Foreign First Impressions

I just spent two weeks with four 60 year-old American professionals who have never been to Asia before. This group travels to Europe at least two-three times a year, they own their own companies, speak more than just English and are affluent by American standards. Their impressions of China and other Asian countries reminded me that I’ve been here for a long time and as a result I’m jaded to the realities of living here as compared to the US.Their opinions follow:First, crossing the boarder into/out of China is time consuming, complicated and obnoxious. Outside of some of the food, this was the biggest complaint. Shenzhen to Hong Kong was especially difficult. Customs officers were “cold, unfriendly refused to explain problems/requirements.” They were baffled at all the forms and that China couldn’t replicate the Euro-style system for HK/Macao/China boarder crossings.Second, you’ll never win a gift giving “war” with a Chinese person. A corollary is that you’ll never win a who’s-paying-for-dinner arguement with a Chinese woman either. No matter how many gifts that were given or how many times they tried to pay, the Chinese always won. Of course the Chinese were the hosts and felt required by culture to pay. But the Americans really did want to and tried to, to no avail, pay for things.Third, face vs. politeness. They found very interesting the fact that while in public the Chinese spit, pick their (own) noses, pee on the streets, have no idea about lines, “drive like they’re the only ones on the road” and talk loudly and yet they are, at the same time, incredibly gracious and hospitable to guests. The contrast was commented on almost daily. Further, while every conversation “sounds like they’re fighting” there was never any road rage. Each “fight” ended in smiles and myriad traffic violations were never even noticed. We drove all over the country (4 cities) in cabs, private cars, mini buses, mini cabs and trains. I can’t believe with the crash course (excuse the pun) in Chinese driving we didn’t lose one of these folks to a heart attack.Third, WOW! The pace of development is absolutely mind boggling. Where are all the investment dollars coming from? Are the investors in all the buildings seeing any ROI? What’s the difference between the Chinese system now and the other Asian countries before the crash in ’97? Hmmm…good questions. So we talked with some accountants/consultants in HK that help foreign clients manage investments in China. The short of it was: Most of the money is coming from Taiwan, HK and then other foreign countries. And, no, profits are yet to be seen in most physical investments. In general people are still waiting for ROI from China. While investments in WOFE’s are a great new opportunity (as of this year) most joint ventures are not yet seeing profits—this was according to the two top-ranked accounting firms that we spoke with in HK.Fourth, how does a city like Shenzhen with more than 10 million people and the highest per-capita income in China not even make it onto most maps of the world?! How many Cities in China have over 10 million people? At least 5—Chongqing—23 mill, Shanghai—17 mill, Beijing—15 mill, Shenzhen—12 mill, Guangzhou—14 mill. Those five cities have the equivalent of about 25% of the US population but only about 6% of China’s. For comparison, the US has three cities over 10 million (NY—21 mill, LA—18 mill, and Chicago—10 mill). China has 42 cities with populations over 2 million while the US has only 25 in about the same size country. I just don’t think that you can physically print 50+ city names on the standard world map of China—and Shenzhen is only 30 years old, so many people have never even heard of it. Also, Chongqing (Chungking) as an administrative region (like Beijing and Shanghai) is only 2 years old.