Carry On Cabby!

New Blog

2010-02-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

Yep, after almost no encouragement, zero public pressure and very little expectation I have decided to put finger to keyboard and start writing a blog again - why? well despite everything I really enjoy writing - it gives me a buzz to write online, and what else do you do when you spend half of your life traveling to airports, waiting in airports and enduring the hell that is air travel.

If you want to follow my ramblings, please go to......

http://paulstowe.blogspot.com/

Pompous

2008-09-12T04:21:00.000-07:00

I recently attended a dinner party, which was hosted by a very famous broadcasting company. They were celebrating a successful Beijing Olympics coverage, and for some – a farewell to China.
After 3 or so weeks in the country, (many for the first time) they had gained the irritating view that they understood the complexities of this extremely complex and mysterious land, and that they could expel their beliefs with the confidence of a local inhabitant to all and sundry.

Firstly Beijing during the Olympics was probably as far from reality as you can get. A bit like landing in a working class street during the 1977 Silver Jubilee celebrations or the marriage of Charles and Diana, anyone visiting the UK for the first time during this period would have thought we were all kind, generous, happy, welcoming, and completely patriotic – if they had arrived several weeks earlier or later – maybe a different experience would have been had? Beijing was a bit like this – a street party for all comers to enjoy (as long as they were from the Chinese Middle classes or foreign), a party town, brightly decorated with flags, clean streets, painted signs and manicured green areas. People were on their best behaviours, tolerant of visitors and charitable to strangers, Christ even the taxi drivers wore shirts and ties.

Secondly, no one can really understand a place, its people, its culture, its history, and its philosophy in such a short period. Of course we all fall into this trap when on holiday – or at least I know I do!

I only have to be in a sunny beach side resort for a few days and I start to believe that I understand the local culture, respect the traditions and customs – 8 days into a holiday and I’m looking at property prices, wondering how I can give up the rat race to rent deck chairs out on the nearest beach – oblivious of course to any hidden social, political or environmental considerations that disappear under the protected and surreal atmosphere of sunbathing, swimming, restaurants on the beach, and wearing shorts and open toe sandals.

So given this, I am normally very patient with this kind of conversation from ‘newbies’. After meeting your 10,000th person who knows all about the country you live in you adopt a skill I refer to as “hearing without listening”. So I was surprised when something really upset me during the conversation I was having with this particular women. I wont embarrass her or me in releasing her name, but this was the anchor lady from a UK TV News program, a very famous, well educated, well dressed, well travelled, Porsche Driving (That may give the game away to people who know her) alpha female – the type that would eat you alive, and leave most men in a jelly like state after her whip lashing tongue had finished destroying any male ego you had the audacity to possess. She was like a Chinese Moon cake (I will explain in a later Blog) tempting and attractive on the outside, only to find a strong, spicy, and pungent filling on the inside.

She berated me on my reasons for living in China, explaining that by living here I was outwardly supporting an oppressive, violent and dictatorial establishment. That by paying individual and corporate tax I was directly supporting the murder of innocent people whose only crime was to disagree with the single political party strategy.

She suggested that I was directly funding the oppression of Tibet, and the continued segregation of ethnic minorities in this godless country. That my money was being used to oppress families into a single child regime, support the death penalty for minor crimes, fund the continued massacre of indigenous creatures, and the oblivion of the worlds eco system driven by the inherent greed of a nation sworn to become the most powerful country on the planet – at any cost. (Admittedly she had had a few glasses of Chardonnay at this point).

So whilst I stood motionless during the avalanche of abuse pouring over me, I had time to wonder and contemplate her argument, gearing up for a repost equal to the verbal beating I had just taken. What could I say? Was she right? Had I been directly funding the imprisonment of minority religious leaders? was I responsible for the decline in the traditional Chinese family system? Had I somehow become a key player in China’s destruction of the worlds sensitive eco system?

I played with responding using the Norman Tebbit philosophy that I was just “Getting on my Bike” and finding work to support my family, or even the Nazi war crimes excuse that “I was just following orders”. None of these seemed appropriate or relevant, I had left a UK job to come to China, and I was for all intense purposes the boss with no one giving me direct instructions. So I mustered all of my intellect, my years of social grooming, the decades of experience and the extremes of my vocabulary to utter a single word – “Bollocks”.

Yes “Bollocks”, sorry but I couldn’t help it. I knew it would be impossible to talk reason with someone who had a profound believe, and such a passionate viewpoint on these matters. I could have come up with a Pulitzer Prize winning speech, a Barack Obama crowd-pleasing address to a field of party faithful, all to try and change her mind, but I reverted to type.

This had the impact of at least shutting her up, so as she looked at me stunned I went on to explain that I may, in some small way have been feeding the Peoples Republic of China Communist party, but she also played a part – you see virtually every car you buy, every toy you purchase, the clothes you wear, the computer you play on, the bra you use for support, the zipper keeping your jacket together, the suitcase you pack your clothes into, the watch that tells you the time, the shoes that fit snuggly on your feet, the TV you watch and the Radio you listen too were all made in China, by Chinese workers and Chinese companies – who all pay Chinese income and corporate tax, in far greater quantities than me. They all burn natural resources, they all impact on the political and natural environment of the country – so here is a deal, as soon as you stop buying Chinese produced goods, I will leave the country and stop paying tax to the Chinese government - or at least directly!

I won’t tell you how the conversation ended, but needless to say I won’t be appearing on that news program in the near future. However it has made me think about my time in China, and how other people perceive me, and other people like me who work here. I had never seen myself as someone who is in direct support of a government I didn’t (or couldn’t) vote for – despite having to pay taxes. Is the same argument true of everyone who pays taxes but didn’t vote for the elected government? Are taxes an indirect vote of support for the government? Personally I think the argument is, is well Bollocks. But maybe you know better- I would be interested in your comments – perhaps someone out there is willing to engage in a Morgan Spulock experiment, where by instead of only eating MacDonald’s products for a month, they abstain from buying anything made in China for 30 days?

I am as usual writing this Blog whilst sitting on a plane, this time on my way back to blighty, and although I will only be in the country for a few days I will try and see how difficult/easy it is to succeed – although I somehow think the hire car I have ordered from the airport will have a multitude of parts with the “Made in China” label hidden somewhere!

AP Interview and Video

2008-09-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

A copy of the video taken at the new base for London Taxi production in Shanghai, and the supporting feature that has appeared in news outlets across the world.

London Taxi's famed black cabs made in China
By ELAINE KURTENBACH

FENGJING, China (AP) — London Taxis are as British as bowler hats and Big Ben. But the latest models coming off this new assembly line are unlikely to ever touch an English road.
At a sprawling factory in the lush green suburbs of Shanghai, young Chinese workers are busily gearing up for full-scale production of one of Britain's most iconic vehicles. It's part of an odd alliance that aims to give the distinctive black cab a greater presence outside its namesake city.
London Taxi International, which will continue to build nine out 10 cabs used in Britain at a factory in Coventry, England, couldn't grow production at its small-scale, high-cost plant. So it turned to a partner — and to China — as a way to drive overseas expansion.

"To say the writing was on the wall would be pushing it a bit too far. But you do need to make progress within the automotive industry," said Paul Stowe, a British auto executive who is overseeing the joint venture between Britain's Manganese Bronze Holdings PLC, owner of London Taxi International, and Geely Group Holdings, one of China's biggest independent automakers.
The venture is bearing fruit already, Stowe said, with agreements signed to sell 6,000 London Taxis from the Chinese factory, more than double the Coventry plant's annual output.
Most will go to cities outside China — places like Singapore, Dubai, Moscow — that covet the image associated with the London Taxis' tradition of good service and durability.
The cars are unlikely to displace other vehicles used as taxis in China given their higher price and the strong political sway of bigger automakers with the local officials in charge of city fleets.
Instead, LTI expects to sell them mostly to hotels, limousine services, airports, and individuals who might want to collect one, Stowe said.
Manganese Bronze Holdings hunted for nearly a decade for a suitable Chinese partner. Geely likewise was looking for a chance to bring onboard the new technology and quality upgrades it needs to get ahead in China's brutally competitive market, without risking being swallowed by a huge international rival.
"We were the right size and available at the right time. It works well for both companies," said Stowe, who in his 15-year automaking career already has completed almost a global tour of the industry, working first for Land Rover, then BMW, Jaguar, Ford, Lotus, MG-Rover and then MG Nanjing — a venture set up after Chinese automaker Nanjing Automobile Group bought MG-Rover.
Trial production of London Taxi's TX4, equipped with 2.4-liter Mitsubishi engines, began last week in Geely's sprawling Shanghai Maple factory, in the scenic canal town of Fengjing. By mid-December, the plant will launch mass production.
By boosting volume, LTI expects to reduce costs by up to 60 percent, with most of the savings coming not from cheaper labor but from less costly parts, Stowe said. The price for the vehicles hasn't been disclosed, but will be significantly cheaper than the British-made models, which sell for about 30,000 British pounds ($54,000), he said.
"Classical British Icon with Traditional Chinese Spirit," reads one of the many slogans in the factory.
Unlike most highly automated modern auto plants, there are few robots since the London Taxi is hand-built and hand-welded. The result is a heavy-duty, durable vehicle that can be driven 1 million miles and last several decades.
But it's the vehicle's traditional idiosyncrasies, such as its famed ability to make extremely tight turns, and the storage space next to the driver's seat that originally held hay bales in the days of horse and carriage, that give the black cab its appeal as "not just another car," says Stowe, who as deputy general manager of Shanghai LTI Automobile is busy plotting the venture's brand strategy.
Black cabs — which these days often come in other colors and are festooned with advertising — are seen strictly as a commercial vehicle back home. But in China, the vehicle's novelty, and notoriety from appearances in dozens of films, lends it a certain cachet.
"It's pretty cool to see a British car traveling on the street of Shanghai, just like in a movie scene," said Xu Bin, senior auto trend editor for the local magazine Metropolis.
But much will depend on how Geely, which is in charge of selling the cars in China and the rest of Asia, decides to market the vehicle: The terms of the 53 million pound ($95 million) deal gave the Chinese side a 52 percent share in the joint venture, as well as a 23 percent stake in Manganese Bronze Holdings. The British partner holds 48 percent of the joint venture and rights to sales of the vehicles in the rest of the world.
Stowe, who has sold the rights to his memoire of his experiences working in China with MG Nanjing to the BBC, seems something of an cultural ambassador in the automaking world.
To help explain the London Taxis' distinctive, tall-topped shape, he keeps a bowler hat on hand.
Although round, black bowler hats are an uncommon sight in London nowadays, decades-old British rules required that a gentleman be able to sit comfortably in the back of a London Taxi with his hat on.
"I actually purchased the bowler hat in London," he said, "but I was surprised to see when I looked at the label that it was made in China."

Beijing Olympics – The Finals

2008-08-31T04:52:00.000-07:00

I know I am a week late with my final account of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but unfortunately work gets in the way of life sometimes! This would be my last journey to Beijing during the Olympics and I had a packed agenda, as well as some serious ‘star gazing’ to do!

I had made in through the heats, struggled but survived the semis and was now entering the finals. I had managed to be entered in 5 key events; lunch with the Mayor, dinner with the PM; a photo opportunity with a Lord, drinks with a whole plethora of ‘stars’ and finally breakfast with the Mayor. Not very sporting I would admit, but arranging invitations to these events required speed, flexibility, years of training and above all the ability to cease opportunities even if they don’t exist!

Of course I wasn’t doing any of this for self-gratification, this was all duty for company and bosses. I would be accompanying the CEO of MBH John Russell and Geely President, Li ShuFu at the events (OK yes I would be carrying their bags).

The Olympics provided a rare opportunity to gain access to important officials all in one place at the same time, the fact that the place would be Beijing would make access that little bit easier. Even politicians get the ‘being abroad’ feeling, which sometimes allowed them to let their guard down, and the distance from Whitehall during the summer break, meant that the army of aides, advisors, private and public secretary’s would be kept away.

Why was this important? Well the Mayor of London was top of the hit list, not just because I had some admiration the man I used to laugh at during his tenure on “Have I got news for you?” but also because as the head of London, he had significant influence on what is almost 90% of our customer base – the cabbies of London. As the Chairman of the ‘Transport for London’ (TfL) organization he is very influential in the laws that govern the capitals transport policy. A mere acknowledgment of our existence was vital for the long-term future of ‘The London Taxi’ to remain the icon of London and of Great Britain.

All started well with an impromptu meeting with the Mayor at an unplanned event at the ‘London House’ facility set up by the London Development Agency (LDA), one of those grab your chance before it disappears moments, where we were able to hijack Boris for a good 15 minutes before he was whisked off to yet another interview, job done a Gold Medal on the first day – a surprise, as we didn’t even expect a bronze from this event. With one medal in the bag, and despite it being early morning, I took advantage to call on a friend for a favour. Even though this was my 4th visit to Beijing in less than 2 weeks, I still hadn’t had chance to see any of the new stadiums built for the games. So with one phone call, a 20-minute Taxi ride, and a climb up 30 flights of stairs, I was sitting in the crow’s nest of a TV company’s prime position overlooking the Birds Nest – what a fantastic building, and what a great sight to end day one of my Olympic finals.

Day 2, meant that we had a pentathlon of events to compete in, starting with lunch with the Mayor, Sir Martin Sorrell and Madam Zhang (VP of the Bank of China), again no medal expectations here, however a late minute no show by the Chinese contestant, allowed my boss to move to the top table and secure a silver. This was followed by a Photo shoot with Lord Digby Jones and an easy Gold, a private meeting for Li Shufu and the Prime Minister added another success, and finally a garden reception at the ambassadors residence which due to my poor positioning meant a poor bronze and a bit of a disappointment.

The day of the closing ceremony was meant to be a day of rest – however an invitation to the Geely University was not to be missed, a facility built by Li Shufu as a private University housing some 20,000+ students and featuring a mock ‘White House’ as the centre piece and Library, we watched as new interns did their compulsory army training – yes, apparently all new students to ‘all’ Chinese University’s have to go through instruction on how to march, stand in line, salute and have someone spit in your face whilst barking orders. I asked the dean of the University what the purpose was, he informed me that children had become lazy, and disrespectful in this new modern world, and that this would break them into a new regime of strict learning – and they say communism is dead?

The evening promised to be entertaining, unlike the rest of the government agencies we hadn’t managed to get tickets to the closing ceremony itself, but I had secured tickets to the closing ceremony party at the by now infamous ‘London House’. The evening started gently, with most of my time spent trying to avoid Boris’s Brother – trust me a blog all on its own is required there! Then as the evening drew on, I met up with an old buddy from the BBC, and as we stood there chatting, we both had a ‘blonde’ moment when walking towards us was his highness Mr. Beckham, as we struggled to find our cameras I quickly realized that by the time I had worked out witch button turned it on, it powered up the flash and I got him into focus – the moment would be lost. So I opted for the next best thing and thrust out my hand, and with a “Good Evening David – Great kick” (reference to the closing ceremony kick, which wasn’t great – but give me a break this was a nano second thought moment), he looked at me stunned, then turned his head to find that his body guards had dropped back several yards and weren’t there to rescue him, he reached out and shook my hand, uttering just a “Thanks” before rushing past. So as we un-pieced the moment, and how stupid we both were to of A; been excited by it, and B; that we had both missed the moment – the same thing happened again, only this time with a dwarf of a guy who rushed past us like some cartoon character on speed – Jackie Chan, quickly followed by Leona Lewis and Jimmy Paige – all of whom we never got chance to take photos of either!

The next day, would be the finale of our Olympics and started with a breakfast meeting with Boris. This would be a private event to discuss the complications of road traffic in London, and some possible solutions to ensuring that the famous icon of London continues to provide service for the cabbies, the customers and the green party. A successful meeting meant bagging another gold, and all there was left to do was for the Myor of London to launch the “Think London Tour of China”, a tour of 12 great cities of this eastern wonderland, in what else but a London Taxi (Kindly provided by us). This would be an opportunity to get some great shots of Boris with a London Taxi – what I didn’t expect is that he would want to drive the vehicle! He jumped in the drivers seat and I seized the opportunity to be carried as a passenger – there are not many people who can claim to have been driven in a London Taxi by the Mayor of London!

So to conclude we bagged a sack full of gold medals, and I won the admiration of my son and his cousin (meeting David Beckham brings enormous kudos with 9 to 10 year olds!). All in all a very satisfying Olympics – however having spent 12 days in Beijing and never seeing an event does seem rather poor form, oh well there is always London!

Beijing Olympics - Semi Final

2008-08-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks my 3rd trip to Beijing in just 7 days, for those who have little understanding of the geography of the country. Beijing is just 2 hours away by flight, however as with all air travel that is only half of the story – added to this you have the hour or so to get to the airport, the extra hour to check in and get through security and a final hour waiting for your flight, and of course the hour to get to your final destination – in all from office or home to location is takes about 6 hours, multiply this by 6 individual trips and I have spent a day and a half just travelling to and from Beijing this week.

Sky News Interview

Why? Well I wrote about my first visit, which was planed well in advance and was a trip to confirm arrangements for what we had in store towards the end of the games, the second trip was organized last minute to accommodate Sky News and a piece they wanted to do on the London Taxi in Beijing. This was a fly in, do the interview and fly back out again – while this seems ostentatious, it is far cheaper at the moment to fly in and out, than it is to stay in a hotel overnight – even if the constant traveling zaps all of your energy!
The interview was a gentle report, associated with Sky’s coverage of the Olympics, it concentrated on why the London Taxi was so popular in China, and what our plans for production and sales would be. I had worked with the team from Sky several times before at the Nanjing MG plant, so it was great to be reunited with some old faces – although Peter Sharp’s reference to me, as the “Quintessential British Toff” took some getting used to! The best thing for me was to get some video footage of the vehicle outside of the imperial palace and below Mao’s portrait on Tianemen Square – I imagine he would be spinning in his crypt if he knew that one of the greatest symbols of London was circling his resting place.

My third trip this week, was one that should have been given to Tom Cruise – as in ‘Mission Impossible’, I can‘t go into details as it would cause embarrassment to too many people, but needless to say I was dispatched to Beijing on a task that me pet Labrador dog had more chance of succeeding in. Despite this I jumped (actually crawled) onto a plan at 9pm, arrived around 11pm traveled to some god forsaken hotel for a midnight meeting, before leaving for my hotel at 1am – my head hit the pillow at 2am, only for the alarm to ring out at 6am in preparation for another 8am meeting. A day of negotiation and sitting around coffee bars waiting for phone calls culminated in me getting a plane back to Shanghai at 9 pm that evening, with the thought that I had to be back at the airport for 8am the next morning.

Now anyone who thinks this is glamorous or interesting or exciting – obviously doesn’t travel much, if sitting in sitting in crappy Taxis (Not the London Taxi variety of course), queuing in long and unruly ticket counter queues, having to endure virtual strip searches in the intense security that surrounds the Olympic airports – I am not joking, don’t spend your money on pole dancing clubs, or brothels – the girls who frisk you at Beijing airport these days would be accused of sexual assault if the tables were reversed. Trying to explain that the bumps and bulges in your trousers aren’t sticks of dynamite in pigeon Chinese can become rather embarrassing, I am surprised that men of a certain ilk aren’t lining there trousers with pins or paperclips, just to get a more intense probe!
Then you have the hotels, which have stunning entrances, with enormous chandeliers and polished floors, check-in desks as long as Olympic swimming pools all beckoning you to spend a small fortune for the privilege of staring at an absurdly expensive mini bar for half the night, wondering how you will justify the late night bar of chocolate on your expense claim to your finance controller. All for a business meeting that could quite easily be done over the phone, if it wasn’t for everyone’s desire to ‘press the flesh’.
The first 60 or 70 times, its great to visit new cities, countries, hotels etc. but after that they fade into one – hotel rooms are all the same, worse than that, if you have been lucky to stay in some great ones, then everything else just compares badly – regardless of how good they are.Having just read all of that, I have changed my mind – it is great really, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I returned back to Shanghai with a failed mission and the thought that I would have to return back again in just 48 hours, but this time I was determined to have some fun!

Beijing Olympics - Part 1

2008-08-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

Since returning from holiday, work has been intense. I had been working with the regional development agency “Think London” for several months, and my return to Shanghai meant 2 weeks before the start of the Olympics, and just a short number of days before the plans we had put in place to finally be tested.

Think London is responsible for promoting investment in the capital of the UK, it travels the country and the world explaining the virtues, advantages and potential growth companies, governments and individuals can gain from working with, and in, arguably the greatest city in the world…er that would be London.

The relationship with LTI – the makers of the Iconic London Taxi, is of course the vehicle itself. Think London have used a specially modified London Taxi as a mobile media and promotional tool for several years, and the vehicle supplied by LTI has seen service and in America, India and across Europe. This would year would see China’s turn to be entertained by this partnership – or at least that is how the story started out!

China has extremely tight import controls, especially over vehicles. It is almost impossible to bring a second hand vehicle into the country - I say almost impossible – the only success I have known was when working at NAC MG, we managed to import a number of historic Austin and MG cars from around the world, Oh and when SAIC, so convinced that they would be successful in purchasing the Rover brand from BMW did the same – but of course those vehicles never emerged from the dockside after they lost out to Ford who finally did by the rights to use the brand (thus ROEWE was born and the cars still continue to rust in Shanghai Docks!), other than that I have never heard of anyone being able to bring a used car into the country – especially a right hand drive London Taxi in bright colours!

So we played around with ideas of how we could do this for several weeks, trying (as you do) to see what political strings can be pulled, and what favours you can glean from new and old colleagues all with no success. After much head scratching, I went out on a limb and offered a new locally built London Taxi, whilst this may not sound too much of a risk – we hadn’t at this point built a single vehicle, had no complete factory and most importantly the correct approvals from the Chinese government to use the vehicle for anything other than test and development. However I saw this as an amazing opportunity to gain public and media exposure at the largest media event in a decade – the Beijing Olympics.

Advertising at the Olympics was way beyond our financial reach, especially when you consider that having spent the several billion rmb that it would take to get your products into the eyes of the public, we would have had to take deposits for the next 30 years worth of production for any kind of payback! It always seems strange to me that the brands that do spend the equivalent to the national debt of Brazil in promoting their brands at such events are already the most well known brands in the world? Or is that the point?

The events being planed by Think London in Beijing, which required our vehicle to be present, would be worth a fortune in terms of free advertising and would help our little company get a foot onto the big stage.

We would provide a vehicle, equip it with the latest in visual and audio technology, paint it in bright colours, and gain the appropriate approvals for its use during the Olympic Games, in return Think London would use the vehicle to deliver VIP and VVIP visitors and guests from the around the world to special events hosted by the British Governments many departments camped out in Beijing during August. The potential passenger list would have put most London Cabbies stories of “you will never guess who I just had in the back of my cab today?” into the C and D list of celebrities. Prime Ministers, Mayors, Lords, Ladies, Dukes, Duchesses, Sporting Heroes and Business Leaders from around the globe were all making the journey to Beijing, and hopefully travel in our Taxi at some point – I like to call it “promotion by association”.

So vehicle finished, and registration approved (I make it sound simple, but this took 4 weeks, hundreds of hours of document preparation and camping out at the registration bureau for 4 days), the vehicle was ready to make the journey to Beijing from Shanghai. Of course we knew entering the city would be difficult, with security as tight as a goldfishes backside we planned for the Tow truck to stop 2 hours away from the cities outer ring round, we would then attempt to drive the vehicle into the heart of the Olympic village using the Olympic Pass we had been given by BOCOG the organisers of the games. The vehicle was in fact stopped in Anhui province and never got near Beijing, I knew security would be tight but this was ridiculous, hours of inspection, negotiation, phone calls, pleading and begging finally allowed the vehicle to continue its way into Beijing, and starts its month long programme of promotional activities.

The first 10 days of the Olympics (post opening ceremony) are about business, the Olympics provides a great opportunity for the heads of large corporations to be in the same place at the same time, and it also allows those that want a piece of a particular corporate pie, to lavish their target clients with gifts, tickets to events and of course the after show party’s, whilst I do not fit into any of those categories I had been invited to a reception at the Ambassadors residence in Beijing several days later, and took this as an opportunity to see the vehicle, ensure arrangements for the vehicle were going to plan and of course to visit Beijing during the Olympics.

During the run up (which seemed to last longer than the American presidential elections) we had heard how they would ‘clean up Beijing’, reports reached western newspapers about how the sky would be clear, spitting would be banned, Taxi drivers taught English, unsavoury bars closed and the hookers sent back to the Russian borders. As a regular visitor to Beijing (5 times this year), I was keen to see how things had progressed, the journey started well with the local airline putting on its newest A330 aircraft, and the staff being more polite than normal, they even had copies of the China Daily in English available to read during the 2 hour flight – although after 79 pages of Olympic propaganda it did become tiresome!

I could go on about all of their ‘clean up Beijing’ campaigns had failed, but you’ve probably read that already, from the army of foreign journalists here, that seem desperate to find fault wherever they can – sure my taxi driver stopped to relieve himself on the hard shoulder, just before clearing his nasal cavity’s in a way that only a true Chinese man can, and of course the air was so thick that it left grit on your teeth, and yes everyone still pushed, shoved, barged and was generally devoid of any manners – but none of this matters, if it wasn’t for people walking in their pyjamas, spitting on your shoes and shouting “WEI” loudly in to their phones during a funeral – what would be left for us to talk about?

The real changes I saw in Beijing may not have been noticed by the visiting journalist, small innocuous changes – like seat belts in the back of taxi’s, and the lack of any construction work which has been halted during the Olympics for two reasons 1. So not to provide any poor migrant worker shots for the western journalist and 2. Because all of the workers have been ordered out of Beijing, in fact I think everyone not directly involved with sweeping, pointing the way, helping you cross the road or wave a flag has been banished from the capital. Beijing has become a ghost town, I have never seen any city in China so quite, my plane was half empty, the taxi journey took only 30 minutes (including the impromptu rest break by the driver), the streets were clear and the houses empty. I guess the local government worked out that it couldn’t stop its people from engaging in their usual activities that seem to upset us foreigners so much – so it sent them all away – one way to solve the problem I guess!

Holidays!

2008-08-01T04:25:00.000-07:00

I fondly remember my family holidays way back in the day when I was younger.
My parents always made sure we had at least one week away every year. Long before air travel and foreign holidays became in reach of the common people our chosen destinations would be limited to South Wales, Devon or even as far as Ireland or the Isle of White.

My earliest memory of a summer holiday was the annual day trip to Blackpool. My granddad was the treasurer for a local fishing club, and each year the club would pay for the children of the members to join them on a day out to the bright lights of northeast England. We would all climb aboard a large coach, and as we entered the vehicle we would be handed a goody bag and some pocket money to spend at the UK’s poor cousin to Vegas. I am still amazed how, as children we could make a plastic bag full of ‘half penny’ chews, ‘sherbet dips’, liquorice sticks and 'refreshers' last the full 4-hour journey from the Midlands, and then manage to make the $2 pocket money last the whole day at the pleasure beach, although admittedly we could never make it stretch far enough to pay for a go on the bumper cars!

The rest of my youth was spent in damp caravans, chalets (a name invented by Butlins for a garage with windows and a door!), tents and even a farmhouse in Ireland. The weather was almost as changeable as accommodation, from glorious baking sunshine that would burn my younger brothers ears, to continuous rain that hammered down on the caravan roof like falling meteorites.

Entertainment was the beach, crap cabaret, the beach, penny arcades that used to pay your winnings in tickets tokens rather than cash (which you then exchanged for really naff gifts at the end of your stay), and the beach. Or if you were very unlucky and the rain didn’t subside, you would try desperately to tune the black and white TV to the 3 available channels in the vain hope you may be able to see Blue Peter through the snow storm interference, and if you were very, very unlucky - having to play monopoly, scrabble or cards with you parents.

My fondest memories are of my dad letting me sit on his lap and drive his green Austin Princess (Registration COX 613V if anyone knows its whereabouts I would be interested) on the beach at the age of 8 or so.

Sand so hot it would literally burn the skin off your feet and make you dance like a demented sand crab. Sitting in cabaret rooms with a glass of dandelion and burdock and a pack of Smiths Salt & Shake, while Ted Rogers called Bingo numbers out then talantless shows dragged on the rest of the night, and spending hours and hours of glorious fun on the beach with my brother, getting into trouble, getting lost, getting buried and most importantly getting out of our dads way. So why am I reminiscing all of these obscure memories and tedious experiences? Well as you may have guessed I am writing this BLOG whilst sitting on yet another plane, this time returning from our annual family vacation. Two weeks with my two young children, who along with me are extremely fortunate to travel to places I had never heard of when I was young – come to think of it, I don’t think my A’ Level Geography teacher, would have heard of half of them!

Living in Asia opens airplane doors to exotic and tropical sounding places, from shanghai we are in an Olympic stones throw of Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, The Philippines, and Thailand to name but a few.Take my daughter Alex, at 6 years old, she has visited all of the usual UK holiday spots, Cornwall, Norfolk, South Wales etc. and she has also been to some pretty exotic ones; Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Lankawi, and is just finishing two weeks in Singapore and Bali – she has more Visa stamps in her passport than James Bond, my son who is now 10 years old has even more than her. They both lead extremely privileged childhoods, I don’t have enough allotted BLOG space to list all of the toys and electrical gadgetry they have, or the thousand and one TV channels at their disposal, the TV’s, DVD’s, Computers, and games systems under their control (most of which gets packed into our suitcase along with the non-universal charges).

So when at the end of our two-week, twin island adventure you ask what did they enjoy most? Your eyes widen and your heart races as they spend seconds and then minutes to provide you with an answer. All that planning and investigation, altering you adult plans to ensure that the hotel isn’t too grand, the food too rich or exotic, and the tourism trips too long or boring for them, the time spent searching for cool things to do, hours in ‘gift’ shops buying another cuddly scorpion or anteater. Paying extra for flights that fall into sleep patterns and limiting your self to just one change of clothes because your baggage allowance has been taken up with DS, PSP, Wii, eePC, ABC, BCD chargers. All of this aimed to try and reduce your stress levels, and keep the children entertained, fed, watered and hopefully get yourself back into their good books after months of working late and crying into your Blackberry every night, rather than reading them a good night story.

You realise you have given them so many choices over the last couple of weeks, will they choose the incredible Singapore Zoo, the magical night safari, the excitement of swimming with sharks (inadvertently), inspirational visits to ancient temples and witnessing a ceremonial Indonesian cremation, viewing volcanoes and rain forests, island archipelagos from the airplane windows, playing in their own private swimming pool, eating dinner as the sun went down, whilst the sea lapped at their toes at a beach side restaurant, maybe it would be the time they laughed uncontrollably as their father unceremoniously attempt to mount a floating, inflatable sun bed, which one hit would hit the spot? Which experiences will they decide made their holiday? Perhaps the decision was too difficult so I offer them a Top 5 option. So after some debate between them the answers;

1. Ben 10 (Carton Character)
2. Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP Game)

3. MacDonald’s
4. Aero’s (Cadburys chocolate bar)
5. Staying up late!

Now don’t get me wrong, I am old and wise enough to realise that the temples and funeral service cant compete with the Disney Channel, but I had hoped some of our other excursions would have at least made the top 5 – we waded in the turquoise blue Indian ocean with 5 foot wild reef sharks for Christ sake, we watched as wild baboons shoved their big red assess into our faces, and we even drove (unwisely) down mountain passes in a knackered old Suzuki APV to find untouched, unspoiled and unpopulated beaches – drives so scary that even the blondest dumbest Aussie surfer wouldn’t dare traverse to catch the a ‘radical’ wave.

I found myself encouraging them to answer how I wanted them to answer, a top 5 that included spiritual, emotional and evangelical experiences, they seemed bemused at my suggestions.

So now as I sit here on my way back to 237 un-opened emails, 40c degree heat, the Olympics and a moody dog, I try to put some logic into why they answered in the way they did. I guess its obvious really, how can a lush tropical Forrest hugging an enormous volcanic calderas, compete with a boy who can change into monsters and aliens? Or how can a barren, wild and deserted golden sand beach beat the graphics, sound effects and monster splitting, head ripping, gut disembowelling joy of the latest PSP game? The truth is they can’t, well at least not to children brought up with international travel as a given, 3 dimensional aliens as role models, and food that tastes the same and is delivered within 30 seconds of ordering – anywhere in the world, it can’t.

Our children (mine at least) spend half of their lives living in a world where you dodge laser gun totting aliens, race around the streets of San Francisco in a Ferrari at over 200mph, Google earth your way into the Queens Bathroom, and can choose the same pre-prepared, pre-packaged processed meal from every street corner, stretch of sand, mountain pass or third world village fast food outlet.

Real life, real food, real culture, real experiences, real tastes, real sounds, real sights have been replaced by a better than, much improved, series 2 world, that comes in a shiny box with a multi-voltage adapter. I guess I should end the BLOG by saying –“give me the damp tin tube in rainy Tenby, or the bag of swizlers and Blackpool, those were the days” But I wont, because despite my children’s Top 5, I still had a fantastic, memorable, anecdote creating, relaxing and spiritual awakening experience that was nearly as good as the effects in the new Iron Man film!

Death

2008-07-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

I guess many of us have an interest in capital punishment; including me.

I’m not sure why this is? Especially as I grew up in a country, which had abolished it as a form of retribution, long before I was born (or at least I thought it had!).

Perhaps it was the arguments that seemed to rage annually between political groups as to whether it should be reinstalled into the British judicial organization, or the fact that my father worked in the British penal system, or maybe even growing up during a time of 'The Yorkshire Ripper', Fred West, and Michael Ryan. Whatever it was, I was always interested in the argument both for, and against the view of ‘an eye for an eye’. Whatever your preference it seemed a futile battle to try and reintroduce a punishment that defied any idea of compassion or ‘social sophistication’ into what had become a country run by middle lane drivers.

My interest was reawakened after I decided to live in China; in fact what really rekindled my interest was a guy who came to work for me during my time at NAC MG. Hu Jin is a young (mid-20’s) product of modern China, born into relatively wealthy family with close political connections. They could afford to send him to Singapore, Malaysia and Finally England to finish his education and improve his English. Hoping to give their only son the chances they never had - they held high hopes for his return to China.

Unfortunately his better than average upbringing and relaxed lifestyle in the west had turned him into a ‘little emperor’ a modern Chinese phenomena where by the single child policy is spoiling children to a point where enthusiasm, hard work, drive and ambition is replaced by lethargic, expectant, and ungrateful kids who are happy to live on the hand outs from their frustrated parents. Needless to say they weren’t exactly inspired when he took a job working for a foreigner (me) for a manufacturing company!

Hu Jin taught me a lot about Chinese culture, but one thing stuck in my mind and is still referred to in many conversations I have with fellow westerners – the Chinese approach to the death penalty.

You see Hu Jins father had been the British equivalent of a High Court Judge. Based in Nanjing he would preside over the more serious of crimes in the city and the Jiangsu province. Jin told me of the times he would go to the court to watch his dad in action, and how is dad was relatively famous in the city, a well respected upstanding man of the community.
He also told me how his dad would take him to the weekly executions at the local jails, he recollects that he first witnessed an execution at around the age of 6 – a birthday present from his dad to show him how bad people were dealt with. The executions weren’t public, but those with the right connections could find a way to view the dozens that were put to death each month. Death was administered by the condemned kneeling with hands tied behind their back, and a single bullet fired directly into the brain, exiting through the face, it was quick, relatively clean and probably just as important - cheap!

He would go on to tell me that more people were executed in Nanjing in one month, than in the rest of the world added together over any particular year – his summation didn’t include the other cities in China – which had equal levels of capital punishment.

This may lead you to think that China is an extremely violent country? Well there is crime, and some of the crimes reported openly in the English press here are truly horrific, they have their mass murders, rapists, armed robbers, embezzlers, kidnappers and every other form of criminal – but I would hazard to guess no more than the UK.

I have personally never witnessed any crime in China (Unless you count horrendous driving, bad manners, spitting or eating dog’s as illegal activities?), however I know it goes on – I also know that the punishments handed out by the Chinese courts are as ruthless as the crimes themselves.

One story that prompted me to write this blog was an article in the Shanghai Daily, it went to detail how a man from Nanjing had been sentenced to death after stealing millions in RMB. His crime was to convince investors to buy ant-breeding kits, promising high returns for the sale of ants after just one year. Yes I did say ant breeding, and yes I had to read it several times thinking that it was a translation error – but no, apparently ants are used heavily in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and thus have become a lucrative commodity – they should come around to mine in the summer, all the ants you can catch – for free!

I guess we all have a button that pushes us into backing the call for capital punishment. Rape, murder, cannibalism, the ‘Phoenix Four’ (Only joking lads) but I bet none of us would march naked through city halls, to call for a bullet in the back of the head to those who take money from foolhardy people who can afford to invest in hair brained schemes? But it wasn’t always like that…

I came across data that wipes that holier than thou smugness from our western faces, those who think the Chinese are barbaric and uncivilized, need to look at their own record books on capital punishment before passing judgment.

Capital Punishment was only legally abolished in the UK in 1999, although this was theoretical, as you were unlikely to have seen the wrong side of a hangman’s noose for Treason, or Piracy, the last felonies with the ultimate of punishments. In fact the last person to die from legally enforced punishment was in 1964 (the simultaneous hanging of Peter Anthony Allen and John Robson Walby).
Before that the UK had a long record for hanging men, women, children and horses (or was that a Gene Wilder film?).

At its peak you could receive the death penalty for almost anything including the usual suspects Murder, Treason, raping horses and stealing women, but also for shoplifting, poaching, damage to forests or parks and of course being Scottish. The only rest bite for those destined to hang would be war and a fate worse than death – deportation to Australia. During both these events the death penalty was commuted, as it was felt death by a German bullet or Ramsey Street a far worse punishment.

Public hangings were common, as were multiple hangings the most on record being 23 in 1649. The punishment itself was almost always a rope around the neck, although the method changed over the years from strangulation (The short drop method) which would take up to 5 minutes, to (hopefully) a neck break after 1872 when the long rope and short drop was brought in as a more humane way of disposing of criminals.

The most gruesome of punishments during the Great British Empire period, was the wrongly sequenced ‘Hung, Drawn and Quartering, the actual process involved being ‘Drawn; through the city streets behind a horse on fence pole bed, being Hung by your neck until you almost dead, and then the nice bit – you would have your genitals removed (not surgically) followed by disembowelment, which then led to your organs being burned in front of you (although I cant imagine too many survived up to that point), and finally the Quartering - your head, arms and legs would be removed. Your head would then be par boiled and placed on a spike for all to witness – the par boiling was to preserve the head for longer.
Capital punishment fell out of favour with the British judicial system and the public at large during the early part of the last century, probably due to the fact that most of the young men being subject to government sponsored genocide, or the first and Second World War as it was more commonly known.
There are still many countries where capital punishment is still the favoured discipline for the worse crimes, although it seems that the US prefers to keep people facing a lingering punishment before finally putting the ‘Quarter’ in the electric meter. It takes on average 11 years on death row before the switch is finally flicked.

The country that seems to have the most effective capital punishment is the one I am heading to whilst writing this Blog – Singapore. A former British Colony it’s not surprising that this country has a tradition of imposing the death penalty.

Favouring hanging, Singapore on average sentences 3-5 people per year to death; unlike the US they are all punished very quickly with a 100% death penalty rate following appeal. This, observers will tell you leads to reduced stress on the victim, the assailant, everyone’s families and a more effective deterrent to those wishing to carve up a neighbour.

People know that that if they murder or smuggle drugs in Singapore – they will end up dead when caught, no ifs, buts or maybes – just dead. One example of this is that there are very few armed bank robberies in Singapore; those villains that do decide to steal from banks have the common sense to do it when the bank is closed – thus reducing the risk of killing an innocent bystander. In fact crime is at a much lower rate than many countries in the world – a reason to promote capital punishment?

So is capital punishment good or bad? Well on one hand it does seem barbaric and against the message of forgiveness to end a person’s life to the hand of man, and not the hand of nature. But then denying a person freedom, and a reason for living, is surely more barbaric. If a wild animal is captured we see it as ‘inhumane’ to cage them, and endure them to a meaningless life, favouring a quick and painless death seems to be more acceptable to us when it comes to animals. I know we aren’t animals, but when people resort to ‘animal’ behaviour should they not be expected to be treated like said animals?

The prisons are full, and the UK spends more in keeping people who will never see the light of day again in prison, than it does on aid for the third world, renewable energy sources, environmental protection and politicians Taxi bills put together (Ok maybe not the Taxi Bills).

Does it reduce crime? Well perhaps in the US model it doesn’t, but if the punishment is quick, precise and unquestionable than the statistics suggest that it does – one thing it certainly does is take those committing the worst offences off the streets – for good.

What about mistakes? True mistakes do happen, but modern forensics have reduced the chances of this immensely, and our judicial systems have matured exponentially because of this, crimes of doubt can be commuted – crimes without doubt can be dealt with effectively.
And what of our man in China committed to death for selling ant breeding kits to greedy investors – well I say commute his death sentence, and put him in charge of “How to Sell Snow to the Eskimos” seminars for Fortune 500 companies until he has repaid his debts.

A Day In The Life......

2008-07-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

If you look on the back page of most ‘showbiz’ or ‘entertainment’ magazines you see an interview with a semi-famous celebrity, in the form of an hourly account of what happened on a particular day – of course picked entirely at random! Well although I don’t profess to being even mildly famous, I have often wondered what it would be like to do this – and would anyone care or be interested in the goings on during the somewhat mundane and boring lifestyle of little old me?

Well I guess to answer my question, I must do just that and document an ‘average; day in the life of…. However before I do, and to somewhat pre-empt my conclusions. The answer must be a resounding “Yes”. People are interested in what other, ordinary people do – if they weren’t why would painful shows like “Big Brother” or “I’m a has-been celebrity somebody shoot me” do so well in the TV ratings? And why would “Facebook” and “Friends dying to prove I did better than you Reunited” be so popular?

We seem to have a fascination with how other people lead their lives and what they get up to. Is it because our own lives have become so boring? Or is it that we seem to be nurtured on a “grass is always greener” mentality? Have we simply become more inquisitive (what used to be called nosey)? Or is it simply that we live in such an open society bombarded with CCTV, Nudity, paparazzi, exposés and calls for more openness, transparency and “freedom of Information”, that we don’t feel our lives are private any more. So if our own lives aren’t private – why should anyone else’s be?

To put this into context of my own experiences, whilst working in China I have had my movements watched, and monitored, phone call's I take logged and every email sent or received scanned prior to reaching me or the intended recipient. Some of this is down to mistrust, some down to security, and if I ever ask why, I would be told that it was for my own safety and security!

It is something you learn to live with. The recognition that you are living almost a “Truman life” existence is very difficult to get used to at first, but like baldness, ageing and weight gain - you become accustomed and acclimatised to it.

So to keep the censors, unpaid body guards and officials who see me and the rest of the foreign contingent as a threat – take a break, have an extra jar of tea – because I have already written your report for Tuesday 2^nd July.

6.00am I reach to stop the Alarm before it goes off, In fact I can’t remember last when my alarm went off with me still asleep? A Quick Shower, cup of Tetley Tea and a Bowl of Kellogg’s Cornflakes all done while downloading the latest BBC world news podcast to listen along to on my way to work.

6.50am A quick glance at emails sent over night and jump into my car for the drive across Shanghai, plug in the headphones and relax for my favourite 50 minutes or so of the day! The drive takes me around the outskirts of Shanghai, and on the main highway between Shanghai and Hangzhou, my destination is the HuaPu Factory just at the Zhejiang provincial border with Shanghai District. No incidents today, but its not unusual to see at least one crash on the journey, and at least once a week a vehicle fire rages uncontrollably.

7:45am Climb the stairs to the 3^rd floor of the office building we occupy on this enormous manufacturing complex. Shanhai Mapel (HuaPu in China) vacated a large section of office and manufacturing space, following the building of brand new facility on the enormous site owned by Geely Automotive Group (Owners of Maple and major share holder of the SLTI JV). Open the door to my office, people are starting to trickle through the doors for the 8.00am start, cup of coffee to start the day and switch on the computer to catch up on emails.

9.00am after reading and replying to some emails sent overnight, my first meeting of the day is with my HR manager to discuss the continuing recruitment drive, and to review some new starters to the company. When I began 12 months ago, we had around 18 people working for the company; we have about 140 at present and are preparing to employ almost 300 by December of this year.

10.00am I need to review a new design of Door Mirror, due to new European regulations we have had to change the original design to incorporate a larger field of vision. I walk through 36 degree heat, to our pre-production workshop where the suppliers and engineers have developed some sample parts and fitted them to one of the first prototype vehicles build here in Shanghai for me to look at. Due to the size of our vehicle and the position of the drivers seat, the mirrors have to be extra large to give a large enough field of view down the side of the vehicle – this is where function over form comes into its own, I discuss the construction, functionality and serviceability of the mirrors as well as assessing its design and the quality of the fit to the body – however after all of that our hands are tied in red tape we guidelines and European regulations to abide to.

11.00am My second cup of coffee for the day and a discussion with one of the Chassis engineers sent from LTI to help us with development of the tooling and manufacture of our own chassis. Some very positive feedback which helps with the team’s confidence and means that we are heading in the right direction with quality. A couple more emails answered, grab some business cards and a few vehicle brochures before heading back downstairs to my car.

12.00 noon I turn on the car along with the aircon, shut the door and return to the office foyer for 5 minutes. The temperature inside the car was hot enough to melt the plastic access card I had left on dash board. The journey to downtown Shanghai can take anything between 1 hour and 4 hours depending on traffic, and I have to be at the centre of Shanghai by 1:30pm, luckily today the roads are clear(ish) and I get to the JW Marriot Hotel just in time.

1.30pm Standing in the bright sunshine the doorway to one of the best hotels in Shanghai, is a beautiful (always in the eye of the beholder!) Black London Taxi. I had convinced the British Consul General (A very nice lady called Carma) to let me highjack some the visiting VIP’s time to try and gain some exposure for our plans in China. A quick check of the car, a nod to the doorman and a briefing to one of my guys from our sales department and we were ready – only to be told that the visitors were behind schedule and would be delayed by 15 minutes.

1.45pm Never a dull moment in Shanghai, while we are baking under the boiling sun, a car decides to set its self on fire right in the middle of one of the busiest junctions. The journalist and camera men who up until then had been happily snapping away at our Taxi, ran off to get some pictures of what was causing the clouds of black smoke quickly developing and filling the almost blue sky.

2.00pm A familiar Jaguar rolls up and a very distinguished grey headed man clambers out (Nothing like leaving a London Taxi!) and heads straight into the Hotel – oh no delays have altered the plan, and all our preparation has been thwarted. I catch the eye of the consulate and she heads over to me, I await the words that will scupper our plans. No she informs me that despite delays she has agreed with the VIP to have a photo call around our vehicle in 15 minutes.

2.15pm And I am greeted by the best that London can offer, Alderman David Lewis, The Rt Honourable The Lord Mayor of London (Not to be confused with Mayor Johnson). A charming gent who stood and chatted with me for over 15 minutes while the photographers snapped merrily away, I managed to encourage him to get into positions a mechanic would have been proud of and he looked as if he was interested in everything I said, and everything he saw – the act of a professional statesman.

2.45pm The Lord Mayor held a press conference which I joined out of interest more than anything, he was here to open a new office dedicated to the ‘City of London’ in Shanghai, designed to help investment in London and build relations with a fast growing financial sector in the Pudong area of the city. I had merely thrust my agenda onto his proceedings, so when the first 3 questions to the Mayor were all about the London Taxi – I have to admit to feeling embarrassed and guilty, after all he was here to talk about the merits of institutions that turnover billions of pounds in minutes and employ some 300,000 people in London alone. He was here to talk about investments, currency exchange, risk management, bulls, bears and hedges – not roof heights wheel chair access and turning circles. I could feel the eyes of his aides burning into my neck, but darned turn to look – thankfully the next question was about protectionism in the financial markets or something – which turned the audience back onto aspects of financial management, and the Mayor back into his comfort zone. I felt this was as good a time as any to disappear.

3.15pm Got back into my car and headed for home – what only half a day Paul, well no the decision I had was to either go back to the office (at least 90 minutes away) or do some work from home before hosting a meal later that evening, I plumped for going home and saying hello to my Children before heading out for a late nights small talk.

4.20pm Arrived home to find the house empty apart from the Dog, which seemed strange as I rarely have the house to myself. Then the phone started to ring and the blackberry started to buzz – ah ha the UK has woken up. One of the aspects of working for a JV is that you have to operate on two time zones, the local one and your foreign partner’s time zone. For those with UK partners it means work starts at 8.00am in China, and then again at 4.00pm (9.00am GMT) when people get to work in the UK.

6.00pm the kids arrive back from swimming, just as I leave to go to dinner – so much for trying to grab some time with them. I have been to the restaurant once before, and hope my memory and instincts help me find it again. The restaurant is in a place called Thames Town (Insert Blog link), which is a surreal development in a new town called Songjiang about 50kms from Shanghai. With its Churches, Cricket Pitches, Duck Pond and Mock Tudor housing you could be forgiven for thinking that it is popular with foreigners – however most don’t know about it and those that do, don’t live there because of the lack of international schools and its distance from downtown Shanghai. The x dwellings remain empty and the whole place is like a luxury ghost town. The restaurant is a glass sphere, which cooks plain and simple Chinese food. I was meeting several Chinese colleagues and treating 5 guests from the UK to meal to say thanks for their support to the project.

After a meal consisting of stinky Tofu, Ducks Tongue and hairy crab, lots of speeches and some rotten jokes from our Taiwanese contingent the meal ended at about 9.15pm

10.00 pm Managed to find my way home, and settled down to watch a re-run of “House” with a cup of Tetley in one hand and my Blackberry in the other. I answer a few emails and start the final job of the day – mosquito hunting. The recent heavy rains (part of the plum rain season) combined with temperatures in the 30’s have helped bread mosquitoes in there billions, all desperate to suck the blood from my family. In China you can buy these fantastically dangerous electric shock tennis bats, which you swipe at the inflated bugs and watch them explode when you send dozens of vaults through their tiny skeletons. Much more fun than Wimbledon.

11.00pm and bed

Well was Tuesday 2^nd July a normal day? Well I cant admit to meeting a Lord Mayor everyday, but it not unusual to be hosting one form of diplomat, hedge fund manager, government department or potential importer such is the interest in the project. Was my diary for the day interesting? Well if you’ve reached this far it must have kept you interested for at least 5 minutes – or was that the pictures?

Charity Auction Results

2008-06-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

As you may have read, me and Ash from ChinaCarTimes, have been running an Auction of Automotive memorabilia in aid of those that suffered during the recent Sichuan Earthquake disaster. http://www.chinacartimes.com/2008/06/17/cct-charity-auction-goes-live/

The auction went live last Tuesday (17^th June), and as my first official attempt at raising money for charity the nerves with slightly stretched.
I had enrolled the help of APR (http://www.automotivepr.co.uk/) to help with spreading the word, and within one hour of the auction going live they told me that the SMMT (Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders) had run the press release – I expected great things!

After 6 hours, posts on my BLOG, Ash’s website and the SMMT – the total amount raised was somewhere in the region of £0.24p a disaster beckoned; I quickly contacted Keith Adams at http://www.aronline.co.uk/ (grand daddy of everything MG and Rover), Steve Childs at http://www.mg-rover.org/ (Keith’s wayward offspring) and of course those nice people at Macdroitwich (a pro British Car forum) . All in an attempt to gather some interest and hopefully some more money!

Watching eBay had become a drug – I had my ‘selling’ page added to the favourites on my iPhone, by Blackberry, laptop and PC – I would feel naked if I hadn’t checked the bidding for longer than 30 seconds.

The first few days were painful; I set up several anonymous eBay accounts and resolved myself to bidding if the money didn’t start to role in.

To make myself feel better about the whole thing I would open eBay up in various languages to see how much had been raised in Chinese RMB, US$ and even in Rupee – however ‘not a lot of money’ is ‘not a lot of money’ in any currency.

Why was I worried? Well the whole event had been well reported, both in the UK and in China, I had leant on several high ranking people at Lotus, MG and LTI in order for them to agree to offer some great prizes, and of course the main reason for the auction was to raise money for the relief effort in Sichuan. Had we only encouraged people to donate £3.46 it would be embarrassing for me, the automotive companies, and of course have little impact on those who needed the money.

I needn’t have worried, as the weekend passed we were looking far more respectful and the money had started to trickle in, a competition between MG and Lotus enthusiasts seemed to have encouraged several well healed people to start bidding for badge pride, by Tuesday late afternoon (In China) I happily refreshed my eBay web page and watched the closing moments of the Auction.

With MG consistently in the lead all the way down to the last couple of hours when the Lotus tour took a surprising late comeback, however nothing could hold back the MG fans who proudly took first place for the most money pledged.

The Results

In total we raised £953.50 (or 12,891 RMB, $1875.97 or even 80,633 INR).

Not life changing by any means – but still a respectful amount.

My thanks go to the generous winners:

MG Tour Winner - £360

Mr G. McGeachy from County Kildare

Lotus Tour Winner - £257.50

Mr N. Lohf from Warwick

CCT Advert - £155

P. Vanden from London

LTI Tour - £131

Mr B. West from Middlesex

Lifan Car Models - £50

Mr M. Schug from Bexbach Germany

To all of those who placed bids, and of course to the generosity of:

Richard Ji – Nanjing MG UK

Ben Boycott – Lotus China

Mathew Cheyne – LTI Coventry

Ash Sutcliffe – CCT China

Lifan Automotive – China

Martin Hayes – APR London

Such has been the success of the project; we are considering holding another auction later this year. Over the years I and Ash have collected various items of automotive memorabilia (Signed books by Li ShuFu Geely founder, Registration plates off the first MG built at Nanjing, Limited edition NAC MG models, Limited edition Shanghai Maple and Geely models, etc. etc.) – Let us know what you think and we will plan something over the next few weeks.

Charity 2!

2008-06-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

My last few blogs have covered both the disaster in Sichuan, and the efforts to relieve the suffering. So I thought it was about time that I did my ‘bit” – and by joining forces with Ash from the best English website about the Chinese car industry - http://www.chinacartimes.com/. We have come up with a plan to see what we could raise from an already stretched automotive Industry.

The Chinese car companies and Joint Ventures have been extremely generous to the cause – but by pooling our resources, myself and Ashley have managed to squeeze a little bit more out of them, and are offering the chance to bid on some truly “once in a lifetime opportunities”.

To Read more about the individual work done by the Chinese automotive industry here http://www.chinacartimes.com/2008/05/19/automotive-donation-updates/

And here:

http://www.chinacartimes.com/2008/05/19/chinese-and-foreign-car-companies-get-behind-earthquake-relief/

So by using my contacts at Lotus, MG and LTI, and Ash’s contacts at Lifan as well as his own website we have managed to convince the powers that be, to offer some great contributions.

The items listed below will be on offer by Auction, which will start on Tuesday 17th June at 9.30 am (GMT) and finish on Tuesday 24th June at 9.30 am (GMT). We will conduct the auction via Ebay, and payments will be made via PayPal direct to the charity.

If you have any queries about the auction, how to payment or would like to offer a similar gift please feel free to contact me or Ashley by email: paulstowemg@hotmail.com or http://www.chinacartimes.com/contact-china-car-times/

I am sure you will agree that both the items on offer, and the cause that it supports are well worth forgetting all about the price of fuel for 5 minutes and making a serious donation.

Lifan Automobiles
On offer are a twin set of Lifan model automobiles, 1:18 in size, and full of realistic features, such as opening doors and real working suspension.

Both models of the well selling Lifan 520 are on offer, the sedan version, and the recently launched Lifan i520, essentially a hatchback version of the 520.

These vehicles are not available in any shop, and are only normally given to VIP guests and customers of Lifan. Like many Chinese manufacturers Lifan create limited edition model vehicles purely for internal use and gifts to special customers and friends of the company, this is one reason why they are produced in such great detail and with close attention to accuracy with the original vehicle.

Ideal for the model vehicle collector, or Chinese motoring industry buff. A definite collector’s piece for the future.

Who are Lifan:
Lifan are a large manufacturer of motorbikes, perhaps you don’t know of them yet in the EU and USA, but mark my words, one day you will!

Here is a brief description of Lifan:
Chongqing Lifan Industry (Group) Co., Ltd is an awakening giant. A company with a history dating to only 1992 enjoying a history success with a recipe for developing into a true powerhouse is positioning itself to become the Chinese Toyota. Lifan has been granted many awards by the Chinese Government including the prestigious China Top Brand award and is rated as the fourth most valuable company in the central China manufacturing Mecca of Chongqing.
No one is to say these are small feats for a privately held, even one ranking among Chinas largest, company with a short history. Approval for export and import of its products was granted in 1998. The 2007 fiscal year saw Lifan become the number one net exporter of Chongqing with US 40Billion being exported to over 100 nations.
American Insurance Group, or AIG recently purchased a 25% stake in Lifan and Lifan hopes to raise RMB 1billion with its IPO planned for late this year on the Shanghai A-Market. The ambitious goal of producing 500,000 vehicles a year by 2010 has been set with factories in car production at home and in countries such as Russia, Vietnam, South Africa, Egypt, West Africa and South America.

You can read more about Lifan on China Car Times http://www.chinacartimes.com/category/lifan/ , or on their official website http://www.lifan.com/en/index.asp

You can find and bid on the item on ebay by using the following link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330244883964

China Car Times Advertising

China Car Times is offering one month of free advertising from July to August 2008 as a charity prize.

China Car Times regulary receives more than 1.6 million page views, with a large number of visitors coming from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and of course China!

The advertising space is usually sold for 1,000USD per month.

The advertising space is being auctioned off in aid of the Sichuan Earthquake appeal that China Car Times is currently running. The winner will receive the right to place their advertisement at the top China Car Times, below the headlogo, but above the first story. The advertisement specification is 728*90 pixels.

We wont accept any advertiser that is planning on advertising their adult website etc, so its probably best you email prior to bidding! Obviously the advert would be best aimed at a company in the automotive industry, either one wishing to enter the Chinese market, or a Chinese one wishing to aim at the foreign market.

If you have any questions about the auction, please contact us directly at hello AT Chinacartimes.com – obviously replacing AT with the swirly @

You can find and bid on the item on ebay by using the following link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330244891023

London Taxi Factory Tour + Ride and Drive

On offer here is a tour of the largest UK owned vehicle manufacturing company London Taxi’s International – home of the Iconic London Taxi.

LTI Vehicles is Britain's premier manufacturer of purpose-built taxis. They are universally recognized for giving the UK the 'black cab', the icon of the world's best taxi system
The first-ever black cab left the company's Coventry factory in 1948. Since then, more than 100,000 vehicles have rolled off the production line. Nowadays, LTI taxis can be seen in large numbers on the streets of London and other cities and towns in Britain and around the world, including North America.
The roots of LTI's business go back to 1919 when Carbodies Ltd was established as a coach-building operation under the guidance of Robert 'Bobby' Jones on a small site in Coventry.
It was not long before the expanding firm moved to new premises, followed by a further relocation to the present Holyhead Road factory in 1928.
Carbodies soon made a name for itself in the automotive industry for the fine quality of coach-building it could offer prestigious motor companies like Humber, Singer, Daimler, Jaguar, Ford and Rolls-Royce.
In the late 1940s, Carbodies diversified into building taxis. Thanks to a partnership with Mann & Overton and Austin the first FX3 taxi model, carrying the Austin badge, rolled off the production line in 1948. Over the next ten years, more than 7,000 taxis were produced, mainly for the London market, with only a few hundred used in the provinces.
During the 1950s, Carbodies built bodies for the Commer van and, in conjunction with BSA, made the body for the Daimler Majestic. The company also gained experience of building convertible and estate body shells, developing, tooling and producing shells for every Ford convertible until 1964.
As 'convertible' work declined, Carbodies concentrated on producing complete taxis, starting with the FX4 in 1959.
Carbodies was bought by Manganese Bronze Holdings plc in 1973. Then, in 1982, Carbodies took over the intellectual rights to the FX4 from British Leyland.
When Manganese Bronze bought Mann & Overton in 1984, a new company by the name of London Taxis International was formed to manufacture and sell taxis.
London Taxis International (and its predecessors) has manufactured more than 100,000 taxis with numerous model changes, including the Fairway Driver in 1992, Fairway Driver-Plus in 1993, Fairway 95 in 1994, the TXI in 1997, the TXII in 2002 and the TX4 in 2006.

The offer includes a private tour of the factory, lunch, a drive in one of the latest Iconic ‘Black Cabs’ and some special merchandise to commemorate what promises to be a memorable day.

You can find and bid on the item on ebay by using the following link:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330244893429

MG Factory Tour + Ride and Drive

Generously donated by NAC MG is a tour of the world famous Longbridge manufacturing facility in Birmingham. The home of the British Motor Industry for over 100 years, this will be one of the first ever public tours of the facility since Shanghai Automotive joined forces with Nanjing Automotive a memorable and exciting opportunity to anyone interested in British Motoring History, MG, or even the emergence of Chinese Automotive industry..

History
The Longbridge plant is an industrial site situated in the Longbridge area of Birmingham, England. Opened in 1905, Longbridge was once the largest manufacturing plant in the world. During the 20th Century the site employed many thousands of people, central to the economy of the local area. Longbridge has produced a wide variety of products, although consistently over time the product has been automobiles, perhaps most notably the iconic Austin Mini. During the Second World War the site produced munitions and aeroplanes such as the Short Stirling.
The factory at Longbridge was founded by Berkshire-born Herbert Austin. He learnt the engineering trade at the Wolseley Car manufacturer, working on tools as well as cars. Whilst at Wolesley, Austin produced an experimental three-wheeled car, and then another in 1896 which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace. This success emboldened him to begin his own business.

In it’s time Longbridge was one of the largest production facilities in the world, reduced in size to accommodate modern production techniques, it still exudes character. The century’s of blood, sweet, tears and politics that have all helped create a magical environment and historical setting for continued car production in the 21st century. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit a magical facility as it re-launches the MG brand into Europe, along with the heavily revamped MGTF sports vehicle. Included in this offer is a drive in one of the first MG TF LE500 vehicles, be one of the first people in the world to enjoy the thrills of driving an open top MG sports car build at the newly owned MG Company.

You can find and bid on the item on ebay by using the following link:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330244897166

Lotus Factory Tour + Ride and Drive

Lotus has generously offered a tour of their sports car factory in Hethel Norwich, and just as exciting – an opportunity to try out the latest vehicles on offer on their world famous race track.

Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at Hethel, Norfolk, England. The company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and high handling characteristics.
The company was formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineer Colin Chapman, a graduate of University College, London, in 1952. The first factory was in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey. Team Lotus, which was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in Formula One racing from 1958 to 1994. The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was made up of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited which focussed on road car and customer competition car production respectively. Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited in 1971 but the newly renamed entity ceased operation in the same year.

The company moved to a purpose built factory at Cheshunt in 1959 [2] and since 1966 the company has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel, near Wymondham. This site is the former RAF Hethel base and the test track uses sections of the old runway.
Chapman died of a heart attack in 1982, at the age of 54, having begun life an inn-keeper's son and ended a multi-millionaire industrialist in post-war Britain. The carmaker built tens of thousands of successful racing and road cars and won the Formula One World Championship seven times.

Since then Lotus are known around the world for developing the best handling sports cars of all time, working on countless engineering project for all the major automotive companies worldwide, as well as developing some of the greatest own brand sports and super cars of their own, including the Esprit, Elise, VX220, and Exige models all of which have been designed, engineered, tested and built at the Hethal engineering, production and testing facilities.

You can find and bid on the item on ebay by using the following link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330244899250

So there we have it some amazing gifts that I am sure you will agree that they are ones that – "money simply can’t buy". Kindly offered by 3 of the great British car companies – Lotus, MG and LTI.

Showing that not only British motoring is alive and well in the UK, but also that they recognise their social responsibility is global – all companies are intrinsically linked in China having either wholly owned or Joint Venture companies established there. All companies employ Chinese people and have been deeply moved by the events in Shichuan, and each has individually contributed to the Charity causes supporting the people and the families affected.

This Auction is just one small part of that support; I and Ashley (China Car Times) would like to express our thanks to all of the companies that responded to our requests for support. We would also like to thank Lifan for supplying some limited edition model cars for the auction, and to the Automotive PR company APR for supporting the project with some additional PR support in the UK.

My Personal thanks go to:

Ben Boycott – Lotus China
Richard Ji – NAC MG UK
Mathew Cheyne – LTI UK
Martin Hayes – APR

The Auction
The auction is being held by Paul Stowe (www.carryoncabby.blogspot.com) with help from China Car Times (www.chinacartimes.com) and supported by LTI, Lotus, Geely, Lifan, MG and APR in aid of those affected by the horrific earthquake late last month in Sichuan province of China. Currently, tens of thousands of people are without homes, without furniture, without the means to further their lives. We hope that by auctioning off Chinese car auto memorabilia, we will be able to aid those affected in some way, no matter how big or small. By bidding on this auction, you will be giving to those who are less fortunate than yourself.

Charity!

2008-06-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

One topic has dominated the business lunches, dinners, meetings and just general chit chat during the past couple of weeks, the topic of Charity in China. The recent earthquake in Sichuan has left all of us shell shocked. The sights, the sounds, and the despair beamed into our homes has been evenly matched by an enormous outpouring of generosity, aid, acts of selflessness and dare I say it – ‘Charity’.

To those of us brought up in the West, Charity has never been a ‘dirty’ word, and some of you reading this may be wondering why I am referencing the word with exclamation marks.

Brought up on a diet of ‘Live Aid’, Village Charity fares, a one eyed teddy bear and a regular stream of slick advertising encouraging us to part with money for deserving causes. We are accustomed to the concept, and acclimatized to supporting orphans, sick dolphins and diseased tress across the globe. However in China things are a little different.

Don’t misunderstand me, as with most things, Charity in China goes back thousands of years. The teaching of Confucius, taught people that helping people in need, was a way to reverse wrongdoings in this life, and would help ensure a better – next life. In fact the Chinese for Charity (Ci Shan) is directly translated as love, kindness, friendship and sympathy, charity was mainly between individuals, and mostly done in secret to prevent embarrassment on behalf of the receiver.

Events were organized by Government departments, or even further back by the emperors to help those in need, but you would not have found any privately managed institutions or groups of individuals ‘clubbing’ together to organize fund raising events.

I am told by Chinese friends that the words Juan kuan reflect the current outbreak of Charity more correctly, as this sequence of words reflects more accurately the giving of money due to a sudden disaster – as with most languages mandarin has many different words to describe similar activities.

After the Revoluion of 1949, Ci Shan became a system of balancing the unequal spread of wealth in the country, a Robin Hood philosophy of taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Responsibility for looking after those in need was the domain of the government; after all there was no concept of being rich or poor in a communist “everyone is equal” society!

This philosophy continued up until the 1980’s, when the opening of trade barriers and a softening of the communist system, led people to turn their attentions to economic growth. This didn’t initially result in a rush to participate in charitable acts, however it has led to an enormous growth of those that ‘have’, and the enormous gap between those that ‘have not’!

China is now home to the second largest number of US$ billionaires in the world, as well as being home to more than 80 million living below the poverty line (less than 1 US$ a day), however despite all of the millionaires and billionaires, 40% of all charity raised in China is via a national lottery, rather than specific donations. Does modern day China still have an issue with Charity?

Regarded as “a decoration of the ruling class used to cheat the people’ during the 1950’s, it is clear to see that individual charity has some clear obstacles to maneuver around before becoming the ‘norm.’ in China, however recent events show that perhaps China is on its way to sweeping away these old perceptions of Charity.

Domestic and foreign donations for the earth quake survivors has reached nearly 40 billion Yuan (US$5.7 billion) with some 22 billion Yuan of aid coming from within China, including a staggering US $130 million from China’s richest 100 people.

What has shocked most of the foreigners living here is not necessarily the numbers, but the fact that this incredible outpouring of public generosity has been completely voluntary. Spontaneous voluntary acts are rare in China; everything is organized, commissioned and directed by committee. An individual outpouring like this, has to have the Chinese government worried - why?

Well I walked into my office 2 weeks ago, and people were collecting money in a brown envelope – not an unusual occurrence in a western office, shop or factory – where there is always someone about to give birth, get married, celebrating a graduation, driving test success or 3rd week anniversary. But during my time in China you rarely see anyone walk around with a collection – it’s just not done. The closest I ever got to it, was when I organized a November the 5th bonfire party at NAC MG, and we pushed a Guy Faukes effigy around in a supermarket trolley – people did give generously, as the children shouted “Penny for the Guy’ in Chinese (another one on the list of Top 10 surreal moments!) .

This current activity wasn’t some dictate from management or government; it was a spontaneous and moving response to the events in Sichuan.

You may wonder why we need to analysis the reasons, and say that we should simply embrace the ideology and generosity, rather than trying to understand it. But the “Why?” could prove to be a significant moment in Chinese history. As for many of us this is a massive change in a country where very few question “Why?” and even less publicly defy ‘normal’ or “expected” behavior.

I examined the question with colleagues, Chinese and Western and all believed it was a mix of emotions brought on by a number of recent factors; the outrage at interruptions to the Olympic Torch relay, the growth of national pride as the Olympics draw closer and the vast amount of unedited coverage of the disaster, which for China is unheard of, and has allowed the population to see the shear extent of suffering caused by a natural disaster on this scale.

All of these have combined to bring this country and its people closure. From the “I Love China” avatars left on peoples MSN and ICQ accounts, to the recent outpouring of generosity The sense of national pride and belonging is immense and frightening, the combination of freedom of mind and desire to make a difference, within a population of over 1.3 billion is an immense force, and one that can change policy, destroy red tape, and even topple governments.

Want to do your bit? please continue to give generously to the http://www.redcross.org.cn/

Eating Out

2008-05-24T04:53:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how expensive it could be to ‘eat in’ in Shanghai, with the price of a cup of tea at around $5 and a bowl of cereal coming in at $8, you may be attempted to eat out?

In Nanjing we had an enormous choice of cuisine – well enormous as long as you liked Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese or Chinese. Yes you could get some western food at the local 4-5star international hotels, but they all came with international hotel bills! Again moving to Shanghai meant that you could get cuisines from around the world and at variable prices

You have probably heard all the horror stories from friends who have visited China (especially those on business here) about the ‘strange’ and ‘curious’ dishes served up by your local Chinese restaurant. Despite the sparrows tongue, goosefeet and live lobster surprise, (http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/article3552377.ece)
Chinese restaurants can serve up some great food. The JiaoZi (Dumplings are great), Beijing (formerly known as Peking!) Duck is wonderful and the Spaniel Eyeballs are to die for (only kidding!). However I decided not to compare the costs of eating Chinese in the UK with eating it here in China for two reasons. One it would be unfair, with literally millions of Chinese restaurants in Shanghai mainly serving a not so rich clientele, prices are unbelievably low in most cases – I’m talking 1 pound for 10 courses, and the food is so different that it would be wrong to compare. Yes Chinese food in the UK is an English invention and bares little resemblance to the food cooked here (So I am told by my Chinese friends and colleagues – as I have never had a Chinese in the UK!).

Another option was to compare hotel restaurant prices – after all aren’t Hyatt’s, Hiltons and Marriots the same around the world? As I have stayed and eaten in most of them I would have to agree, however unless you’re on holiday, a business trip or you live in Nanjing you wouldn’t necessarily eat in a hotel. City hotel restaurants are incredibly pretentious and cater for businessmen who have arrived late, meeting places for strangers and for people staying with people they shouldn’t, and cant be seen anywhere else (If you know what I mean!). Not only that I couldn’t get hold of priced menus from hotels in the UK on the Internet – and no one I knew ate in hotels in the UK (Point proved I think?).

So I have resorted to comparing what used to be called honest establishments, serving wholesome honest western food! When I was a child is was the Berni Inn, with a Prawn Cocktail Starter (none of this appetizer business), an 8oz Char grilled (Burned) steak, and Apple Crumble with custard for desert all washed down with a glass of chilled Lambrusco (Not for me of course I was too young!). Places where as a parent you hate going after the 30th visit, but it’s the only place that outwardly encourages you to bring the kids, offers a menu that you can understand, and doesn’t require you to arrange a second mortgage before booking a table.

I would have liked to have picked a menu from the ‘Miller’s Kitchen’ range who seem to have replaced the ‘Berni’ in the UK, but there website didn’t have an online menu with prices, and popping on a plane for 13 hours just to see how much chicken nuggets and chips are, wasn’t really plausible. So I had to rely on what I could get my hands on. Thus I chose Harvester for my UK comparison, with over 150 establishments you’re never too far away from serving yourself!
In Shanghai it was easy to pick a restaurant chain that fitted the bill – there is only one. The strangely named “Blue Frog” restaurant chain – which when you first hear it conjures up images of delicately prepared amphibian dishes, is actually a haven for expatriate families, caught in between the fast food chains of McDonald’s and KFC, Chinese Restaurants and High Class hotel fare. They provide a welcome break, with 7 locations around Shanghai, English-speaking staff, and efficient service offering clean toilets – although they do fill the urinals with ice? Which I have always found strange!

So I have found the restaurants for comparison, all I need now is the food – as you may expect the menus are somewhat different. The choices at the Harvester are enormous in comparison, and restaurants don’t make it easy when they try to make simple food sound exciting – for example what do they mean by feisty prawns or funky Chicken? Did the prawns cause some problems for the chef, or did the chicken arrive in flairs?

So I have had to generalize the menu’s to try and find a balance.

Well the results show that the UK is marginally cheaper (although I didn’t include the price of wine or beer) but of course this isn’t the whole story, as with any major city, you can decide on your budget and find a myriad of restaurants to suit – as long as you like Chinese that is! If it’s an Indian, Mexican, Italian or Thai then be prepared not to find too many bargains.

Earthquake

2008-05-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

I Decided I would not post a BLOG about my puerile and menial life this week, after reading and seeing the scenes from the earthquake stricken Sichuan province I didn’t feel comfortable discussing anything else. I’m not a journalist or professional writer, and couldn’t give justice to the stories that need to be told. So I have just decided to show some of the images that have moved me during the last few days.

At 2.45pm local time on the 12th May 2008 an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale hit southwest China. The quake was centred on Wenchuan county in Sichuan province, and was felt as far away as Hong Kong and Bangkok - some 1950 kilometres away.

The current death toll stands at 28,881 (as of 2pm on Saturday 16th May), and government sources are indicating that figure could be as high as 50,000. The Red Cross report that another 200,000 have been injured and over 4 million displaced.

Here are just some of the pictures that show the scale of the disaster.

One of the most harrowing stories to be told has been that of the children at Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan. 900 children were killed, when the school collapsed during Monday’s earthquake.

The photograph show the gathering of school bags made to help identify the dead.

Student ID tags are collected to help identify those lost.

The pictures don't need any explanation, and certainly dont need any words from me. I just want to send my heartfelt wishes, and Sincere condolences in this the darkest of hours.

A good Chinese friend of mine sent me some more pictures from the earthquake site, I have now added these to the blog.

Please give generously:

http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=81125&entrypoint=31872_googlead2_china

The cost of a 'normal' life

2008-05-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

This is an entry I have been threatening to write for months, but as my last BLOG was about money – it seems appropriate that I finally got down to putting finger to key.
As the title suggests I wanted to write about the cost of living in China – not for a local (maybe that one would come later) but as an Ex-British citizen (I think I’m ‘Ex’, I will have to check with the consulate!).

You see the cost of living depends on your lifestyle, eating habits, living style, family size, transportation preference, and in some respects what you can actually afford! I guess many people think that the cost of living in China is extremely low in comparison with the UK, and if you wished to live life as a local – that would almost certainly be true. As I recently wrote, if you’re an indigenous Chinese worker – you will be living on far less than your western expatriate, or comparable UK worker. However living the normal Chinese lifestyle would not appeal to many westerners – if any.

When I lived in Nanjing, I had to adapt my standard of living considerably. The lack of western nicety’s caused me and my family to do without many of life’s simple pleasures, leaving anything made by Cadbury, Walkers, Stella Artois, Marks and Spencers, NEXT or Clarks just a dream or long distant memory. After a while you start to accept (I wont say enjoy) rice with every meal, sweet bread and hairy crab crisps.

Moving to Shanghai was like moving to a new country, we ran around the specialist foreign supermarkets like, well like children in a sweet shop – reminiscent of a scene out of a Peter Kay stand up show, we picked up Cadburys Chocolate Fingers like they were made of gold, showing them to each member of the family in disbelieve that we actually found some identifiable food stuff!

Believe me, please believe me I have tried to lead a more simple life – but I always end up craving for a tin of Heinz Baked beans, HP Sauce, or Air-Conditioning in 45 degree heat.
So I am writing this BLOG as a simple-minded westerner trying to live an Englishman’s life in a Chinese city, rather than an English man living in a Chinese city, trying to live a Chinese lifestyle.
I have tried to break down the cost of living into 7 parts, eating in, eating out, taxation, commodity bills (Including vehicle fuel), rent (vehicles and property), transportation and clothes. Today’s first installment is about eating in.

Eating In

The most famous western supermarket chain in China is Carrefour, it also happens to be the largest in Europe and 2nd only to Walmart in the world.
Opening its first Chinese store in 1995, it now has 42 stores employing over 23,000 people. Carrefour is the center of most western dwellers shopping habits in mainland China, apart from shopping it’s the first place you meet other people in a similar position, it’s a focal point to set distance and directions from, and it remains a key indicator for change in China.
I have to say that Carrefour has never been my favorite store – but it was a god send when we lived in Nanjing – we would visit each week and dream of them increasing their foreign brand range by another product (It never did!), and the live fish, turtles and frogs on sale always raised a laugh.
I rarely visit Carrefour in Shanghai, mainly because we now have choice! A couple of local stores provide (almost) everything we need – although at an extortionate price!
I could write lists, and lists of products which whilst interesting – I would probably get an avalanche of abuse because someone out there doesn’t buy sardines pickled in human brine (Just me then!). So I just decided to pick the top 20 ‘favorites’ from ‘most’ peoples shopping trolleys. If you did want any other product compared – let me know, I am now the expert!!

I recognize that you could not make much of a meal from all of that, and believe it or not I never picked items to show an uneven spread of prices (I.e. cheapest UK Vs Most expensive Chinese). If I had included chocolate sweets or wine the gap would be even wider (a standard Mars Bar costs 1.12 and a bottle of Jacobs Creak Chardonnay is over 9.00 a bottle). If you want to check out the prices yourself try http://shanghainetshop.com/citysupermarket/shopping .

You will notice that I have missed meat and fish from the list, well we are encouraged by western doctors to eat only imported Australian meat, and to avoid all locally produced meat and fish.
You ignore this advice at your own peril, I recognize that the UK has suffered with BSE, foot and mouth and salmonella outbreaks despite the extremely stringent rules and regulations to control hygiene etc. But these outbreaks pale into insignificance with locally produced produce in China, where human excrement is the flavour of choice for farmers fertilizer and a recent outbreak of blue ear disease in pigs doubled the price of pork and left at least 5% of the 500 million pigs in China culled or slaughtered – or at least those that were prevented from being sold on the black markets!
Farming, slaughtering, logistic and food handling standards I expect don’t meet European standards? Although I am happy to be proven wrong!The price of imported Australian meat is incredibly expensive, and locally produced meat incredibly cheap in comparison – so I chose to leave these out of the equation to provide a more level and realistic playing field.

So cooking at home in Shanghai can be dangerous and expensive, the alternative is to use one of the 1001 restaurants in Shanghai. Which of course only use imported meet, the freshest of fruit, vegetables and ensures that they prepare, clean, cook and serve with the highest levels of cleanliness – or do they? More next week.

Money!

2008-05-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

There has recently been lots of news about the financial difficulties in the west, the so-called ‘credit crunch’ and the mortgages fiasco in North America have created a whirlpool of despair, doom and gloom.

Houses aren’t doubling in value every month, you actually need a job to get a mortgage, and most people are delaying the purchase of their third Mercedes.

Credit is proving difficult to get hold of, and bankers in the financial cities are struggling to pay the loan on the gold, diamond encrusted jet they brought with their last bonus.

Financial issues have also made a lot of news in China recently – but maybe on a different scale? China is full of extremes – wealth and poverty are probably the most obvious in large cities like Shanghai.

Each day that I drive to work, I am sucked in by the large air intakes of another Porsche, Bentley, or BMW 7 series that fly past.

On a weekend shopping trip to Carrefour (it was empty for the first time ever – I wonder why?) I parked up next to a yellow Lamborghini, which when I returned had been replaced by a Bentley Arnarge to one side, a BMW 740iL behind, and a Porsche Cayenne Turbo a couple of cars down.

I squeezed into my London Taxi, knowing that I was at least individualistic – You see these cars in Shanghai rarely raise an eyebrow even from the local Shanganese anymore, whereas my beloved TXII, turns heads and gasps of WoW -at least I think that's what people are saying?

Mind blowingly, China is Bentleys 3rd largest market, Rolls Royces and Ferrari’s 5th Largest, whilst Porsche predicts that China will be its biggest market in 5 years time, it is already their second biggest overseas market (after the USA).

The rich here are quite happy to flaunt their wealth in the form of imported exotica; large houses, foreign travel, Chanel suits for the women, and Prada handbags for the men!

Its seems ironic that the fake markets of Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou are filled with westerners purchasing the latest Rolexy watch, and Louise Vuitton suitcase, whilst the high brand shopping malls are filled with rich Chinese buying the REAL deal!

But while the Chinese super rich grow in their ranks, (At the last count their were in excess of 150,000 Chinese with a personal fortune over $5million and the number of Chinese $billionaires is second only to those in the USA at 130+). The rest of the population still live an incredibly different life, on an unimaginable low income.

The National Bureau of Statistics data shows that annual per-capita disposable income was 13,786 yuan (£985) in urban areas last year, up 17.2 percent. Just over 40% of Chinese live in urban areas and despite the over crowded shopping malls, supermarkets and roads – the average income is less than £3 per day!!!

If you think this is extreme, almost 750 million people live in rural areas where the annual income was 4,140 yuan (£296), up 15.4 percent. Which equates to less than £1 a day.
Along with this increase the central government is considering whether to lift the benchmark poverty line from the current 1,067 yuan (£76) to 1,300 yuan (£92), according to a notice issued by the Poverty Alleviation Office under the State Council. This would bring the Chinese classification of poverty inline with international standards, doubling China’s impoverished population to 80 million overnight, or in other words 80 million people having to survive on less than £0.25p per day.

One of the largest concerns to the everyday Chinese is the rapid increase in food costs, and for all those western students trying hard to survive on Student loans and parent handouts – share a thought for the 20 million or so High School and College students in China, who survive on an incredibly small amount of money – so much so that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education will raise allowances to 16 million students by 20 yuan (£1.45) a month from March to June, and by 40 yuan to four million needy students.

The government has subsidized students since 1989, but the amount varies according to the area. In Beijing, it is about 60 yuan for each student a month – that’s £4 Great British Pounds per month – or about 2 pints of beer a month at the local bar!

This increase isn’t just limited to students; the government has been keen to act on employers who have kept wages at the legal minimum. In Shanghai the government has just increased the monthly minimum wage from 840 yuan (£60) to 960 yuan (£69) from April 1st.

This is the 16th time the minimum wage has been increased since 1993. In comparison The UK minimum wage is 12,432 yuan (£888) per month (based on 4 X 40 hour weeks) or about an average yearly salary for those living in urban areas!

So how does this add up? Like many visitors, expatriates and local Chinese – I don’t have a clue!! We all see so much wealth, so many imported luxury vehicles, so many bejewelled watches and garish handbags that we cannot work out where the money comes from, perhaps its all down to statistics, whereby a small percentage of an enormous population is still an enormous number? Whatever it is – I am sure it could do with being spread around a bit more, before the natives become hostile!

Girls & Cars

2008-04-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that this BLOG mainly concentrates on things other than what I’m doing in China? Partly because I wanted to keep my employers happy, and partly because there is so much to write about other than car production, that I find myself getting sidetracked quite easily.

However I felt it necessary just to outline what goes into organizing an event as big as an international motor show. Not that I have been organizing the whole show of course – simply my little corner, my very small, very innocuous section of what has to be the largest most extravagant display of automobile prowess that I have ever seen.

Of course I am referring to the Beijing Auto Show 2008, a show that despite the obvious omission of the western media – where were you all? This has to be one of the largest auto shows in the world, and this year professed to be the year that the indigenous Chinese auto warfare, presented their armory to the rest of the world – a year when the world needed to wake up and take the Chinese car industry seriously, before it was too late!

My journey to Beijing started as I say 6 months ago, when I thought that we needed to do something special for the show. Geely had shown the London Taxi at last years Shanghai Auto Show, and although it created an amazingly positive response (It was voted ‘coolest car of the show’) I wanted to stamp my own personality on the event, and if I am totally honest I had always been told what was happening, and what would/wouldn’t be shown – so for me this was my first opportunity of real control. I wanted to take a normal, run of the mill London Taxi and show the world just how versatile the vehicle could be.
With an enormous cabin space, high roof, wide opening doors and a simple electrical architecture that allowed you to have a bit of fun, without calling in NASA to sort out the wiring, It is a vehicle that allows you to let your imagination run wild.

I felt that we should ‘Go Mad’ with the vehicle – it wasn’t so much a question of “would people like it?” more of a question “would people talk about it?” With so much going on in Beijing, it would be hard for us to squeeze our way into the media– so we had to do something very different! The concept was simple “Pimp my ride” meets London Taxi. I got my ideas drawn up by a keen and enthusiastic design company in Taiwan, and presented them to my board, fortunately the great man Li Shufu was present at this particular board meeting – and he loved the idea, after his blessing no one was going to stop me!

So we got the approval, how the hell were we going to make the dam thing! In the UK I could have found a dozen or more specialist vehicle converters and interior trim specialists to help – here in China I was at a loss, no one here did this, everyone was too busy in producing production parts for the booming car market.
We played with the idea of sending the vehicle to Australia, where a lot of the skills we needed could easily be found – but the import and export rules in China made that prohibitively expensive, and enormously complex. The next step was to call in some favors from old friends and colleagues, some of the larger auto suppliers in the world – paranoid about copyright and IPR infringements they were unwilling to share any actual parts with us, but did help with some of the design work around the most important feature – the seats.

The seats would be the focal point of the design, 2 extremely large fully functioning, reclining armchairs swathed in imported Italian leather. With Electronic adjustment, massage and slouch facility they would need to be large enough to seat a baby elephant! Next was the ICE (In Car Entertainment), I didn’t just want to fit the standard 7 inch screens found in most luxury vehicles, so I opted for the 27 inch LCD with a 10 disc DVD / CD changer and enough speakers to blow the windows out – all controlled from a touch pad screen that would pop out on command. Throw in an Italian Steering Wheel, a few LED lights and deep pile carpet the same color as the exterior and BINGO!

So with the interior fixed, what about the exterior? Well this was much harder than we anticipated – the vehicle is so iconic whatever you do to it would either be unnoticeable due to the shear size of the vehicle or would look out of place on such an historic and traditional vehicle – I opted for crazy! There was no point in sticking a couple of bits of chrome, or polishing up the standard wheel trims, this vehicle was meant to make peoples jaw drop – so out came the aftermarket parts catalogues, the pipe bending tools, the welding guns and machining equipment. I found a great team of engineers in nearby Pudong on they went to work on transforming the vehicle. Almost from solid slabs of aluminum and stainless steel they molded running boards, dual exhausts, wheels, golf bag racks, indicator surrounds etc and created a visual masterpiece. Some people loved it, some people hated it – but everyone spoke about it!

The next part of the show was the models, the whole point of a motor show for the exhibitors is to get their vehicles on the magazine and newspaper covers, you can do this in several ways – obviously the best way is to have the newest, best looking exotic piece of luxury vehicle on show, or you can do what most of us not building Ferraris do – and that is to ensure you get a young scantily clad girl to sprawl across the bonnet and hope for the best!
I insisted on the models being western looking – not that Chinese girls aren’t pretty – but because they generally don’t make the magazines or newspapers as often as foreign girls do at an Asian auto show. Secondly and probably most importantly was the clothes – they needed to say sexy, but not vulgar (although Vulgar does get you more chance of pinching the headlines!). I decided on a mix of traditional London Business Attire that included the umbrella and even the Bowler hat, with a traditional (although shorter – much shorter!) Chinese Cheapo. Lastly they need to be pleasant, smiley and experienced. Standing on high heals for hours at a time whilst smiling at some dirty old photographer who is trying to shoot as much cleavage or thigh as possible, is not as easy as it may look.. Get these 3 things right and you could get a milk float on the cover of the next edition of Chinese What Car or Top Gear magazine – well at least the bits of the car that surround the models body! (Yes I agree this is all completely sexist and wrong in today’s modern society – but please don’t send me your hate mail – send it to the magazine and newspaper editors who make these rules!)

The final piece of this jigsaw is the marketing and merchandise that feeds the hungry visitors, desperate to add millions of bags, posters, balloons and brochures to their mountainous collections. People end up carrying the equivalent of 3 tall oak trees away with them. I don’t have a clue what they do with all it, I am sure most of it ends in the rubbish bin, several hours later when they realize that the brochure on the 6 wheeled, garden buggy powered by grass cuttings isn’t really any use to them.
If any one really is serious about global warming – ban this crazy practice and save a few million trees (and the expense of me producing another 80,000 brochures!). The work entailed in getting your ideas into solid matter is incredible, and leaves you worn out and exhausted – especially when you are paranoid about every photo, image, logo, word and color scheme in your marketing arsenal, and when it all finally comes together (more often this is when you run out of time arguing about the shade of black you should use!). You feel inspired to do it all again – only next time better!

So with all the Jigsaw pieces in place, you turn up, unveil the car, help the models onto the stage and hand out your small trees to the media and public – you sit back and wonder if it helps to sell your vehicles? Or does it just provide an opportunity for motoring colleagues to slap each other on the back?
I’m not sure, but to all of those people out there who service the exhibition industry, the taxi drivers, hotel staff, caterers, printers, models, graphic designers stand constructors and security people it’s a way of making a lot of money in a very short period. In my eyes the 2008 Beijing Auto show has been a fantastic success – but that has as much to do with the fact that I managed to survive the whole ordeal, as it does with the great media coverage we got from the Girls we had on display – sorry I meant the Vehicles we had on display!

Tomb Sweeping

2008-04-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Having arrived back in China this week, I was quickly informed that Friday (The 3rd April) would be a national holiday. Having just spent a week of a 'National’ holidays in the UK where we feel inclined to share enlarged eggs made of chocolate, I was intrigued as to what the significance of this holiday might have been.

In Chinese the holiday is called Qing Ming Jie, which has the literal translation of “Clear/Pure Brightness” but is more commonly known as ‘Tomb Sweeping’ Day. As with all Literal translations it sounds very strange to our western ears – why would you want to sweep a tomb? What is a tomb? Who does it? And Why?

I started to write this Blog with a view, not to concentrate on this ‘Strange’ Chinese festival, but to compare (and ridicule!) a few of our western traditional holidays – Shrove Tuesday, Boxing day, April fools day and bonfire night to name but a few! However whilst investigating this Chinese phenomenon (I can only find other references in Taiwan and HK) I became more and more interested in this seemingly religious festival, in a seemingly unreligious culture?
An ancient tradition spanning over 2500 years, this year sees the holiday raised to national holiday status for the first time. As the name suggests it’s a time to tend the gravesides of your deceased relatives, ancient deities and modern day martyrs.

Coincidently, I live just around the corner from a large cemetery in the Qingpu district of Shanghai and couldn’t work out this week why they had installed a new traffic control system and there was a large police presence all around the streets leading to and from the entrance. It was only when I read in the local Shanghai Daily that some 2.7 million people in Shanghai alone visit the graveyards of relatives on this single day – the police were expecting a crowd, and a crowd is what they got!

People all around this vast country visit the graveyards that populate the suburbs. Cemeteries open at 6.00 am and fill quickly, in the Beijing suburb of Babaoshan some 118,000 people visited the local cemetery on Friday alone. China Daily reports some 100 million nationals taking trips to graveyards, and memorial sites on Friday.

Along with clearing weeds, and generally dusting the gravestone, offerings of cold food are made, these normally comprise of fruit, or deserts and qingtuan - green sticky rice balls (some people I spoke to also mention leaving alcohol for their ancestors to enjoy!). It is believed that the food should be simple, as not to attract the evil spirits in the cemetery, this follows a belief that if you don’t care for the deceased they will become ‘hungry ghosts’ and cause trouble for the living.

One of the big parts of this tradition is the burning of fake money (mingbi) and paper effigies at the graveside. Thought to ensure that the dead are provided for in the afterlife, this can create enormous problems and Last year, mourning activities caused more than 1,400 fires, resulting in three deaths. In 2006, there were more than 2,300 fire accidents linked to the holiday, accounting for one-third of the forest fires that year. This year will be the largest celebration on record – no wonder the authorities aren’t taking any chances.

What did surprise me when trying to learn about this custom, was that since 1949 it has been illegal to be buried in a coffin, and the communist party enforced compulsory cremation. Not surprising I guess when you consider that almost a 25,000 people die on average each day in China – that’s a lot of graves! People found a way around this law people by burrying the ash in coffins and mounting tombstones, which maintained the demand for cemetery space.
As time has gone on, the law has steadily become ignored and the rise is burials is almost back to its previous pre-ban figures. This has also let to a massive rise in the price of available plots (Yinzhai house for the dead), with the average price per sq meter in a Beijing cemetery averaging between $1400 and $4000 (This compares to $2500 for an apartment - Yangzhai, house for the living). Its now fact that it costs you more to be dead than alive!

The average ash burial uses just 1.5 sqm, however the government has been encorouging people to use smaller spaces as the demand for funeral space overburdens availability. Some cemeterys are now offering spaces of just 0.2 sqm, however with a tradition of ensuring comfort for the deceased - these are not prooving popular. The government has recently (April 1st - not an April the 1st joke, I promise) doubled the reward for sea burials to 400 rmb ($50) in a vain attempt to release the ressure on cemetrys - again due to traditions only a very small percentage have been taking this offer.

This all leads me to the reason for not only people wanting to bury their relatives even in these circumstances, but also the reason why Qing Ming Jie is so important. Whilst not religious it comes from the teachings of Confucius (some would argue a religion in itself?), and superstitions around the dead, that promote the belief that you should care for the dead and provide for them to ensure a happy life for you and your family in the future. My thoughts are with the cleaners of the cemeteries – at Boashan cemetery in Beijing last year they removed 20 tons of rubbish left by the mourners during Qing Ming Jie – who knows what the pile will look like this year!

Best Man?

2008-03-31T21:52:00.001-07:00

First, please accept my apologies for missing a weeks BLOG. I had taken what I thought would be a well deserved rest in the UK – how wrong could I have been?
I arrived back in the UK on Wednesday 21st March, after a nearly 13 hour flight – delayed due to a diversion from the normal route – The pilot informed us that apparently Beijing is now a ‘no-go’ zone for international flights. In an attempt to reduce pollution flights not directly taking off or landing in Beijing are not allowed into the cities air space (sorry my poor use of grammar will undoubtedly fire off a rally of abuse from the anal retentive amongst my readers – no apologies, you don’t like what I write or how I write it – read something else!).

Back to my reasons for being rushed off my feet whilst on vacation. Well for me this was just a normal bi-monthly visit back to the UK – whereas my family hadn’t returned to the UK for over 15 months. So they wanted to fit in as much as possible in the 10 or so days we were in Blighty. We had to fit in visits to family, friends, acquaintances and work colleagues, days with my bosses in Coventry, meetings with the writers, editors and producers of the forthcoming (hopefully) production, and of course the main reason for the trip back – my brothers wedding.
I had been asked to be best man by my brother some 9 months earlier when they announced their engagement. Being best man was explained to me as “like being asked to kiss the queen”, and incredible honor - that no one really wants! I didn’t feel like that, however I was quite embarrassed, whilst extremely close to my ‘little’ (He is 2meters tall and counting) brother – he has some fantastic friends who have been close friends with my brother since children at the age of 3. These were much more deserving of the task than me – someone who had escaped the turmoil’s of family life for isolation in China. When asked I thought – great lots of time to develop a cracking speech. 9 months preparation into what should / shouldn’t be said, time to create a balance between sentiment and humor, and hopefully develop a relationship with this new and unknown family that would become my brothers ‘in-laws’.
I have had lots of opportunities to talk in public before, and wasn’t necessarily nervous about the whole thing, after all the audience should be well watered and had no crosses to bare against either me or the bride and groom – a welcoming audience, just looking for a slice of entertainment during an otherwise long day.
But, as the day got closer I became more and more apprehensive. Most of my family hadn’t seen my for several years (at least 2), I had left for China as a boy – I had to return as a man! What if I fluffed my words? What if I froze? What if I wasn’t funny – or even worse I was embarrassingly abusive? Despite the 9 months notice I had left writing the speech until the very last day, I didn’t have time to rehearse or review – I just had to go with what I had.
Here is what I had planed to say – but I must admit to adlibbing quite a lot, not necessarily due to confidence – more to do with reacting to the heckling and the copious amounts of alcohol I had consumed prior to the big moment. “I would just like to say thanks for the introduction, and I hope that everyone has enjoyed themselves so far, I know you all want to get to the bar and when I’m speaking I don’t object to people looking at their watches, however I do get upset when they start shaking them to make sure they are working.

Despite being Martins favorite brother, I have to admit to feeling a little bit guilty at being nominated as Martins Best man, So to make amends I would like Martins first and second choices for Best Men to stand and take a bow – Mark and Craig please stand.
Both Martin and myself have known Craig & Mark a long time – too long perhaps!
To Martin, Mark and Craig have been loyal, trustworthy, compassionate and faithful friends through thick and thin. They have shared your triumphs, your disasters, and your good and bad times and in some cases they have even shared your prison cell.

You are both far more deserving as Martins best friends to do this job – however Gabby decided that for two reasons you probably weren’t suitable:
1. You know far too much about Martin’s seedy past, and
2. You were far too ugly to appear on the wedding photos.

You can sit now boys.

This is my first (and probably last) time as a best man and one of the difficulties for a best man virgin, is knowing how long your speech should last, having consulted many of you before this big day, the consensus seems to be that the speech should last as long as the grooms love making – so without any delay, I would like to thank you for your attention and wish you all a great day. (At this point I sat down, before starting again)

Whilst my job is to talk about Martin, I do have to congratulate the Bride, the bridesmaids and of course the flower girls on a fantastic turnout, you all look stunning and have provided a ray of sunshine on what weather wise would be a fairly dull day.

I hope that now the stressful bit is over you can sit back and relax and enjoy the rest of the day.
If any of you have been wondering just how stressful the whole wedding preparation has been – well 6 months ago when this all started Martin had hair as long as mine!

I know it is customarily as best man to completely embarrass, and ridicule the groom.. However I must admit to being a little worried about this task, one reason is because of my deep respect for Martin and my love for him and his new bride, and the other because of my throat – Gabby said she would cut it if I said anything bad.

I haven’t known Gabby that long, but what I do know is that she is a fantastic person, kind, generous, loving and one of those people who has the ability to recognize and appreciate inner beauty – which is just as well really.

By marrying Martin, Gabby has been an inspiration to all of those people out there who believe in lost causes, not to say that Martin was a complete lost cause, but ever since his first arrest at the age of 6, Martin has been a bit wayward, I don’t want to exaggerate this – but he is on first name terms with the cleaners at Solihull police station.

Still Gabby has had a calming influence on his illegal activities and even his famous wandering eye; although to be honest it wasn’t so much of a wandering eye - more a nomadic penis.

I know it’s coarse to talk about Martin’s previous encounters with the opposite sex, and to even discuss just how many lovers he has had – so I won’t go into any detail and will leave by saying that 94 must have been his lucky number.

Still all of that is behind him now and from what I’ve heard was occasionally behind him whilst he lived in Germany.

At this point I would have liked to show you all a few photos of Martin growing up – but the truth is that at the age of about 14 Martin decided that he would put all of his baby and junior pictures into the washing machine – his idea was to avoid his best man showing them to everyone at his wedding. (Bastard)
Which means that I missed the opportunity to show everyone old photographs of him with his tackle out – not to worry I do have a DVD here, and copies are available on eBay!

Before I finish my wife insisted that I give some marital advice to Gabby.

First trust your husband, adore your husband, and get as much as you can in your own name.
Remember - All marriages are happy; it’s living together afterwards that is difficult.
And finally men are like tiled floors, lay them right the first time, and you can walk over them for years.

To even the balance I would like to offer some words to Martin in return:

Remember women are meant to be loved, not understood.
Set the ground rules straight away and establish who the boss is - then do everything Gabby says.
Lastly
The body of a young woman is one of god’s greatest gifts, it’s just a shame he didn’t design it to last.

And finally to both of you:

In the first year of marriage the husband talks and the wife listens.
In the second year of marriage the wife talks and the husband listens.
In the third year of marriage they both talk so loud the neighbors listen.

I think everyone has heard enough from me, but in a vain attempt to recover any sense of decorum. I would like to finish by saying that I think you make a wonderful couple, Gabby you are young, beautiful, kind, sexy and wonderfully warm person, whilst you Martin are well – bloody lucky!

I love you both with all my heart and know that you have a fantastic and special relationship that will survive the worse things that life will throw at you, and excel in the best it has to offer.

So for the last time could everyone please raise their glasses – to the bride and groom, Martin and Gabby. "

Nw I’m not sure if it was a good speech or not – it raised a few laughs, no one hit me, and everyone was still talking to me afterwards. Like all speeches I was nervous before I did it, and wanted to do it again once I had finished. If any one out there is about to be a best man (Or women) I hope I have provided a little bit of inspiration, hell I could have done with it before writing mine!

The day was fantastic, and ended with me getting extremely drunk and trying my John Travolta impersonations – unfortunately I don’t have any photos of that. However I understand the whole thing was videoed and is probably coming to ‘You Tube” very soon!

(I do have to point out that my brother has never been in trouble with the police – and what I said about his previous history with women was a pure opportunist moment to get my own back on him for releasing my pet mouse into the wild when I was only 8 years old)

Shanghai Taxi

2008-03-16T17:38:00.001-07:00

I felt that a Blog with a title like “Carry on Cabby” should have at least one article devoted to the much maligned taxi industry. But as my knowledge of the UK taxi industry tends to revolve around never finding one when you really need one, trying to avoid small talk during the journey and then taking out a third mortgage to pay for the service.

I figured, I would follow my mom’s advice “If you don’t have anything good to say – don’t say anything!”
So as an alternative I thought I would mix a bit of news from China with as many taxi stories I could find from the last 2 weeks newspapers here in Shanghai.

I should mention that like most major city’s (London excluded!) Shanghai has a horrendous taxi problem; Shanghai has approximately 45,000 taxis, operated by over 150 taxi companies. This supports a population of over 20 million, which swells uncontrollably during both Chinese holidays, and from foreign visitors. The most renowned place to try and catch a taxi is Hongqiao Airport, which for anyone landing there on a cold winters night, after a 3 hour flight from Shenyang sitting next to a throat clearing, garlic stinking, pistachio eating, bogey flicking, flatulent peasant will know the horror of the Taxi queue that awaits your exit from the airport!

Taxi drivers tend to work 17 hours a day, and earn 4-5,000 rmb a month (about 350 quid!). They are not exactly known for their personal or vehicle hygiene, and if they don’t like the look of you they will pretend that your talking Swahili and that they have never heard of Peoples Square, Pudong, or even Shanghai! Getting one to stop is only half the battle, they pick and choose whom they will pick up even then they may not take you to where you want go – talk about “this side of the river”.
Yet despite all of this they are synonymous with what makes this city great – fast, frantic and ferocious.

As with all cash industry’s they become the target of organized crime, and the dregs of humanity start to squeeze whatever morsel they can out of a profession that struggles to hold its head up high. Shanghai has tried to fight back against these unscrupulous gangs, which has lead to a couple of high profile cases in China during the last week.

One of the initiatives has been to target gangs preying on newly arrived tourists and business people – “EIGHT Shanghai-based taxi drivers have been detained over a frightening fraud scheme, mainly targeting foreigners, that involved using threats and, in some cases, stand-over men, to charge passengers exorbitant fees. The traffic law-enforcement team, the taxi industry watchdog, yesterday announced the eight cabbies had been apprehended after a two-month undercover operation that was helped enormously by cooperation from affected passengers. The eight suspects were involved in 13 extortion cases, involving illegal income of up to 50,000 yuan (US$7,038). The watchdog also impounded ten taxis used for extortion purposes and drivers involved face criminal charges. In response to complaints from duped passengers, the taxi watchdog formed a task force and focused the crackdown campaign on city transport-hub areas, including railway stations, airports and the Longyang Road Maglev Station. The Maglev station, leading to Pudong International Airport, has long been a spot where foreign passengers have reported being swindled by both legal and illegal cabbies”.

However with every initiative comes a dark side: this story featured only days after the success story ran.

“THE death of a woman who was brutally killed last Friday as an undercover agent for the taxi watchdog. Chen Sujun, 33, was stabbed dead at the end of her part-time shift on Friday in Touqiao Town, suburban Fengxian District. The 21-year-old illegal taxi driver, Lei Qingwen, stabbed her chest and throat when a watchdog team surrounded his vehicle, banged on the windows and told him to get out of the car. Lei faced a maximum penalty of 50,000 yuan (US$7,036) for this, a repeat offense as he had already paid 10,000 yuan in fines after being caught the first time. Sources from the taxi watchdog yesterday said the driver attacked the woman out of rage. The young man was the major breadwinner for his family and was getting married in May. He was still paying off the debt he had incurred to buy the Chery sedan. Insiders said management was considering compensation for the woman's family”.

A tragic story, which shows just how violent this society can become.

If after all of that you decide that Taxi’s aren’t for you, and that you would be better off using the train you might want to read this one before making your journey:

“RAILWAY police yesterday said they would punish a Guizhou Province farmer who was caught with a suitcase of pornographic novels and movies at Shanghai Railway Station. Police said the farmer claimed he watched and read pornographic material every day and reviewed each one. Police alleged he also said he loved practicing the moves he learnt from books and movies with his fiancée. A patrol officer stopped the 30-year-old farmer yesterday. He was about to board a train back home to get married. The police officer became more suspicious when hearing loud noises from items clanging about in his suitcase. Police found 33 porn novels, six disks of sex movies as well as a notebook filled with his personal reviews. Police said Chen was not a trader of porn products. He allegedly told police they were just a part of his personal collection and that he was hoping to publish his reviews. "Traveling with pornographic products is not allowed by law," a railway police officer said”.

You have been warned!

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

2008-03-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks have been as hectic as ever, and as usual full of ups and downs. I have met some interesting people, been to some fascinating places, eaten some bizarre foods and even managed to avoid being arrested.

It all started last week at a dinner hosted by the Shanghai Consulate in honor of David Millibrand’s visit to China and the city of Shanghai. I wouldn’t normally attend these events, but seeing an opportunity to be wined and dined by the British Government was an opportunity too good to miss. The event was held in a very swanky restaurant on the famous Bund area of the city (Wai Tan in Chinese), they had hired the whole place, and bused in people from the four corners of Shanghai (and beyond) to welcome him to this fantastic city. In usual style he was several hours late, which gave me good opportunity to get drunk on government, sponsored red wine.
Not a great mix – a megalomaniac with a tendency to be a bit outspoken after a drink, and an ‘important’ VVIP! I managed to barge my way to the front of the awaiting crowd and thrust my business card into his hand, then berated the poor guy on how all of this was a complete waste of tax payers money, and how the hell did he hope to get a real understanding of China, by flitting from one immaculately arranged engagement to the next. Not my finest hour perhaps – but it made me feel good for the 30 seconds that it lasted before his aides came to his rescue!

My next appointment with the famous was something that had been arranged for a while, and something I wasn’t really looking forward to. The UK Trade and Industry department had organized a series of seminars in China to promote the British Motor Industry (Stop Laughing, Britain really does have a thriving Motor Industry – its just owned by someone else!). I had promised to support the seminars, and even agreed to sponsor a dinner for the 15 strong group. That was before I was informed that the keynote speaker was non-other than Professor Garel Rhys CBE.
I had never met the guy before, but knew him very well through his writings about the motor Industry, for those who don’t know – he is probably the most quoted person in the UK when it comes to the car business, and has chaired Select Committees of the House of Commons and House of Lords; the European Union; the United Nations Industrial Organisation; the UK Government; and many companies and agencies. He is outspoken and confrontational, and loved by the UK media because of this.
The reason I felt uncomfortable about his visit? Well I once wrote him a damming letter in response to an article he wrote about Nanjing’s purchase of MG. He never replied, but I guessed I had burned a few bridges!
So you can imagine how uncomfortable I was when I found my self sitting at the same breakfast table of a hotel in Chongqing! It doesn’t happen very often, but once in a while an opinion formed about someone can change.
I found him extremely pleasant, enthusiastic, incredibly well informed and one of the most generous men I have ever met. I spent several days with the delegation that included government officials, and the heads of the good and great British motor industry (MIRA, VCA, Millbroook, APR etc.) all touting their service to the Chinese motor industry. The seminars and subsequent factory visits included 70% of the larger indigenous vehicle manufacturers in China, all were very generous with their hospitality and welcoming to the UK visitors and they listened intently to what they had to say – were any deals done? Any contracts signed? Any Joint Ventures agreed or any strategic alliances formed? Well no, but the seeds have been sown and awareness made. The delegation was here to explain how difficult it was to design, engineer, homologate and sell vehicles in the European market – and how they could help now or in the inevitable future when they decide that the rich pickings in Europe are too tempting to ignore.

Amongst all of this I needed to do some of my own work and carry on with my day job – Ie bringing the Iconic London Taxi (sorry but I’m contracted to use the word ‘Iconic’ whenever I mention the London Taxi!) to Asia. We are deep into our project, and planning our presence at the Beijing Auto Show in April. We desperately needed some new advertising material, and some local shots of the vehicle to adorn our brochures, posters and advertising material in general.
As we would be trying to position a vehicle in front of some of the most famous tourist spots in Shanghai, we needed to gain permission from the local authority’s. Whilst not impossible to gain the correct permissions, it’s probably easier to cycle to the moon on a unicycle made of butter. So for this reason I decided to flout the law and get my people to cut some corners into getting the best shots of Shanghai and London Taxis as possible.
Wrong! Several hours into their shoot – I get a call from one of them that the Pudong police force have arrested them and impounded the vehicle. I then spent the next 4 hours trying to persuade the officials that we meant no harm and we just didn’t understand the rules. To be honest they weren’t particularly obstructive, or angry. They were very interested in our project and went to lengths to tell me the official rules and practices! After completing a thousand forms and paying numerous fines we were allowed to go. Our crime I found out wasn’t a photographic one – but driving an unlicensed, unregistered vehicle and then parking it in an illegal place, it seems we were victims of our own success, an enormous crowd had formed around the vehicle which led to the police becoming interested and to them asking for the necessary paperwork!
At least we managed to salvage a few good pictures before the crowd and the police appeared – I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor?

You Know You've Been in China Too Long When...

2008-03-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

I guess it doesn’t matter where you live, you always tend to divide life into the positives and negatives. When you live in someone else country you tend to focus on the negatives!

About a year ago I tripped over a list that had been doing the rounds amongst the expatriates living in China for several years. Whilst only funny or pertinent to those living here, or have lived here – it does give an unusual insight into the quirky and weird aspects that eventually become matter of fact.

The title of the list - “You know you have been in China for too long when... “ The full list is available on http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=viewtopic&t=38488 but here are a few of my favourites – with a few of my own added.

The footprints on the toilet seat are your own.

You’ve totally lost any concept of queuing.

You stop at the top or bottom of an escalator to plan your day.

It becomes exciting to see if you can get on the lift before anyone can get off.

It is no longer surprising that the only decision made at a meeting is the time and venue for the next meeting.

You rank the decision-making abilities of your staff by how long it takes them to reply "Up To You".

You no longer wonder how someone who earns US$ 400.00 per month can drive a Mercedes.

You find that it saves time to stand and retrieve your hand luggage while the plane is on final approach.

You can shake your hands almost perfectly dry before wiping them on your trousers, or you have your suits made with terrycloth pockets.

You have developed an uncontrollable urge to follow people carrying small flags.

You are not surprised when three men with a ladder show up to change a light bulb. You look over people's shoulder to see what they are reading

When shopping at Carrefour some laowai stares you down for catching you looking into his basket while you wonder to yourself what laowai's eat.

You wear nylons when it is 30 degrees outside One of your fingernails is an inch long.

In a meeting you say everything will be 'wonderful' and give no details.

You forget that the other person needs to finish speaking before you can start.

You walk through the zoo, and at each animal you ask yourself 'How would I prepare this ?'

When you chain smoke and carry a little leather man handbag, complete with a matching phone holder.

You think NOTHING of seeing several people laying on a gurney with an IV connected to them OUTSIDE of a hospital.

You let your two and a half yr old kid set off some bangers/fireworks in the vein hope that the 'money god' will bring you fortune this year, while fully unaware that the 'save blown of limbs god' hasn't been invented yet

You can't believe that construction workers in other countries don't wear suits while mixing cement/pushing wheelbarrels around or while drilling holes in the middle of busy roads during rush hour.

You no longer need tissues to blow your nose.

When at a pedestrian crossing in your own country you stand there waiting and wondering why the cars have stopped for you.

You see models on tv from the West and think, "man, they're kinda chubby".

As soon as it gets hot you roll your shirt up under your pits, and your trousers up to your knees, whilst still wearing your popsocks and black (unpolished) shoes.

When you can squat over the toilet, with the door open, reading a newspaper and having a fag.

When you start to like chicken feet...

You yell into the mobile phone regardless of your surroundings.

You don’t take the plastic covering off any electrical purchase – ever! You throw your money down on the counter to pay for something.

When someone's cooking "Chou Toufu" and you think "Smells good !"

When u're shocked when u go 2 consecutive days w/o diahrrea.

People blast off fireworks and you could care less and don't even bother looking at the display.

Those are the everyday ones – now for some driving “you know you have been in China too long when” (Just for you Ash!)

The indicator stalks on your car are just somewhere to hang another air-freshener

The rear view mirror is permanently angled to your partners seat for her to put her makeup on.

Door mirrors are just a inconvenience when cutting through tight gaps.

As a passenger of a car, you stick your socked/non-socked feet out the window.

It comes as a surprise when you finally reach the tollgate after a 30-minute queue that they might actually need some money.

There are only two settings to your headlights – off and full beam, and you use them indiscriminately.

After picking up your new leather seated vehicle you cover them with knitted seat covers (To protect them!).

Traffic signals are merely a guide – not a rule.

The ability to roll a cigarette, send a text message, read a map and pick your nose whilst performing a 3 point turn in the middle of traffic.

When you find nothing wrong with reversing in the fast lane of a highway because you think you should have taken the last exit.

Anyone who drives a vehicle not black or silver is being ostentatious.

The hard shoulder is any just an empty lane waiting to be used!

You start looking at vehicle registrations in terms of lucky numbers.

You don’t feel the need to change your tyres until you can see steel.

There are hundreds more – so please feel free to send them in. Next week - "You know you've been an expat too long when..."

News!

2008-02-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

One of the regular items I wanted to include in my Blog was some of the interesting stories that pepper the daily newspapers and websites here in Shanghai. The majority are not written to shock, surprise or titillate the reader, they are written as informative and thought provoking snippets into life in and around Shanghai - however I sometimes find them shocking and titilating! – so in no particular order, here is the news that was in Shanghai over the last 7 days:
While the rest of the world continues to suggest that everything build, made or slightly connected to China, will poison, maim, decapitate, sterilize, cause blindness, deafness and basically make you ill. Those of us who live here try to convince ourselves that this is just a ploy by the Americans to try to adjust the appalling balance of trade that currently exists between the two countries. Well a couple of stories I read this week may make me think again!

The first one to catch my eye was a story about ‘bloody clams’ I have to admit that I wasn’t familiar with the ‘bloody’ clam, I had eaten clams quite regularly in Chinese restaurants – and actually found them very enjoyable, and hadn’t been too concerned – that was until I read this week that there had been a number of cases of hepatitis ‘A’ being found in blood clams sold in local restaurants - an outbreak of some form of food poisoning at one of the local eatery’s isn’t unusual, but this grabbed my attention because I then found out that blood clams had been banned in Shanghai since 1988 – why? Well in the spring of that year blood clams infected over 300,000 people in Shanghai with Hepatitis ‘A’, 300,000 in one season, in one city.

This got me thinking about what else may we be at risk at over the winter / spring months in Shanghai, well I didn’t have to think for long as the next report in the Shanghai Daily answered that question for me – during the month of December 2611 people were detected with serious infectious diseases and the top 5 for Christmas were (In reverse order) scarlatina, viral hepatitis (our old friend!), tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and at number 1 – syphilis. On an ‘unconnected’ story the Shanghai District Public Sanitation Bureau has just issued 50,000 maps of local public conveniences for taxi drivers, it describes the initiative as a way to "reduce environment pollution". Which has to be one of the best youthanisms I have ever heard!

Continuing on a health theme, anyone that has visited China will undoubtedly recognise the amount of people who smoke. A lover of statistics – here are a few about smoking in China:

Over 350 million people smoke in China.

Official figures suggest that nearly 2/3rds of all males smoke

30% of the world’s tobacco is consumed in China.

Government institutions make 95% the cigarettes consumed in China.

The government produces 2 trillion cigarettes each year.

Smoking contributes over $30 billion to the communist party coffers.

Smoking kills 1.2 million Chinese people each year.

There is no age limit to buy cigarettes in China.

Thus I found it somewhat interesting to read about an initiative just started in Shanghai hospitals to try and educate the locals into quitting the dreaded weed. They will set up drop in clinics to help with the physiological issues surrounding nicotine deprivation – I guess they should start with the doctors and surgeons first (its estimated that 60% of them smoke – most whilst working!).

Just to show you that communism is still alive and well in the great PRC, it has just been announced that from May this year Mickey Mouse, Spongebob Squarepants and Pokemon aren’t welcome into the houses and flats of the young and youthful from May this year. The government has decided to ban all foreign cartoons from 5pm to 9pm each evening – not because they are violent, abusive or suggest a capitalist way of life, but to allow local Chinese cartoons become more popular. The idea being that if you take away the competition, people will like your own product more? A concept that left China 100 years behind the rest of the world before the Cultural Revolution! Oh and the government issued special guidelines on the shape, colour, texture and size of gluttonous rice balls – good to see they are attacking the issues that affect the masses!

xin nein kuai le!

2008-02-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

The question everyone has been asked this week in China, will undoubtedly be – “Did you have a Good Chinese New Year?” I have to admit that I don’t subscribe to the Chinese tradition of celebrating the Lunar New Year – I guess in part because I simply don’t understand it! It’s an alien concept to a western educated fool; it seems archaic and strange that a nation should continue to measure time on a different scale to the rest of the modern world.

So my answer has always been fairly short and probably very disrespectful! You see CNY to a foreigner living in China is a mixture of confusion, noise, congestion and ill-timed extended holidays. Surely our tradition of celebrating the New Year in line with the Western Calendar is far more appropriate; the date is the same every year, our system of counting days, months and years has a long history and a lineage can be shown back to long before Christianity, and was created by some of the greatest minds in the worlds history – or was it?

Unhappy with my ignorance I felt that I should try and find out some more.

Firstly, I hadn’t realised that CNY pre-dates our Gregorian calendar, with Emperor Huang Ti introducing the first cycle of the zodiac in 2600 BC. As with the western calendar it’s based on the lunar cycle, with the major difference being the start date. Because of cyclical lunar dating, the first day of the year can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. A complete cycle takes 60 years and is made up of 12 cycles each of 5 years in duration. The 12 cycles are where the animal zodiac comes into play – depending on what year you’re born in depends on what animal zodiac you are born under.

Rat 1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996
Ox 1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997
Tiger 1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998
Rabbit 1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999
Dragon 1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000
Snake 1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001
Horse 1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002
Sheep 1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003
Monkey 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004
Rooster 1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005
Dog 1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006
Boar 1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007

This year is the year of the Rat – not this nicest of creatures, and one that has been seen as the bringer of death, petulance and plague in the west – not something we would necessarily celebrate or worship! So why these 12 animals? Well legend says that before Lord Buddha departed the Earth he summonsed all the animals to come to him – only these 12 arrived, and as a reward he named each year after them.
CNY is celebrated over 15 days, with each day having special meaning and containing different activities that include abstaining from Meat on Day 1, being extra kind to dogs on day 2 (which I guess is similar to no.1 in Beijing), the 3rd and 4th days are reserved for son-in-laws to pay respect to their parents-in-law, whilst the 5th requires you to stay at home, lock all the doors and don’t accept visitors as this may bring bad luck. The following 7 days are set aside for visiting friends and relatives and for them to visit you, the 13th day you should cleanse the system by eating rice congee and mustard greens, and on the 14th make preparations for the following days Lantern Festival.

CNY includes the best of all old cultures with some strange and ‘bizarre’ customs and superstitions. Including not sweeping the house on New Years Day, and the following days dust and rubbish should only be swept into the middle of the room, before placing the piles into the corners – where they should not be stepped on or disturbed, only on the 5th day can the rubbish be removed from the house – by the back door!
The explosion of firecrackers is well known; this coincides with midnight on New Years Eve and is combined with the opening of all doors and windows in the house – to let the old year leave.
On CNY day nothing should be lent out, or debts made, everyone should refrain from using foul language and it is considered very bad luck to cry! You shouldn’t wash your hair and make sure you have your red underwear on, as this will set a happy and bright tone for the year ahead. Oh and its very bad luck to use knives or scissors on this day also. I have neglected to offer reason for all of these superstitions, but needless to say they are to prevent a year of misery, debt, tears and misfortune.

So after all of my reading and questioning of Chinese friends, do I understand more about CNY? well as with many investigations you normally find out more about your own traditions than you do someone else’s – When you consider that the western calendar has been generally influenced by dictatorship, religion, commerce and politics since Julius Caesar founded the modern day calendar, and that England only adopted January 1st as the start of the year in 1752 – let alone all of the crazy traditions and superstitions associated with New Year celebrations in the west – you figure that a calendar that has been around, and stayed the same for over 4500 years probably has more right to a 15 day celebration than the one in the West (Taking religion out of the equation of course!).

After all that I can see why most of us foreigners will never really understand CNY. However if you ignore all of the folk lore and superstitions, most Chinese spend the New Year, meeting with friends and family that they haven’t seen all year, enjoying food, drink and playing games, giving gifts, decorating there homes, exchanging presents and burning money in the form of fireworks – a bit like Christmas and Western New Year really! Oh I forgot by following both the western and Chinese calendars you get two birthdays, and for kids – two lots of presents (maybe there is sense in keeping some traditions alive!).

Loss!

2008-02-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

I recently bumped into an old friend on a flight from China, and I felt compelled to repeat what he told me, what follows is the how he told me his story:

It all started with him telling me about the love of his life, a partner whom he loved and cherished, someone he had ups and downs with, but ultimately the good times far outweighed the problems that everyone faces in a relationship. He felt that they were the perfect couple, each satisfying their needs perfectly. Then one day he was summonsed to a room where he was told that his partner of 18 years had tragically and very suddenly died – he was distraught and couldn’t think straight, he went through the full range of emotions - disbelief, anger, sorrow and frustration. But ultimately a deep depression set over him, and he felt that there was no future, and things would never be the same again.
To make matters worse everyone kept telling him to go out and find another partner as soon as possible, and if he couldn’t find a partner quickly then maybe he would need to alter and lower his expectations, and accept someone to fill the gap.
He couldn’t accept this advice and prayed for a resurrection, searching for ways to bring life back into his partners limp corpse. He hoarded memories and memorabilia, around his home, and recalled stories about their relationship with anyone that would listen. For months afterwards the media continued to cover the death and every time he turned on the TV he was reminded of his departed loved one.
Finally encouraged by friends and relatives he conceded and tried to find solace in another. He searched and searched to find a new partner, initially all he found was disappointment and rejection. The years of being loyal to one partner meant that his ability to communicate and sell himself to somebody new was difficult; contentment had meant that he had let himself go, and he could no longer compete with younger, leaner and more virile competition. He came to the conclusion that he would never find a perfect match and he would have to settle for anything that would accept him.
Lowering his expectations he finally did find someone who could see his virtues and welcomed his previous loyalty’s, at first there was excitement, but soon this turned into despair – it was a false relationship that didn’t have the same spark as before. It quickly turned into a relationship of convenience and the future looked bleak.
Then it happened, the hours of dreaming and hoping finally came to something. He had a call to say that his beloved had been resurrected and that life had been breathed back into the progressively rotting corpse. His heart pounded, and a sweat appeared on his brow, feelings welled up and produced tears of joy. He phoned around his friends to tell them of the news, and despite their words of caution he continued to race back into the ‘perfect’ relationship.
It was the day he had waited for; he was to be joined with his life partner once again. She looked, dressed, and smelled the same – but something was missing. All of their old friends had disappeared and some new strange people with different customs and a strange language had invaded the relationship. There was a lack of substance and reality about it all. She promised a future but couldn’t deliver; this was a fake resurrection, one with familiarities but ultimately filled with mistruths and dashed hopes. Expectations were tempered, but even these were missed. The relationship could never have gone back to how it was before, too much had happened and one of them had no soul and no sense of what had made the relationship so strong previously. Reluctantly he decided to end it for the sake of both sides; he took the pictures down from the walls in his house, put away the keepsakes, and locked away the memories into a psychological box.

Of course he wasn’t talking about the women in his life, but about the company he worked for – the company MG-Rover! I sat there amazed to here his story and the emotional roller coaster ride he had been on over the last few years. This was a guy who had worked at the company for the majority of his adult life, only to be told one day that his job had gone and he needed to find somewhere else to work. He relayed his story as if he had lost his wife, and was told to find a new one straight away, he then told me of his rejection from company after company because of his age and skill gap, and after a trying a new career, all he could do was compare the new with the old. When he was offered a chance to join NAC UK – an enormous sense of hope and delight convinced him that it would be the same company, 12 months later he has given up trying to convince himself that the new Longbridge could be anything like the old, and has decided to move onto pastures new.

It is always interesting to hear how people were affected by the collapse of MG-Rover – this was the first time I had heard someone use a personal relationship to describe the depth of feeling and emotional turmoil that the closure had on him and his life – even after almost 3 years. I guess the fact that I’m still writing about it – means it affected me more than I thought!

SNOW!

2008-02-02T04:52:00.000-08:00

The last 7 days in China have been dominated by one thing – the weather.
Weather isn’t normally the main topic of conversation for the Chinese (unlike us British!) food, money, money and food seem to be the core topic of any discussion, but the unusually cold and particularly the snowy downpour that has fallen over China this week, has focused everyone’s attention on not only the bad weather, but also the strains put on the Chinese infrastructure.

What makes this week’s spell of bad weather even more disastrous is the fact that it ties in with the annual ‘Chun Yun’ (Directly translated as "spring transportation"), – the exodus from where you live and work, back to your family around the time of the Lunar New year. Commentators describe this as a mass exodus of ‘migrant’ workers from the cities – which conjures up images of farmers, laborers, factory workers and basically any menial employees who have traveled far from their hometown to find work. Whilst this is true, it is also a bit of a misconception by us westerners.
There are a significant number of people who come from rural areas to do the jobs that city folk wont, in particular the construction workers who help China become the largest user of steel and concrete in the world, but then there are the office workers, engineer’s, managers, policemen, school teachers, bankers – in fact all walks of life, and those people who cover the complete spectrum of age, wealth and social demographics.
They spend 11.5 months a year working in the large economic powerhouse cities that straddle the East Coast of China, and at several key points in the year, they try to get back to visit wives, children, parents, and grand parents. Many of my friends, colleagues and employee’s have become more and more concerned as the weather forecasts got worse and the snow got deeper and deeper over the last few days.
I cant even imagine the number of people trying to return to their home towns over the last 10 days or so (estimates range from between 200 and 500 million!), but having lived and worked in two Chinese city’s, Nanjing and Shanghai – 70-80% of the people I meet, don’t derive from the city that they work in, leaving friends, family’s and loved ones far behind in search of the Chinese promised lands. The official figures suggest that 2.3 billion journeys will be made on public transport over the 10-day period, and that 23 million children are separated from there parents during the majority of the year. Chinese New Year for most for some becomes the only time for families to get together.
In Shanghai the snow first fell on Saturday 27th January, at first it seemed like a welcome break to the cold, dull and mostly wet weather we had been having. This time of the year is always depressing, and the weather wasn’t helping the situation. Waking up to a sprinkling of white powder seemed to be the tonic for a depressingly dirty late January. Like many families we played out in the snow, built snowmen and used the weather as an excuse to snuggle up in front of the TV, eating warm food and generally being lazy – unaware of the saga that was unfolding around us.
Many have wrote stories about horrendous trips desperately trying to get back home, and we have all seen the pictures of politicians cashing in on the disaster by handing out blankets to those stranded at many an airport, train or bus station, I just wanted to add a few of the startling facts that have struck me over the last 7 days in a snowy Shanghai.

The first story to put the darker side of a snowy day was the fact that in just a 24-hour period Shanghai hospitals 1000 people has been treated for bone fractures, after slipping on the ice and snow..

Official figures highlight that nearly 9000 flights had been delayed or cancelled during the 1st 3 days of the snow at the city’s 2 main airports.

9,678 km of fixed-line networks and paralyzed affecting more than 19.2 million phone users nationwide.

149,000 houses had their roofs collapse whilst the snow damaged a further 862,000.

Railway officials had estimated a passenger flow of 178.6 million people were delayed - the size of the combined population of Italy, France and Britain.

More than 1 million kg of fish and about 30,000 farmyard ducks here have become victims of the bad weather.

As of yesterday evening, railway departments in the province said they had paid refunds on more than 500,000 tickets.

Close to 1 million police have been deployed to control traffic on China's snow-covered highways.

1.2 million people were stranded in Guangzhou train station as cross-country trains had been delayed and cancelled.

100,000 people pile into Shanghai train station square – waiting for news.

These are just a few of the stories from the last few days, my stories – well, the biggest problems I have had is turning a 30 minute journey to work in to a 3 hour scary roller coaster, scrapping the ice of my windscreen in sub-zero temperatures, and a mad dog that likes to swim in frozen lake water. Apart from that I have decided to stay put and warm my feet against a defrosting dog, oh and pray that the snow clears in time to keep the 250 ships stranded at the mouth of the Huang Pu River delivering coal to the Shanghai Power Stations so I can keep the TV going and the food hot!

Well it’s been a while, but I have been busy!

2008-01-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

I have decided to write a new BLOG leaving the old MG Revival one to gather dust and lie dormant – a bit like most of Longbridge these days! (http://www.paulstowemg.blogspot.com/ - or http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.paulstowemg.blogspot.com if you live in China )
I guess I should explain to those whom never read my previous tales from inside the Anglo-Sino motor industry who I am. Well like thousands of other Brits I grew up working, living and breathing the British Motor Industry. Starting with Land Rover way back when, moving to Jaguar, Lotus and finally ending at MG-Rover. I then found myself on the scrap heap at 30 something, and made the decision to “get on my bike” to a nation that is famous for “getting on its bike” – China.
I had been traveling to and from China for a couple of years before finally deciding to make roots in this land of opportunities. Working with MG-Rover and SAIC on the ill fated proposed Joint Venture, before settling down with Nanjing MG, this proved a fantastic insight to working in a Chinese State owned company. In a senior position I was allowed to see, hear, smell and touch what most foreigners will never get close to. It also proved to be the inspiration in my writing, and I have been documenting my life, the sights and the sounds over the last few years – culminating in a serious of BLOGs, newspaper / magazine articles and a soon to be produced TV series (more about this later).
Looking for a new challenge I decided to move to another project. This time I wouldn’t ‘just’ be responsible for the quality of the product being built – I would take full responsibility for the whole project, a project to build the Iconic London Taxi in China (The reason for the BLOG name!).
Whilst working for NAC, I was left alone to do almost as I pleased. I could write and say almost whatever I wanted (although a certain interview with National Peoples Radio from the USA almost proved to be my downfall!) Working for a British – Chinese joint venture is very different. I have already been coached into avoiding certain subject matters, and not mentioning certain individuals or daring to divulge any backroom politics. So what can I write about? Seems like a difficult proposition, and one I have pondered over (another reason for the long stretch between this and my last post). Well never one to be told what to do, I will still endeavor to write an honest and open approach to working and living in China, I have also decided to share a view of the interesting and sometimes bizarre stories I read, see and hear whilst working, living and occasionally playing in China.

Interesting events soon to be revealed:

Beijing Auto Show – behind the scenes, a look at the real goings on behind arguably the most important Car show in the world!
“Taxi to Tibet” A tale of hardship, hunger and hilarious adventures on a journey from Beijing to Tibet in a London taxi.
“Shanghaied” A six part drama / comedy series based on the story of a group of British Car workers ‘Shanghaied’ to work and live for a Chinese Automotive company – sound familiar?
NAC MG the truth behind the façade – maybe!

Well there we have it – the first post over, all that’s left to do is keep up the one a week minimum posting – if you have any ideas of suggestions or what to write about, please feel free to drop me a note. Ta Ta for now!