D-2

In two days the most awaited sport event of the year will be happening in Beijing.

The event will be taken place mostly in Beijing, which is around 1300km from Shanghai or about 2 hrs with plane or 9 hrs driving but you won't believe all the security measures they have implemented for this event here in Shanghai.

1. No liquid allowed for air travel has been implemented since min. 3 months ago (see this post)
2. X-ray machines and dogs check all luggage going in and out of China
3. The government has imported millions of "explosive residue detection kits" from US to swab all incoming and outgoing passengers in order to see if they have been recently in contact with explosive materials
4. All bags must pass security control in the subway stations
5. All shops and vending machines located in subway stations are closed for a month without government compensation to shop owners (imagine if they try to implement this in a capitalist country!)
6. The government removes the business license of many small Chinese manufactures if they don't meet certain environmental standard (resulting unfortunately major price increase in China)
7. The government enforced "no free plastic bag" regulation when shopping in any store in China, also in spirit to be more environmental friendly (in Germany is only applicable for shopping in supermarket, but not when you shop for clothes in the mall!)
8. Gasoline stations are only open before 9 am and after 7 pm at night because the government banned trucks traffic into the city during the day time (imagine the long queue every night!)
9. And last, yesterday my friend told me that the government will ground all Chinese airlines traveling any places on earth for a period of 5 hours before and after the opening ceremony! (Thank God I am flying on Saturday!!!)

Another blogger wrote, and I must agree to his words, "Almost all of the action is taking place in Beijing, hundreds of miles from here, but from the frantic security tightening around town, you’d think Osama Bin Laden was coming to officially open a new Mosque here in Shanghai."

I'll be glad when it's all over!!

Complaint to China Post!

This is a complaint to China Post!

It has been a while since I came back from Germany but I haven't managed to post this in time.

I was really upset in the last visit to Germany as my credit card was blocked by the credit card provider.

I was in a finance conference with other financial officers of our subsidiaries worldwide. It was held in an exclusive resort and spa in Bad-Herrenberg. When it came to hotel billing settlement time, the receptionist lady told me that my credit card was blocked for use. Immediately I was confused as I don't remember using the credit card a lot in the last weeks. In fact, I rarely use my credit card in Shanghai as I have only a German credit card, which I reserve it only for either emergency or holiday purposes to avoid loss in conversion rate and the overseas charges. I have of course tried to apply for a local chinese credit card but soon realized that it is almost impossible for a foreigner to have one. Don't ask me the reason why. After 15 months living in China, I have learned that some things should remain as a mystery.

Anyway, I was lucky that I still have my debit card from my German bank so I can pay my hotel bill without embarassing myself by borrowing money from colleagues around the world (remember, it was an international Finance conference!).

After the conference, I called my credit card provider just to learn that the credit card was blocked because the replacement card* was returned back with a remark of 'address unknown" from China Post! Being German as they are, they immediately blocked both current card and the replacement card for security purposes.

For those of you who don't live in China. China is a new emerging country in the world economy. The country is at the moment the only country in the world that has surplus economy. The country enjoys long time benefit for being a Low Cost Country and has focused its main activities with export to US and European market. I bet you money that you'll find chinese made product in the shop next door.

However, little that you know that the country has faced serious problem with foreign language ability. In the offices in Shanghai, you will find only the managerial level has acceptable foreign language skill. The staffs level have still difficulties communicating in English. Outside of the office, eg. taxi drivers or shop owners, speak either very little English or none at all. If they do speak English as they claim, they can only express the general word and not your specific requirements. Easy example is when you shop for clothes. They can only say that the clothes are made of good quality (read: expensive!) but you can't ask them if you have to handwash the material or dry clean, let alone to explain if it's made of cotton or polyester.

In China Post, they have special department which their daily task is to translate every address in the envelope into Chinese characters so the post delivery man can understand. But imagine they will translate millions of international letters every day and perhaps one of them, like my replacement card, is sort of slip in the translation process and here I am stucked with the bad situation. So far, it is not my first experience with missing mails. I have never received christmas cards sent by my friends last year also and only God knows which other letters I have lost as well.

I strongly suggest China Post to educate their staffs with minimum English or at least to read the normal Pinyin** to ensure safe arrival of our letters in China. Afterall, we, the foreigners, have copped up also with our other limitations in here.


Notes:
*apparently my card will be expired in October so they sent in advance the replacement card to my shanghai address (which is my billing address).

** all international letters have chinese address written in Pinyin (romanized mandarin based on its chinese pronounciation)

Tibet development

We have been planning to go to Tibet in beginning of May but now we have to cancel due to the recent development in Tibet. We are quite disappointed as we now have to find another location to go. The time is already fixed, it will be on the labour day week.

Nevertheles, we are quite astonished with the local media publication about Tibet. The story about the Great Firewall of China is not an urban legend, it is true indeed. In fact, after living in China for almost a year (yes, that long already!), we are quite used to the firewall. Most of the time, sites like wikipedia, bbc, blogspot are closed in China. From time to time, the Government also closed Flickr and Youtube. It's just depending on the current events going on about China in the international world.

But it is quite surprising that the Shanghai Daily and China Daily have been following up closely about the development of Tibet crisis. Of course as Tibet is at the moment closed for foreigners, we can only rely on the official reports given by the government.

I have found some pictures released in SINA.com, a local news similar like CNN. More photos of current Tibet situation can be found here.













UPDATE 29.03.2008: China has recently opened to foreign newspapers to send their representatives to Tibet to do close cover-up of the current situation after the riot. Also China Daily annouces today that 15 foreign diplomats are scheduled to visit Tibet in short term.

Happy Chinese New Year 2008

We are off to Indonesia to celebrate the arrival of the year of rat with my family. To those who celebrate the chinese new year, we wish you all the best for the new year and enjoy the holiday with your family!

新年快乐!
万事如意..
鼠年大吉,身体健康,万事如意,心想事成 !

I found a very nice song about the chinese new year. They've been playing for the whole month in every department stores. Enjoy!!!

Bad Weather in Asia

This is something that you don't expect to have when you are about to travel somewhere.
Shanghai continues to receive heavy snowfall since yesterday and it causes delay and flight cancelation in both of Shanghai airports.

At the same time, my mom has been sending me text messages to give some updates about the rain and flood in Jakarta which also cause flight cancelation/reroute as the runway is covered with 50cm high of water and visibiliy is only about 300m.

The weather outlook for both cities for the next week are not very promising. Rain and snow are still expected in both cities. In China especially, the Chinese New Year holiday is coming next week and they expect heavy travellers traffic trying to reach home to spend the holiday with their families.

So either we are stucked in Shanghai airport or somewhere between Singapore and Jakarta. We actually plan to spend the Chinese New Year golden week with my family in Jakarta. We will have to see if that will be possible.

* Photo is taken from Shanghai Daily showing hundreds of thousands of people waiting for train home in Guangzhou train station.

My first Chinese Birthday Party

I was invited to a one-month-birthday party of my colleague's son and it ended up as a dinner of 200 people (20 tables). 99% of the invitees are of course adults and they are mostly friends of his and his wife's parents. Only 2-3 tables were actually his friends (or his wife).

The dinner started quite early at 5.30 pm but ended also around 8.30. It was like a free flow of food, I think there were about 20 kind of dishes served on the table and we gave up after the 8th dish. This is actually normal in chinese culture. There is actually a saying that a good host should order more than the guests can eat. Some even say that the guests should only be able to eat maximal 30-50% of what you've ordered. It is totally different than western culture. HSBC once made an interesting advertising about it. I'll post it a the end of this entry.

Also to my surprise, we were given some gifts after the party, consists of 2 kinds of chinese cakes/cookies and I estimate about 2 dozen of eggs! Yup, raw eggs! 2 dozen! I don't know what I should do with them now, perhaps I should return them in exchange for a cake? Well, apparently the chinese believe that eggs is the symbol of fertility and new beginning. As for me, that will mean we'll have scrambled egg for breakfast tomorrow, and the days after...

Chop..chop..chop...

Remember when you watch the old Chinese kungfu film and you can see that the king always carry a seal to legalize all important papers. In China they carry this tradition until today. All important papers in China have to have a stamp on top of it and the stamps has actually more legal binding than a normal signature.

Each company normally has 4 different kinds of stamps (called as “Chop” in China) and each chop has different purposes and hierarchy;

•Company chop: The Company chop is often in round in shape with the registered name of a company engraved on the bottom of the seal. Each company must have only one Company chop and the engraved seal must be approved by the Public Security Bureau (PSB). Once the company is successfully registered with the Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC), a qualified chop-maker (approved by the PSB) must be engaged to produce the Company Chop.

The Company Chop is the most important and powerful chop held by corporation. It provides legal execution for all documents and is at least required when any important documents are signed, issued or to be changed. For example, any changes to corporate documents, opening of a bank account, issuing a certificate for an employee, or altering the name or business scope of the company all require the Company Chop to be legally binding.

•Financial chop: Financial chop is predominately used for issuing a check and processing transactions with a bank.

•Human Resource chop: The Human Resources chop is used where the company signs a labour contract with any of its staff. Many government bodies also require this chop to be stamped on official company documents such as employment proof letters for employee registration purposes.

•Contract chop Contract chop is only used for the purpose of stamping contracts, particularly for trading contracts.

Moreover, there is also specific regulation about who keeps the chop and how to execute a chop. If you really want to know, you can read it here.

As my general manager and his deputy are both in Germany for two weeks, I was informed that I am actually the third in line to inherit the company chop during their absence. And I have to keep them in a locked drawer that nobody but me can have access to it.

Well, I guess this is the time to re-do my work contract and chop them, huh?

Chop..chop..chop..

To those who wants to convert money in China

I know that Chinese government applied strict rule on foreign currency circulation in China and I know that we don’t have a floating USD/RMB exchange rate but the government set the exchange rate. I can also see it when I made the operative planning for the company, the USD/RMB exchange rate has been very stable in the last 7 years and RMB is even appreciating against the USD in the last 2 years.

But never have I realized how difficult it is for a foreigner to convert their RMB into foreign currency!

I am referring to the foreigner who are currently working in China and receiving partial or full salaries in China.

Today I wanted to convert some money to USD for my Christmas holiday. I thought that I just have to go to the bank, bring my passport and my plane ticket, fill out a form and everything will be done quick and simple.

First, I had difficulties to get the correct form as the customer service in Bank of China doesn’t really speak English. After some body language, she handed me out a form to fill out. I waited in queue until my number was called and I went to the teller to tell her my wish and she gave me a surprise answer.

Apparently, there is a regulation to convert money more than USD 500 or equivalent. I will have to supply the following:

1.My monthly salary slip stating the fact that I receive salary for the service I provided in China and I am paying my income tax in China
2.Working permit (original and photocopy)
3.A statement from the Human Resources department in my company to issue a salary certification, legalized with the company stamp (I will blog about it later)
4.Passport and copy of residence permit
5.My official working contract

And..I can only convert to the maximum of my salary paid in China, means I cannot combine with others to save time on the procedures.

As I don’t feel like supplying my private data to a bank teller, I decided to just go there in some visits. After all, the bank is only located on the first floor of my office building.

PS: For tourists, you can change money at the money changer but remember to keep the receipt of the change. You can convert your money back to the original currency with proof of the receipt.

* RMB is Chinese Yuan Remimbi

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It's the most wonderful time of the year

with the kids jingle belling

and everyone telling you "Be a good cheer"

It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the hap-happiest season of all

with those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings

when friends come to call

It's the hap-happiest season of all

I tend to be overly sensitive during the christmas time. Happens to me every year and it will pass when the season is over.

This year, I miss a lot the christmas season in Germany. This is the time of the year when we normally go to the christmas market to buy our advent wreath and drinking gluehwein in cold and sometimes snowy December weather.

My favourite place was to hang out nearby the ice skating ring so I can enjoy a glass or two of gluehwein while listening to the christmas carols and the people chattering happily. I would also enjoy the smell of fresh pines and fresh baked cinnamon cookies in the air, llistening to the joyous laughter of children, the jingling bell and watching the people busy fullfiling their christmas shopping list.

In China, things are completely different. I bet not a lot of people know about Christmas. In fact almost all companies will work on Christmas day, including mine. Some malls will try to put up Christmas tree (of course made of plastic-look-alike-pines) and play Christmas songs, but still you are missing the true atmosphere.

So we decided to decorate our apartment with four green and red candles as replacement for advent wreath as I won't accept plastic made wreath and I am not allowed to mail order the original from Germany either. Jorge has put out the christmas lighting in our balcony last week and he bought also some poinsetias home.

We have also some christmas shopping list for his family in Mexico. We played Christmas songs whenever we are at home. We tried to do as much as possible to feel like christmas.

And last night, St. Nikolaus came to my desk and left a chocolate in there. Just what I need!

Ganbei - a chinese drinking culture

I was invited to a friend’s farewell dinner last Friday. The dinner was fantastic but the drinking after that was not really enjoyable.

In China, there is a drinking culture called “Ganbei” (干杯) which in Chinese literally means “empty the glass”. This is not considered as a drinking competition but more as Chinese ways to honor the guess of the night. If somebody offers you a “Ganbei”, you are expected to at least say the same “Ganbei” to honor him back and thus empty your glass as well. After some Ganbei, your head will start becoming fuzzy and you can expect that you’ll wake up with terrible headache on the next day.

As a foreigner in China, you can expect to receive at least 2-3 Ganbei during a dinner. I have also realized that a lot of Chinese actually prefer to discuss important business transactions over good dinner rather than to have proper meetings at the office.

Therefore, in order to understand the rule better, I have been concentrating today to find the do’s and don’ts about Ganbei and find the following tips off the internet:

1. Rule number one has to be – don’t be tricked into drinking more than you feel comfortable with. A Chinese friend may try to drink a lot more than he is able to consume so as not to lose face in front of you. Usually (and I put emphasis on this word) they will watch you closely to begin with to determine the pace you want to set.

2. There are two main types of alcohol consumed at meals in China – Baijiu 白酒 (strong spirits often made from rice) and Pijiu 啤酒 (beer). Baijiu can be anything from 38% to 60%+ proof so it is advisable to stick to beer unless you are a strong drinker. If someone toasts you with baijiu it is very impolite for you to then drink with beer, likewise it would be strange for you to drink baijiu if someone toasts you with beer.

3. If your drinking partner who moves to clink glasses with you is superior to you in some way (be it age or position in a company etc.), it is deemed polite for you to clink his/her glass with the rim of yours below theirs.

4. Another important though often overlooked form of drinking etiquette is for you to maintain eye contact with the person you are toasting while you are drinking – though this can be slightly awkward at times.

5. After a glass has been drained Chinese people will often extend the empty glass to you so that you can see that they have in fact finished their drink.

6. It is essential during a meal that you personally toast the person who is paying and sputter out a few words of appreciation. People will be offended if you don’t do this. The person who is paying will usually be the person who invited you out. However if in doubt, watch closely and wait until the bill is paid, it is quite acceptable for you to then toast that person.

7. If there are old people dining with you, be sure to also toast them each at least once.

Most important from all the rules above, If you wish to proceed more slowly with your drink, you can say "suiyi" instead. It means ”as you wish”- giving you the opportunity to leave some drink in your glass for the next toast. This is definitely the word I have to remember for my next dinner invitation!

PS: I have tried Baiju, I can only recommend you to take a small sip just to decide whether you like it or not before you committed to empty the glass. I personally think it tastes really bad.

Crabs to fly, anyone?

Just when you thought things are becoming familiar, you always find a new thing that amazes you about China!

I was en route to Changchun 2 weeks ago when my plane was delayed in Shanghai and I had nothing better to do but to walk around the terminal. Here I was, standing in front of a kiosk in a domestic terminal of Shanghai Pudong International Airport and was totally amazed to the view in front of me! Fresh crabs to go!

I took some pictures with my mobile phone, so perhaps the pictures are not coming to good but that was the only media that I had at that moment.









Later I found that crabs from this region is very famous in China and especially in this season, people would buy and bring them as sweeteners to their hometown relatives!

Starbucks closes Beijing's Forbidden City outlet

The decision is finally taken after months of debates over the existence of Starbucks outlet in one of China's famous landmark. Starbucks discountinued its outlet in Forbidden City effective from end June 2007.

Here is the link from China Daily.

Good thing I have been there!!!

Bedrest

A week has gone from my surgery and I am still resting at home. My left hand and shoulder are still numb and I still can't wake up from the bed by myself. I am still wearing arm-swing to keep my left hand in steady position. This really irritates me as I am a quite active person and that I can only work/type with one hand right now.

My mom flew here to keep me company and, I believe, to ensure that I won't do anything stupid that will hurt me even more. I am famous of always disobeying my doctor's orders, ie. like not going to the office anytime soon. I am actually thinking to go back to work, at least part time this week. Staying home for another week will indeed make my condition worse.

My colleagues from work visited me at home and brought flowers and fruit baskets so now my apartment is full of them. At first I am a bit surprise to the burst of attentions, especially I am still very new in Shanghai but apparently it is a custom in China to bring flowers and fruits to a sick relative. One problem is that I received so many flowers on different days but I don't have vase to water them, so I have to send my mom to go vase hunting almost everyday. Later I will end up with empty vases and no flowers. Na ja...

Golden Week Travel : Beijing

Were in Beijing last week to visit some friends and also revisit the 3 famous sites. But the two things that really attract my attention besides the famous history and places of China. One is the street food in Wangfujing Street where you can find deep fried sea horse, scorpions, bean worms and cicadas. The other one is Starbucks coffee shop in Forbidden City, whose presence is currently in debate as it is consider as a mock to Chinese culture.

Chinese Name vs English Name

It is very common here in China that people, especially those who work to foreign company, westernize their names. This of course eases a lot in the communication in the office but definetely not off works as no one in the house is familiar to the husband/wife/children's English name.

The English name is not something that they officially legalize and stick to them forever, but it is mainly something that they feel like having for that certain period. It is also common that they change it again some times in the future if the situation change as most of the time, the English name is given by their bosses at work, or someone that they respesct.

It could also be that a chinese picks one English name because he/she likes the character. I've know couple of people whose English name is Flower (literally translated from her Chinese name) or Garfield (remember Garfield the cartoon character?!).

Below is an amateur TV program about Sophie who makes a small documentaries about cultures she finds in her day to day life in Beijing. I found the video is funny but yet true.

And, just like Sophie, I have also my chinese name, 艾芙琳 (read as Ai Fu Lin) literally translated from Eveline, of course.



More link to her others TV programs here

The Great Firewall of China

It is no longer a secret that Chinese government blocks and unblocks access to certain websites to limit certain informations flows into the country. Among them are Wikipedia, Playboy, Blogger Blogspot and Typepad. Some genius created some websites and tools to pass thru the firewall but they are also "from time to time" blocked by the firewall. But one can always access the blocked website using any of the thousands open proxies provided in internet. If one is blocked, you just try the next one.

Isn't the net an amazing world?