Forget Everything I Said

When possible, I like to talk with locals about what they think about America.  In Shanghai, I was asked first by a few what I thought of China.  This got a conversation started, and I heard some frank talk about the dissatisfaction some there have with their country.  I heard references to corruption, the Internet firewall, and the environment.  One topic that came up several times was income inequality.  While China is nominally Communist, it's certainly not a Communism that Marx or Mao would recognize.  Really, it's state capitalism.  Some people -- allegedly including those with family or other ties to top officials -- are doing extremely well.  When you've seen a few Lamborghinis cruising by People's Square, the irony isn't lost on anyone.  To those raised in a system where they're taught about Communism (and you can still hear the old Communist songs being sung karaoke-style on the streets), it's worse than irony, it's hypocrisy.

Technically speaking, China's income inequality is roughly the same as that of the United States, and there are recent signs that it's improving.  Americans, though, accept a degree of income inequality (though I'm sure that has its limits -- and I don't recommend approaching those limits).  You can't draw conclusions from the handful of conversations I had, but I don't know that the Chinese are as prepared.

The young Chinese I met are proud of their country and what it's accomplished, and they have long memories about the historical sins of the West (namely, the Opium Wars, the racism of the concession period in Shanghai history, and one even remarked about the West favoring Japan over China at the Treaty of Versailles).  But when I told one person that I admired the fact that China had raised the living standards of hundreds of millions of people in a few decades, he chuckled.  There are still a lot of poor people, he said, you just don't see them.  Another made an oblique reference to the events of "June 4" and "you know, the tanks" without ever using the words "1989" or "Tiananmen."

The opinions I heard were not severe by American standards -- I think almost every American I know has made stronger critiques of our government at one time or another than anything I heard in Shanghai.  By Chinese standards, though, perhaps there was a feeling that this last comment had crossed some invisible line that a Westerner wouldn't appreciate.  Because then, with a look that was at once both sheepish and wary, she ended this part of the conversation by telling me, "Forget everything I said."

Merry Christmas from Red China

When I arrived in Tokyo a few weeks ago, I was staying near one of the city's flagship department stores.  As I walked past the window displays of disconcertingly Caucasian-appearing mannequins, the familiar sound of Christmas music filled the air and then I saw the store's giant Christmas tree.  There were more Christmas displays in Seoul and Hong Kong, but I was surprised to see Shanghai in the Christmas spirit as well.  After all, this is not a religious country, let alone a Christian one, though of course in a nation of 1 billion plus, there are Christians here.  In all the shopping areas, though, one could find Christmas trees, Christmas music, and exhortations to buy a gift for someone you love.

Obviously, the world is heavily influenced by Western culture.  As I was going through customs here in Shanghai, a Muzak version of The Bangles' "Eternal Flame" played over the loudspeaker.  At my hotel, the lounge act warbled "Yesterday" as I walked in.  But Christmas?  Here?  It's not all like America -- there were no Nativity scenes in sight.  But, like America, it was plainly a consumer's (and shopkeeper's) holiday.  I asked an acquaintance when Chinese started celebrating Christmas.  He told me it goes back about 15 years -- but it is getting bigger every year.  "Christmas without Jesus" he called it.

Along E. Nanjing Rd. in Shanghai.

71 Hours and 45 Minutes in Shanghai Without a Tourist Visa

China, along with a few other countries, requires US citizens to apply for and obtain visas at a consulate before arrival.  I didn't have the time or the patience to arrange for a tourist visa to enter China, so I took advantage of the "transit visa."  There are 5 places in China where you're allowed to arrive, spend 72 hours (as long as you don't leave the city), and move on to another country.  Shanghai is one of those places (along with Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing).

All you have to do is make sure your departing flight from Shanghai is scheduled to leave no more than 72 hours and 0 minutes from your arrival.  When you check-in for your flight to Shanghai the desk agent for your airline will ask for a copy of your Chinese visa.  Your airline doesn't want to transport you to some place you're not going to be welcomed.  Not all desk agents are that familiar with the 72 hour rule for China.  When I told my desk agent from Dragonair in Hong Kong that I had no visa and what I was doing, she went to check with a supervisor, and carefully counted up my hours in Shanghai.  Upon seeing that my departing flight was scheduled to leave 71 hours and 45 minutes after my arrival, she said she was "worried" for me.  Really, though, there's nothing to worry about.  The only thing that could go wrong would be if my inbound flight to Shanghai were early, thereby meaning that I would be in Shanghai for more than 72 hours.  My understanding is that the clock starts when you approach the customs official, so if worse came to worse, I was prepared to sit in the bathroom until it was safe to emerge.  And really, what's the worst that can happen?  The whole point of this is that they want me to leave the country after 72 hours.  They certainly wouldn't detain me and keep me there longer!

I approached the customs official in Shanghai and, except for the fact that she had to go hunting for a special stamp, it went smoothly.  It's very important to show proof that you have purchased an outbound ticket and that you're going to some place different than from where you arrived (i.e., you can't leave home, go to China for 71 hours, and then just turn around and go back home).  And don't worry about what happens if your outbound flight is delayed, thereby keeping you in China for more than 72 hours.  That won't be held against you -- you only need proof that your purchased ticket was on a flight scheduled to leave within 72 hours.  The process did take a few minutes, as I had to fill out another form while I could feel the pain of the person behind me in line wondering why he was so unlucky to be waiting for the one fellow who was getting all of this special attention.

And I have to say that the Chinese customs official was very friendly.  Perhaps it's because this was the only customs area in the world that I've seen with a little keypad asking you, the traveler, to judge the customs official on a 4-point scale from Greatly Satisified to Satisified to Unsatisified to Greatly Unsatisfied (all with corresponding smiley-face or frowning-face emoticons).  After I got my stamp, I told her I was going to give her the "Greatly Satisified" grade -- and she beamed a big smile in response.

Behind the Great Firewall

Apologies for the silence, but I was in Shanghai, where I could not access Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, the New York Times, and Blogger.com, which hosts this blog.  I'm sure there a lot of other forbidden websites as well.  To me, this is not the sign of a confident regime.  A bit more on that later.

Conspicuous Consumption in Hong Kong

On a Friday night, I was at the Temple Street night market in Kowloon where vendors in makeshift stalls set up on a street and sell knick-knacks, clothes, luggage, toys, food, etc. Then I walked to one of the city's several high-end retail areas -- Canton Road.  The walk was about 15 minutes, but it may as well have been a world away.

You can find all the luxury stores on Canton Road.  Outside several of them, including Prada and Louis Vuitton, there were lines of 20-30 people waiting for others to exit so they could enter.  I'd never seen lines outside of any store in the States (apart from Black Friday morning), let alone luxury stores.  Now whether this was all part of a plan by store staff to limit the numbers allowed inside in order to build some sort of buzz, I don't know, or maybe everyone's just "browsing," but it was obvious that there's a lot of money waiting to be spent in Hong Kong.

It wasn't just the name-brand luxury retailers either -- around every corner there seemed to be a jewelry store -- and I always saw customers inside (unlike a lot of the jewelry stores I see at home).  Granted, it was a weekend during the holiday season, but it still seemed noteworthy.

The Ferry Between Hong Kong & Macau

My morning ferry ride to Macau was through placid waters and was thoroughly uneventful, passing by countless cargo freighters in the South China Sea (note the foreshadowing).  There are ferries departing Kowloon every 30 minutes during the day and it's all a rather simple process.  You show up at the ticket counter and they put you on the next available boat, which in my experience (in both directions) entailed getting out on the 2nd boat after my arrival at the ferry terminal.  You do go through customs, but to my great disappointment, they stopped stamping passports earlier this year.

The boat itself accommodates at least 300 passengers.  You're assigned a seat in a row, 11 seats across (with about 4 or 5 aisles running up and down the boat).  The seats themselves are quite nice and are as comfortable as business class airline seats.

On the ride home, night had fallen and I was sitting in the middle of the boat, so I took out a magazine and started reading.  The waters were a little choppier than in the morning, but nothing worse than light turbulence in an airplane.  About 30 minutes into the ride, we hit a decent sized wave and everyone looked around at each other, but things rapidly calmed down.  The 70-year old lady next to me (who spoke no English) and I exchanged glances and she muttered to herself (well, maybe she was muttering to me, but I couldn't tell).

Then came an announcement that "due to weather conditions," we would be a little late arriving in Kowloon and to stay seated.  I doubted there was anything wrong with the weather (it didn't seem windy when we left Macau) and assumed we had just passed through the wake of a freighter.  About 10 minutes later, we hit a series of waves, culminating in a big one.  As the series progressed, people started "ooh-ing" louder and louder -- it was a bit like a roller coaster.  Then when we hit the most pronounced of the waves, about 1/3 of the passengers let out a big "ooh."  I don't think anyone screamed, but everyone was talking and looking around nervously.  Then came the sound of one person vomiting ... and then another (though maybe it was the same person -- I wasn't looking).  The lady next to me looked at me and I took some exaggerated deep breaths as my only way of communicating with her.

The way I look at it, dozens of these ferries traverse this route every day, and I never felt nauseous, so I wasn't too worried.  What did give me some pause is that I assumed most of my fellow passengers took this route regularly, and they did seem a little concerned.  At the end of the day, though, no harm, no foul -- and I got a decent story.  As I departed the boat, I noticed two boxes each containing "1000 sickness bags" on the luggage rack -- so they're certainly prepared.

Macau: Meeting the Beneficiaries of China's Economy

I spent yesterday in Macau and the place turned out to be a bit of a revelation.  Since 2006, Macau has replaced Vegas as the world's largest gambling destination, and that's about all I figured I would see.  There's actually a lot of history and character away from the bright lights and hotel towers.  With its Portuguese roots, there are seemingly as many churches per capita in Macau as there are banks in Hong Kong.

Macau is a one-hour ferry ride (more on that in a later post) from Hong Kong that costs about $20 (US) one-way, depending on the time of day.  I took the # 3 bus from the ferry terminal (cost: about 40 cents, US) to Senado Square in the heart of town.  There's a lot of colonial Portuguese architecture and the crowds of tourists on a Sunday afternoon were a little much.  The going was so slow on some of the little streets on the way up to the Ruins of the Church of St. Paul that I took a break and headed over to one of the casinos before returning to the ruins on my way back to the ferry terminal.

Ruins of the Church of St. Paul

Senado Square

At the casino, I figured out who really benefits from the economic engine of mainland China.  I saw enough unorthodox blackjack play (standing on a 12 against a 10, splitting 7s against a 10, all against pro-house rules that you won't see in the US) and walked past a $10,000 US baccarat bet to wonder just how much of the money being made up north is winding up in the pockets of Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson.