Silk Road International Blog

I spent the weekend at the Olympics—hey, since I already had a visa, why not?!  Here are some thoughts from that experience.

The number one topic in Beijing?  Michael Phelps.  Way to go, Michael.

I’m really disappointed in Hong Kong.  First, Pearl TV wouldn’t even mention the name “Chinese Taipei” in live broadcasts when they won a medal (bronze).  That was disgusting and weak.  There is still supposed to be a free press in Hong Kong is there not?  Second—what the hell happened to your own Olympic team?  Where are they?  Where’s the local support?!  In Hong Kong (except for one Manulife Insurance ad) everything is about Mainland China’s team.  If I was on (or related to someone on) the Hong Kong Olympic team, I’d be insulted.  If I was a Hong Kong citizen I’d be embarrassed.  Finally, as late as 5 years ago it was possible to get around in English in HK if you didn’t speak Cantonese.  Now, it’s Mandarin.  Even with the Olympic prep, English skills are down in public venues and service industries.  This of course is just an informal opinion from my experiences here with a client and my sister (neither of whom speak any Chinese) over this last weekend.  This was one of Hong Kong’s advantages—along with logistics, banking, freedom and adherence to international norms and standards.  It only took 10 years for Hong Kong to become just another Chinese city.

As one foreigner we meet buying tickets in Beijing said: “There aren’t any places to hang out and party.  This must be the Serious Olympics.”

Pins, which were so much fun to buy and trade at previous Olympics (LA and SLC), were incredibly hard to find here.  I asked a number of people for pin trading/buying spots, but no body really knew.  Bummer.  The one guy, from Texas, who had cool pin brought it from the US and was passing it out to people in China—it’s loaded with religious symbolism and he obviously wasn’t here to collect sports pins.  I find it ironic that other “Christians” justify breaking the laws of other countries for a “higher cause.”  Nice guy though.

Meet a couple from the Netherlands who were thrilled that they were “winning a medal a day!”  So what’s the most important—total golds, total medals or just having a great time?

Beijing was cleaner and had less traffic than I have ever seen before.  I have traveled here for business/pleasure at least a couple of times a year every year for the last 5 years and this was a completely different city.

I have never been to Beijing and seen so much sun.  After the rain, the weather was so good I got sunburned at the baseball game–really.

The architecture in Beijing is amazing–it was a beautiful and different from any of the other 10 plus times I’ve ever been there.

The taxis and taxi drivers were so clean.  Kudos to whomever thought to give all the drivers new shirts (and showers).  Unfortunately, the manners and English lessons did not take so well with some drivers, sorry to say.

Chinese fans may not know much about all the sports in the Olympics, but they are, at least very active fans.  But the volunteers leading (the same) cheers over and over again did not, despite their diligent attempts, make the games more fun.  But maybe there’s hope.

I asked a friend of mine whose company did some work on the Bird’s Nest what it was going to be used for in the future.  He told me that the stadium was built so quickly that there are serious foundation problems and the government will close it after the Olympics and have to do “billions of RMB” worth of repairs before it can be used again.  Surprised?

Thankfully most people have been very safe (except for the dead and injured Americans, of course–my condolences to the family).  But I have to say, security was a HUGE pain in the rear.  Not because it was there, but because it was different every time.  Airports, museums, event venues, all had different standard, and it seemed that some people got it worse than others.  Sometime suntan lotion was OK, other times not. Ditto for iPods, computers and SLR cameras—the fact that I had a laptop, SLR camera and iPod in my bag was an issue for the baseball security folk, but not for football.  Open umbrellas were not allowed in any of the outside venues but were permitted/ignored everywhere and made jumping up and down a potentially painful experience at the baseball game.  The same 3oz. toiletry bottles made it though 4 different Chinese airports last week but not out of Beijing on our last flight?!  Which brings me to…

Foreigners (white) were more than welcome in Beijing.  People went out of their way to smile, help and welcome me and my sister.  But black foreigners got not so much love and other Chinese almost none at all.  It was really too bad, we overheard more than one (back) foreigner complain about the treatment he had received.  And my (Chinese) wife was NEVER allowed into any event seating without being checked/searched/wanded.  Not once was my ticket checked after security at any event (5 games in all) but she was stopped every single time.  Security at Tiananmen Square, volunteers, helpers on the street corners, no one treated her as well as they treated me.  Tells me that the “changes” in China are temporary.  Unfortunate.

Not one of the “sold out” events that I attended or anything I’ve seen on TV has really been full.  Here’s what others are saying.  I couldn’t agree more.  Scores of people at each event are selling tickets—and if you’re willing to miss the start you get them for just double face vale (Y100 to Y200 RMB).  We even had friends who bought tickets for the opening ceremony for less than $100 each.

I feel so bad for Liu Xiang who not only got hurt but who doesn’t get to compete in the race he’s been preparing for more than 8 years.  The idiots in China who are angry with him for getting hurt show that the games in China are not about sports or individual athletes, but about national pride for most people here.  Here’s one take.

One last thought.  Outside of China do people of other nationalities “feel proud” to be a member of their respective countries when they watch the Olympics?  I love the sports, I love the US, but watching Phelps or USA men’s basketball team win doesn’t make me any more patriotic.  I’ll admit I love cheering for the US teams/individuals.  But I don’t love the US more or less when the events are over.  Am I jaded as an American?  Am I just used to having international exposure while Chinese are not yet?

Tags: China, Culture by David Dayton
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If you’re not ready to face the reality of China’s future and your involvement in that future, don’t read this book.  If you’re comfortable with the idea that China is not “changing” in all the ways that the western democracies would like it too, don’t read this book.  If you think that 10% of the Chinese population enjoying the fantastic growth of the last 20 years amounts to a change for the entire Chinese population don’t read this book.  If you like the last 40 years of US (or English, or Australian) foreign policy toward China don’t read this book.

But if you wonder why economic change in China hasn’t lead to political change or why no one seems to mind that every US president has taken a hard line on China to get elected but then reversed course in office then you should read James Mann’s The China Fantasy: Why Capitalism will not bring Democracy to China.

This is the best book about China that is not about China.  The China Fantasy is about US foreign policy toward China and why and who influence that policy.  It’s about how money, not in China but in western big businesses, is more important than human rights and democracy.  It’s about how academic access to China for western intellectuals is constantly more important than the promotion of freedom of expression or a free press in China.

The book does a great job of separating the limited access of western policy makers, academics and businessmen to the Chinese middle and upper classes from the realities of the “rest” of China’s 1.6 billion people.  If you’ve only been to universities, factories, east coast cities and government offices this book will quickly expose you to the fact that you’re opinions of China are limited far more than you’re likely to admit.

Mann calls for a change, not in policy necessarily, but in the justifications for policy.  I think that there is too much money invested in keeping the status quo for that to ever happen, as does Mann.  But, in the very least, this book will expose the fallacy behind the justifications that many use to come to do business in China.

This is not a rah-rah China book and it’s not a China disaster book either—it’s a middle ground, a third path.  Mann says that it’s far more likely for China to continue to grow economically and remain repressive politically than any other option.  The question is: can businesspeople and politicians and consumers in the west live with that.

Tags: Book Reviews, China, Politics by David Dayton
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Whether you live in the US or China, human nature is often the same.  People, when they are well fed and have $ to spare, care about different issues than those that are hungry.  Now that there is a middle class in China, some people are starting to realize that money is not the answer to everything.

What journalists will hopefully learn in the two weeks that they are here is that there is a LOT of money in China and it’s not all tied up in 0lympic projects or “communist” work units.  While most Chinese are, at this moment, overly patriotic (and justifiably so), life will return to relative calm in the coming months and people will start to talk about politics, other countries, the slowing down of the Chinese economy and the NCAA College Football Season (OK, not so much) with a little more economic rationality and a little less flag waving.

One reporter I know asked me “So why don’t the Chinese people do something about their government?”  The answer is easy–most of the Chinese (middle class) people that get in the press have never had it so good!  Money, money, money–it’s the global language, it reaches across cultures and it certainly makes capitalists out of red-flag waving Chinese.  Outside of some land grabs (T!bet and my fishpond, just to name two) there are at least 400 to 500 million that have little to complain about.  They have a better legal system then they’ve ever had.  They have more money than they’ve ever had.  They have the highest growth rates in the world.  They have a rapidly expanding consumer culture with increasingly more options from all over the world.  They have access to more education and information than they’ve ever had before; thanks to the (censored) Internet.  They have both the economic and legal (passports are an option for many/most) opportunity to travel and study abroad.  They are honestly proud of their country and have the money to spend to make their families happy.  Not everything is roses.  But on balance, it’s so much better than it was 100, 50, 30, even 15 years ago.

The issue in the US in the next 90 days is slowing developing into the price of gas and the economy.  But for me, it already was.  International trade, taxes and general economic policy is what the election is about, professionally.  Ditto for most investors and big business folk.  Why? Because market forces are more logical to deal with than random government policy.  Most American individuals agree: “A new Gallup Poll shows that no matter what their income or political affiliation, an overwhelming majority of Americans prefer economic growth over income redistribution as the best way to fix the economy.” USA Today.

So which of the two completely less-than-average presidential candidates is more likely to support trade and a strong economy?  John I-don’t-know-about-economics McCain.  I just pray he doesn’t learn.  His voting record in the past is very pro-trade and I’ve love to see 8 more years of that.  If I stay over here for the next decade and he keeps on not doing anything to change the trade policies in the US it could be a pretty inocuous vote for me this year.  (Pretty pathetic that my voting criteria is now: who will do the least amount of damage, huh?).

If you are doing business overseas and will not be home for the election you should still vote.  Here’s a link to an Org that is doing on-line voter registration.  DISCLAIMER: The site is really a plug for the Democrat Party (ugh!) and my mother might kill me for sending people there–but it’s a very easy way to get an absentee ballot.  And no, the American Embassy is NOT easier.  Don’t even get me started on American Citizen Services, a.k.a. American Citizen Abuse.  Just try to figure out that form/double envelope!

So stop wondering when money is going to “change China” or even if China is going to change–it’s probably not (for more on this, read this book).  Take advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunities going on here–to make money, to make a difference, to see the 0lympics, learn a bit about another country.  And remeber to vote at home.

Tags: China, Culture by David Dayton
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I have maintained for 8 years now that Beijing will host the most spectacular 0lympics ever.  There is no other choice but to have the best/biggest/cleanest/…est/…est.  That’s how things are done over here.  It will be grand (est), to be sure.

But that doesn’t mean that I agree with what’s happening. I’ve been pretty negative about the “don’t politicize” excuse for what is already extremely political.  I live here and I see the “non-0lympic” China and know that what tourists and NBC will get this year and what the other 340 days of the year offer are completely different.  I still think like that.  But here is a worthy alternative perspective–questioning not China, but the 0lympics themselves.  NYT Letter From Beijing.

But, I’m going to the games.  I bought tickets.  I’m giving my money to The Chinese Man.  Hypocrite or Opportunist?

I was not planning on going–until no one else could get visas.  I then realized (last week) that not only were tickets available for almost every event but that because of the visa issues, hotels were available too.  Since I have a visa already and many factories are closed for at least a couple of the 0lympic days, I’m headed to Beijing next week.  My Chinese wife (and my sister from the States) with me.

So maybe I should be a bit more critical of the 0lympics and less of Beijing.  True to form, they really just played the system better than anyone else.

Related 0lympic/Business side notes.

Yes, many factories will be closed for much of the 0lympics or at least taking the weekend of the 8th off.  If you are lucky enough to have a visa and be doing business here this month, check your enthusiasm and personal patriotism at the boarder.  I’ve been shouted down at non-0lympic sporting events for supporting Team USA (2006 China Basketball Challenge).  Of course, while not in factories I’ll be purposefully wearing Red, White and Blue every day for the next three weeks.

Outside of Hubei Province doing business in China shouldn’t be affected too much this month.  Yes there will be a few days off this first weekend and visas are hard to come by, but that’s about it.  The real problems were in May/June when factories pushed non-0lympic orders out of production to get things done in time for the Games.

Tags: China by David Dayton
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