Update from China 2 (with pictures)

Ni hao everyone,

It's been a long time since my last e-mail so I am sure by now you are hungry for the new "Chinese stories". After such a positive feedback on my first letter I am now tied to maintain a high level of presentation.

The winter in Shanghai is very mild with temperatures around 6-10 degrees. Sometimes it's raining but rains are usually drizzling with little drops of water flying in the air so umbrella is not useful and is not necessary. Almost every day is foggy and fog is usually thick so from my 51st floor I can not see the ground and can hardly see neighbouring buildings. Sometime it feels like the office is flying in the clouds.

One evening in November my apartment got locked with the keys inside. In most Chinese houses the door-handle is done to open the door from inside so if the door is closed the only way to open it from outside is with the key. Now things got complicated when I found out that the key inside was in the lock so even with another key it was not possible to open the door. And this was a late evening already. So despite the invitation of friendly Chinese neighbours to spend the night in their apartment we went to the hotel hoping to resolve the issue in the morning. Did you ever try to get a room in the hotel without any ID (passport or drivers license)? The only place where it worked was the hotel where I stayed my first two weeks in Shanghai and only with the copy of my passport which I luckily found in the office. I the meantime I was already thinking of spending the night on the comfortable sofa at the KPMG reception. In the morning the problem was easily solved with the help of professional door opener invited by the landlord.

As I wrote to some of you I spent my Christmas holidays travelling on Fiji islands and staying three days in Sydney. What a pleasant feeling it was when everyone around understands you and you understand everyone :). Two weeks before our arrival to Fiji there was a military coup where the native Fijian army commander overturned the government headed by the Indian Prime Minister. Fiji used to be a British colony and half of its current population are Indians brought here to help harvesting sugar cane.

Fiji is undoubtedly one of the paradise spots on Earth. With beautiful beaches, uninhabited islands, cleanest waters and amazing sea and forest life, Fiji is a place of final destination for a number of rich people, former CEOs of large multinational companies etc. They usually buy an island or a separate resort and live there till death. When staying in those resorts you can spend hours talking with them about their life, experience and decision to settle in this remote and tranquil place. And they seem to be so happy as well as all native inhabitants of this banana republic. The coup could only be noticed with a military blockposts on the exits from the big cities, otherwise local people do not care who runs the government. (Fiji pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/FIJI)

Sydney, was first a bit of disappointment. I certainly expected something more from this city. Tourism is very commercialised in Sydney and you usually pay a lot for something that will not amaze you. However the nature is amazingly beautiful - from the best botanical garden I have ever seen to the nice sandy beaches with hundreds of surfers trying to catch ocean waves.

Returning to grey winter Shanghai was a bit sad but upon arrival I already had a feeling of coming back to a familiar place, almost like home. Actually Shanghai is not that grey as Kiev is as a lot of trees keep green leaves and in a lot of areas the grass is green all year long as this is a special sort of grass from Europe. It takes 8 minutes for the fast magnetic train travelling at the speed of 430 km per hour to get from the airport to the center of Shanghai. Same as with airplane you understand that when travelling that fast any accident could result is a disaster in which hardly anyone would survive.

While I was away, China and Shanghai closed another year of double digit GDP growth. For Shanghai it was a 15th double digit growth year in a row. Actually in 2006 China reached the same level of per capita GDP as Ukraine, however keeping in mind the number of people in this country you can feel the difference in size of economy.

Being a foreigner in Shanghai I can not escape being offered Rolexes and fake branded products several times every day. But I am already used to it. Local government just like in Ukraine makes it look like they are fighting with the producers of fake goods and pirated CDs/DVDs. This is what they committed to do when entering WTO. But in reality fake goods markets are just moving around the city from one place to another and fake DVDs are sold on every corner for the price slightly higher than $1. The usual shop on the fake market would have "double walls". Once you get in you will not see any branded products on the shelves but then they will open one of the shelves as a hidden door and you will get into another part of the shop filled with Versace, Louis Vouitton, Armani, Dolce Gabbana, etc bags, shoes and cloth, all sorts of Swiss style watches etc. Amazingly unlike a decade ago the quality of fake goods is very high so often you may have difficulties distinguishing where is the real thing and where the fake one. With both products produced in one country and sometimes by the same people its only the strict quality control that makes the real branded goods better.

Chinese cloth market is obviously something extraordinary. With thousands of small shops concentrated in one area they fiercely compete with each other to earn for living. Whenever you will try to approach such areas you will be immediately met by several special people who will guide you through the market and earn their commission from every shop where they will bring you. Whichever way you will go in such places people will be literally grabbing your hands asking to come to their shop.

As I already described you China and Shanghai are unmatchable in terms of services industry. Hardly in any other country (except maybe India) businesses will be able to employ so many people to provide you top quality and variety of services. Examples are massage saloons (everywhere in the city), hairdressers on every corner (different people will wash your hair, massage you shoulders, clean your ears, and make a haircut), home delivery at any time of the day and night (purchased goods, food, laundry service), shoe-shine boys. There are a lot of tailor made cloth markets in the city where you can order a tailor made suit, shirt or coat for you for the price at which you would not be able to buy a standard product in other countries. (E.g. tailor made suit or cashmere coat would cost you approximately $75, a good tailor made shirt $12, good quality ties are sold for slightly more than $1 each). To be able to buy at lowest price you will need to spend quite some time and energy bargaining so in the end you may give up simply because the difference would not be material to you.

Shanghai is the city of hundreds of sport clubs. They are everywhere - in the shopping malls, office centers and the prices are affordable unlike in Kiev. Membership in top quality club with the swimming pool in the center of the city would cost $700-$800 for two people per year.
One disappointing habit that a lot of Shanghainese have is spitting on the street. Even thought it was banned by law, when walking around the city you see it almost every minute. Some people say it is because of the number of people joining from countryside every year. Because of this and because of the dust the streets often look dirty.

Another noticeable fact is that Chinese rarely organise massive public events. The only place where you can see a big number of people in one place are stadiums, concert halls and shopping malls. There are no open public concerts, fireworks or anything like that that would organise a big number of people in the street, at least I have not seen it so far. Maybe it is because of the fear of crowd that Chinese officials have. But, as a result, all public holidays including New Year are celebrated silently in small groups at home or in the restaurant without big public events.
Having a basic knowledge of Mandarin you will inevitably start talking to the taxi drivers (taxis are cheap here so all foreigners use them every day). The first questions you will get: Where are you going? Where are you from? How long are you in Shanghai? What is your monthly income..?!?!?! For them it is a common practice to discuss such things. It is very uncommon for Chinese to keep silent: in any public transport - lift, train, taxi they will always find someone to talk to. When travelling to a neighbouring city for the weekend we met the guy who talked to us the whole way and invited us for the differ in the restaurant, where he also invited his relatives and friends. It was a common fun for us and for them.

The workload in the office seems to be milder compared to Kiev. There are people working in the evening and on weekends but this happens only close to deadlines and not for 100% of people all the time. The number of people matters in this case.

Every office event in Shanghai is supported by the lucky draw when everyone has a chance to win prizes ranging from MP3 players, photo cameras and tickets to the cinema to the trip for two to Texas (USA) (Main prize on the New Year Dinner). This seems to be a good practice enjoyed by everyone. By the way, New Year Dinner was the event for some 1500 people in one huge hall. I never saw so many KPMG staff in one place before.
China pictures are here:
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/DearShanghai
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/MyChina1
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/MyChina2
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/MajesticSichuan
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Xiamen
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Zhangjiajie
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/ChongqingAndYangtzeRiver
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/TigerLeapingGorge
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/MeiliSnowMt
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Daocheng
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Kunming
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Xishuanbanna
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/ShangriLa
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Lijiang
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Luoyang
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Wuzhen
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Sanya
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Huangshan
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Guilin
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Yangshuo
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Beijing
http://picasaweb.google.ru/Maryna.Gavryliuk/Tibet02



To be continued.