Tues. 26th
I went to the market and bought a Northface backpack. Opening price RMB300, closing price RMB110. Piracy of all things in China is alive, well and very hard to resist.

Wed. 27th
Inmarsat, a satellite communications company and client of ours, held a press and partner conference at the Crown Plaza on the 6th ringroad of Beijing. Sonya flew up from Singapore for the event, and our partners EBA organised some 35 press to attend. As I helped to brief Paul, the Inmarsat spokesman from the UK who resembled Tony Blair, I realised that being a foreigner makes me study the country more keenly than my local counterparts for whom so much must seem the way of life.

At both the conference and the cocktail reception the young staff were keen to practise their English, and I inflicted my Chinese on them, which resulted in me drinking too much red wine, which I was convinced made me more fluent.

Thursday 28th
I studied at home again, and questioned why it is my natural tendency to always create my own ways of doing things; is this intellectual arrogance or the product of an active mind.

Friday 29th April
On Friday my first proper travel adventure in China started, as I set off for Changchun (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/jilin/changchun/). My friend Rob Metcalf was coming up on the Saturday to begin our overland journey from Changchun to Jilin, the mountains of Baihe, Dandong on the North Korean border and then flying back from Dalian to Beijing on Sunday 9th May. The much vaunted May holiday crowds were not in existence at the airport, perhaps because the majority of people would be travelling by train.

Changchun is one of the 2nd tier cities in China with 6.8m citizens in what was the old capital of the Manchukuo province, and I was excited to visit Puyi’s palace as I have been slowly reading his autobiography. The Japanese installed Puyi, the last emperor, in Changchun between 1933-1945, after which it was looted by the Russians, then the Kuomintang and finally the Communist troops in 1948. I quickly liked Changchun with its wide tree lined streets, bustling alleys and large parks. I checked into the 3 Star Xin Chuntian (New Spring) hotel which was at the heart of the city on Beijing Dajie, and found myself a coffee bar that overlooked one of the many large parks in the city that lend it a European feel.

I did a quick tour around a shopping centre: A Philips Iron for RMB149 (US$18), Chinese brand top-load washing machines RMB650 (US75), a Samsung front load washing machine RMB4,800 (US$750). Just below the escalator a classical violinist in a fuscia pink Chinese gown serenaded shoppers looking at the Chinese premium brand watches. While some companies are pirating western brands, it is clear that brands like Haier and this watch company were going to build their own brand names, with a competitive price and styling influenced by western designers. China, like Japan before it, is moving steadily and rapidly from a ‘copy country’ to an ‘innovation’ country, providing goods for the emerging middle classes that can’t afford foreign products.

Sat. 1st May
I went to see the old palace of Puyi, the emperor installed by the Japanese in 1932. I hadn’t realised just how much of the North East of China (Manchuria) had been occupied over the last two centuries by the Japanese and the Russians, with brutal consequences. Puyi believed that by siding with the Japanese he could ascend to the throne of the entire nation, and the Japanese used him to pursue their ambition to take the resource rich Manchuria. Chinese history books, and the showreel played in Puyi’s personal cinema, all depict him as a man guilty of siding against his own people for personal ambition. In the brochures, signage and showreel, Puyi is ridiculed and held up as an example of how foreigners have sought to dupe ingenuous Chinese.

Rob called from Beijing to say that he had missed his flight, and that his handphone was broken. I wondered if I would be making this trip alone.

Outside the gates, there was a street market selling old Manchukuo medals, coins, notes and assorted souvenirs, many of which were probably as fake as Puyi’s power. In the end, I thought, Puyi finally gave something back to the people of Changchun – a tourist industry.

The rundown two storey grey building set behind a 30ft high statue of Mao, was the first base for film production established by the Communist Party of China. It was initially named Northeast Film Studio and renamed Changchun Film Studio in February 1955. Apparently some 500 movies have been filmed there, and more than 620 films dubbed, and both the building and the tour guide showed their fatigue. A gaggle of Chinese tourists and I were shown how wind noises used to be made, and a beaming young girl was filmed singing karaoke against a blue screen; technologies that in the West are already 25 years old. At the entrance to the most exciting part of the tour, we were told we required yet another ticket. I decided I had paid and seen enough. I was left standing in a large hallway to find the exit which I did through a graveyard of film props and old vehicles. In front of the crumbling studio, next to the discoloured Mao statue, a young couple posed for a photograph, contrasting the fresh face of China today with the faded and worn reality of the past.

Rob arrived – great to have his company, especially as he is as keen to pore over the dictionary to find Chinese words that we don’t know.

Sunday 2nd May
Rob and I got on train #4255 Changchun to Jilin at lunchtime, ready for the 2.30hr journey (RMB10). Tickets are allocated by seat and everyone sits in their place, with inspectors carrying handheld PDAs to issue tickets for cash (credit cards are hardly seen here). There seems to be a mismatch between the technology being used and the sophistication of the people being served by it. The little boy opposite, with dirty trousers and tousled hair, lay his head next to a bottle of ‘Future Cola,’ and I wondered just what his future would look like. Outside the window, the farmland was littered with smallholdings, plots carefully tended but the single storey buildings run down, fences like broken teeth, irregular and unpleasing to look at.

Jilin was wet, wet and wet. A soulless place where we found ourselves the subject of curiousity at every corner, and for the first time annoyed at the combination of disinformation and misinformation we were being given about travelling to Baihe. The Government CITS travel agency was as much use as a paper bag in the rain, and eventually Rob and I went to the dark, gated bus station. An old man took pity on us and let us into the great waiting hall, where signs were in English but no-one understood them. Speaking in Chinese, Rob and I were both given different information by people who all claimed to know the truth; tired and wet we went to the train station, and I felt for the first time just how hard it can be to travel in a place where foreigners are ‘fair game.’

End note:
I would have to be fair to the teachers at BLCU, including DAN Jiang, because during the week of both meetings and travelling to the further parts of Northern China, I have found that I can get myself understood and understand some of the reply. My challenge is to get both halves of the equation right. Travelling has opened up new parts of China and shown me how more of the 1.4bn people live. As always, there is so little time, so much to see and even more to learn.