Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Off for a break
Monday, December 15, 2008
number 5
There are a few photos of the US trip on the blog (adam.nomadlife.org) as well as hundreds more on the flickr site (flickr.com/adamsphotos go to 'sets' and 'West coast USA').
On saturday (yes, on my birthday!) i went to an event we (BSR) was involved in around Sustainable communities which was fairly interesting. Highlights were seeing the plans for a new eco-city in Tianjin, that looked really nice on the plans, though rarely ever mentioned anything about the people that are supposed to live there; as well as a senior minister from the Environment Ministry who was incredibly candid and open about the challenges China faces, the reaction of the public (protests, of which he showed many photos) and how the solution starts with talking to the people and using the power of the people to enforce laws and to listen to them.
Not too much else to report amongst the freezing Siberian winds, although i have recognised the benefit of buying 10 sachets of imported Swiss Mocha Coffee sachets for the price of one drink in a coffee shop. Addicted is quite the right word!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Friday, December 05, 2008
Below zero
This week my biography was finally added to BSR's web-site, though thankfully they have not yet put a photo up. If you have forgotten who I am, go have a look :)
Unfortunately the sadness of 200 innocent people dying in India has been followed by the news that Zimbabwe has actually gotten worse. A country that could not get any worse, has somehow managed to get worse. Incredibly. Now that people are literally dying in their hundreds daily, maybe the West might care? Well, maybe not. I mean, we could have sorted that mess out 5 years ago in a week. Instead the entire country might, in a few years time, turn into Somalia: where inept governments and miserable poverty creates a haven for terrorists.
On a lighter note i noticed the Chinese government threatening trade sanctions against France because of their support for the Dalai Lama. The rubbish the government spouts about the Dalai Lama is laughable, though the government has improved its PR machine on other issues. To even pretend there is religious freedom in Tibet is a joke (it is officially illegal to talk about or have a photo of him; somewhat equivalent of not letting Christians talk about Jesus!) as is the idea that the Dalai Lama wants independence.
One hopes the goverment will eventually recognise that increasing religious freedom in Tibet is not actually a major threat to the country and will placate most Tibetans without major costs or implications. In the current economic climate, though, we can be sure that the government cannot afford any trade barriers against France -they need all the orders they can get!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
China and the economic crisis
Work has been variably busy and variably not-so-busy; whilst playing time has been somewhat restricted because of apartment hunting (and subsequent upgrading of current apartment, once it was decided not to move, for the moment) and the cold!
As with the rest of the world everyone is talking about the economy; as you may have read China's only ever concern is social (and therefore political) stability and the biggest threat to this has always been employment. In the past, with massive economic growth coming through manufacturing goods for the West, the rural unemployed found jobs in the urban areas. But now the factories are collapsing due to the lack of orders from the West.
This is a serious problem and serious not just in the sense of budget problems but in the sense of social stability affecting the country's very existence. So far things have been quite quiet.... some protests by taxi drivers; a huge government plan to spend money on infrastructure and other projects to provide jobs; discussions about how to increase domestic consumption.
For the West, the recession is a problem.... a big problem, but the country will survive. In China, the fear is the problem could get big enough to be a serious threat to the country. The government does not talk about that of course, but it knows it.
If you consider there are 150m migrant workers who are employed in the cities in restaurants, construction and factories -and now losing their jobs left, right and centre; 100m middle-class whose savings are locked up in apartments whose value is collapsing (how to boost consumption if savings are in property that you cannot sell?); 3m students who will not get a job next summer; 600m farmers who are now about to a) sell their land to agricultural businesses to get some income (temporarily, but then be job-less) and b) be unable to find jobs on the land due the increasing rate of agricultural mechanisation/modernisation.
And this is just the start; we all need to hope that the economic problems only last for 2 years and that China can survive them. Not just for China's sake -but China's impact on the World is now so great, that other countries are all dependent on China. Hell, every multinational company is here trying to make money, because they know they can't make any at home right now!
There is hope though... hope that chinese government and citizens spend their money in China to increase domestic consumption which keeps the factories open and workers employed and provides profits to local and foreign companies. Increasing consumption is hardly a solution to climate change and related environmental crises affecting China, but.... at least it is a short-term solution.
In the mean-time the West's so-called solution to the crisis is for indebted governments to go into more debt to try to trasnfer money to already indebted citizens, in the hope they will rack up more debts spending that money buying stuff. Some how i think the solution of 'borrowing money to spend money' is not going to solve the problem... it is what created the problem.
We just need to accept that we should only spend what we have, and not try to create a society based on spending what we do not have. We'll just end up back in this mess again in the future. This is (hopefully, short) adjustment period where we try to pay off our debts and then, afterwards, not get into so much debt again and just spend within our means. But is that just wishful thinking and gross over simplifaction?
The Chinese people and government have saved money, so they can spend it. This is better than borrowing money to spend, for sure. Maybe the solution is that FIRST we save money, THEN we spend; rather than FIRST we spend money, THEN we try to save! Anyway, we'll have to see what happens as Western governments pile up debts to try to spend their way out of recession. Hopefully the governments' economic advisers know something I don't and their temporary solutions will actually create an economically sustainable society once this crisis is over. Hopefully.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Seattle
The last destination was Seattle where I had a couple hours downtown in between changing flights. The first impression was that there were a lot of crazy people beggars around on the buses, by bus stops and in the touristy areas making everyone slightly uncomfortable especially the two chinese girls on the bus whom were slightly harassed (eventually the crazy man just got off the bus whilst insulting the guy on the bus who told him not to cause problems).
Pike place market is a fantastic market; less food nowadays and more crafts but still it is very much unlike the Farmer's Market in LA... here the food is fresh and green, wholesome and sustainable, local and creative; smelling fantastic. Amongst the shops is the starbucks where it all began -now a tourist attraction in itself and doing great business from people like me wanting a coffee there!
The main attraction though is the Pike place fish stand which I'd heard of several years ago from a very cool short video about how they motivate their staff and run their business. Amongst the 'lessons' the most memorable was CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE which is still the welcome message on my phone (not that i turn my phone off/on often). Think about it and it makes a lot of sense.
Finally the trip ended with a security scare at Seattle airport delaying the flight by a couple of hours. It is now Thursday, the day after the big election and the World feels different (well, it READS different in the media). Will it be different? Well, I guess I'll have to go back to the US in a few years and find out!
Vegas
After the too-big portions we drove through the desert (itself an interesting sight) to Vegas stopping at a shopping outlet (every time i am in EU/US i have to buy shoes as Asia does not sell my size even though they make it). We also spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours in Red Rock Canyon park. Even if Vegas was not next door, that park might still be worth a few hours drive to get there. With molre time to go hiking it must be even better.
My mum and sisters had very much been taken in by Vegas legend and were expecting hotels that took hours to walk through/across and were full of amazing things inside. They saw the stats of room numbers, restaurants and shops and, well, then we arrived and after they had stopped screaming realized that most of the hotels were normal hotels that were more special on the outside than inside. The most fancy parts of Vegas are the designer brand shops that line every hotel. Dior? Saw at least 3. De Beers? Saw at least 2. Gucci? At least 5. Well, since the richest ppl in the Woeld come to Vegas to spend money and have fun, I guess they do decent business and brand-building.
The hotels are impressive and luxurious. They are big with lots and lots of slot machines; but machines are small, restaurants and shops are small and most hotels are very alike -impressive, but alike. For me, i had lower expectations having been to Atlantic City, Macao and cities like Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chicago and New York. I've seen fancy buildings, stayed in fancy hotels and so on. So the reality is not quite up to legend, but arriving in Vegas -at night- is still incredible; to see the neon, the amazing hotel facades and the 'strip' is a sight to be seen. Human kind's impact is worrying.. I hate to wonder how much marble and glass makes up Vegas!!
We met a legend of a driver who was born in Vegas close to 80 yrs ago and had seen it all. Quality old man who deserves to should have his story heard.
What kind of people are in the casinos? I'd be interested in reading the research on who comes and spends what money on what. It seems that most people are the average 'joe'; quite a few older joes and that they spend their money on shows, food and slot machines. I imagine there is a whole other side to Vegas of VIP entrances, gambling rooms, suites, suits and exclusivity.
Some hotel wondering, pool-side lazing and gambling later we hit THE club (apparently LAX is the place to go). It's not so hard to get into and full of rif-raff like us plus a football team and some Arabs throwing dollar bills around the club.
I guess i was shocked by how much sex is in Vegas: in addition to the Casino waiteesses wearing so little there are lots of upmarket strip shows and ads for call-girls. Well, where there is money, there is sex. Where there is sex there are pretty women... so any complaints from me?
The next day we flew over the impressive grand canyon and i decided some day to come back and do some white water rafting through it. Flying allowed us to see the Hoover Dam, the desert, the canyon and even the golf courses that stand out like a sore thumb!
The highlight of the entire trip was 'O' (as in eau meaning water in French) a show that has no plot. And does not need one. A truly incredible piece of theatre which was technically auperb: the choreography, the stage design, the music, and the cast. Not sure if they are acrobats or synchronised swimmers, ballet dancers or professional high-divers. It is an incredible 100 minutes of creativity, skill and athleticism. Nothing much matches it. Go see it.
The last night in Vegas was halloween, and what a night it was. The streets were packed; the low-market casinos were packed; dealers were dressed up and live bands were playing; special themed parties, haunted houses and so on were organised. Finally, almost everyone was dressed up and most had made a major effort with all kinds of creations both boght and home-made. It was a lot of fun. Vegas parties are mostly full of groups of men or couples -not many groups of women were there; so single girls could have a ball as my sisters found out!
LA
A short flight down to LA to meet my mum and sisters and I found myself at
Parts of LA really are full of people with insane wealth, demonstrated in the sizes of their cars, homes and driveways.
It is a city of crazy size -in every sense the opposite of a Chinese city. It's a city of houses. not apartments; cars, not public transport; urban sprawl and poor planning, not centralised and planned urbanisation. It takes 3p0 minutes to go anywhere even if going on a highway and without traffic -ridiculous. Most people i asked were not even sure where the 1 subway line goes, though they did know it went nowhere useful to them!
We did the pure LA trip; seeing it from a limo (well, for a 21st, it's a must-do), driving past the stars houses, seeing the stars on
San Francisco
Arrival at Seattle brought me into contact with the friendly customs guards but very unfriendly security guards. It also introduced me to Seattle's interest in Fish and Chips. Several of the restaurants in the airport specialised in it; however they still need to improve: French fries are not chips! Not that the Yanks could eat any more fries even if they were free...fries come with everything -quite a change from China!
The 4 hr change gave me time to read the paper: election, election, election of course, though nothing too exciting (and throughout the trip it was all CNN cared about, driving me crazy). Arriving at San Francisco and I entered a whole new American World of super proud local residents who refuse to identify themselves with other parts of USA or California. They do love, and rate highly, their city!
I spent a few days working with my fantastic colleagues at BSR as well as going out in the evening and catching with Francesca who had worked with me at Plan and also did some touristy stuff. Alcatraz was fantastic: I loved 'The Rock' movie and going to the prison island was even better than expected with an excellent audio tour and access throughout the prison -though its not possible to enter the huge networks of tunnels etc built beneath the prison when military forts were established there in the 19thC.
A half day cycle ride across the Golden Gate bridge to a park of big trees would have been better had my bike not broken down 500m from the park forcing me to turn back to find a repair shop; overall SF is a laid back, fun and enjoyable city to live in. It is very diverse and friendly and pleasing on the eye with good public transport.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Tourism in China (a few comments)
Tourism in China is developing fast. The government intentionally got rid of 1 of the 3 week-long holidays and spread those days off around to make a few more 3 day weekends in order to encourage more distributed tourism (trust me, travelling during the week-long holidays is generally a nightmare). But it is 'tourism by car' and 'tourism by guide tours'. Public transport is a pain during these times as it is still a mad dash to buy train tickets (only on sale a few days early) and it is still not possible to buy return train tickets in China (ridiculous)!
With now 200 million or more people able to afford to take holidays (in addition to the 200 million migrant workers who use the holidays to travel home to see their families, which affects transport too), China is seeking to develop more 2nd, 3rd, 4th tier tourism sites. The top ones are packed and at over capacity. There are a few cases of some decent tourism management plans, but generally most sites and their surrounding areas explode organically from tourism related entrepreneurial activity.
As people like me try to seek an offbeat travel experience, exploring rural areas, minority groups, unexplored areas and so on, we find it harder and harder. And what right do we have to criticise when others wish to do the same as us?
Well, China is a big country, and there are plenty of bits of land left to explore and plenty of mountains in each of the mountain ranges apart from the 1 famous one that everyone dashes to.
This time we had to get a horrendously slow day-time train that took 9 hours. The most painful moment was watching the Chinese woman next to me throwing all her rubbish out the window of the train -she could not even be bothered to drop it on the floor, where the cleaner would pick it up! Once she missed throwing something out the window and it landed by me, so I left it on the floor whilst trying not to laugh as she gestured at me to throw is out the window. Oh dear; so typical, unfortunately, that a glimpse outside the window on any train will reveal litter strewn along the tracks in pristine countryside. What is remarkable is that these people on the train are educated; they are just, for reason unknown, deciding not to care.
Our seats were actually directly underneath a big sign that was hung width-wise across the carriage telling people not to smoke on the train. Others were smoking further down our carriage but, with the window open we survived. Well, until the last stop, when the guy next to us lit up. I was incredibly angry and asked him if he could read. He just looked bemused (or surprised that i was speaking chinese?) at the foreigner who dared to challenge his undeniable right to smoke. At the same time Chris (who i travelled with) was further down the carriage preparing to get off the train and chatting with another guy about how much he hated smoking. As Chris got off the train, the guy immediately lit up -and got another torrent of abuse from me as I passed by to disembark.
3 days later, as we got off the bus in Beijing I shared a taxi with 2 others to get from the bus station back into town and explicitly explained we would be splitting the taxi bill. I got out the taxi first a mile or two before the other two passengers and passed the taxi driver 20 RMB (a fair amount). He just looked at me like i was a loony. "39 RMB, 39 RMB -look" he said, pointing at the meter. "We are 3 people!" was all I said as I shoved the 20 in his hand and walked home.
Damn, sometimes i have to say, it is hard work living here.. language is always a problem to some extent; but more than that is the attitude some people here have. I am sure every foreigner in every country faces the same problems (racism, discrimination or whatever); what is striking here is that i find some (not all, of course) Chinese people think that as the same time as they have a right to treat foreigners like idiots/differently they believe they are the warmest, nicest, friendliest people. This is what frustrates me -I don't mind them treating us differently, but to think that they are not is what gets me.
This is enough for 1 post i think. In 4 years I have travelled a lot (Chris has travelled even more), going to almost every province and going to the popular places, the not-so-popular places and to just random villages or bits of countryside. I am by no means an expert, but could write more and more... I do just want to point out though, that with everything in life, and especially in China, making generalisations, though necessary in life, is very, very difficult. Here, especially, everything changes, everything is so big and diverse, generalisations are hard to make -but, ultimately, must be made!
Wutai mountain 4 years later
4 years ago, 3 weeks after I arrived in China, I got up the courage to go off alone knowing only 5 words of Chinese and managed to get to a mountain (and some caves) not that far from Beijing.
It was the first place I went to in China (read the original post here, and excuse the horrendous spelling mistakes as i guess back then spell-checkers did not exist!) and there has been changes.
The town by the mountain is still a tourist-trap, but there are now more temples (not all of the 50 or so temples in the area are centuries old it seems!), more hotels and more people. The good news is the transport situation has improved as more tourists go there (though most still drive from Beijing and, during this October holiday, the main road in the town is a permanent traffic jam) and the prices are lower through increased competition (more restaurants, hotels etc have sprung up).
Last time I only had 1 night and 1 morning which was not enough time to conquer a peak (though we got close). It was always on my list of places to return too. It is one of the famous mountains in China, though not in the top 5 of mountains to climb... partly because there is not just 1 mountain with 1 path (of stairs) to the top (alongside a cable car) as with all the other mountains. Wu Tai Mountain (meaning 5 platforms i.e. peaks) has 5 different 'mountain tops' and all now have roads or tracks reaching them, so tourists drive around each of them.
With more time this time me and Chris hiked 4 hours up to Central peak (2,800m up, though our starting point was probably around 1,800m) which became very tough for the last 200m of height or so from the altitude and camped there. We figured it might be cold up there -but did not expect it to be THAT cold. None-the-less, with thermals, 2 t-shirts and a hooded sweater on I managed to warm up the sleeping bag and get to sleep.
A quick 'head-out' of the tent about 2am revealed a universe above. Truly incredible. I am always impressed by the stars -not just when you can see a couple of hundred, but when you can see thousands and thousands. It is so rare to see even ten stars in a big city. Not since 1 year before when I was in Vietnam had I seen so many stars (even in Malaysia and Philippines, for some reason, there were not that many). What was most surprising was that we were only a 6 hour drive from Beijing and in an area that provides 30% of China's coal (as with 4 years ago, we saw plenty of evidence of that on the bus back) with the accompanying power stations and trucks transporting coal from here across China.
If it was not so freezing cold we might have kept our heads out of the tent for longer. Fortunately in the morning (we watched both sunrise and sunset, and both were pretty), the sun rose and warmed us up as we climbed the tallest peak (North -3,090m) and mosied on down to town for a hearty lunch and bus back to Beijing. During the sunrise we were almost attacked by a dog who had run out of the temple (there are monks living in temples on each peak) to greet us. Let's just say he woke up on the wrong side of his kennel that morning!
So, 4 years later, and tourism has ticked on... no massive changes although it was nice to see more Chinese hikers (there are no real paths to the summit as so few people make it, so each creates their own!) and even some cyclists (going up the road of course, but still pretty impressive!). The entrance fee to the town/mountain had doubled which was not surprising; it seemed the money was spent on building more tracks to the summits, more temples and fancier gardens around the temples.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Autumn has arrived
The Paralympics finished and the cars returned to the streets (for 2 months a system was in place to reduce the cars by half). Well to be more precise, the cars returned to the pavements as much as they did the streets, since parking in Beijing is as unregulated as the global financial system, it seems. As in, in a few places there are cones/barriers/traffic wardens which stop you from parking but everywhere else is an option (bar the highways, though even those often have cars parked on them!). There is the odd street where Beijing tried to use meters, but they are now in disrepair -more successful are the parking attendants who watch a few hundred metres of street and whom you pay to park on their patch. I am not sure if the profit from this goes to the government or whoever owns the building complex by that street.
This is a major reason why so many people chose to drive: because a) parking is almost always free (or very cheap in an office car park) and b) you will find a parking spot somewhere. Which brings me back to my original point: half as many people park on pavements as they do on the road itself. I am not sure if they are allowed to, but no-one seems to stop them. I noticed this recently as i live at the end of a subway line (that did not exist before the Olympics, so there was no comparison) and so a lot of people drive to this station and then take the subway... the station has no parking, so all the side streets are packed.
In reality, it is just like London probably was before the extension of restricted parking to cover miles and miles of streets anywhere near anywhere you want to park and the influx of car parks everywhere. I suppose that does prevent some people from driving, but not many going on the packed car parks and scouting that goes on, as cars cruise side streets looking for somewhere unrestricted to park for free (and then walk miles to get the destination!)
Other exciting moments in the last month was seeing the mountains from the window of the new office 2 days in a row (for some reason, even after the cars hit the streets again, there was still several days without pollution -maybe the longer term pollution reduction measures are working?) and discovering Ricky Gervais on youtube. Wow, I miss decent comedy and discovered that NBC have clips of SNL (Saturday Night Live -the popular US evening news piss-take show) available to watch for free; even when I am not in the USA I can watch them, unlike all the UK channels that are restricted to UK viewers.
Mid Autumn Day occured a couple of weeks back: a national festival that is not particularly exciting (unless one likes eating the incredibly stodgy moon cakes) but does heral in autumn and the need to start wearing trousers and even to dig out those sweaters from 6 months ago!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Records and medals for the Brits!
Many of the cyclists were physically disabled, though there were 3 types of disabilities competing at that day: those with loco-motor disabilities (i.e. unable to use certain limbs), those with cerebral palsy and those who were blind. During the warm-up a German athlete with only 1 leg was going incredibly fast and i was totally impressed -not just with the speed, but with the ability to balance on a racing bike that is on 30 degree angles too (if you have seen a velodrome you understand what i mean). Then, a few seconds later i realised he only had one arm as well!
It is one thing to work supremely hard to be the best at your sport, another to contemplate a sport involving balance and speed and how to partake in the sport with massive disadvantages for both! I quickly realised for the paralympic games, it is not just about winning; it really is about taking part. During the day, the TV screen showed clips of other athletes, 1 or 0 armed swimmers; blind, 1-legged, high-jumpers and many others. To do what they do, really is to defy belief. I was impressed. Very impressed!
Moving on from the feeling of self-inadequacy for not being disabled but being so incapable compared to the disabled athletes, I was also totally chuffed at finally getting tickets to the awesome velodrome, and, even more so, being able to see the Brits win all the events they entered (3 out of 6) and, thus, to see the Union Jack raised 3 times and hear the National Anthem 3 times. Unfortunately the Aussies were out-in-force and much louder than the few Brits there and so they stole the limelight. But, and what really matters, is that the Brits won more medals! Go Team GB; forever the champions at all the 'sitting down sports'.
Although that is slight sarcasm, since one of our guys broke his own world record by 6 seconds (out of a 3+ min race) and the other girls also broke all their own records too, i am (yet again) blown away by their performance. A great day all-round; cycling, records broken and Brits winning medals. What else can one want from a sunday!
Monday, September 01, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The day after
90% of the Olympic flags and banners have been replaced with Paralympic flags and banners
Staff are out testing all the chairlifts that have been installed at the subway stations
It is a new century; one with a strong China, a proud China and a satisfied China. But, everyone wonders, how will the demands of Chinese people be met to keep them satisfied?
How much say will they want in decision making?
How much corruption will they put up with?
How will their demands for a high-consumption lifestyle be fulfilled with such high prices for food and other resources?
How much pollution will they put up with? How will their needs for water, housing and transportation be met?
How will the movement of 250 million or more people to cities be dealt with to keep as many of them (and those already in cities) happy and fulfilled?
How will the aging population's needs be fulfilled?
How much nationalism will need to be generated to keep everyone happy and the country together?
How will this nationalism, increasing domestic terrorism, the drive for resources from around the Globe, the expulsion of waste, the shifting of political and economic power from West to East and so many other pending challenges be dealt with by the rest of the World?
An interesting future awaits. Monday is my first day at BSR; trying to set the World to rights by helping businesses in China and Chinese businesses in particular work out the solutions to some of these problems; or at the very least, helping them become part of the solution rather than part of the problem!
Reflection on Olympics
I also wonder what the stadiums will be used for afterwards. Though several were University gymnasiums, there were specialist softball, baseball, rowing, fencing, hockey, archery and other stadiums built especially. Since the Chinese are not particularly sporty (though when there are so many of them, really only a small % need to be sporty to use the stadiums!), i wonder what will happen to those minority sports. Anyway, there will always be plenty of tourists wanting to look at the stadiums, so that might keep them busy!
There really was an incredible attention to detail with regards to the environmental features of the Olympic venues; global best practise, fancy new technology and plenty of money was thrown together to do some magnificent things. Now, if that could be expanded across Beijing and across China, that would be fantastic. In fact many were wondering that if Beijing could function perfectly well for 2 months with half of the cars of the road, why not make that temporary restriction a permanent one and improve the traffic and atmosphere for everyone...forever? Not possible was the reply, unfortunately. But at least the public have seen what is possible and have seen the blue sky and might demand more of it, and that would be a good start.
I am sure London will be different; well i hope so. Though we might also be security-obsessed, one hopes there will be more fun, more diversity, a better atmosphere, plenty of protests, much more open stadiums and, probably much more traffic!
Whether we can match Beijing for size is definitely not possible. Beijing created an extra 50 bus lines to transport the hundreds of thousands of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of spectators, tens of thousands of media, tens of thousands of athletes, tens of thousands of VIPs and support crew, tens of thousands of security personnel and who-knows-what-else. This kind of organisational ability and planning is incredible. Such incredible planning. Such excellent execution; A shame about the atmosphere and the legacy!
Last events of the Olympics
Another early morning start for the men's marathon (wow, how do they run so fast after 25 miles of running so fast?) and then it was time to prepare for the evening. Rather disappointing compared to the opening ceremony, and somewhat embarrassing as a Brit (i received several messages from Chinese friends wondering what our 8 minutes was all about). I have to say, when there is a huge stadium, why do we bring 1 bus and about 15 people and 2 unknown singers? Why does the only person anyone recognised (Beckham) only have a 15 second role and how is anyone expected to actually see the tiny little lit-up landscape of London on the side of the bus, or supposed to get the whole umbrella-and-rain thing?
One hopes that in 4 years time LOCOG have done some research about what people know or think about Britain and do not confuse people even more than the Chinese confuse people (since most people know little about Chinese history or culture). If they focus on comedy and rain and sports, they might just be laughed at so much, no-one will care about the sports! I know we cannot spend 100m USD (well, times 7 since we are at least 7 times more expensive than the Chinese) on an opening ceremony, but surely we can do better than the whole bus thing! Anyway, at least people might remember what we did (even if for bad reasons)!
The medal ceremonies (luck marathon runners with theirs in the closing ceremony!) are quite interesting to watch in person. Even during the athletics the whole stadium comes to a standstill; all the other events stop, all the judges, security and spectators (of course) turn to watch the flag raising and listen to the anthem. To be honest it was only watching that, that i finally actually believed that there is some purpose to the Olympics. That, despite the competition between nations, it really is about individuals working incredibly hard to do things others just cannot do.
It is a triumph of the human spirit and ability. It is a celebration and recognition of this. It is about co-operation and friendship amongst the competition. And that is something worth continuing, and something that will be great in London!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Olympics (well what else is going on?)
A number of events have come and been, mostly observed through the BBC live update site online (and accessible by mobile phone, thankfully)! Chinese TV only actually has 3 channels providing live footage of the Olympics and they are always showing the Chinese (understandably) in weightlifting, volleyball, shooting, diving or some of the other sports the Chinese are good at. Though desperate to watch the Brits in some cycling, sailing, rowing or other events, we have been unable to.
We have sometimes wandered to bars in the evenings to watch some of the athletics, when it is on; however most bars are nothing like they would be for the World Cup or European Championship. The atmosphere in Beijing is well, not very atmospheric, without too many big screens anywhere, without any special activities (apart from the sports themselves) and without much to distinguish Olympic Beijing from usual Beijing; the Olympic signs and slogans have been up for years, though I admit that there are many more freshly cut and planted shrubs and trees that green everything up.
A week or so ago we went to the athletics stadium and marveled at the stadium and the entire Olympic complex in terms of size, greenery and, well, size. It is huge. A good 2-3km to walk from one end to the other (i.e. from the Bird’s nest to McDonalds), though with only 1 shop selling souvenirs (and a massive queue to get in), the Chinese have missed a trick there. Plenty of places to buy Coca-cola though; some lessons from the sponsors to the organizers on commercial sales might be needed. I am sure London will have plenty of souvenir shops!
Apart from the pleasure of walking around the complex and scoping out the generally unimpressive sponsors’ exhibition stands, we did, of course, watch some sports on the track. There is nothing too amazing to mention sports-wise, though it was definitely a fun experience and incredibly well organized; not just the security and the front-house organization, but the back-house and the sports themselves. Run to a tight schedule with teams of judges, volunteers, media and others all involved in preparing events, athletes, scores and more.
The atmosphere was half decent, but did get more exciting when Chinese athletes ran past our section of the stadium, cleared the pole vault or was being introduced over the tanoy system. For most of the other athletes there was not much cheering, though some long-jumpers tried. For most Chinese sports is not really something they participate in or even care much about, apart from for the nationalistic pride of their country doing well they would not even watch on TV (as we found in Xi’an, where most Chinese did not really care too much actually).
After a late night being impressed by Mr Bolt’s 100m jaunt, we got up early to watch the women’s marathon in 3 places (plenty of practice watching marathons from Dad running the London) and there were more spectators than I expected. There were a few polite claps sometimes, plenty of oohs and aahs at the 4 (yes, 4) helicopters flying overhead and some frustration from us when it started raining and a million umbrellas came out to block our view (temporarily, thankfully).
There was an attempt to get tickets to watch the track cycling that was unsuccessful, since the velodrome’s capacity is so limited –one hopes that in London they are redrawing the plans for the velodrome to allow 3million or more in to watch British success! Instead we hit some boxing for an hour or two where there were plenty of tickets available.
The highlight of another night at the athletics was being right by the front near the pole vault for the Russian woman’s new World Record which was pretty cool; decent atmosphere and all that. At the stadium we found the volunteers with the best job of the games (compared to those directing cars in car-parks or directing people through security barriers, or hauling hurdles all day long) –they had remote controlled cars (actually looking more like rocket ships) which they were driving all day long to and fro to collect the discus and bring it back to the throwers.
Another early morning start to watch the triathlon turned out to be well worth it, with the venue set in the countryside by a reservoir and mountains. Apart from the threat of the sun ruining everything (2 hours in 35 degree heat with no shade or sun-tan lotion at 11am) we really enjoyed watching the swimmers in front of us and then the runners and cyclists coming past as they did their laps. The added bonus of having a Brit in the top 4 for most of the race helped keep our spirits up, though he faded in the last lap of the run, unfortunately. With seats in front of the giant TV screen we watched the whole thing and had English commentary too (something missing from watching on regular TV)!
3 days in Xi’an tidying some things up in my penultimate week at Plan gave Dad more opportunities to try to be a tourist in China alone; though having me on the end of a mobile phone made his life somewhat easier! He did, though manage to get to, climb and get back from, a Mountain twice the size of the highest mountain in England in one piece (though having gone through two 70 pence backpacks!).
We’re now back in Beijing for the final weekend, and then everyone will start having to get used to a life after the Olympics; dread the thought!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The customer is never right
The Olympics have shown, yet again, that China want what is best for anyone apart the 'customer'; be it making life easy for customers, giving them useful products or anything else - what is convenient for customers is not important. Instead what is important is what is convenient for the other party, a couple of recent examples:
The government who does not think about the impact of visa policies on business, tourism or even the Olympics. Instead it created policies that are supposed to ensure security but as we have seen with at least 3 protests by foreigners so far, this has not worked. Keeping it relatively easy to get tourist visas but hard to get work visas does not stop potential trouble makers
The subway, who told me that, because my subway card stopped working, I had to get (and pay for) a new one or go to a special station to complain. So the deposit and value stored on my card can only be recovered at the cost of who knows how much time!
And what makes all this worse than other countries is the attitude that accompanies these decisions; which make it seem like the customer's fault (even if it is no-one's fault); wondering why the system is as it is, is to act/be stupid. This reflects Chinese society where no-one is allowed to question authority. This is an ancient cultural trait as well as the consequence of an authoritarian government.
There is never anything to be gained from arguing with, or questioning, a Chinese person or the Chinese system. You will never win and rarely feel better -even after slogging insults!
In a box
Yesterday I had a chance to walk around the Olympic Green (you need a ticket to get in), where the main stadiums are and the 12 main sponsors have built pavillions. The area is very park-like and the stadiums look impressive. Each of the pavillions was specific to the sponsor with different themes and all intended to be better than the others -some even had queues to get in they were so popular.
We only went inside 1 of them, the Coca-Cola one, though as VIPs we did not have to queue. I commented I must be the least important VIP of the entire games. After drinking lots of soft drinks and eating a meal at McDonalds (sponsor) that was somewhat unrecognisable from the usual salads they serve, we headed to the basketball stadium.
It's another brand new stadium that looks spectacular from both in and out. We had great views from the Coke box alongside the half-way line and felt suitably special :) The stadium was not full with 10% or so of the regular seats empty and many more of the media, reserved and other special seats empty too. So, the atmosphere was not incredible, even though it was
The second game, Aus vs
There seems to be the need for a
Good news that 'Team GB' have 2 golds. I guess I saw the women's cyclist somewhere in the pack of women that rode by on sunday but I'll have to check my video recording in slow-mo!
Saturday, August 09, 2008
The cycling -how close can the people get to the Olympics?
Apart from the rather useless volunteers wasting their time all over the city either having no-one to help or not being able to help, but satisfied with the addition to their CV; the other interesting group are the security.
I found some white barriers, all 4 different kinds of volunteers mingling nearby and 5 different types of security too. There was the regular police, the regular 'public security', special Olympic security, special
Despite several loud protests (the Chinese love a good loud argument) we scuffled back and wondered when the cyclists would turn up. Until 15 min before they arrived the road was still open with plenty of regular traffic and the odd cyclist practicing for their later events to keep us on our toes and confuse us.
Fear not, when the lead 2 came through it was after at least 12 other cars (mostly typical black Audis with tinted windows and occasionally the odd flashing light) had actually stopped to inspect us and another 8 vehicles in the lead cavalcade including police coaches, police vans and other weird contraptions.
We got all excited for the 10 seconds from when we saw them till they had past and then looked for the 'pack'. 16 minutes later they turned up incredibly close together and then they were gone. It was all rather quick. Could only do 1 of a) watch, b) take photo, c) take video. I sort of managed b) and c) and ended up not really doing a)!!
Memories of 1st ever live Olympics event? Well it was a shame we could not just watch wherever we wanted to and string out along the road; it was cool to sort of feel in the spirit and since the race was not on tv, there's not much else to do!
Looking forward to the women's basketball Monday night though- It should last a bit longer than the cycling :) ....and the good news is that there has been a bit of wind and the pollution has cleared. woo hoo
It's started
During the ceremony itself we would sometimes dash to the window to see the fireworks (we were about a mile or two away from the stadium) and other times go 'ooh' or 'aah' especially when there were hundreds of incredibly well co-ordinated people doing fancy things with oars, drums, lights or (memorably) block letters of a printing press. We all liked the cute children that seemed to pop up every now and again though we weren't always sure why they were there.
Everyone else translated occasionally for me -not really the language parts but the meaning of the cultural relevance and we all generally thought it was very good. Then came the painful 2 hours of athlete/country introductions only punctuated by some cries of 'hao shuai' or 'mei nv' ='so handsome' or 'very beautiful girl'.
The mystery over the translation of Great Britain was solved (Chinese translation was 'England' rather than UK or GB, so I wonder what the non-English parts of GB think about that) and finally the huge Chinese team turned up, the speeches could me made, the athlete's vow taken (in Chinese only strangely -maybe its only the Chinese who might cheat, desperate as they are to be a national hero!) and the flame lit.
After midnight we wondered outside but the fireworks did not go on that long, so we all headed home. Finally IT has started. It really is impossible to understate the importance of IT for China domestically or Internationally; yet at the end of the day most events can only be watched on TV and it will be over in a couple of weeks.
None-the-less, I'll try to make the most of it, lookout for things to do and just read the numerous media stories that try desperately to find a new angle on the event or on China and wonder what will go wrong... be it pollution (absolutely awful today for the cycling) or security (already been 4 people kicked out the country for scaling a pole and hanging a 'free tibet' flag earlier in the week and some others kicked out for unfurling something similar in Tiananmen; though none reported in Chinese media of course).
More reports to come, but feel free to read or delete as you wish!
Friday, August 08, 2008
A special morning
We actually came on the train from Tibet (though we got on at Xi'an) and it was not a particularly exciting journey, except the guy next to me had got 1 ticket to the opening ceremony from booking online last year and was traveling from Xi Ning (30 hours away) to Beijing for it. As we got closer to Beijing and light dawned we saw mist over the fields, but as we got into Beijing it was still 'misty' and even now, at 9.30am visibility is absolutely awful, which is a shame.
All the Olympic street signs had been up for months, even the scaffolding that was up around most key buildings making them look beautiful for the big day had been taken down last week. The first signs of the 'special day' was on the bus as the conductor was selling special tickets (just for today) and although most people had already used their card to swipe on, they still (me included) bought an extra 'special' ticket. Indeed, during the journey it became clear people were riding buses just to collect the special tickets (several different versions, only available today).
Next, from the bus, we noticed long lines outside all the post offices -of course today is the only day you can get special stamps commemorating the Olympics (unless there are more special ones on the closing plenary day too). John got a call from his friend -he had been queuing all night at a bank to get a special 10 Yuan note, only available today.
As we went through Tiananmen, it was closed for hundreds of cheer leaders who were practicing, it seems, for the cavalcades of important leaders who will be coming through for lunch with President Hu and the others. The TV on the bus informed everyone some roads will be closed for this lunch, as well as the torch relay as the torch makes its way to the stadium tonight.
The streets are very bare (apart from the legions of volunteers, police, army and all kinds of other 'groups') for a 9am rush hour -partly because everyone in Beijing gets the day off work today; a consequence of having the opening ceremony on a friday i suppose, but it had to be on the 8th -the special number that it is!
Saturday, August 02, 2008
The week before...
The traffic restrictions are still in force; the newspapers and websites around the world have established their subsites with hundreds of stories published daily; everyone is asking who has or has not got tickets; the athletes have mostly arrived; the country villages for athletes and journalists to hang out in are up and running (my flat mate works in the Italian one); companies are desperately wondering how to get their VIPs into the country because of the tightened visa restrictions (and rumours abound as to the potential to get into some of these special events at the last minute if you know the right people, because they might be half-empty!)
6 days to go...
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Holiday in Jiangxi
Earlier this month, dashed down South for a quick holiday in Jiangxi -a province that is not really famous for anything really of note. However we paid a visit to Jindezhen, famous for its pottery (or China) I suppose. Here you can see a dragon made of pottery in the main square of the town. There really was not many signs of pottery left in the area; presumably it is all in mass production and factories mostly. However there was some karaoke in the local park that kep us busy (i.e. everyone paid more attention to us watching the karaoke than to the karaoke itself). Next we were off to Wuyuan county, and specifically to the least toursitic (but hopefully still pretty villages) we could find, since the area is getting increasinlgy well known for tourists.
The highlight of the trip was Likeng, a town that has not been touched for centuries, and even the tourist groups barely bother with spending more than 20 minutes there. Life still moves slowly, although the young people have, of course, moved elsewhere to earn money. 
The village has streams running through it and the houses are pretty untouched. Since the village was determined a suitable site for toursists in 2000 the government gives each village a certain amount of money (from the admission fee us tourists pay to enter the area) which boosts their income and, presumably, restricts the changes they can make to the homes.
Food in his house involved a journey into the kitchen to see what they had (nothing) and then a list of possible items from his wife; she then went and picked the food and cooked it. Lovely and fresh! In between the two villages i took this fantastic picture, totally by luck, as the rain started coming down. The next village was near Jiangling, in an area famous for its yellow Rape. Except not the season we were there. So there was no-one there and everyone was surprised when a couple of foreigners wondered into the village looking for somewhere to stay.
After lunch (some rice that was cooked so it tasted like potato!) we were still hungry. How spoiled we are for food normally. Look at the grandfather, who evidently had been working hard and eating little all his life. We did not see him drink any beer, so it must have been his son (with a large beer belly) that the crates are for in the background (we were told it is cheaper to buy the beer in bulk!)
We went wondering up into the hills, found a canal (later were told it was taking water to a hydroelectric station to generate electicity), strolled along it till we came to a new road that was being built and ended up at Mountain Lake (3 hours later), where we found a house being dismantled tile by tile and a number of run-down delapidated hotels. 
And then, after 1 last night and more walking around the local countryside buying ice lollies it was time to leave. Although, from Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) it had taken us 1 over night train, 1 express bus, 1 local bus and a series of motorbike rides to get to this place, we were right next to a brand new expressway that goes to Shanghai in about 6 hours. If only we had a car like all the other Chinese tourists who were in the Wuyuan area!Friday, July 25, 2008
2 weeks...
Been receiving text messages recently (though not as often as others seem to be receiving them) which say something along the lines of:
Central Propaganda Dept, Central Civilised Dept, Central Foreign Propaganda Dept declaration on 16th July: "I wish the Olympics fortune, I wish the Olympics colour, I encourage the Olympics" Website with Q&A in multiple languages is online, you are welcome to register on the China Civilised Website and participate.My translation is a little too literal, but you get the gist. China loves the word 'civilised' and anyone who has been here for a while quickly gets used to it and understands what they mean by it... just like that the government (stupidly) translates its Propoganda Dept as 'Propaganda' instead of using another word, like 'Information'!
Maybe the excitement of spending several days exploring villages and all things green got me going, because now i am back in the Beijing office, somewhat demotivated. It might also have been the excitement of the AIESEC Conference I ran for 5 days or seeing Andrea, or being in our Xi'an office. Plan's new Country Director starts next week so everyone in Xi'an was waiting with baited breath -obviously no pressure on him then!
I don't want to talk too much about the Olympics; after all in about a month they will be finished and everyone will have forgotten about the Paralympic games (though some companies seem to have changed their logos recently to include the Paralympic logo as well as the Olympic logo which is good) and life will be back to normal. China will have to find other things to say in the media to cover up the dire situation regarding inflation, water shortages, energy crises, climate change and countless other problems. Maybe it will be back to the Earthquake, showcasing all the wonderful work the government has done rebuilding homes etc.
Anyway, until that month, i guess it is all about the Olympics...and how many exciting corporate events will be happening on the side i can attend/slip into!
Friday, July 04, 2008
Back on the road
Having not cycled around Beijing for close to 2 years (been back here almost a year without a bike and previously spent a year in Xi'an, where i cycled to/from work/chinese lessons every day); it has been somewhat exhilarating. It is so much faster than any other form of transport, yet so dangerous. In rush hour cars go wherever there is space: bike lanes, bus lanes or whatever -no matter where you want to go, there will always be a car trying to get there first.
There is no bright future for pollution in Beijing, as the government would never dream of restricting middle and upper classes from owning cars (apart from during and 2 weeks before the Olympics). This would annoy them -it is their right to have a car in order to spend the increasing wealth in Beijing, they would become dissatisfied with the government and that will never do. I suppose it is like guns in the USA. Both need to be restricted much more but not many governments are brave enough to do that. In particular Beijing is full of government employees cars and no government official with a car once to stop him/her self using it! Funny that London managed to do something -I suppose that the support of government in the UK is so low, it is not a problem if citizens are dissatisfied with their government even more!
The quality of cyclists seems to have improved though. Probably the slow or bad cyclists have given up by now, or upgraded to cars or buses. The new subway line should finally open this weekend, and then the number of cyclists should drop; whether then number of drivers will too is anyone's guess. And guessing is difficult in China -who would have thought 1 month before the Olympics Beijing is suffering from its worst pollution in years, even though June was its wettest June in 15 years (mostly rain induced by the government, one presumes, since it only rained temporarily each time -enough to clear the skies for 1 day and that was it).
But when it rained, the roads become swimming pools disrupting the traffic and all the water is presumably lost to evaporation or run-off, rather than stored in reservoirs or systems to be re-used. What is needed is good old British drizzle... for weeks to solve China's water crisis. But, apparently the government is determined to have a rain-free Olympics, so anytime rain clouds might threaten (August is supposed to be in the 'wet' (though hardly 'wet' by SE Asian standards) season), they will disperse them. Seems strange to have such a need to control the weather all the time. I guess the Chinese athletes are not sued to doing sports in the rain and it might give other countries' athletes an advantage!
I am also back traveling; after 2 weeks in Beijing, it is time to go to Hong Kong for a few days work, Jiangxi for a few days holiday and Wuhan for several days.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Taking more than your fair share hurts
There just are not enough resources (especially at current ways of using them) to provide a 'good standard of living' (aka Western standard of living) for everyone. So the more we life the poor out of poverty, the more they are going to be putting us into poverty, by making everything we want to buy more expensive. Fantastic irony!
Who would have thought that China could force the Americans to use less oil, simply by using more oil themselves! Who could have thought that one possible solution to the West's obesity crisis is developing countries increasing obesity crisis? Unfortunately what is more likely is that Westerners and Developing countries will just eat more processed food, unhealthily cooked food and get lazier and lazier.
Apparently 22% of Chinese are obese. If they are, then how am I still alive.... their level of obesity must be somewhat different to us 'Westerners'!
So as the World starts to realise that we are all using too much energy, too much water, too much food and too many other resources (and the world's population continues to grow, now at 6.6bn) what is going to happen? Well, individuals will complain to their politicians; politicians will be expected to do something -i.e. complain to other countries and the World will continue to make no progress.
Thankfully good old capitalism should come to our rescue as all these higher prices for scarcer commodities create incentives for people to find better alternatives. And this is why China is always in the news: not just because it is causing all these price rises, but because it must be at the forefront of any new ideas. Otherwise there are hundreds of millions of people who will not be able to afford what they want, and what they expect!
Today i felt like i had to write something positive, because the greyness has been so depressing and unbearable. A few hours of rain clears the skies...but the next day the smog is back. Just as everything seemed to be getting better -and should be getting better because of the Olympics, it is pretty clear that is not. So, though all cars and factories and who knows what else will be banned during the Olympics; there is no way that is a sustainable solution. So we can all look forward to the return, and increasing, smog after the Olympics.
But, to be positive.... many of the new technologies in factories and boilers are permanent, more efficient, 'cleaner', and new subway lines are coming online... and, well, tomorrow we are screening a film that shows that nature can heal itself incredibly quickly and better than we could ever believe (if we leave it alone and let it). www.earthshope.org is a glimpse that maybe there is hope yet!
In the meantime, the Chinese are starting to realise they cannot blame the West -because that will not solve the problem. They have to shut-up and get on with solving these many problems, because, they are the ones who will suffer! And simultaneously, the West is going to realise (as they have started to by investing in carbon reducing projects in the developing world) that they key to our own survival is really, truly, helping developing countries overcome these global problems.
Usually, if you wanted to be a hermit and ignore the rest of the World through TV, internet, Phones and World Cups, you could do...to be a part of globalisation you had to be active (indeed, unfortunately, many in Africa are denied the opportunity to actively take part in globalisation through trade subsidies and poor governments) but now, now we are realising we cannot even be passive and ignore globalisation -because our food, energy and water are getting more expensive, our climate is changing and new health epidemics are constantly on the horizon that we cannot avoid.
China and the West. So different, yet so similar.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Restoring something to actually look orginal!
Visitors from around the world can now leisurely savor China's traditional architectural beauty at the Imperial College in Beijing, about 400 years after the first foreign students were sent there to sit tough Chinese exams.The school, and the adjacent Confucian Temple, were formally re-opened on Saturday after three years' renovation.
Though, the reopening of Confucian Temple which is one of the best places in Beijing that no-one goes to (it is 1 minute away from the Lama Temple which everyone goes to), is good news, it is not the exciting part, which is:
The project aimed to reinforce and repair the centuries-old structures while keeping them "as original as possible," said Yu Ping, vice head of the Beijing Municipal Administrations of Cultural Heritage.
"We did not repaint the ancient patterns on the beams or remove the faded glazed tiles on the roofs because we do not want to lose the antique flavor," she said.
After the face-lifts, the two sites are now basically what they were in olden times, in terms of the layout and scale, Yu added.
Wow. This must be the first time any historic attraction has not been 'restored' by being freshly painted looking to look like it was only just finished! I have yet to go visit the 'restored' Temple but I cannot wait to see if it is true. If it is I might just agree with the comment:
The temple, which looks very authentic, is what I expected to see here in China," said Vishal Shorma, a Singaporean tourist.
Could this be a turning point for Chinese tourist attraction restoration work? Could China finally be realising that the beauty in ancient sites is lost once it becomes 'brand new' again, and that foreigners can only value how old China is if China actually looks old! Too many times, and i really mean, TOO MANY times have I seen re-painted monuments, statues, temples, shrines and everything else besides and not only does it annoy me, it makes all these repainted attractions look identical!
On a less happy note, China has, in the last few months changed its visa regulations with particularly bad timing, bad communications and illogical explanations. It seems they want to 1) keep 'bad' people out of China who might cause trouble during the Olympics and b) make it harder for foreigners to work in China if they are taking away jobs from Chinese people.
Both reasons are fine, but the solutions are ridiculous. It is of course still relatively easy to get a tourist visa (and if you can come here for 30 days, that is enough time to cause trouble, surely?) but it is now very hard to come here for longer than that and this affects entrepreneurs, those working for charities or those working in SMEs, since the only other option is to get an official work visa (instead of a 'working visa' which is now no longer available) which requires an official company to apply on your behalf, much hassle and a trip back to one's home country to reapply for such visa.If they want to make it harder for foreigners to work in China, that is fine (though slightly crazy bearing in mind how dependent China is on foreign trade), but why make the changes with only 2 month's notice and why before the Olympics, whilst everything else is happening, and why not tell people, and why not universally implement the regulations (every different visa office around the world, or 'visa extension' office in different cities in China are translating the confusing regulations differently)?
It has led to a drop in tourism, it has led to people jumping ship to hang out in hong kong or Thai beaches for the summer and it has even led people to just going home and finding jobs elsewhere. It is just crazy, though fortunately does not affect me (touch wood)!
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Too many apartments
Then, the 4th was in a modern 25 story building (this time in Xi'an) and I had the study room (converted into a bedroom with 1 of those raised beds that had my wardrobe underneath) for 6 months sharing the apt with a Chinese guy. Rent =0 (though had to furnish the room); the 5th was a slightly lower quality building 100m down the road and I actually rented that apartment myself, sharing with an Australian girl for about 4 months. Rent =50 pounds a month; the 6th was only temporary (3 months) 200m back the other way in a run-down 6 story Chinese place that had a pipe for a shower, coming out on top of a true 'hole in the floor' and no kitchen (not that i ever use one). Rent =10 pounds a month.
Back in Beijing, the 7th is the nicest so far in a very well built 30 story building with en-suite and everything. Rent =100 pounds a month. Tonight I am leaving for apartment number 8; back in the same complex as number 3, though this time with a room to myself (and thus higher rent). Hopefully I won't be moving anywhere else soon, but who knows...
I have accumulated one hell of a lot of stuff in close to 4 years; 3 large rucksacks worth of clothes, 2 suitcases of files, several bags of shoes/sandles etc, several bags of wash stuff (so many free shampoos and toothbrushes etc), lots of bedding, lots of camping gear, lots of computer gear and who knows what else is in the other bags. Oh well, time to look a fool trying to take it all downstairs to the taxi. Happy Children's Day everyone (though I believe it is only celebrated in China)!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Earthquake's wider impact
Everyone is talking about the earthquake; the media is blanketed with it, Chinese people are all continuing to fund raise, bloggers discuss the most and least generous celebrity/company/entrepreneur etc, volunteers pile in to help, charities organise fundraiser events, Foreign governments donate supplies (the country has run out of tents!) and everyone competes to donate even more.
For those westerners here, we have been eagerly anticipating the Olympics, not because of the sports but because of everything else that it will affect. Now we have the earthquake and the impact is incredible -the Olympics will be boring in comparison.
Every company is competing who can donate more and employees donate more and more by the day, government departments set a mandated minimum donation from public servants, companies that do not loudly say how much they have donated run the risk of being boycotted (and many have, e.g. McDonalds branches being forced to print flyers saying how much they donated, as customers were concerned they had not). Will it affect all the other causes that need money? Will businesses do anything above and beyond cash donations?
The whole country has learnt what a charity/NGO is and they are, for the first time, not only being motivated (by media, peer pressure, guilt etc) to help, have found a way to help by donating..and there are plenty who can afford to donate. The amounts are staggering. Will it kick start the charity sector in
During the 3 minute silence the country came to a standstill and made a noise, during the 3 days of mourning it was so intense websites literally stopped publishing any non-earthquake news, some people were beaten up for celebrating a birthday party and you were unpatriotic if you did not buy a flag, a sticker and a 'I love China' t-shirt. Great that the patriotism was no longer channeled against Westerners (because we all, of course, want to split
As there are so few charities in
Unfortunately a second outlet for people's desire to help has been through flying or driving to
There are so many aspects to the impact of this earthquake to keep everyone talking. For many Chinese though, they are starting to get fed up of the horror and the depressing images. Outside of China everyone compares the relatively efficient government response to the Americans' mess-up in New Orleans and the Burmese Generals selfishness and evilness; Charities fear they cannot raise more money for Burma as the media has such poor access to the country there are few images/updates available on the news; Corporations admit China's market is just a little more important than Burma's (hence their massive donations to China in comparison) despite the lack of domestic funding resources in Burma compared to China.
Plan is doing something and I will share details of that later for those interested. In the meantime www.china-crossroads.com is the place to go for updates. I was actually in the air when the earthquake struck, on my was to