Economics 101 - part 1

or “Why Chinese companies can sell stuff so cheap - Part 1″

Setting: Boss Yuan’s office at a factory somewhere in China.

Yuan: So Li, tell me how is everything going in the factory.

Li: Boss everything is going well. We have almost completed this new order going to America and the containers should be loaded tomorrow afternoon. We did have a small setback however.

Yuan: Really? Why is that?

Li: Xiao Zhang put his hand in one of the ventiliation fans and it cut off 3 of his fingers. He was trying to impress the girls in the factory by showing them he could stop the fan with his hand. Apparently he has done this before with success but this time he miscalculated.

Yuan: Xiao Zhang is a real dumbass!

Li: I agree!

Yuan: Well, when he returns to work give him a job at the milling machine. He can operate that with only one hand!

Everybody bursts out in laughter.

Setting: A factory somewhere in America.

Jones: Smith, I just finished reading the production reports and it appears that we have had a slow-down in production.

Smith: Yes sir we did. One of the workers put his hand in one of the ventilation fans and it cut off 3 of his fingers. He was trying to impress the girls in the factory by showing them he could stop the fan with his hand. Apparently he has done this before with success but this time he miscalculated.

Jones: Oh my God! Were the OSHA approved fan guards installed?

Smith: Yes, they were installed. Remember we spent $1M last year to get everything up to OSHA requirements. But the worker removed the guard and was able to insert his hand. OSHA is still coming to investigate and we will have to close down the line during the
investigation. Also, the worker is threatening to sue because we did not provide adequate warnings about the dangers involved in placing your hand in a fan. He will probably go on disability because he will not be able to work with only one hand. I have already called the legal team and they are considering our options but they feel that we will probably have to reach some type of settlement with the worker.

Jones: Well I guess we should be more careful in the future. If we pay out another settlement this year we will need to increase the price of our products.

’nuff said.

Tags: China, China humor, economics, China economics, manufacturing, China manufacturing, OSHA

I'm at the corner...

…of “Walk” and “Don’t Walk”, please send a cab.

And if you can’t send a regular cab, send a motorcycle taxi.

That’s right! These modern conveyances exist all over southern China and are waiting to spirit you away to your final destination.

Have more than one person in your party? Don’t worry! Our ample seating room easily accomodates multiple people. In fact a family of 3 can comfortably sit on the spacious seating area.

Now you may think all of the above is a joke, but seriously these “motorcycle taxis” exist all over southern China and I have seen as many as 4 people riding (including the driver). These
professional drivers patiently wait at the bus stops waiting for the bus to deliver their
next set of customers. So if you are wondering why the guy on themotorcycle is honking the horn at you for no apparent reason it is because he is asking you, “Hey bud, need a ride?”

(Hey you folks a Kodak need to send me a check for a rather stunning commercial placement.)

Tags: China, China humor, transportation, China transportation, taxis, China taxis

Just my contribution...

…to “cross-cultural” learning. Today I taught the guys in the office the meaning of “pull my finger”.

I am hoping that this will catch on and spread like wildfire and maybe one day I can be known as the guy that brought “pull my finger” to China, kinda like a 21st century Johnny Appleseed.

Tags: China, China humor, Johnny Appleseed

You May Not Like Our Vegetables...

…But You Can’t Beat Our Meat!

Everyday at lunch these street vendors line up outside our factory selling fruit, vegetables and meat. YES, you heard me right! M-E-A-T! No refrigeration, no fancy red lights to give the fake sense of freshness.

You ask, are there flies? Why of course there are flies!

One of my colleagues at work, sensing my queaziness with the situation, told me that this is a part of Chinese daily life - to buy meat in the open market. He also added that the restaurants here also buy their meat the same way.



Apparently it is not too big a problem since I have not heard of any deaths from food poisoning and I really have not been “food” sick since I have been here. It also makes me think that even though in America we are given the “appearance” of good health and sanitation practices, what about the things that we don’t see? I really don’t want to spend too much time thinking about this, and probably neither do you, so I will move on.

Most of the vegetable and meat vendors have scales, but the meat vendors use a hand-held balance beam to weigh out their offering. Of course, all the prices are negotiable and Chinese people love to “haggle”. They call this bargaining or haggling “tao jia huan jia” or “tao jia” and it is quite an experience to witness the buyer and the seller “give and take”. I think everyone in sales should take a sales class from a Chinese street vendor! They are the ultimate bargainers and closers!If you want to see BIGGER views of these pictures, just click on the photo!

Thanks for stopping by and as always your comments are welcomed!

Tags: China, China humor, Chinese food, food and drink, meat market

A Problem at Work...

I discovered something today that disturbed me deeply. I realized that our company parking lot is very inadequate. There is not any room for people to walk between the vehicles and there are absolutely NO handicapped parking spaces.

I know that many of my fellow co-workers walk to work, but for those that use a vehicle I consider our current parking situation unsatisfactory. I plan on speaking to the management to see if something can be done to improve the situation to allow people to have more room for their individual vehicles. I shudder when I think of all the “nicks and scratches” these vehicles must get every day because of their close proximity.

Below is a picture of our company parking lot. I hope you can appreciate our plight and any suggestions you may have to improve this situation would be greatly appreciated!

Tags: China, China humor, bicycles

Colonel Sanders is alive and well in China!

What is this I see across the street…could it be?

Yes, I think it is…

It’s the Colonel!

And a lot of Chinese people love KFC! The offering is a little different than the United States, but they have this one dessert that is similar to an mini egg custard pie which comes in a box of 6 pies. These things are deeee-li-cious!

Tags: China, food and drink, Chinese food, KFC

Washing Machine

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Where I will be working!

Some of you have asked, do you have a picture of where you will be working? As a matter of fact I do and it is shown above. Below is a picture of our showroom.

Zhuhai, ChinaOne of the most beautiful places in the world.

For those of you that think China is an impoverished, third-world country kindly enter the 21st century and look at the above picture. Beautiful, right? Zhuhai, which means "pearl sea", is in mainland China and is 1 hour away from Hong Kong via ferry. Macau is only a 15 minute walk away. It is a beautiful, modern seaside city with plenty of shopping and golf.

Zhuhai is a garden-like seaside tourist city, where flowers blossom all year round. In 1999, it was granted “International Award for Best Practices in Improving the Living Environment” by United Nations Center for Human Settlement and was the only winner of the award in China. Besides, it won series of titles such as “Top Tourist City of China”, “State Garden Green City”, “State Environmental Protection Model City” and “State Hygienic City”.

Compare this to Miami or Fort Lauderdale at 1/8th of the price!

Here are a few more Zhuhai pictures for your enjoyment!


View of Zhuhai from my hotel room during my visit in October 2004.

A shopping center in Zhuhai. Do you see the reflection of the "Golden Arches"?

Hong Kong - what a place!!!

A beautiful view of Hong Kong island from Kowloon.

And another view from my hotel room in Kowloon.



And another view of the skyline at night. Hong Kong, what a place!

Guangzhou ChinaCapital City of Guangdong Province

Its international name was formerly Canton, after a French language corruption of Guangdong. As of 1999, the population of the city is about 6.85 million while the urban population is about 4.05 million. Guangzhou, located at the north of the Pearl River delta, is an important trading center as well as a busy port and the capital city of the province of Guandong. The city has an area of over 16,000 square kilometers (6,177 square miles).

The climate of Guangzhou is sub-tropical. The average year-round temperature is 22C. August is the hottest month, with an average temperature of 28C. January is the coldest month, with an average of 13C. The rainy season falls between April and August. Average annual rainfall is 1,720 mm.

Like Athens of Greece and Rome of Italy, Guangzhou also has a history of more than 2,800 years.

Even in China it is still Coca Cola

Check out the "pull-tab" opening (with the removable tab). Now that is something we haven't seen for years in the US.

Interesting thing about Coca Cola's translation in the Mandarin Chinese language, the pronunciation is kuh-koh-kuh-le...sounds like what we say in English, right? But the interesting part is that the literal translation in Chinese means "pleasing to the mouth".

Country Cookin' Chinese Cooking

So where is the rice? Everyone that I know seems to think that rice is served with EVERY Chinese meal. But guess what? NOT SO!

Check out this interesting "grain" plate served at just about every meal that I have eaten in China. Corn, hominy, green peas and nuts, but NO rice was served with any of the meals. Strange how we think we know something and then end up finding out how wrong we are. By the way, if you don't know what hominy is...well ask anybody that grew up in rural Georgia. They can tell you. (Hint: Grits are made from hominy, hominy is made from corn.)

More country cookin for you! This is called a "hot pot". This is brought to your table with raw vegetables and meat such as mutton or beef. Basically, this is like a Chinese "fondue" where you sit at the table and cook your own food. But the interesting thing for now is what is in THIS pot. It is TURNIP tops and TURNIP roots. Just like home!





But what about Bar-B-Que? Strange as it may look this is a picture of bar-b-que ribs. Each rib is wrapped in a special plastic cooking wrapper to hold in the bar-b-que sauce. Cooking the ribs this way also makes the ribs very tender. A bit of a pain in the neck to eat, but extremely delicious!

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