After 2 weeks in Shanghai of meetings and networking around to find companies to talk about CSR at the next AIESEC conference in Shanghai next year, I spent 1 weekend in Wuxi visiting a friend (just 75 minutes by train from Shanghai). He taught me Chinese chess and i saw a big buddha plus some lakes before heading to Hangzhou (just 2 hours by train from Shanghai) to start AIESEC in one of the top 5 best Universities in China.
It was an exciting 4 days meeting the students, University and local companies. The campus is one of the best I have ever seen -1/3rd finished full of beautiful lakes, millions of trees, fancy designed buildings and so on: I walked around it lots; in the evening it was lit up magnificently (as in tastefully and stylishly -which means it would fit in perfectly in Shanghai, but not in Beijing!).
A quick day in Shanghai was folllowed by the 14 hr trip to Beijing for 4 days since the President of AIESEC globally is in town talking to us; its a fun, kind of exhausting time. Broken up by going to the Scottish Ball which hands-down beat the British and EU balls. I can promise you that if you fill me with whiskey and wine then I can actually dance fairly well (scottish line dancing is a lot of fun). On Tuesday is the train back to Shanghai (12 hrs, fast train), on Friday back to Beijing. (14 hrs) The following Friday will be back to Shanghai (14 hrs) and a local mountain (13 hrs there, 12 hrs back) that we aim to climb in the snow before returning to Beijing (14 hrs) for a week or so returning home for New Year (11 hr flight i suppose). So if trains are your thing...
Talking about AIESEC in the past few days, and its relevant, vision and strategies for China has led to interesting discussion about China itself and AIESEC's role. With 2 major trends -the external, globalisation, internationalisation one and the internally focused, student and talent development; AIESEC is important. Especially with the misunderstandings that the World has of China and of how to deal with China. What's the best job opportunity we realised right now? Advising Chinese companies on how to do business in the West (market opportunities, cultural differences etc) -since Chinese companies have no understanding of the West (the same as Western companies not understanding China until they spent millions on consultancy and research fees!)
Stay tuned for some delicious Chinese food coming soon ... with appaling service, menus in Chinese, rude customers and phlegm over the floors... to a town near you!
I'm looking forward to seeing many UK-based people over New Year (probably a house party taking place if you can come) and going to Thailand for Chinese New Year.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Tennis
The LCG (little chinese girl AKA Tee) and Me, Tennis Masters Cup Final, Shanghai, 15 November, 2005.Fantastic stadium, great tennis and lots of short movie clips courtesy of digital camera technology! We even spent the last few hours in the most expensive seats since people started leaving (yay)
20,000 people
280 rmb ticket
45 minutes bus ride from Shanghai
20 rmb for half a sandwhich in the 'canteen'/restaurant'
12 Tennis Players
8 hours of tennis
2 caps courtesy of Haworth (we weren't good enough to actually win them properly)
1 awesome guitar player for entertainment
Friday, November 11, 2005
Shanghai
I've been in Shanghai a week now and its been over 11 months since I was last here. Wow. I totally forgot how amazing (and so different) the place is. There is such a buzz, I am not sure what it comes from, probably a combination of:
-fantastic skyline, everywhere -tall buildings, fancy buildings, lights everywhere
-people everywhere -Shanghai has more shops and more people shopping; it also seems to have more people walking on the streets... beijing is quite empty really of people, they are all spread out more I think. Actually Shanghai has 3-4 million more people than Beijing -maybe thats it! Oh, and Shanghai's pavements are much narrower than Beijing
-the massive commercialisation of Shanghai -lots of neon, lots of TV screens (even one on the other side of the road that you watch whilst waiting for the pedestrian crossing lights to change!)
-the huge number of cafes, bars and shops all designed stylishly, fashionably and discreetly.. and not just shoved in 3 areas, but dispersed somewhat.
-the more foreign people around, the higher prices in Shanghai and the umbrellas up from the RAIN (yay!)
Shanghai is really a totally different city from Beijing. There is very little to see culturally (in comparison) and not much of an 'old Shanghai' left -there was never really an 'old Shanghai' anyway, since most of it was built in the last 150 years..and not much of that is left. But there is a beautiful, large euopean style area with trees along the roads and wonderful places to eat, drink, read hidden away behind hedges. There is an airconditioned subway line (with ticket gates, not people), there is the coundown on every pedestrian light and most of all, there is the fact that almost every appartment building looks built in the last 15 years.
In Beijing, most expats know most of the nice appartment complexes; there are only about 10-15 really fancy ones, and then a few other areas of nice-ish ones. In Shanghai they are everywhere; in Pudong (the huuuuge area built from scratch 15 years ago, reclaimed from marsh land, now with a population of a few million), near the old airport, in the center, in the north-east... just everywhere. There are lots more taller buildings here -genuine skyscrapers, and everything is just more modern (escalators in the subway for example!)
Actually the Shanghai government is leading the way in China with lots of clever policies (its quite, maybe a little too much i wonder, independent from the Central government) including 1-way streets, pedestrian walkways over roads and other infrastructure things. It also has a better business environment etc. The Chinese government though, wants to develop the pooper regions more and focus less on the major cities, but now the major cities have got their act together with trade fairs, special attractions (Forumula 1, Masters Cup Tennis) and others.
Anyway, I came here for lots of meetings, seminars and conferences for networking in order to arrange speakers for the next big CSR event, here in Shanghai, in early January. A few of the Beijing crew came down for the weekend which meant we were up till 4/5am a few nights in a row and there are a lot more alumni in Shanghai from all over the World..who I am not starting to meet more (and take advantage of...)
Tonight we saw a film about North Korea that was very interesting. It only focused on Pyongyang (and the director of the film who was at the screening said that the rest of north korea is VERY different), and all the chinese we were with said it was just like China after the Cultural Revolution (late 60s): with a big focus on 'being a group', 'being self-sufficient', 'fighting the american aggressor' (there are frequent practise air-raids, justifiably so, the koreans in the film say, knowing about Iraq!) and celebraing 'the General' (who is everywhere and idolised). Apart from the fact that the city itself is in quite good condition (it all had to be rebuilt after the Korean war), I suppose it was what I expected (communism etc). But it would be nice to have seen more of the rest of Korea (the real Korea) -it was, though, a documentary about 2 girls practicing the the 'mass games' and not a story about korea itself.
So we saw a glimpse of the DPRK (democratic people's of republic as north korea is, ironically, known) through their (and family's) eyes and the 'mass games' (like olympics games opening cermony all day for a week on end, and a few times a year) were gobsmacking (what do you expect when the girls train for 2 hrs a day for 2 months and then 10 hrs a day for 2 months or so) -to perform in front of the 'General' is the ultimate honour. Anyway, its not on general release (but partly paid for by the BBC so might be on in the UK sometime) -highly recommmended. I bought a book that the diretor brought over '100 questions about north korea' that is what north korea publishes internally in english, so its obviously propoganda crap, but hilarious reading!
off to bed, more days of conferences and meetings ahead...gggr, no time to sleep (but finally getting over my cold!)
-fantastic skyline, everywhere -tall buildings, fancy buildings, lights everywhere
-people everywhere -Shanghai has more shops and more people shopping; it also seems to have more people walking on the streets... beijing is quite empty really of people, they are all spread out more I think. Actually Shanghai has 3-4 million more people than Beijing -maybe thats it! Oh, and Shanghai's pavements are much narrower than Beijing
-the massive commercialisation of Shanghai -lots of neon, lots of TV screens (even one on the other side of the road that you watch whilst waiting for the pedestrian crossing lights to change!)
-the huge number of cafes, bars and shops all designed stylishly, fashionably and discreetly.. and not just shoved in 3 areas, but dispersed somewhat.
-the more foreign people around, the higher prices in Shanghai and the umbrellas up from the RAIN (yay!)
Shanghai is really a totally different city from Beijing. There is very little to see culturally (in comparison) and not much of an 'old Shanghai' left -there was never really an 'old Shanghai' anyway, since most of it was built in the last 150 years..and not much of that is left. But there is a beautiful, large euopean style area with trees along the roads and wonderful places to eat, drink, read hidden away behind hedges. There is an airconditioned subway line (with ticket gates, not people), there is the coundown on every pedestrian light and most of all, there is the fact that almost every appartment building looks built in the last 15 years.
In Beijing, most expats know most of the nice appartment complexes; there are only about 10-15 really fancy ones, and then a few other areas of nice-ish ones. In Shanghai they are everywhere; in Pudong (the huuuuge area built from scratch 15 years ago, reclaimed from marsh land, now with a population of a few million), near the old airport, in the center, in the north-east... just everywhere. There are lots more taller buildings here -genuine skyscrapers, and everything is just more modern (escalators in the subway for example!)
Actually the Shanghai government is leading the way in China with lots of clever policies (its quite, maybe a little too much i wonder, independent from the Central government) including 1-way streets, pedestrian walkways over roads and other infrastructure things. It also has a better business environment etc. The Chinese government though, wants to develop the pooper regions more and focus less on the major cities, but now the major cities have got their act together with trade fairs, special attractions (Forumula 1, Masters Cup Tennis) and others.
Anyway, I came here for lots of meetings, seminars and conferences for networking in order to arrange speakers for the next big CSR event, here in Shanghai, in early January. A few of the Beijing crew came down for the weekend which meant we were up till 4/5am a few nights in a row and there are a lot more alumni in Shanghai from all over the World..who I am not starting to meet more (and take advantage of...)
Tonight we saw a film about North Korea that was very interesting. It only focused on Pyongyang (and the director of the film who was at the screening said that the rest of north korea is VERY different), and all the chinese we were with said it was just like China after the Cultural Revolution (late 60s): with a big focus on 'being a group', 'being self-sufficient', 'fighting the american aggressor' (there are frequent practise air-raids, justifiably so, the koreans in the film say, knowing about Iraq!) and celebraing 'the General' (who is everywhere and idolised). Apart from the fact that the city itself is in quite good condition (it all had to be rebuilt after the Korean war), I suppose it was what I expected (communism etc). But it would be nice to have seen more of the rest of Korea (the real Korea) -it was, though, a documentary about 2 girls practicing the the 'mass games' and not a story about korea itself.
So we saw a glimpse of the DPRK (democratic people's of republic as north korea is, ironically, known) through their (and family's) eyes and the 'mass games' (like olympics games opening cermony all day for a week on end, and a few times a year) were gobsmacking (what do you expect when the girls train for 2 hrs a day for 2 months and then 10 hrs a day for 2 months or so) -to perform in front of the 'General' is the ultimate honour. Anyway, its not on general release (but partly paid for by the BBC so might be on in the UK sometime) -highly recommmended. I bought a book that the diretor brought over '100 questions about north korea' that is what north korea publishes internally in english, so its obviously propoganda crap, but hilarious reading!
off to bed, more days of conferences and meetings ahead...gggr, no time to sleep (but finally getting over my cold!)
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Eating Penis....
above: uncooked penis ..... below: cooked penis (and a mushroom, in case you are confused!)
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
whirlwind....
after the cabbage excitement, it was down to boring old chairing a conference for over 300 people for a weekend...again. hmm, i am always the backup option for chairing a conference, but its fun, tiring (up till late, up early) and exciting. 300 new AIESECers....
We relaxed the day it finished (got 10 hrs sleep!!), went to a hotpot restaurant (where you cook your own food in a boiling pot of water with spices) and experienced a new type of food.
well its not really food, since its actually penis. well, to be 100% honest, its 2 kinds of penis (maybe goat and bull...?) chopped up on a plate. not something you see too often in china let alone in the UK. Anyway, after some sniggers, pictures etc we boiled it (for a loooong time, just to make sure!) and ate it. Well, I ate most of it since it tasted pretty good (better than the stomach, which has always been a bad order) -so make whatever jokes you want!
After this week was loong meetings into the night about reviewing the previous month, planning the next conference and lots of other things. I've been doing some crappy adminy jobs but also getting out to have lunch with the students who help me on my CSR work.. Tonight i even had a group-MSN Messenger training session to (up to) 11 students...it was crazy, and when it was in chinese, even crazier!
Tomorrow night i got invited by Bayer to the EU Chamber Ball (went to UK one last year, paid lots..this time the EU one is free) -should be fun, should be drunk/tired when waking up at 5am the next morning for my flight to Shanghai for a) University CSR event and then trainee/foreigner weekend trip b) meetings (to get companies to come our next conference in SH in Jan) and external conferences (I am even speaking at one) and c) interviewing chinese students to work abroad. Then back to Beijing for a week for another University CSR event and back to Shanghai for some more meetings and conferences (and anoter alumni event and yet another charity 3 mile run!).
yay, travelling, its been 3 weeks and my feet were itching. So here's to lots of nights on floors, and money spent in expensive Shanghai. but its a great city, with lots of life.
I dont think I am learning that much more about Chinese people's working style -I realised a long time ago that chinese people tend to lack imagination or innovation straight after school due their curriculum. Its hard to get most people to voice or share their opinions. Its quite a blase comment, but generally true (can't be bothered to go into more details). However I am learning more about Chinese people from living with 3 of them. Especially girls. hmm, I think most chinese girls fit a stereotype of being cute/adorable, caring and innocent (seemingly). But at the same time they are quite sensitive/fragile and emotional. Learning a whole new set of chinese women people management skills (slowly); but i love both Kim and Primrose, both utterly unique (yet still within the stereoptype outlined above) and utterly different to any other women i know.
p. s.hopefully by the time i return to beijing the cleaner would have been hired!
p.p.s.boy i do hope i can see some rain in Shanghai -it tends to rain more than in Beijing, and I have literally seen snow fall 3 times and rain about 10 times in over a year -its insane. no wonder the water shortage is so dire (not that you know, since its the countryside that suffers).
We relaxed the day it finished (got 10 hrs sleep!!), went to a hotpot restaurant (where you cook your own food in a boiling pot of water with spices) and experienced a new type of food.
well its not really food, since its actually penis. well, to be 100% honest, its 2 kinds of penis (maybe goat and bull...?) chopped up on a plate. not something you see too often in china let alone in the UK. Anyway, after some sniggers, pictures etc we boiled it (for a loooong time, just to make sure!) and ate it. Well, I ate most of it since it tasted pretty good (better than the stomach, which has always been a bad order) -so make whatever jokes you want!
After this week was loong meetings into the night about reviewing the previous month, planning the next conference and lots of other things. I've been doing some crappy adminy jobs but also getting out to have lunch with the students who help me on my CSR work.. Tonight i even had a group-MSN Messenger training session to (up to) 11 students...it was crazy, and when it was in chinese, even crazier!
Tomorrow night i got invited by Bayer to the EU Chamber Ball (went to UK one last year, paid lots..this time the EU one is free) -should be fun, should be drunk/tired when waking up at 5am the next morning for my flight to Shanghai for a) University CSR event and then trainee/foreigner weekend trip b) meetings (to get companies to come our next conference in SH in Jan) and external conferences (I am even speaking at one) and c) interviewing chinese students to work abroad. Then back to Beijing for a week for another University CSR event and back to Shanghai for some more meetings and conferences (and anoter alumni event and yet another charity 3 mile run!).
yay, travelling, its been 3 weeks and my feet were itching. So here's to lots of nights on floors, and money spent in expensive Shanghai. but its a great city, with lots of life.
I dont think I am learning that much more about Chinese people's working style -I realised a long time ago that chinese people tend to lack imagination or innovation straight after school due their curriculum. Its hard to get most people to voice or share their opinions. Its quite a blase comment, but generally true (can't be bothered to go into more details). However I am learning more about Chinese people from living with 3 of them. Especially girls. hmm, I think most chinese girls fit a stereotype of being cute/adorable, caring and innocent (seemingly). But at the same time they are quite sensitive/fragile and emotional. Learning a whole new set of chinese women people management skills (slowly); but i love both Kim and Primrose, both utterly unique (yet still within the stereoptype outlined above) and utterly different to any other women i know.
p. s.hopefully by the time i return to beijing the cleaner would have been hired!
p.p.s.boy i do hope i can see some rain in Shanghai -it tends to rain more than in Beijing, and I have literally seen snow fall 3 times and rain about 10 times in over a year -its insane. no wonder the water shortage is so dire (not that you know, since its the countryside that suffers).
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