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A little underdressed... This past weekend we went on a trip set up by Professor Wang--aka mandatory--to a town an hour and a half away called Zhenjiang. We took the train up north with everyone, and it brought me back to my spring break trip in Shanghai where everything was planned for us. No worrying about planning, budgets, conflicting wants; this weekend was certainly easier for us.
We get there and we're taken to one of the only hotels in town, and it looks pretty nice. Then we get taken to the back part. This area was old, the carpet was worn, and there was no elevator. The moment we step into the room, I tell Lu, "We have to tell scary stories here." Hehehe
After this, we head over to eat lunch with business officials from White Drive Products Co. We are taken to tables with mounds of food set up on the Lazy Susan, and half the table filled with workers. I end up sitting next to a white guy named Charlie, who is one of 2 Americans working for the company in the whole town. He's from Kentucky, and he spends 2 weeks here and then 2 weeks at
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Big-ass machines home. A 14-hour plane ride, every week. He says the money makes it worth it...
Then the CEO, Chris Goode, steps up to make a toast and explain the rules.
1. We cannot eat until the table master picks up his chopsticks to eat.
2. We cannot drink our alcoholic beverage without toasting someone. At a giant table, this means getting up and standing on their right side to offer a toast. And it should be to the guest of the dinner.
These rules get us pretty hot under the collar, and we worry that messing up could mean being sentenced to an indefinite amount of time in prison.
After lunch, we head over for a site visit and see the whole engineering process. WDPC makes hydraulic engines. Needless to say, I understood very little of the process with rivets and metals and melting. But I guess it never hurts to see more of the world.
When we get back to the hotel, we head over to a conference room to have a personal chat with Mr. Goode about business in China. He's an English bloke who lives in America now; and he actually tops Charlie in
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Drinking with corporate and government officials his crazy schedule--1 week here and 1 week back in America. His company even set the record for quickest establishment time...120 days from their permission to establish the business to actually building the facilities. But the truly interesting part was his whole view on China. He emphasized going into China and doing business like the Chinese, not like an American. And that means everything, EVERYTHING, is about building relationships. It's about smoking, drinking, socializing. Even more important than offering a profitable contract is maintaining a relationship and investing time into it. This philosophy holds no stronger grip than it does in China.
Then he set up the direness of our future, the doomsday of our generation. China is filled with 1.3 BILLION people, and those people need resources. They are shifting from an economy based on savings to a consumer economy. Get this: Americans save about 3% of their incomes, while the Chinese save 40%! Now things are changing, and the Chinese are beginning to spend their money and use resources. How can be possibly feed and sustain this country, let alone this world? And it's China that helps set prices for energy resources across the world. Crazy stuff.
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See that guy? Chinese commie governor Anyways, after that we got a chance to change. When we returned to the room, we were welcomed by some local government officials and shown a Powerpoint presentation of the Runzhou district where they were located. Apparently, this is how businesses and city governments in China introduce themselves: through video or powerpoint. Even schools do that when visiting companies. Those Chinese, they've always got something to show for others.
After this was the big dinner. Sweaty palms. Nervous glances. Excellent postures. This is how it all began, at least. We sat down to the beginning of a friggin' 8+ course meal. Of course, we were waiting for the table leader to eat. The Runzhou governor-equivalent was there, and he seemed a friendly guy. Mr. Goode sat up and explained why we had 3 glasses in front of us (one small glass that looked to be half a shot, a wine glass, and a regular-sized one). The mini-glass was for an alcohol called MaoTai, which is considered "white wine" except that it's 52% alcohol. And we had to drink it as our first toast. So we all said "Gambei" (which means "bottoms up") and began our luxurious meal. My friend
Tony and I decided to offer the first toast of the night, so we stand and walk over to the government official and toast. Then we pay our respects to Mr. Goode. And soon, a bunch of people were going around the table toasting, gambei-ing, getting louder and redder. It ended up being ridiculously fun! When the government officials challenged me to gambei my wine, of course I had to. Such strange business is done in China hahah.
Then we had a round of karaoke--the third karaoke in 10 days! I never realized how essential karaoke and alcohol are to Chinese business. I sang a Chinese song that I learned, called Laoshu Ai Da Mi (which means "Like Mice Likes Rice," which is basically a song about loving someone as much as mice loves its grainy treat). And, USC style, we were up and dancing at various points in the night.
Sadly, karaoke ended at 10:00 pm. So it was scary story time back at the hotel, hahah. Deep down (or maybe just a little under the surface), we are all little kids that love frightening one another. It brought me back to the old days when I
used to tell scary stories to my elementary school friends. And we got to bond with some of the kids from New Harbor that we don't normally get to hang out with, which is never a bad thing.
The next morning we went to Pearl S. Buck's house (the writer of The Good Earth) who was a white woman living with her missionary parents in Zhenjiang. She immersed herself in the Chinese culture and was able to write stories about it. Incredible woman. After that we visited some museums and a vinegar shop (this place is famous for their vinegar!). There was this one part of the village that had a glass box over the street, and when you look in you realize that its a showcase of the different layers of streets that have accumulated over dynasties! So crazy!
This weekend it's Kim's birthday...and I'm in charge of planning all of it since Lu's in Hong Kong. Wish me luck!
Also, today for lunch we get to McDonald's in celebration of July 4th. We saw these two people wearing red, white, and blue and assumed they were American, so we went over to wish them a
happy fourth of July! They ended up being from NYC and living within a block of us. Funny how the world works 😊
From all the way in Shanghai, Happy 4th of July to you too!
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lindsey
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happy 4th to you too hon! i'm on late again (i can't seem to go to sleep early anymore....) and wanted to say it while it's still the 4th where you are! we have the bowl 4th of july concert tomorrow and lucky me i get to work it. but my fam doesn't celebrate until the 5th maybe....weird. sending you thoughts of fireworks from LA to you love! have fun, make good relationships with the chinese, and enjoy the rest of china! p.s. learn new ghost stories and tell me them when we do a sleepover as soon as you get back <3