Lost in Shanghai

Retired

2008-05-19T18:25:00.001+08:00

I'm obviously not posting regularly, so I've decided to retire this blog. I've (so far) stopped short of deleting it, for sentimental reasons.

Japan part 2

2007-08-06T20:32:00.001+08:00

We got into Hiroshima around four p.m. and had to rush around a bit to find a hotel (did, tourist office was very helpful) and get to the peace park before it closed at five-thirty. We did that, and I enjoyed the peace museum a lot, since it's rare that one gets to touch history that closely (in this case, roof tiles exposed to the a-bomb blast), and it's been a long time that I've seen any moderate and unbiased discussion of WWII, basically saying "everyone was bad, and here's an example of the worst damage ever caused by a single weapon. So why don't we just try to not do any of that again?"

Following the a-bomb site, which is marked by a nice little plaque on a marble block – I stood next to it and looked upwards, which Marc told me not to do – we strolled another thirty meters up the street to the baseball stadium to get tickets for the night's Hiroshima-Toyo Carp game. First we made a quick stop at the convenience store for some drinks and snacks we planned to smuggle into the game, only to find the locals carrying out massive bags full of stuff. Obviously not as greedy as our own are the Japanese baseball stadiums. The game itself was boring, which is saying a lot because I usually watch baseball and enjoy it, but the J-league pitchers take what seems like forever between each pitch, so that killed any intensity. The crowd itself was worth the admission fee, all chanting and clapping together, waving huge banners, and with a trumpet section. There was even a cheering section of the opposing team's fans, which was dutifully allowed to trumpet and cheer when their team was up to bat. We couldn't stay for the whole game, since we planned to leave the next day. When we left it was the top of the seventh and the game had already reached the 3-plus hour mark.

So, after taking the train all the way across Honshu one day, we came back halfway to Kyoto the next day. Stopping there at midday we had enough time to see some of the temples. We skipped the castle in favour of the Kinkakuji, a smallish pavilion covered almost entirely in gold leaf, set next to a nice pond (as are so many of the temples); then we proceeded to Ryohanji zen buddhist temple, which has one of those rock gardens that make such great office gifts in miniature. Personally I wasn't impressed with the rock garden, which had been raked into a rather predictable pattern: straight lines lengthwise and individual ovals around the stone islands. I had figured that a sect adhering to the idea of sudden enlightenment through unexpected means would do something a little more wacky, or at least that "stillness" shouldn't be a synonym for "dull". But alas, it seems nobody was feeling particularly creative, and apparently it's always raked into that pattern. Following the temple we took a walk on a little path lined with bamboo, on the way to which we found some great little craft shops and some black sesame ice cream which had a sort of unappetising grey colour but was nonetheless a good purchase. Better than the temples on all counts.

After that we caught a late train north to Kanazawa where Marc's friend Nahoko met us at the station. We stayed with her for a few days, saw Kanazawa castle (which was left to mostly burn down in the late 1800s because nobody wanted anything to do with samurai culture at the time, and then partially rebuilt about ten years ago) and the nearby gardens (very bucolic).

Some Life Left - pt 1

2007-07-31T19:42:00.001+08:00

Marc told me yesterday that he actually checks this blog every so often, "just to see how long it's been since you last updated it." I suppose that means I have to keep writing.

Before I start, some helpful facts about Tokyo:

Exchange rate is about 115 yen to the Canadian dollar. This is a multi-year low for the yen.

The average price of a fast-food lunch is 500-600 yen.

A metro day pass costs 1000 yen.

Today was the Akihabara electronics area, which was much less chaotic than the Shanghai equivalent, and much more expansive. But it was harder to find what you wanted, since things were arranged in proper order and separated into sections. If it's all crammed into one small glass case in a 3 foot by 5 foot stall, you can spot what you want right away; or move on to the next one.

After that, lunch (katsudon -- pork schnitzel and rice) we got on the subway and went to the Edo-Tokyo museum. This has some old stuff and some info about the history of the city, and how it developed from Edo into its modern form. The building itself is rather odd, looking like a giant concrete torii (the typical Japanese gate). Inside, ok but not that great. They didn't ask for ID when asking for the student rate, though.

End part 1

Out in Tokyo

2007-07-30T09:24:00.001+08:00

I'm on a little vacation to Tokyo at the moment. Seems better than Shanghai for the moment, just as urban but with more green, less air pollution, and less garbage. It's expensive, though, and I don't understand the language. My brother is coming tonight to join me and we'll do a tour for a week, then back to China to do a little more vacationing.

News Flash: since the last time I posted (when was that?) I've been to Hong Kong to write my LSAT, applied to law school, been accepted, am going in September, have been to Vietnam with my girlfriend, and will be leaving shanghai on august 27th. That's the nutshell.

Of Note

2006-08-24T17:40:00.000+08:00

I read this story and think it's worth passing on. Apparently producing fakes in China has moved to an even greater level of sophistication. It's worth keeping in mind that an operation of the complexity of the one described in the article absolutely requires official cooperation (business licenses, manufacturing licenses, etc., etc.).

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/27/business/nec.php

Free At Last!

2006-08-14T15:47:00.000+08:00

I've just discovered, quite by accident, that my blog is no longer banned from China. I'm not sure when this took place, but it had to be within the last month or so. I can't find anything about this decision from a cursory google search, so I'm not sure if a) it will be permanent, or b) why they decided to lift the block. Then again, I'm not really clear on why they blocked the .blogspot.com domain in the first place. Maybe they have a monkey with a typewriter at headquarters from whom everyone else takes their cue.

Big Fish, Small Pond

2006-08-07T09:49:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago I took my biggest plunge yet into extra-dom, going out on a three-day shoot outside of Shanghai. About five hours by bus from the city near the town of Hengdian there's a theme park / studio with old-looking buildings in various styles. Patrick and I got to the pick-up point at 2am on thursday, drove 5 hours in a mini-bus, and then started almost right away with fliming.

I'll never think the Canadian ones are soulless again. This is the office of a highway gas station. Does it double as a morgue? Also note the choice of name for the national oil company, "Sinopec". What a great idea, to take Sino, meaning Chinese, and attach something that refers to oil, and begins with "O", like OPEC! I think stupidity speaks for itself.

Besides the money (500 a day plus overtime, room and board, and transportation costs), I was interested in seeing more of the chinese TV and movie business up close, to help out with our new project. Working with two chinese girls, Sally and Lily, we are going to start up our own talent agency. It's fairly easy to get into, requiring no capital to start, and Sally already has a number of connections. She was working with another agent here, but has decided to leave him and go independent. Not before getting all his lists of actors and contacts first, though, which is a big help to get set up. More on all this in another post.

Beauty and the Beast.

The first day was a real trial. The sun was scorching from about 11am on, and I was dressed in a naval officer's uniform made of wool and polyester. At least it was white; I pitied the poor guys dressed in the black policeman's uniforms. Everybody was tired, and we didn't have our hotel rooms yet, so anxieties were running high. In the end we all survived, though. The first night was a glimpse into the production's poor organisational skills. They knew very well how many people were coming, they knew when, and they knew for how long, but when we finished our first day of shooting, we found that nobody had arranged hotel rooms for us. To make matters worse, there were no rooms available in the studio, and so after about an hour and a half of waiting, were whisked off to a hotel in the nearby town at around midnight, and told to be back down by five-thirty the next day for a six o'clock start.

It's good to see that they haven't gotten the whole English thing right yet. This looks like an interesting store, though. Do I have to pay, or just demand things from them?

As an aside, staying at the hotel was another crew, who were in Hengdian filming a docu-tainment series about Marco Polo. It's a Canadian co-production, and so some of you will probably see it on the discovery channel next year. It stars Ian Somerhalder, of Lost fame. I strongly doubt the program I was working on will be shown overseas, but at least you can get a look at where I was.

There was a storm, and, well, you see what happened. Good quality. They had it fixed in a day.

After struggling up early in the morning and then waiting almost an hour for the last of the russians to drag themselves out of bed, we set off back to the studio. I got a taste of another symptom of poor planning in the chinese TV industry: extensions. The weekend (friday-saturday-sunday) actually turned out to be more. The morning of the second day we were all offered to stay on if we wished. Asking for how long we were told nobody knew, but we would be shooting at least monday and probably tuesday (which it turned out to be). I had only packed clothes for three days, but I figured I could hack it, and so agreed. Almost everyone did, save a couple of the girls.

Some of us on "a boat" arriving someplace. The scaffolding was dangerously unsafe, and they kept saying "put more people on! No problem, no problem!".

The second day, and all the others after, consisted mostly of the same crap as the first one: walk across the street, then turn right back around after you clear the frame and come back. Thus fifteen people were made to look like a whole city (or so they hoped). I'm not sure what their depth of field was for most of the shots, so perhaps it worked, since we were all just blurry shapes. Patrick and I were determined to make the most of our small roles, and started to do the unthinkable: adding things in. Given farmer's outfits one day, we decided to act the roles. I made every effort to scratch my behind when on camera, Patrick would spit and sleep on the side of the road. For the the night shoot, Patrick and I decided that we should be drunk, and so stumbled down the street, him slipping every few steps and me catching him. The director liked it so much he did a close-up so as to edit us into the final cut. Now, the typical chinese method of controlling the extras is to micro-manage everything, repeating to us after every take what we had to do, herding and prodding us around like cattle. It was only when we had made a determined decision to ignore them that we were able to come up with some interesting things, and actually have fun on set. I hope they noticed, and learned something, but probably not.

It wasn't all stumbling around, though. There were a number of minor speaking roles needed over the five days, about sixty percent of which went to Patrick. At some point the director had taken a liking to him, and in truth he's not a bad actor, being something of a natural clown and performer. So when the show actually airs we'll have a load of fun seeing him six or seven times in different makeups and clothes. I personally had fewer active roles, but I will still clearly show up on several occasions.

Chinese craft service. For the first two days we had fish and egg at every meal, until we complained about the lack of variety. Then we got chicken leg and egg at every meal.

Generously they wrote my name on the lunchbox. It says "foreigner".

More than anything else, though, I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the series so I can spot all the factual inaccuracies and cheap shortcuts the production took. Once again we were stunned by how far they'd go to save a buck, and how little they actually cared for continuity and/or historical accuracy. Having been part of it will simply make the whole thing that much more hilarious.

We needed some mexican peasants, and this is what they came up with. Yes, his poncho is a piece of roofing felt.

A Hard Day's Night

2006-06-09T11:46:00.000+08:00

My second foray into extra-ing (that's not a real word), was a lot harder than the first. We were shooting overnight, which precisely was four in the afternoon until six the next morning. The only thing that stopped us was the arrival of daylight.

The set was a fake old shanghai. Apparently the streetcar is functional.

What made this so much more of a trial was the fact that we were shooting outdoors, and were made to stand for approximately 8 hours of ten we were actually on set. On the one hand this was logistical: they were shooting a crowd scene -- we were an angry mob -- and often needed to have us in the same positions.

What would a mob be without torches?

On the other hand this was sheer neglect, as often members of the crowd who weren't needed were simply ignored when they could have been told to take five. I had been nominated as group leader for some reason, and so eventually I just took it upon myself to order people away to rest and use the bathroom. Let the director wait a few minutes.

One of the proper actors. She's actually from Burundi, but grew up in Paris and now lives in DC. Speaks fluent French and English with a pure American accent, so I took her for that at first. I asked her what she was doing there and she responded with a grin "Ah'm the maid!"

On the plus side, I got a line: "She's a witch, like the Indians, and she'll bring misfortune to us all! Kill her!" An unassuming dramatic debut, but I guarantee it's all uphill from now on. Note also that, as we were a lynch mob set out to kill a Chinese doctor and burn her herbal medicine that we believed was responsible for poisoning a white girl, the reference to Indians as evil aids in casting Americans as intolerant. All things being equal, we in the West are no saints, but a TV lecture on racial sensitivity should hardly be coming from the Chinese. The intensely nationalist tone of the show is unpleasant, but it will certainly go over well with the mass audience here.

The director wasn't happy with the number of foreigners, and felt that the crowd was a little thin. So he dressed up about a dozen Chinese guys in wigs and filmed them from behind. I didn't know dreadlocks and purple hair were the fashion in the twenties.

Tired after all that standing, and flush with cash from being paid, I treated myself to a nice breakfast afterwards. Nothing like two eggs Benedict and an Early Gray tea to get one back on one's way.

After a night of dithering and delays, the speed and efficiency with which the crew could shoot when pressed by oncoming daylight was amazing. I'm not sure how this will look in the final cut, but luckily for them it was a cloudy morning.

Extra: Sometimes I Love the Internet.

When it's not foisting false and trivial email on us, the internet remains possibly the greatest method ever of figuring out the name of that song you've got stuck in your head. I've had one bugging me for over four years, all I had was half a verse remembered from my childhood, and one time hearing it in New York, hence the four-year waiting period. But, today I (well, me and Google) finally tracked it down. Turns out it was "Everything She Wants" by Wham!

Extra Innings

2006-05-31T09:54:00.000+08:00

I spent the weekend immortalising myself as an extra on a Chinese TV serial. They're filming one about Chinese workers building the railroad in America, so they need plenty of foreigners to fill in the background. Aside from being my first chance to be on set, it was a good window into Chinese production methods.

Day 1

The Courtroom

Not that interesting. There were about 80 foreigners, and we were told to wear suits. Those that didn't (which was most) were provided with suits from the costume department (a cube van parked in the lot across the street). We were filming in a decrepit courthouse which was standing in for one the city of San Francisco. My job as part of the mob was to sit quietly, until the director would say "Discuss! Discuss!" at which point we'd have to react to whatever had just been said at the front of the courtroom.

Objects at Rest

Always, of course, hoping for a bigger part, Patrick and I went right to the front and sat down in the second row, figuring we'd be on camera more. But then the Assistant Director started moving people around to get the look he wanted. I was disappointed to be placed in the last row, right in front of the Chinese section. But at least I could read my book. Patrick, however, was moved right to the front and placed on the defense team, next to the main actress, so he got his face on camera a few times at least.

Watching the crew work was a fairly interesting time in itself. First of all, they weren't recording any audio. There was no boom, nor radio mikes, and nobody mixing. I wasn't surprised by this because from watching chinese serials I already knew that all the dialogue is dubbed over. This is probably a habit they've developed from importing actors from Hong Kong or Taiwan, and I imagine it's cheaper, especially since they never bother with properly syncing to actors' lip movements.

This rather negligent attention to detail would make itself comically evident over the weekend. My skepticism was initially aroused by the composition of the crowd they had assembled. Not really caring who the "foreigners" were, they got what they asked for. Thus a courthouse crowd in San Francisco in 1920 was entirely under 30, and among 65 people were four Turks, five Persians, and three Bangladeshis. I'm sure San Fran has always been a diverse place, but that wasn't what I would have imagined.

Another inconsistency was the courtroom itself. In the end they couldn't have a proper american trial by jury, there simply aren't the facilities (not to mention the political will) to do that. We had a chinese courtroom standing in for an american one, with a "jury" consisting of two panels of three judges on each side.

As for myself I was filmed once in my seat, with an opening pan of the crowd terminating on me, but then I was replaced. Halfway through the day they needed to bring in one of the main actors, but found that the Chinese section wasn't close enough to the front, so they told me to take a rest and moved the folks behind me up a row. As I was seated on the aisle, I was replaced by one of the main actors. Thus an observant viewer, by paying attention to who was seated behind a certain brown-haired russian, would find that a skinny blond brit had transformed into an elderly mustachioed chinaman (I am not, of course, entirely British, but by physiognomy certainly more that than anything else).

That then was the end of my day, since when I "came" back from my rest (actually I was herded back), they couldn't find a seat for me, so I sat on the side and read my book for four hours until we were all dismissed. This not being the worst day I've ever had, getting paid to read is my idea of a pleasant saturday every once in a while, I decided to come back the next day, which I made certain by telling the agent "I have to run, you can pay me tomorrow," which wasn't a lie, as we had gone overtime and finished at 7.

Betamax to the Max

Day 2

Better than the first day. Fewer foreigners. Upon arriving I found that the courtroom had been filled up with Chinese extras, save the last two rows on one side where the foreigners were sitting, in a precise inversion of the day before. I obediently sat down and readied my novel. My peace was disturbed by the arrival of a crew member who pulled me from my seat and told me very quickly to go and get dressed as a policeman. The day was looking up, and I might actually get to do something, I thought.

They were actually better extras than we were

The costume was a bit scratchy and ill-fitting, but it wasn't that bad. I left my suit in the wardrobe truck, where it occasionally haunted me throughout the day with the worry that it would be damaged (it wasn't).

Yours truly in uniform

So my job had changed, and now I was charged with standing in front of one jury panel and keeping straight. However the best was yet to come. As a policeman I was charged with enforcing order in the courts, so me and my counterpart across the room got to drag a guy down the central aisle and out of the courtroom. It took about six takes to get it right, and was quite fun to tell the truth. I wonder how it will look in the final product.

I also got another little task, which was to take a paper from the attorney and give it to the judge, all told I got my face on camera at least twice, not including being in the background.

On the second day I also experienced sheer glee on (a least) two occasions. First was watching one of the actors work. The man they chose to play the villain, a russian I believe, had a quite unique system. Knowing that whatever he said would be dubbed over in Mandarin, he took it upon himself to swear all throughout his dialogue. As long as he got the visual part right, the director was happy, and neither he nor the AD spoke English anyhow. My other favourite moment of day 2 was when they decided that Patrick, who had been on the defendant's side the day before, should now sit on the plaintiff's. Technically this was ok since we were filming an appeal relating to the first trial from day 1. Non-technically, it simply made no sense and we couldn't stop laughing about it.

All in all I learned a great deal in these first two days. I learned how long the work-day is for film crews (day 1 was nine hours, day 2 was fifteen), and I learned that to keep your sanity you have to be like a cat, and spend most of your time dozing or tuned out. So long as you're ready when they need you, nobody cares what else you get up to. I also see how this job can destroy your life, since they take your whole day and they feed you. If they would only bathe you and give you a mattress you'd have no excuse to leave the set. At the same time it's incredibly addictive, because there's an intense focus and a singularity of purpose that comes out naturally when a crew is working together.

I also learned that actors may be animals, but extras are worse, we're props. Put us someplace and hope we stay still. I'm doing it again tonight, all night from four p.m. straight through until the morning. I think if I can stand this I can stand almost anything.

As ever, since this was China, there was a sharp reminder of parallel economies at work. My pay was 300 Y for eight hours plus 50 Y per hour after. All told for two days I got 1000 Y. The local extras who showed up got 35 Y for the day, and I'm not even sure they were paid overtime. Even if they were, how much could it have been?

M'aidez! M'aidez!

2006-05-02T13:19:00.000+08:00

May 1st has arrived, and there's a whole week of holidays -- which means lots of chinese tourists coming to Shanghai to see the sights and shop. The system here seems to be no long weekends but rather occasional extended time off. It's more effective at getting people to travel, and I think if we did it in Canada people might actually be willing to head to another province for their vacations, instead of just a weekend at the cottage (nothing wrong with beer on the deck, mind you).

There's no May Day parade here in Shanghai -- I had my doubts that they would drive nukes down Nanjing Rd -- and as a whole there's no overt reference to the origins of the holiday, which they call "Golden Week". In honour of the death of Communism in China, I've chosen to show you a photo I took the other day outside of a local supermarket.

Yes, let's all salute the great helmsman and wave our little red... er, grocery discount cards. Faced with the fact that the Cultural Revolution was an unmitigated disaster with repercussions that will dog China well into this century, the logic of capitalism says "let's use it for marketing."

Two Posts

2006-04-19T23:41:00.000+08:00

Lessons in Relative Economics

Sometimes is stuns me how little people can live on here. I'm not simply referring to menial jobs like shoveling garbage (that is a job here). I have a Filipino friend who is working as a hostess/waitress at an Indonesian restaurant. She earns 2000 yuan a month, or roughly 325 CAD. She pays 400 yuan a month to share a one-room apartment with a Filipino couple (every so often she bunks on my couch to give them some private time). She still manages to send money home to her family (she has two boys, aged 6 and 7), and it's enough that it counts for something. As a comparison, my rent alone is 2000 yuan. And if that sounds like a huge disparity, Jenny is paid above the average because being Filipino she can understand English. Standard wage for a Chinese waitress is 800 yuan a month. The staff at Maggie's Hostel (where I stayed initially) earn 1000 a month, plus free accomodation, for twelve-hour days.

Wanted

I went back round to Maggie's Hostel today to say hello, and while I was there a police lieutenant came in with a wanted poster. I'd never seen this before, so I stuck around out of curiosity. Not actually a wanted poster, but rather a sheet for the staff with some grainy surveillance photos and an artists's rendition of the man in question, it wasn't much to go by. When I asked what the man's crime was, I was told "harming public security". Whatever that actually meant, he must have done something serious because they were offering a 200,000 yuan reward for him, which according to the staff was "about ten times the usual amount" -- which is to say that the police bring these notices around fairly regularly. It must also mean that they have no idea where he is, and little hope of finding him without the reward. The fellow must also have had a sense of humour, or been an unsophisticated criminal, because also on the rap-sheet was a copy of a receipt he signed as Li Guoyou, Guoyou meaning "Friend of the Country". This could be humour, or not, because names like this were given to children after '49.

Burmahoy!

2006-04-04T21:39:00.000+08:00

I do have a lot to say about Burma. It's an interesting place, if a bit decrepit and dirty (watch what you eat if it's not cooked). To be fair it's also very special country with a spectacularly rich aesthetic heritage, wonderful people, and better than average food.

I could write a long article about the history of the country, and follow it up with pictures, more articles about the culture, pieces on the food, and descriptions of the tourist destinations we visited on the trip. But I won't do that. Or rather I won't do that twice.

Doing a far better job than I ever could, Michael and Sean have put together a website to chronicle their travels through Asia, and perhaps more as the site develops. It allows Michael to express his passion for food writing and reviewing, and Sean to post his photos. And of course me to edit what they write (Michael's work much less so) and fill in a few of the gaps. I'll also post a few longer pieces on China in the future. So instead of putting an post here I'll just send you over there. No I'm not fobbing you off and being lazy, since I've written content for the site. In fact it's more polished than my posts here often are, so technically you're all in for a treat. And Sean has a marvelous camera and knows how to use it.

So, without further ado, for as good a window on Burma as any website could be, everyone should visit Trippin web magazine.

A Small Debt to Pay

2006-04-03T20:48:00.000+08:00

I've been very bad towards my readers these last few months, and the fact that some of you are only just starting to complain means either that you are extremely tolerant or have other ways to entertain yourselves. Nevertheless I'm making a commitment to return to these pages and put some more food for thought out on our general table.

I actually have a number of blog entries from the past few months that I haven't put up. A lot of them are in note form and so actually need to be changed into proper copy, but that's not difficult. I'm going to be cheeky and pre-date them to when they ought to have been read. I don't see this as dishonest, of course, or covering up my laziness vis-a-vis my duty here, but rather as making my thoughts available to you in the order in which they occurred. So it's all purely above-board you see.

2006-02-24T10:57:00.000+08:00

The flight over from Shanghai was quite nice. Thai air beats the pants off of any Chinese airline, and Air Canada too. As an in-flight meal I was given duck, which is a first. And, there are flowers behind the toilet. You also receive some flowers when the plane lands, even though they had nothing to apologise for.

Bangkok, first of all, is hot. Stepping off the plane, even after sunset, feels like entering a greenhouse. During the day it's even more intense, really my kind of weather.

It's a city of smells first and foremost. Exhaust, the occasional sewer, and most of all food. Street stalls are everywhere -- when it's this hot day and night you can live outside -- and provide cheap tasty food. Charcoal grills, fish sauce, peanuts, lime juice, coconut. Walking down the street gets you thoroughly assualted by every aroma in the book.

An interesting taste everyone should try is the salty orange juice. Fantastically fresh and sweet the local oranges are, so the juice is good any way you serve it. The salt is medicinal, to replace what you sweat out. After a few days I was disappointed, though. The orange juice sold at most carts on the tourist strip is salt-free, because there's no money in giving people stuff that's too different.

I met a French family in our hotel. The girl, ten, spent most of her time swimming, and while at first I felt like scolding her for not enjoying the city, that sentiment faded when I asked myself what she would actually do in downtown Bangkok. She doesn't (we hope) drink, doesn't (we hope even more) go to massage parlours, and doesn't (we assume) have her own credit card to shop. All that would be left would be eating, and her appraisal of Thai food was "It sucks. It's salty, sweet, and spicy all together." I pray for future generations. At least she liked the fresh tamarind I gave her.

On the whole Bangkok is unforgettable, and that's a euphemism you can decode for yourself. Myanmar was more interesting by far, though I'd love to return and see more of Thailand because I assume it has a more refined quality.

Didn't Somebody Catch That?

2006-02-18T22:27:00.000+08:00

In an earlier post I mentioned the poor quality of Chinese broadcasting. I've just seen another gaffe on CCTV5 (that's Central China Television, five is the sport channel), during their olympic coverage. This time I have a photo.

Notice the channel logo on the broadcast desk. It's still there, but the first "C" is somehow obscured. I'm not sure why, maybe there's something white behind it, or it's the result of lighting or the camera angle. Regardless, isn't there someone whose job it is to notice such things and fix them? Add to that the strange choice of frosted glass to make the desk. I've never seen broadcasters seated behind anything see-through before. The other day one of the anchors was fidgeting around with his feet, which was very noticeable, and distracting.

On another note, here is a lesson in the local economy. A friend of mine recently got a job as a hostess in an upscale Indonesian restaurant. Six days a week, ten o'clock to six o'clock, all for 2000Y (about 300CAD) a month. She's Phillipina so she doesn't see it quite the same way I do. Still it's mind-boggling to think about the cost of labour here, and what local people make for any kind of menial jobs.

Yesterday Was Sunny

2006-02-15T13:42:00.000+08:00

Tshirt weather arrived ever so briefly -- today it's overcast and cold. But I made the most of it, though I was the only person without a jacket on the street (I think it was about fifteen degrees, plus the sun it was more than warm).

On my way to pay some bills at the post office. Not sure why I'm smiling that clever smile. At the time I must have been plotting something.

This is the downside of the climate. Hardly a hot day, but you can already see the haze, and the humidity was palpable. I have always claimed it can never be too hot for me, and I'll stand by that until absolutely proven wrong. Trouble is, at this rate July will be intolerable.

Today...

2006-02-09T12:12:00.000+08:00

I'm going to recycle other people's words and share some things I found to be interesting.

A novel way to look at mining accidents in China.

Crisis, albeit minor, at Hong Kong Disneyland.

The latest episode of rural instability in China. This time it's villagers fighting each other, and not directed against the govt, but it shows the govt can't really keep order (or doesn't care).

Another year's done gone

2006-01-28T16:03:00.000+08:00

It's been pointed out to me that I have neglected to post anything in a month. I don't deny this.

Chinese New Year has come, and everyone is getting ready. I could tell the New Year was coming because just after December 25th all the Christmas paraphenalia dissapeared from the supermarkets, to be replaced with commercialisation for the new holiday. One day all the checkout clerks were wearing santa hats (which they'd been doing all month, in a more-than-surreal decision by management), and the next day red embroidered vests. Maybe after next week they'll get to wear a normal uniform again, but Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Who knows what costume they'll dream up for that.

I bought a few fireworks, mostly strings of crackers, with some ground flowers and sparklers for good measure. But I've only spent ten bucks or so, that was my limit (I might give in and buy a few more if I have fun with these). Some people were filling their shopping carts to the brim.

Everything will go off tonight at midnight, though I've been told the real firework display happens on the fourth day of the new year. Four ("si") rhymes with death ("si") and so is an unlucky number. The fourth day, a friend told me, there are points when it's impossible to have a conversation inside your house for all the explosions outside.

Sunday is the first day of the Year of the Dog, and is the big family day. People get together for a big feed. I don't have a Chinese family to spend it with, which I would have liked, so that's a goal for another time.

I'm going out tonight to take pictures and some video, playing the documentarian for a while. I'll put things up tomorrow at some point.

AiM, part 2

2005-12-28T20:45:00.000+08:00

More strange things I've seen here...

Should translate as "First [let people] get off and then get on, be a civil passenger". Nobody respects this.

This was in the window of a real estate agency. I'm baffled... are they proselytizing or did they just choose the wrong Christmas wish? For those who can't get enough of this, a short video.

Christmas passed...

2005-12-28T18:20:00.000+08:00

Well I can't say it was the most normal Christmas, but I enjoyed myself. Foreigners get the day off here in deference to their 'religious' beliefs. I was directly unaffected by this, since I don't work (more in a future entry), but all my Western friends were off, so there was much revelry. On the 24th (in deference to the Quebecoise hosting the party) I cooked an Xmas dinner sort of like at home -- roast chicken with stuffing, candied yams, granma's potato balls, cooked carrots and spinach, a couple bottles of French red and some icewine brought from home-- and scored about seventy-five in my own opinion. Chinese chickens are scrawny and tough. Is this what chickens were like before hormones and antibiotics? Praise be to technology.

That's where the similarity ends with Christmas at home, because then we hit the clubs and I didn't get home until five-thirty in the morning. Chinese people seem surprised when I tell them we don't do it at home, but instead stay in because nothing's open.

As if one day of that wasn't enough, the next day I was invited to a potluck. Slated to start at three p.m., I knew it wouldn't, having seen the host stumbling around when I left the bar earlier that morning. I managed to get up by eleven-thirty and went to the carrefour to get the necessities for chocolate mousse. Struggling against both my memory and the ticking clock, I managed to pull it off: the world's fastest mousse (it chilled for forty minutes only* and was perfect). The dinner was lots of fun, and then against my better judgement I went back out to the clubs. This time I pulled myself away by two o'clock. I got up early and joined my family for christmas dinner via video-conference. Praise be to technology.

*for anyone ever in a similar situation, my solution was to buy half a dozen mini tupperwares, split the mousse up, and chill it uncovered in a mostly empty fridge.

Everyone in Red

2005-12-27T10:09:00.000+08:00

This deserves mentioning. I was at the market yesterday night, buying some fried chicken for dinner, and the lady queuing next to me struck up a conversation. She asked me what part of the States I was from, and this is the odd part. When I told her I was from Canada, she said "Oh, but you don't have red hair. I thought all Canadians had red hair." I explained to her that no, we have all colours of hair. Her assumption was based upon one having met one canadian family, all of whom happened to have red hair. What's even stranger is that as we talked further, she told me that her son had received his B.A. from Columbia University, and was currently doing his M.A. at Berkeley. So here's a middle-aged woman, who obviously has a great deal of money, and yet is not only very ignorant of the world outside China, but also extremely pre-judgemental. I simply had to shake my head inwardly and wonder where this possibly could have come from.

HK Update

2005-12-21T10:12:00.000+08:00

Thought I'd just put up a few more things from HK. Below is the bowl of snake soup I had just before leaving the city (mmmm....).

Also, Long Hair -- the guy with the Che Guevara shirt from my earlier post -- is mentioned in a recent Slate article about the grassroots democracy movement in HK.

Visiting the Police

2005-12-20T09:26:00.000+08:00

No, no, nothing like that. I went down to the local station to register my presence in the neighbourhood. It's required of all foreigners in China. Still Communist in name and bureaucratic in spirit.

I was worried about going, though. One is by law required to go within three days of moving into a new place. I had forgotten about this, and so was technically on the hook for a small fine. A friend of mine was dinged for 300Y the week before. Luckily I had just come back from Hong Kong, so could pretend I had only been staying there a week, not three.

I consulted a few other expats, and came up with a solution: go to the police with my passport, leave my lease at home, and play like I spoke no Chinese. The latter is a crucial point, ignorance is a good shield here. They're not going to hassle you if they think it will be more energy to do so. It's also easier to claim one doesn't know the law.

I went there and got the paper, more surprised than anything else. No fine or anything, not even a harsh look. Perhaps the cop was having a stress-free day, he did seem very relaxed for a Chinese civil servant. In fact it was the first time I'd seen people laughing, fooling around, swatting each other with magazines, etc.

Now, it had only been a week since I came back from HK, so not that far over the limit. It was also definitely a good idea not to take my lease along. But I'll never know just why I got away with it.

Non-Disco Inferno

2005-12-19T13:05:00.000+08:00

This happened to me about a month ago, while I was looking for apartments. I was waiting for the agent on the street corner, and was standing next to a little truck selling coffee. I smelled an electrical fire, and saw a trickle of smoke coming from the backside of the van. The trickle became a cloud, and then the whole thing burst into flames. In total it took the firemen under five minutes to arrive (It's a big tourist area, I'm sure there was a station very close by). Once again, pictures speak louder than words.

I have a lot more pictures for those interested. If there's demand I can post them all. I also have a lot of videos. Here's one of a policeman unsuccessfully attempting to put the fire out.

The Grand Tour

2005-12-19T07:54:00.000+08:00

This has been a long time in coming, and now here it is. I like my apartment, all things considered. Decent size, and the kitchen is serviceable, if only for one person. Very Chinese in style. I could go on at length, but there's no reason. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Random Adventures in Mistranslation, volume 1

2005-12-18T20:38:00.000+08:00

In the course of living in China I run across quite a few gems of accidental humour. I also see things that stretch my powers of comprehension. For your viewing pleasure I'll put both sorts up here.

I'll give a no-prize to the first person who figures out what was really meant here.

Even I can't help with this. Right, no magma in my coconut drink. Good to know.

More of an orthography problem, this conjures all sorts of strange ideas. This was taken in Beijing (though not by me, it came to me third-hand).

When I was in HK I went to the beach...

2005-12-18T20:35:00.000+08:00

Just gloating a bit. Anyone living in a pleasant climate can ignore this.

Hong Kong, Part 2b

2005-12-11T09:31:00.000+08:00

I got my visa without any problems, except I was only able to procure a six-month business visa. Apparently because I was on a visa issued in Canada rather than in HK, they weren't able to grant me one year. That's fine, though. Now I will see about extending it after the six months are up.

Yesterday Sylvia and I went to the Film Archive. When she learned that I had written my MA thesis on 1930s Shanghai Film, she said "Oh, I know someone at the archive". So we made a call and went down. Her friend was in Beijing, but there was someone else available to help us. Alas, there wasn't much for me. The Hong Kong film industry received a lot of people and money in the 1940s and 50s, as people fled the war, and then the communist takeover of Shanghai. But film reels were too bulky, and so were left behind. At the moment most of the old reels are stored in Beijing (no, not Shanghai), so maybe I'll take a trip up there at some point out of curiosity.

After a while in the archives, we felt hungry. This seems to be a common theme, eating, but I have to say I haven't had a bad meal yet. Up to now it's included Yunnan noodles, Thai green curry and roast pork cheek, a macanese pork-chop sandwich, an all-vegetarian cantonese lunch, and steamed fish and small abalone. Absolutely no complaints. The only thing I've missed (even though we keep talking about it) is snake soup. Perhaps I'll have it today.

In the evening we went to a nice and very unpretentious little bar called Club 71. 7/1/2003 was the day people in HK protested the introduction of a new security bill and got it shelved, so the bar has a political stance.

It's frequented by all sorts of interesting people, artists and intellectuals, including this guy. He's something of a Trotsky-ite, and therefore more than just a black sheep in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, he ran for a Legislative Council seat and won, probably just as a protest vote but that's politics. So he goes to the highest HK Assembly in jeans and a Che Guevara T-shirt and gives the government headaches.

I have to extend a gracious thanks to Sylvia for having me here, it's been wonderful. Her place is up on the hill, and there's a wonderful view, including this building, which is the tallest in Hong Kong, but only reminds me of a giant electric beard trimmer.

to be continued...

Hong Kong, Part 1

2005-12-09T10:06:00.001+08:00

In order to keep staying in China, I have to do something about my visa. I'm currently on a 60-day tourist visa, which expires on December 13th, so I needed to do something. The most convenient thing to do in Shanghai is to get a one-year multiple entry business visa. This lets you come and go from China as you like, and also allows you to work. Actually it's not quite legal, but the local branch of Beijing thoughtfully looks the other way, and people get on with their schemes to become wildly rich.

A business visa can be had in Shanghai, without even having to leave the country. Cost: 3500Y. I did a bit of research, and found that the same visa is available in Hong Kong for about 1100 HK$ (say 1200Y). A cheap flight to Shenzhen is 1440Y return, and the bus to HK from the Shenzhen airport is 110Y each way. So it comes out to be less, or at most the same price if you factor in other expenses. But then I get to go to Hong Kong in the bargain.

Getting out of Shanghai is half the fun. Take the subway to the next-to-last stop, and board the maglev train to the airport. As a tourist attraction they've put a speedometer in every car. I'm sure you can spot the first-timers because they're taking pictures of how fast they're going. The train looks futuristic enough that were they not to actually go fast, but merely claim it, no-one would notice. Apologies for the slightly blurry third and fourth photos.

Total trip time 9 minutes, which is deceptive because the train only spends about 15 seconds at maximum speed. Rumour has it they are building a maglev link between Shanghai and Beijing.

So, after the (very) short train ride, I was at the airport and ready to board my plane. I had heard incredible horror stories about the service on some Chinese planes. I met one fellow who flew from L.A. to Shanghai with China Eastern, on a plane with no food and no working toilets.

My flight was fine, though I did actually wish for the no food part to be true. The best use of the hot food was as a bun warmer, and to soften the frozen butter pat they gave me.

Getting to HK from Shenzhen was simple. Once there I called Sylvia (who is graciously hosting me while I'm here - thanks Sylvia) and we went off to get my visa. We found the travel agency in Kowloon -- run by Indians, and recommended to me -- and they took my passport and told me to come back to pick up the visa the next day after 3pm. Efficient service to say the least.

to be continued...

Apartment Setup, Picture Woes

2005-12-06T16:48:00.000+08:00

Well I've gotten into my new apartment, and well set up. Just in time for the weather to turn brutally cold. I think it was around six degrees today, and very windy. While I know you all up in Canada are living with much lower, please remember a) humidity b) no insulation and c) no central heating. The best you can do is run the air conditioner, which doubles as a heater. Of course, it's so cold that the aircon in my room won't go above twenty-four degrees, even though it's set to thirty. The incoming air is simply too cold for the miniscule heater to handle.

As if the cold weren't enough, I now have more to complain about. The power cut out yesterday night at about eleven-thirty. No power means neither heat nor hot water (gas heater, but with an electric ignition), so we hoped it would be fixed by morning. It was, someone came around half-past-midnight and got it running again. Apparently the problem was limited to our apartment only. In any case we were satisfied. At least until the morning, when the power cut out again. And was fixed. And then cut out once more about noon.

I was curious as to what was causing all this, so I followed the tech around. It wasn't the breakers being flipped from over-use -- we have the breaker box inside by the door, so that I could have fixed. The problem seemed to be in the larger circuit fuses for the whole apartment. It's a fact: even if you renovate your apartment, it's still in an old building. The best you can do is move the weak link outside. The fuses they have are unlike anything I've seen before. Basically a ceramic bridge with plugs at either end. A wire is strung across the bridge to connect the two terminals. If this sounds familiar to anyone born before the fifties, let me know. But I digress.

I had a look at these things up close, as the fellow was pulling them out to check if the wires had blown. Not only were no two wires alike -- not in thickness nor in character -- but I also saw one fuse where six thin wires were strung together in an obvious improvisation of real work. The third try was the charm, it seems, because as of five in the evening the power is still flowing, allowing me to go about my life as usual. Which brings me to my next point of contention.

For those of you who want photos of the apartment, you'll have to wait. For some reason the internet connection here is defective. This isn't unusual, most residential connections receive data much faster than they send it (usually between a four-to-one and six-to-one ratio). Mine however is more like a ninety-to-one ratio, if it will even send anything at all. This means I cannot upload photos to blogger, nor even send attachments via email. The techs from the internet company came today and told me there was nothing they could do, so I'm going to switch services and see if that has any effect. But to anyone who wants to see what the apartment looks like, just consider it a secret worth waiting for.

Signed!

2005-11-29T10:55:00.000+08:00

Got myself (ourselves) a place. It's nice, I'll put photos up once I'm in there. 4000Y per month total, plus bills, decent location. Broadband internet (thank god), which means more time to post, or at least more freedom to. This might result in fewer posts, of course, since things often work that way.

Patrick and I move in on the first of December. I'll have more to report then.

More apt news

2005-11-27T11:13:00.000+08:00

After adding some fresh bruises to my head hitting it against a wall, there seems to have been a breakthrough. After seeing an ad for real estate help which was actually well-written I got in touch with an interesting character. He's 21, from Shanghai but lived in London a couple years, and speaks with a british accent. He works for himself and deals solely with expats, is very stylish, and will no doubt make a lot of money over the next few years.

Most important for me, he is a responsible agent. No pressure tactics, doesn't force the sale, doesn't tell me why I shouldn't try to bargain the price down. Now, this is the flip side of being a good salesman and knowing what expat clients want, but that's fine by me. If I'm to give my money away, let it at least be to someone who is skilled and tries hard.

At the same time, I have another friend here who is in real estate. He was one of the guys working at the hostel, but last week got himself a new job as an agent. He has a lead on a very good place which from the sound of it is drastically underpriced (the owner is apparently very rich and doesn't care), so tomorrow I'll look at that. Once again, the best (the only?) way to get things done in China is to have a connection on the inside.

Emotional China

2005-11-25T14:38:00.000+08:00

It's strange to think about those two words together. The stereotypes we have in the West are the old one of the inscrutable squinting Chinaman, smiling at you no matter what you've told him, and the new one of the stone-faced Communist bureaucrat who does little else but give speeches and blink just a bit too often. The reality differs more than you'd think.

Chinese people are in fact some of the most emotional in the world. Almost all entertainment here is melodrama. The TV shows are all soaps, with overly dramatic acting, undeveloped tortured souls for characters, and torrid plot-lines. Popular music is the same. Love songs abound, and even the male stars are sensitive, stylishly dressed crooners with feathered hair. Nothing goes beyond mid-tempo, nothing is hard, and the ballad is king. I think Elvis would be too aggressive for the mainstream here (just like he was in the fifties, of course.)

The catch is that it's not limited to entertainment. Emotion is part of every personal dealing, especially selling things. Here's an example. I was at the electronics market, haggling over some earphones, and couldn't find one that I really liked. I apologised and walked away, and the girl behind the counter looked genuinely hurt by my refusal. Was it all a show to get me to buy? I couldn't tell, but didn't think so. Even if it was, it's a strange selling tactic, to make me feel sorry for you and so buy your stuff. No reason to use it unless it actually works.

I had a similar experience with my apartment hunt. They wanted me to sign right away, but I said that I never sign a contract without sleeping on it. A bit of silence followed that statement. They also asked for 500Y deposit, which I flatly refused. I was then told that since we had already negotiated a bit over the particlars, if I didn't sign the lease promptly the landlord would think that I wasn't serious and wasn't interested in the place. At what point did his personal approval begin matter to me? That was my thought. But he was almost being held up as a father figure, whose disappointment I didn't dare risk. Bar none the most bizzare thing that's happened to me since I've been here.

Apartment Hunting

2005-11-25T14:20:00.000+08:00

I've spent the last week looking for a place to live, and I have to say I've never had so much difficulty. I would never have thought people could come up with so many excuses not to show me a property.

Here's how it works: Walk by a real estate office, see an ad in the window. Go inside, ask about the ad. Get told that no, that place has just been rented the day before.

Alternatively, have this dialogue with a realtor

Robin: "I'd like to look at this one."
Agent: "Oh, that has no furniture in it, you don't want it."
R: "Well, ok, but I'd still like to see it."
A: "No, it has no furniture in it."
R: "Yes, I understand, but I'd still like to see it."
A: "No, it has no furniture in it."
R: "I understood you the first time, but I would still like to see it."
A: "Oh, well the landlord is unavailable right now, and so you can't see it any time soon."
R: "Ok, fine, how about that other one."
A: "You don't want that one, the bathroom is shared."
R: "That's funny, the ad says it has a private bath. Look, right here."
A: "You don't want that one, it's not very well decorated."
R: "I don't mind, I'd still like to take a look."
A: "How long do you want to rent for?"
R: "Six months."
A: "Oh, well there's no way they'll rent it for six months, you can't see it." [not true]

That's a paraphrase of how I lost ten minutes of my life and added a fresh bruise beating my head against a wall. I've racked my brains trying to figure out why they do this, because it's not an isolated incident. I'm told they use fake ads to get people into the office, and then try to upsell them. I've experienced that tactic too. We don't have this, but we do have something like it at just under twice the price.

The other unpleasant fact of renting here is that they all use the hard sell tactic. Somehow they think that if they badger you enough you'll rent a place you've just seen on the spot. This might be common in Canada or the US, I can't say because I've never used a broker's services before, but it can't be to this level. I've started giving a fake cell phone number out to agents, because I don't like being called the next day to be asked if a) I want to rent the place I saw yesterday, or b) if I have time to see more places today.

Haggling for Tennis

2005-11-25T14:02:00.000+08:00

Just because I could, I went to the Tennis Masters series here. Saturday was the semi-finals, and so a friend and I went down to haggle with the scalpers over tickets. This year most of the top players (world numbers 2 through 5, and 8) didn't show up due to injury. So the tournament has been something of a bust, with a lot of empty seats every night. We knew this, and went down to drive a hard bargain with the scalpers. It took us about three hours, but we got the price we wanted. Our goal was 200Y for a ticket that cost 900Y.

I was told that we were crazy, that we would never find a ticket, that they would get more expensive as the day wore on, and numerous other ridiculous claims. I shocked a Czech guy nearly to death by saying "Jak se mas" (how are you) to him. Patrick, the French fellow I was with, told the sellers that they would be using their tickets as toilet paper by the end of the evening. Actually he more mimed the action than told them, since he doesn't speak Chinese. This was met with a great deal of laughter, which couldn't be said for scalpers in other countries. At least here they bargain with good humour. After it all, we had people surrounding us trying to sell their tickets. So we got decent seats, missed the first doubles match and some of the second, snuck down to much better seats, and watched the singles semi-finals in comfort.

It was a total rout and Federer won 6-0, 6-0 in just over fifty minutes. This was kind of annoying because the next day the men's final was a five-set thriller that lasted over four hours. But, the whole bargaining process was a lot of fun and was by itself worth the price of admission.

This is the doubles match that ended before the men's single semis began. Empty seats anyone?

Federer in action, as you can see we got decent seats, just one row up from the edge of the deck.

The final tally.

Food Fest for Thought

2005-11-20T17:12:00.000+08:00

Encouraged by my success at the technology expo, and by the good words of my friend Tom (always nice to have someone believe in you), I decided to attend Food and Hospitality China 2005. It was actually at the same place as the last conference. It's big and ugly, but at least I knew how to get there.

There was one catch, in the form of a short sentence in the ad: "Industry visitors only." This is what had actually held me back from going there in the first place, but it was put to me that I could have fake business cards made and go, or better yet I could represent my older brother's company, and actually be legitimate. So I had some business cards made with the logo, and I formally became the Asian office of Food-Zen.

The first day I got to the fair after lunch (I was waiting for my business cards), and rapidly came to two conclusions. The first was that I could do no business as a translator. The second was that I would enjoy doing no business as a translator. Over half the booths were foreign-run, and the local employees from those companies spoke english, so there was more than enough translation to go around. As to the other point, if you have never visited a food industry trade fair, I highly encourage it. There was no lunch tent outside simply because everyone inside was providing free samples. Fruit, bread, olives, wine, cheese, even steak and sashimi. I found my way into most of it, and grazed for a couple hours while taking notes, and then came home.

The next day I set out to properly represent Michael, and see if I couldn't drum up some work for him over here. Half of them didn't know what food styling was, but I got several enthusiastic responses. And I ate more of the free samples. I visited the Australian Beef Exporters booth four times that day. I also picked up some fresh parmesan, a jar of excellent marmelade, and a couple other goodies to take home with me. Included in this was a bottle of Japanese "Deep Sea Water", which the company had pumped up from the depths and de-salinated. I could actually taste the difference between tea made with regular water and with the deep sea water. I could also foresee some kind of environmental catastrophe as the ocean-bed ecosystem was upset by all the water being removed, but I don't think they had thought that far ahead.

So in the end a very good couple of days, I dropped fifty-six business cards in about six hours and ate my fill twice over. Here are some photos: a couple of the exhibition hall, some of fancy dishes prepared for a competition (witness Chinese tastes in presentation).

Stonegrill

This was a very interesting find. Heat a block of volcanic rock up to 400˚C, put the slab in front of the customer, and let him/her cook his own meat. Seems a bit odd, but it does a very good job. It's a very hot sear, so you don't lose juice or fat from the meat, keeping it tender. It's originally from New Zealand but they're starting to sell it around the world. There's one just opened in Shanghai, and one in Vancouver I believe. In Toronto you could give the Keg a run for its money.

Popular Myth Dispelled

2005-11-18T20:57:00.000+08:00

Just for the record, I'm not basking in tropical temperatures. The average these last few days has been about ten degrees, but the extreme humidity, lack of insulation, and absence of heating make it almost impossible to escape the cold. I've broken out my winter coat (I'm wearing it now, in the hostel office) because it was the only way to be comfortable.

Small world

2005-11-16T20:22:00.000+08:00

This morning I woke up to find there was a new guy moved into the room. I had met him before, during my trip to Brazil in March. He was wearing the same Brazillian soccer jersey as the last time I saw him.

Public 'Security', and Good Olympic Business Sense

2005-11-12T09:11:00.000+08:00

The guy working behind the desk at the hostel just asked me if Hungary was in the Middle East. When asked why, he gave the following reason. The police requires that if someone from the Middle East or Central Asia checks in, they are to be called right away.

Unable to resist, I asked "What if the person is named Mohammed Ibrahim al-Arabi, but has a British passport?" I was told that no, it's all based on the citizenship of said person.

On another note, yesterday the Olympic mascots were announced, and there are five in total. Someone here pointed out how this reflects the excellent business sense of the Chinese, because kids will have to buy five times as much merchandise.

What's also interesting is that while the five characters are traditional in style, they are fresh creations. Conventional wisdom said that, as concerned with history as they are, China would choose something from literature and folklore, e.g. the Monkey King, but they've decided to step away from the old and towards the new. For a big event like the Olympics (and trust me they are obsessed) this is an important gesture.

Fun with Noodles

2005-11-11T21:23:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite local restaurants is a little hole in the wall where they make fresh noodles. The basic serving is a big bowl with salty beef stock, green onion, sesame seeds, and some cold (quickly reheated in the soup) beef. Grand total Y4 (60c).

This is one of the more interesting things I've seen, and in fact it's ubiquitous in the big cities. This man makes noodles to order, from fresh dough. He's nominally part of the Uyghur minority (I'll clear that up in a postscript), Central Asian Muslims who live in western China. Both Chinese and Uyghurs claim to have invented this traditional method of pulling noodles. It's fascinating to watch.

After first working the dough, he then stretches it out, and gives it extra length by flapping it up and down, after which he twirls it up, and repeats the process. To actually make the noodles he separates a bit of dough and stretches it out, folds, repeats, fold, repeats, until he has thin enough strings. Each time he folds them over, he gathers a bit in his hand at one end. This he finally snaps off in order to separate the noodles, and in the same motion flips them through the window into the pot of boiling water.

I took a short movie of this, but it's about 23 megabytes so it will take a little time to load. So if you don't want to see it, here are some stills.

The Uyghur Minority

The Uyghurs are China's most distinct minority. The noodle maker in the video is not fully Uyghur, but is mixed race. He's from Lanzhou, in Gansu province. Further out in the West province of Xinjiang (formerly East Turkestan under the USSR, annexed by China in the 1750s), at the very end of China, is the old Silk Road city of Kashgar. There the ethnic Chinese (the Han), are few and far between, and it is properly speaking not China, but like its immediate neighbours Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The Uyghur language is almost identical to Uzbek, and the people turkic Muslims.

More work?

2005-11-11T19:59:00.000+08:00

I've been busy living a new life as an interpreter. It all started with a photographer I met at the hostel here. I've been helping him talk his way into restaurants to take pictures, and convincing people on the street to be his models. For me it's good practice, and for him it's essential. Even though my Chinese isn't at a professional level, he doesn't need that. In fact what's more important to him is that I understand exactly what he wants to communicate. Sometimes I can't get it across fluently, but people understand in the end.

My first paying job

So while doing this, I met another fellow here who put me on to the scent of opportunity. After visiting an international technology fair in the city, he complained that nobody in the booths spoke English. I, it would seem, could be of great use to traveling businessmen. I had some business cards made, and wandered down to the exhibition center. It took me four foreigners and two hours to find someone who needed help, but need it he did. So, after helping him with a bit of translation around the fair, we visited the offices of a local car maker whose products he wants to import to Europe. The regional manager spoke decent English, it turned out. But the next day we went to a dealership, at which there was no English spoken. There I was able to help a lot. I was working for free to see if the shoe fit, but he gave me Y700 and bought me an expensive dinner. Not my highest salary all told, but the first money I've received so far. Chalk one up in the progress column.

Will this be my job for the moment? I'm honestly not sure. But I can do it, and as I add technical and business terms to my vocabulary, my effectiveness will grow.

Danger Danger!

2005-11-11T19:55:00.000+08:00

I got this message from the Consulate yesterday

Dear Canadian Citizens,
Chinese authorities have advised that four and five star hotels in China, particularly in Shanghai and Hong Kong, have been targeted as possible venues for terrorist attacks in the weeks to come. We have been assured by the local authorities that they are taking appropriate security measures and investigating all possible threats thoroughly. Canadians in China should maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all times, particularly in commercial and public establishments. ‘Canadian government officials and colleagues from other diplomatic missions are in regular contact with representatives of the Chinese government, and we are taking every opportunity to stress the importance remaining vigilant with regards to your personal security and exercise caution whenever possible. While at present we have no information indicating the timing off these possible attacks, we are closely monitoring the situation as a precaution. During the next few weeks, we are asking all Canadians to be particularly vigilant regarding security issues. We recommend monitoring local media for current information and you may also wish to check Foreign Affairs Canada's travel website.

So... their advice is for me to check the news for information?

Anyway, I got this today

Further to a message sent to registered Canadians in China on 10-11-2005 concerning threats to four and five-star hotels in China, Foreign Affairs Canada would like to advise you that, according to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, Chinese security authorities have determined that the source of the reported threat is not credible.

whew! that was a close one. Danger averted. Now I don't need to watch the news any more.

Technical Notes

2005-11-07T11:20:00.000+08:00

It seems that people might not have been able to leave comments unless they registered with blogger. I've changed that so it should be ok for everyone. There's now a simple word verification step, which will prevent junk mail in my comments.

If anyone has trouble watching any of my videos (of which there will be more soon), download and install the Xvid codec.
You can find a copy at Koepi's Media Development Homepage.

Once again, I can't read the comments you post, since China blocks me from actually seeing my own blog, or anyone elses. So if there's something you want me to read, just email it to me.

Overemployment

2005-11-07T11:14:00.000+08:00

Jobs are in fact so scarce relative to population in China that if businesses here employed the same number of people as they do in the West, the unemployed would throng the streets. So, you just hire two or three times as many people as you need, and avoid a mass panic. It's the same thing done as a temporary measure during the New Deal. Take men off the bread lines to the countryside. Have them do public works that aren't really needed and give them the same free bread out there. All of a sudden they're not queuing and idling around, which restores general confidence in the economy, since look! there are fewer unemployed in those same bread lines.

Here, though, it's not a temporary state of affairs. As an example I give you this photo of a jewelry store. Count the shop attendants. There are six more out of the picture. Each lady has perhaps four feet of counter space to herself which means the shop is covered wall-to-wall without anyone really having to move.

Fire! Fire!

2005-11-04T11:10:00.000+08:00

There was a small fire in the hostel yesterday. Or not really in the hostel, but in the old folks home below. It was in the kitchen vent, and I'm not sure how it started, but accumulated kitchen grease combusts easily. Perhaps a fan shorted and sparked. In any case, the firefighters came along, pulled a chunk of the chimney off, and thoroughly doused the flames. An American guy complained "I've been four months in China, I'm leaving tomorrow. I thought I'd get away without a hotel fire."

The extent of the damage was the office phones taken out of commission for the night.

Back to the Quail

2005-11-03T10:48:00.000+08:00

Yes, dear readers, there's no length I won't go to for you. Even to the point of eating another quail on a stick, bones and all, just to get you the picture I missed in the first place. This one was simply charcoal grilled, no sauce. Nonetheless, delicious, crunchy as ever, and my enjoyment was perhaps more perverse because it was deliberate from the get-go. After eating the whole thing save the head, I was left with maybe the world's most ghoulish hand puppet.

This is the quail in its prepared state.

And then mostly eaten.

(I'm gentleman enough to give you the option of not looking).

There's also a very short video of me playing with my new toy, which perhaps only my brothers will find amusing. Once again, optional.

Wheels

2005-11-01T17:28:00.000+08:00

I bought myself an electric scooter for just under ¥3000 (<500 CAD) yesterday (yes, right after quitting my job). It's Chinese made, and gets from 20-60 km out of one charge (depending on who you ask). So far I rode it for about an hour this afternoon and took about 20% off the battery.

My little beastie tops out at about 30km/h, though I'm not precisely sure because the speedometer says 50, which can't be accurate. I hear there's a limiter chip on the engine, though, so with a bit of creative engineering I might be able to make the speedometer accurate.

I'm going to pick myself up a helmet when I find out where to buy one. They don't seem to be in great demand around here so no-one sells them. Here are some photos.

Note the crappy little brake on the front wheel (that's the brake line running parallel to the front stem). I think it's a bicycle brake. Don't panic mom, the rear brakes are roadworthy, and I'm going to ask a mechanic if he can modify the bike to make it safer on that count. If I get more speed out of it I'll definitely need better braking.

And look, it's audi! or almost. It would be unreasonable to expect all four rings, so I get three instead.

Binny Quits His Job

2005-10-31T09:45:00.000+08:00

Yes, that's right. Three whole days and I decided it was enough. Now before people (i.e. my mother) conjure images of me broken and depressed by a roadside, let me assure you this was a very well-considered decision. I decided I could do much better. The actually quitting was difficult, I felt so bad about disappointing the people in the office, but it wasn't about them, it was about me. In no particular order, my reasoning was:

- Poor organisation: The company made much talk about teamwork and team spirit (actually this is how I got the job, I used the work teamwork four times in my cover letter), but did nothing to provide it. When I got there, I asked for a list of companies that had already been called. After two days, I got a collection of individual lists each person had been half-heartedly making themselves. There was no central list at all.

- Exploitation of the workers: The salary was almost entirely commission-based, maybe 2000 yuan a month only as basic pay. However, part of the task was to do research on the target company before calling them. So the research work was unpaid, except as a deferred investment in future sales, which couldn't be guaranteed. There should have been two separate teams, one for research and one for sales.

- Long hours: I was expected in the office from nine until six, but in practice that was just the beginning. A lot of my task was to liase with foreigners, which meant calling Europe and north America. To call Germany, for instance, you had to wait until four in the afternoon just to start, and I hadn't even figured out how we were going to call the states. So my three days there were basically twelve-hours each. I did not come to Shanghai to spend twelve hours a day in an office. I could have done that at home, and if I'm to work that much, it will only be for myself. I didn't even have time to study Chinese after work.

- No chance for learning Chinese: Besides the previous point, there was also the fact that English was my expected mode of communication. Fine, ok, but when would I practice Chinese? I spoke more Chinese hanging with foreigners on the weekend than working with locals during the week.

So that is the proverbial nutshell. It was a good experience, teaching me just a bit about sales, and about how not to run a company. In the sort of typical ironic twist life dispenses like candy, getting the job gave me enough confidence to be able to quit. Now I'm off to find another job.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...

2005-10-30T22:20:00.000+08:00

In truth, most of you probably weren't waiting for this, but Michael was, and I know my mom will be interested. For dinner today I went with some folks and had a nice meal in a fancy restaurant. For your viewing pleasure, here are the pictures.

This is the ugly socialist art outside the restaurant. There is a stadium there, hence the athletic themes. I was so disturbed that I had to photograph it, of course.

The menu

Sichuan-style Steamed Chicken. Cold chicken is a common starter. Prepared this way, it's very tender, and quite spicy with a hint of sichuan pepper flavour.

Roast Pigeon. I love getting this because it's good, and then I get to say I ordered pigeon.

Hongshao Pork Belly. Fatty pork cooked with soy sauce, it has a sweet and rich flavour. The favourite dish of Chairman Mao, as well as Michael and Tandy.

Eggplant. I forget what this dish was called. It's cooked in a similar sauce to the pork belly, and with some ground meat mixed in.

Green Veg with Mushrooms. We all need a bit of roughage, and this is a tasty way to get it. There's no English name I know of for this plant. The simplicity of this dish is also important, when you consider how overloaded you can get with heavy flavours and oil in the rest of the meal.

Smelly Tofu with Bacon. If I had known, I wouldn't have ordered it, but I didn't know the character for smelly (now I do). When I say smelly, I really mean that, it has an aroma like an old sock. Oddly enough I sort of enjoyed it, if you just eat it without worrying the flavour isn't overwhelming. People eat stinky cheese all the time, why not this? But it's not for the foreign crowd, although one Danish guy who was there seemed not to mind it.

Binny Gets a Job

2005-10-25T15:43:00.000+08:00

上班 (shang ban) -- to go to work

Immediately, this means two things: first, less time to blog, because I'll be at work, second, more time to blog, because I'll finally get an apt with a proper internet connection. I'll leave the synthesis of those two to everyone else.

For some reason, I've come all the way across the ocean to do telemarketing. Or not quite. I've got a job at a company called Global Business Leaders, which is a Hong Kong company. They organise conferences for the shipping, medical, and finance industries. Basically I'm just selling over the telephone, it's my job to call people and solicit conference attendance or conference sponsorship. Simple conference attendance comes in at just under two thousand dollars, so it's not cheap, but the idea is of course for the company to pay for it.

How will this be? I have no idea. Certainly I'll benefit from having Chinese colleagues, that should be good for my language skills. Since it's largely commission-based, and it will be so much easier to convince a foreign client to part with what's effectively a lot less money, I wonder if they'll be jealous of me? Time will tell on that score. I'm going tomorrow for my first day, starting at 9. If I can't stomach it, I don't discover a knack for sales, or the company is a bunch of sleaze (so far, apparently not), I'll quit. And then maybe I'll go teach English for a change.

Photos, and Job News

2005-10-21T13:27:00.000+08:00

Before I get to the photos: I've got some movement on the job side. I had someone call me today to talk a bit, he wanted to talk in chinese, and we exchanged a few sentences, and he asked me if I could come in for an interview. I said yes, and he then told me he needed to figure out what a good time was and he would call me back. This might be Chinese for "sorry, but no". I know people are very indirect here, especially in business. It's considered more polite. I'll have to wait and see.

Now, some pictures of the city. Click to see a bigger view. The originals are extremely large (~2MB) but if anyone wants a copy of a particular one let me know.

This is what's called the "Bund", down on the riverfront. In the 1930s it was the prestige part of Shanghai, where all the most important offices were.

This is the main section of the Pudong New Area. It's literally right across from the Bund, and while it's the new kid in town it more than makes up for youth with sheer mass. What looks like a giant version of those static electricity machines at the science centre is a TV tower, built (if memory serves) in the late 80s. I love it because it's so hideous. For 100¥ you can go up it. That's about 15$. Not satisfied by mere tacky architecture, the tower features its own revolving restaurant.

This is Nanjing Road, one of the main drags of the city. As you can see, Shanghai architecture these days is frenetic. Old and new buildings are tossed together without any planning whatsoever. The one in the back is the new Radisson Hotel, I'm not sure what the one in the foreground is.

More perspective on the issue raised above. The two big ones look like giant robots about to do battle over the city. Apparently there's an identical building to the right-hand one in Australia. The aussies call it the Batman building.

My brain refuses to take these two in at the same time. Show this to the developers who want to put 35-storey towers on Bedford and ask "Is this what you want?"

And there are more going up every day. I've read somewhere that a lot of these buildings are vacant, but the government encourages more growth in order to inflate the GDP. Whether this is true or not, I can't see how there is enough business to fill up all the new space. There's construction on every block.

Next I'll get to post some pictures of the old town, and of food! since I know there are a few folks curious about that.

PS For whatever reason known only to those friendly PRC bureacrats in Beijing, I can't access my own blog. I can (obviously) still post to it, but I'm unable to see the end results. So, to that end if someone notices anything out of place, please do send me an email so I can fix it.

Strange Foods?

2005-10-20T12:44:00.000+08:00

I ate a quail on a stick the other day. It was simmered in what looked like master sauce (for those that know what that is) and then deep fried. I struggled like a madman with it for five minutes trying to get the stringy meat off the bones and made a mess of the whole project. My big eureka moment was understanding that you're not meant to do that, but instead you simply eat the thing bones and all; so light and crunchy, I confess to really enjoying it. I didn't eat the head though. Sorry no photo.

Bad Me

2005-10-19T12:34:00.000+08:00

I've been a bit delinquent in starting this thing; this hit home when my mother called me for want of news, and I can't let that happen again (sorry ma).

The short version: living in a hostel in the west end at the moment, don't have a job yet, but have applied for one selling real estate to foreigners. I'm going to apply to some other RE offices today. I also got an offer yesterday for a job selling advertising on a website, that will be a good fallback. If nothing comes by next week I'll take that. Now I'm sure everyone wants pictures most of all. Well I don't have a whole lot yet, so I'm going out today to take the important ones: the Bund, the Orient Pearl TV Tower, Nanjing Rd., etc.

More soon.

PS There is other stuff on this blog, I post whtever comes into my head, often after I've been reading Slate or some other online political rag. So expect not only a travelogue, but the occasional rant. I have my own little soapbox.

PPS Please feel free to comment on my posts, I will endeavour to read them and answer them.

President Bush's problem

2005-09-16T09:08:00.000+08:00

is that he doesn't have the right tools to deal with a natural disaster. Rhetorically, he has two modes: folksy charm, and gung-ho cowboy. If he were able to point to someone and say "Those are the bastards that caused the hurricane, and we're going to git'em (sic)!", he could save his numbers. But what's needed now is some (apparently) genuine sympathy, and GW doesn't have a sympathetic bone in his body. Love him or hate him, President Clinton had that ability to make others feel. He could look right into the camera and say "Ah feel your pain." People would cry with the President, and think what a good man he was.

President Bush Sr. had shared his son's problem. It cost him re-election. But, lest we imagine it is a gift given only to Democrats, I'll point out that President Reagan wasn't so handicapped, and neither, I think we'll find, is Rudy Giuliani (whatever else you may think of him).

Michael Brown, FEMA -- RIP

2005-09-07T08:09:00.000+08:00

Much of the blame for what happened (or rather failed to happen) in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has fallen on FEMA Director Michael Brown. Where was the decisive action required in such a catastrophe? It's clear that Mr. Brown had a lot of challenges to face up to, and he was most likely not up to the task set before him.

Brown's qualifications for his current position are suspect. A former estate lawyer and (most recently) horse-show overseer, Mr. Brown was first hired into FEMA in 2001 by his former college roommate Joseph Albaugh. In 2003 Mr. Albaugh left his position as head of the organisation to work for President Bush's re-election campaign, and promoted Mr. Brown to take his place.

However, to properly assign responsibility it is necessary to look further up the chain. When FEMA was brought into the Department of Homeland Security, its budget was immediately reduced as was its power for executive action. In the overly large DHS, dedicated to law enforcement rather than rapid response, there was no room for an agile, prepared, ruthless FEMA, ready to get relief efforts on the ground quickly and efficiently. Perhaps most significant, earlier this year FEMA was stripped of its preparedness functions (basically doing dry runs to be ready for hurricane and fire seasons).

So we might blame Mr. Brown for his failures, most spectacular being unaware of people trapped at the New Orleans convention center while reports of the same had been televised the day before (an ignorance which extended up the chain of command). It is more telling, though, that the Bush administration felt FEMA was unimportant enough that a man like Michael Brown could be put in charge of it without repercussion. Unfortunately for those trapped in New Orleans this was a disastrous miscalculation.

Brown will be made to take the fall for the greater omissions of the administration. He's a perfect patsy, and if they repeat it often enough that it is his fault, people will believe it.

Bush

2005-02-04T14:47:00.000+08:00

Today I saw George Bush kissing Joe Lieberman on C-SPAN. This seemed weird at first, but then I wondered if that (a handshake and a kiss) mightn't be the way orthodox Jews greet each other. After all it's not unsusual for men to kiss each other on the cheek in a lot of countries outside North America. It tells you what an able politician Bush is, that he will alter his habits and body language with each person, in order to make them trust him more. We on TV might never see it, but it's very important for him to practice that within Congress in order to get votes. Indeed he might have been chosen for that skill, for his ability to persuade individuals, rather than for his public speaking or his policy skills.

Oh, and thanks to the Daily Show for showing that clip. No other news program would have shown it, even if they did mean it as a joke. There's often so much in the details, when we edit out "the irrelevant" we can miss a lot about how the world functions.

Blogger

2005-01-28T00:54:00.000+08:00

And it just hit me how Blogger is supposed to work. It's not for me to make my own blog as much as to participate in the whole environment. I have my blog, but I post on others' as well. This frightens me because I don't want to become part of an insular clique. Of course such things will develop (haven't they already?). What I don't like about that potential world is the navel-gazing that can arise from hanging out with your same friends all the time. The internet should be an unpredictable place if we want it to really mean something. Where's the good in saying yes all the time?

Camp Bondsteel

2005-01-27T15:49:00.000+08:00

Just found out about this.

America getting more involved in Caspian oil, I smell trouble. The Caspian has been unstable ever since oil was discovered there. Maybe now it's settling down, or so they feel.

Max Lucano

2005-01-27T15:47:00.000+08:00

This guy (www.maxlucano.com) is a preacher who calls his teachings "UpWords". Read a bit of what he wrote:

January 24

Receive the kingdom God has prepared for you since the world was made.
Matthew 25:34

The problem with this world is that it doesn't fit. Oh, it will do for now, but it isn't tailor-made. We were never made to live with God, but on earth we live by faith. We were made to live forever, but on this earth we live but for a moment. We were made to live holy lives, bu [sic] this world is stained by sin.

This world wears like a borrowed shirt. Heaven will fit like one tailor-made.

Now that's pretty eloquently expressed. And what's more the usage of shirt as a metaphor is brilliantly accessible to the average person. The imagery is so arresting and meaningful, it makes me wonder if preachers in the Middle Ages could evoke that much emotion in their flock. It is certainly a skill we've left by the wayside.

Either way, he's a good demagogue. It's just so good looking forward to Heaven! It will be interesting to see if he starts to write speeches for politicians. If he gets a better copy editor that is. Never underestimate proofreading as a means to convey your message.

test

2005-01-26T00:26:00.000+08:00

I'm just testing the post-by-email function of this system.

Not that I'm sure precisely why this is so useful.
Maybe so I can post using a unix shell.

Addendum: There seems to be a slight delay between sending the email and it being posted. So much for instant gratification.

Hello

2005-01-24T09:47:00.000+08:00

This is my inaugural posting for my blog. Maybe soon I'll add more to it.

Don't expect too much on this until I actually go somewhere, or do something that is worth posting. Maybe I'll post something abstract to fill space.