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The Meetup on ICS Tonight hello,i am the sutdent from the donghua university . last saturday,we and our roommates attended your meetup.i think it is a wanderful day.we all watched the program on live. |
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China-US Economy Discussion 1 - if the RMB increase it limit also the inflation on imported price (raw material, such as oil) 2 - if the RMB incease it mean that the product china export are more expensive, (china earn more each time china export one product) but not enough to be relocalized in western countries, and if we want to transfer these product to another developing country he needs an industrial base. Thus most of the production will stay in China for long. Thus china may win more as the RMB increase... it just need not too be too quick. 3 - if China sell to quickly is USD/american bound, this will cause the slump of USA and American economy... thus China foreign reserve will loose value, and china export will suffer a lot. Thus China has a lot to loose. 4 - buy buying for so long USD, China has support USA, and has support her own growth...thus it was not stupid without that China will not be so develloped. 5 - This kind of way of working (I buy your USD, You buy my product and invest in my country) is reaching a point in which it can not be sustain for long (as china economy is quite big now) thus China will need to focus more on internal consumption and less export to continue to grow. 6 - what block China internal consumption ? the excess of saving from familly (if my memory is right around 40%) why chinese people save so much ? because of an unsure future (need to pay the education fee of my son, need to have money when I will retired, need to have money in case I am ill, etc...) 7 - One way to decrease this fear is to increase the state social security system in china 8 - Hu Jintao government is increasing the state social security system. yeah you are right, it is maybe not only to be nice with people but also because China need it to continue to grow. |
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Problem of Having a Good Email Address Quite funny... Same for smith@yahoo.com should have lot of email because I often sign with this email address, as I do not want to give mine. |
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Dos and Don'ts For Foriengers in China Hello Jian Shuo Wang! I am from French, living in China since years. For me, the goal of pedestrian light is to avoid accident, to increase security... Thus if there is no car, the security goal is achieve... thus why wait for nothing? I will be a little rude: I think there is three kind of people: the one who do not think do not look and just cross (the suicide type), the one who apply stricly the jaywalking rules (who think himself has civilized but do not think much, just obey), the smart one (me of course >_<) For me be civilized is not respect stricly pedestrian traffic rules, but a way of behaving with other people (beeing nice with people around you, even the people who low rank job), do not destroy your environment, and think to not disturb other people. So to make it short: "Beeing civilized is take into account that you are not alone, and that others deserve your respect" I think that many chinese are focus on "beeing Civilized, romantic, and open minded is good" but very few understand the meaning of these words and most of them just apply cliche they have been told or see in stupid TV serie. 加油中国，天天进步，已经有很多但是还需要非常多。需要好好沟通 （这样的Blog可以帮助,但是在中国有太多审查(你的blog也有一点审查.你一次开始一个主题聊天审查的事情2008.08.25,然后你马上删除) 再见! |
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The Meetup on ICS Tonight Yeah i watched a little then, I have to say i'm a bit supprised to discover your voice, hahah |
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China-US Economy Discussion At last, there are some serious topics for discussion on this blog. It goes to demonstrate that this blog is truly getting mature as each day passes. Having read through the article, which Rimbaud has pointed to, below are my views. China is clearly stupid for whatever reasons, especially when most people already knew those T-bills and mortgage bonds will surely plunge in value. However, I see 2 good things come out of this: 1. China Central Bank is now under considerable pressure to reduce the commercials banks' reserve requirements to encourage growth as the Chinese economy is showing signs of slowing. 2. By buying these securities to support the U. S. Dollars, China help to stem the rise of the Yuan - [1] The Central Bank had been advocating a stronger Yuan whereas the Finance Ministry oppose a stronger Yuan to gain an edge for China's exports. So now the Central Bank has to bend to the Finance Ministry. [2] The Bush Administration and Congress can no longer bash China for not having a stronger Yuan, as China can say to them, "Hey look here, I'm helping you and I now suffer big-time loss, what more do you want from me?" Whatever it is, I still say China is stupid because US politicians are an bunch of selfish and ungrateful lot; especially if there is a shift to the Democrats who always accused the Bush Administration of being too soft towards China and Obama had indicated on many occasions that he cannot wait to beat up China. So whatever good done during the Bush Administration it will be all wiped out clean and forgotten. It is not worth giving away the Chinese people's hard-earned money to the "American International Bandits", who also created the late 90's Asian Financial crisis. I believe, the sub-prime/financial problems that are there all the times and now blown up are a ploy by the Bush Administration to cancel out their huge trade and budget deficits; as it is, the US Dollars' recent rise proves this. While there are mistakes made here, I feel that all is not lost as China has puchased debt securities and not US Dollars directly. Any Adminstration taking over the White House will have to take steps, such as raising interest rate, to prop up the US Dollars to deal with inflation at home that is hurting the men on the street. While high interest rate will affect debt securities, the exchange rate may be in China's favour. Afterall China can choose and time when to cash out. Up to a point, a strong US Dollar is good for all as it is still an instrument for trade, goods and services. However, a fine balance has to be mainained; and it is only greed that creates upheavals and sufferings for all. |
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The Meetup on ICS Tonight It came out tonight. Wonderful shooting and editing. Tang was so kind that he said he will send the video to us, and I will share. |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers My Gosh! How can people expect good salary in a country that bases its most competative advantage on cheap labor? Even engineering profession is considered a sort of cheap labor because most Chinese enterprises are not short of engineers. You rather find a sales or marketing job in China than an IT or engineering job. |
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China-US Economy Discussion One more thing jianshuowang-- in my humble opinion, the single smartest thing that China can do to increase its global power, respect and strength, is to become a major global producer of international films, music and television in the Mandarin Chinese language. In other words-- China should nurture its own "Hollywood" as well as massive production of music, TV, comic books, books, magazines and so forth in Putonghua. This may sound funny at first, but in fact, China's international presence will be optimized if China becomes the world's biggest exporter of high-quality culture. I noticed this after "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (卧虎藏龙), the "House of Flying Daggers" (十面埋伏) and "Hero" (英雄) were shown in the United States and other countries-- interest in, and respect for China, increased in the United States and abroad. People started studying Mandarin, becoming fascinated with Chinese culture and overall liking China. As the Chinese language spreads, of course, China itself seems more familiar, and with more people understanding Chinese, relations also improve, and people can communicate with the Chinese themselves. I agree with jqian above-- China thus far has been far too dependent on low-tech, cheap, OEM-related work and exports. (Which may be motivating China's purchase of US dollar-denominated securities, to keep the RMB low and support exports-- although, of course, China can also manage a gradual rise in the RMB's value, and continue to support exports, by purchasing securities denominated in Euros, rubles, rupees, yen, ringgit, won and Swiss francs, thus reducing exposure to problems with US dollar-denominated bonds and Treasury Bills.) But the solution for China really is focusing on high-value science, technology and culture, and producing it-- for global export (with subtitles, dubbing and translation as needed)-- in the Mandarin Chinese language. If China becomes a scientific and technology center, as well as a cultural center producing excellent films, TV, music and other cultural products-- all produced, most importantly, in the Mandarin Chinese language-- then China will become an attractive nation for the best and brightest people across the world. The Chinese nation and the Chinese language and culture will be seen as world leaders, and objects of interest and respect by important decision-makers worldwide, and China will become the global leader in technology, cultural exports, entrepreneurship, popular brands, fashion and other forms of innovation. |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai I am looking for an apartment with 1 bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen and internet connection for 2000-3300 RMB per month. I am interested in the Jing An area, though I would consider an apartment which is close to metro line 2. Can anybody help? Thanks, Emilio. emgorio@hotmail.com |
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China-US Economy Discussion Rimbaud said below, let me quote: "why is the Chinese Central Bank being so tremendously stupid? You are essentially giving us Americans trillions of renminbi that you Chinese have earned from hard work-- just giving it to us, for free, even though we Americans spend way too much and save too little. We don't save for ourselves-- so, you Chinese (via the Chinese Central Bank) have been giving us your savings." There are many clues to explain this: 1) What made people think that the leadership of these banks are standing on the same side as the national benefits for all people? If these elites would be hugely rewarded financially and personally from using public funds to purchase US treasury bonds, what could have stopped them? 2) What made people believe that Chinese leaderships might have enough leverage of not buying US tresury bonds even if their own concience told them not to? China's economy, having been locked at the bottom of the economic food chain, i.e., OEM manufacturing focused, is very hard to outdo its own limitation of not abiding by external forces. A mere threat of increasing tariff to Chinese products or reduction of imports from China will be enough to put a golden handcuff on the Chinese leadership. A threat of reduction of imports from China by western developed nations will lead to a drastically reduced GDP growth. Chinese leadership is fully aware of that outcome. What I meant is, Chinese leadership may not have too many choices that we thought they would have. After all, China is a very export dependent country. |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai 700 € - Shanghai, Jing an district. Alquilo piso de dos habitaciones y amplio salón (Jing an district, Shanghai) Alquilo piso de dos habitaciones y amplio salón en Shanghai, además de cocina, baño y balcón. Superficie aproximada 100 m2. Completamente amueblado. Piso 14. Aire acondicionado en las dos habitaciones y en el salon. Cocina con electrodomesticos: microondas, frigorífico congelador grande, lavadora, cocina de gas ciudad, horno electrico, calentador. Jardines y zona infantil comunitarios. Vigilancia del edificio 24 horas, porteros y cámaras de vigilancia en zonas comunes y ascensores. Distrito de Jing an, a diez minutos andando de la estación de metro de Jing an Temple (Nanjing Road, la principal calle comercial de la ciudad, linea 2, que enlaza directamente con la estación del TAV MAGLEV al aeropuerto), centros comerciales y boutiques, estación de bus. Al lado de la Oficina administrativa de la Policía de Shangha y a 10 minutos de la oficina de registro de distrito para extranjeros. Dirección: 1128 Wu ding xi lu ( al lado de Wu ning nang lu). Excelente situación: buenas comunicaciones, disponibilidad de taxis 24 h, supermercados, restaurantes, mercado tradicional chino, tiendas de todo tipo en la zona y establecimientos 24. Hipermercado carrefour a 15 minutos andando. PRECIO 7.000 RMB/mes (700 € aprox.). Gastos de electricidad, gas ciudad, internet (13 €/mes) y agua no incluidos. Fianza:2 meses y pago mensual por anticipado. Precio competitivo en la zona. Disponible a partir del 10 de septiembre. 1582 101 2728 |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai I am looking for an apartment with 1 bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen and internet connection for 2000-3000 RMB per month. I am interested in the Jing An area, though I would consider an apartment which is close to metro line 2. Can anybody help? Thanks, Emilio |
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China-US Economy Discussion China is in fact facing three front battles from outside. The first is lowering USD valuation and rising RMD exchange ratio. The second is rising energy and raw material cost. The third is rising inflation and yet a weakening domestic consumption. China is currently on the suffering end of these fronts. I am not sure what will happen going forward. At least from the safe side, we can conclude that Chinese economy is going to go through a difficult period. |
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Shanghai Dazhong Taxi @Karim If you speak English to the operator of Dazhong Taxis for a reservation, they'll speak English. And you can call +86-21-96822 for reservation. By the way, I think Jinjiang Taxi is also good. |
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PVG: From Pudong Airport to Nanjing How will be the weather in Wujin district during november and december? |
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PVG: From Pudong Airport to Nanjing I am coming to Wujin (changzhou) via Shanghai airport on 1st of November. I have three year old child with me. How will be the weather like in November and December in Wujin District? |
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Find a Job in Shanghai I DE HERE MISTER MUGU PLEASE KEEP THE PLACE OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF |
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Shanghai Dazhong Taxi Does Dazhong Taxis have an English-speaking operator when you phone them up for a reservation? |
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PVG: Shanghai Pudong Airport Map Carsten, The Chinese language actually does have a the hard r sound. It's Japanese that doesn't. Jeff |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers Dear All, I know this topic has been beaten to a pulp, but there are so many unpredictable factors invloved here liek timing and luck. I work in the creative field, and I have to say from an international sense, the china market has less home grown talent in this area. I've been in SH for 4 years now, and I've taken a lot of lumps to understand the market, culture, language, etc. Was actually very naive when I first got here. My Salary when I first arrived was 24k RMB gross, and finally with hard work and persevereance I am currently making 40k RMB net. I'm by no means fluent in mandarin, but I can communicate with and manage a team of 12 designers. Now in the first 3 years I had many interviews for similiar positions like the one I have now - but those companies were 'only' offering 20-25k RMB gross. I was a bit frustrated and was actually planning on going back to the USA - until i got real lucky finding my current job. And the best thing about it was it came through by a casual email to a headhunter about an actually lower position that was advertised (at this point I had given up on headhunters). |
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China-US Economy Discussion Jianshuowang, thanks for bringing attention to this in a separate thread. Just an update for you-- our unemployment report in the USA just come out today (our Friday), and it shows that US unemployment increased tremendously, losing about 100,000 jobs in August alone. Even this dismal report is an underestimate-- unemployment data in the USA do not take into account "temp workers" or those who have become frustrated and given up looking for jobs, so the real job losses are estimated by economists to be close to 150,000 to 200,000 people. (The economic reports in the USA often use models that deliberately make the statistics look better than they actually are-- the so-called "birth-death model" for unemployment is one example, and the GDP numbers are artificially elevated by failing to adequately consider inflation. It's a lot like the Enron "cooking-the-books" scandal at the level of our government, and the press often fails to report on this-- so it's even worse in an election year.) In other words, the USA is very clearly in recession. China and Arab countries really do need to move their savings out of Treasury Bills and other dollar-denominated assets, especially debt instruments. Again, do it slowly so that you can gradually reduce the economy's dependence on exports, invest in infrastructure-- but by all means, don't trust the dollar so much, spread China's currency reserves out into a variety of other currencies, especially yen, ringgit, won, Euros, rubles and Swiss francs. Henry CK Liu's articles on excellent, and he especially has provided a coherent plan on leaving the dollar and more sensibly investing China's savings. Some of the solutions I wrote about above are similar to Mr. Liu's ideas-- transferring dollar holdings partially into yen and won (as the yen and won will eventually be rising unlike the dollar) as well as peso countries can preserve the value of China's dollar holdings, since these currencies have thus far not appreciated much against the dollar. For example, in 2005 (just for argument's sake), one dollar might have equalled about 105 yen and, say, 200 pesos (the peso is used by many countries in Latin America and varies from country to country). Now, the dollar has plummeted in value against the Euro and most other countries-- but not against the yen (1 dollar = 107 yen), since the yen is being artificially held down by Japan's central bank, with upward pressure. One still has to take into account inflation-- but overall, exchanging some dollars for yen, with subsequent yen appreciation (and then perhaps exchanging a portion of the yen for RMB) would preserve much of the dollar's original value. Similarly, the Latin American peso-using economies tend to be rich in natural resources, and in many countries, the peso has fallen against the dollar even as the dollar has fallen against the Euro and other currencies. In these cases, the Chinese dollar reserves still preserve much of their original value and get even more pesos than before, to purchase Latin American natural resources. Again, this only works for Latin American countries that have not had too much inflation-- if inflation is high, then of course, something that cost 200 pesos in 2005 might cost 300 pesos in 2008. But some peso-using countries have had reasonably low inflation. I realize that China can't allow the RMB to rise too quickly-- this would jeopardize exports, so it has to happen gradually. But again, when China obtains foreign currency reserves, the key is to diversify the reserves, not just dollars but Euros and other currencies. (FWIW, most oil-exporting countries will now accept Euros and rubles, as in Russia-- the Germans, for example, buy much of their oil in Euros.) But the Chinese central bank has to get serious about this, because the US Federal Reserve Bank plans to "deal with" the massive US deficits via hyperinflation. The plan is to lower US interest rates which would drive down the value of the US dollar even more, and spark massive inflation. This would, of course, hurt US consumers, since our savings would be worth little. But it would also hurt countries like China by "exporting inflation"-- since with massive inflation in the USA, your dollars would be worth even less, and buy even less in the USA. In other words, the United States has driven itself deeply into debt through the foolish War in Iraq, spending far too much on weapons and poor fiscal management-- but the USA wants to make you, the Chinese, pay for our profligacy by exporting inflation. Again-- "don't be taken for suckers." Quietly, and gradually, but steadily move out of dollars, and refuse to buy up Treasury Bills if interest rates here are dropped too low. This will also put pressure on the US Federal Reserve not to reduce interest rates too much, as foreign governments would refuse to buy US Treasury Bills. But slowly, but surely, move out of US dollar-denominated assets. I'd strongly recommend almost any other currency basket-- yen, won, Euros, rubles, ringgit and Swiss francs-- as a better alternative. |
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Table Tennis is the National Sports of China and NYtimes got the first place to report this... |
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Campus Tour of Shanghai Jiao Tong University hi, are all of your from shanghai jiaotong university? i am a sinagporean and am offered an exchange to this university. but i am kind of lost as of the accommodation and the transportation from school to outside. can your tell me more about it?? thanks! zhang mei |
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Pre-Paid GPRS Sim Card in China I am taking some M2M equipment with me to demonstrate to a Chinese company on the mainland. When I arrive in HK, what SIM card can I get easily that will support GPRS and what will be the APN, Username and Password I need to set. Any in formation would be much appreciated. |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers @DB and @Ginger, you mentioned a very good point. Foreign job-seeker do have some advantage for certain jobs, but the opportunity is not as big as before. If a foreign job seeker wants to compete for a local job, to be honest with you, I don't think there is a match between the company and the job seeker. The gap between salary expectation can easily reach 5x, or higher. But for jobs that needs international experience, or solid business experience, maybe the foreign job seeker can still get a pretty high salary for it. |
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Table Tennis is the National Sports of China @DB and Rimbaud, I just created a new blog entry on this topic, and welcome to extend our discussion on this topic there. |
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Problem of Having a Good Email Address Haha, so funny. |
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Xiang Yang Market Again @Ismail, Xiangyang Market has been closed for many years, and you will find the whole story under the Xiang Yang Market section of this blog. |
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Xiang Yang Market Again Hiii every 1.. what ever is mentioned here is all true.. I am from India. My job takes me several time to shanghai.. This months too i'll have to go twice... only 1 tip i would like to give to all who are interested in buying from shanghai.. And that is if u liked some stuff worth 500 yuan u start bargaining from 40 to 50 yuan. I roamed a lot to science and technology museum center.. After getting an idea about the market price and their marketing strategy i came to know that they mostly follow this policy which is as follows.. I saw a product which they said initially for 340 yuan.. i bought the same at 40 yuan leaving 300 yuan behind..But i first i gave my price as 30 yuan..If you'll get at 30 then thats the best deal or now you know that they will not give you less then 40yuan. But i would suggest u before quoting any price try to convert your final price to your home country.. it should be as same as you are buying close substitute from your home country... I have heard a lot about xiang yang market but never been so this time i am planning to go their for sure.. can any 1 tell me where it is and how to go their.. I will be put up at "grand metro park jiayou hotel" pudong..You can contact me at mulla_i@rediffmail.com.. Thank u. |
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Table Tennis is the National Sports of China WJS, if you intend to open a discussion on this, you should probably start topic of its own. Rimbaud, China's leadership has deliberately chosen to manage its currency against the USD and has thus gained early front-loaded benefits (export growth + job creation in the export sector). Now they are incurring back-loaded costs (currency losses, pressure on the PBoC to continue incurring currency losses to keep the RMB from appreciating amid the global slowdown). It seems as it this was an unwise decision. However, we always have to put everything into perspective. While we believe China's leadership is responsible for China's losses, Victor Shih - a well-known blogger - reports that "officials [in China] blamed the United States and believed the controversial assertions set forth in the book “Currency War,” a Chinese best seller published a year ago. The book suggests that the United States deliberately lured China into buying its securities knowing that they would later plunge in value. A lot of policy makers in China, at least midlevel policy makers, believe this." I agree with you that the China's leaders have made a wrong decision. The question now is, how do we solve this problem? And who needs to act first? Is it up to China now to act? Or do Chinese politicians take the position that the bad and deceitful Americans, who have taken the Chinese to the cleaners, must take action first to clean their hands and compensate China for the currency losses? In any case, this is and will remain a very exciting issue, and there are many great blogs covering the intertwinement of economies and the excessive global flow of capital at great length. |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers Good point, Ginger! I think it makes sense to divide foreign job-seekers into different categories: 1. Fresh graduates without work experience and no Mandarin skills 2. Fresh graduates with Mandarin skills (it makes less of a difference if the language skills are good or excellent for they will improve considerably anyway) 3. People with work experience, but no Mandarin skills 4. People with work experience and Mandarin skills While being unaware of any HR policies of MNCs in China addressing foreign job-seekers, I would argue that due to the influx of voluntary foreigners to the Chinese labour market, salaries for foreigners (especially if inexperienced and w/o Mandarin skills) will drop further. I have never understood why a company in China gives in to a foreign international business graduate's (Cat. 1) excessive demand of RMB 15,000 gross per month + accommodation. In my view, he first has to learn Chinese to be of equal value compared to a local. As an aside, I have fellow students who have just graduated in Germany (Cat.1) and demand EUR 4,000 gross per month for a job as a local in China, while the company only offered RMB 7,000-8,000 gross per month w/o accommodation. Needless to say, they didn't reach an agreement. In fact, those people wouldn't even earn EUR 4,000 per month in Germany unless they were part of the elite and could nail a job in one of the DAX30 companies or in the field of consulting or IB. And even RMB 7,000-8,000 is unjustified imo if local graduates who do understand the local language, culture, people, and market, earn approx. 50% of that. Getting back to the original question: I think we first need to clarify to which category the Italian Engineer belongs to and secondly, in case he belongs to Cat. 3 or 4, if the company really needs an experienced foreigner for this job. If not, then the company has more the upper hand for they can choose a cheaper candidate instead and thus exert pressure on the Italian to accept a lower salary or look for a job elsewhere. |
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Table Tennis is the National Sports of China I'd also strongly recommend these articles by the economist Henry CK Liu, with specifics on how China can productively "break the dollar hegemony" that is causing China so much damage, and leading Chinese citizens to lose so much wealth to borrowers in the United States: http://henryckliu.com/page165.html http://henryckliu.com/page166.html He talks a lot about gradually shifting out of US T-bills and into the Chinese domestic economy, not just domestic consumption but domestic infrastructure, science and research (with good intellectual property protection and contract law), as I discussed above. |
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Table Tennis is the National Sports of China BTW, when it comes to investing your people's savings in China, in general don't give your savings to the USA with US T-bills and subsidize US borrowers. Instead: 1. Invest your savings in Chinese national infrastructure (roads, bridges, public transportations), in Chinese science and technology (and publish your scientific, technical and academic papers in Mandarin Chinese, you have to make Mandarin into an international language for publishing important ideas and findings, for Westerners to take China more seriously). 2. Also invest your savings in Chinese universities, provide seed capital to Chinese entrepreneurs to start more "Chinese silicon valleys," invest in renewable fuel technologies and research (tidal, wind, solar, geothermal, fusion and hybrid/electric vehicles), a Chinese space program, the arts and so on. 3. In general, invest in and encourage the domestic Chinese economy instead of buying US T-bills. Honestly, the way the USA has screwed over China with the loss in the T-bills' value-- it's just like the Opium Wars all over again, except in this case it's the naive Chinese Central Bankers who have just given the United States the equivalent of 1 trillion RMB of silver! |
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Table Tennis is the National Sports of China Hi jianshuowang, A bit off-topic but I had to bring this to your attention: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/business/worldbusiness/05yuan.html So, the Chinese Central Bank has bought over ***$1 trillion*** of US Treasury Bills and other bonds and debt securities... yet with only a few billion dollars in capital? I live in the USA, and we're suffering major inflation here as our dollar stays weak-- which means that China is effectively LOSING ALMOST 1 TRILLION RMB on your US dollar foreign currency reserves (those US Treasury Bills) that you've been buying. What is your Central Bank thinking??? The best quote in the article, from a Chinese blogger: “It is as if China has made a gift to the United States Navy of 200 brand new aircraft carriers.” I'm not sure how familiar you are with American slang, Jianshuowang, but in the USA, we would say that "the USA has played China for suckers"-- i.e., the USA has tremendously screwed over China. Honestly, the transfer of wealth out of China now is worse than the Opium Wars, the Unequal Treaties and the Boxer Rebellion Treaty combined! The USA has essentially stolen perhaps $150 billion = 1 trillion RMB out of China, because the Chinese Central Bank has been investing the hard-won savings of Chinese people into US debt (mainly US Treasury Bills). Yet our economy is shake and on the brink of collapse-- the USA (individuals and government) is deeply in debt, and we make it much worse since we still spend trillions on war weapons and the War in Iraq. In other words, the US economy is not viable over the next 20 years-- we're going to default on our debt. So you Chinese are losing over a trillion RMB on those T-bills you have bought. Look, I'm sorry but I have to be honest here-- why is the Chinese Central Bank being so tremendously stupid? You are essentially giving us Americans trillions of renminbi that you Chinese have earned from hard work-- just giving it to us, for free, even though we Americans spend way too much and save too little. We don't save for ourselves-- so, you Chinese (via the Chinese Central Bank) have been giving us your savings. We Americans are deeply in debt right now, our real estate sector is in collapse and we are entering a recession. Our schools are terrible, our infrastructure is crumbling and our manufacturing and knowledge sectors are in terrible shape-- in other words, the United States is rapidly declining and our economy is slowly collapsing. Whereas, you Chinese work hard, have good schools, and are actually generating savings and wealth. Yet then you waste your trillion RMB of savings and wealth, which you earn from hard work, and you give it to us profligate, non-saving American borrowers. So Americans are basically taking advantage of the Chinese, I mean honestly-- your Central Bank has basically been letting the US steal over $100 billion of Chinese savings away! And with recent major inflation in the United States, all those T-Bills and bonds that the Chinese Central bank has been buying, continue to fall in value. Even though I'm an American, I respect the Chinese I've worked with, and I hate to see you trusting the US system so much when our system is clearly broken. My advice to you would be as follows: 1. DIVERSIFY YOUR FOREIGN RESERVES!!! For goodness' sake, if the Chinese people have extra savings, don't invest those savings in declining, worthless US Treasury Bills, not even we American investors do that! Spread out your reserves-- get some Euros, yen, Korean won, rubles and ringgit. Rather than buying up worthless US Treasury paper, also use your reserves to get raw materials (copper, coal, petroleum, gold, silver and land). In other words-- get things with tangible value, not US Treasury paper. You can still buy some US dollar-denominated assets to prevent the yuan from rising too quickly-- you want a slow, gradual rise in the yuan, not the kind of rapid rise in the yen that ruined Japan's economy in the 1980's-- but get things that are tangible, not just financial paper. 2. Use the dollars that the Chinese Central Bank already has, to get things in the USA specifically that have real value-- again, things like ships, ports, natural resources, factories, coal, food, even research labs with lots of technological expertise. 3. Get out of dollars as soon as you can. Every time the dollar gains a bit in value, take advantage of the gain to sell your dollars and make gains. Do this gradually so that the dollar doesn't fall too fast, and you can get yourself out of dollars. 4. Remember that a few other countries (outside the USA) also use the dollar: Ecuador, Panama, Liberia, El Salvador, US Virgin Islands, East Timor and many Pacific islands. Use this to obtain dollar-denominated REAL ASSETS from them (natural resources and even land if possible) using the dollars you've built up. Again-- get rid of your dollars gradually, using a method like this. 5. Exchange dollars for yen and buy up goods and resources in Latin American countries that use the peso, since the Japanese yen and the peso used in many Latin American countries, have not risen much against the dollar. So, your dollars can still get many yen-- with the yen an undervalued currency likely to rise soon-- and can also get many peso-denominated natural resources and other goods in Latin America, since the peso is one of the few currencies that has depreciated relative to the dollar. Finally, 6. Please, when it comes to foreign languages, stop giving exclusive attention to English, and encourage Chinese students to learn other foreign languages. As I said, the USA (and UK for that matter) is in decline, but when your students know English and not other foreign languages, you're essentially dependent on a declining system like the United States. So again, as with your foreign currency reserves-- Diversify! Just make English an elective foreign language but learn others as well. I'd prioritize the following foreign languages: A. German-- the German-speaking Central European countries, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, E Belgium, N Italy and German-speaking regions in Eastern Europe-- are now leaders in many fields of high-tech, especially in emerging Green Technologies, which will be the top technology of the 21st century. Learn German, the main language of the EU, and increase your trade and links with the Germanophone region of Europe. B. Portuguese-- among growing economies, Portuguese-speaking Brazil is by far one of the most encouraging and healthy, as well as an excellent source of raw materials. Portuguese would be very useful. C. Hindi-- Closer contacts with India and its own strong economy. D. Spanish-- Trade with Latin America, very rich in natural resources. E. Arabic-- The oil-exporting Arab nations will be among the wealthiest of the century, and obviously better business contacts can be quite useful. F. Japanese and Korean-- obviously valuable for trade close to home. Again, I have to be honest here, because I feel that far too many Chinese are naive, and think that Americans are nice people who see the Chinese as "friends": Most Americans either hate China, or fear and dislike you, and there is nothing you can do to change it. It's not your fault-- the reason for this is that the US media is full of anti-China propaganda and hatred. During the Beijing Olympics, when China was doing a magnificent job and being praised by the world, American news outlets basically spent the entire Olympics claiming that China cheated, claiming that China has a totalitarian and evil society, claiming that Chinese Olympic athletes are kidnapped from their families at age 2 and forced to train. It's all false, but I'm telling you-- this is what US media reports because they make money with it, and since most Americans get their information from the media propaganda here, they hate China. There are of course, many millions of Americans who respect China and like the Chinese people, but unfortunately the majority aren't like this-- Americans can be extremely narrow-minded, provincial, xenophobic and even racist people at times. So please, stop being so naive and be realistic, stop linking your entire economy and system to the United States so much. I like the fact that China is a humble power, hospitable, and does not interfere with other countries-- that's an excellent trait, and it will continue to serve China well. But at the same time, have some confidence, and stop pretending that the American system for education, business, technology and so forth is the best in the world. It used to be, but we aren't the best anymore-- we have some good qualities but also a broken, arrogant, small-minded system here in many ways. Just treat us like any other country-- one to be respected, and treated hospitably, but just one country among many. DIVERSIFY your economy and system more and don't depend on the USA so much, build up relations with the EU, Arab countries, Brazil, Latin America, India, Japan and other countries, and not so exclusively with the US itself. |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers Jian Shuo, are you assuming that the foreigners who come to Shanghai are fluent in Mandarin? These are not foreigners who only speak English, are they? |
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Google AdSense for Feed I can see the ad image at the top of each article(actually the articles since Aug 15th,2008 ) of your web page in my google reader, and I don't think it's annoying, it's okay at the top. Go head to keep it! Thanks for sharing this new thing about google reader. I read this webpage http://www.kenengba.com/post/502.html, which makes me know more about Adsense For Feed. |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai Hi I'm looking for an apartment (2br or 1 br) for a family (wife & son). Preferably near Jiang Chuan East RD, Minhang District for long term agreement (1 or 2 year) before 30 Sep 2008. Pls email me at shvivek@gmail.com. |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai I am looking for an apartment with 1 bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen and balcony and wireless internet connection for 2000-3000 RMB per month. I am interested in the JingAn area, though I would consider an apartment which is close to metro line 2. Can anybody help? Thanks, Robina |
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My New Laptop - Dell Latitue D600 hi i am using dopod d600 its not connecting to please help me....i am using xp 2 |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup I missed the meet up. I was away from town. sigh... Will try to make it next time. |
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KFC Dropped Potato Wedge in Shanghai Yea, seems it was the employee who was off. Maybe he was just having a bad day, as he actually said "We don't have French Fries, what do you think, this is McDonalds?" with a bit of attitude, weird kid, but I was back by there today as it is by the metro station and they do indeed have fries. I guess maybe they ran out the other day and the employee just made up his own reasoning as to why they were out. |
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Table Tennis is the National Sports of China Wow, you have the Ping Pong table in your lobby! What a wonderful lobby! Haha , you are increasingly productive. Two entries and articles today, give me a big surprise. May you succeed in the game tomorrow. ^_^ +U |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai looking for an apartment? have a look at www.loushi.cn/en (ChangNing JingAn and XuHui District) |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers 1.5K for transportation? Taxi to every ride? I guess that is not necessary. He can try out the subway which is very convenient. It is another new experience and learning more about China. Nothing spectacular sitting in a taxi and caught in the jam. Even myself, I start learning to take local bus to certain destination but of course not the peak hours :P |
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Photos of Wujiang Road Loretta, Not sure the shops that you mentioned still there. Wujiang Road recently had a face lift. It is not the old sloppy eatery street with lots of pulling cart stalls anymore. Xin Tian Di is at Line 1 - Huang Pi Nan Lu station. Check out the website http://www.xintiandi.com/english/index_e.asp |
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Buy Train Ticket After On Board Does that person still get a seat number? What happen to the passenger that bought the ticket in advance with a dedicated seat number, then later found out someone taken his/her seat and refuse to move. Isn't that unfair? Imagine you purposely make a trip to counter days before to get your ticket and yet later found out there is such dirty tricks that can be by-pass. |
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Dos and Don'ts For Foriengers in China Do try the local restaurant food. Don't just keep looking for McD. Do try out your bargaining skill in some local shops or market. I know it is not a common practice in a lot of western countries. |
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First ibis Hotel Opens in Shanghai i hope IBIS will have more chain hotels in shanghai, esp. in the downtown area of puxi. |
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Foreign Job Seekers Move to Shanghai CANADIAN HOTELS, WELCOME TO OMNI INTL TUORIST HOTEL, 1050 Sherbrooke Street west Montreal, H3A 2R6. I AM MRS GRANDSONS CHESS R. I WANT TO INFORM YOU THAT THERE ARE SOME VACANCIES IN OUR HOTEL WE NEED SOME GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN TO COME AND WORK AND THEN LIVE IN OMNI INTL TUORIST HOTEL CANADA,SO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH US YOU CAN CONTACT THE HOTEL OFFICE BACK THROUGH THIS EMAIL ADDRESS: comnihotels@yahoo.com AGAIN YOU SHOULD SEND YOUR FULL NAMES, PASSPORT NUMBERS & RESUME CV BY SCAN COPIES. SO THAT WE WILL SEND THE HOTEL OFFICIAL APPLICATION FORM TO YOU BEFORE YOUR VISA PROCESS. Thanks Hotel Manager |
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Faster Bullet Trains in China Hi! How reliable is it to buy train tickets thru chinatrain@hotmail.com? We are planning to take the train from Beijing / Xian on Z19 de luxe cabin on 24 Sept. and Xian / Shanghai on T140/T137 soft sleeper 26 Sept. How safe is SOFT SLEEPER considering that you share cabin with strangers? |
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Photos of Wujiang Road It is funny the city crew translate the word "waste" as "ondeemable". |
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Culture Matters from ICS Well, like some others, I've been reaping benefits of watching this program for my English study, especially in oral and aural, and I also like some other programs on ICS. Is there any instant-messaging-group assembling people who interest in this program? If so, tell me, I'd like join it. |
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Avoid Maglev for Hongqiao to Pudong Transition Hi I am arriving at 13:15 in Hongqiao airport and my flight leaves at 16:35 from Pudong. Would this be ok to connect? Would you suggest a taxi between the airports or is a shuttle quicker? Can you advise the approximate cost of the taxi? Many thanks Tracey |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai I have an apartment available for rent. 13 floors of 24 floors. It located in YangPu. Five mins walk distance to Subway Station, Line 8 to Pudong District. 10 mins walk distance to Mall. My apartment sit infront of HuangXing Park. One Bed room 18 square meters. 22 square meters living room, kintchen 10 square meters. 6 square meters bath room. TV Computer, furniture available . The price askin for USD$400 plus water and electricity fees, Natual Gas fees. (Around USD$60, depends how much use) . First payment take first month and last month rent fees plus $200, damage deposit.\contact information: Charlie E-Mail Address:zhangcongyu1980@hotmail.com Phone number:1-403-627-7881. |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup ahh, I didnot know you had meetups! but i am sure i will keep an eye on your blog and try to join in the future ones! |
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Photos of Wujiang Road I went to Wujiangroad last Thur. and as loretta said Yang's fried dumpling is so tasted, visitors in shanghai should try. :) The Inner Mongolia Yogurt which is near from Yang's fried dumpling deserve to try. Very delicious!! PS: Xintiandi is the most famous and expensive place to enjoy. You can have dinner, tea and coffee there, and there are many bars and shopping malls too. The Chinese character of Xintiandi is 新天地. I think every taxi driver knows this place, hehe. |
| 40 |
My HP Deskjet 3500 Series Printer Our Cd insaller of Hp deskjet 3550 / 3500 in the office is now defective. How we can get it from the internet so we could print document from the printer. Please help us. Our printer now is not functioning because we dont have the priner software. how we can download it from the internet. |
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Photos of Wujiang Road Haha, thanks for sharing a new Wujiang Road and your idea with us. I went there two years ago, and the road was still the old version that time. There were indeed lots of cheap and nice eateries there, while the people are even more. I just remember we needed to queue up early at 1 PM for the 6 PM dinner in front of a eatery with good reputation. Sounds incredible? I haven't been to the renovated road, and I think I will visit it in the near future. |
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Photos of Wujiang Road I don't like current Wujiang Road. Nothing special. |
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Blog Meetup on August 30, 2008 Had a great time Jianshuo, but I have to say that you underestimated the turnout;) Can't wait until your next meetup! Jeremy |
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Short Self-Introduction Taiwan - is not a part of china (PRC) but is a country (ROC) that current day's evil power (the chinese communist) tries hard to "reclaim" |
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Photos of Wujiang Road Wujiang Road is one of the must visit place whenever I go Shanghai. All my favorite eateries are there, the famous WANGJAISA next to metro exit, YANG's, the fry bun place that forever have a long line up outside this hold-in-the-wall food stall, last but not least SUZHOUYANJAI the noodle house that serve the best eel dish in town. Good shopping, good fun, many happy good time there. Where is Xintinandi? please give name in Chinese character and direction getting there. Thanks. |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers @Grace If the guy was going to spend 4K on the apartment, I suppose the 1.5K transportation cost will be high :) But yeah inflation in China is getting rediculous... |
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Shanghai is Cooling Down @Linda, Oct is very nice month to visit. It is no longer hot, and it is warm enough. You don't need to get thick warm clothing - at that time, summer just past. I don't know any hotel named Yuan Dong, but by direct translation, it means fareast. |
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KFC Dropped Potato Wedge in Shanghai I GUESS it is just random store specific shortage. They have fries in other places, at least for yesterday, and I don't they will remove it quietly... |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup Hi Chris... Thanks for adding the name. I remember nit now. Hope to see you comment more often on this blog in the future. |
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Shanghai Pudong Airport Terminal 2 (T2) @Hazel, you may try Motel 168 - a motel in the same building as the airport. I am not sure whether they offer hourly room, but even the whole night rate is just 200-300 RMB, and not a big number for business travelers. |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers @Grace, very true. I will do another blog article to talk about the increase of living cost, but unfortunately the salary level didn't change too much for engineers in the last two years... @Shen, you are absolutely right. Salary is a very complicated thing, and there is no way to cover all possible aspects of it. Maybe the only correct but useless answer is, the salary range is from 1 RMB per year to billions of RMB... |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers we think as normal office working that salary is acceptable, but if you do sales and so on, that should be increased as per your sales and totally depend on yr ability, we are doing so in our company |
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Salary for Foreign Engineers Dear Jianshuo, seriously, have you gone shopping recently in Shanghai? RMB10K per month is no longer a decent salary now. 10K for a young man=4K rent for 1 bedroom flat close to office +0.5K utility fee(ADSL, Electricity, laundry and etc) +1.5K transportation +2K meal expense +0.6 income tax +1.4K others(like drinks with friends in the bar, grocery in supermarket, dating, entertain friends from hometown) He even won't have enough savings to budget some trips. |
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Shanghai Pudong Airport Terminal 2 (T2) Fantastic views of T2 and very informative, will be going to Pudong on stopover to NZ does anyone know if there is somewhere to shower and freshen up in our 5 hour stopover or do we have to check in to a hotel? |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup Hi, Jianshuo, Thanks for the meetup, Its really happy meeting friends here, talking and sharing... you are a nice, mature man with strong determination. I admire that u could keep blogging and really enjoy it, whats more, also helpful for others. PS, i am Chris, Christina Hou's friend. :) also thanks Mr. Tang and Mr. Lee, everyone~~~~ have a nice trip to U.S. la! |
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KFC Dropped Potato Wedge in Shanghai I don't often go to KFC, but went today and they said they don't serve french fries anymore. Not sure if this is just this store or all KFC's, seemed odd if it was just that one, as they arent in a smaller location or anything. |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup It was a wonderful, meaningful and helpful meetup to me and all of us. This meetup gave me a great chance to know new friends and communication. I hope there will be more chances to have this kind of meetup. Thanks a lot, Jianshuo. |
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Dos and Don'ts For Foriengers in China If you have some trouble, keep smiling (like a stupid guy) and you will be safe.a |
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Shanghai is Cooling Down Will be in Shanghai for holiday in mid October for 11 days. Need advise on temperature at that time & whether thick warm clothing needed. What's the English name for hotel "yuan dong". Tks & rgds. |
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Shanghai Pudong Airport Terminal 2 (T2) you're amazing! thanks for sharing this information... |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup @Tang, I have made modification to the article. Sorry for being to quick to type without checking the details - you know, it is written with your camera pointing me... |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup @Kate, qunar.com is very good. I can confirm, but I need to put a disclaimer here, that the CEO of qunar is a very good friend of mine, and we are meeting each other in Beijing or Shanghai frequently. They did wonderful job in this space. |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup Hi, Kate, I'd like to introduce www.qunar.com website for your searching the cheap domestic flights in China. It's pity that all info on it are written in Chinese and English version is not available currently(it seems that they are working on it). Generally, I use it for searching cheap flight in china, which I just need to input the place for departure and the destination plus the date you'd like to fly. It's will search the online ticket agency's website to check all quotation of the flights of that day, and highlight the lowest price for your choice. It's also provide a price trend service from a specified date by you to another, which it's easy to compare the lowest price within a series of days. So it's much easy make your choice after the price comparison with the acceptable date and time. After the flight schedule is make, you may need a credit card in China, and it can pay the charges online. Hope it could be help and enjoy all your trips in China. |
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Find a Job in Shanghai Hope all of you good luck in Shanghai's new life. If anybody want to be given a hand of a friend in Shanghai, be firee to add me: appleking2003@hotmail.com. |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup Hi Jianshuo, haha, no worries!! Michelle is right, I am the one with the purple shirt and the glasses. If you check out my blog I also posted the picture of us. :) Have you written about how to find cheap domestic flights in China? I am going to search your blog now, but if not, that might be a good topic :) thanks again! |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup I knew this blog a few years ago and often visited it when got some free time,not always. First thanks,Jianshuo, from 2001 to now ,you are paying lots of efforts and time for this blog, so that all of us can have a platform for communications and understanding more, and also a bridge over cross the oceans. Noticed this meeting up days ago, but to be honest ,I am hesitating if I should go for it, just worrying about I am doing well with my English.I missed this meeting up.Now I am getting clear,this is a blog for sharing, understanding and communication, and only the fifference from others blogs is in English. I can read,write some English ,nut not speak very well even though I am working in a foreign company. I like this blog and get a lot of benefits form it and introduce my friends to be a reader. I am looking forward to next meeting up, I must go,and will not miss. thanks |
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Dos and Don'ts For Foriengers in China @Smith, where do you come from? I am just curious. Jaywalking has been a topic we discuss a lot of time on this blog. It is not something very special - it is just one of the typical examples (out of thousands of other examples) to illustrate the conflict of rules in this world. You are right. In some cities, or countries, traffic light is not that important. It is not completely a western vs eastern matter. It is more a big city vs small city, or city vs rural area problem. With so many cars in the city, they need to have traffic lights. For me, I think Shanghai needs to enforce traffic rules, and many of my friends from US think so, although I do have friends with different opinions. My way of thinking about it is, it is fine to believe in whatever you believe, but give other people a break and give them time to change (or for yourself to change) to get a common practices. |
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Dos and Don'ts For Foriengers in China Why so much focus on jaywalking? I am foreigner, I personally never look if the light is red or green for pedestrian (whatever I am in China or aboard), but I look carefully of the cars, if I can cross without danger and without forcing car to slow down, then I cross. What is the point to wait??? And whatever in China even if it is red for pedestrian the car can still turn right, so it is not safe for pedestrian. Furthermore, when I walk I do not pollute the air, I do not make noise, I am already nice enough to let the way to the cars who make noise, pollute, can hurt people. But the problem is that many many local people just cross on red light without looking to the cars... When I am in a taxi and it happen, I most of the time say to the taxi driver for fun: "he tried to suicide, please do not help him" |
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Rent an Apartment in Shanghai We are belly dancing teachers are working in Shanghai and we want to Rent studio to teach dance, please, if you are interested in please send us any time 24 hour Shanghai Mobil : 13167077062 Regards Mr : Amer |
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I Want to Go to India Hi laura..... Iam from India........ I CAN ALWAYS HELP YOU TO TOUR A DIVINE COUNTRY LIKE INDIA. dO MAIL ME ATluckyorhoney@yahoo.com |
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Using Contact Lenses i went for a contact lense appointment a couple of days ago and it took me 45 minutes to get them in so i was nearly told to come back another day to try again but it was a breeze taking them out luckily :) so they gave me a couple of pairs to wear until the check up appointment and when i got home i found i couldn't get them in again and wasted about 3 pairs but i didn't give up and now it takes about 15-20 mins to put them in so i say don't give up trying cause im getting used to them a bit now (: |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup Thanks for the meetup, and you are so efficient and productive. By the way, I think Kate is on the right, maybe the second row, the third one ,that Amerrican girl with glasses. |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup 哇，好热闹 So i guess the beautiful lady sitting beside you is from Russia? Is she offering any ideas about the current news,like about the Georgia-Russia conflict? And.... isn't that guy in the behind look just like Charlie, you know , from LOST?... |
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GPRS Package from China Mobile @Patrick, I don't have iPhone, or BlackBerry, so don't have idea about how to configure it. But I am sure someone in the readers' community may have the experience. Anyone can point to any direction? |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup @Kate, thanks for coming. Embarrassingly, I cannot tell you from the picture. Would you please let me know which is you. (Please forgive me since it is not easy to remember everyone, and I am honest enough to admit it.) :-) |
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GPRS Package from China Mobile Hi I was just at one of the stores in Shanghai wanting to pick up an iphone 3g. I have a Blackberry currently so after I put my SIM in the iphone, it just wouldnt show me EDGE or GPRS whereas it used to in my BB. I went into APN and typed in 'cmnet' but to no avail. I configured the iphone for my corporate Exchange ActiveSync and for gmail but both dont work over GPRS. However, if you'd switch it over to Wifi, the gmail mails would come in whereas my corporate mails would not. Anybody facing the same problem and got it working, let me know. Appreciate the help. Cheers. |
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The Wonderful 2008 Meetup Thanks for the great meetup today! I had a lot of fun meeting you and I am definitely looking forward to reading more of your blog. :) |