Living the TaiTai life

One of the vocabulary words I've learned in Mandarin class has been TaiTai which means Mrs., as in "Zaoshang hao Wang taitai" or Good Morning Mrs. Wang. However, I've also learned that TaiTai has a different, somewhat pujorative, connotation here in Hong Kong where its used to describe the wives of rich businessmen whose life of leisure revolves around shopping, spa treatments, and mah jong.

One of the defining characteristics of a taitai are trips to Shenzhen to get their treatments cheaper than they could in Hong Kong. I guess even though their rich, the taitais don't want to waste money needlessly. One such spa is literally over the border with Shenzhen, and somebody in the MBA office(a HK native) had taken a couple of the girls in the program a month ago, and these girls in turn organized a return trip, attended by both girls and guys, while I was in Beijing.

Everybody raved about this place (one girl from Paris even bought a membership for future discounts), so I felt like I missed out. As a result, when the email was sent about another trip I jumped on the chance for this, um, "cultural experience," and I went last night after a really boring "CEO talk" in Central about how Six Sigma was like Mah Jong. . . Please don't ask. . .

Well after our ride to the end of the KCR line, we found ourselves at the spa at 10pm. It was definitely very chinese looking, but you could tell this was a nice place. Everything was written in chinese characters, but luckily there were a couple of English speaking staff members who could help us. The girls and guys parted ways into our respective locker rooms, and I quickly changed ready to get pampered.

I asked one of the german guys, who came the last time, what we did next, but before I could answer one of the staff members motioned for me to follow him. He pointed to my back, and I figured they wanted to clean my back so that the masseur would work with clean skin. I nodded, and next thing I know I'm on a table and this guy is pouring buckets of water on me and scrubbing my back hard. It kind of hurt, but everytime I tried to leave, I was told to stay put. After 15 minutes I was allowedto get up, and the guy smiled and pointed to all of my skin that was now on the table as if this was a good thing. Seriously, I think I left 5 layers of epidermis behind. . .

As I leave the locker room the other students point and laugh and ask to see my back, which apparentlyis now beet red. Turns out the treatment was extra, but for HK$30, I wasn't going to quibble. Plus, now my back was as smooth as a baby's. Ha!

We were hungry and wanted to eat, but the buffet wasn't starting for 40 minutes, andwe couldn't read the menu. In order to kill time a couple of us went to get foot massages, and I go over just to chat. One of the girls breaks out her Mandarin book, and the staff starts laughing at us trying to practice our Mandarin on them. One of them, good-naturdely, joins us in going Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma (in different tones meaning Mother, Hemp, Horse, Swear. . . It's funny how Swear and Mom have the same sound. . .).

After eating, we go for our 2 hour massages, which felt really good. All the knots in myback were kneaded out and I felt completely relaxed. So much so that I fell asleep in the middle. Afterwards we then went to bed in the massage rooms, where we were allowed to stay until we felt like getting up.

Grand total for the back scrubbing, dinner, 2 hour massage, and ability to sleep overnight: HK$220 (US$28), this place was quite the find. You can't even get a 30 minute massage in the states for that.

However I don't know how much pampering I can take in the future, my back now hurts whenever I take a shower. . .

Bo - Po - Mo - Fo

I hate to feel dumb and helpless, but that is exactly how I felt in the mainland when I would:

• Have the hotel write in Chinese Characters where I wanted to go and take on faith that I would get there.
• Point to things I wanted to eat, or point to the chinese characters conveniently printed in my lonely planet guidebook
• Play charades with random people by pantomiming airport by sticking out my arms in the form of wings, eating by pointing to my mouth, or bathroom by pointing to . . . well you get the idea.

Not content to repeat these events on my next foray to the Mainland, I've started taking Mandarin classes both here on campus on Tuesdays (when the travel schedule permits) and on Fridays at a private language school with a couple of other students.

Not only do I want to learn the language, but also learn the answers to such mysteries as:

• When a Chinese speaker sees a new character how do they attempt to sound it out? Ans: by asking somebody or looking in a dictionary. . . which begs the question
• How do you alphabetize things in a language without an alphabet so that you can look things up? Ans: You sort by the number of strokes.
• How do you communicate time in a language with no tenses? Ans: You say I go yesterday
• When translating English names into chinese, the chinese will often use chinese characters that sound similar to the English sounds just like we translate chinese names into things like Tsim Sha Tsui. . . However, given that each character represents a word, does that lead to some interesting translations (i.e. does Chi-ca-go translate to old smelly feet in Chinese)? Ans: They didn't understand the question.

Now yes, I realize that they speak Cantonese here in HK, but there are more Mandarin speakers in the world and I'll get a bigger ROI. Plus, given that I studied in Barcelona (where they speak Catalan natively) to learn Spanish, I figured I should continue the trend of studying foreign languages in inappropriate(notnative speaking) places. If English wasn't my native language I'd go to Montreal to learn English to complete the trifecta.

Anyways, I have good teachers, but any hopes of feeling smarter evaporated during the first class' phonics lessons. . . Repeating sounds over and over just makes you feel like a stupid child. Especially when the teacher goes "not SHI its ZCHI!" and I can't tell the difference or even repeat the sound coming out of her mouth. The feeling of regressing back to childhood was complete when I had to supress a giggle when we repeated the intial (consonant) sounds of Bo - Po - Mo - Fo (hee hee Mo - Fo!)

Added complexity ensues when you add in the tones. For those of you who don't know, Chinese is a tonal language and sound/word can have drastically different meanings depending on which tone (flat, falling, rising, or falling and rising) the word is spoken with. A lot of these homophones make you stop and go, how in the hell did these concepts get associated together. For example:

• Ma can mean: Mother, Horse, or be a question word
• Ai can mean: Love or cancer
• Si can mean: Death or Four.

Given my tone deafness (all of you who saw Follies know what I mean), this language is going to be hard. . . I know I'm going to say something like your horse has cancer and completely confuse the hell out of the listener.

Well, after the first week I can now say Ni Hao (Hello), Zaoshang Hao (Good Morning), Xie Xie (Thank You). Unfortunatley, given the complexity of the language this is probably about as far as I'm going to get.

That's not true, I can also say "Shi Mei Guo Ren" (I am an American), but learning that was a waste of time. I was already able to communicate that concept very easily without language class.

Bleating out your favorite hits

It turns out that 2 of the full time students had birthdays within the last week, and to celebrate the entire class, and us exchange students, celebrated by going to Karaoke!

For those of you who have never done Asian style Karaoke, it's a bit different than what we're used to back home. You go to a karaoke parlor which has dozens of studios of various sizes where you and your friends sing in the privacy of your own private room.

Here's a picture to give you an idea of what karaoke here looks like.

Unlike in the US, where it's all about public embarrasment, karaoke here is an intimate thing you do with your friends. . . and apparently something you do to close business deals. I guess making an ass of yourself in front of clients builds trust since if you screw them they'll have blackmail material. . .

Well, I arrived late to find the party well in progress. The social lubricant of choice was Chivas and Green Tea, which apparantely is a a quite popular concoction here in Hong Kong. It's a very potent blend of east and west, a very apt drink for this city, no?

Anyways there was a lot of Chivas fueled singing going on, and I was being implored to join in. Since I was still sober, I was not ready to make an ass of myself, so I protested . . However, another exchange student then asks me "well, what about your Backstreet Boy moves?"

How in the hell did he know about my performance at Follies? That was something I had not shared at all to anyone over here.

I looked at him in utter shock and with my mouth agape. When I didn't respond he continued "I found something on the GSB website telling me about that, so I know it's about you."

Yup, turns out he found out from the trusty internet. I had mentioned that I was blogging to keep in touch with friends at home, and suggested he do the same. He tried to find my blog by Googling my name. He didn't find the blog, but he did find an article from the Chibus (the GSB's student newspaper/gossip rag for those of you not in the GSB) telling people to ask me "to show you his Backstreet Boys moves." DAMN YOU FAISAL!!!!!!!!!

Well that was blood in the water and other students pressured me to sing. Thankfully, I was able to dodge "I want it that way" by singing "It's my life." However that's the beautiful thing about Asian karaoke, you're not singing by yourself. After singing a couple of lines everybody else started joining in, and we all made asses of ourselves together.

Well the Chivas kept flowing so thus the singing continued, with plenty of canto-pop (which I left to the chinese since I couldn't read the chinese character lyrics) and western music being butchered. Not that anybody minded since we were having a great time.

That and the Chivas dulled the pain signals our eardrums were sending. Unfortunately many of us felt pain of a different sortthe next morning, but I digress. . .

Negotiations, Part Deux

As part of my walks through Beijing, I came across an indoor market, filled again filled with your favorite "brands," and I decided to try my luck again. Not to belabor the shopping in China topic, but here it goes. . .

After some browsing, I got in lost and I stumbled upon a bulletin board for the staff. This picture should show you what I'm up against:


Well, now that I knew my enemy it was time to start the battle. I needed a light jacket and soon found an “Adidas” one I kind of liked. I tried it on, and asked her price:

“New design. Very popular. For you special price. 680 (US $80).”

- “Come on! That’s the US price and I’m in China.”

“OK! OK! 300! Still very good price.”

- “I’m sorry I’m a student. I don’t have a lot of money I can’t afford that.”

“OK So what you pay?”

- “150”

“200”

- “Well I gotta go.” And I start leaving

“OK! OK! 150” and she starts wrapping it. . .

- “Actually I don’t want it anymore, thanks for your help.”

She gets angry. “Come on! You being naughty! You bargain with me and I give you your price! You play me! You waste my time!”

- “I’m not playing you. Sorry, I just changed my mind.”

“You evil mean boy! You waste my time! I in business and need to make sale.”

- “Who’s playing whom here? Plus, just because you want to sell me something doesn’t mean I have to buy.”

I try to leave, but she physically blocks my way and her associate, another small Chinese girl, comes to help impede my path. I was not intimidated mentally or especially physically.

I start pushing through, and she goes “OK! 140,” I break through and she goes “120!” I start walking away and she screams “OK 100!!!!” Meanwhile the other stall-keepers turn to look at the commotion.

I probably could have gotten her down further, but decide to throw in the towel and give her the money. Plus, I actually liked the jacket.

Just like me to create a scene to save a few bucks.

**Sorry this somehow failed to post originally***

As she's bagging the jacket. She says "Tell all your student friends what good deal you get, so they come buy from me."

- "Don't worry, I'll definitely tell them all about it" I respond.

Done and Done, I've kept my word. I guess I'm not such an "evil mean boy" after all, though I doubt this is what she had in mind.

I am a nerd, N-E-R-D

So, while I'm over here in HK having a good time exploring the region, and Lan Kwai Fong, I am ostensibly here for school. Moreover, I truly do want to make the most of the opportunity to learn as much about China as I can in the 3 short months I am here. Part of the education will entail travelling around, but I do hope to make the most of the resources CUHK has to offer.

To that point, and given my well documented addiction to coffee, it should be no surprise that I attended a lecture from the Starbucks VP of Greater China that the B-School organized. He discussed Starbucks' expansion in China, and gave a real interesting talk. Some of the most interesting points included:

• The fact that China is a tea culture did not scare them. They had already succeeded in Japan and England which are also tea cultures.
• Starbucks is expensive here, a Grande Coffee is 20 Yuan ($2.25 US), which is even more expensive than it is back home, and Lattes are 35 ($4.25) . However for the Chinese its even worse given the average salary of 4000-10000 Yuan/month for professionals here in China. As the VP put it, if you made $4000/month would you spend $20 for a cup of coffee? (I wouldn't. Actually that would cause me to break the habit. . . my frugality would win out.)
• That being said, most Chinese when they think of Starbucks don't think coffee. They think "good environment," which is the hook Starbucks uses here. People here like getting their latte and lounging at the store. Unlike in the US, which is 80% take-out, China is 80% stay-in. As a result, Starbucks has to invest in more comfortable furniture than it does in the US.
• Apparently in Chinese culture, invitations to visit one's home are reserved for only family and the closest of friends. Invitations to offices involve a lot of protocol over who out-ranks whom, etc. Restaurants had normally been the place to have casual gatherings with acquaintances and business contacts, but those were only good for mealtime, The "good environment" filled the void for these casual meetings in between mealtimes.
• To adapt to local tastes they have things like Green Tea frappucinos and put more of an emphasis on food(given the long lingering times).
• Hu Jintao, the president of China, was seen toasting with a Starbucks mug when he was in Seattle. He is also quoted as saying if he were'nt president he'd spend a lot of time at Starbucks. Thus, mayors around China are petitioning Starbucks to enter their cities seeing it as a sign that their city has made it.

Besides the obvious lesson that getting the public endorsement of the head of state of a semi-autocratic country will help business in said country, Starbucks' experience does underline the importance of understanding the local culture of the markets you're entering. It will allow you to highlight and amplify the relevant aspects of your product/business that appeal to the new market, while adapting the other aspects of your business that either are unimportant or potentially negative.

Along similar lines, I heard about an academic conference about China on campus last week and crashed a whole bunch of seminars. The school brought scholars from all over the world to talk about the research on China they were conducting. Some of the talks I went to included:

• Sino-Japanese Relations : Ups and Downs
• To Lend or Not to Lend: A Case Study of the Transformation of a Chinese Commercial Bank’s Decision Making on Corporate Loans
• Marketization Without Privatization: The Politics of Partial Reform in China’s Public Service Units (PSUs)
• Tax Controversies and the Development of Tax Procedure in China
• Commodification of Welfare in Shanghai: Managing Risks and Opportunities in a New State-Society Relationship

Most were about as interesting as they sound, but I did learn some interesting tidbits. For example, the state of China is devolving a lot of services (ie. health, education, welfare) to quasi governmental agencies. These agencies are also where 60% of China's educated class work. This allows the government to retain control while minimzing public funding. These agencies are in the process of being reformed to benefit "millions of people," not hundreds of millions so they're being reformed for the employees. . . not those being served.

I'll stop there before I continue to further convice you all of my nerdom.

I really need to take negotiations class

I've been haggling a lot recently for purchases, and I seem to always come out the loser. Well I now know a class to take this spring. . .

A couple of weeks ago I went to Shenzhen, which is just over the border, just to say I went to the Mainland (this was before Shanghai). Now, other than business, one goes to Shenzhen for 3 things: to take cheap domestic flights to the rest of China, get massages and manicures cheaper than you could in HK, or shop for all your favorite "brands." Given that I've been tasked by my sister to find some purses, I decided to partake in the latter. I quickly realized that I had no clue what she would like, so I decided to shop for myself.

In the first store I start looking at watches and quickly zero in on one. After some haggling, I get him down from HKD 500 (US$65) for an "A" quality watch to HKD 250 (US$30), which is what I was told was the normal rate. Well when walking around the mall I was able to hear another gweilo get HKD 150 (US$20) for something similar. D'Oh.

Next, I seriously needed some sunglasses and bought a pair for HKD 70 (US$9) after some negotiation down from HKD 300 (US $40) . . . Well, as I'm walking through the mall, another shopkeeper sees my glasses, points at them and say "Another pair? Special price for you! Only HKD 20 (US$2.)" This happened many times through the rest of the day. . . Double D'Oh!

After that I gave up on Shenzhen shopping and vowed I wouldn't return until I improved my skills. Last night I happened to be visting some travel agencies in Mong Kok and decided to do some practicing at one of the famous night markets there (the "Ladies Market" to be specific but yes they sell plenty of mens clothing).

I see this "Billabong" shirt I like in many of the stalls and start haggling. A few stalls advertised the shirt at HKD 39, I try 10. She says 35, I say 15. She says "No more. best offer." I start leaving expecting her to follow after. Nope. Next stall I raise my price to 20 and get a dismissive hand wave and "Harrmph" sound as if I just called her baby ugly.

Next stall the opening begins at $60 (she really wanted to soak the gweilos), when I mention others were offering 35. She says "These Hong Kong shirts, others cheap china crap." Well I doubt her story, I mean its the exact same shirt as the others, I'm sure they have the same supplier. As I turn to leave she says Fine 35, to which I say no 30. We start bickering for a minute or 2 and then I leave. Now, I know its the equivilent of 60 cents, but its the principle of thing, I need the practice!

I try one last time in the last stall before the market ends. Same song and dance, 39. I offer 30, expecting a big fight. Nope, he goes "OK" without any counter or protest. It was too easy, and I'd been had. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

Like in Macau, you never win at somebody else's game.

Being Shanghaied

Before I continue, I got rightly called out for my first blog entry. That somebody who suggested I start a blog was Goldenchild. If you all don't like what I have to write, then you can blame him!

Upon arrival to Hong Kong, I learned that some of the students who couldn't go home for the holiday break (yes despite starting classes before Christmas, the school did throw us a bone and give us the week between Christmas and New Years off) were travelling to Shanghai. Anyways, I had only been here 1 week and my innate wanderlust kicked in, so I joined them on the trip. It was 3 Germans, a Spaniard, and me all traveling through China, so it was quite the collision of cultures. English was of course the common language, but I took the opportunity to practice my Spanish. I have to admit, I never thought I would be using Spanish in China, but I'm not complaining.

It was pretty cheap too for such a last minute decision. $380 for flight + 3 nights hotel. I guess Shanghai isn't a popular holiday destination. In fact, when I told somebody I was doing "Christmas in Shanghai" they said it sounded like the title to a bad B movie. . .

We visited Shanghai, Hangzhou (2 hours from Shanghai) and Suzhou (1 hour from Shanghai). All in all it was a great trip. We visited tons of Pagodas, gardens, parks, and just did a lot of walking and exploring of the 3 cities. I say cities, because that is what all 3 of them were. Before arrival I had never heard of Suzhou or Hangzhou, so I thought they were just small towns. Nope, this is China, so while "smaller" they are huge cities in their own right. I mean both have populations of around 6 million people. . . About the size of Chicago and nobody has ever heard of them! Well any westerner that is, every Chinese person I told said they were both beautiful cities, which I wholeheartedly agree with. Hangzhou especially which is centered around a really pretty lake. It also has quite a bit of money, we saw Bentley, Masarati, and Ferrari dealerships and tons of luxury boutiques. . . Apparently Hangzhou is a popular domestic vacation destination for the Chinese . . .

The sites were fun, but the best part of the trip were the only in China experiences we had. . .

First, getting around was extremely difficult without knowing Chinese. I've travelled through non-English speaking countries before, but the language barrier here is on a whole other level. It's just hard to navigate a place which uses a completely different writing style as you.

We would have the hotel write our destination in Chinese characters so we could hand it to a cab driver. However, if there were any hiccups or detours we were toast. . . One time after a particular disastrous time trying to find a bus to take us to the island of Putoshan (which got dropped from the itinerary since we could never find the bus to take us to the ferry), our Spanish friend had to resort to writing "HELP" on a piece of paper and walking through the streets. Although, it did work it took a while to find an English speaker. Once we found her, we did not want to let her leave.

Hopefully this shows you our dilemma:

Second, the rate of progress in at least the major coastal cities is astonishing. Part of the reason we couldn't find the bus to Putoshan was because the bus station was moved to make way for another development. Frankly, in Shanghai, every other block was a construction site. There were so many skyscrapers being built at every turn. However, there does seem to be an element of haste in all the building so it makes you wonder if bad investment decisions are being made. . . Case in point, the maglev to the airport. Awesome train ride, it went 300+ km/hr and travelled 30km in like 5-6. However it was still a 20 minute cab ride to get to downtown from the city terminal. Cool to say I've taken a maglev, but not ultra convenient. Additionally the development is causing so much pollution. Again what you hear is true. We went to the top of the tallest building in the city(4th tallest in the world after the Sears Tower) on a clear day and couldn't see very far due to all the haze.

Third, while in Hangzhou we met up with a German classmate of one of the Germans on our trip who was interning there. He took us to a Chinese club, run by the city government, where we were the Lao wei(gweilo in Cantonese or foreigner in English). Because we were such a novelty, we didn't pay any cover and were ushered to a table in a private room. Although the funniest thing was the dance floor, it was on springs so it bounced under the weight of all the dancing. Plus, the place was teeming with cops who were there to make sure the partiers were having fun, but not too much fun. We saw multiple forced evictions from the dance floor for infractions such as kissing, dancing too wildly, or standing on the platform with the cops(which my friend was allowed to do because he was lao wei). I think it was a pretty good metaphor, the government letting the population have fun but keeping a close eye to make sure it didn't get too out of hand...that being said we found plenty of people finding ways to do what they wanted.

Fourth, while in Hangzhou we became the center of attention again. The group of us was trying to figure out what to do when an old man approached me and started speaking to me in English. Turns out, he learned English by working with all the foreigners in Shanghai back in the 1940s. His English was pretty good, and we started chatting. Next thing I knew there was a crowd of 100 Chinese surrounding us watching our conversation. For some reason they found us more interesting than the singer a few steps away. Then the old man suggested we sing for the crowd some English songs. It took some cajoling, but eventually he got us to sing Jingle Bells and Auld Land Syne (which for some reason he had the English lyrics in his pocket). We butchered the songs, but for some reason the crowd loved it. The old man said that if we waited or returned later he would get us coverage in the Hangzhou newspaper. We didn't take him up on the offer, but it struck us as funny. Why would the paper want to cover us, were we that much of a novelty? This is the type of thing you hear about in a small Kansas town, not a 6MM person city. Plus, this was a pretty major city close to the coast. . . what would happen if we went to a smaller town in the interior? That's not even metnioning the fact that one of the Germans, who is blond and over 6 foot tall, kept getting asked to take pictures with the locals.

Fifth, our package included a 3 night stay at a Shanghai Holiday Inn which was pretty nice. Much better than any Holiday Inn in the USA. In the hotel, we stumbled into the hotel "sauna" when looking for the gym. It turned out to be a massage parlor that asked us if we wanted "special" services here or in our room. Let's just say it boggled our mind that a Western hotel chain would offer such services to us. . .

Sixth, copying is rampant in China. We were constantly asked if we wanted Handbags, watches, DVDs which were all pirated. Even when not outright copied, there are plenty of firms that have been "inspired" by western companies. Case in point:

Finally, I will leave you with additional proof as to why dining in China is always an adventure: