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| 45 |
Shangri-La vs Four Seasons Hotel From what I understand, Food & Beverage rarely makes money for the hotel. I don't think you are 4 Season's target audience.... have you ever slept on one of their beds? It is one of the most comfortable beds in the industry... better than Ritz Carlton, Shangrila, Grand Hyatt, etc. I've slept at all of them in Shanghai. The target audience at most luxury hotels are the room guests, not the F&B guests. |
| 44 |
Suzhou Museum by I.M. Pei Your story about IM Pei's struggles with the management and construction team reminds me of how things in general, is done in China. Every single person that has renovated their house or apartment has had the same issues. Even if the foreman is reliable, his workers may not be. |
| 43 |
You Know You Have Been in China for Too Long My addition... 37. You know you won't get ahead in your career or life without knowing the word "guanxi". 38. You find it strange if your friend doesn't have ayi. 39. You wear your Shanghai pajamas out in the middle of the day. |
| 42 |
Chinese Stock Market is More Crazy Is it possible to short stocks on in China? I'd be interested in dumping my savings in the mkt that way.... |
| 41 |
How I Drive in Shanghai? Ben: Doing what is right is not always easy. Especially when it goes against the norm. Are you a follower or a leader? I and my friends drive or have driven in Shanghai and do the following: 1. Never honk. Be patient. 2. Stop at the stop sign and then turn right when it is appropriate. This includes waiting for the first rush of people to pass before you try to nudge over. 3. Wait for the drivers going straight to cross the intersection before turning left. 4. When being honked at, ignore them! Or you'll end up with road rage. 5. Judge the situation, and stop when it is safe to at a yellow light. 6. Be courteous and patient with reckless drivers and pedestrians, or you'll get into many arguments over something very petty. Worse yet.... you hit some communist bigwig's family member... then you are screwed for sure! |
| 40 |
How I Drive in Shanghai? JS: I want to make a point to let you know that I and many people enjoy reading your blog on a daily basis. I agree with you on many things you write, and applaud you for being such a humble person. Coming from a free press society, you can see that we are able to argue and criticize each other and still be friends. I hope you understand that our arguments about different issues does not mean we don't like reading your blog. :-) |
| 39 |
How I Drive in Shanghai? JS: I want to make a point to let you know that I and many people enjoy reading your blog on a daily basis. I agree with you on many things you write, and applaud you for being such a humble person. Coming from a free press society, you can see that we are able to argue and criticize each other and still be friends. I hope you understand that our arguments about different issues does not mean we don't like reading your blog. :-) |
| 38 |
Shanghai Metro Map and Timetable Chery: Take a taxi if you want to avoid the crowds. My office was a 15 minute walk from my home and I took the cab to avoid the crowds on the streets! |
| 37 |
How I Drive in Shanghai? JS: I can assume most non Chinese passport holding citizens living in Shanghai or China would disagree with you. Just because everyone is breaking the law doesn't mean it is right for for you to. I know this is a totally different situation, but have you thought about the German Nazi's? Many of the lower level military infantry said they didn't have a choice because the orders came from above... but does that mean they HAD to carry out the orders? The entire world agreed they were wrong and fought them for it. As someone that has driven in China, I understand where you are coming from, but it doesn't make it right for you to disregard the law just like everyone else. If pedestrians in China all banded together and said "NO, we won't accept this driver behavior anymore", I'm sure more drivers would follow the rules. The problem is that the majority of pedestrians don't even know they have the right of way and assume rich people with vehicles are always right! Btw, I've also hit a BMW in Shanghai when I was riding my bike because "I had the right of way going straight when he was turning left". He was afraid to stop cause he knew I was right, so he kept driving off with a scratched car... What also concerns me is that you say the following: "It is all about resources. There are so few roads, and so many cars, and people. People have to accept the fact is, not everyone has 2 sq. meter of space in this city.". What you are implying is that traffic in New York City (with the biggest city population in North America) doesn't work and that the automobiles have the right of way. The reality is (and I've lived there also) the traffic in NYC works because the drivers do follow the rules (most of the time) and there are many police officers around to enforce the law when it is broken. |
| 36 |
Online Survey Need Participants ddjiii: Tell that to the FLG! ;-) |
| 35 |
Reasons of Bad Traffic in Shanghai woops! 2 issues above, not 3. |
| 34 |
Reasons of Bad Traffic in Shanghai ddjiii: Actually I also read the Shanghai Daily article, but as you know, you have to take local media with a grain of salt. If you read a few versions of the situation online, you'll notice the Shanghai Daily article skews the situation so the Chinese woman becomes the victim. 3 other issues I want to bring up is: 1. Why is the premier of China and a diplomat of China interfering with local affairs? The Chinese people living in Italy are most probably Italian Chinese... or if you are Chinese, consider yourself Chinese Italian. The issue is, if an Italian immigrant immigrates to America and gets into trouble, would the Italian Prime Minister or an Italian diplomat get involved? The most probable answer is NO! You do not interfere with domestic disputes or issues. 2. If a British citizen living in Shanghai got upset with the local police, would he/she hold a protest and wave his American flag around? Probably NOT! If the British citizen immigrated to China and became Chinese, would he cause a massive protest and wave his British flag around? These people immigrated to Italy and should follow Italian rules (like you said above). The problem is they didn't! Because as you said, the Chinese like to BEND the rules to their advantage as much as possible. Also, if the landed immigrant to China was formerly British, would he be insulting his new home country if he waved his former British flag around in protest? The most probable answer is YES! |
| 33 |
Online Survey Need Participants ddjiii: Thanks! I didn't know gaol is a word for jail. You learn something new everyday. I'm not being an alarmist. I had a similar experience with a friend that was looking for local Chinese to do a survey also. Barely any local person wanted to help her out, so I asked local people to see if they were interested in doing surveys. Hence, where I got my conclusions from. 1957 is a year most people should be familiar with... even foreigners as there are many international stories out there right now about the "silent 50th anniversary". |
| 32 |
Online Survey Need Participants Herbert: Do you mean "jail"? Do you know what 50th anniversary (1957) in China it is right now? Do you know what happened to the premier, Mr. Zhu Rongji in 1958? Or did they not teach you that in school? |
| 31 |
Online Survey Need Participants Obviously Matthew doesn't understand the cultural issue... Chinese usually prefer not to do surveys (especially to strangers) because they prefer to keep their opinions to themselves. Voicing your opinion publicly means you could be thrown into a labor camp! I know what you all are thinking... it doesn't happen anymore! Mmm.... read some international news. If you want to a survey in China, you'll need to go through friends and family that are local and get introduced. Guarantee that they remain anonymous, and you might have a chance. The problem with this method is that your sample population may be skewed due to the fact that the people you survey, know you already, and may not be interested in giving you an honest opinion (they fear you may be offended). |
| 30 |
Reasons of Bad Traffic in Shanghai It's all about the me me me mentality of China. If you are friends with a Chinese person, they will actually care about you (unless if there is financial gain). If you don't know the Chinese person, they will avoid you like a plague even if you get hit by a car and are dying. Been in China for quite a few years and married a Chinese person. We've seen people fall down on the street and drop their belongings. We've also helped them pickup their stuff, but on a busy street like Huaihai Road, not a single Chinese person came to help. Solve the me me me culture, and you solve the traffic problems! |
| 29 |
Avoid Hong Qiao Airport on Friday Night http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/981/1/1/ |
| 28 |
Avoid Hong Qiao Airport on Friday Night JS: You are right. It isn't the WORST... but it is the most inefficient airport I've been to in China. I can't say I've been to many like you have, but I've been to about 8 airports in China. To be fair, there are some inefficient airports in America also. ie. Colorado... you sometimes are taxiing on the runway for 30 minutes after you land! Chicago... to transfer from one airplane to another, you sometimes have to walk half the length of the airport! Efficient airports?? Hong Kong! From what I understand, they use RFID's for their luggage transportation! Now that is efficient! You have a problem? Someone is there to solve it. Lost?? Just look up! There is a sign guiding you every step of the way! |
| 27 |
Avoid Hong Qiao Airport on Friday Night Haha. We have so many complaints... you know... if there was a way to fix things in China, we wouldn't need to complain about it so much... the problem is the Chinese system doesn't allow for people to make suggestions or complaints, so they can't change! One thing that REALLY bothers me is when a foreigner criticizes China and the locals shoot back with, "it takes a long time to change!" and my response is, "how many thousands of years do you need??? this is the oldest civilization on earth!". Btw... I have a yellow face for the locals that care so much about skin color. |
| 26 |
Avoid Hong Qiao Airport on Friday Night The HQ airport is the most inefficient airport I've ever been to in China. Well, the majority of them are pretty inefficient, but HQ is the wost. Everytime I have arrived into HQ airport, there have been 1-2 hour lineups. It doesn't really matter what time or what day you arrive. The lineups at the taxi stand is just crazy! Sometimes the taxi drivers refuse to let you in when they see you have too much luggage. That has happened to us 2 times. The airport inside is also a mess. People are always pushing and shoving in the lineups, or not lining up at all! |
| 25 |
View of SJTU I didn't know there were places in China where they allowed people to step on the grass. I've lived in Shanghai for quite a few years and the only patch of grass that I knew of where people could step on was in the Jinjiang Hotel (the old side). Actually even at that location, you can only step on it at night when people weren't looking. |
| 24 |
Mac Cannot Access Internet in China My friends and I have a Macs in China (both Shanghai and southern China). We have never had any DNS problems before. It must have been the location he was at. |
| 23 |
GPRS Package from China Mobile The unlimited package was only 200 or 300 RMB several years ago. I remember that CM discontinued the unlimited package awhile back. I didn't know they came up with another one recently. |
| 22 |
Jiading is Not As Far as I Thought My office was in Jiading before and I thought it was quite far. One reason why I thought it was far was because my company had a bus that picked up all the staff near People's Square at 8am in the morning! I lived in JingAn district so it was ridiculous for me to wake up to commute for 1 hour just to get to work. If I missed the bus, I would have to pay a 80rmb cab ride to get there, which is more than half way to the Pudong airport! I quit that job after a year because of the commute issue and not the job itself. WJS may think it is close because he has his own car. ;-) |
| 21 |
Photo: Dog under Sunshine I don't really understand the mentality of the Chinese regarding the sun and their comforters. When I first lived in Shanghai, I lived in a lane house near Huaihai and Maoming Road. I would see many Chinese people take their blankets and comforters outside and leave it on a lawn chair on a sunny day. I assume this is what JS is doing. What is the logic in "heating up" your blanket when it will get cold when you take it in? Also, wouldn't the pollution in the air just dirty your blanket? I get my maid to wash my floors almost everyday and after 1 hour of walking in my apartment, my feet are brown again (foreigners don't like using slippers). Woudln't it be easier to just wash your bed sheets? |
| 20 |
Metron #2 Station Name Change Asking "why" in China is like asking a deaf/mute person a question. You'll never get a response, and when you do, it doesn't make sense. |
| 19 |
Shanghai to Hangzhou by Taxi The same thing happened to me when I was in Shenzhen. I needed to get from Shenzhen to Zhuhai. At the Shenzhen airport I negotiated with a taxi driver and he ended taking me to an area just outside of Shenzhen where a bunch of Zhuhai taxi drivers were waiting. They split the money somehow (I didn't see how much) and we got a ride over to Zhuhai. This isn't for people that have just arrived in China as it was a bit scary. I actually didn't know that this was going to happen as the original taxi driver just did it! I guess it was partially my fault since I negotiated with the taxi drivers and chose the one with the lowest rate. When we arrived at the border town (more like a very dirty parking lot on the side of the highway) the Zhuhai taxi drivers all came running up to us and started screaming... it was quite intimidating as my Chinese speaking ability is half assed. Anyway, in China, you have to pretend you know what is going on if you don't want to get tricked. I guess I presented myself well enough and just went with the flow. At the end, we arrived safely in Zhuhai. If I knew it was so troublesome, I would have just flown directly to Zhuhai. The problem was with 4 people, we were able to save about 500 rmb more per person doing the flight down to Shenzhen and taking a taxi over. |
| 18 |
Dishuihu (Dishui Lake) Pictures A nice place to relax and get away from the crowds and cars are rooftop gardens. I've noticed quite a few advertisements of restaurants on rooftops recently. It's convenient to get to (just a 11 rmb cab ride away). I do miss my home country with all the mountains, oceans, lakes, beaches, and 4 seasons. Shanghai needs to improve not just on buildings, but on the natural environment for the residents here. What the Shanghai government calls green space is not considered green space in Europe nor North America. It's still considered an urban concrete jungle. |
| 17 |
"Not Happy New Year" JS: MSN Messenger Live has an option for other users to rename their friends. If you rename the person, you never see what nickname they have changed. I prefer real names as I have over 300 contacts and it gets pretty confusing. My friends that are Chinese including foreigners that are similar to Chinese (like the owner of www.shanghaiguide.com) is ALWAYS changing their nick names. My foreign friend that is Chinese changes his Chinese name almost on a weekly basis. I can't read Chinese so it gets really confusing. I have now permanently changed his name to my preference on Messenger Live. |
| 16 |
Real Ice in Shanghai Metro There IS a better way to stay cool in the subway: Keep wearing your Pajamas all day like the locals!!! |
| 15 |
Coins are Popular in Shanghai I'm a foreigner living in Shanghai. Back home, I prefer paper money because it is clean. In China, I always request to get the 1RMB coin if I'm handed the paper version. Most of my friends agree that anything less than 20RMB is usually VERY dirty in China. With the Fengs and Maos, we toss it over to the maid to buy groceries with. I was in a small town several hours away from Shanghai. I bought a bottle of water and told the lady to keep her mao paper change. It's pretty useless in Shanghai as the cost of living is much higher here. |
| 14 |
About Starbucks Tour in Beijing Tom: I'm sure the bottled or tap water gets tested by starbucks before they enter their market. They probably find the most consistent brand that is similar to the water we have back home. |
| 13 |
Top 3 Issues of Shanghai Tourism vw and goodguy: The difference between a prostitute and a Shanghai girl: Prostitute = has sex for money Shanghai girl = has sex for brand name clothes and handbags My friend did put it into perspective though... maybe its the places we go to that we meet these types of people, which might only be 50% of the girls. The other 50% might be stay at home types and the types you should be meeting instead. |
| 12 |
Lion King Comes to Shanghai Do you enjoy musicals, or do you enjoy listening to someone talk to their friend when you are at the musical? That is the question most foreigners have to deal with then going to a musical in China. It's better and cheaper if you fly to NYC to watch the Lion King. Really good seats at TKTS can be had for less than 100USD. I would rather fly to NYC to watch this show than pay an average of 1000RMB to watch it in Shanghai. |
| 11 |
China's Low-Cost Spring Airlines Woops! Made a mistake in my previous posting. The limit isn't 12kg for each piece of luggage. It was 12kg TOTAL for each person. Quantity of pieces didn't matter, but weight did. |
| 10 |
China's Low-Cost Spring Airlines I've flown Spring Airlines 3 times so far. They have very strict luggage requirements which we learned the hard way. 1st flight was from Shanghai to Zhuhai (to get to HK to fly out... cheaper that way than flying direct from Shanghai). Our trip was for 1 month so we brought quite a bit of luggage with us. Since we couldn't read the Chinese online, we didn't see that there was a lower kilogram limit (I think it is 12kg) for each piece of luggage! We were charged an additional 1000RMB just for the luggage. They also don't allow regular sized carry on baggage (ie the 20" rollers) so we had to check that in also! 2nd flight was from Zhuhai to Shanghai. The reason why we returned on the same ariline was because we purchased the tickets in advance (before our trip abroad, and before we knew their luggage restrictions). This time we were smarter because we negotiated with the airline during check in. They gave us a discount price of 600RMB. The 3rd time I flew Spring Airlines was sometime last month (July 2006). I few from Zhuhai to Shanghai again. Spring Airlines contracts the job of checking in passengers to other airlines. There is usually one (sometimes 2) Spring employees that stand beside the checkin counter.... why? you ask? So they can charge people for their over weight luggage. THAT IS HOW SPRING MAKES THEIR MONEY.... EVERYONE ends up paying. Anyway, when I checked in, I was 5kg over my limit so I said to the checkin girl, "bu hao yisi... duo 5kg le" (sorry... went over by 5kg). She then tells me, "it's ok... the guy is over on the other counter... I'll check in the bag asap so he doesn't see it!" What a relief! If you are planning on vacationing for an extended period of time and have luggage, I suggest that you don't use Spring. ONE MORE DRAWBACK.... Spring flies in/out of the Hongqiao airport. The lineup for a taxi at that airport is crazy... It takes sometimes 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to cue up for a taxi. Insane. If I'm only saving a couple hundred rmb only, I would not fly Spring. |
| 9 |
Life in New York is Tough for Me Shanghai isn't cheap. I am a former expat in NYC and a current expat in Shanghai (I'm Canadian). A night out at a nice restaurant in NYC would be around $20-70USD per person depending on what cuisine you choose. In Shanghai, it would cost you about 150RMB ($18 USD) to 500RMB ($60 USD). How do I compare this? We ate at Frankie and Johnnie's steakhouse (http://frankieandjohnnies.com/) in NYC last week and we all had a glass of wine and desert. The bill came out to be about $70 a person for the best steak you can get in the world. A few days ago, I had steak with a glass of wine (without desert) at Moons (at Xintiandi) and the bill came out to be 400 RMB ($40 USD). The steak wasn't even aged top grade beef! In NY, I could get whatever type of steak I want... ie ribeye or porterhouse. If you mention porterhouse to the steak places here, they would give you a blank stare! The price difference for quality isn't that big if you want to compare apples to apples. As metioned above in other postings, average salary in NYC is 3000-5000USD. In Shanghai, it is 2000-5000RMB. If I was making USD in NYC, I could afford to eat out more often than if I was making RMB in Shanghai. |
| 8 |
Business of Zhending Chicken - Part II JS and Stephen. It's funny you talk about cue jumping. As I have an Asian face, I feel that the locals assume that I am one of them so it is ok to jump the cue. If I had a white face, I think the Chinese locals would think twice before doing it. My motto is to be polite until "someone screws with you". ;-) In other words, I will line up in cues, hold the elevator door open (not shut it right when you want to enter... haha), and also allow people to exit the elevator before entering! Normal western things most people tend to do... even in HK. These days, I'm not as polite as JS when I see a cue jumper. I think because I come from a western society, I'm fed up with well educated people being rude to strangers. With these obnoxious people that jump the cue or cram 100 people in a small elevator, I will raise my voice and let it be known that it is not right. My Chinese isn't that good (I learned it after moving to Shanghai) but it is good enough to make them lose face. Sometimes, I would be polite and ask a double negative question like, "don't you think smoking in a non smoking area with a pregnant woman beside you is bad?". Other times I would just say, "line up like everyone else!", or "give me some space and line up, will you??". Something kind of funny happened in Beijing. We were cueing for the taxi for 30 minutes at the airport and 2 guys jumped the cue in front of us. No one said a thing (everyone was Chinese in the line up that day). As a foreigner, I couldn't handle that so I let it be known that they need to get back behind us. These guys actually had the balls to argue that it was ok for them to jump the cue... haha. My father (is able to speak better Chinese than me) was actually more upset than me! (He left China when he was 18 so he isn't really Chinese anymore). He actually was able to get the whole crowd going and against the 2 guys. Eventually the security guards came and told the 2 guys backed off and get in line. Moral of the story? As JS mentioned, the Chinese tend to follow peer pressure / group think instead of just following the rules. |
| 7 |
Booking China Domestic Flight Outside China CX is a HK based company with foreign management skills. It is not a Chinese company with Chinese management skills. As a person that lives in Shanghai and deals with many nationalities in business, I do see the difference. I don't want to get political but if you ask a HK citizen about who they are first, they will probably tell you they are a HK Chinese, and not just Chinese. There IS a difference. Now... do we want to discuss Taiwan? Haha. |
| 6 |
Slow Internet Connection at Home This was on the Shanghai Daily Newspaper today. (www.shanghaidaily.com) I'm very surprised that the newspaper says there are only 35,000 users of WIFI in China right now... Firms form WAPI body to perk shelved project Zhu Shenshen 2006-03-09 A TOTAL of 22 Chinese companies established a WAPI alliance on Tuesday, a move to revive a project, shelved two years ago, to make the homegrown wireless local area network, or WLAN, standard compulsory nationwide. The alliance's setup is a blow to the US-developed WiFi, which currently dominates the Chinese WLAN market and it may influence several millions of laptop computer users in China, industry insiders said. The alliance's members include four major telecom operators, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Netcom, computer makers Lenovo and Founder, chip designers China IWNCOMM Co and Beijing LHWT Microelectronics Inc. "It is a clear signal China will revive the project as telecom giants have joined the industry," said Li Ke, an analyst at Beijing-based CCID Consulting Co, a research firm under the Ministry of Information Industry. Compared with WiFi, WAPI - WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure - provides a higher security level with an encryption chip. Concerned over national security, China originally planned to ban WiFi products from June 1, 2004. But it then agreed to delay the ban during a trade summit in the United States in April 2004. WLAN service is becoming more popular in China as many people log onto the Internet in public sites including airports, hotels and restaurants. Intel, a major promoter of WiFi in China, dominates the domestic market. There are currently 35,000 personal WiFi users in China and the number will hit 80,000 in 2008, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based information technology consulting firm. Internet and information security remains a concern in China and it must improve, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, a senior official at the National Development Research Commission. Intel said it will support an international WLAN standard and WiFi is the most popular in the world. If China plans to adopt WAPI, a solution also needs to be found on how to deal with people who have purchased WiFi products. Customers have to pay to upgrade from WiFi to WAPI and many are not willing to fork out money, said Li. |
| 5 |
Slow Internet Connection at Home Regarding wireless in China. It wouldn't really make sense for the cities in China to go wireless when 90% of the population can't afford to have a computer. The 10% are the elite few which ends up being like half a billion people already. (I'm guestimating here) As he Jian Shuo mentioned, you can get wireless at some of the coffee shops here in Shanghai, but then only the well off can afford a 30RMB cup of coffee. You have to remember that the average wage in Shanghai is only around 2000RMB a month. (~8RMB=1USD). My guess is that the more affluent office worker makes around double that on average (4000RMB). I know many of us living in China have some sort of broadband but I also know that many people still dialup to get access. The time that people have broadband is when they are working in their office. At my office, wifi and mobile phones (for guests) are banned due to security reasons. Maybe Jian Shuo can enlighten us a little as he's more experienced in China. |
| 4 |
Booking China Domestic Flight Outside China Stephen: As I always tell my friends in and outside China, it's not the hardware that needs changing. The hardware is top notch. It's the software (people's attitude) that need changing. Buying hundreds of new airplanes may make your airline look new and modern, but in actual fact, the training of the staff are the same as before. This also applies to new buildings and other new and shiny things in China. Andrew Leyden: It depends which city you fly out of. In Shanghai, you no longer have to pay the airport tax as that is charged in your ticket price already. That makes it a little more convenient. |
| 3 |
Network Speed of my FTTB+LAN I didn't know ADSL was able to reach 4M. I thought the limitation was 1M. Does anyone know if it is possible to switch from FTTB to ADSL? I just renewed my 1 year subscription to the FTTB line. The deal was if you subscribe on a yearly basis, you get a 2 month discount (pay only 10 months). From what I understand, I thought FTTB was supposed to be quicker and more reliable than ADSL. FTTB = Fibre to the Building, so I thought it was supposed to be quicker. If we can get ADSL 2M for the same price, why would anyone want to use FTTB shared? |
| 2 |
Booking China Domestic Flight Outside China Many of the domestic Chinese airlines are trying to join one of the international points programs ie. Star Alliance. The problem is that these alliances require the airline to live up to a certain standard. They therefore are not allowing any of the Chinese airlines to join yet. I'm biased with Star Alliance and will only fly their airlines if possible. I flew China Eastern international on 2 trips. I will never fly with them again even if they were 100 USD cheaper compared to Air Canada. For some reason, China Eastern decided to shrink the legroom in only my seat by 6 inches. 6 inches in economy is a big deal when you are flying a 12 hour flight. They refused to upgrade the 2 of us to executive although it was obvious it was their fault. CE, go to hell! When you see a Chinese airline join one of those programs, you'll know that it is one of the safer and trustworthy airlines to fly... I might not live to see that date. |
| 1 |
Network Speed of my FTTB+LAN I'm also having problems with my internet being slow. I thought FTTB was supposed to be the fastest option. I leased the 2M line for 150rmb. My apartment is in Puxi on Beijing Road (one block north of Nanjing Xi Road) and Shimen Road. I was getting download speeds of around 200-250 a couple weeks ago but now it is down to around 40-50. Anyone have the same problems? |