Beijing

Arrival

The phrase “culture shock” takes on a whole new meaning after stepping off a 14 hour flight from Chicago to Beijing…and though it wasn’t immediately evident, it did not take long to realize that the Far East is more than just a geographical descriptor; it’s also about as far from everyday life that it can get in one of the world’s largest cities. Customs was a breeze. Luggage claim, no problem. Emily and I were arriving a day earlier than our classmates and we had clear instructions to accept no less than 200 RMB/Yuan (~$30) for a taxi ride to our hotel. After collecting our bags in and among a crowd of other English speaking fellow Americans, we walk briskly to the taxi stand and wait in an orderly and fast-moving line before receiving a nod from the uniformed attendant controlling what seemed like an unending flow of yellow & green Hyundai Elantra’s. We take to the cab assigned and ask our driver if he speaks English…a naïve question; he looks utterly confused. Em points to the printed address of the hotel but all we get in reply is a shaking head and a smile. Okayyyy. We try a different cab but same outcome. Three cabbies looking at our printout shaking their heads and talking amongst themselves….Uhhhh, maybe we should’ve just come with the rest of the group a day later. Then, out of nowhere, an English speaking driver comes up and says, “Yea, I know that. No problem. 400 Yuan” No way. 200. ”300” OK, 250. Upon hearing the OK, he immediately grabs a bag at starts racing off to the dark garage. What the hell? Where is he going? Where’s his taxi cab? And why is he running off with our luggage?!?! Something just seems off here. With two good legs, Em runs him down, snatches back the suitcase and we’re back where we started - standing still with luggage at our sides in a sea of yellow and green Elantra’s whizzing by. Finnnnally, we tracked down a guy who knew where to go and accepted our offer of 200 Yuan…which, as it turned out was likely a very generous offer for local standards but still a relatively cheap 30 minute cab ride to the hotel. After an 18 hr door-to-door trip with limited sleep, we were both beat and fought back the sleep to get some overpriced average food from a corner restaurant. Not exactly an inspiring first impression but no matter, the subtleties were lost on these weary travelers anyway.

After some rest, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast buffet replete with both Asian and American breakfast favorites – scrambled eggs, omelets built to order, sausage/bacon, dumplings, fried rice, meat on a stick, watermelon, pastries, etc…finally, a great meal…and one that has since become daily routine at each stop along the way. The Chinese know how to do breakfast. Day 2 we transferred to the Novotel Hotel down the street where the rest of the group would join us later in the day. We took a self-guided tour of the local surroundings, found a great lunch and started to absorb some of the culture. At a local street market we saw all kinds of “delicacies” – Fried scorpion & spider (a whole new kind of meat-on-a-stick) and bottled “snake wine” (dead venomous snakes submerged in white wine to offer added flavor…smelled more like cheap tequila than anything in the wine family). We noticed other differences too – some subtle; some not so much. In the States, our pedestrians have certain rights – even in NYC, the most aggressive drivers yield to pedestrians possessing the right-of-way. In the cities of China, I’m convinced the hospitals have a Pedestrian Ward that keeps the patient flow constant. In the States the lines on the road carry some meaning and a car’s blinker is typically used as intended. In China, despite a similar network of broken and solid white lines, it’s a total free-for-all; signals optional, horns necessary. In the States, our toddlers wear diapers; in Mainland China, the tykes run around with giant holes in their pants (a street corner for the unexpected). In the States, staring is rude and might get you beat up. In China, a blonde haired blue eyed Westerner with a giant boot on his foot = rubber-necking delay. It’s just a little different…

Day 3

The MBA group visits a power technology company in the morning – ABB – to hear a presentation from a Finnish expat and take a tour of the factory. Nothing earth-shattering; a mild intro to business in China. A 2hr bus ride in the afternoon takes us to the outskirts of Beijing where we have a chance to experience the greatness of a very popular wall…you might have heard of it…very cool. The most current version of the wall (it’s been built and rebuilt by various dynasties during the past 2k+ years) stretches over 5,000 miles with a height close to 30 ft tall. The Ming dynasty invested years to construct it during the late 1500’s to early 1600’s, sacrificing over 1M workers (now buried beneath the wall) along the way. Built to ward off the invading Mongolians from the North, the wall now doubles as a common tourist attraction and, apparently, site for late night teenage raves. For as impressive as the sight of the physical structure was and as interesting as the history behind it is, the best part of the day had to be the toboggan ride from the top of the mountain to the bottom. Video documentation complements of Nick Schubert - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfliHTFGi5Y. A lot of fun.

Day 4

Company visits to Lenovo and TopNew in the morning and afternoon. Lenovo is a big time PC manufacturer who bought out IBM’s PC business a couple of years back. Though a Chinese company, very much a western feel. A light tour of a factory with very favorable working conditions followed by a presentation from a smooth-talking, high-rising, verrrry self-assured and relatively young American born VP. It felt like an investor presentation full of aggressive revenue projections, subtle competitor bashing, and a barrage of rhetorical questions – “How long do you think I’ve been in China? Siiixxx years.” “Who has the largest market share in PC’s in China? (pause for effect) That’s right, Lenovo does”. “ Who’s the coolest, smartest dude working for the best company in the world? Yep, I am.” Ok, I made the last one up…but you get the point. After lunch, we head to TopNew, an apparel manufacturing company on the outskirts of the city. THIS is the kind of factory that you typically imagine when you think Chinese manufacturing. We sat through a 20 minute commercial in Chinese with English subtitles that bragged about, among other things, TopNew’s superiority in clothing manufacturing and the compliments from Mao Zedong decades ago, “Chairman Mao commends the TopNew comrades for their quality and flatness of product”. We are then led on a tour by the plant manager where we see an assembly line of women cutting, dyeing, sewing, and stitching fabric. Then on to stamping logos and ironing the finished product before folding and storing for shipment. Their focus is unbroken even by 60 strangers touring their facility and snapping photos all along the way – we learn they are paid by piece and thus any distraction is a lost opportunity. Difficult for us all to imagine making a career in this way. The last stop on the tour is the living quarters. An old dormitory that sleeps 8 to a room. Privacy - a notion foreign to any of these girls. Following the tour, an opportunity for Q&A with the plant manager via a translator. Easy ones to start: “How do you compete internationally?” “Who are your customers?” Then some tougher ones, “How much do the factory workers make?” “How many hours do they work?” The answers just didn’t add up. Wages above the Beijing average. 8-5 workdays with an hour lunch. You could hear muffled responses of disbelief throughout the room (ahem-bullshit). Feeling the rising temperature, the plant manager looks at the watch and communicates through the translator that time is up for questions…an interesting and eye-opening experience all around. According to our local guide, TopNew is a factory with some of the very best working conditions in China. It is where the government officials allow foreign visitors to tour... as the guide put it, a 10-out-of-10 for relative factory conditions. Though hard to relate to these migrant girls’ experiences and living conditions, China is a manufacturing country and these jobs are filled under whatever the conditions may be for a reason – it is still a better option than the poverty of the rural villages from which they’ve come.

Day 5

Group visit to a school set up and run by an NGO established by a couple of charitable local Chinese businessmen. The school is called the Fuping Development Institute and is designed to recruit women from the poor and rural countryside looking for better wages in the city…aspirations that typically find other migrant workers in a factory similar to TopNew (or, more likely, drastically worse). The school trains these women to be nannies for the well-heeled of Beijing. Ages range from 16 to 40+ years old. We toured their training facilities and saw their schooling in action – practice with the ironing board, practice in the kitchen, practice with raising young kids. The plan is to train these women for 9-12 months and then set them up with families in the city looking for live-in help. It appeared to be a far more favorable situation to the conditions observed the day before and by and large the girls/women all looked to be genuinely happy and excited about their opportunity. In the afternoon, we were commissioned to provide some consultative services and offer ideas to help recruit more women from the poorest provinces and establish a greater sense of identity for the almuns of the program. We were then asked to step out to the playground for a couple rounds of “eagle and the hens” (I’d have to show you) and “duck, duck, goose”…a bit strange, but kinda fun.

We got back to the hotel relatively early and took to the famous errr infamous “Silk Market” – a 6 story utopia for anyone who enjoys a bargain and loves to negotiate for it. A different set of goods on each floor. Level 1 – shoes, handbags, and luggage; 2 – coats and apparel; 3 – silk ties & scarves, custom suits; 4 – electronics; 5 – random trinkets; 6 – pearls, jewelry, sunglasses. Everything cheap knock-off’s. North Face jackets - $20. Louis Vutton handbags - $15. Silk ties - $2. Rolex Watches - $10. iPhones - $20. And these prices are not the listed prices….no, these are the average prices reported by the group. It’s all set up so that the consumer must walk through a path no wider than 10 feet and lined with booths on either side measuring about 10ft by 10ft – an intimate area for product evaluation and price negotiation. You see, in the states as consumers we are largely price takers – a price is given and we can then elect to purchase or not. In the Silk Market, the consumer is a price maker. A typical walk down level three will go something like this: The sales pitch from the booth attendant, “Hello. You look familiar. Yes, I remember you! You want coat? Come here, have a look. Best quality. Best price.”, First time here but OK, let me take a look. Yea, this one does look nice. Giorgio Armani? Hmmm… “What’s the price on this one?” As the woman reaches for her calculator (the medium through which EVERY negation is communicated), she starts with the complements, “You…you very handsome man. Very tall. Sexy man”. Well, thank you… “This coat, this quality, usually for 2500 Yuan (7-1 Yuan/Dollar conversion), but for you? Special price, 2200 Yuan ($300+)” as she types the number in the calculator. “2200? That’s way too much…nevermind” Hurriedly she counters by handing the calculator to you and asking for your price. After a handful of observations, you know to start low. You type 50 into the calculator. She sees and stops. Looks up to you with hands on hips and a “Come on, you’ve got to be kidding me” look. She types in 2000. Now you react with the same look and counter with 75. She snatches back the calc and gets down to business, “Serious price now…Final offer. 1500” $225 bucks for a cheap, knock-off coat? No way. You shake your head and turn to walk away….3 steps later she grabs your arm and pulls you back in. “Ok, Ok, for you I go this price” 1000 ($150). You type 100. Her reply, “Come onnnn…You killin’ me!!!”. She types 800. You type 120. She gets frustrated and calls it off. You start to walk away. This time a bit further. 3 full steps out of the booth and down the aisle. “OK OK OK Come back….Final price” 400. Your response, “YOUUUU killin’ MEEE!!!” You type 150. She goes to 300. You go 175. She goes 280. You give up and walk away…this time for good. 5 booths away, you hear a familiar voice now shouting out, “FINE. It’s yours”. You go back and pay 175. Without fail, the same exercise is repeated – almost verbatim – each time you find something that may pique your interest. Thrilling and fun at first, you take the kill back to the group and compare prices. If you’re lower, you feel great. Higher by even 5 Yuan (about 80 cents) and you feel ripped off. By the second or third purchase, the novelty has worn off. A headache sets in and patience runs thin. Time to give it up. You take your purchases home and immediately notice the glaring defects previously unnoticed during the intense negotiations and quickly realize why a $300 real jacket cost you just $25. The lesson here – Negotiation is a part of the culture…it never hurts to try. Restaurants, bars, taxi cabs – more times than not, it’s worth a shot.

Day 6

No company visits. Just a tour of Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Tiananmen Sq is the largest of its kind in the world with over 400k sq feet of open space…well, controlled open space anyway. The square is fenced off and all visitors must flow through two gates located on opposite sides with security checkpoints (gov’t has some serious control issues). It is surrounded by imposing government buildings on 3 sides and the outermost wall of Forbidden City on the 4th. Still used today as a place where the people congregate for celebrations and to hear government officials address the country. Google it someday and read about its history. It is also the infamous site of a seemingly contemporary trend – a 1989 peaceful protest turned terribly violent as the army opened fire killing 100’s of its own citizens. Just don’t Google it here. The internet will pretend as though there’s been a “connection failure”. Impressive in its sheer size alone.

The Forbidden City. “A vast complex of halls, temples and housing, which make up the former residence of the ancient emperors…the Imperial palace is said to contain 9,999 rooms” (from our guide book). Some nice digs, dude. Close to 1,000 different buildings. Built in just 14 years in the early 1400’s by the Ming dynasty and then occupied by the Qing dynasty, this is where the emperor both lived and governed (in two separate buildings separated by enormous inner walls, of course). Our guide, Michael, takes us through the history and stories of life within these walls hundreds of years ago. A giant square within the walls for which to pay daily respect to the ruling emperor – a side for officials; a side for the army. Very strict rules. Should you, by chance, wake up a little groggy and end up on the wrong side, a sign of disrespect punishable by beheading (10 weeks of class in the same room and I still occasionally walk into the wrong door interrupting an ongoing lecture…wouldn’t have lasted 1 day in Imperial China). Michael then sheds some light on why there are so many damn rooms. Sure, the Emperor allowed his wife to live in his home…she just had to share the place with 3,000 other concubines (sex slaves) and they all needed a room to live in. He then pointed out that what with the concubines and rice wine (85% alcohol) and all, an emperor’s life span averaged just about 35 years. Wow, talk about hard to relate to…how long ago did you say this was? The Qing dynasty was finally kicked out in 1912? Holy crap, that’s just 100 years ago!!! An unending labyrinth of hallways, rooms and corridors each possessing their own story. Lots of pictures.

In the afternoon, Emily and I took a self-guided tour of the Temple of Heaven. Located not far from T Square and the Forbidden City in the southeastern part of central Beijing, this equally impressive site was built as part of the same project in the early 1400’s by the Ming dynasty. For the most part, it’s a giant temple with a pair of halls on either side settled at the top of a hill with great views of the city. It served as a place for the “Son of Heaven” (as the emperors liked to think of themselves) to take care of earthly matters such as offering up sacrifices and praying to the gods for plentiful harvests. Again, really interesting stuff all around. Next day - transfer to Shanghai.