Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Huang Shan ban yun gong 黄山搬运工
Huang Shan Porter.
An extensive network of stairs trace Huang Shan from top to bottom. At first this was a bit annoying - if I wanted to climb stairs I could have stayed at home and hiked the 25 floors to our apartment - but you quickly realize these paths are absolutely necessary to handle the mass of tourists and intense climbing gradients. You may recall the Chinese like their climbs steep; Huang Shan was no exception.
There are no roads up the mountain, but on the peak is a thriving metropolis complete with several hotels, restaurants and even banks. To support this mountaintop economy, all the goods need to be hauled up (and back down) via China's favorite solution to such technological challenges - brute force manual labor. The specific method of choice in this case being a bamboo pole balanced across the back with a load teetering off either side. These mighty mights get paid by the kg per km and they have the completely ripped calf muscles to prove it.
To give you an idea, this ban yun gong (who must have been about 60 years old) said he was carrying over 50 kg, including incidentally, what happens to be the biggest dong gua (winter melon) I've ever seen in my life. Check out the look of amazement on the little girl's face at the old timer's feat of strength!
In addition to hauling all the basic necessities like food and bedsheets, the lazy laowai can also rent out a ban yun gong to carry his backpack up the mountain for the very reasonable price of 3 kuai/kg/km or the equivalent of about $20 for an average size pack. Or you can always indulge your imperialist fantasies and ride to the top in the stylish comfort of a hand drawn carriage like this lucky fellow.
Check my Flickr page for the complete set of Huang Shan photos.
An extensive network of stairs trace Huang Shan from top to bottom. At first this was a bit annoying - if I wanted to climb stairs I could have stayed at home and hiked the 25 floors to our apartment - but you quickly realize these paths are absolutely necessary to handle the mass of tourists and intense climbing gradients. You may recall the Chinese like their climbs steep; Huang Shan was no exception.
There are no roads up the mountain, but on the peak is a thriving metropolis complete with several hotels, restaurants and even banks. To support this mountaintop economy, all the goods need to be hauled up (and back down) via China's favorite solution to such technological challenges - brute force manual labor. The specific method of choice in this case being a bamboo pole balanced across the back with a load teetering off either side. These mighty mights get paid by the kg per km and they have the completely ripped calf muscles to prove it.
To give you an idea, this ban yun gong (who must have been about 60 years old) said he was carrying over 50 kg, including incidentally, what happens to be the biggest dong gua (winter melon) I've ever seen in my life. Check out the look of amazement on the little girl's face at the old timer's feat of strength!
In addition to hauling all the basic necessities like food and bedsheets, the lazy laowai can also rent out a ban yun gong to carry his backpack up the mountain for the very reasonable price of 3 kuai/kg/km or the equivalent of about $20 for an average size pack. Or you can always indulge your imperialist fantasies and ride to the top in the stylish comfort of a hand drawn carriage like this lucky fellow.
Check my Flickr page for the complete set of Huang Shan photos.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Huang Shan 黄山
Yellow Mountain.
There's much to write about from our recent Chinese New Year trip to Huang Shan and little time (or internet bandwidth as the case may be). But not being one to keep you in suspense too long for the juicy bits, check all the photos here.
More to follow ...
There's much to write about from our recent Chinese New Year trip to Huang Shan and little time (or internet bandwidth as the case may be). But not being one to keep you in suspense too long for the juicy bits, check all the photos here.
More to follow ...
Jian Toufa 剪头发
Haircut.
After a year in China, I would like to think my mindset has settled into a level that surpasses even grandmothers with their 20th grandchild – expecting the unexpected, and extreme patience with everything. However, I forget sometimes, usually when doing something I do rarely, like jian toufa. I went to the salon for a haircut Sunday with 2 full hours before my next commitment. Plenty of time, I thought, in an empty shop with 30 employees standing around. But first I had to use the bathroom (nothing worse than getting your hair rinsed out when you are crossing your legs busting for the toilet). I am accustomed to waiting, Chinese women take an extraordinary amount of time in the loo. I was not prepared for a man to take 15 minutes, I guess he was a hairdresser, but come on! Anyway, I am finally in the chair. First, a neck massage. I am not going to ask them to hurry with that one… Then the shampoo, which did require a kuai yidian to get it moving along. Once I was all massaged and shampooed, I still had 60 minutes left. Then I waited. Apparently the 20 people who were doing nothing were not authorized to cut hair. After another 20 minutes the barber was free. 40 minutes remaining, and I began to wish I had skipped the neck massage, bathroom, whatever to make sure I didn’t have to ask him to hurry in cutting my hair. Fortunately, he worked fast, and I was ready for a blow dry at t-minus 20. At this point I really got antsy and was ready to walk out with wet hair. But he was doing a neat Bernoulli’s trick with the brush, hairdryer and my hair. As soon as I was dry, I rushed out of the seat (to wait at the cash register) and made it home at the same time as the water delivery guy I was waiting on. A 20 minute haircut that lasted 2 hours and 10 minutes. I guess the moral of the story is everything takes twice as long as you expect (and costs a fraction – that whole ordeal set me back $8). Although, I think I remember learning that one before… I love China.
After a year in China, I would like to think my mindset has settled into a level that surpasses even grandmothers with their 20th grandchild – expecting the unexpected, and extreme patience with everything. However, I forget sometimes, usually when doing something I do rarely, like jian toufa. I went to the salon for a haircut Sunday with 2 full hours before my next commitment. Plenty of time, I thought, in an empty shop with 30 employees standing around. But first I had to use the bathroom (nothing worse than getting your hair rinsed out when you are crossing your legs busting for the toilet). I am accustomed to waiting, Chinese women take an extraordinary amount of time in the loo. I was not prepared for a man to take 15 minutes, I guess he was a hairdresser, but come on! Anyway, I am finally in the chair. First, a neck massage. I am not going to ask them to hurry with that one… Then the shampoo, which did require a kuai yidian to get it moving along. Once I was all massaged and shampooed, I still had 60 minutes left. Then I waited. Apparently the 20 people who were doing nothing were not authorized to cut hair. After another 20 minutes the barber was free. 40 minutes remaining, and I began to wish I had skipped the neck massage, bathroom, whatever to make sure I didn’t have to ask him to hurry in cutting my hair. Fortunately, he worked fast, and I was ready for a blow dry at t-minus 20. At this point I really got antsy and was ready to walk out with wet hair. But he was doing a neat Bernoulli’s trick with the brush, hairdryer and my hair. As soon as I was dry, I rushed out of the seat (to wait at the cash register) and made it home at the same time as the water delivery guy I was waiting on. A 20 minute haircut that lasted 2 hours and 10 minutes. I guess the moral of the story is everything takes twice as long as you expect (and costs a fraction – that whole ordeal set me back $8). Although, I think I remember learning that one before… I love China.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Gong si ban jia 公司搬家
Office move.
I just finished packing up my desk in preparation for tomorrow's gong si ban jia.
Some good times were had this past year in this antiquated old 37 story office building in Shanghai's industrial north. Some things, however, will not be missed, like our previous AC system:
I just finished packing up my desk in preparation for tomorrow's gong si ban jia.
Some good times were had this past year in this antiquated old 37 story office building in Shanghai's industrial north. Some things, however, will not be missed, like our previous AC system:
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Zi dong fan yi 自动翻译
Automatic translation.
I obviously get a lot of emails at work in Chinese. To augment my limited reading ability, I sometimes use zi dong fan yi tools to help get the gist of the message. The accuracy of the translations are questionable at best, but often quite amusing!
I obviously get a lot of emails at work in Chinese. To augment my limited reading ability, I sometimes use zi dong fan yi tools to help get the gist of the message. The accuracy of the translations are questionable at best, but often quite amusing!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Xin Nian Kuai Le (II) 新年快乐
Happy New Year, Part II.
The Chinese New Year is coming, and its like the week before Christmas here. Red knot decorations are everywhere, fireworks go off every 10 minutes - and get more and more frequent as the day nears - , and the year-end company parties are in full swing. Last night was AMD's company-wide party, complete with MCs, dancers, a fashion show, lucky draw and banquet style dinner for all 300 employees at a classic hotel on the bund. It was OK, but I didn't win anything :-(
Tonight (Monday), I was heading home via shuttle bus when I inadvertently invited myself to another company's new year's celebration. I asked for a door to door drop off from the driver after he had left everyone at the subway stop. I was on his way home, after all. However, after the stop, I was left on the bus with the driver, receptionist, maintenance man and office ayi. They said they were planning to go to dinner and I asked if I could come along, since Tim would be playing badminton all night anyway. They hesitated, and I shamefully mistook this for a "zhongguoren only" attitude. But they made a call and took me along. I did not see it coming that my companions all worked for the same janitorial company Beijing HanYang. I mean, what janitorial company provides a receptionist? It turned out to be really cool. 12 people in a private room, with a case of beers (even ayi was drinking!) and great Ningbo food. The bill was probably 300RMB. It was so welcoming and warm. Its times like these that I love China.
The Chinese New Year is coming, and its like the week before Christmas here. Red knot decorations are everywhere, fireworks go off every 10 minutes - and get more and more frequent as the day nears - , and the year-end company parties are in full swing. Last night was AMD's company-wide party, complete with MCs, dancers, a fashion show, lucky draw and banquet style dinner for all 300 employees at a classic hotel on the bund. It was OK, but I didn't win anything :-(
Tonight (Monday), I was heading home via shuttle bus when I inadvertently invited myself to another company's new year's celebration. I asked for a door to door drop off from the driver after he had left everyone at the subway stop. I was on his way home, after all. However, after the stop, I was left on the bus with the driver, receptionist, maintenance man and office ayi. They said they were planning to go to dinner and I asked if I could come along, since Tim would be playing badminton all night anyway. They hesitated, and I shamefully mistook this for a "zhongguoren only" attitude. But they made a call and took me along. I did not see it coming that my companions all worked for the same janitorial company Beijing HanYang. I mean, what janitorial company provides a receptionist? It turned out to be really cool. 12 people in a private room, with a case of beers (even ayi was drinking!) and great Ningbo food. The bill was probably 300RMB. It was so welcoming and warm. Its times like these that I love China.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Ban jia 搬家
Move.
As with most everything in China, Ban jia is quite different than what you may be used. Despite not having many worldly possessions here in Shanghai, we decided to take the easy route and hire a moving company to do the heavy lifting for us. Living with an Ayi has made us soft. That and the fact that 180 kuai ($24) gets you door to door service - including a ride along with your stuff to your new place. A cab ride alone would have cost about 40 kuai. Once again, you can't afford NOT to take advantage of the convenience.
The moving crew of 4 guys and a big truck (we had only ordered a small truck and 1 guy) arrived right on time and set to work, literally forbidding me from lifting a finger. These guys seemed personally insulted that I would even consider attempting manual labor in their presence, so who was I to argue?
They made quick work of our sparse belonging, especially with the back-breakingly effective method of strapping several boxes to their hunched spines.
After leaving our old apartment it became clear why they brought the extra manpower. We weren't heading straight to our new place, but rather killing two birds with one stone by swinging by another house that also happened to be making a geographically similar move. We were mildly annoyed by this until we realized that our co-mover turned out to be a co-worker of mine who I had just met for the first time a few days ago! Pretty long odds in a city of 20 million.
Once she was all loaded up, including Mom, niece and husband in the back, we were on our way.
As with most everything in China, Ban jia is quite different than what you may be used. Despite not having many worldly possessions here in Shanghai, we decided to take the easy route and hire a moving company to do the heavy lifting for us. Living with an Ayi has made us soft. That and the fact that 180 kuai ($24) gets you door to door service - including a ride along with your stuff to your new place. A cab ride alone would have cost about 40 kuai. Once again, you can't afford NOT to take advantage of the convenience.
The moving crew of 4 guys and a big truck (we had only ordered a small truck and 1 guy) arrived right on time and set to work, literally forbidding me from lifting a finger. These guys seemed personally insulted that I would even consider attempting manual labor in their presence, so who was I to argue?
They made quick work of our sparse belonging, especially with the back-breakingly effective method of strapping several boxes to their hunched spines.
After leaving our old apartment it became clear why they brought the extra manpower. We weren't heading straight to our new place, but rather killing two birds with one stone by swinging by another house that also happened to be making a geographically similar move. We were mildly annoyed by this until we realized that our co-mover turned out to be a co-worker of mine who I had just met for the first time a few days ago! Pretty long odds in a city of 20 million.
Once she was all loaded up, including Mom, niece and husband in the back, we were on our way.
Xin jia 新家
New house.
Last weekend, Laurel and I moved into our Xin jia in Pudong to be closer to the office. AMD is already out there (there being Zhang Jiang hi-tech park in the eastern boonies), and NI will be moving next door in a few weeks.
The new place is much smaller, but also much more comfortable and well built then the old. Hopefully no more floods! We're on the 25th floor, which definitely gives you the feel of living in a big city. The interior is very modern Asian - the landlord's wife built much of the furniture herself.
Our apartment complex is a model of high-density living. By my rough estimate there are about 40 high-rise building in the complex. Each building has 26 floors, with 4 units per floor. Roughly figuring 2 people per unit (I'm sure many have much more than this, but factoring occupancy, etc, this is a pretty safe estimate), this works out to:
40 buildings x 26 floors/bldg x 4 units/floor x 2 people/unit = 8320 neighbors.
Amazingly, this number is EXACTLY twice the entire year 2000 census population of my home town, Niwot, Colorado, which comes in at 4160.
In terms of population density (I estimate the area of our apartment complex as 1/8km²):
Niwot, Colorado - 397/km²
Shanghai overall - 2,700/km²
Our new apartment - 66,560/km²
Huangpu district of Shanghai - 126,500/km²
So I guess it could be even more crowded, but I'm not sure how.
Last weekend, Laurel and I moved into our Xin jia in Pudong to be closer to the office. AMD is already out there (there being Zhang Jiang hi-tech park in the eastern boonies), and NI will be moving next door in a few weeks.
The new place is much smaller, but also much more comfortable and well built then the old. Hopefully no more floods! We're on the 25th floor, which definitely gives you the feel of living in a big city. The interior is very modern Asian - the landlord's wife built much of the furniture herself.
Our apartment complex is a model of high-density living. By my rough estimate there are about 40 high-rise building in the complex. Each building has 26 floors, with 4 units per floor. Roughly figuring 2 people per unit (I'm sure many have much more than this, but factoring occupancy, etc, this is a pretty safe estimate), this works out to:
40 buildings x 26 floors/bldg x 4 units/floor x 2 people/unit = 8320 neighbors.
Amazingly, this number is EXACTLY twice the entire year 2000 census population of my home town, Niwot, Colorado, which comes in at 4160.
In terms of population density (I estimate the area of our apartment complex as 1/8km²):
Niwot, Colorado - 397/km²
Shanghai overall - 2,700/km²
Our new apartment - 66,560/km²
Huangpu district of Shanghai - 126,500/km²
So I guess it could be even more crowded, but I'm not sure how.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Carbon Neutral
Warning: non-China-related, kinda boring post follows.
I've always felt I live a pretty environmentally-friendly lifestyle, especially here in China. Laurel and I don't own a car, I bike to work most days, and our utility bills each month are minuscule (okay, so this is mainly due to the fact that we don't have nice big appliances like a dishwasher or functional washer/dryer). And running the heater is futile since our apartment has essentially no insulation - we've gotten used to living at approximately the outside ambient temperature.
Given all this, I was pretty shocked when I calculated my personal CO2 emissions and came rang up about 15,000 lbs of CO2 per year, way above the national average. The culprit? All those trans-Pacific flights for work. Two a year from Shanghai to Austin, not to mention the various travel flights within China. Here's the math:
Using Terra Pass flight calculator:
Shanghai <-> Austin (x2 times/yr) = 29,861 miles = 595 gallons gas = 11,646 lbs CO2
Kinda makes all those bike trips seem pretty ridiculous. Maybe Cheney was right about conservation just being a personal virtue. So how to keep my job (I need to fly) and still feel good about my lifestyle without being a complete hypocrite?
Carbon offsets. For about $75/yr, I can offset the CO2 emissions of those flights approach carbon neutral.
Carbon offsets are obviously a complicated and contentious topic, the merits of which I'm not going to even attempt to discuss here. Some may scoff at the economics or environmentals (is that a word?), but if nothing else I figure $75 is a great investment in my piece of mind. What do others think?
Read more here:
Consumers Guide to Carbon Offsets
Terra Pass
Native Energy
An Inconvenient Truth
I've always felt I live a pretty environmentally-friendly lifestyle, especially here in China. Laurel and I don't own a car, I bike to work most days, and our utility bills each month are minuscule (okay, so this is mainly due to the fact that we don't have nice big appliances like a dishwasher or functional washer/dryer). And running the heater is futile since our apartment has essentially no insulation - we've gotten used to living at approximately the outside ambient temperature.
Given all this, I was pretty shocked when I calculated my personal CO2 emissions and came rang up about 15,000 lbs of CO2 per year, way above the national average. The culprit? All those trans-Pacific flights for work. Two a year from Shanghai to Austin, not to mention the various travel flights within China. Here's the math:
Using Terra Pass flight calculator:
Shanghai <-> Austin (x2 times/yr) = 29,861 miles = 595 gallons gas = 11,646 lbs CO2
Kinda makes all those bike trips seem pretty ridiculous. Maybe Cheney was right about conservation just being a personal virtue. So how to keep my job (I need to fly) and still feel good about my lifestyle without being a complete hypocrite?
Carbon offsets. For about $75/yr, I can offset the CO2 emissions of those flights approach carbon neutral.
Carbon offsets are obviously a complicated and contentious topic, the merits of which I'm not going to even attempt to discuss here. Some may scoff at the economics or environmentals (is that a word?), but if nothing else I figure $75 is a great investment in my piece of mind. What do others think?
Read more here:
Consumers Guide to Carbon Offsets
Terra Pass
Native Energy
An Inconvenient Truth
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