Christmas in China

I was at work today, and I looked down on my computer, and the date was Dec. 25. It's the first Christmas that I've worked. Most of the other expats have gone back to their home country, and our shuttle that usually has 25 people is now down to 3. I got to my office at 8:00, and it felt so quiet, and I felt so alone, since the locals don't get to work until 8:30.

It's strange here because even though most of the Chinese aren't religious, on Christmas Eve, everyone goes out to eat at the restaurants and to go shopping. Some of the Chinese interpretations of Christmas are very interesting, and for a mostly secular country, there are an amazing amount of christmas decorations, trees, and girls dressed in santa outfits with short skirts, despite the fact that it is -15 degrees Celsius outside. Each of the major hotels and restaurants have large Christmas trees, but instead of nativity scenes, which I have not seen here yet, there are often cartoon characters used as Christmas decorations. For example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs seem to be a staple in Chinese Christmas decorations. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are also quite commonly found.

Tonight, in the name of Christmas, the Chinese technicians in the shop that I work for invited the three expats that are remaining to go to dinner. After work, we took a shuttle with them to a restaurant called "Little Fat Lamb", where we ate an Inner Mongolian meal. Each person had a pot and a stove in front of them, with a broth, and a lot of raw vegetables and meats were ordered. To eat, you simply dipped the vegetables and meat in the boiling broth at ate it. I was really touched by the hospitality of the people, for the fact that they thought of the expats and wanted to be sure that we had a good holiday away from home and a warm welcome. We ate together, and during the meal, we played drinking games. After we were done eating, there was a TV and Karaoke machine in the room, and each person took turns singing. It was such a warm feeling to spend Christmas with all of them.

However, there is nothing that could make me not miss my family and friends back in the US. I miss by parents, my brother, my dog Savannah, my boyfriend, and all of my friends. I feel so far away from home, and it is my first Christmas in my memory away from my parents. I called one of my friends tonight, and as soon as I heard her voice, I started crying unexpectedly, and not for any particular reason other than feeling homesick and missing my loved ones. Sometimes, you don't realize what you have until you don't have it. I always took Christmas with the family for granted, but this year, I envy those who are able to go home and spend it with those that they love. It is truly a blessing that none of us should take for granted.

So here, I want to wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and know that I am thinking of all of you as this holiday passes for me in Shenyang, China.

Weekend in Shanghai

I went to Shanghai for the weekend to visit my family, and it was a weekend full of surprises. We'll start with the most dramatic one. On Friday nightin Shanghai, I went to a restauarant, and a western bar afterwards to meet some friends. It was 3 am when I took a taxi home from the bar. I got in a taxi and gave the driver directions to my grandfather's apartment. Upon our arrival, because the gas pipes were getting replaced, the taxi was only able to go so far into the neighborhood. So I got out somewhat close to the gate entrance.

As I exited my taxi and closed the door, a guy came up from behind me and started to grab me. I screamed "What do you want?" in Shanghainese, and ran around to the other side of the taxi. He looked straight at me and started walking quickly away. He was dressed all in black.

I stood shaking for a few seconds, with my heart pounding, and I started to run in the opposite direction that he went. I looked back to see him turn around and follow me. I ran around the building and to the front gate, where I found the security guard.

Me: There's a guy following me
Guard: Where do you live?
Me: In here, in the fourth quarters.
Guard: Where is your apartment?
Me: I can't remember. I can't remember the number right now.
Guard: Ok, calm down, I'll walk you to your apartment. We usually don't have people follow others in here. Do you have valuables on you?
Me: No, no valuables
Guard: I saw a car come in after your taxi. They must have followed you from where you came from. They must have seen something on you that they must have wanted.
Me: I don't know what they wanted.
Guard: Ok, just calm down, and I'll walk you until you recognize your apartment.

I was shaken to tears. I've heard that Chinese New Years is coming, and there are many poor people who don't have money for their families, and they are resorting to stealing. I just happened to be a victim, and easy one at that, because I was a lone girl coming from a Western bar in the middle of the night. I will be more careful now.

Now, we'll go back to the beginning of my journey. To go catch my flight, I left my apartment and got into a taxi and asked for Tao Xian Airport. I was caught off-guard by his greeting:

Me: Tao Xian Airport please.
Taxi driver: Do you want to take the highway?
Me: Yes, its quicker isn't it?
Taxi driver: Yes, but there are 15 yuan of tolls.
Me: No problem. I can pay it.
Taxi driver: How much in total are you willling to pay? 80 yuan?
Me: 80 yuan? Why aren't we using the meter?
Taxi driver: Well you have to help me pay for my way back because there aren't return customers.
Me: No way... (I start to get out of the taxi)
Taxi driver: Ok ok, we can negotiate
Me: 60
Taxi driver: That's too low, you have to pay me for my way back, and the 15 yuan of tolls. How about 70?
Me: 60. Let's go.
Taxi driver: 65. Just 5 more.
Me: Ok. Let's go.

I didn't expect to negotiate, but it seems the norm here to go to the airport. We did go through several toll booths, although I'm not sure if it cost 15 yuan. The meter read 40 yuan, so I'm assuming I just paid 10 yuan extra, which isn't too bad. The way back was worse.

I arrived at the Shenyang airport, and went straight to the line of taxis waiting there. As I exited out of the airport, I had guys start to follow me, soliciting me to follow them and they would give me a ride. I've heard that they are illegal taxis, who usually end up ripping you off, or even worse hurting you. I wave them off and ignore them. They continue to follow.

I ask the first taxi in line to take me to my neighborhood. He says, 80 yuan. I say no, how about 60. He refuses. I go to the second taxi. Will you take me to my neighborhood? He shakes his head. The illegal drivers are still hasseling me. I walk to the third taxi, and I tell him my destination. He says that he can't go until the two taxi's in front of him go, because they are waiting in line.

One of the illegal solicitors tells me, I'll take you home for 4o yuan. You shouldn't stand here, a lone girl like you, it doesn't look good. I turn and walk straight back to into the airport. They follow me.

I get inside and call a co-worker. I ask him what I should do. He gives me directions to a bus that I can take near my house. It costs 10 yuan. It stops within a 10 minute walk from my apartments. I find the bus, the guys start to follow me again. I ask the bus driver if I am on the right bus. He says yes, and I sigh with relief.

Sometimes, I feel so vulnerable and so alone here, more than I ever have in all my travels.

Curture Differences at Work

During my training class, I received a phone call from a plant engineer that I'd been working with on a project. He said that it was urgent for me to meet his manager as soon as possible. At 5pm, I met the manager, who confronted me regarding an email that I wrote to my manager regarding the status of a project. In the email, I stated that one of the shop technicians would contact central enginnering outside of the plant for more advice.

The dialogue went something like this (in Chinese):
Manager: "It's not customary for someone from the shop to contact central engineering. That is the plant engineer's job."
Me: "I didn't contact central engineering. I just wrote an email saying someone else would. If you have a problem with that, you should talk to the shop technician."
Manager: "Well we will talk to him too, but you should know that we don't do that here."
Me: "Sorry, I still don't understand why we are having this conversation."
Manager: "Well you shouldn't have written the email. This may upset the foreigners [a.k.a his manager] because we are breaking the rules. Do you have any other questions?"

I walked away frustrated for the following reasons:
1) He did not deal with root cause, that perhaps people don't understand this "rule", or that it is not well controlled or communicated.
2) He put the blame on the messenger of the situation (me), who was trying to improve communication between different parties, while he tried to hide something that was done "incorrectly".
3) Rather than spending his time on value added work, he wasted my time and his to deal with something that gives the company absolutely no gain.
4) The confucianist ideology prevented the engineer that I was working with to talk to me directly about something that he was not confortable with. Rather, he went through his manager to talk to me.
5) The bureaucratic and heirarchical way of working causes people to work through many different people, rather than going directly to the source (the most efficient way)
and finally, 6) I talked to the western manager of this manager and asked if this rule was true. He said, "No its not a problem for you to contact central engineering, as long as we don't duplicate work."

From just this one instance, you can tell that in the culture, the concept of saving face is perhaps more important than moving forward with an issue at hand, and because of that, there is a strong lack of communication between the chinese and western managment. Also, the Chinese still operate in a very bureaucratic system, often leading to undefined relationships and roles and inefficiencies.

Growing up in the Chinese culutre, I can parially understand the importance of saving face, but my American upbringing makes me believe that if projects, timelines, and investments are on the line, then you shouldn't spend time covering mistakes, but rather move forward. It seems that for the Chinese, if a mistake is made, it is personal and very shameful. In America, it is more often seen as a learning experience for someone to grow. The cultures between the west and east are drastically different, and both will have to adapt to accomplish the challenges to come.

Class Chinese Style (12/4/07)

I had a training class yesterday and today conducted completely in Chinese. We had several different instructors, and the training style is drastically different from that of the US. For each lesson, the teachors turned the lights off, relied heavily on powerpoint, and with their back to the students began to read off of the screen.

The students behaved likewise. The captivating teaching style encouraged them to put their heads on their desks and go to sleep. Snores were often heard from different corners of the classroom, some with their backs entirely to the projection screen. I have never seen students and teachers both with their backs to each other.

There were 55 new hires being trained the the class, and the last training class was only a month ago. This is an indicator of turnover and expansion at our current factory, and such a high number of trainees would have never been seen in the US.

11/19/07

The snow is coming down quickly. We’ve gotten 2-3 inches in the last 2 hours, and the Chinese here call this “zhong xue” or “middle snow”, meaning that this is an average snow storm. I think the South Carolinians would have classified this as a full out snow blizzard.

Yesterday, I went to pick out a new table and four chairs, because the current one in my apartment is shaky. My mobility coordinator had given me a name and address, so I assumed I was going to a furniture store. When the taxi driver stopped and I looked around, he told me, “This is section 1, that is section 2, and farther down is section 3.” It was an entire street of stores that were 6-7 floors high that carried furniture. I found my way to the second floor of section 2 and came across an entire warehouse floor representing a flea market where individual sellers offered hundreds of different models, sizes, and colors of tables and chairs. Within minutes, my eyes blurred and my head hurt. How are people able to make a choice amidst all the chaos?

Since we were already culture shocked, my friend and I headed from furniture street straight to San Hao street to buy a new laptop for him. San Hao is better characterized as male heaven: imagine hundreds of large and small Best Buys lined up for blocks. Once he picked the model that he wanted, buying the laptop required bargaining in several shops for the base price and trying to get extras like a mouse and laptop bag. After visiting a few shops and getting a feel for the price range, he handed over a stack of RMB bills, and we waited while the laptop was delivered from a random warehouse located outside the shop. When we got everything, we realized that the operating system was in Chinese, and we asked for English software. The saleswoman sent one of her guys across the street, where he bought a pirated copy of XP and installed it for us. We then asked for English drivers, so they walked us with the laptop across the street to another shop, where they downloaded all the drivers within minutes onto a CD for us. You know you’re in China when you buy a laptop from an official IBM dealer, and they give you get pirated operating system drivers.

City Pictures I

Zhong Jie, one of the busiest streets in Shenyang.

Street vendors on Zhong Jie.

Baked sweet potato vendor... very common in the winter.

Construction work with old equipment on Zhong Jie.

Outside the Shenyang Forbidden City...

Louis Vuitton just outside my apartment complex.