Mitchell's Big Adventure in Chengdu & Xiangtan China

Chinese People In USA!!!

2012-02-12T07:23:00.000+08:00

Since I’ve been home for several months now, there hasn’t been too much to write about.

Until now.

Bill Zhong (originally our Quality Manager, now our Deputy General Manager) and Li Mi (originally our Quality Engineer, now our Supply Chain Manager) were both in Charlotte, NC attending a company sponsored conference last week. This was Bill’s second trip to the US while it was Li Mi’s first. Obviously, traveling to the US for only one week is very physically demanding, so we arranged for them to spend a second week here in Spartanburg and work out of our facility in Union, SC. During this week, they could spend time with more people in our company and learn from us as well as us from them on various different topics. At least that was the official plan; unofficially, maybe Bill and Li Mi had other reasons as well.

So, late Friday afternoon of last week (03 Feb), I drove up to Charlotte to pick them up and drive back to Spartanburg. Of course, I found Bill sitting in the hotel lobby busily working on his computer, but where is Li Mi? Oh, we had to drive over to one of the local Malls to get her as she was shopping. I should have guessed.

We arrived at the mall to find her waiting for us with not one, but two, new suitcases she had bought in order to take all of her shopping loot home. I should have guessed.

We drove down to Spartanburg and Li Mi told me all the stories from the conference with particular emphasis about how the food was unacceptable and she described, in some detail, why it was unacceptable and how she felt hungry all week. Since the plan was to meet Elise and Charles at an American Cuisine restaurant that night I began to get concerned that maybe she just didn’t like American food and I didn’t know what I was going to feed her for a week. After joining Elise and Charles, we ordered some appetizers while I tried to figure out what they might like to eat. One bite of the appetizer and she gushed “This is the best food I’ve eaten all week!!” In the end, it seems that the hotel just had poor food. Whew. Dinner was successful and they enjoyed meeting Elise and Charles for the first time and getting to know at least this subset of my family.

Saturday, we attended a Wofford College Basketball game. Wofford lost in OT, but Bill understands the game really enjoyed cheering for Wofford. Li Mi enjoyed the cheerleaders and the dance team. I should have guessed that, too. Since Wofford is a small school with a small arena, I was able to slip the announcer a note that said “We have two Chinese Nationals from Xiangtan, China attending today’s game.” He smiled and said he could work that announcement in somewhere during halftime. But when he made the announcement he said “Attending the game with us today at Wofford are two Chinese Nationals from some city that I have no idea how to pronounce.” I should have guessed that. You could hear the laughter all around. Bill and Li Mi laughed, too. After the game, several of the fans who noticed us leaving all stopped to say “Welcome them to America.” (Good southern hospitality, I have to admit). Bill also won the "cheer for your team and win a McDonalds Hamburger" contest!
We walked around campus for some sightseeing and they were amazed at the beauty of the campus and the amount of green spaces and fountains, etc. Most Chinese Universities typically do not have this type of landscaping with mainly plain, basic architecture with green spaces limited to the recreation fields. Dinner was at home where Elise, Charles, and I cooked a typical American dinner with grilled Pork Loin, grilled vegetables, etc. Well, we tried to cook. Bill kept taking over. It was fun. They even enjoyed meeting the Chequers the dog and Squeaky the cat

Sunday, Elise and Li Mi went shopping at the Outlet stores. Apparently, Li Mi is a professional shopper and proved it all week long. Li Mi was definitely on a mission because in addition to shopping at stores, she made several purchases on line and had items shipped to our house knowing it was too risky to try and ship direct to her home in China. I should have guessed that, (but didn’t).

Monday, Elise and I joined them for dinner at a local Chinese Restaurant. The Owner, Mrs, Jin, is Chinese and was thrilled to have them as guests. They talked and talked and at one point I though Mrs. Jin was just going to pull up a chair and join us. She served us the food she and her husband had cooked for themselves. Bill and Li Mi have new BFF’s in Spartanburg. That dinner was a hoot.

Wednesday, we drove up to Gaffney to have dinner with my Manager (who coincidentally was at our Gaffney Plant for other purposes). We ate early and then Li Mi had more shopping to do (no guessing there, I knew that would happen). Bill and I were definitely a drag on her itinerary, so we wandered around separately while he shopped, albeit grudgingly, for his wife and daughter. We found some things for his daughter pretty easy, but his wife was more of a challenge. He almost bought her a Guess Watch until he saw it was made in Japan, and there was no way he would buy a Japanese watch for his Chinese wife. We finally hooked up with Li Mi at the Coach Purse store where she was buying a purse for herself. While she shopped, Bill calls his wife to discuss purses. He hung up and said “She wants a leather purse. Not White. Not Black.” So I turned to Li Mi and said “Find Bill a purse.” She started looking for him and Bill just stood there. I said, “You have to at least walk around with her.” And He says “But I have no idea.” to which I replied “Then walk beside her and when she shows you one and asks ‘What do you think?’ you reply ‘I have no idea.’ so you can at least tell your wife you participated in the process.” The sales ladies were laughing hysterically at this point because 1) Li Mi was so focused, 2) Bill was so clueless, and 3) I was just stirring the pot. In the end, Bill bought a purse for his wife.

Friday night was their last night and they decided they would cook a full Chinese Dinner for Elise, Charles, and me at home. They told me what to buy and I stopped at the store and got everything. They walked into our kitchen and simply took over. Of course, they don’t know where anything is and we don’t own Chinese cooking tools, so the process was a combination design/development and scavenger hunt. It was almost exhausting to watch. I’m not sure what Elise thought of them scavenging for everything, but in the end, it was unbelievably delicious. We had

• Steamed Fish (Tilapia with Scallions, Ginger, Garlic,)
• La Jiao Cao Rou (spicy chili pepper fried with pork)
• Fried Cabbage
• Sautéed Tomatoes with Scrambled Egg
• Mi Fan (white rice Chinese style – which means sticky and clumpy)
• And of course, watermelon slices for Chinese dessert
• And Ice Cream later that evening for American dessert.

Elise thought the spicy pork was too spicy, but she enjoyed everything else. Charles, who has always been hesitant about going to China for fear of not liking the food, absolutely fell in love with the food. He watched and learned the recipes as they cooked. And most importantly, Bill and Li Mi were able to enjoy real Chinese in America.

They have gone home today. But the trip was successful, I’m sure they learned something at the conference, but I guessed the real purpose was for shopping. In fact, the shopping was so successful; the results had a positive impact on the US economy.

Think I’m kidding? Check out this chart straight from the DJI. Confirm for yourself.

I should have guessed that too!

This is Work?

2011-09-23T04:58:00.001+08:00

As promised, I finally made it to Yantai. Located on the Eastern tip of China southeast of Beijing and mere 300 miles west of North Korea, this is a medium to small coastal town of maybe one million people.

After some flight delays, we (our Asia Quality Manager, Frank and I) arrived Saturday night around midnight. I was pretty bummed because I lost that Saturday evening of checking out the city. But as it turned out, that may have actually been a blessing because I woke up Sunday morning to a fabulously blustery, cool morning and 31st floor view of the surrounding mountains and since it felt like a “Football Saturday” I immediately went into “high gear tourist” mode. After 100+ degrees in Xiangtan and 85 degrees with rain in Chengdu; this was a very nice change of pace!

Frank and I had a quick breakfast and headed out. The wind was absolutely howling. No exaggeration; it had to have been 25 – 30 MPH. Frank nearly fell down when the wind hit him. We walked the quarter mile from the hotel, crossed the main beach road and were standing on the Chinese Beach. Unbelievable views across the water to see several barrier islands containing large hills/small mountains. I started walking up the beach towards town. By the time we ran out of beach we had covered some four miles and Fran was worn out. He asked if I had a plan of where I was headed and I only pointed forward and answered “That way!” He wanted to get a taxi and drive into town and take a rest at some restaurant or tea shop and I answered that there was no way I was going to spend this beautiful windy beach day sitting in a tea shop. He could go if he wanted, but I was walking and being a tourist. He sighed and begrudgingly agreed. We walked some streets and finally did have to get a taxi so Frank could rest, but we had the driver drop us off along the downtown boardwalk and we walked some more.

The wind was driving the waves into the seawall so hard that they were splashing some 30 feet into the air. Many locals were out walking and taking pictures of the surf. The surf was violently wild and the wind was howlingly incredible. There was some trash on the beach. Pieces of fishing net, fishing bouys, bits of Styrofoam, etc. Frank commented that “the fishermen just throw their trash into the sea and now the sea is angry and giving it back!” I thought that an interesting perspective.

Eventually, we ended up in a restaurant for lunch and a short rest and then back at it. Frank thought I was insane. He was freezing and had not brought a jacket with him. I was in shirt sleeves (though I did wear pants) and ALL of the locals thought I was crazy to be out in only a short sleeve shirt. It was too much fun to be cold. But really, the temperature was in the 60’s, but of course the wind chill made it much cooler – but I didn’t care. I did sunburn my bald head, though.

We did return to the hotel late afternoon to clean up for dinner. Frank didn’t really want to go out because “it’s too cold” (wimp). I offered to go alone, but trying to be the gracious Chinese host, he joined me. We had dinner at a seafood restaurant (of course), with one of the local team and picked out our dinner from the tanks. We didn’t eat the turtle, but I had to get this picture only because of the mallet sitting next to the tank. You can guess the purpose of the mallet, but at least you know your food is fresh even if a little, um, flattened!

The food? Not so spicy. Not near as spicy as Sichuan or Hunan food. But the ocean fish is much better than the river fish. So I guess it’s a give and take sort of thing.

The really interesting thing to me is that this may be the very cleanest city I have ever been in. It has kind of a Disney World feel to it. Not a scrap of trash or loose leaf on the ground anywhere to be found. While the people of Xiangtan have absolutely no respect for their land, these Yantai-ese people certainly do. It’s beautiful. And the architecture is not what I consider typical Chinese. Bright colors. Not much of a Russian styling as I might have expected since we are far north, but much more European influenced is what I am thinking. Tall spires with red/orange ceramic tile roofs similar to a Spanish design.

The flowers and hedges are precision trimmed and different colors are mixed to create geometric shapes and patterns. The mountains run down into the city (we drove through one very long tunnel) and then the city itself seems to flatten out right to the water. We could see on one hillside what appeared to be a monument of sorts with a large, low built white building with only one small wide window. And after some questions we learned it is an old WWII pill box used to fire upon the Japanese during their invasion of China (actually, 18 September is their local memorial for when the Japanese actually did invade and occupy China before WWII began).

Tuesday night we ate at a western style local place called Jackie’s. Tailored for the Expat, it’s like a mini Hard Rock, but situated on a hill facing the ocean with a great view of the water. Great décor and feel. But pricey. I have seen quite a few westerners in the hotel and there were some at Jackie’s, but surprisingly have seen very few around town.

One story from dinner (and a true story also) … Our waitress was a young girl whose English name is Mandy. I said to her, “Mandy? Such a beautiful name. My first girlfriend in the grade 8 was named Mandy.” She smiled very excited and replied “Really?” I said “Yes … and she broke my heart” (adding in a pout). She then changed to horrified expression and cried out “It wasn’t me; it wasn’t me!” I guess she thought that I thought it was her fault or something. Too funny.

The last two days have been spectacular weather. Clear blue skies, Temperatures in the 60’s and moderate breeze. Feels like a vacation. We actually did go to the plant for work (and were very succesful in our efforts). But the daily drive into town was almost too painful to describe ... we were forced to take the Ocean Road from our hotel to the city. This road, unfortunately, winds along the coast next to the ocean so we had no choice but to watch the morning sun shining down upon the beach and glistening off the water as the locals spent their time fishing in small boats or crabbing around the exposed rocks during the low tide. Man, I am not sure how we survived that drive each day!

So after only 3 days in town, I have to leave (ready to be home again!), but I do admit that Yantai is now on my list of “must see” cities in China. I recommend it to anyone. I would have thought Yantai would be a more popular place for the western tourist; but maybe not. I would like to return. Though I will say that based on its location sitting on a peninsula facing the sea, I suspect it is very brutally cold in the winter. But not this week.

I think it’s best to just prove it to you by letting you see some of my pictures.

Artwork along Beach Road

Barrier Islands seen from the beach

Downtown with distant mountains from the beach

Driving in town

Beach view

From the Airplane (duh)

Standing next to the Black Pearl?

And I ask you ... “This is work?"

Charles' Chinese Chicks

2011-09-19T17:03:00.002+08:00

My last night in Chengdu required the standard farewell dinner. Frank and I were invited by the Quality Manager and several of her team. Of course they are ladies!

While waiting in the restaurant for everybody to arrive, the team decided they wanted to see my family. The easiset picture to show was my desktop photo on my laptop (its from Easter this past spring). Oh, how they oooooed and ahhhhed over how pretty (wife) Elise is; how young (wife) Elise looks; how tall (daughter) Elise is; how Sam is so handsome, etc.

But who really set them off was ... Charles!!

They just couldnt stop talking about how cute he is and how handsome and they loved the bow tie (though they admit they haven't seen one before and didn't know young men liked to wear them), and wanting to know if he had girlfriends and how many and when he was coming over here, and on, and on, and on.... and on some more!

Then I told them he was 16.

"SIXTEEN?????", they cried. "NOT FAIR!!"

Charles. The only boy I know with a chinese harem and he hasn't even been here, yet.

Edit - added 3 Hours later ... 19 Sep 2011

Ok, so it happened again!!
We go to dinner tonight in Yantai with the local team.
Our Waitress is this cute young girl (later to be determined 20 years old).
Our local team having already seen my family while I was projecting the training session on the overhead projector, says "Show her your family picture."
OK, so I do.
This young lady looks at my picture then, while patting her chest (like you would do if pretending a heart attack) points to Charles on the screen and says "Oh, my. So Cute."
I told her he's only 16, and she frowns and says "Too bad. Too young."

I always knew that the women have a thing for Charles; but this is incredible!!
Its like one of those Axe commericals.
Charles - I have a new repsect for you, young man!!!!
Incredible.

Chengdu Rewind

2011-09-11T16:47:00.003+08:00

Well, I'm back in Chengdu as city #2 of my 3 city tour this trip.
I left Xiangtan behind with all of it's, um, features including dirty streets, trash, potholes, broken down taxi's and the like and made it back to the beautiful city with all IT'S features (clean streets, manicured gardens, good streets, new taxi's, etc). I really do enjoy Xiangtan, but let's face it; Chengdu is another level of excellence that Xiangtan only dreams about.
I am traveling with our Asia Quality Manager, Frank Wang. And we had an uneventful trip over and arrived Saturday evening in time for a most enjoyable dinner of Beijing Duck and Dan Dan Noodles (best noodles - ever!).
We are in the Crowne Plaza right smack dead center of the city so we are right in the middle of all the big-city hussle and bustle. Everyone was headed out for the clubs, bars, and parties all decked out in their finest. Frank was a little tired from flying so we parted ways around 08:30 PM. I headed back out just to walk around and refamiliarize myself with the area. I remembered the Swenson's Ice Cream Parlor (San Francisco-based chain) near this hotel and since it is just off the side of the big walking shopping mall, I headed that way.
I really more or less assumed it would be closed as I figure ice cream is not a big item in China and it has been a long time since I stopped in, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the sign. Still open for business. Guess I was wrong.

I was was even more surprised when I saw that the girl who always worked there was still there.

I was flabbergasted when she remembered who I was!

I nearly fainted when she remembered my favorite choice (ok, so maybe I AM a creature of habit)!!

She was excited to see me and said "Long time; no see." and proceeded to show me to an outside table under an umbrella. She began to hand me the menu then snatched it back and said "Wait, you want a 'Goldrush'!"

Wow!!! Its been easily 2 years since I last stopped in there and she remembered everything! Admittedly, neither of us remembered names, so we went through that. Her's is Tamm Ping (Tiffany in English).

Turns out, she has been quite busy in these two years. She is now 28 years old and has been promoted to Manager. Got married. Had a child. And is trying to save money to buy the franchise as her own. Her husband is the manager of the "Peter's Tex-Mex" chain here in town (3 locations and a VERY succesful venture catering to the Ex-Pat crowd in Chengdu). So life has been very good to her. Chinese Capitalism at its finest - and the way it's supposed to work.

We chatted off and on while she managed the other customers and she lamented business has been slow. I thought the place was pretty busy. She said most customers are only buying the ice cream and not so much the other food items available. But she was quick to point out "But ... Swensen's IS ice cream".

So I sat outside under rain threatening skies and enjoyed some real ice cream. A scoop of chocolate, a scoop of coffee, some hot caramel fudge, real whipped cream and of course, the cherry.

I was so relaxed, I picked up the phone and called home just to gloat!!

So the week is starting off well. I'm sure I can write more later; It is Chengdu, after all.

The Red Envelope

2011-09-10T09:38:00.000+08:00

Whenever something special happens in China, you give “The Red Envelope”. This is the envelope that you put money to give to the special recipient.

It could be a birthday (initial or otherwise), a marriage, a special holiday, graduation, someone’s new home – whatever. You just run out and buy the envelope, stuff it with cash and give to someone. It’s called a Hang Bou (pronounced “Hang” like “Long” with an "H"; Bao like in the Bow of a ship).

One of our Quality Inspectors, Li Pei (lee pay), has gotten married and will hold her marriage celebration after I leave from this trip.

She is a tiny little thing. Maybe 5 feet tall. Maybe 75 Lbs - maybe.

Cute as a button. The bubbliest personality you can find and in general, just somebody you want to pack up and take back to the States with you. She is also phenomenal at her job!

So I decided to take her out to dinner to celebrate her marriage before I leave . Two of our other Associates are going with us to help translate. Li Pei is learning English, but hasn’t learned enough to hold a real conversation – and we know my Chinese is the same.

I knew I need to get a Hang Bou to give to her and I was pretty sure I could get one from the hotel. Last night, I worked late (yes, that DOES happen on occasion, thank you very much) and arrived to the hotel after 09:00, so I headed straight for the lounge to get a drink and asked Linda (our favorite bartendress) if she could help me get a Hang Bou (since she also has responsibility for running the hotel gift shop a few feet away across the lobby). She thought a moment and said, “Yes. You want American or Paragon (hotel name)?” I figured the hotel Hang Bou would have the hotel logo, and I didn’t really want that, and since I am American, I figured that is the best choice so I said, American.

She makes a quick phone call and tells me “Maybe Hour Half” which means wait a half hour.
I asked why we couldn’t go get it right now, and she smiles and said something totally not understood, so I repeated my question and began to move in the direction of the gift shop hoping she would understand I was ready now and that's when then she puts both hands on my shoulders, pushes down towards my chair, and firmly but laugingly says “You sit! Half hour!”

That’s when I realize, duh, there are other customers in the lounge who likely need her attention, so I quickly agree and decide to wait. So I sat.

Linda does indeed tend to the other customers, and when satisfied with their status, walks up and says “Go to Shop”. So we walk over to the gift shop, she pulls one out and asks “Is for baby?”

“No” I reply, “For marriage.”
She gets a different one (with hotel logo of course), and says “For you. No charge.” I thank her as we walk back to the lounge where I discover a plate with hamburger/fries from the western restaurant waiting at my seat.

“What’s this? I didn’t order a hamburger. I ate at work.”

She looks puzzled and says “You asked for American Han Bou”.
“No, I didn’t I wanted a Hang Bou”

Then it hits home … Hamburger in Chinese is Han Bou (notice no “g” at the end). Remember when I say my Chinese is no good? My verbal version of Hang Bou sounded like Han Bou to her – so I got a red envelope Hang Bou and an American hamburger Han Bou!

She feels terrible about the confusion and says “My mistake. I pay.”

“No, no, no! You will not pay this!” I protest (knowing that in China, there is no such thing as a “mistake”; if it gets ordered – somebody pays). If the waitress makes a mistake; she pays. And I will have no part of that, so I paid the bill anyway. She still felt bad for the error so she gave me a free beer (which I know she paid for – but at least that’s less Yuan than the burger).

So, in the end, I got my red envelope “Hang Bou” for free (Linda probably paid for that, too), I paid for an American hamburger “Han Bou” which I left for her to eat (it was covered in plastic so she set it aside and I’m pretty sure she ate it), and a free beer.

Later on, Tang Lei (again, "tang" like "long" with an "L", Lei as in pay) from the 1.5 restaurant came up to visit with me and had a tremendous laugh as Linda re-told her the story of the Hang Bou. They made me practice over and over and over.

Hang Bou.

Even with all that practice, I likely still pronounce it wrong!

At least I know that tonight when I go to dinner with Li Pei, we’ll have an entertaining time retelling this story!!

Made In China

2011-09-03T13:05:00.000+08:00

As usual, I have been here two weeks and haven’t shared, so I guess I better get sharing or you guys will stop reading.

We just completed introducing our newest product. This was actually pretty exciting for us because the local team did all of the Engineering work, the Quality work, the Supply Chain work, etc. All we have had to do is review, double check, challenge their assumptions and in general just oversee them to ensure everything was done correctly. Which, for the most part, was true.

As a result, we completed ten assemblies, performed all the reviews, verified all the technical data and have approved these parts to ship to the customer. They are loaded in crates, labeled, and ready to go. All that has to happen is to send the certificates of conformance to the customer so he can say “Ship It!” and we will be in full production mode for this part.

Simple, right?

Well, not so much.

It turns out that our Chinese Customer who placed his order with our Chinese Sales Team and engaged our Chinese Field Engineers to make sure the product worked in HIS Chinese Wind Mill just figured out that the product was made in China and said, “Wait, I didn’t know you were making this in China, I don’t want Chinese Product!!!” You’d have thought that with all of the Chinese folk involved in this order, somebody woulda figured out that since everybody was talking to each other in Chinese that that shoulda been a pretty good hint about the country of origin? Communication is indeed, the key!

So the last few days have involved much jumping through hoops to supply this customer with all of the information about who we are, what we do, what our systems involve to ensure correct manufacturing and all the data to show them that our product is identical to that made in USA.

Geez, even the Chinese manufacturers don’t trust Chinese manufacturers.

It Is Officially Official!!

2011-07-12T00:05:00.005+08:00

Occasionally, I write about Non-China activities. Today is such a day because we have just completed two days of orientation for my lovely daughter to fulfill her dream of becoming an Auburn Tiger (located in the loveliest village on the plains – Auburn Alabama)!

Yes, it’s true.

She has a Major ... Pre-Med!

She is all registered with classes (Hooray, she says … no more Calculus! Thanks, Mr Alexander!)!!

She has her Student ID!

She has her Athletic ID!

She has a Dorm!

She has her pom-poms and has learned all the appropriate cheers!

She has it all!!

Well, almost. She and Mom have several many days of shopping planned to acquire all those necessities of college life. She told me her list included the primary essentials – sheets, pillows, and a stapler! Hey, it’s her list. If a stapler is number 3 on the list, then a stapler it is!!

Truthfully, I think she would move in today if it were possible. But, alas, she must wait another 26 days (as of this writing) to move in. She may explode before then.

Not just War Eagle – but ...........................................War Damn Eagle!!!

The Fly Bar

2011-07-05T23:03:00.001+08:00

So as we wrap up this particular excursion into China, We had an extra day to goof off before heading home. We have been running the plant pretty well the last few months and out ran the customer’s ability to take all we produced, and while we need to continue to make production to meet our business plan, it just didn’t make sense to keep producing if the customer was not going to take the product, so we needed to throttle back the production schedule a bit and the local team decided to shut down the plant for a long weekend. This was definitely a last minute decision and it was fortunate for Josh and myself that we had managed to complete our work in time such that the loss of a day wasn’t a real impact on us.

As a result, we decided the best course of action was to leave Xiangtan a day early and head up to Changsha for some sight seeing and relaxation before the long haul home.

We made our reservations at the Crowne Plaza because they have the best beds. No hard Chinese rocks that they call beds – these are real thick, plush, soft comfortable American beds.

The hotel sits on a corner where the two streets are a complete disaster due to the construction of the Changsha Subway system and it is a real challenge to get to the hotel itself. It seems every road to the place is blocked off. This actually worked in our favor because the hotel gave us a free upgrade to a suite so I had a not only the plush bed in a nice bedroom, but also the large living room and gigantic walk-in shower. So for a day and a half, we had a small taste of luxury.

Anyway, we went to dinner Thursday night and then tried to visit a few of the local watering holes on what they call “Bar Street”. Unfortunately, they are all big clubs with thumpa-thumpa music, strobe lights, lasers, smoke machines, and so incredibly loud you can’t talk that I eventually left Josh and headed back to the hotel to allow him to explore as he wanted to without the old guy holding him back. As I walked to the hotel up a side street, I spied what appeared to be a small pub with outdoor seating, good jazzy music (Chinese, of course, but still jazzy in nature). I thought to myself that this would be my back up plan for Friday night if Josh didn’t find anything better.

He didn’t as I learned later.

Friday, we had a full day of sightseeing at the Yu Liu Academy (the 1,000 year old university) and Orange Island (featuring the 200 foot rock Bust of Mao). We followed this with dinner at the Fire Palace. A crazy, loud, and hectic restaurant in a more old traditional architecture area (Marty – you recall this is where you had the “Stinky ToFu” and the Fishcraw dinner). The place was packed and they set us up a table crammed in between other tables but Josh had to sit on a stool due to lack of available chairs. We really didn’t care – it added to the craziness of the place. No pictures on the menu, so I had a pre-written list of what to order.

We wandered around a little after dinner and we decided to go try out the the little pub I had seen. The name was the “Fly Bar”. Of course we invented all sorts of stories as to why that was the name, but it was nice little place with outdoor seating on the corner of a walking street so we could sit and people watch. They have Stella Artois beer, so that was an immediate plus. We sat and watched people who were watching us and enjoyed a few libations.

The pinnacle of the evening was the song that I have attached for you here (a little dark, but the audio is the focus). A wonderful song to hear in preparation for the long flight back home. We weren’t headed to Georgia, and we weren’t traveling by train (there's your hint), but it was the perfect song in preparation for the next day. I got a taxi card for the bar to return to in the event I get another opportunity to spend time in Changsha. I'll definitley go back!!

So, a fast two and half week trip is concluded. I’ll be back in mid to late August. So just listen to this to keep you entertained until I return and offer up some other stories of this crazy world.

“Добро пожаловать!!”

2011-06-27T16:50:00.002+08:00

“Welkom!”
“Welcome!”
“歡迎!”
“Selamat Datang!”
“Willkommen!”
“ようこそ!”
“Boas-vindas!”

And Now, I can add Russia … so “Добро пожаловать!!”

After my last post, I checked my stats and discovered I have hits from Russia!!!

I wasn’t surprised with some on the list, but now we’re adding Russia to my list of countries whose citizens have accidentally stumbled upon this piece of literature! Most likely they immediately redirected themselves elsewhere … but maybe, just maybe perhaps they actually stuck around long enough to read it, in part or in whole.

But regardless of that small detail, I am excited and honored that peoples all around have found this site. What started out as a method to more easily share stories and pictures with a small group of family and friends back home has now found its way into several different countries.

Pretty cool (at least to me, anyway).

The chart doesn’t show it … but I have had one hit each from Czech Republic and one from Iran (that poor guy is probably in prison now).

The next stat will likely lead to much fist pumping and girl screeching from a certain young lady in Atlanta. But it seems (incredible as it is) that the most read article was the “Rock Star Pandas … and More” featuring none other than our very own Hannah Montana Look-Alike, our Number One with a Bullet, The Marvelous Milly … from her adventures here in April 2010.

Milly’s stories. Of all people – I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of this.

And if you form your Google search juuuust right, I’m #2 and #3. So what if I don't have 1,000,000 hits. Ok, so its just over 2,500. We're havin' fun with it and I need you guys to pump the numbers.
(Ok, so I kinda forced that one, but give me some slack here will you … I’m advertising).

So regardless of what country you hail from, I hope you come back many times more to read about whatever it is I have to say.

And Leave a Comment!! (I can get translations).

Thanks for your support and we'll leave the light on for you.
(dangit. trademark violation there ... Oh, what the heck. I'm leavin' it)

Wine with Dinner?

2011-06-26T14:19:00.002+08:00

I scheduled a dinner out with our American guys and some of our local Chinese Team. I wanted to go to Little Mao’s (aka: The Bald-Headed Friend) for some good old fashioned snake and such, and thought I might need some language help, so Bill Zhong and Andy Jiang went with us.

Josh (the American with me) hadn’t had a dinner of this, um, variety, so he was cautiously looking forward to this only because I hadn’t steered him wrong yet on our other meals.

Bill decided it was up to me to order without any help, so when the waitress came over, I got started. Most of the menu has pictures so pointing to the snek (that’s the way Bill pronounces snake) was easy. Of course the waitress asked something and was using her fingers to indicate 1, 2, 3 which I guessed meant either “1, 2, or 3 sneks” or possibly “small, medium, or large size” so I said 3. She replied “How Da” (OK) so I had guessed correctly (which Bill confirmed). Then she asked another question that I had absolutely no idea what she was asking and couldn’t guess because there were no hand motions, or body language to give me a hint. Bill just smiled and said “Figure it out.” Since he wasn’t going to help me I just said “How Da” (OK) figuring I had a 50% chance of getting it right. Turns out, I guessed right. But Bill wouldn’t tell me what I agreed to so who knows where that was going to go.

The balance of the ordering went along those same lines. I point. She says OK. She asks a question, I guess an answer, repeat. Bill did help out on one item. It was a sweet potato paste cake (about the size of a large cookie) surrounded/wrapped in a green tea leaf paste material with some sesame seeds sprinkled on it. Served warm. It was really good and I’m not a sweet potato guy.

The snek was delicious. Not too spicy (based on my observations) but Josh was sweating pretty good. The best part of snek is getting the big bowl of noodles dumped into the snek sauce at the end. Best noodles you ever put in your mouth.

Anyway, the waitress disappeared and re-appeared later in her street clothes ready to go partying but as she was leaving, she was talking to an older woman (I assume wife of the Bald Headed Man Owner) and doing that girly “Hair Flick” thing and we were watching her do this and I, of course, had to mimick her (with my somewhat balding head of hair). The older woman saw this and pointed it out to the young girl who was very embarrassed and everyone had a good laugh from across the room.

Meanwhile, as is customary, when the dinner crowd begins to wind down the family who own the restaurant and the hired help all sit down together for their dinner. Now the Bald Headed Man settled into his usual place at the large table in the corner as all of their food arrived (think gangster in corner table in old movies). He had decided to relax with a good bottle of wine for his dinner. And what a bottle it was. The largest bottle of wine I have ever seen. The cork had to be 1.5 inches in diameter and the cork screw was the size of a small football. It took all of the strength the poor kid who was opening it possessed.

We got this picture with Josh so he could send home to his wife and tell her we had a quiet dinner out with just one small bottle of wine.

I need to find this for Elise to take to the beach with us! I wonder if maybe then Elise and Lucia can have a bottle last more than a day?

More Chinglish Explained

2011-06-20T13:18:00.001+08:00

This has nothing to do with my current trip, really, but my buddy Dan N sent this to me and I just had to share with more people.

If you will recall (of course you do), way back in May of 2009, I wrote about Chinglish Signage that I had photographed and then shared with all of you so you could enjoy (see my original post - http://mitchellmercer.blogspot.com/2009/05/chinglish-explained.html).

This is more of that.

Apparently, Dan got his hands on a user manual for a Chinese 3 in 1 Food Processor. I think the instructions may have actually gone THROUGH the blender. Thats the only explanation for how these instructions ended up like this ... My head was spinning as if in the same blender just trying to read it.

Leave it to Dan to find this but Kudos for the discovery!

Naming Restaurants

2011-06-19T15:24:00.001+08:00

Since I wrote about a person's name the other day, I thought maybe I should make a comment on restaurant names. When most people describe a restaurant to their friends, they often just tell them “Oh, you should go to Joe’s Restaurant. It’s sort of a certain style similar to …” If everybody knows the address and the name, then friends can share new dining experiences with each other. The problem is that over here, we can’t read the signs and often we don’t know the name of the street so it’s a bit more problematic. Of course we could always just obtain the commonly found taxi cards (business cards of the restaurants that usually contain small street map identifiers to show a taxi driver so he can locate an address if he isn’t familiar with it … and we do use those, but its not as much fun.

So we make up our own names, often descriptive ones, to help us remember where they are, what we ate, and use common names to put on our expense reports so that the expenses aren’t challenged.

Typically, we use visual cues that can be seen from outside to make it easier to identify the entrance from the sidewalk. Even when we eventually learn the real name, we continue to use our names because, well, that’s more fun too (not to mention easier to pronounce).

Of course some are rather simple like The Noodle Place, The Brazilian BBQ, The Japanese Place and others like that, but we also get a little creative when an obvious choice is not so obvious.

I’ll explain.

Across the bridge in downtown there is a place that is locally famous for serving a pork meatball in chicken broth soup type of dish. The front entrance has the big 3 foot diameter decorative reddish/orangeish colored balls (that can have candles or electric lights inside them). However, since many places use these type decorations, our 1st choice of “orange ball restaurant” wasn’t descriptive enough. It also has waitresses that are surprisingly enough somewhat, um, ‘healthier’ in appearance than your typical Chinese, so we decided to call it the “Meatballs and Chubby Waitress” restaurant. It’s a pretty popular place and we learned that if you don’t get there early enough they may be sold out of the meatball dish, so we need to plan ahead for this (They also serve a smoked rabbit that is wonderful). We have eventually learned the real name (phonetically, it would be “Roo-Yee Schwinn” but we continue to use the Meatballs name.

About a mile or so from the hotel is a real basic place that has a very small interior but a large patio seating area outside. The food is good but very basic. Since 90% of the seating is outdoors the weather conditions play a big part in deciding to go there. So to maintain a customer base, the owners have used a huge blue tarp to make a roof to protect you from the heat of the sun, the rain, or the cold in winter. Our name for it? The Blue Tarp. We have no idea its real name.

Just a block from our hotel, there is a small place that has antique Chinese farm equipment on display one of which is a small flat bottomed boat. So, the name of this place is “The Boat.” Works for us. The real name we learned is “My Wife’s Kitchen” so we definitely continue to use the name “The Boat” because we figured our expense reports would draw too much attention from the auditors if I reported that I spent $30 on dinner in my wife’s kitchen!

Possibly one of our most favorite places is a little past The Boat. It serves a fabulous fish head soup and a spectacular snake that is piled high with big red chili peppers that will make you sweat like you have never sweat before. After you finish the snake, we pile up the peppers on a side plate exposing the broth and then order a bowl of noodles to dump into the broth. These may be the best noodles you have ever eaten!! But the unique item in the restaurant is a 3 foot tall statue of Mao near the door. So I dubbed it “Mao’s Restaurant.” However, our Project Manager pointed out that Changsha has a famous restaurant actually called “Mao’s Restaurant” so he thought we needed a different name and he changed my name to “Little Mao’s.” Perfect. We have always been drawn to this place. Of course we like the food, but it seemed that we have a fondness for this place we can’t explain. And then we learned the real name and the mystery is solved. The real name is … “My Bald Headed Friend”.

No wonder we all enjoy it so much – we are the exact target audience!

What's Her Name?

2011-06-16T16:51:00.001+08:00

One of the people we have met at our customer’s office is their Director of Information Center. One would assume this person is a vital link in ensuring the company is well represented in the market place and getting out the message that they are who their customer's should be dealing with.

But then, considering the “english” name she chose for herself, I’m not sure that message is really getting out.

I could be wrong … I just can’t remember.

Paragon People

2010-11-17T00:24:00.003+08:00

So as was expected, my portion of the project is beginning to wind down.

Quality Systems are fully functional (sure a few bumps here and there, but they have the tools to resolve). We expect ISO certification and Corporate Brand Approval later this month..

The Engineering Systems are coming on-line nicely and the interactions between Engineering and Quality grow stronger by the day.

Product is shipping and the local team continues to push for a smoother and more steady flow of manufacturing.

And, we held our Grand Opening in October with full Chinese fanfare.

Therefore, I am now home. I anticipate being here for several months until a new process is deployed late next spring and then I would forecast a short visit to ensure it is properly linked to the business systems we have installed.

So what is the future?

It is possible that they may add a new product late next year and I would think that I would be asked to help again – but no guarantees.

But as I look back on the last year and a half and reflect on what we have done and what we are doing and everything I have shared with you about Xiangtan, I realize there was one aspect I have not talked much about: our accommodations. You guys need to know about the Paragon Hotel.

It’s a 5 star Chinese hotel (the only one in town). It is big, spacious, and roomy. Quite nice actually.

The people there treat us very well and obviously we know most of them and they all know us. If we need something, they do a great job of trying to satisfy that need (even if sometimes to the point of going overboard - coke and ginger for a head cold anybody?). We tend to be a bit, um, goofy (borderline silly on occasion) with them and I do think that most of the hotel team would much rather interact with us because 1) we are more relaxed than the usual, stuffy, self-important Chinese guest, and 2) they get to practice their English/Chinglish (did you know that a Corona Beer is actually pronounced “Corrola”?)

The hotel often reminds me of Star Trek because your uniform determines your rank and position (so much for the communism means everybody is equal philosophy). They have the Grey Suits (front desk check in/out), the Black Dresses (Lounge and Breakfast Restaurant), the Red Dresses (Greeters at front door), Blue Shirts/Gold Dresses (Chinese restaurant), the Brown dresses (Room Housekeeping), the Blue jumpsuits (Facilities), the White Coats (Common Area Cleaning) and the Black Suits (General Management), etc., etc.

I’ll probably get in trouble with some of them here and I probably sound like Sally Field (“they like me, they really, really like me”), and it's impossible to name them all; but we would never have survived without them including ...

Our most favorite Blue Shirt/Gold Dress Friend, Evie. She takes care of us at the 1 ½ floor Chinese Restaurant. She knows what we like and what we don’t like and always manages to have Table 8 available for us (8 is the most lucky number). She is absolutely the best!! I cannot brag enough about her!! (“Please.”)

Linda, Wu Ting, and Wang Na (black Dresses) maintain our sanity by providing the necessary refreshments every day at 06:00 (including those awful fuzzy nuts).

Kress and Peony (Red Dresses) greet us at the door each day as we return and their smiles can melt away the worst day and turn it into good day.

Tanya (Blue Shirt) takes care of us if we have a large dinner and need a private room.

Mabel and Linda (#2) greet us at Breakfast.

Burley is the Big Bellhop who can find a taxi or a private car for us at a moment’s notice (though he would never let us use the Rolls).

Danny and Carol (Black Suits) are assistant managers who coordinate everything and everybody and keep our lives flowing smoothly.

And all those who’s names escape me are equally just as important and we owe them all a huge thank you.

It’s impossible to walk through the hotel without each and everyone on the hotel staff speaking to us (some we even bumped into out and about in the city) and they do truly spoil us.

Every need is met with a smile.

And oh, those beautiful smiles!

So until Mitchell’s Big Adventure begins a new chapter; I will leave you with …

… Paragon People.

Chinese Airlines

2010-11-14T18:02:00.000+08:00

DISCLAIMER: THIS WAS NOT MY FLIGHT

I guess if you are going to buy a ticket for one of those inexpensive Chinese discount airlines, this would probably be the best one to select.
Or, maybe not. I mean, maybe they are not very good; maybe they are just ...

Just wonderin'

Dealing With the Government – Finale

2010-11-04T17:47:00.001+08:00

So the meeting got cancelled. “Something” came up and we had to reschedule for another time which means “We’ll call you 10 minutes before we want you to show up.”

This morning, they called. At 08:45. Meeting at 09:00.

This particular government building (there are many) is physically attached to and behind a hotel which I can only assume makes it easier for the officials to stagger back from the hotel restaurant after a rather long and difficult and yet celebratory lunch meeting.

We meet the official. He is the head of all the Xiangtan Fire District (our construction permit is specifically for fire protection systems as I learned), so the Big Honcho, Big Cheese, He’s the man.

Decent sized office. Maybe 12 x 20. The desk consumed about half the room and his chair was the size of a small 1940 era house. Two computers, two telephones, and the small Chinese Flag affixed to the pencil holder-blotter accessory. Pretty much what I expected.

What I didn’t expect was the uniform. He looked like General Patton (only shorter, with black hair, brown eyes, bad teeth, …). Enough medals that if he fell into a pond, he would drown from the weight. A perfect crew cut that was so perfectlyy flat on top the variation in hair length couldn’t have been more than 2 microns. Very impressive persona.

So we meet and exchange business cards (well, I gave him mine; he didn’t offer). And we sat down and were served tea (I expected that). As the tea was being prepared he stepped away a moment and our local engineer whispers “He might know some English; so don’t talk about your family.” I chuckle. Like he really needed to tell me that! Well, I had thought about it; but knew better.

He read our prepared letter and then I was signaled to describe what we were doing and why we needed his help. That was translated and he picks up his phone and made a quick call. Within seconds this lady enters with our file for him to review. This woman looked like she was straight from the Russian Front. Six feet tall (no lie), full uniform, more medals, and looked meaner than a snake. I thought we were in trouble. But then she had the nicest voice. Very odd combination of voice and appearance.

More discussion. More translation. Back and forth it goes. I felt a little bit like the “Animal House” scene where the college president was discussing the homecoming parade with the city Mayor. The Mayor wants to increase the donation the school makes to the city for having the parade and the president says “I don’t think its right that you should extort money from us.” And the Mayor says “Its our streets, and our cars, and our sanitation to clean up the mess, and if you mention extortion again, I’ll have your legs broken.”

But then the “official” stamp appears (they call it a “chop” as shown for example) and just like that – we are done.

We stand and the engineer signals we are done and leans over and whispers “you shake now”. Apparently, the beggar (us) must extend to shake hands first with the beggee. He won’t shake until we do (and he didn’t). That was one of those ‘wish I had known that earlier’ moments. A bit awkward.

But now we can move forward officially with our fire system construction.

And there was much rejoicing.

So there you have it.

Dealing With The Government

2010-11-03T16:48:00.000+08:00

On this historic Election Day, I give you this Government Story…

We are already in expansion mode. We are currently expanding the plant and will install an Induction Hardening System (this will replace our current Heat Treat System and only requires a fraction of the time to perform).

So we are adding on to the building. New Brick and Mortar as they say.

Of course, that means a building construction permit. And that means a visit to the local Construction Bureau. And that means all things political.

For example, for the particular construction company we want to use, they must first join the local “Trade Association” so they can be “certified” but that is really just a ruse to extort, I mean, um, require a joining fee to be paid to the local mafia, I mean, um, Trade Group. Of course, they don’t want to provide a receipt for the “fee” so you make of that what you will (and you would likely be correct in your assumptions).

I would like to stay out of that as much as possible. But I can’t.

Our General Manager, our Project Manager, and our Engineering Manager (all Americans) are currently away to the USA and Beijing, so that sort of makes me 4th in line of command (Senate Majority Leader behind the Pres, VP, and Speaker of the House - I think?).

This morning I receive word from our GM that we have to go meet with the Construction Bureau to try and gain approval of our construction application so we can get a permit (of course, we have already started building and they know it; just more red tape). Our GM tells me that I get to attend in his place because they want an American representative to attend with our two local Engineers to discuss the permit application. Now, I have ZERO knowledge of any previous discussions or what I am supposed to do or say, so I then receive the following instructions from our local Engineer (who has been involved from the beginning and knows what he is doing and is good at it) …

1. I will be introduced and present my business card.
2. I will take just a few minutes to describe the importance of the project to meet our production needs for our local customer and to meet our company business objectives in China.
3. The local Engineer will translate all that to the bureau.

So naturally I asked him if he will be correcting anything I say that is wrong and hopefully he will be really telling these guys all the correct information they need to hear?

His answer?

He says “They don’t speak ANY English, so I don’t care if you talk about your family. I just need you to talk for about 2 minutes; I’ll take care of the rest.”

This ought to be interesting! Stay Tuned…

Only In China

2010-10-09T01:58:00.000+08:00

Some of you have seen this; some have not. But I should never have allowed myself NOT to post this earlier. Call it a bit of Brainmush, but I am correcting my lack of judgement today.

There is no story to tell; no funny anecdote or tiresome philosophizing. Its just a picture. But a picture DOES say a 1000 words, right? In this case - just one!

Autumn Moon Festival

2010-09-22T12:37:00.001+08:00

We enjoyed an Autumn Moon Festival Dinner.

This is the celebration of the Autumn Moon where the tradition is for family gatherings and family meals and everybody shares the Moon Cakes with everybody else. It’s a pretty big holiday here.

To help this story, here is a little background.
In May 2009 I stumbled across this little pub in town (wait; rephrase that) … I discovered this little pub in town. It was called “The Open Bar”. The owner is a fellow named Mo.

He owned and operated with his wife, Dani. The place was small but had cold beer, a TV with all types of sports (mostly Chinese basketball, pool, snooker, soccer), windows that opened onto the street for catching any breeze and watching the world go by and he has absolutely the largest music collection in the universe. You name a band – he has it. I joke that he must have downloaded the entire iTunes library onto his computer and so our team just sort of felt at home here and we became “irregular regulars” and nicknamed the place “Mo’s Bar”.

When the new Soccer stadium was built this year, the street was to be widened so all the shops and stores had to be relocated to make room and Mo moved around the corner and built a nice two story place; bought a new pool table, new tables, added a spot for live music, added a kitchen for some basic food service and he and Dani did a remarkable job rebuilding the place. The sign out front now proudly proclaims “Mo’s Bar”

Last week, our group, while returning from dinner downtown, decided to stop and check out a new bar that has opened across from the new soccer stadium (we wanted to maybe expand our horizons). As we walked towards the door, we could begin to hear the thumpa, thumpa music reverberating through the walls. Not what we like. So we decided to just go to Mo’s instead.

Walking into Mo’s, we greet Dani and a few customers (some German lads we recognize who also stay at our hotel) . There is Chinese weight lifting on the TV and Neil Young on the stereo at the perfect volume. In fact, it was all Neil all night!

We knew it was karma. We only belong at Mo’s. It was a perfect, relaxing, and quiet evening hanging out at our local pub.

So what’s the point of this entire story? The point is that during this karmatic (I just made that up) evening at Mo’s, Dani asked us if we had plans for the holiday. Well, no, of course. So she told us she was preparing dinner for her and Mo and some of their family on Tuesday and she wanted to invite us to join. She then rattled off a list of about 30 items she was serving. It sounded like dinner enough for an army and we graciously accepted not knowing how big the army was to be; but appreciated the thought and knew it would be fun. We also knew she was to spend entirely too much money for this which only heightened the appreciation.

As it turns out, dinner was Dani and Mo, his “brother” (not sure if blood relative or best friend type of thing), the brother’s wife and 14 year old son, another friend of theirs, and the eight of us in the upstairs area of Mo’s Bar. More food than any human should legally be allowed to eat. Mo opened a bottle of red wine imported from Chile (for the wine drinkers), cold beer (for those aren’t) and we all sat together and simply ate and drank and visited just like you would expect if it was Thanksgiving. The 14 year old came over and sat by me to practice his English (with Dani’s help) and I learned he plays soccer, goes to school in Changsha, learns English from Dani … all about him. A nice kid who was a bit shy, but eager to talk to us. I watched his mom out the corner of my eye and saw the same speechless prodding any mother gives her child with eyes and head urging him on implying “Go ahead. Talk. Say something. You can do it. It’s OK.”

It was cute. We learned his dad works for the Chinese version of the IRS, so I asked if that meant the dinner could be written off Mo’s taxes. Dani immediately understood that and translated for him and he burst out laughing and said “Maybe”. Mo was happy to hear that, I’m sure!

Mo gave me a bear hug when we arrived (with his customary greeting of hollering “Yea, Baby!” and Dani gave me a bear hug when we left, so I think the eight of us have now been officially inducted into Mo’s family. I may have to get the photograph enlarged and framed for them.

Did I mention Karma? I was right.

We only belong at Mo’s.

Baggett Rediscovered?

2010-09-15T11:32:00.000+08:00

We all know – at least we all SHOULD know - that Frodo and Bilbo Baggins shipped out on the last boat into the west on their final journey to the Undying Lands.

What was never explained was exactly what happened to their home Baggett?

For centuries now that question has never been answered. Did they sell? Did they bequeath it to those horrid other Baggins from the Shire? Maybe Samwise or Merri or even Perrigin Took made it their home? No one really knows and Tolkien never explained. I have always wondered that.

No more.
I have found it!

Its right here in Xiangtan and apparently, it has, um, fallen into a state of despondency and definitley in need of repair.

So for those looking for the Shire and for Hobbitt sized homes – search no more. Just come to Xiangtan and you can see it, too!

Xiangtan Sports Complex

2010-09-14T20:08:00.001+08:00

I’ve been back a week and as you guys are figuring out, not too much new going on here to write about. Small city, remember?

Basically, its all work but that’s why we are here (I keep having to say that because my kids think I don’t work here; just play all the time).

But after getting Sam all settled into his new school (another Ramblin’ Wreck for the world!), I made the journey back.

Anyway, the city has just completed construction of their new 600 Million RMB (90 Million USD) Sports Complex. I always thought it was a strange thing to be spending this large fortune to build. I would have thought that there were better things to spend money on locally. Unimportant things like new streets, sidewalks, sewer system, perhaps even some extravagant things like new city buses or even (gasp) newer taxis! I had a discussion with Danny (Moe’s wife from the world famous Moe’s Bar) and she is absolutely livid over the whole project. She thinks the city planners are crazy spending that kind of money on the complex. She is a school teacher and is quite open in her views about the need for new Kindergartens, and other school improvements. But that wasn’t the plan, so a new Sports Complex was designed constructed and opened. This weekend was the Grand Opening and the city was hectic!!

Roads were closed and rerouted, hotels teeming with hi-brow attendees and other important social and political figures, with signs, flags, sound … the works. Of course, I do have some satisfaction that it probably showed poorly when the old buses and taxis were cruising past the new stadium – but then, the people attending the ceremony weren’t the kind of people who arrive in an old, beat up taxi.

I tried lobbying at work earlier this summer to have our company get some tickets (Being the only western company in the area should have garnered us some privileges; but that didn’t happen either). So I was relegated to just walking around the outside to look at it.

I do have to admit; it looks good.

The security was pretty intense Sunday morning for a Sunday evening ceremony. A policeman or military person every 50 feet. Barricades 100% surrounding. SWAT team looking officers who were seriously working the bomb sniffing dogs. I saw 6 different dogs working the grounds around the outside of the stadium. (Had to sneak that photo while trying to look like I was taking photo of something else). As I walked the perimeter I saw a car wreck with a scooter. The poor scooter driver went flying into the air and then tumbled across the road and just sort of laid there flopping. I could see 200 police in the area. Did they leave their post? No way. Two traffic police down the street began to sort of stroll over to assist. Hope the poor guy wasn’t too badly injured, but you could tell the level of instruction to the security guys NOT to leave their post.

I continued my walk about and discovered on the back side that in addition to the main Soccer Venue, there is also a small soccer area (looked like a size for kids or maybe 7 on 7 games?), tennis courts, an Olympic sized Swimming Pool and Diving Well complete with 1M and 3M spring boards and the three level fixed platform. In all, a mini-Olympic venue. The inside parking area was full of CCTV TV Trucks and China Mobile trucks, so they were certainly planning a broadcast or recording.

As I neared one corner (near the pool), the barricades were closing off the sidewalk and it was apparent I was supposed to walk on the street side but I wanted to try an dget a photo of the pool, so I acted like I didn’t notice the barricade. The two security guys stopped me and with surprisingly good English, instructed me where to walk. Since they spoke English, I tried very hard to convince them to have one of them walk with me just inside the gate to take a picture (without the fence in the way) and then walk me back out. No go on that. They told me they weren’t authorized to be inside the gate as they showed me their ID badges with the letter “C”. Apparently, only Tags with “A” or “B” are allowed inside (I am thinking with all this security and bomb dogs, etc; I DON’T think they were supposed to tell me that). Anyway, it was hot as the dickens out there in the Sun, so I got them some water bottles (which they did appreciate) and continued talking to them and trying to sway them into helping me out here (playing the poor USA tourist card as best I could). Still No Go. So, in the end, your photos will just have to deal with some fences in the way.

They did let me know that the ceremony was to be like the Olympic Opening Ceremony with songs, dances, athletes, etc. It was begin at 07:00 with fireworks at the conclusion. So I figured to return in the evening to mingle and watch the fireworks.

By dinner time that evening, the crazy city was even more crazy. The hotel lobby was equally a mad house and I just decided to stay in and watch the fireworks form my room balcony since, fortunately, it faces in the correct direction.

At 09:45 the fireworks began. At 09:50 they were over.
Huh?
This is China; the inventors of gunpowder and fireworks. The Land of 16 hour fireworks displays during New Year Eve-Night-Day. What’s up with the 5 minute fireworks?
Ultimately, I was glad I didn’t walk the 1.5 mile down there. Pretty lame and very disappointing. I actually had a great seat to watch from my 4th floor vantage point.

So now we have a new Sports Stadium with some serious state of the art facilities.

I now wonder who will come use it.

Hope they don’t mind the potholes, leaking sewers, rickety buses, and 20 year old taxis?

Home Cooking - Again

2010-08-02T21:29:00.000+08:00

I have been back in Xiangtan for 2 weeks now and have been feeling like a slacker for not writing anything, but it is Xiangtan and there’s not much happening except go to work, go to dinner, have a nightly phone meeting with USA, and repeat. It’s too hot to spend too much time wandering around. Even the locals are not spending time outside.

So I went to Chengdu.
Actually, Lin Yan helped me by sending a full 2 day agenda and so we set it up.

You know I love that city. It took awhile, but it grew on me, so yes, I love that city.
I texted Lin Yan as I arrived and told her that and she replied “who doesn’t?”

Good comeback. Besides, there is a new bar around the corner from the apartments and hotel ... and you gotta love the honetsy in this place. Not sure I am allowed inside!

The flight was interesting in that there were maybe 100 kids aged 10 -12 on the flight going on some sort of school trip. Quite possibly the loudest flight I have ever been on! The Chinese flight attendants were for the first time in my observations – flustered.

But after a couple of days work, Lin Yan and I and two of her Quality Engineers went to dinner in Xi Pu (She-Poo). Xi Pu is to Chengdu like Jonesboro is to Atlanta; you get there with no real demarcation that you left one city and entered another.
We ate Camel.
I was thinking that after that, I could manage the heat better and not need as much liquid until I walked back outside and the heat hit me again. No such luck.

Anyway, the point of this is that the fiancé of one of our engineers, Qiang Xiaobo, joined us. Her name is Xiao Li Li. A really cute girl. Her English is so-so, but if I talked slowly she generally kept up. She just graduated with a journalism degree and is job hunting.
I asked if I would be invited to the wedding, and of course, yes, I will be – if I’m in town. Problematic; but you never know.

We finally made it to the Photo-Op time of dinner and I got one of those big Bear Hug kind of pictures with her pulled in really tight. She laughed; I laughed; and I said I was definitely invited to the wedding because if I wasn’t – I was sending that picture to her mother which resulted in the really big shriek and red blushed face and the sincere request that maybe I don’t do that … so I think I’m invited.

We really enjoyed our night out and Lin Yan can entertain so well, it’s always a pleasure to go see her.

Side note to Tang Yan – your Mother suspects about your boyfriend; so you better confess and tell her! (don’t you know Moms can read right through their kids?)

Elise happened to call while we were in the taxi headed back to town and had a short conversation with Lin Yan. Lin Yan really enjoyed that since not having seen Elise since 2007 and tried to put the hard sell for Elise to come to China.

Anyway, Qiang Xiaobo had asked about my plans for Saturday and I said, “Work in the morning, pearl shopping in afternoon, and … come to your house for dinner.” He replied; “Exactly! We’ll have the driver pick you up at 04:00”. I was actually kidding, but he wasn’t. I asked who was cooking and he said he was. So we made the date. Actually, a home cooked meal versus another restaurant dinner sounded really good to me (the last one was cooked by Lin Yan’s husband). The other engineer, Ma Qingling, was invited with her 3 year old daughter so now I was really intrigued.

The driver arrived as scheduled and we drove to Kong Guan (45 minutes). Its another town that you enter without knowing. Pretty small though. I knew it would be interesting when the driver went down the dirt road, cut through the highway construction site, and snaked his way through a rather “interesting” neighborhood and then we were there.

We actually ate at Ma Qingling’s apartment because Qiang Xiaobo said it had better chairs that would more adequately support my, uh, frame.
Dinner began at 05:30 and lasted until around 07:30. Slow, deliberate, scrumptious. Pork, Beef, Duck, Pig Tail, sliced tomatoes, big hunks of potato in pork, fruit, etc. It turned out that Qiang Xiaobo didn’t really cook – it was his fiancé Xiao Li Li who masterminded the feast. She finally admitted to “making it up as she went along” but she would but never admit her age. I am still thinking around 23. Anyway, a true home cooked meal and as much I gushed over it; I don’t think she really understood just how much that meant to me. I think she was thinking I was just being nice but in reality, it was fantastic. I know she went to much trouble and expense for me; and I really enjoyed every bite and the invitation to family.

After dinner, Ma Qingling’s daughter seemed to warm up to me and was making faces with her tongue, which I found if I mimicked she would make another face and if I mimicked that one, she would make another face, etc. So I think she was warming up a bit to the weird looking American with blue eyes. That’s when I got cocky sitting next to her on the sofa and asked Ma Qingling if she thought her daughter would sit in my lap. She said to give it a try; but just as soon as I touched her arm – the scared face, tears, and scream erupted! Ooops. Maybe not such a good idea. So we managed to get her calmed down and then figured it was time to politely depart.

So after the Good Byes, Me, Qiang Xiaobo, and Xiao Li Li walked down to their apartment. A very small but comfortable place. I noticed the Yu Mao Qiu (badmitton) and Ping Pong Qiu equipment lying in the corner and asked who was better at the badminton. With no hesitation, they both said she was. When asked about the Ping Pong; immediate dissention with each stating very boldly that they were the better player. That’s when Xiao Li Li told Qiang Xiaobo in very straight forward language “I beat you all time!” I’m not sure he liked that. Counseling may in order on this topic before they tie that marriage knot.

So we walked outside to common area in their building and sat out there waiting on the driver to return. Of course we met several of their neighbors who were very interested in me. They may have only been 45 minutes from Chengdu, but they haven’t seen too may westerners especially in their back yard, so we had fun and it was quite interesting.

We said our good nights and I gave Xiao Li Li a small kiss on the cheek and told her that if Qiang Xiaobo didn’t take care of her to call me and I would “straighten him out.” They both laughed at that. A very cute couple! It’s good to see the Chinese man being so attentive to his girl because all too often it seems like a marriage of convenience. This one will be just fine, I think.

So with a full belly, some closer friends, and a new one I headed back to Chengdu and my Sunday morning flight back to Xiangtan and the world of Wind Energy.

China Daily News

2010-05-13T21:32:00.000+08:00

The China Daily News is a national newspaper written in English.

I have commented on this paper in the past. I enjoy reading it. Typically where I have been and in particular where I am now, it is a bit more difficult to obtain, and generally is a few days to a week old. The business section is usually old news by the time I read it; but the remaining section of the paper is always entertaining. From stories across the country I can pick up all kinds of interesting tidbits to discuss with my Chinese friends ranging from serious issues of dealing with the economy and/or politics to humorous stories that make most anyone raise an eyebrow.

Some of my favorites in the past have been about the man who deliberately filed a false police report about being mugged knowing all the while his fabrication would be discovered and he would have to go to jail but considered going to jail a better alternative than going home to his wife. Another was a story about Michelle Obama’s shoes coming from a Chengdu manufacturing company.

Recently there have been several stories about “fake peas” being sold in Changsha (the big city 40 km north of Xiangtan). These “peas” were really some type of soybean dyed green and the green dye not only smelled very bad when boiled, but was making people sick.

On a personal note, the story about famous Hot Pot restaurants in Chengdu using “Kitchen Waste Oil” in their Hot Pot dishes was a definite memory involving some pain. While dining in what may arguably be the best Hot Pot restaurant in Chengdu with my brother last April, I asked my host, Lin Yan, if this restaurant was one of “those” places using waste oil? She turned with a horrid expression on her face; slapped my arm and said “You are not supposed to know about that! How do you know that?” When I told her I read it in the China Daily, she was very surprised. She then whispered to me “I called this place in advance to make sure they were not one of them and they told me no.” I laughed and said “what did you expect them to say?’ At any rate, we had a grand dinner that night despite the potential risk.

Just yesterday there was story from Guangzhou about Rat Dishes which was espousing the delicacy of this, um, somewhat unusual dish. The story contained a quote from someone that “one serving of Rat equals three times the nutrition of Chicken” and that Rat sold for something like four times the cost of pork. Hmmm. Even so, I sure I am not that adventurous.

I could go on and on and as you can see, its easy to stay on top of local headlines of social value by picking up even an old copy of the China Daily News.

But that is not the purpose of this story.

The real purpose is to describe an incredibly interesting article about a new form of housing for the migrant worker in and around Beijing these days.

Migrant workers are those Chinese who, typically, are farmers who leave their farmlands in distant cities and travel to the large cities in hopes of finding work at a higher wage rate than they can get from farming. Bear in mind that “higher” is a relative term and their lifestyles are far below what we as westerners would consider sustainable. Wages of $2000 Yuan ($300 USD) could be the norm.

With this huge influx of migrants in the cities such as Beijing, there is a severe shortage of affordable, decent housing.

One solution is being pursued by a western Architect.

His goal is to build “micro-apartments”. These micro-apartments are (hold your hat, here) 1.5 meter wide by 2.0 meter long and 1.5 meter high one room dwellings. For the metrically challenged – that is a room roughly 5 feet wide, 6.5 feet long and 5 feet tall! The photograph showed a young man sitting on the floor with his back against the wall reading a book with his feet folded up against the far wall and at the far end of the room sat his computer with a small window just above to the outside. The bathrooms are a common room down the hall. Imagine how many of these apartments you could install in the same footprint as a typical apartment complex. These micro-apartments lease for 200 Yuan/month ($30 USD). Naturally, the man-on-the-street quotes were glowing in appreciation which should give you some idea of either the propaganda arm of the Chinese media or an indication of how bad the alternative is.

The western architect’s challenge is to design the outside façade to be appealing form a street view and he is using a traditional Chinese look of row houses popular in the early 20th century. From the article, these places are renting like the proverbial hotcake.

Now, why would this interest me so much?

The western architect is none other than Atlanta’s own John Portman!

And you thought I couldn’t pull this together in the end.

In His Own Words

2010-05-03T21:57:00.001+08:00

I promised you a story written by my brother recanting part of his trip to China this past April with his rock star daughter. And depsite him dragging his feet and my having to push him a bit, he finally sat down and captured the following tale for you. It would seem he not only enjoyed himself but also learned some valuable life lessons. Even as the calendar pushes us past the mid-century mark, there is always something we can learn.

So here it is; In His Own Words ...

"Everyone one of us has bought something. Food, clothes, cars, houses, electronics. That of course means that many of us have also sold something. You cannot buy something unless there is a seller, right?

The buying and selling process has also spawned an entire genre of “experts” to help teach us how to be a more effective seller, or a more informed buyer. Right here in Atlanta, Clark Howard has become famous as someone who helps us become smarter, more informed buyers.

In fact, I am an expert on selling. I spent 25 years managing sales teams and now my business is focused on helping salespeople get better at selling.
The vast majority of the training and teaching for both the buyer and seller centers around one important aspect, Price! As buyers we all want the cheapest and best price right? Nod silently if you ever went out to buy something and you said, “Honey, let’s go out and buy something and pay way over list price for it!”? Of course you have never said that! For all of you sales people in the world, raise your hands, if every morning you wake up and say, “How can I hold my price as close to list price as possible?”
So there it is; the classic conflict of buyer and seller. This conflict if not managed properly, can have dire consequences. One of the two parties in the transaction can walk away very unhappy. Let me illustrate for you.

As you know, I recently visited China. While in Chengdu, the capital of the Szechuan province, my brother and daughter and I went down to the local Chengdu street market. Here they sell everything imaginable and a lot I never expected to see. Trinkets and jewelry and furniture and art. Hats and books and t-shirts. And money. Yes, you can actually buy old Chinese money that is no longer in circulation. There must have been millions and millions of old Chinese money that you could buy for $10!
My daughter wanted a ring. My brother taught her how to bargain with the Chinese vendors who spoke no English. First, the vendor will grab your arm and pull you into their stall. Then they watch your eyes and as soon as your eye lingers on an item, they grab it and smile and punch a number into their cell phone, this is their opening price. My brother suggested that you offer a price that was about 70% lower than the price they wanted. You grabbed the cell phone and punched in your number. And this cell phone number punching price negotiation would go on until you either bought the item or you walked away. He suggested that after 1-2 rounds of price haggling, that you do walk away. Then the vendor would chase you down, cell phone in hand with a price pretty darn close to your last offer. Soon my daughter used this expert process and she purchased her ring for about $3 dollars US.

My brother bought a few things using this same expert process. I didn’t have anything in mind to buy until I spied this very unusual clock. It was a clock embedded in a glass round ball. It was very heavy with big Roman numbers, the clock was made by Omega and the face said it was made in Switzerland in 1882. Yeah right! I knew it was not Swiss and I knew it was not made in 1882, but I just thought it was cool looking and would look great on my desk as a terrific reminder of my China trip. The first offer was 600 RMB’s, about $100 US. Ridiculous I scoffed, and I walked away. The next stall had the same clock, again 600 RMB’s. I punched in 100 RMB’s or about $15. Ridiculous she scoffed, and she waved me off.

This process proceeded for the next 30 minutes as we strolled around the market. 600 to 800 RMB’s was the offer and I stuck to my 100 RMB price. When we got to the last vendor stall area, I was still empty handed, but now I really wanted that clock. I began negotiating very intently, punching numbers, feinting to walk away, more number punching, me moving from 100 RMB’s up and the vendor moving closer to 200 RMB’s. Finally we settled on 180 RMB’s, about $25 US. My daughter and brother cheered and clapped!

We left happy, I finally had my cool Swiss made 1882 glass ball desk clock, and for only $25. It sat safely in my back pack as we jumped into a cab. About 15 minutes later I pulled the clock out of my bag, just to revel a bit in my fantastic negotiating skills. The time on the clock said 3:25 pm. I looked at my watch and it said 3:45 pm. No problem, I will just adjust the time. I grabbed the stem and the entire stem came out in my hands! As I screamed bloody murder, my brother and daughter erupted in huge laughter! Frozen in time, the clock will only be right twice a day, and most days, I will be asleep at 3:25 am!

I stewed for a few minutes and then began to smile. I realized I had learned a lesson. Now, every time I look at that clock, I will remember the Moral of This Story………..Price Is Primary But The Product Must Perform!"

In his own words, indeed! The expert salesman got owned! Priceless.

Rock Star Pandas … and More

2010-04-07T16:12:00.002+08:00

When it comes to Rock Stars, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, if you are in Chengdu, you will always be second fiddle to the Pandas. These are the true Rock Stars of Chengdu City.

Again, with rain threatening and under overcast skies, we hopped a taxi out to the Panda Research Park. This is located in the northeast section of town and takes around 20 minutes to get there. We managed to convey to our taxi driver to return at 11:00 AM to pick us up since taxis are not as frequent out here. He understands. Mei Wenti.

After buying our ticket and entering, Milly sees a display of photographs of pandas that were lining the sidewalk and at each photo she squeals “Ohhhhh, they are sooooo Cuuuute!” After hearing her say this, oh maybe 10 times, Marty and I decided to have a bet on how many times she would say that during the tour.

Despite the weather being less than desirable for people, it was perfect for the Pandas and they were out in full force.

Our first stop was the Red Panda. The retaining wall was low enough to lean over for some good photos and tall enough to keep them from climbing out. We decided that pandas are good climbers, but must be lousy jumpers since they could have easily climbed some trees and leapt out. The Red Pandas are small fox-raccoon-like critters that were just as curious about us as we were of them. Milly thought they “were sooo cuute” (score 1 for me and Marty).

Next up were the Giant Pandas. Most zoos have two; we saw maybe 20 or more. I should have counted, but didn’t. Lots of Pandas doing what Pandas do best … eat. These big guys are pretty impressive with the dexterity that they can peel the outer skin off the bamboo with their front teeth and then eat the inner “meaty” portion with those strong rear teeth. I’m pretty sure Milly thought they were sooo cuute.

We wandered around to the infant panda section where we saw people standing in line. Not knowing why, we figured we should get in the line and then figure out what was going on. It was the “Have Your Picture taken With a Baby Panda” line. Milly was, um, excited and you may have heard the squeal of excitement from her because she thinks baby pandas are sooo cuute. In fact, based on hearing that squeal and later learning of an earthquake in Indonesia I must assume a correlation between the two. Of course no one was hurt in Indonesia only because Milly’s excitement was nipped right in the bud when we learned you only get your photo after you pay 1000RMB (150 USD). Marty and I bailed on that. Milly pouted. And the Indonesians were saved. (Of course, we figured all this out when were at the very front of the line). It really turned out just fine anyway because the next few viewing areas had some pandas very close to us walking around. Care to guess what Milly thought of their “walking style?”

Panda Tour concluded I think Marty and I tallied approximately 637 “So Cute” statements. Our taxi man was waiting on us right where we had agreed and we headed off to Jin Li Street for some lunch and maybe some shopping. We had a western lunch with pizza (me), macaroni and beef (Marty), and a BLT with a sortof milkshake for Milly at Carol’s Restaurant.

Of course we had to sit outside on the sidewalk so we could watch – and be watched by – everybody. A large group of school students came strolling by and, naturally, they wanted pictures with us. I think I saw one of them point to Milly and say to her friend “She is Soooo Cuuute!”

I guess I should explain briefly how these picture sessions work. Generally, as the kids walk past us, they are staring at us while trying not to look like they are staring. Then as they pass by, the whispering to each other begins. Once they walk past us maybe 10 feet, they suddenly get the courage to turn and shout a “Hello!” then turn away real fast as if they were not the one who shouted. If we don’t respond, then no foul and they are not embarrassed by calling out to a stranger. If we DO respond, then that’s international signal for “everybody run back and swamp the foreigners to talk to them.”

I saw them approaching and saw the whispering begin so I went ahead and started easing my camera out so I would be prepared for the onslaught when Marty answered their call.

Anyway, Milly met more new friends who were out of school on some sort of shopping field trip.

Our next journey was to the Antique Market for some more shopping. Milly bought a few small things and after some initial coaching figured out the whole negotiate-your-price process pretty well and was very excited that when she couldn’t get her price, she simply said no thank you, turned to walk away, and then the vendor chased her down while quickly caving in to her price. So she won! She was pumped. However, we’ll have to work on the not performing the Victory Dance in front of the vanquished. Tends to not go over so well.

I would really love to tell the tale of Marty’s purchase; but I - and you - will wait for him to write that up for posting here. There is no way I can describe that in the manner it deserves. That is a story that can only be told in first-person. So be patient until they return to the States and he can write that in his own words. I’ll publish once I receive it. The wait WILL be worth it. Hysterical.

We capped out the day with a visit to Tianfu Square and then a good Thai dinner near the hotel. I chose this location close to the hotel because the rain had finally arrived and because I thought it might be less spicy for Marty whose head sweats like a water fountain stuck on full blast. Milly does NOT think that is sooooo cuuute.

It is now Wednesday, the rain is still here and they are headed to Beijing. I am headed back to Xiangtan. My part in this journey is now over (sorry, couldn’t resist that little Lord of the Rings reference).

Marty promises to write a guest columnist story for me to post here with their Beijing photos (more Milly and Chinese Teenagers, if I have to guess). I would really love to have Milly write something, but she doesn’t seem too keen on that idea.

So until next time … enjoy.

Twin Daughters of Different Mothers

2010-04-06T17:47:00.000+08:00

As the Rock Star Tour continues we find ourselves in Chengdu. Our goal was to visit Du Jiang Yan, home of the 2200 year old irrigation project of Sichuan Province.

I had contacted Tang Yan who is the daughter of our Quality Manager of our plant here in town to be our guide for the day. Du Jiang Yan is outside of the city is somewhat more remote, so I figured we would need the language help. Her father agreed to serve as driver extraordinaire.

Another good tour guide choice. I dubbed her our Ace Tour Guide! She is a third year at the Chengdu Technical University studying Construction Management.

As you recall, this dam controls most of the water entering the region to prevent flooding in the wet season and to allow more water in the dry season. Built by the self taught Civil Engineer Li Bing over two millennia ago it still serves the region quite well.

The place was zoo! Since today was a holiday (the Qing Ming “Tomb Sweeping” Day … Memorial Day to us) it was jam packed and I was surprised to observe that we were indeed the only westerners in the place. Only about 60 miles from the sprawling ExPat-Laden city of Chengdu it would seem as though these folks have never seen foreigners before, so Milly did her stuff and drew the crowds. She is a magnet. Unbelievable how the people just flock to her.

But in between all of this, Milly and Tang Yan talked about boys, music, movies, boys, TV shows, make-up, maybe some boys, too (including, perhaps, one special not-to-be-mentioned young man whom I am sworn to secrecy not to tell her Chinese Mother). They hit it off excellently and in no time at all Marty and I thought we were talking to Twin Daughters of Different Mothers. These two sisters from different worlds watch the same shows and movies; listen to similar bands; and apparently find the Chinese boys cute. The boys find them pretty cute, too and several just walked up and wanted photos. Milly will be REALLY hard to live with back home now!

The weather continued to threaten rain, but never materialized and we benefitted from the cooler temperatures and overcast skies. The walk was terrific and we saw all of the sights except for the Temple at the top of the Mountain as this area still remains closed and off limits courtesy of the disastrous earthquake back in May 2008. The boulder in the photo was one of the rocks that fell that day and the local government has engraved the date in memoriam.

As the tour comes to a close, the path leads to an open market where all of the street hawkers are vying for your hard earned RMB. As we swam like salmon through these throngs looking for a lunch spot, even more kids were swamping us. Like a rock star band we slipped into a more out the way place for some lunch. Tang Yan’s dad was ordering when Tang Yan more or less took over and completed the ordering. This reminded me of having dinner with her mother who always insists on letting me order, but then takes over saying “you won’t like that” or just changing what I order without my knowing. Like Mother like Daughter.

Lunch was fabulous as always and we then just wandered through the crowds “chatting” with whoever would stop and talk which was pretty easy to find. We even made friends with the Ambulance team sitting around on stand-by in case needed. Not because we needed medical assistance, but well, just because they were there and we could.

We drove back Chengdu for a quick refreshing and then re-met Tang Yan, her dad, and now Lin Yan, her mother, for dinner at a local Hot Pot restaurant famous for their productions of the Chinese Mask Changing Dance and Opera. It was great to see Lin Yan again and yes, she asked me to order and then changed everything I picked … at which point Tang Yan and Milly burst out laughing based on the earlier lunch events. Like Daughter like Mother.

So we ate good food, watched the opera, and then walked back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, we head out to the Panda Research Park and then just bump around Chengdu for the afternoon. Not sure how Milly will do without her sister along, but I think she’ll manage just fine. It should only take about 5 minutes for word to get out around that the tall American Girl with the bare legs has arrived and then BAM – new friends!

It Was Bound To happen

2010-04-05T22:31:00.002+08:00

The inevitable finally happened.
After 1,107 days since my very first foray into the dichotomous world of China; the country of wonder, the country of regimentation and the country of mystery has actually allowed not one, not two, but three Mercer’s inside its borders!

Legally possible you say? Technically, yes because here they are with valid visas. Will it be allowed again in the future? That remains to be seen.

But as of now my brother Marty and his daughter Milly are here with me!!

For those of you who have hung with me during this multi year adventure, Marty is the dingbat who decided I should be writing a Blog of this adventure of mine. In fact, he coined the name from the Pee Wee movie and established the original site including some goober photo of me as a 6 year old knowing that I would have to get involved to change to the picture thereby causing me to learn how to do it and then continue publishing.

Obviously, it worked.

So anyway, a few months back, Marty called me and said he wanted to come with Milly during her Spring Break to visit first hand this unusual and natural wonder we casually study in American schools. Naturally, I was excited and we began planning.

The basic itinerary is as follows: Fly to Beijing, and connect to Changsha (where I am currently located). Visit Shao Shan (home of Chairman Mao). Then I would hook up with them and we could explore Changsha for 1.5 days. Fly to Chengdu where we would visit the Du Jiang Yan Dam and explore Chengdu for 2.5 days. After this I would return to Xiangtan (contrary to popular belief – I do actually work) and they would return to Beijing to Explore the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden city, and whatever they can squeeze in before returning home.

After some polishing of the schedule, we set it in stone and here they are.

Apparently, their visit to Shao Shan went off without a hitch and Milly was THE hit of the day as apparently all the Chinese now think she is a rock star. I am not really certain why they think that, but just maybe it’s possible that Miley Cyrus’ agent is currently investigating a look-a-like wannabe roaming around somewhere in China. However while I have no idea how that story got started neither can I confirm nor deny that particular story, so we’ll just have to leave it at that.

What I can confirm is that we did explore Changsha together with the help of our Ace Number One Guide, Li Mi. Li Mi works with me in Xiangtan and lives in Changsha so she was a natural choice to help us out and ever so graciously agreed to do that. I think she is a miracle worker as you will understand as you read farther down.

Our first activity on a grey, rain threatening day was to visit the Tomb Excavation Site of Mawangdui. This is a museum housing the family gravesite remnants from a Han Dynasty family dating some 2,200 years ago. The amazing part of this tomb was that the Woman discovered here was buried in a coffin, in a coffin, in a coffin, inside a huge wooden coffin buried below the surface. The result is that she is most perfectly preserved. The scientists even discovered 185 ½ melon seeds in her stomach!! An amazing place with some amazing relics and history. Certainly the best museum I have seen so far!

We then had lunch at a local restaurant and moved on to Hunan Academy. This is across the river and on the grounds of the Hunan Normal University (not to be confused with the Hunan Abnormal University … ok, maybe that place doesn’t really exist). This Academy was a School established over 2000 years ago and the buildings, while being rebuilt several times throughout that long history, still remain intact today. Beautiful grounds, Beautiful setting, and a wonderful experience to see where poets, philosophers, and academicians hung out to teach long before any western cultures began to understand our own educational systems particularly University Life (Harvard – eat your heart out).

It was here on these hallowed grounds that we continued Milly’s rock star status as everybody kept telling her how beautiful she was and everybody wanted to have pictures with her. It was amazing to see the gravitational pull she had on the Chinese locals. She’ll be tough to live with at home.

This was followed with a lite dinner at the Fire Palace; a loud frenzied restaurant that prevented you from hearing your own thoughts and we left almost tired. It was killer – Stinky Toufu (yuck, Marty “said” he liked it), noodles, Fishcraw, um, I mean Crawfish, spring rolls, and watermelon juice!

Outside, unknown to us, there is an open stage where there is a free concert of Chinese opera. We snagged a bench under the Coca-Cola signs and enjoyed part of the play entitled “the Woman from Xiangtan”. Li Mi knew they held these concerts but didn’t know the frequency or the starting times and we just had walked out of the restaurant and were enjoying the vendors hawking their wares when we realized we had a show coming up.

We watched for awhile then headed back down to the river to walk the boardwalk. In true fashion of perfect scheduling by Li Mi, Justas we arrived, there was a huge water show starting across the river with massive water fountains shooting up into the air timed to the music. To our right a group of locals were launching small hot air balloons (maybe about 1 meter in diameter). These are a bright red color with a flame inside so that not only will they then float up, but glow in the dark. At one point, there 7 or 8 of these were illuminating the sky as they gently soared up and disappeared into the night. Below us along the banks of the river were two Chinese burning fake money in homage to some deceased relatives. The tradition is that by burning this fake money, the ashes will somehow transfer to usable currency to the dead relative during their afterlife.

So at the end of this evening, we managed to skirt all the poor weather, saw a Chinese opera we didn’t know was going to happen, saw hot air balloons, people commemorating their ancestors, and a huge water show – all because our Ace Number One Tour Guide!

Finally, on Sunday, we strolled through the Street market and saw the Basic Chinese Grocery Store. Meat on a hook, Fish in a tub, rabbits, duck, pheasant, and some lady killing and cleaning chickens for a customer – the works. Maybe I’ll save you the details here, but you get the idea. The essential part of this story is that all of the “grocery store” occurs only one block off what you would have to call Times Square. Real Chinese. Real Culture. Fabulous. All because our Number One Tour Guide managed to make it all happen – just for us.

Next up … Chengdu revisited.

Stay tuned.

Avatar vs. The Ding Zi Hu

2010-02-09T14:42:00.002+08:00

Well if it could flood here, it probably should. It has rained everyday for the last week and a half. It seems like the rainy season here lasts 365 days/year. The town is filthy, grimy, and muddy. Cars are covered in yuck and there doesn’t seem to be any desire to wash a car because it’ll get yucked up again in one day – so nobody bothers to try. I’m getting VERY tired of waking up, looking out the window, and “yup, it’s still raining.” Sure will be nice to see the sun again (it still exists – doesn’t it?); but that looks to have to wait until this next Saturday when I get home and can wake up to everybody’s sunny smiling faces and Sam’s Short Course State Meet and Basketball, and the Winter Olympics and whatever else is going on in the outside world. I’ve called ahead and ordered Sun.

Other than that lamenting, we are progressing in our manufacturing efforts.. Some machines are still arriving. Some are still being installed. And some are beginning to cut steel and start checking out NC programs and going through startup runoff processes. Folks are beginning to get a bit excited that we are pretty close to actually running (even if only on test pieces). Me? Excited, yes, and a bit nervous as there are far too many IT systems not up and running as fully as they should be which has immediate negative consequences on my responsible areas (funny how an M.E. who made a career out of Process Engineering who now applies those skills to Quality Systems can find himself sucked into the CS world through some unexpected cruel twist of fate – nothing against all you IT guys, of course).

But moving on … I did see the movie Avatar last week.
A friend had it on DVD. I really enjoyed it. The computer graphics were awesome, the music solid, and the story was terrific. I also enjoyed the sly flashback humor tossed in with Sigourney Weaver as the Alien Expert. But of course more so than that was the other movie images it conjures up as you watch. Images harking back to scenes from “The Lord of the Rings”, “Dances with Wolves”, and “A Man Called Horse” (the 1960-70 era Richard Harris classic) all screamed at you throughout the film.
Good vs. Bad.
Light vs. Dark.
Us vs. Them.
Certainly anyone should go see it even if CG animation and Sci-Fi genre isn’t on your own particular Bucket List.
But I bring it up here as the result of a discussion with some of our Chinese Team about the movie. It has been a HUGE success in China showing in 3D IMAX theatres (up in Changsha, not in Xiangtan – IMAX in Xiangtan?; yeah, right) and people have been waiting in line for hours to see it and recall how I have described for you many times how well the Chinese like to stand in lines; its right up there with root canal – and dentistry is not a high priority here either.

But competing with “Avatar” is a Chinese Produced, Chinese made film “Confucius”. It’s a very high budget, “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” type of film that was supposed to be the big entrance of Chinese Produced Movies coming into their own onto the World’s Stage – and Avatar is absolutely crushing it. So naturally, there has been a subtle movement to reduce the number of theatres playing Avatar and increase those showing Confucius so as to make Confucius look better (part of that ‘saving face’ thing, I guess).
So typical.

However, as my friends were explaining, the Avatar movie has been given the nickname of “Ding Zi Hu” (people-who-won’t move). This is in reference to the policy of the Chinese Government to simply uproot entire neighborhoods or even villages and forcing them to move elsewhere because the land will be used for some new construction albeit infrastructure improvements, newer housing, or industrial development. Just like in Avatar.
To help you understand better, as part of the Revolution, land ownership belonged entirely to the State. However, that grew somewhat impractical as the country began to open in the 80’s, so residents are allowed to purchase Land Use Rights. These Rights allow someone to use the property as their own for some predetermined length of time (usually 50 – 75 years) after which the property reverts back to the State and you have buy new Land Use Rights all over again. No passing of land from generation to generation here. Of course, since this policy has only been in existence for about 25-30 years, nobody has run to the end of their lease, and my friends really don’t know how the process will work to re-purchase.

But this is where it gets interesting. Let’s assume the State decides a new highway is going to be built through your town and will run right through your Apartment building. Your Land Use Right is rescinded and you have to move. Just like that. Sure, you get some compensation from the state, but most likely your land was selected because it was old (and cheap) and any newer housing is very expensive so I fyou can’t afford to move, you may decide NOT to move, at least just yet anyway, and fight it out with the bureaucrat in court. You will lose because housing is your responsibility and it’s not the State’s fault (or problem) that you chose to live where they now want an interstate. I guess this is the same as our Imminent Domain, its just that we think our process is somewhat more equitable and we generally give a pretty fair shake to those effected and we generally take much longer to settle everything so residents have more time to prepare and we generally have more options for affordable housing. But you get the idea.

So the theme of Avatar where the bad guys (Humans) in trying to force a population (the Wadi’s) to move from their land so the humans can extract some super important mineral from the ground, seems to have struck a chord of familiarity and dissention with the Chinese public relative to the forced moves they sometimes have to endure as Ding Zi Hu’s .

What I find more interesting is that while the population seems to have found a common ground between their experiences and the movie, the government is also taking note of both the Ding Zi Hu idea and the fact that the Hollywood blockbuster is interfering with their own Movie blockbuster and is (allegedly) trying to play cover up by minimizing the available Avatar movie outlets.

The Wadi’s won their battle (duh, it’s Hollywood – no spoiler there). But I can only imagine when the day is coming that the Chinese populace will decide its time to fight theirs.

Signs

2010-02-01T13:57:00.004+08:00

As you have by now figured out; I have really enjoyed the signs here in China. Of course, there is the humor that can be found in the Chinglish Translations where we try and figure out exactly what was supposed to be communicated versus what was actually communicated. But I suppose there is also the fun in discussing not only the message intended, but also the resultant message based on the words, pictures, location, etc.; the fun in discussing a message which was, well, maybe not directly intended.

That is what I am offering to you today.

When you see the sign below, you will immediately recognize the message that is intended. A message that we see and hear almost constantly in our world of Global Warming/Cooling (depending upon which science you currently subscribe).

But in this case, in this particular context, I think the more noble message was lost.
Very lost.

In fact, regardless of what global region you are in whether it be the west, Asia, Europe, “NAMESTAN”, or points in between; there are times when being environmentally conscious is just going a wee bit too far.

I mean is this REALLY the message we want to send our children? Our friends? Our global neighbors?

You make the call.

A Little of This and Some of That …

2010-01-18T16:29:00.020+08:00

Well, I made it back over here. This time without all the tribulations of getting through the ever interesting Chicago O’Hare. Weather was good; cold and clear, so I didn’t think we’d have any trouble getting out on time.
Almost.
Due to some unknown mechanical issue, we were delayed about an hour. I had a 3 hour layover in Beijing, so I wasn’t worried about any impact on me, so as always, take it in stride and go with it. Except they gave us a gate change; meaning a different airplane. Normally, I wouldn’t care, but due to some confusions and miscommunications when booking my ticket I didn’t have an upgradable ticket and so I was sitting in Economy Plus and not Business. Having done this before, its not that bad the extra legroom is very good but the seat doesn’t recline too far so sleeping is more challenging. But all in all, it’s very doable. I have learned the best seat is on the last row in the middle section.

This section is five seats wide, but the last row is only four seats, so there is one seat that has a “blank” seat spot next to it so you can have extra space on your left and not be disturbed by people walking up and down the aisle. I had chosen this one. Unfortunately, when we changed planes, the new plane had a seat in that spot, so my assigned seat was now one seat off the aisle which means you have to crawl over somebody to get in and out – problematic when they are sleeping. But the bright side was that there were only 3 of us in a row of 5, so by sitting in the middle seat, I ended up with extra room on each side and the Chinese lady on the end didn’t sleep the whole trip so I didn’t have to disturb her too badly the 47 times I had to get up and walk around during the 13 ½ hour flight.
Note to self: be more careful about booking tickets to ensure I get an upgradable seat!

Finally arriving in Xiangtan, I checked into Hotel. The Paragon Hotel is 100% full due to the local Xiangtan Communist Party Annual Conference. This is hundreds of the local Party members doing what I think they do all the time. Eat, Drink, Play Cards, Drink some more, maybe go to a meeting, Drink even more, and in general clog up the entire local infrastructure just by their mere presence. The hotel is full of security (the 1st time I have seen sidearms on the local police anywhere in China) and no taxis are allowed past the entrance guard building, so they send a little golf cart from the building to shuttle you inside. I had the last remaining room available. It’s a Chinese Fire Drill to say the least (trust me – whoever created that saying knew exactly what that phrase means!). The local police are everywhere stationed at the front of the building, in the building, two guards at each elevator lobby (sitting on their butts; reading a magazine and drinking tea – but they are there), walking the halls – everywhere. Saturday night during the dinner hour, the normally light city traffic was bumper to bumper all over town and the local police was having to actually direct traffic – which in China is identical to herding cats as nobody pays attention to them anyway, so of course we saw several wrecks which only made the traffic worse.
If you are not part of the Conference, they make it difficult to get on the property. Fortunately, the hotel staff is very familiar with us and if the police begin to approach us, the hotel staff steps in and waves him off. We have about 10 people here now (more on the way this week and next) so they are extending us a few courtesies and bending a few rules in our favor I actually think the staff views us a breath of fresh air since we are more relaxed and fun to be with (at least, we think so) as opposed to the over inflated egos of the local Party. The conference will last until the 20th, so we will just have to manage around them.

One nice aspect of this hotel is that their flat screen TVs do have a vga connection on the back, which allows me to plug my computer into the TV and with a 1/8” sound cord, I can watch the movies I brought from the computer to the TV for a bigger picture and better sound. This enhances my downtime and provides some additional options to the 5 English stations provided.
Speaking of electronic gadgetry, this article has now reached the point where I have to tell a bad story on myself … Clarke and Gayle had given me an iHome player (a small stereo with external speakers that an iPod plugs into plus an alarm clock) for a past birthday to use with my iPod during all of my travels and unfortunately, it finally died this past Christmas. And since I was coming over here in January, I jumped on the internet and found a used one fairly inexpensive and ordered it – not thinking that with my January Birthday coming up a replacement one just might show up unexpectedly courtesy of my loving family. As you can imagine, I did have to deal with all of the harassment from them when I told then I had ordered one. Oops.
Strike One!
Then, it didn’t arrive before it was time to leave, so I wouldn’t have the replacement unit this trip.
Strike Two!
Then when it did arrive back home, it turns out it was this beautiful artistically designed model. Strike Three!
If I thought I received some ribbing about ordering my own replacement unit just before my birthday – you can imagine the immeasurable amount of joy my loving family experienced in harrassing me about this truly manly device of which I am now the proud owner! Game Over!!

Anyway, back to China …
Sunday, one of our machine engineers wanted to get some hand tools to use and he figured for our daily outing, we could just walk the city and try to find them. We had a rather interesting time with that trying to describe “a 5mm taper tap” to someone. We walked through what we called “the Home Depot” street, but in the end, we found them at one of the many “rollup garage door stores” that line every street. These guys should really be our local equipment suppliers because once they understood what we wanted; he rummaged through his inventory and found everything we needed. Not everybody will understand the following analogy, but it was like rummaging through Mr. Ed’s Mussleman Steel truck – he knew he had it and you knew he had it; it was just a question of where it was stashed. And you’ll notice how proud Jim is of his new screwdriver!

Of course, all this walking and shopping meant that we had to stop for lunch. There is a new 7 story department store in town that we had heard had many new restaurants on the top floor, so we headed over there and scoped it out. You know that specialty stores are going a bit overboard in their marketing when they have a specific department to purchase your Middle Aged Clothing.
In addition to the sit down restaurants and Chinese fast food places, there is now a new KFC and a Dairy Queen. After a rather marginal pizza (the crust was maybe not so good), we topped it off with a DQ Blizzard. They don’t serve Heath Bar Blizzards (AAARGH!), but you can get the standard M&Ms, Oreo, and Chocolate Crunch; but there are also local flavors such as Green Tea, and Black Tea (tea and ice cream – an interesting combination to say the least). There is also “Georgia Mudfudge” (as far as I could tell it was just chocolate and fudge, but I appreciated the southern reference). And yes, they do turn them upside down before handing to you to prove how thick they are.

Meanwhile back at the plant site we are having our own Chinese Fire Drill. The plant is coming along and we are officially moved in. We do have heat now in the office, but the shop floor is still pretty cold. It takes a long time to warm up cold concrete. The many different installation teams are stumbling over each other while trying to dodge the final construction work. The asphalt paving is virtually finished so that should help the dust management. I am trying to get our large measuring machine installed this week so we can begin to plan our first runoff parts. I think we should be ready for that in 2 or 3 weeks. Purchasing remains a challenge as even the smallest of items requires an act of Congress to get approved, quoted by 3 vendors, negotiated for price and delivery, and ultimately purchased. And while this is nothing new to me, it is one of the biggest – if not the biggest – headaches to deal with (that’s why we decided to buy all those hand tools on our own Sunday. Get them now; figure out expensing them later).
So, I guess it’s safe to say, we’re back in the saddle and trying to get this plant cranked up and running.
While I’m doing that, you guys enjoy these additional pictures …

and some of the more interesting signs I have seen including .....

The shopping for Middle Aged Clothing ....

The Drugstore name,

the type of Smoothie you can order ... with sand?

this is either the entrance to the ladies bathroom - or where you mail your Iron?

REALLY Basic Chinese

2009-12-13T12:07:00.006+08:00

It was Saturday night and once again, we had the opportunity to enjoy a new experience with dinner. Our local Engineering Manager, Jiang Ke had come over to the hotel to meet us and asked if we had ever been to “Restaurant Street”? Since we had not and since we were looking for a new place to try out, he said he would take us there. It is located along the River in Old Downtown.
A quick taxi ride and we found ourselves standing on the sidewalk – perhaps the only Westerner to have graced this section of town. Actually, I’m sure others have been here, but I would bet not many. I had pretty much guessed the location based on some earlier excursions, but had not actually walked down the street itself. Now if you remember a few posts back I wrote about the night we had “basic” Chinese? Well, this is REALLY basic Chinese.
Each “restaurant” is no more than a concrete room maybe 12’ x 12’ that most likely serves as a storage room when they are closed because all of the cooking, cleaning, and serving occurs out on the sidewalk. There are probably 20 of these little kiosks along the street next to each other (hence the name Restaurant Street).
We walked along all of them to see who was cooking what. I’m sure its all based on whatever the owner had bought that day, so one place was cooking chicken, another pork, another fish, etc. Of course, they cook other things as well, but it sort of appeared that each location had their special-of-the-day. We just strolled along and got a great up-close-and-entirely-too-personal overview of the ambiance and process. Each owner is calling out to us (loudly, I might add) while trying to convince us that theirs was the best and we enjoyed the culinary competition they presented. Each place was set up on the sidewalk with a cooking station of gas stoves, charcoal stoves, chopping blocks, a table full of spices and other ingredients. Washing occurs on the street (yes, they were using soap and boiled water, and yes, that picture to the left is a dish of soapy water with mop next to a dish of raw chickens sitting on the ground). Dirty water is dumped out on the street and there are several piles of garbage sitting around. A small truck of live pigs passed us probably headed for delivery to someone's kiosk there.
We finally decided on a particular place (for no real reason other than they had the best looking chicken and the location was pretty much mid-street providing the best view of all the crazy action going on).
Across the street there are small tables set up for dining and since it is cold and wet right now, they have put up small tents over the tables. The chairs are small plastic seats that required a little wriggling to fit our big American hind-sides into and we prayed they would support our big American masses. Fortunately, Jiang Ke handled the language issues and we ordered chicken, a fish, a fresh water eel, some green beans, eggplant with garlic, some sort of scrambled egg with mushroom, fried potatoes, and some fried rice. All of which comes cooked with the obligatory peppers. What would a meal be without peppers?
As you can see from the pictures, the whole area would be defined as “sanitarily challenged” so we were amused and yet appreciative at the subtle display of sanitary precautions they employ to propagate the ruse of cleanliness. For example, when our bowls, plates, glasses, and chopsticks are brought to the table, they are in a large bowl that the waitress then pours bowling water over and swishes around before placing in front of us. Of course the fact that her hands look like she had been gardening all day was to be ignored.
Now, I admit, had we found this street on our own we would have enjoyed the sights and smells but would never have considered actually eating anything, but Jiang Ke ensured us it would be OK, and we found it to be very good. We can do this again in the future now that we have learned how it’s done.
And of course, the food was in fact delicious! The eel was really good in the manner it was wok fried in oil with peppers (much better than the Hot-Pot style I have eaten before). The chicken had good sized meaty pieces and the fish was excellent since it was served whole which makes the bone-picking much easier. I am not one for enjoying eggplant, but cooked with the garlic and peppers this dish is really good and we eat a lot of it here. The fried rice came last and we got up and went and watched the chef (the owner’s son, I think) cook it for us (the video has not been successful in uploading - I will try when return to USA with real internet ... stay tuned). That’s him with me in the picture.
So once again, we ate wonderful food and were treated as VIPs and the eight dishes along with some drinks came to about $42.00 for six people! Only in China can you eat this good for this little money.
Jiang Ke had asked if we enjoyed it and we said yes, but that a final decision would not be rendered until the next morning based on how everyone, um, survived the night. It’s Sunday morning as I write this and Drew and I survived the night, so we gave it two thumbs up! We will go back here again and I am sure they will remember us (duh).
I did notice the irony in that at the entrance of the street was a pharmacy. But we didn’t need it. We have had basic Chinese and now we have had REALLY basic Chinese.

What Would You Do To Spend Christmas in China?

2009-12-04T10:42:00.001+08:00

Very crazy over here. After being home for a good long stay, I am back for 2 ½ weeks. We will not be moving into the new facility until maybe 21 Dec, so it is even more cramped here in the temp offices than before. We have some 25 people in a space for 12 and we have a storage room that has a stack of boxes of gauges and lab equipment, etc down the center that we converted to office space by placing tiny desks for 10 more people along the walls surrounding this avalanche-in-waiting and we have more Americans showing up next week … so I am not sure where we are going to put everyone. We already have people sharing desks (I’ll have to get a picture of that).

Our primary gauge for measuring (a huge device approximately 12’ x 6’ x 10’) is delayed arriving because in an attempt to get it here faster, we out-thunk ourselves and fouled up the transportation. We had decided we could clear import customs faster if we had the device shipped from Germany to Shanghai (via Suez canal, go around India, dodge the Somali pirates and Monsoons in Malaysia) and then travel by barge up the Xiang River to Changsha City (1 hour away from us by car) where our people could physically go to the customs office and assist in the clearing process. Good plan, huh?
What we didn’t plan on was that the Xiang River is in its dry season thanks to Al Gore’s Global Warming and there are parts of the river that are reported to be little more than large streams and supposedly there are barges grounded in the middle of it. So, back to Shanghai to clear customs there and then truck overland – or pull the barge up river with mules like the old Erie Canal of the 1800’s? The solution is unknown as of this writing. Delivery date is now maybe the end of December and install in January. Without this device, we cannot accurately certify our size measurements when we start our equipment, so timing will be tight as we still want to start our 1st two manufacturing machines in January.

Other than that, weather is cooler than forecasted (of course, I didn’t believe the forecasts and came very prepared). Forecast was 45/65 each day and mostly sunny, so that completely explains why yesterday was drizzling and only a high of about 50 (but in a fit of irony, the surprise rain was only a tease as it wasn’t enough to fill up the river).

The cool temperatures in combination with so many of us crammed together in these temporary offices has everybody worried about the dreaded H1N1, so in the spirit of prevention, we get our temperature taken every morning when we arrive to work. They are using one of the infrared devices that you “shoot” at the forehead and it displays in 3 seconds. They have a logbook to record this and if you have an elevated temperature, you get sent home for a few days. I have had a good time with this and even began a rousing discussion about charting all of these results and then employing some SPC to determine each person’s average temp to evaluate when subtle changes were significant or perhaps even conducting a study to determine if the average Chinese temperature was different from the average American temperature. I told them since we were taller; our heads were in thinner and cooler air than theirs so our temperatures should be lower. And ultimately, all of this temperature conversation naturally lead to a discussion of the device accuracy and whether or not these measurements were valid anyway whereupon our local Quality Manager presented to me the Certificate of Calibration (good for a whole year, mind you) to prove the measurements were correct. He was very concerned that I challenged the accuracy of the thermometer. They really don’t know what to do with me (which reminds me of Sid’s email about the word “sarchasm” which would be a noun meaning “The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.” But I am really off point here).
But seriously, how accurate can this be if its 40 degrees outside, we ride to work in an unheated van (it has heat, they just don’t run it), we walk into an office that has had the heat off all night and within 5 minutes this clerk is running around zapping everybody’s forehead and taking what appears to be only a skin temperature? I have noticed my readings have consistently been around 96 degrees which seems significantly cooler than a ‘norm’ of 98.6.
There I go over thinking this, but it seems like just another example of misplaced Chinese zealousness for doing something they were instructed to do without approaching it with any thought process.

I’m actually thinking of covertly putting one of those hand warmers on my forehead for 5 minutes before my turn just to see the reaction when I record a value of 110.
But then again, maybe not - the “freak out” factor would probably activate some alarm system in Beijing and I don’t really want to spend my Christmas in China.

Ridin' The Rails!

2009-09-25T03:49:00.006+08:00

I finally had the opportunity to ride the train. We were winding down our trip and had planned to visit a supplier in Shanghai and then go to our Wuxi City Plant and then back to Shanghai and fly home.
Wuxi is only about 90 miles or so northwest of Shanghai but if you travel by car this can be a two to three hour adventure depending on how many traffic jams you can find (or how many find you). The solution is to take the train to and from Wuxi (one hour) and the new Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) train to the airport (15 mins).

We hadn’t done this before but hey, we’re college graduates so we figured no sweat (yeah, I can hear you laughing now). One of the guys with us really wanted to get a driver to take us, but Drew and I wouldn’t have anything to do with that. “Heck No! We’re Ridin’ the Rails!” In all seriousness; it’s actually pretty easy. Every country in the world except for the US (and well, maybe India; I’ve seen those pictures - ugh) have excellent train systems.
(You have to enlarge the Blue Sign to the left!)

Our Admin had bought us $7.00 First Class Tickets so we knew we didn’t have to sit in coach (wonder what you get for $7?). And after dinner our friend went on up to his hotel room and that’s when Drew and I decided to cheat and go scope out the train station in advance. Our hotel was 1 block from the train station, so we walked over for a look. We found the huge Disney World style queue to get into the station; check. We found the monster sign listing train numbers and what we guessed were the track assignments for each. Check. We found the waiting room (the sign said “Ordinary Section”). Check. We found the crowd of tomorrow’s travelers stretched out on the sidewalk sleeping with all of their worldly possessions. Check that, too. We thought “Man, it’s gonna be crowded. Wonder how early we need to be here to get through all of that mess?” That was when we saw the sign that read “The Soft Seat Waiting Area.” No crowds here. Hmmmm. We have 1st class tickets. That’s probably where we go in and if it’s wrong, we’ll just play the Dumb American Card and see how we do … anything to avoid all that queuing up going on way over there. OK, we’re set. Let’s see what else we can find around this part of town. So we wandered around the area and that’s when we found the Kung Fu Burger King (good for a laugh).

Wednesday morning, since we were returning to same hotel on Thursday, we left most of our belongs (that’s the way the Chinese say belongings) at the hotel and walked over to the train station. Our friend figured out we had pre-scouted, but he was still hesitant. Yes, we were allowed entry in the Soft Seat Waiting Area where the nice lady punches the ticket and we found the soft seats. Soft is a matter of degree. Anyway, we had figured out the track we needed, so we settled in for the 30 minute wait. At the appropriate time (announced by everybody getting up at once and moving towards the stairs) we headed out for the train.

I admit I am surprised. The train is fairly modern and very comfortable. Nice seats that recline with a small table in front of you. A 30 inch TV screen for showing whatever it is they show on a one hour ride. But this is when my stereotypes kick in. I want the conductor to blow the whistle; I want to hear the doors slide shut; I want the conductor to walk through the cabin and punch your ticket again; but I do NOT want to pass through a tunnel because everybody knows that when a train passes through a tunnel and comes out the other side – there’s been a murder committed. Laugh if you want to; but go ask Agatha Christie to confirm.

In the end, the conductor did blow his whistle. He did walk through the cabin. The doors did make the appropriate closing sound – and no tunnel. We’re OK.

This was an express train with only one stop. The track is pretty much nestled between large bushes along the tracks so the view was pretty much obstructed except for a few places, but it didn’t matter. We cruised at 150 mph and the ride is very smooth. The TV began to show the movie “The Mummy” which was fine, but when we stopped at the halfway point, the movie was restarted. So if you are going to be able to see a whole movie, I guess you need to make sure your train doesn’t need to stop. We did get a good laugh when we found that the magazine provided in the seat pocket featured Michael Jackson on the cover (just can’t get away from him).

Anyway, 61 minutes later we are in Wuxi. We pretty much fouled up the whole “get a taxi” process because we couldn’t figure out where to go to get one since (like airports) the taxis will only pick you up at a specific location and without English signs, well, lets just say we wandered around a bit. Eventually, we got straightened out and made it to the Plant. All in all; this is the way to travel between cities.

The return trip to Shanghai was just as smooth. Our friend still wanted to take a driver (why? I don’t know), but we held firm on the train. This time we bought a coach ticket (by accident), but still sat in the soft seat waiting room again. In Wuxi, it turns out the soft seats are the same seats as the normal seats so the advantage is really only for crowd control versus comfort-ability. Coach seats are pretty much like 1st class except slightly narrower and no table and no movie and some of the travelers had packed what was probably everything they owned and sat with them in their laps. I shared my peanuts with the guy next to me. He talked and I talked and neither of us understood the other. He didn’t have any teeth. Thought maybe I was in South Georgia.

Friday morning, we traveled Hi-Tech. We had our large bags and debated the subway, but settled on a quick taxi from the hotel to the Maglev station which would take us to the Airport. This is a very cool train. Top speed of 190 mph in 3 minutes. It’s really fast. You feel a slight swaying left and right, but very smooth. Halfway to the airport, we passed another train headed in the opposite direction. Whoooosh. If you so much as blinked, you would have missed it since it was also traveling 190 mph (that’s 380 mph relative speed for those UGA grads out there). This thing is fast. I liked it. Another Maglev is being built that will run between Shanghai and Wuxi. That trip is supposed to take 20minutes. Cool.

Many people had told me we needed to ride via trains and based on traffic, I agree. Now I wonder if I am brave enough to venture a train for the 13 hour (685 mile) ride from Shanghai to Xiangtan.

Hmmmm.

Maybe not.

Sports Weekend

2009-09-13T14:42:00.005+08:00

Our customer wanted to have a Team Building Activity and they sort of “invited’ us to join them. More accurately, they Challenged us. For those uninitiated in the business of Team Building, this usually means somebody in the organization thought up something fun to do with all the employees and managed to convince others to support the idea and have the company pay for it. Sometimes this can get expensive (Merrill Lynch running off to Florida for a week of R&R disguised as a management retreat) but sometimes it doesn’t cost much more than a good rope. We had a Tug-of-War. Our local team kept calling it a Tag-of-War. We could never really figure out why nor could we convince them it was a ‘tug’ versus ‘tag’.
Whatever you call it, we all assembled Thursday afternoon after work on the front parking lot of the building. Of course it would have made too much sense to do this in the large grassy area out back next to the basketball and tennis court (yes, they have those on-site) so we ignored normal logic and lined up on the concrete. Each team was required to have 20 people, five of whom had to be female. As I looked around, I realized we only have 7 ladies and maybe 20 men, so in order to compete in a best 2 out of 3 tugs, we were going to have to use most of the same people each time. Our customer, on the other hand, has 5 times that so we knew they could use fresh people each tug whichmeant it already wasn't looking too good for the visitor team. The winner was determined by pulling 5 feet. The center line of the rope was marked in a manner that can only be found in China; a red string with a bottle of water hanging from it (the water served as a weight to hold the string vertical so the winner could be determined as the string crossed the finish line). Ok, it was effective, but I did chuckle at the water bottle.
We won the 1st pull mainly due to the mass of 5 big Americans anchoring the end. The 2nd pull was competitive, but since our competition substituted fresh legs, we eventually lost that one. The 3rd round? Well, let’s just say that one wasn’t competitive and was over in about 8 seconds. I think our team was out of gas. We tried to sooth our loss by rationalizing that it was probably better to let the customer win (like customer golf). Yeah, that’s it. Sure. I can buy that.
It was fun, but in the 90 degree heat, I’m sure our van didn’t smell too nice as we drove back to the hotel.
Saturday, we all drove to Changsha to a driving range. This was a fairly nice place. It was one of those double decker places you may have seen before on TV (popular in China due to space limitations). They had some nice clubs we could use and the balls were in good shape. We hit a couple of hundred balls each. Our GM, a local Chinese, probably hit 400. We did enjoy the driving range logo … they took the Master’s logo and instead of the outline of the USA and flag positioned in Augusta, this was the outline of China with the flag positioned at Beijing. I’m sure it was purely coincidental with no copyright infringement intended. We had a little watermelon break and socialized then headed into town for a nice lunch along the river and then back to the hotel by 05:00.
After a short nap and small dinner, we all walked to the billiards room here at the hotel where our two English Chaps (Ian and Peter) taught Drew and me how to play Snooker. It’s not as hard as it looks and I admitted it was much more enjoyable than playing American 9 ball or standard pool. Scoring gets a little complicated because in addition to scoring points (1 point for each red ball and the colored balls are worth various points) there are also penalty points if you hit the wrong color ball in the wrong order along with some other little detail rules. But it was a nice way to enjoy a relaxing evening. The hotel didn’t care that we brought our own beverages (to avoid high hotel pricing) and with my little Travel iPod Player, we had our own tunes (thanks to Clarke and Gayle), so we played a few hours (won some, lost some) and called it a day.
Today, I have discovered a few muscles I had forgotten I had (from the golf, I imagine) but had a good day and a good night. You add that up with Tech's win over Clempson (sorry, Jeffa), UGA win over Gamecocks (tough loss, there) and Auburn win over Miss St (Yea, Elise) we had a good weekend of International Sports.

Eating Basic Chinese

2009-09-06T11:44:00.003+08:00

Friday was Ian’s Birthday. He is our project manager for the construction of our plant and three of the construction company managers wanted to take him out to dinner, so they invited all of us.

They said we were going out to eat “Basic Chinese.” As soon as this was announced, two of our American team politely declined, but Drew and I were excited and definitely going – cameras in hand.

We drive to the outskirts of town and down a one lane road and stopped in front of the crummiest building to have ever been erected called “The Farm House.” I am thinking, now this ought to be interesting. I won’t even begin to describe the bathroom experience.

Of course since this was a special dinner, they put the 8 of us in a private room. Usually, I don’t care for this because I would rather sit out in the open environment with everybody else just to experience the full ambiance of the location. But this room did have air conditioning and that was the selling point. But in reality, it turned out that our private room was only partially private because all (and I mean ALL) of the other diners had to casually stop by and look at the westerners. I am pretty sure they had never seen “tall round eyes” before, so they would wander past, peek in, gawk, laugh, and move on. We have gotten very used to this reaction, so we just talk to them and enjoy the moment.

Despite being a run down building, there were probably 30 or so others eating here, so we knew we knew something positive was going to happen. Turns out we were right. The primary dish was a roast chicken which has to be ordered a day in advance so they can prepare. Ordinarily, the chicken (and pork, beef, and the fish) are all just chopped up with a meat cleaver and you get a small bite of the meat and mostly bones, but not this chicken. The entire hen is roasted and served as one piece (along with the head and feet). The hen was slow roasted to the point that I could just grab a piece with chop sticks and the meat just pulls off the bone. Without a doubt, this was the very best dinner I have had in Xiangtan and maybe in all of China. It was incredible. Two of my buddies back home (Jeff Mc and Jeffa C) used to ask “The food is all bones - where is the meat?” We found it tonight. Big hunks of chicken the way it’s supposed to be. There were veggies, and pork, and soup, and noodles … unbelievably good. They brought a birthday cake for Ian and our group plus the restaurant staff all came in and toasted Ian and we sang Happy Birthday in Chinese (I sang in English). By this time, the family who owns the place had pretty much joined our party so now we have a large party. Side note; Chinese cakes are all elaborately decorated and very ornate and beautifully done and beautifully presented. Which is a good thing, because they all taste terrible.
So after sitting around stuffing our fat faces on this spectacular dinner, I was dying to see the kitchen so I told Ian I was going to go tell the chef thank you for the great food. I just walked back and out to the kitchen (the kitchen is actually a separate building) and started asking this older man if he was the chef because the food was great. After he figured out what I was trying to say he made it clear he was NOT the chef and that the actual chef was this young kid (maybe upper 20’s). So I had to repeat all my speech and that I wanted his picture. He was so excited that after the Photo-Op, he showed me around so I could see the veggies, and meat, bags of spices, and how he cooks. The chicken roaster is a charcoal fired ceramic oven (like you might fire pottery). As always, a very fun discussion as I had to sort through some of the veggies and he wanted me to smell the spices and I think was telling me what they were and showing me how to rub them between my hands too release the aroma to fully appreciate them. Very cool (albeit very dirty).

When we finally finished our celebration, it was time to pay. This occurs in a different room near the front of the building and to add up the cost, the the owner pulls out her abacus! I know you want me to explain the use of this - but she did it real fast and I have no idea, but an abacus? Maybe this was just for show, but there it is. Our hosts paid and called a taxi and then we all stood around outside with the family waiting on the car. It was during this wait that I realized we were the last ones there and that they were definitely closed just waiting for us to leave. But they didn’t care. I would bet that if we wanted to stay all night, this family would have let us.
We certainly made some new friends and this restaurant is now on the short of list of preferred places to go.

Basic Chinese at The Farm House!

Taste Like Chicken??

2009-08-27T10:52:00.002+08:00

WARNING: For the faithful readers of this rag who might, by definition, be called “gastrointestinally challenged”, this might be a good time to stop reading.

For those with more of an iron gut; read on my friends.

I mentioned last time that our lunch returning from the drifting day was a story all unto itself. Well, I guess its time to tell the tale.

Some people dance with them, some people play flutes to them, Harry Potter can talk to them, and now we can add that some people eat them. Yup, we had snake for lunch.

In reality, it’s not that bad. Does it taste like chicken? I don’t know. After all, with enough spices, peppers, and hot oil I suppose most any taste can be masked. I had had the opportunity to have snake last year and had passed on it, but this time I figured I should give it a try. Again, I can hear your question “Why do you do this to yourself?” It’s really quite simple. I figure there are 1.3 BILLION people in China; so the food ain’t killing them. And if it’s not killing them, then I doubt it will kill me to at least try it. Besides, I just might find that I like it (that was the result with the pigeon – a delicious game bird. But as always, I am off-subject, so back to the story).

Of course, there were other things on the menu, fried pork, excellent veggies, and an incredibly delicious dish of fresh water snails (my friends kept trying to say ‘fresh water coach’ (meaning conch)), so I knew if I didn’t like the looks of the snake or if I actually got past that and didn’t like the taste of the snake there were plenty of other dishes I could enjoy.
But you know, of course, that there is more to it than just our eating it. We had to pick them out!
So off to the snake pen we go!
This is a dirt floor room in the back of the restaurant and the snakes are just hanging out having a good time with each other not realizing the finite number of days they have left. The snake handler steps into the room and stirs them up so they slither around and you can select the one you want. See that big plump black one? Or maybe you would rather have the brown and white one that is shedding its skin? Doesn’t matter. You pick it. You eat it. The guy grabs the snake fast (trying not to get bitten – he did show us his scars), stuffs it in a bag and heads off to the kitchen.
In the end, the snake is cut into 3 inch long strips and fried. Let me tell you, fish bones are nothing compared to this. Snakes have a zillion bones and if you can pull the meat off the bones, you can actually get a decent sized bite. But to be honest, the work is not really worth the result and so I ate my piece of snake and then feasted on the snails and pork.
So there you have it.

Ok, you can be excused to gross out now after which you will be returned to your regularly scheduled fun stories.

I Promise.

Maybe.

Drifting

2009-08-23T13:02:00.002+08:00

Drifting is Chinese for White Water Rafting.
I know what you are saying; “You are supposed to be in China to work – not spend all of your time on these weekend excursions, goofing off, doing crazy things and having crazy conversations with locals, and in general making an American Spectacle of yourself.”
Too bad; we did it anyway.

We arrived in China Thursday night and worked on Friday and then the entire team (now grown to about 15-20 people) combined with us Americans went drifting on Saturday.
We left the hotel at 05:30 AM and drove the 45 minutes to Changsha where we met everybody else. Then we loaded up into a large tour bus and drove another 2.5 hours west of Changsha to what would have to be the actual location for “The Middle of Nowhere” at the Xiaxi River. Beautiful scenery and country side in the foothills of some mountainous region.

You are provided a life vest (yes, they actually had one to fit us), a helmet, and a piece of wood with a wide end that is your “paddle”. You sit in a two person inflatable raft that is maybe 6 feet long, and off you go. Interestingly enough, this was the same day that Charles and Sam’s Scout Troop was headed to the Nantahala River in North Carolina for their annual white water trip. So in essence, I was with them in spirit – because the similarities pretty much stop there.
To understand the river, you have to understand one aspect of the “normal” Chinese person – they don’t swim. Therefore, their exposure to canoeing, boating, or other water sports is pretty much non existent. So to have a water rafting experience, you need a river that doesn’t require maneuvering skill. You need a river that will pretty much push the boat along with out the need for steering and containing “controlled” rapids. This river is pretty small; maybe 15 feet wide and the rapids for the most part are man made with large rocks strategically placed into the water and in several places the river is dammed to form a single drop ramp that is built only slightly wider than your raft that allows you to “shoot” through the rapid (much like the log rides you see at Six Flags or other amusement parks). These were actually very fun drops because they were generally about 10 or 12 feet in elevation at 45 degree angles to provide a big splash at the bottom. I actually tried paddling and steering until I realized the best experience was use the paddle to push off rocks to let the water do the work while enjoying the pinball effect of bouncing through the rapids. This meant several rapids and falls were made facing backwards (I admit, a 12 foot drop backwards is an interesting experience).
My raft partner (one of our financial people) told me that she didn’t swim, and she was a little nervous about the whole thing, so I did try to keep us aimed forward as much as possible. She is very small (5 feet tall, maybe 100 lbs) and had one big rapid where she was bounced airborne which frightened her, but she regained her composure, and ended up really enjoying the whole experience.

The whole ride lasts about 2 hours. The water is clean and cool, but not cold, and being a 94 degree day, it felt great. I did get a bit sunburned on my legs, but not too bad. And of course, at the take out point, there are the many vendors selling food and drinks, so Drew and I enjoyed a cold Pi Jiu while we turned in our equipment. There are showers and locker rooms (its China, so naturally these are available for a fee) where we showered and dressed for the ride back to town. We stopped to eat on the way back (that restaurant is the story for another day) and finally made it back to the hotel at 06:00 PM.

I admit I was unsure about doing this because I was concerned about water quality, but we were in a remote area in the mountain foothills, and it turned out the water was fine and the whole day turned out great! It’s not very challenging and for a 2 hour ride, it was a terrific experience. We all agreed we should do this again.
I don't have a water proof camera, so my pictures are limited to these pictures are before and after shots.

Sitting in The Emergency Row

2009-08-21T09:49:00.001+08:00

As most everybody knows, the leg room in an airplane doesn’t really exist. Some financial guy decided over the best intentions of the Industrial Engineer that if they reduce the legroom by 3 inches, then 2 extra rows of seats could be added to the plane and this therefore, increases the possible revenue stream.
The same exists in China. Except that since the average Chinese is already smaller than the average the American, it can be even tighter.
So, when checking in for Chinese flights, I always remind the ticket agent of the fact that I am tall and have long legs and to please provide me a seat in an emergency row, or at a bulkhead, or wherever there is an configuration that will allow me even a couple more inches of leg room. It never works. Chinese flights are always 100% full (they will cancel partially full planes and combine to make this happen) and so it always seems that the good seats are taken and I have to cram into a regular seat.
Last night, as we arrive into China, we discovered that we could actually get an Emergency Row seat. I admit I was surprised because not only has it not worked in the past, but because I don’t speak Chinese and really couldn’t follow instructions in the event of an actual emergency.
But I smiled and took the seat.
As is part of the normal routine, before takeoff the flight attendant stops at our row and runs through a standard speech informing us we are in an Emergency Row and verifies we are OK with this and then runs through the usual description of how to operate the door, etc. She of course is doing this in Chinese and the guy next to me is answering “yes, yes, yes” to all of her instructions. I am smiling and nodding my head because I know what she is saying and was trying to indicate that I understand the responsibilities (trying to avoid her deciding I shouldn’t sit there and then wanting to swap me with someone else).
As soon as she finished, she apparently asked my seat mate if he understood the instructions and he answered “yes”, so I said yes, also.
At which point she smiled at me, wagged her finger, and in her best Chinglish said “You no touch door.”
Yes Ma’am.
All those around us who understood English had a good laugh.

Anyway, I am back in Xiangtan for a month and we arrived safely last night and I didn’t have to follow any especial instructions about the Emergency Exit Door.

The Chairman

2009-05-22T03:12:00.013+08:00

With all due respect to Mr. Sinatra, I’m talking about Chairman Mao.

He was born, raised, began his Revolution, and returned as an adult to build his summer retreat not in New Jersey, but in the local village of Shaoshan (Shao as in “ow”; Shan as in “yawn”) which is about an hour west of Xiangtan some 50 Km away.

From his rudimentary beginnings including the pond where he learned to swim and the mountains that he explored with his parents and his two younger brothers to the common room where he met with local villagers to present his ideas of the communist state culminating in his Summer Retreat Home (his version of Camp David?) this village is All Mao, All The Time.
I have met people in the last 2 years who

Love him/Hate the Party,
Hate him/Love the Party,
Love him/Love the Party,
(or very, very quietly dislike both)

But regardless of your position, this town certainly loves him. Of course there is the obvious affection resultant from the benefits of the tourism dollars, but I witnessed people praying, crying, leaving flowers, and struggling past others just to touch his personal objects or his original photographs and I came away with a sense of non coerced, genuine affection for the hometown man.

I had scheduled a driver from the hotel to get there and then wait for me to tour the complex and eventually return me to the hotel. The driver has certainly does this before and he had my day all planned out. First, we drove the back roads to get there so I could see more of the rural areas, he delivered me to the Summer Retreat entrance making it very clear where he would be when I was finished. He had picked a place for lunch at a roadside café where we both ate (I paid for both, of course), and then he walked with me a short distance to Mao’s childhood family home (which I hadn’t realized was so close by). A different route was used back to the hotel and all for only a small flat rate fee. Of course, I did chuckle when I think I saw some money changing hands as he received a small kickback from the restaurant owner for “choosing” that location and I definitely saw him slipping the kickback with the Hotel Concierge (who scheduled him on my behalf) upon our return, but hey – I didn’t care. It didn’t cost me much (the whole 8 hour day with lunch was around $55) and if he and his buddies have a little system on the side, I figure I’m just helping the economy.

The Summer Retreat was built after he became Chairman and consists of several thousands of acres of mountainous region where you can tour the house, walk the trails, and view the swimming pond. This was his Camp David and he entertained and strategized with many a Party Leader here, yet the house is really quite simple and plain. You can view his bedroom, bathroom, meeting rooms, and walk through the bomb shelter and the earthquake shelter. Mao considered himself a poet of sorts, and many of his poems are etched onto walls and rocks (Chinese, of course, so I couldn’t read them). Outside, there are several meandering trails (i.e.: Steps from Hell) up through the mountains to visit the various scenic overlooks and to visit the tombs of his Grandmother and Grandfather. I am amazed at the beauty of the place. Similar to some other areas I have visited, this is not unlike the North Carolina Mountains – but with Ginkgo trees – big "smokey" mountains with skies full of clouds, small streams, ponds, flowers, birds, etc. I did manage to complete one trail up to his Grandfather’s tomb, but only got halfway to his Grandmother’s due those infamous steps. But it didn’t matter. It was a beautiful day, fabulous weather, and I was outside simply enjoying nature without the politics.

The Childhood home is also quite simple with a thatched grass roof. Based on the size of the house and the fact that the barn was actually enclosed and part of the house, I’m not sure his family would have been considered “dirt poor” as our educational propaganda would have us believe (certainly not the one room log house of Abe Lincoln), but it was simple nonetheless. We weren’t allowed any inside photography, but you can see the house from the outside. I did have to chuckle that Mao’s room held the place of honor next to his parent’s room and his 1st younger brother’s room was next to his, but the youngest brother’s room was next to the pig pen way on the other side of the building (maybe he wasn’t so popular with the rest of the house?). The middle brother was killed in battle during the Revolution.

It was a full 8 hour day and I was sore from the steps, but I can now claim to have seen The Chairman’s House!

For those who can get here (meaning Jane G!), this is a must see.

Though, admittedly, I never did find out if this Chairman could sing.

Chinglish Explained

2009-05-14T09:35:00.009+08:00

There were several comments and I received several emails asking "just exactly what the last sign meant?"
I told you it was my favorite.
I spent some time that day - and even the next day - trying to interpret that sign.

So let's look at the sign again, and I will toss out my answers - you guys can chime in if you agree or if you have a different idea ...

The Board of the visitors know .... Attention all visitors
Field inside must go by car to play, ... You must ride the trolley car to go inside the amusement ride to experience it (Hmmmm, I wonder if Tom B or Tommy S remembers the weekend at Disney on "Mr Toad's Wild Ride? Robyn should inquire ...)
Then can produce the geezer result ... Then you can experience the fun (“geezer result” could mean “old result” meaning “historical ” result meaning “intended” result – which would be fun?? )This is why this sign is one of my favorites … it’s a ‘stumper”!
Field inside strictly forbid the firework, prohibit to touch the internal facilities, ... The amusement ride inside strictly forbids fireworks (duh), Keeps hands inside the trolley car,
embark the wayWin ... To enter (to begin the way inside) with an extra "W"
to strictly forbid to stand , get off to beat to make to throw the product with confusion, ... No standing, getting off the trolley car or hitting the displays, or damaging the ride by throwing objects (though I would think it would be a bad idea to throw objects even if you were not confused).
if full of energy disease, Heart attack, the one who drink to excess can not embark ... If you are lethargic (?), have risk of heart attack, or drunk; you cannot ride the amusement

Any other ideas???

Chinglish

2009-05-11T17:13:00.007+08:00

Chinglish is the result of trying to translate Chinese into English when the translator is not Daniel Webster. It can be spoken or in print.
I have read some articles where various authors were espousing the joys and importance of Chinglish as a heritage worth preserving and not something that we should make fun. But, I'm sorry - I just can't help it!

Anyway I have found myself taking photos of some of the more entertaining signs I have run across, so naturally, I figured it was time to share.
These are great and I’ll let the pictures do the talking (remember, you can always click the picture to enlarge it and then use your back button to return here to see the next one).

Some of the pictures are not really wrong - but funny nonetheless - so enjoy!
I started to put my some of my own captions to them, but then realized, why steal your fun? You guys can comment your own captions.
The very last picture is my favorite ... I had to read it a few times to fully undertsand.

Is that right?
I think so, yes.
Exackery!!

Say What???

2009-05-08T15:49:00.006+08:00

This morning we held a review meeting with our global corporate team for a review session on our project status.
Our facility manager was presenting the status of the construction. During this time he was discussing the various governmental approvals that must be obtained at various points in time in order to proceed with construction.
For each of these, the typical bureaucracy is that the construction team meets with local Level 1 Office who reviews and gives approval. Then the data is passed to a Level 2 Office who reviews and may reject for some obscure reason. We then make corrections, return to Level 1 Office who has to approve again, pass to Level 2 Office who may approve, then pass to Level 3 Office who finds yet another "problem". We go fix that one and return to Level 1 Office and the cycle continues until all approvals are obtained and the final approval is granted.
In China, this really isn't surprising and you have no other choice but to just get through it. Each level has to approve independently and they certainly don't talk to each other and the regulations are highly subjective in interpretation and much of the process seems to be nothing more than job security for the government agencies - so its pretty much a guessing game as to how difficult an approval will be or even to predict when approvals will eventually be granted.
Anyway, our facility guy was reviewing all of this and then showed the list of approvals we are required to obtain from the local government agencies ...

Fire Prevention System
Safety System
Plumbing System
General Construction Quality
Electrical Systems
Environmental Systems
Birth Control Systems
HVAC System

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Back up. What did you just say???
Birth Control Systems????"

The whole meeting comes to a stop.

First, remember that there is a "One Child Policy" in China. Each family is allowed one child and there is some sort of penalty for those who violate.
Second, Construction crews are generally migrant workers from very rural areas who travel very far distances to obtain construction jobs and they all live on site until the job is complete and then they migrate to another location (regardless of distance) and start anew.
As a result, it is quite possible that a worker may have a family and a child in some far away town. But, while on the job, a worker may get "lonely" and the next thing you know, he has fathered another child. And that is illegal. And guess what?
The Construction Company is financially libel for the, um, "output" of their workers while living in their construction team dormitories. "So, Yes, Mr. Corporate Manager - we have to obtain a Birth Control Approval from the local government agency showing that the construction company is managing and complying with The Policy."

Never before have I heard such silence in a meeting.

As I have said many times before .... Only in China!

Pity Party Averted

2009-05-01T21:10:00.004+08:00

Sometimes the time and distance and other events just get to you. It’s not supposed to, but in all honesty, and despite my independent nature, sometimes it does.
It happened this week.
First, I either ate or drank something I shouldn’t have. I do admit to trying anything (well almost – no snake, yet) and I do enjoy just walking onto a new strange restaurant and just trying it out. But on Wednesday, I felt pretty crummy on the inside. Nothing disastrous, but certainly off my game.

And then it was raining.

Noah and the Ark type raining. All day. Nasty, dreary, not going to be able to go outside type of rain. Tack on to that several nights of late phone call meetings back to the states and I was getting a little hotel stir crazy.

So, in general, I was feeling out of whack.

Then Thursday hits.

I took my taxi to work and about mid morning I realized “Where’s my cell phone?” Running through the morning in my head I came to the only possible conclusion. Its in the taxi. Oh No! A few phone calls to the hotel and taxi company and the phone itself turn up nothing.

Its gone. Lost.

And that feeling of being totally alone hit like that ton of bricks being pulled off the truck after being stacked so neatly onto it.

Communicationless. It can’t get any worse.
Our Admin (Joyen) worked feverishly trying to help. But I soon realized I got big problems. By the afternoon, when I called the phone, it was always busy, busy, busy so I know that whoever found it is having a grand time calling all their “buds”.
About this time, our Admin sends me an email that says “There is a saying in Chinese, which means, you would get something more if you lose something.” I know she is trying to help, but it doesn’t seem like it right now. I tell her thanks and give a weak smile. As you can imagine, right now I am lower on the food chain than plankton.
So I send an email to our corp folks to tell them to suspend the service on the phone and I plan to call them later that evening from the hotel.
Since I can’t do anything until 08:00, I literally force myself to leave the hotel and go out for dinner. The exercise walking down the street will help, but I’m really not into it. I stop at a place I hadn’t been to before and of course they don’t have pictures on the menu. The little old lady owner kept saying no to everything I inquired about (not helping my mood, mind you), but I stay focused and working with the younger workers, I manage to get a very good dinner of fried pork with peppers and rice and some green veggie I have no idea what it was, but saw someone else eating it and just pointed. Dinner was good mood lifter and of course all of the funny parts of that helped and the other diners were good natured and I left feeling somewhat more inspired.
I call corp at 08:00 PM (08:00 AM USA) and Holly is terrific. She immediately contacts the carrier, ATT, and suspends service and tells me she has a spare phone (someone had turned in) and while its not a great phone, she can DHL it to me and get me back in communicationland relatively fast and then when I get home I can get a better phone. So, OK. At least we have a plan and I’m not getting hassled about corp rules on losing phones and who has to pay and to what cost center to charge to and all that red tape.
Since I can’t do anything else now, I should at least check my emails and let everyone know I am sans-phone.
As I log on, I have an email from Lin Yan (in Chengdu) telling me that someone found the phone, called her (the 1st Chinese name in the address book) and wants to return it. She gave me his name and phone number! Of allpeople - Lin Yan. I couldn't have been more fortunate.
I had the front desk call him and explain the details and ask when would it be convenient for him to bring it to the hotel. He said “now is fine.” Thirty minutes later he walked in and returned it. I tried to give him some money for his trouble, but he wouldn’t have any part of that. So I tried to at least pay for his taxi – again, no. The reason the phone was busy was him trying to call the numbers to find the owner and since the phone is in English he couldn't read it so he was going down the list one by one. And here I was thinking that someone was having a party with it. Now I really felt like a heel. We shake hands and he leaves.
Anyway, I call corporate back and, unfortunately due to several rules, they have to send a new SIM card, which I should get early next week.
So, in the end, my self imposed pity party was remedied by a Good Samaritan who I will never see again and don’t even know his name and who wanted nothing in return.

Its now Friday and the Sun is shining again - and not just in the sky.
What was that saying from Joyen?
“You would get something more if you lose something.”
I have to learn how to say that in Chinese.

Sights and Sounds

2009-04-28T15:58:00.016+08:00

I spent a few days last week in Chengdu to try and wrap up some outstanding issues and then returned to Xiangtan on Saturday. Therefore, I haven’t really had the chance for some new adventures and experiences. But I needed to let you guys know some of what has been going on, so this posting is intended to just be a few blurbs of things I’ve seen, read and/or overheard.
So – Sights and Sounds From China …

Women in Green …
As reported in the China Daily ….
“A group of young women walked through the streets of Chengdu wearing nothing but tree leaves in order to promote vegetarianism. Though they attracted lots of attention from people, some say it won’t be successful. “People who saw them may remember their sexy outfits, but they would not remember why they did that” said one resident of the city”
Just what is happening in this country? Half naked ladies walking the streets; you’d think it was America! This capitalism thing will be the ruin of us!! Chairman Mao probably rolled over.
And I missed it (the ladies, not the Chairman)!!

Lost in China …
I often get lost over here.
Actually in truth, it’s pretty hard to get lost here since you are only one taxi ride away from wherever you want to be. But I think this bus definitely is lost. Everybody but these two passengers knew it – probably explains why nobody else was getting on the bus! But in true Chinese form, that didn’t stop the driver from soliciting riders anyway – or at least the four legged kind.

Basic Transportation …
Recalling my story about impressing your friends by driving a Ferrari, this next guy would be defined as the ultimate purist. After all, 6 disk automatic CD Changers, 8 speaker surround sound, built in GPS and cell phone with satellite radio are all just fluff! If you need a good ride, don’t waste your hard earned RMB on all those extras. All you need is an engine, a drive train, and 4 wheels.
Keyless entry?
Yeah, I got your keyless entry right here, buddy!!

Unloading the Bricks …
Now some poor guy spent a whole day loading those bricks perfectly onto that truck so he could maximize his delivery to his all-important customer. But apparently, he misunderstood the order. His customer ordered a PILE of bricks, not a stacked load of bricks. Geez, now we just got to make our own pile like we wanted.
Actually, you see this a lot here. I often wonder if the supervisor has ever calculated that he is probably breaking about 15% of what he ordered, paid for, but can’t use?

One Legged Men …
We all know the phrase about “Being busier than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest” but in reality, what do you do if you have a bunch ofone legged people?How do you get around? These guys have it figured out – just watch the video.

Roller Coasting …
It’s a beautiful day and you need to get the kids outside before they drive you crazy. So what to do? There is always the local park where they can stand in line for an hour to ride the one car roller coaster. Ten feet off the ground for 30 seconds makes that line worth the wait, huh. And of course you are already well versed in the polite manner in which Chinese stand in line. But there is the prospect of having to cross the “Chasm of Death”. I’m still trying to determine if this girl was enjoying that prospect. And from the looks of the rusted I-beams that held this thing together – she may be right in being worried.
I think I’ll pass on this one, too.

New Years is closer than You Think …
And of course, what would a day at the park be without a little music to soothe your soul? After all, the Chinese New Year is only 9 months away and if you want to be on Dick Clark’s “Rockin’ Chinese New Year” extravaganza (11:00 PM on CCTV1), you better start practicing now. These guys gave me my own serenade and when they finished this one, they showed off with athoroughly festive version of Jingle Bells – on April 26th!! Only in China.

Self Medicating …
My ear has gotten a little clogged up and I was worried about an ear infection. I didn’t bring any ear drops with me, so I figured I was would try the well known “Swimmers Ear” cure. That is 50% white vinegar with 50% rubbing alcohol mixture. And those should be safe and easy to find locally, right? Well, white vinegar is easy. It’s right next to the soy sauce at the store. Alcohol can be found at the pharmacy. Sort of. Two pharmacies later I finally resorted to calling one of my Chinese friends to translate over the phone – but he didn’t know what rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol was, so that got me nowhere fast. So I figured, these are pharmacists, they study chemistry. I’ll just write down the chemical formula for alcohol and they’ll know that! Sorry. Not gonna happen, either. I began to think I was just going to have use Bijoh – which is Chinese moon shine/grain alcohol, but fortunately, one of my American friends saw the pharmacy workers cleaning something with Q-tips and a clear liquid from a bottle. One whiff and Eureka!! That’s what I want. I point. They smile. 15RMB later, I am hearing much better.
To be honest, I am quite surprised I even remember the formula myself. Chemistry was never my main strength. But as I write this, I can hear all those medical people in my family and my nerdy children groaning over my lack of chemistry prowess. But I got what I needed!

And Finally …
I am using a different hotel than the 1st one I used in Xiangtan. This one is the Paragon Hotel and is significantly better than the Huadu. Just some photos for you to close out a few sights because it is a pretty nice place. It should be, I’m paying the exorbitant price of $69.00/night! OK, that was sarcasm, but several people think I’m crazy to stay here because “too much.” Nice photos, though.

Xiangtan Begins

2009-04-20T10:50:00.004+08:00

I have been in the USA for four months and have just returned to China. I am now in Xiangtan and will be here until mid May.

I am beginning to think that Xiangtan may take a little getting used to (duh).
Of course I know I am new here and don’t anything about it just yet, and I do acknowledge that Chengdu took some time to learn where to go, what to see, how to get around, etc; but this is definitely a small town.

I managed to get out between rain storms on Saturday to walk and see and look around. My first observations are that the roads are in need of some definite attention. Too many potholes and broken curbs and cracked, broken sidewalks. And the little street sweepers that you would see all over Chengdu keeping all the debris cleaned up with their little witches brooms are nowhere to be seen here. In fact, large piles of months (years?) old trash is literally strewn everywhere. So while I know I am not in Kansas, Toto; I am definitely in the rural reaches of south central China.
My second observation is that there are far fewer restaurants available. I had grown accustomed to having restaurants and banks on every street corner all competing for my Yuan, making it easy to select where to go for lunch/dinner - but not so much here.
My third observation is that westerners are pretty much non existent. I saw a few in the hotel and a couple out on the streets, maybe only 10 or 15 so the local stares are pretty intense. However, as I have found the curiosity is pretty strong also, so several people have stopped me to ask where I am from and that always leads to interesting dialogue. Like the guy who stopped me on the street to ask where I was going (and since I was just walking with no destination in mind), I pointed forward and said “I am going that way.” He looked puzzled and asked “What’s ‘That way’?”, so naturally I replied “I have no idea, that’s why I am going there.” He smiled and said “Um, well, OK.” And then scurried off.

So, while I find the town really small and in need of some infrastructure improvements, it seems I will be able to count on the natural curiosity of strangers to engage in the usual bantering. I do find it interesting that the Chinese are much more curious and desiring to talk to strangers than the Americans are.

My only real concern so far was in finding a bank to draw some money. In fact, this caused me a major anxiety for a while on Friday. Recently, my company changed from a corporate MasterCard to a corporate American Express card. Normally, I would prefer this until I began to hunt for an ATM that would accept an Amex card. The more I looked, the less I found. Since I had all of 100RMB in my pocket, this was a little disconcerting and I began to panic about what I was gonna do if the Amex just wasn’t accepted here? Bank of China is the largest bank and the easiest to deal with (ATMs have English language option), but even those I found didn’t accept Amex. Fortunately, with the help of our local team and driver, we found that the Bank of China central office ATM in the middle of town will, in fact, accept an Amex. Whew! Of course, I have no idea how we got there, so I will require help again to find it when it’s necessary to reload but at least funding won’t be an issue – even if I have only one location.

It did rain all weekend (at times very hard), so I have had only about 3 hours Saturday and 2 hours Sunday to go explore to locate restaurants, stores, ATMs, etc, so I still have much to figure out. But I did locate a good place next to the hotel to get cheap beer and the always important Coca Cola’s and there is, of course, a McDonalds and KFC. I did actually stop at McDonalds for Lunch Saturday and discovered that they also have a delivery service. As you see from the photo all that is required is to bring your bicycle into the store, load the food into a warming bag, place that into a basket on the bike, and off you go. Imagine that back home? I couldn’t either.

Anyway, this next adventure has now begun and I have a whole new lifestyle to learn. Should be interesting.

Here are few more pictures of the Xiang River, and some of the sites I have seen. The river is big and full of commercial barges and some small fishing boats. It runs through the middle of town. I found a park where people can visit and walk and fish and they have some “attractions” for the kids. I especially liked the air filled balloon you get into and “roll” your way around on the lake. I know somewhere there is the Chairman Mao museum (this was his birthplace) and some attractions associated with him, but those are adventures for another day.

Xiangtan!

2008-11-25T04:43:00.007+08:00

After a very successful customer audit in Chengdu, where I believe we will finally get approval to allow us to ship production parts and volumes (as opposed to only experimental parts), I began packing the final items from my apartment in preparation for traveling to Xiangtan. My plans sort of changed last minute as they wanted me to stop in to assist in interviewing a candidate for the Quality Manager position. If any TSA agent was to search my suitcase, they probably would have thought some crazy guy was traveling. I had the very minimal clothes I brought but then added all of the various items that I had been leaving there but now needed to take home – some gifts to others, a few gifts given to me, my iPod travel alarm clock, some other odds and ends and even an old briefcase that I want to keep. I did not want to have to carry my small back pack on the plane (along with my new briefcase) so I tried to pack it all inside the suitcase. Each traveler is allowed 25 Kg/bag and if you go over, it’s a pretty hefty fee, so a good idea not to exceed the limit and I was afraid I would be approaching the limit so I packed some things inside the backpack and then packed that inside the suitcase. The plan was that if I was over, I could quickly open the suitcase and pull out the backpack and just hand carry it and not bog down the check in line. Of course, it would still be same amount of weight on the plane, but I guess they don’t want baggage handlers lifting that extra weight. As it turned out, I was only 21 Kg, so no issue. But you can imagine the contents looked peculiar.
Anyway, I headed out Thursday morning for the airport and chuckled as the taxi driver grunted to pick up the bag and put in the car.
The flight to Changsha was 1.5 hour and I arrived with no delays and was picked up by the Timken driver and we headed for the plant in Xiangtan 45 minutes away.
The temporary office we are using is inside the office building of our customer (who is also our JV partner in this little endeavor) so they are significantly better than the temporary offices we used in Chengdu. Their manufacturing plant is awesome. It’s huge, as might be expected, but this location only manufactures the wind mill housing. These housings are amazingly monstrous. They are built to allow someone to be inside (maintenance purposes, I suppose). Sorry, no pictures allowed (but you can learn more at http://www.xemc-wind.com/en/2_jxtz-1.html) and here are 2 web photos.

The city of Xiangtan had been described to me as “the armpit of China” so I wasn’t sure what to expect (well, with a description like that, I was expecting something, but hoped it wasn't going to be bad) , but on 1st impressions I think that I was told wrong. There is a river (forgot the name – should have written it down) that divides the city. The “industrial side” is pretty sparsely populated and we saw relatively few cars and people out and about (odd for China) but the other side was teeming with people and had all the city trappings I have come to expect. Since I was only there one night, I didn’t really get to see too much, but our driver did stop at a small vendor stand selling the locally popular “Beetle Nuts.” This is some species of nut that is picked, dried, and boiled or pickled for eating. The liquid used is flavored (the variety we sampled had a peppermint additive) and you eat them. I would have to say this would be analogous to a southern USA boiled peanut? Regardless of what you might say from this description, they were pretty tasty.
After working all day Friday, we drove back to Changsha for the night in preparation of going home Saturday. We walked along the river in that city and saw what we could – Chinese Architecture, old boats cruising the river, and the area seems to be enjoyable enough – so looking forward to spending more time here.
Dinner proved that the food in Hunan Province is just as spicy as in Sichuan so we enjoyed a very good dinner Friday night. I introduced Drew (Project Manager) to pigeon which he thoroughly enjoyed! We also discovered Russian Beer! This was really good.
So despite being referred to as “the Armpit of China”, I found my initial experience to be a good one and am looking forward to my next visit which will most likely be in March…but I’ll let you know if that changes.

Odds and Ends

2008-09-12T17:57:00.015+08:00

I guess I have gotten a little lost of late focusing on those mundane, unimportant things like start a plant, make a product, ship it, approve it, get paid for it, so I figured it was time to at least try and catch up a few thoughts bouncing around this bald head of mine …

… I have played - and as usual I use the term “play” very loosely - the game of Yu Mao Qiu (you-mao-cho).
This is badminton. Real badminton. No swinging a racket with your right hand and hold a cold beer in your left hand during a Labor Day cookout while burning bratwurst on the grill.
This is blood and guts badminton. The take-no-prisoners badminton. The stuff Olympics are made of. I wasn’t sure it qualified as a “sport”. Maybe now I think otherwise.

I lost.

Not to a guy; they wouldn’t play with us. They were too good.

To a girl?

No.

I lost to FOUR girls, thank you very much.

Even when they let me cheat (and cheat blatantly), I got trounced, smashed, whipped, beat, spiked, pulverized, and in general smacked around to the highest level.
My arms hurt. My legs hurt. My back hurt. And did I mention no beer?
My daughter says I am sexist, but she’s wrong. A sexist wouldn’t have lost four times to four different women. A sexist would have figured out a way to win to save face. No, I’m just a badminton loser.
We, uh I mean, they also play Ping Pong Qiu. I didn’t even try. I had learned my lesson from badminton. Jeff tried the Ping Pong. These guys and gals are all Olympians. Then we saw the coach’s clinics being conducted around us. Nine and ten-year olds playing like world champions with coaches teaching spins, swings, moves, serves, and drill after drill after drill. Amazing.

… A Walk through “Poets Park”.
It is named in honor not of a Boy named Sue, but a Man named Shu. I think this is him. Nice park. But sometimes you wonder how they keep their lakes and ponds so clean of trash. Simple. You send out the trash scooper.

But if you get the job offer, be sure to inquire about the equipment in advance. Good balance is a job requirement. And maybe, just maybe, it would be helpful to know how to swim. You never know when that skill could come in handy.

It sort of bothered me why his equipment budget was so low, until I realized that they were probably just saving money so they could grow the concrete sidewalk. Yes, that is a sprinkler head embedded in a concrete field.

Oh, so that’s where it comes from.

… I also saw “A House near a Creek and a Bridge”

I was walking down a street and there it was. A house near a creek and a bridge. Why? I have no idea why and no explanation of its purpose. It was just there. It has a sign. It must be something. Beats me. But here's the house. Here's the creek. Here's the bridge.
I have racked my brain and can’t even think of even one funny line to go with it – it was so oddly placed - but I can't. So I invite you guys in the spirit of audience participation programs worldwide to help me out here. It needs a caption. I need a caption.

Don Quixote?

2008-08-27T21:33:00.005+08:00

Of course as much as you guys have enjoyed reading these strangely written and obtusely formed ramblings, you always knew that this adventure wouldn’t last forever.

Or does it?

Actually, it ends and starts anew all the same time.

Huh?

I have been asked (and accepted) to help with our Xiangtan Plant project to build Wind Energy Bearings. That’s the fancy business term for wind mill bearings. Only unlike Don Quixote we’re building them and not dueling with them.
I know you have a ton of questions, so go ahead and ask, but unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of answers. So I’ll tell you what I know and you can be patient for me to fill in the answers as we go along.

Xiangtan is 2 Provinces east of Chengdu (and slightly south) in the Hunan Province. Population around 500,000 which, as you recall from earlier ramblings, means it’s similar to a US city of about 50,000. Small town. Probably limited attractions. It’s an industrialized area of Textiles, Steel, Iron, Cement, Machine Tools, etc.
The idea is that I guess I did a good job here in Chengdu and now I need to do the same in Xiangtan. I am being transferred to our company’s Quality Advancement Growth Group.
The product is a Wind Mill Bearing. By my standards and experiences, this is a big sucker; Six Feet in diameter and 4,000 pounds … each.
The Project Manager is a friend whose daughter plays soccer with my daughter.
The project is in its infancy, though it sounds like a fair amount of work has already begun. The plant should start up in 2010 or somewhere in that time frame. Right now, the plan (and I use that term loosely) is the travel schedule should remain less than it has been here in Chengdu, but as the plant starts up, all bets are off.

So my time in Chengdu will begin to wind down and then sometime after that, this project picks up. In between I have been asked to return my plant in North Carolina and help install a system for inspecting balls and cages for their aerospace product.
Timing on all of this is a little loose and I do have agreements to return to Chengdu in late fall and possibly early winter to help close out some of the final customer approval items. My part of this Chengdu plant has run pretty smooth. We gained our aerospace certification, gained our company certification, submitted our first production for customer certification (which we’ll achieve formally late fall), and all that remains is gaining our non destructive testing international certification (a geeky thing, but must happen).

So what now?
Complete transfer of my activities to the local team here in Chengdu.
Help start up this inspection process at my home plant.
Jump in on Xiangtan as they pull me in.
Manage 3 projects at once. Piece of cake.
That’s all I know until I actually start meeting with these groups and figure out exactly what is going on.

So I’ll become Don Quixote-ish and tilt at wind mills – but 21st century style!

Do You Like Spicy?

2008-08-25T16:19:00.006+08:00

Sichuan food is VERY spicy.

I guess it’s the Cajun cooking of China.

There is a small peppercorn sized green pepper which despite its small size is like biting into small nuclear bomb. But the one that really gets me is the red pepper. And it is cooked into everything. There must be “pepper farms” the size of Texas in order to produce enough of these to use in all the restaurants in all the cities in all the provinces of China.
But have you ever wondered exactly how these get processed after they arrive from the farms? Even if you said no, I’m gonna tell you anyway.
First, washing is an option. The cooking oil used gets so hot it kills all the germs anyway, and if a little dirt gets mixed, well, as my daughter says “God made dirt, and dirt don’t hurt!”
Next, dry them out. Just fill up a huge bag and wait awhile.
Now you have to separate the pepper from the seed inside. Pile them all out on the ground, slip off your shoes and sit almost in the middle of the pile. If your feet get buried in the pile, don’t worry about it; after all, that’s why you took your shoes off. Find a pair of scissors and start slicing them. One slice is all you need. Your goal is to simply open the pepper so the seed can spill out. One safety item to consider; don’t wipe, scratch, itch, or touch your eyes during this process. But I suppose you only make that mistake once.

Next go get your handy bamboo sifter and sift the seeds out. Seeds on the ground, peppers in a bag.

Now you are ready for the fun part.

These peppers need to be crushed into small pieces for cooking. Now I know what you are thinking, but stomping on them is how you make wine. We use technology. Fire up your “pepper stomper” and crush them babies up! (see video at bottom) Pour a scoop of peppers into the stomper bowl. Keep stirring the pot until the pepper is crushed to the size you want. If you want big pieces, stomp for a short time. If you need tiny pepper, stomp longer. Another safety point: it will shake the very foundation around you so I would suggest you run this machine on a very solid concrete floor.
Might I suggest the sidewalk?
Every seismograph within 100 miles probably will pick up the “thud, thud, thud” of the stomper as it runs.
After you complete the crushing, just bag them up and you are ready to go to market.
At the market, the best way for the customer to get the quantity they want is to use their hands. Don’t sweat using a scooper here. Just grab and go.

Now, finally, cook like your mama told you. One pound of pepper for every ounce of anything else you use. The hotter the better. Slice up a cucumber or other green veggie to cool the burn and you are eating Sichuan Style!! Of course, if that doesn’t help cool the heat and you begin to sweat too much, just roll up your pants legs. And in extreme cases, just take off your shirt.

Why not?

Everyone else does!

You DO like spicy ... don't you???

Impress Your Friends

2008-08-13T21:11:00.007+08:00

Everything in China is about relationships and impressions.

Regardless of business or personal, relationships are how things get done and impressions go a long way in that regard.
Need more business? Forget golf or country clubs or all that jazz; you have to build relationships. And a key part of that relationship building is impressions.

Take your client out to dinner. Always, order too much food even at expensive restaurants. If all the food gets eaten, then you failed. An empty dinner table means someone left the table hungry and you didn’t impress. But then, everyone knows that, so everyone knows you will do it and it’s not as impressive as you would like it to be.

Buy a new suit. Cost is no issue. Buy a $500 (3,500 RMB) Armani suit. It looks good and sure to impress. But then it gets so hot here you want to take off your jacket and that means removing your tie, and at that point you might as well take off your shirt and that never impresses. So unless your client is going to see you for only the first 20 minutes, well then maybe that suit wasn’t such a good idea after all.
So what to do?

About all that the only thing left is getting the best ride you can find to impress your client. So go for the transportation.

No not this one.

Get a car.

Not just any car, you will need THE car.

Sure, anyone can get an Audi A6, that CL Class Mercedes or possibly you have been wanting that full size Hummer (gas prices are for wimps) ...
But what really catches the attention of even the most discriminating of clients just might be the BMW M6. Nothing says engineering like a finely tuned German Automobile.

Or does it?

If all else fails and you have to stay one step ahead of the competition, I suggest you follow the Olympic Spirit and go for the gold … maybe just go red.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, says I want that all important relationship with you unless I can impress with the car of cars.

Buy a Ferrari.

Is this China??

Olympic Athletes

2008-08-06T15:30:00.005+08:00

As I returned to Chengdu, I passed through the Beijing Airport.
In case you didn’t know – the new terminal is supposed to look like a dragon. Which, I have to admit; I would never have recognized if someone hadn’t told me that little factoid. However, once you know the “secret”; from a distance it really does look like a dragon lying on the ground. Those big pointy things sticking up from the roof you see on TV are the dragon’s scales. I am really off track here, but thought you needed some education.
Anyway, the airport was a ghost town. Very few people there and I was very surprised since I was expecting a much larger crowd with the Olympics only 1.5 weeks away. Not that I am complaining though. The small crowds meant we actually got a gate close to the customs area and we were the only plane clearing customs.
No crowds. No lines. No complaints.
After getting “stamped”, I noticed that the Athletes have their own special lane for customs and that after they clear the customs area, there is a small roped off area setup as a welcome station. I saw a small group of American women milling around these tables filling out forms and such (in China, there is always some form to be completed!). I wasn’t sure what the security rules were, but the customs official said it was OK to take photographs as long as I did not photograph the actual customs area. I spoke to the ladies and discovered they were the USA Women’s Water Polo Team (better known as the Tall Blonde Women's Water Polo Team)! Pretty cool I thought (since I come from a swimming family, I felt it was perfect to meet water sports athletes). I asked if I could take their picture and some of them gave me the old “please go away eye roll” (now, … I know they were tired – I just finished a 13 hour flight myself, but come on, help me out here). I casually mentioned that “Hey, you guys are now ambassadors to the world!” At which point one of them snapped to and regained her senses and called out to her friends and they all then lined up smiling and actually seemed to enjoy the moment and the attention. As I took my photo, several other people began grabbing their cameras and doing the same and that is when I realized I probably just started something these ladies really weren’t ready for. Fortunately, they had more paperwork to do, so they had to return to that. But at least I got my picture (click the picture to enlarge)!

So Good Luck to the USA Women Water Polo Team … hope I can watch them on the local TV!

Chinese Star-chitecture

2008-07-23T21:08:00.010+08:00

While I am at home right now, a friend of mine sent me a web link that showcases Beijing’s new CCTV building (artist rendition shown at left); the self described “propaganda arm of the Chinese ruling communist party.”

Interestingly enough (at least to me anyway) is that we saw this building under construction last January.
Those of you who know me already know that I am “elevationally challenged” when on and near the edge of very tall things so I must admit that I am not too sure I want to go inside this building with its glass floors. However, from the street level it is very cool.
As the article points out, the modern-world building is engineered and constructed “… by a nation … allergic to political reform and (yet) still insistent on calling itself communist …” showing that China is indeed branching out to the world even if only visually by using many foreign architects.
By my observation, when a new residential apartment building is being designed, the architects get to pick from either Design #1 or Design #1 or if they are feeling particularly creative, they can choose Design #1. But for office buildings; curves, angles, jagged points,cantilevers, are all used in various ways to create a strong contrast to the myriad of typical cookie cutter apartment buildings being constructed everywhere. At first glance, the various wild shapes and designs seem to conflict with each other but a skyline that intially appears to be lacking a visual plan is actually what makes it work so well - the "architectural cacophany" working in step with the cultural cacophany!

The timing of this web-article (20July) is great since I have long intended to write about some of the unusual new architecture in China but just never seemed to get around to it, so to keep you guys interested while I am at home, I am using this article as my motivational prod to complete that goal. Here are photos of the CCTV under construction, the Bird's Nest (above), The Bubble (right), and The Egg (below)- which are all referenced in the article.

Enjoy the photos and the web link: (for the web challenged: you can click the link and then use your Back button to return here to finish reading)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080720/wl_mcclatchy/2994196

Of course, since Chengdu is the focal point of my adventure I didn’t want to leave it out, so I am also including some of the local Chengdu starchitecture as well. I return next week (no, I doubt I’ll go to any Olympic events; Beijing is 1,000 miles away), but I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for any new construction of interest. Shouldn’t be too hard to find – there is so much construction going on that I have heard the new National Bird of China is the “Crane”!

Back in USA

2008-07-07T22:24:00.003+08:00

I have been home a couple of weeks now and haven't told you I was home, and after seeing my parents this weekend, I was chastised for not keeping you guys up to date on my itinerary, so here is a quickie....
We did complete our accreditation audit in June and we did pass! Of course, we knew we would, but at least we have the official word. This was a 7 day audit process to look at all aspects of our systems. Long. Arduous at times, but over.
We have managed to make our 1st product and it is assembled, complete and ready to ship. Our customer is reviewing all of our paperwork submissions and should approve that and authorize us to ship in 3 weeks or thereabouts and then we continue to move to the next products.
So, while all of that is going on, I headed back home for a much needed week of R&R at the beach with the family and I will continue working from here for about 6 more weeks until I head back.

I did hear from “John” in LA (no, not Lower Alabama, the real LA) who has some questions about Chengdu since he may be moving there soon so the blog is reaching out yet again….Which reminds me – I haven’t heard from “Jane in Texas”, so Jane, what is your status on you and your family moving to Chengdu? Send me a note – mitchell.mercer@timken.com