From China, With Love

[Jake]

Hey guys,

 

I have opened up another topic for those of you that have lived and worked in China.  I have questions

about living conditions, working with the Chinese, sites and sound, the exotic cuisine and any government

intrusions, like you're being followed?  I'm sorry.....I'm into Tom Clancy books and it can't be that bad, is it?

 

Have a good one guys and Xie-Xie from Jake 

[Methersgate]

Right-oh!

 

Let's start with the Old China Hand's Disclaimer - in use since the 1890's at least - "China is so big, and so diverse, that anything you say about it will be true of somebody somewhere!"

 

"The Chinese don't eat lamb" - except in the North

"The Chinese don't use dairy products" - except in the Northwest

"The Chinese write using ideograms" - apart from one minority race near the Burmese border who use the Western alphabet

...and so on. Palm fringed white beaches - Hainan. Rugged mountain ranges - Tibet. Deserts - the Gobi. Rolling grasslands - Inner Mongolia...and so on!

I was once proposed for membership of the Communist Party of China, by the Group Party Secretary of my danwei ("work unit"), on the grounds that "Lao Bei* has the two essential characteristics - he is a good man and he can hold his drink!" :cheersty:

 

1998 was a big year for reform in China; it was the year when people were officially allowed to buy their own homes and live where they liked, even if they worked for the State Owned Enterprises.

The importance of this was that it meant the end of the Street Committees - the groups of evil nosy grandmothers who were the front line of Party control under Mao, because they knew everything about everybody, and reported it. The Street Committees only worked if people lived in danwei housing. Once people could live where they liked, Party control over things like who came home drunk, who was steeping with whom. and so on, was lost. 

 

I arrived in Beijing in December 1996. That weekend, it snowed. I realised that Hong Kong's idea of an overcoat was by no means up to the job, so, summoning my phrase book, I flagged a taxi and set off for Dongsheng District, aiming for the Beijing Department Store in Wangfujing Dajie. (You will notice that I wrote "THE department store", for, eighteen years ago, there was but one!)

With the help of a good deal of sign language, I parted with 435 kwai and acquired a thick kapok lined jacket. Just as well; it was now snowing hard. I walked down to the Wangfujing Nankou (south entrance) to Wangfujing Street, the corner with East Chang'An Avenue, beside the Beijing Hotel, and tried to flag a taxi back to my company barracks in Fangjuang  ("Fengjuarrrrr" in Beijing dialect!)

No success! I stood in the driving snow, slowly freezing, for an hour as cabs drove past without stopping.

I decided that I hated Beijing and I hated the Chinese.

What a bunch of racist bastards! Just because i had a big nose, they would not stop for me! I should never have moved to live in this awful place! I should have stayed in nice, warm, friendly, Manila, where the cabs stop and they only rip you off a little bit! Too late now!

Finally I had a brainwave. I stumbled into the Beijing Hotel, lurked near a big cast iron radiator in the lobby, dripping, until I thawed out, and then tipped the doorman to get me a cab home. I tipped the driver, found the door of my apartment block, said "Ni hao!" to the knitting old biddies in the lift (see "street committee", above!) and finally got through my door.

Two weeks later it thawed. I ventured back to Wangfujing Dajie to buy some cooking utensils....

In the snow, I had not been able to tell.....

..... I had been standing on a double yellow line!

* "Old Cup". My nickname, based on my surname. Everyone in China has a nickname. If you are unlucky, it's based on your appearance!

Edited July 15, 2014 by Methersgate

[Methersgate]

The Condom Story:

 

I was in Shanghai for a conference with a gang of workmates, mostly younger than I. We decided to take a turn down Nanjing Lu, the main shopping street of Shanghai. One of us had a headache, so we turned into a pharmacy to get some paracetamol (acetaminophen).

 

In moments, Ling, the youngest and prettiest of the party, was cracking up, hopelessly, and we beat a retreat back into the street outside.

 

What she had heard was the sales assistant speaking Mandarin with another customer, evidently, from the language, another Northerner like ourselves, and saying:

 

"Condoms? Of course we have condoms! Here (pointing to a tray) are the local ones. If you wish to spend a little more, for safety, here are the Japanese ones, and if you are feeling really confident we even have the English ones!"

Edited July 15, 2014 by Methersgate

[Jake]

Hey Andrew,

 

Wow, triple wow.  Since arriving in Beijing 1996 with the economic reforms improving the life of the Chinese workers,

it must have been exciting to see major population centers or work centers sprouting up like wild mushrooms.  No

doubt you had a little smirk in your eyes about seeing some of their culture blending in nicely with western culture?  

 

How was that transition for the common working class?  I mean, I could readily see more privately owned cars and

other western conveniences (cell phone, TV, etc).  But are they really happy about productivity growing too much

or too fast?  Pollution is one of the results of that exploding productivity.  

 

Growth as a nation can be a two way sword.  One thing I saw was their increasing dependency of more raw minerals

and fossil fuel.  Another TV documentary I saw were many high rises and shopping malls completely empty.  Is the

real estate business tied in with the government?  Has the bubble burst yet by prosecuting corrupt officials?

 

I just hope the life of the common working class, the common soldier and the farmers are generally happy.  Or do

you see only a selective group reaping the bounties of capitalism?  I also hope they have some sort of fashion police

where they punish bad western influences like baggy pants wore down to their butt cracks or hip hop music that is so

irritating to my ears.

 

As a white foreigner (gweilo - foreign devil), did you really feel safe?  Do you trust many of your Chinese co-workers

giving you sanction if the chit hits the fan there?  

 

From your intro, right away I thought of you as the Asian James Bond.  Travelling, working, jet setting throughout

that part of the world, I could see you having a girlfriend at every major international airport......he, he.

 

Thank you sir!

[Methersgate]

I will try to answer those questions tomorrow, Jake. One thing I will say right away is that I felt completely safe.

 

I am sure Terry has better stories but keep in mind he is behind the Great Firewall of China at present.

[Jake]

The Condom Story:

 

I was in Shanghai for a conference with a gang of workmates, mostly younger than I. We decided to take a turn down Nanjing Lu, the main shopping street of Shanghai. One of us had a headache, so we turned into a pharmacy to get some paracetamol (acetaminophen).

 

In moments, Ling, the youngest and prettiest of the party, was cracking up, hopelessly, and we beat a retreat back into the street outside.

 

What she had heard was the sales assistant speaking Mandarin with another customer, evidently, from the language, another Northerner like ourselves, and saying:

 

"Condoms? Of course we have condoms! Here (pointing to a tray) are the local ones. If you wish to spend a little more, for safety, here are the Japanese ones, and if you are feeling really confident we even have the English ones!"

Perfect timing leads me into my next set of questions -- nightlife?  I see visions of neon lights, high rise, high tech buildings,

legitimate nightclubs and possibly a red light district?  Is there such an area there in Shanghai?  I wonder if different ethnic

groups occupy a certain area of town, like China Town in San Francisco or a Pakistani town in Beijing?

 

I also have visions of Filipino bands and Filipinas imported from Manila doing their thing for evening entertainment.  It's all

very intriguing to me, getting to know the forbidden culture that was so isolated from the rest of the world. The Republic of

China (Taiwan) is also very intriguing -- perhaps Old55 can shed some light.  Is it really two different China's with one

embracing western influences a long time ago?

 

Sorry for the many questions.  I'm also going to bombard Terry with my curiosity about living on a Chinese junk in HK harbor.  

There are other members that have travelled or lived in China, so please join us in this discussion.  I'm taking notes of all

your travel adventures......

 

Respectfully -- Jake 

[Methersgate]

Nightlife? Any amount of it! This is a newly rich society, in which people want to show off. Everything from "Irish pubs" through discos to karaoke places to massage parlours to girlie bars, but the latter are really just pick up joints. I did not have much to do with this "scene" when I was there, but there is certainly a lot of it!

 

Taiwan is of course famous for its nightlife, and I do recall the street of nightclubs in Taipei which has no street lighting because by the time the city fathers got round to it there was so much neon lighting from the bars that adding street lights would have been pointless.

 

It is pretty much impossible to stay in a mid range hotel without some cutie knocking on the door or phoning and saying "You want sex?"  Even at six AM! Staying in the Hilton (not midrange, so hooker free) in Shanghai in January (sub-zero) I went for a short walk and was accosted six times in five minutes, notably by three hookers who wanted to drag me into a nightclub!

 

The real start point for Chinese nightlife is always a restaurant, from which a party may go on to take in a floor show (Russian blondes were very popular in my day, as, in the Fifties, China was full of Russian advisers, who pulled all the local women, so men who grew up then were very keen to get even by laying a Russian girl) and then go on to a karaoke place.

 

But you can have a Western-type evening with a sports bar followed by a disco if you like.

 

It's all there.

 

There was an attempt to confine foreigners to certain quarters but it has pretty much failed.

 

There are Filipino bands but most of the Filipinos I knew were in the motor trade! I never met a Filipina hooker - far too much local competition, I suspect! Also of course a LOT of Chinese rock groups.

[Jake]

The Condom Story:

 

I was in Shanghai for a conference with a gang of workmates, mostly younger than I. We decided to take a turn down Nanjing Lu, the main shopping street of Shanghai. One of us had a headache, so we turned into a pharmacy to get some paracetamol (acetaminophen).

 

In moments, Ling, the youngest and prettiest of the party, was cracking up, hopelessly, and we beat a retreat back into the street outside.

 

What she had heard was the sales assistant speaking Mandarin with another customer, evidently, from the language, another Northerner like ourselves, and saying:

 

"Condoms? Of course we have condoms! Here (pointing to a tray) are the local ones. If you wish to spend a little more, for safety, here are the Japanese ones, and if you are feeling really confident we even have the English ones!"

Hey guys,

 

Just so happens that I'm selling these to my fellow members at greatly inflated price.  No, wait a minute --

I think I said that wrong.  Anyway, please send payment (British pound) to my current business address:

 

Jake the Snake

Triple X Corporation, LTD

Lagos, Nigeria

 

[Methersgate]

Here are some English language links:.

 

This one, today, shows the wilder fringes of Chinese "night life" - not anything I have ever come across -or would want to.

 

 http://shanghaiist.com/2014/07/16/prostitutes_in_china_takes_meth_wit.php

 

And then, of course, there is Dongguan, the red light district capital of the world,with its own quality standard for sexual services. 

 

Compared to Dongguan, Balibago is a quiet, respectable, village.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10030014/Inside-Dongguan-Chinas-Sin-City.html

 

the "ISO standard"...

http://www.danwei.org/magazines/dongguan_iso_services.php

 

and the usual crackdowns - using 6,000 policemen at a time!

 

http://www.chinasmack.com/2014/stories/massive-police-crackdown-on-dongguan-prostitution-industry.html

Edited July 16, 2014 by Methersgate

[Methersgate]

Well, now,the condition of the workers and peasants...

 

First, the two are by no means the same. City dwellers despise, and discriminate against, peasants. It is possible these days to buy a residence permit for any city, even Beijing, but the price is very high, relative to average wages. Peasants who drift into towns without a job are rounded up by the Gong An (Public Security) and either sent back or put to work, often as security guards or watchmen.

 

I have not seen anything like a shanty town, barrio or favela in China. Terry will know much better about this than I do, though., being still resident in China

 

Years ago, the nation had what were known as the "san da jian" - "the three bigs", and the evolution of these may tell us something. 

 

I suspect that the very first "Big Three" go far back in Chinese culture, as "the things needed to set up a home when a couple married", but, at any rate by the 1970's the l "three bigs" - without which a man might as well save his breath rather than propose marriage - were a bicycle, specifically a "Flying Pigeon" model PA 02, made at the Zhongzi Bicycle Factory in Tianjin and copied from the British 1932 Raleigh Superbe, minus the Sturmey Archer three speed hub and minus the double butted tubing, a watch, specifically a Shanghai Watch Factory Model A-581, a sewing machine and a radio.

You will have spotted that there are four things in this list of three - that is because the word for "four" sounds like the word for "death" in several Chinese languages, so four is the unlucky number, as thirteen is for us. Chinese buildings usually lack a fourth floor. 

(Deng Xiaopeng famously promised a Flying Pigeon in every home, and since there are 500 million of them on the roads of China, he achieved it.)  In Beijing there are eight million of them and residents will tell you most of them have been stolen at least twice!

 You will notice that the "big three desirables" don't require electricity - the radio would be a transistor radio..

 

By the 1990's there was a new Big Three - washing machine, television, refrigerator and air conditioner, (yes, its four again!) so we got the "Essential Eight" (eight is a lucky number; it sounds like "money"!) .

Today's Big Three are the title deeds to an apartment, a car, a smartphone  and a diamond ring!

Edited July 16, 2014 by Methersgate