Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Reactionary Ringtones

This article about a crackdown in Tibet caught my eye today. It seems that a number of people have been arrested in Lhasa for having "reactionary songs" on their mobile phones. I'm sitting in my office looking out on a scene of Shanghai with its modern skyscrapers and wondering how it can be that a country that can create this can be simultaneously running around Tibet rounding up people for having "seditious" ringtones on their phones. I have a hard time getting my mind around the concept of a reactionary ringtone but I'd love to hear what one sounds like. Could it be an irritating excerpt from Kanye West's latest synthesized release, or Guns n Roses' "Chinese Democracy" or Elvis Presley's famous pro-Tibet lyrics from "Release Me":

"Oh please release me, let me go
For I just dont love you anymore
To waste our lives would be a sin
Release me and let me love again"

Or could it be the latest ditty from the Dalai Lama? Truth be told, I think the PSB should focus on cracking down on the average mobile phone users in Shanghai that wield 400 decibel ringtones that are loud enough to cause heart attacks. I'd also like to see them crack down on people that leave their cell phones on during meetings and interrupt the meetings to answer phone calls. Those are things that make me feel reactionary.

Fireworks Bring Good Luck for Year of the Cow

We are in the midst of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday in China and while I have to go back to work on Thursday, most Chinese will be off at least until Saturday. On Monday we again witnessed the all-out fireworks war that I've described before but never get quite used to. Around midnight Shanghai appeared to be under siege as every business, hotel, compound, or neighborhood shot off their own fireworks display. Every city in America has an annual 4th of July fireworks display so the best way to imagine what Shanghai is like on New Years Day is to imagine 100 of those going off all around you at the same time.

The other aspect of New Years here is the amateur nature of it. To my knowledge there is no Shanghai city-sponsored fireworks display - it's all on a do-it-yourself, everybody in, sort of event. Take our little compound for example. The management bought around 10 boxed kits of fireworks that are pre-packaged in a large box that they simply light on fire and step back and watch. I still haven't swept all the fireworks remains off of our balcony.

I have no idea how many people are injured in Shanghai by the pyrotechnics each year - I don't think it is reported in the media here. Maybe they don't even know how many people are killed or injured. Beijing seems to know however - they report 46 injuries and one death. Nevertheless, it's all meant to bring good luck to the participants in the coming year. I hate to be a party pooper but I find that my luck is pretty good staying indoors and watching through a crack in the door.

Update: Shanghai doesn't report on injuries but the city sanitation department does report that 36,000 street sweepers swept up 1,200 tons of fireworks debris the day after New Years Eve.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Chongqing Revisited

I'm a firm believer that when hit with strong negative emotions its a good idea to wait awhile before reacting. I really didn't like Chongqing but I thought I'd wait awhile before discussing it in this blog. My most recent trip to this huge city in central China was my second visit. The first time was over a year ago when I passed through on my way to catch a boat down the Yangtze River. My impression at that time was of a polluted, industrial city with dishonest taxi drivers. On my most recent trip I stayed for five days and my impression this time was of a very polluted, industrial city with very dishonest taxi drivers.

Taxi drivers are, whether they want to be or not, the ambassadors of a city. City governments need to keep that in mind as they seek to regulate taxis in their cities. Chongqing's Government either doesn't care or is powerless. I don't think it's the later. Although the effects of a recent taxi strike in Chongqing might have changed the power balance. However, from a consumer's point of view I see no difference in taxi driver behavior from before the strike.

In Shanghai I'm used to getting in a taxi and being taken where I want to go and charged the meter price with no hassle whatsoever. Only once in three years has a Shanghai taxi driver refused to take me where I wanted to go. In Chongqing on the other hand, I was lucky if I could even get the driver to agree to go where I wanted to go. I and my other Mandarin-speaking friends had numerous bad experiences with the Chongqing taxi drivers. Either they didn't know where a place was (even if you showed them the address in Chinese), their meter wasn't working, or they simply didn't want to take you there. From comparing notes with others we had to come to the conclusion that foreigners, even Chinese-speaking foreigners, are considered fools to be taken advantage of by the taxi drivers of this city. Maybe other Chinese are ripped off as well - I'm not sure.

One of the taxi tricks I didn't expect was one using a black flap of material that was hung over the meter. By the time I had buckled my seat belt and adjusted my bags and noticed I couldn't see the meter we were on our way. When I insisted on seeing a meter he revealed the hidden meter which had apparently not been reset from the last ride. We haggled over the price and when I insisted on a receipt he gave me a fake receipt. I tried to get his tag number but as he backed up he popped the trunk wide open so I couldn't see his tag number as he drove away. I had many more hassles like this over the few days I was in Chongqing - and I heard these stories from others in our group. If I ever go back to Chongqing it will be too soon.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Jimmy Carter

You meet some people in Shanghai that you wouldn't normally expect to meet here. In this case I did not get the privilege to meet former President Jimmy Carter but S did. I was off in Chongqing when the President was in town but S got to meet him and shake his hand and talk to the former First Lady. Tonight, I understand President Carter is back in Washington to participate in the inauguration of Barack Obama.

I clearly remember the day Jimmy Carter went through his inauguration and walked the parade route rather than ride in the Presidential limousine. I was a day away from my entry into military service. It was during Carter's administration that the U.S. and the PRC re-established diplomatic relations. Carter was in China to participate in events celebrating the 30th anniversary of U.S. - PRC diplomatic relations.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Big Foot Country


I had been so busy with business meetings in Chongqing and the run-up to the trip that I had not made plans for the Saturday I had planned on spending in the area. On the recommendation of a colleague however a friend and I booked a tour to the Dazu Stone Carvings Grotto, a UNESCO-listed cultural heritage site in the mountains about 100 miles west of Chongqing. Dazu literally means "big foot" but I doubt if there are any Sasquatch in the area - anymore.

We had checked out of the Marriott on Friday and moved to the Yangtze River Int'l Youth Hostel for a bit of flavor. That's where we booked the day-long tour for 200 rmb - about US$25. We were up in plenty of time for the 8 am pickup by a rickety van that picked up five other tourists (all Chinese) before depositing us at a tour company office under an overpass. There we piled into another rickety and cramped van that took off through the ground-hugging miasma that passes for air in Chongqing. About an hour out of the city smoke started coming out of a hole in the floor between my legs. We hadn't noticed the burning gear belt because the fumes smelled just like the surrounding atmosphere. We were beside the highway in the damp cold for a couple of hours while we waited for a mechanic to come replace the belt. We watched a lot of overloaded trucks lumber by - many of them holding cargoes of chickens and pigs piled on top of each other and squealing in agony. Animals in China are very unlucky animals.

When we finally reached Baoding where the finest stone carvings are we had a simple lunch in a freezing cafe beside a road where an oil slick was being burnt off. Flames poked up in several parts of the street.

At the Baoding Grotto we descended into a U-shaped valley that was lined with huge stone carvings - some as much as 40-feet tall. Here, in the mountains of Dazu County, there nest 50,000 beautiful religious stone carvings. These statues were carved over a 250-year period starting over 1000 years ago and show how Buddhism, an import from India, was Sinicized during the Tang and Song dynasties. There is also a heavy Confucian and Taoist nature to the carvings and show how the various philosophies mingled during the period.

We were at Dazu during the slow winter season. If it had been the spring or fall the grotto would have been jam-packed with Chinese tourists. As it were, we didn't see more than a few dozen visitors on the day we were there and we were the only foreigners we saw all day. Despite the relative quiet I would recommend visiting this amazing place when the weather is warmer and the trees are in bloom.


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The View from Chongqing


I'm looking out my 27th floor hotel window in downtown Chongqing (aka Chungking) and all I see and hear is construction and a fuzzy sky. (Note the bird's eye view photo was taken on a very clear day) The hotel is situated in the middle of the small peninsula formed by the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze or Changjiang Rivers. The HQ of the Kuomintang Government near the end of World War II, the city was heavily bombed by the invading Japanese. Today, the steps that roll off of the hills of Chongqing still meet the muddy waters of the navigable Yangtze in downtown but the water levels are rising because of the downstream Three Gorges Dam. Riverboats surround the city as they did 60 years ago but many of them are now entertainment boats used for dining cruises up and down the river.

After my business is over on Friday I'll be staying on with a friend for a day to see some of the historical sites around this city of 32 million people. About the size of Scotland, Chongqing is the largest municipality in China and heavily industrialized. The air is among the worst in the country and the food is among the hottest. Tabasco would be laughed off the table at a Chongqing hotpot restaurant for being too wimpy.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Dance-man



G-man surprised himself by winning his school dance contest this weekend. He was pretty nervous about entering the contest but he was able to "use the force" and "get 'er done". He's a regular M.C. Hammer - but he would not even know who that was.

Balance Sheet on Australia

It was a hectic week at work upon our return from Australia. This weekend I finally had a little time to reflect on the trip and to go through our photos. There were a few surprises about Sydney and Australia and I here's a list ranked according to surpriseness (yes, I know).

  1. Sydney is not just a nice place but is one of the best cities on Earth
  2. Why would anyone live in Shanghai if they could live in Sydney?
Of course, I'm living in Shanghai and not in Sydney so the answer to #2 above is more complicated than it appears.

What did I like about Sydney and Australia?
  1. The scenery and environment are fantastic. It's like a city in a national park
  2. For a city, the people are pretty nice. Almost Peavine-ish. They say "sorry"
  3. They take life pretty easy. No pushing or shoving.
  4. The food is clean and fresh and of many varieties
  5. The air is clean and tasteless
  6. No bargaining in the shops
  7. Great transportation system; bus, ferry, train, etc.
What did I not particularly like?
  1. It's expensive. A bottle of water costs at least US$2
  2. They don't work enough. Almost all shops close at 5 pm.
  3. They don't seem to know what scrambled eggs are. Everything is sunny side up.
  4. Their DVDs and video games don't work on US equipment
  5. Their choice of tv programming is pretty limited. Mostly US programs.
  6. They don't really talk like Crocodile Dundee.
But on balance, Australia is a very fine place. Still, Peavine is finer (if it only had an ocean!)

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Last Night in Sydney


On our last evening in Australia we had a pleasant dinner at a neighborhood Japanese restaurant before returning to our room in the Woolbrokers Hotel - a cozy old building near Darling Harbour. We enjoyed a last Krispy Kreme to balance out the healthy Japanese food as we watched American sitcoms on TV. Tomorrow we return to the cold of Shanghai but it will be good to sleep in our own beds again.

We spent yesterday in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, a two-hour train ride from Sydney. Katoomba is like a cross between the Grand Canyon and Branson - beautiful but overly touristy. We did a little hiking on the trails in the fern-filled forests and enjoyed that until a cold front arrived and the drizzle started.

The night before we had spent the first evening of the new year sleeping on the lobby floor of the Amora Jamison Hotel in downtown Sydney. A blackout had hit the area and lasted all night. It's interesting to witness what happens to some people when they don't have their electricity. The dark evening was filled with irate people shouting at hotel staff and stressed out couples airing their pent up frustrations with each other = at the top of their voices - among 300 or so strangers. At least we didn't have to watch them. They were just disembodied voices in the dark. Interesting way to start off the new year but we were reimbursed for our room so it wasn't all bad.

The night before was the best fireworks display we've ever seen. Pictures on that soon.