Most recent China news from Yahoo! News - World - Asia
• Official: Water safe after chemical spill in China
(AP)
AP - The water supply was safe in a northeastern China city after more than 3,000 containers of toxic chemicals were washed into a river by the worst floods in a decade in the country, an official said Thursday.
Most recent China news from International News from telegraph.co.uk
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• China urges change in U.S. policy to avoid friction
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States should alter policy to take account of China's role as a major player on the world stage if it wants to avoid friction and instability, a major state newspaper said on Thursday.
Most recent China news from BBC News - Asia-Pacific - World Edition. (Note: If accessing BBC News from within China, you will probably need to configure your web browser to use a "proxy server" as the BBC is blocked.)
• Chemicals washed into China river
Rescue teams in north-east China are working to retrieve 3,000 barrels of chemicals washed into a major river, state media say.
• China agrees Guinea mining deal
Mining giant Rio Tinto completes a deal with Chinese firm Chalco to enter a joint venture in West Africa.
• Blast hits China plastics factory
At least six people are killed and about 300 injured in an explosion at an abandoned plastics factory in the Chinese city of Nanjing, media reports say.
• China sales drive Peugeot profit
Peugeot reports a return to profit driven by Chinese demand.
• China
Key facts, figures and dates
• The original Sinbad?
China goes in search of legacy of legendary mariner Zheng He
• Wealth in China
But many rich people still pay to move to the West
Most recent Shanghai, China news from Wangjianshuos blog
• Do Travelers Feel People are More Friendly?
I had a conversation with a participant of Fortune Brainstorm Conference about his recent visit to Asia, namely, Thailand, and China. He was filled with exaggerated excitement about the places he just visited. “I was overwhelmed by how friendly people are. Hey man, you just cannot imagine how friendly they are”.
Hmm… Is it true that travelers feel people are friendlier in foreign countries?
For me, for example, I genuinely feel people in the States are very friendly, and people in Sanya, Lijiang, or Daocheng are friendly to me. According to my personal experience, the statement seems to positive. There are for sure cases when people get extremely frustrated during the trip or mistreated, generally, people tend to agree that they love the people they meet when they are traveling. Why is that? How so?
Is it because that, when we are traveling, we are a nicer person ourselves? We live more in the present, instead of captured by the tendency to ignore people, and things around us. I cannot imagine smiling to everyone in a crowded metro cart, and I even cannot imagine smiling every time I see Wendy. However, when we are traveling, our heart is so open that we would rather be nicer to people around us, just for the sake of a better travel experience for ourselves. In return, most of the people will find travelers are often easier to handle.
Is it because the type of people we meet? When we travel, most of the people we meet are in the travel industry. Hotels, buses, taxis, gatekeeper of tourism places… Their professions are to be friendly, and make it a good experience for their customers – the travelers. I would say, they are in a happy industry themselves, with daily chance to meet with nice travelers (as I described in my previous guess). Altogether, that is a different world from our current daily routine.
Is it because the time? Time plays a role in people’s mood. I basically enjoyed every trip I had in the bay area, until one day, I was caught in a trafic jam. I was driven made by the slow moving of cars on CA-237 to Miltipas, CA. Then I felt people are not nice. I feel the anxiourity of the drivers around me. It was then that I realized my experience of the area is always in the non-rush hours. Travelers are different annimals. They don’t follow the 9 to 6 rymth of the city. When everyone is rushing into the downtown with barely cleaned face, and being hungry because they didn’t have the time to have breakfast yet, the travelers, in the contrary, is already well fed with nice continental breakfast (think about the berries, and omlette!), and on a nice coach to a place 50 miles away from the city. That makes huge difference to how people feel about the city, and the people.
There are many reasons that travelers feel people around them are friendlier, and I guess that is one of the reasons why people travel – to explore something new, and better than our current lives.
• Why People Travel
I asked this question again and again, why people love to travel.
Find new things?
No matter how small it is, from an electronic plug that is different from those in our own country, to a breakfast that offers something you seldom eat in home, the difference reminds us that we are in a different world. Nothing can be more boring when you arrive in a place but you really cannot tell any difference from your home.
My visit to Aspen leads me to recognize a special type of tree – Aspen. That types of tree with white and smooth body, and heart shape small leaves. I got one leaf and put it into my Moleskin notebook. I am not saying that there is no Aspen in my city (Shanghai), or in my country (China), it is not something in my daily life. Without visiting that small town, I may never observe and appreciate, and even recognize that special tree. Ironically, if I run into a another village with many Aspen trees surrounding it, I mean mistakenly feel bored, since it is like a place I have visited 6000 miles away.
During our travel, we need to discover things that remind us that we have set feet to a new land. Nothing can be more exciting than people speaking of different languages, especially those you don’t understand.
There Must be Something New!
It is boring (although efficient) to have lunch in a McDonald’s in another country. The only compensation in a McDonald’s to a traveler is, if there is any, the different settings of those particular restaurants. For example, I paid special interest in a tag line on the self-service coke vending machine stating: “Refill only for dine-in customers”. I admit I never saw this before, and that made my visit to the international food chain.
There are something so unique to a region that it can be the name card picture of the city/country, like the skyline of Pudong in Shanghai, or the Tiananmen/Great Wall in Beijing, or the the curved uphill section Lombard Street/Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They are the landmarks and must see. Why? Because collectively, nothing can reminds people where they are, and how different it is from the daily life and the “boring” town they just escaped from. However, really good travelers enjoy much more than that. Admittedly, some places are more interesting than others in both the numbers of things you will notice (like a westerner arrives in Toyoko), or stronger in impression (like the Grand Canyon that can no longer be classified as just a canyon), most travelers can find difference along the way they travel, and throughly enjoy their trip. That is the sensation we need to build in ourselves, to allow us to enjoy the world of difference.
• Wrapping up the Summer Trip in US
I am now in Hotel Jerome. With the antique light on the desktop, and piano from Colorado Public Radio (the housekeeper always tune to this channel and open the radio when they finished the house cleaning), it is a pretty quiet and "prestigious" night (This is the word Wendy learn from Amy in Arlington. From then, we used the word prestigious on almost anything that is nice).
The Trip
This is the longest trip I had in the States. The board meeting in July 7, 2010 in Menlo Park is pre-determined, and there is no way to move it within two months, and the date of Fortune Brainstorm conference at July 22, 2010 is also set. It caused some challenges for me to arrange my schedule. There is about two weeks in the middle of the two important meetings. Typically, I will send about a week in the silicon valley meeting varies companies for both business and learning experience, but there is still another week in the middle. It does not make sense economically and logistically to fly back and forth between the two countries within a week. (I did fly back and forth in two weeks to attend the eBay Global Leadership Meeting, and the Leadership eBay workshop in 2006). So I took personal vacation from July 14 to July 21.
Personal Adventure
In the 7 days of personal trip, Wendy and I drive a Toyota Carmy leaving Los Angeles, went few hundreds miles in the west US, and back to LAX. Here is the trip:
LAX to Las Vegas via I-105, I-605, CA-60 and a long way on I-15.
Las Vegas to Hoover Dam via a short drive on US-93
Via US-93, and I-40 arriving at Williams, AZ (briefly passed Seligman, AZ)
Via NV-64 arriving at Grand Canyon
Getting back via NV-64 and US-89 (really beautiful road) to Flagstaff.
Continued on US-89A to Sedona, and stayed in Cottonwood, AZ for one night
Go to Phoenix, AZ via AZ-260 to I-17.
Used AZ-101 to bypass Phoenix, and went all way to San Diego that day, via US-8, via Yuma, and El Centra. Loved the desert section, and inspected few days along the way by Border Patrol
Spent two nights in San Diego because we really love it, and then drive along I-5 and CA-1 to Los Angeles.
Here is the route map. Recommended for people who have few days in the west US.
View Larger Map
The Way Back
Tomorrow, I am flying out from Aspen to Denver, and then to San Francisco, and then to Shanghai. The schedule looks like this:
25JUL 0800 ASE 0845 DEN UA6742 (45 min)
25JUL 1000 DEN 1146 SFO UA415 (2 hours 46 mins)
25JUL 1349 SFO 1725 SHA UA857 (12 hours 36 mins)
It takes 18 hours and 25 minutes to get back to my home, sweet home in Shanghai.
Acknowledge
Again, I'd like the thank everyone in the Silicon Valley and in Aspen who spent the time to host and talk with me. It is always inspiring to travel to the States, and meet with different people, and get new ideas.
At the end of the day, trips are all about people. I visited Hollywood in Los Angeles. Obviously, I still don't have any idea about that place and industry. If someone just arrives at the Silicon Valley without talking with the people there, it must be a boring experience. At least there is a strip in Hollywood that people can have some fun finding their favorite star on the street. There is no such amusement in the Silicon Valley. You have to be there, attending meetings, visiting companies, and talk with people to get the idea. The only movie studio I know is Pixar, but I didn't find their address, and I don't think there is any way to visit without trespassing. So, thanks for making the trip possible.
• Second Day of Fortune Brainstorm Tech
What a whole day. I already waked up enough but still didn't catch up the first session, at 6:00 AM, the optional mountain trail hike.
I came from the Internet space, combined with the startup space. Today's session is generally interesting and amazing. The most inspirational part of today's session is, the people, the company, and the topics are not those I will touch on daily basis. I was dragged out of Internet a little bit, but not too far away - to the Tech world.
For example, the Writer, and Producer of ABC Series Lost talked about the role of technology in TV program, and the one year old ex-Googler CEO of AOL talking about the "turn" of the company. The CEO of Xerox talked about how they turned themselves from a copier company to a full document service company, and more importantly, turned from the bottom of the curve up.
When I was sitting at the middle section under the tent (yes! the conference is held under a big tent. Not very many people attending, just about 200-300 in total), I was wondering why I am here. It is not something directly related to my job. But I am convinced that I need to start to participate in this conference to keep my eyes open. The question I want to ask is, why all the other CEOs and presidents of famous companies participate. They must come for a reason. I have to say some of the topics like the trends of the whole industry does not interest me as much as topics directly related to my work, it does mean that I need more years to be appreciating the topics. The people are here to share, and to learn about the trends of the industry. It acts as some kind of orchestration of the movement of the industry. They want to make sure people from the government, from the tech, from media, and from investment are frequently put together, to reach some consensus about what to do in the next 18 to 3 years, so big and small companies like Google, Microsoft, Disney, AOL, IAC, Twitter can do something together toward the same direction, I mean, if they all feel the water the same way. The bottom line is, it is not waste of time.
I do have to comment a little bit about the beautiful Aspen. I really didn't see too much about Aspen yet. The schedule was so full, and I don't want to waste the opportunity to network with the great people there, but it is so beautiful. I especially like the creeks, and the water there. Tomorrow afternoon, there will be a bike session for the participants, and I expect to go out to see Aspen, and take some pictures. BTW, Aspen is 8200 feet in latitude. It is not very high compared to many places in west part of China, and there is no altitude sickness at all. There are some people who report the difference. Where is it for me?
For those who wonder why I didn't post any picture of my US trip onto my blog yet. The answer is simple, I just left my USB cable home, and didn't take a chance to buy one.
• More Perspective about US, and China
Travel helps people to understand the world better.
Here are some changes I made during the last few days of west US trip.
1. Urbanization. California is really urbanized, but in US, there are places like Arizona, and Nevada which rural lands separate cities, just like China.
2. Whether people obey rules is not dependent on which country the person is, it is based on the overall environment - economical and demographic. I saw Las Vegas is like Shanghai - there are more people stop you and send you cards with naked girls and phone numbers than people selling fake Rolex on Huaihai Road. People horn in busy streets in Los Angeles, just as Shanghai.
3. Small towns are preferred. Sedona and San Diego have unpredictably jumped to the top of the favorite city list for Wendy and I. I San Diego is not small at all, but it does give people the small town feeling.
4. Los Angeles airport is not clean, the traffic is bad, and it is so big and hard to commute - just like Shanghai. It is the size of the city that makes the two cities similar. The problem of large cities is common to both cities. For a city with 19 million residents crowded in a small area, it takes effort to keep it clean and working.
5. Parking is hard and expensive in big cities like Los Angeles, just like Shanghai. Parking is easy and free in cities like Sedona, and most small cities in Silicon Valley, just like most cities in China.
It turned out I found much more similarity between China and USthan differences during the trip. I agree that travel makes better world citizen.
• I Found a Las Vegas in Shanghai
American cities are mostly clean, well planned, well organized, and rule-enforced. I saw the quiet small towns like San Francisco, Palo Alto, Seattle. Even in New York, I see the characteristic of American cities - in certain neighborhood, the style of the buildings - especially the heights of the buildings are pretty similar. In smaller cities like Cappuccino, CA, any small change in the exterior of the house needs approval from neighbors, or the city. I never experienced so much constrain about a building in the America. After watching nice community with decent houses, well cut grasses, and trees, it started to be a little bit .... hmmm... boring.
Las Vegas is the exception
I was completely impressed by the exaggerated buildings of Las Vegas. How can they practice their imagination in such a big scale. Look at the New York New York hotel, which we stayed on our fist night. From the outside, it is a complex consists of all the land markers of New York! They even have a big roller coaster surrounding the building with people screaming days and nights. We stayed in MGM Grand, a hotel with 5000+ hotel rooms. What?! Everyday, I have one sentence in my mind when I was there: "Las Vegas doesn't have a city committee to approve their building designs."
There is another city like Las Vegas: Shanghai
In Las Vegas, I was excited. It is like an adventure park - the whole city. The smell in the air, the energy of the people, and the nice restaurants, and services... everything reminds me of another city: Shanghai.
At Las Vegas, I started to understand why so many people from the States feel excited about Shanghai. I lived in that city for 15 years, but I never feel that excited. Why? I just realized it shares something in common with Las Vegas: the wildness, and the energy.
The skyscrapers in Shanghai are the carrier of the most crazy architects in the world. They pour their imagination onto that land which is eager to get the most modern, and cutting-edge designs. People don't worry about whether the new building can fit into the skyline of the city or not, since the whole city has already been a big mass of mixture between the west, and the east, the old, and the new. Why bother to constrain yet another building? Look at any of the buildings in Shanghai, and think about moving it to somewhere in the world. Paris? San Francisco? Maybe the only place that people will accept buildings as tall as WFC, or as strange as the Bund Center, is Las Vegas. Even people in New York will be concerned.
Talking about New York, I have an architect friend who designed many buildings and areas in Manhattan. He complained that if the top 10 most favorite buildings/architects in New York were built today, 7 of them will not pass the current city planning code. Those buildings cannot get a building permit include Brooklyn Bridge, and Empire Building. Since people care their skyline so much, they started to be conservative of any change, and when the "new land" becomes a historical site, they don't want to change anything.
That is the beauty of new land like Shanghai, and Las Vegas. Just build new things! The skyline has not been widely accepted yet, so build, build, build! Architects in Shanghai started to warn people that don't be over loose about the control over what building can be built in that city, since "foreign architects will use Shanghai has the test field for the buildings that cannot be built everywhere in this world". He is correct, and that is the reality of Shanghai today.
Shanghai is spiritually similar with Las Vegas. It is not about gambling, it is about wildness, and imagine nation. To better define Shanghai, I find it a combination of the spirit of Las Vegas in the scale as big as Los Angeles.
• Reserved iPhone 4 at Apple Store
After a meeting from 2:00 to 3:30 PM in downtown Palo Alto, I passed an Apple Store at 451 University Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 (650) 617-9000. Sometimes, shopping idea just happened at a flash of thought - I never thought about buying iPhone 4 before, but when I played it for a while, I decided to spend the $599 to get one. That is the difference - if you feel something on your hand, feel its weight, and play with it for a while, and most importantly, when you feel it is closer to you, and you can get it with a small action, you are more likely to buy it.
That was what happened to me.
Obviously, there is no easy way to get an iPhone 4. There are no iPhone in stock. There is similar poster on the Apple Store as on RadioShack, and other places selling iPhone 4: Due to popularity of iPhone 4, there is limited or no supply for iPhone in this store....
I used the online system to make an reservation. When an iPhone is available, they will send me an email to pick it up at the Apple Store. Since there is no obligation to buy, it made the decision to reserve one even easier.
So, I am on the waiting list to get an iPhone 4. I just hope it arrives before I leave Palo Alto, although the chance is not very high.
Good job, Apple for generating such huge demand for a single product. When I walked out of the store, I realized Apple's headquarter at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA, is just 10 miles away by driving from where I stood. Silicon Valley is really one of the tech capital of the world - I also realized that the iPhone will actually be manufactured in a factory somewhere in China. It is very likely to be in Shenzhen, where some young workers just sadly committed suicide. This world is more and more connected and we often realize the lines connecting the dots in special occasions like this one - when someone just reserved an iPhone.
• 1 USD = 6.79527864 RMB
For the first time in recent years, the RMB went strong and broke the 6.80 threshold. What does it mean to people in China, the States, and other countries?
I am not an economist, and I am lack of basic ideas about how currency exchange impacts the world. Let me explain what I think from an individual who want to think about this issue.
I Forgot the Time when 1 USD is 8.2 RMB
I did some research on Google. Interestingly, the first two search results for RMB to USD brought me back to what I wrote in 2008: 1 USD = 6.9966 RMB. In that entry, I quoted a chart:
Reviewing this chart, I realized that RMB was always at 1 USD = 8.25 RMB level before mid of 2005.
How much has changed in the last five years. The exchange rate floating is normal for most countries, but in China, that is not very common. The exchange rate seems to be fixed by a ratio. Although the government denied the fact that RMB is manipulated, it does not seem to be the case.
Buying More Stuff
The appreciation of RMB obviously bring some benefits to people as a consumer. Goods in US are no longer that expensive.
In my first trip to US in 2000, I was not able to afford anything - including toothbrush in CSV. I still remember when I was shown a bill in the Chinese restaurant, I asked the question without really thinking: "Is it in RMB or USD?" because 10 USD for a meal didn't seem right to me. I needed to consistently remind myself that the money should be multiplied by 8 for any price, until I get used to it many days later.
These days, when I travel in US, many things appear cheap - even after converting to RMB. There are two factors for it. The first is the exchange ratio. 1 to 8.25 is very different from 1 to 6.8. The second factor is, things back in Shanghai got more and more expensive. When we started to accept the fact that a working lunch can easily cost 25 - 35 RMB in Xujiahui area, a hamburger in the States does not seem that expensive.
Crisis for Manufacturers
Although I believe most people around me who don't really think about it may be happy because of increasing purchasing power, I worry a lot as the exchange rate can cause huge problem to export oriented business (which is a big part in Chinese economy). When the manufactures like Foxconn was forced to increase the salary, and the price will be less competitive because of the exchange rate, what is the future for the manufacture, and what is the consequence when the plants were closed? That can change the Chinese society in a big way.
Thought about the Future
Anyway, without understanding the situation, I am feeling optimistic (this time, I completely agree I felt that way blindly), because I just believing in changes. With the change, many thing will change, and changes are opportunities. The only thing that does not change is change, including the exchange.
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