Beijing Bicycle

The spring finally came to Beijing, it was warm enough to cycle around again in Beijing. Amazingly my bicycle survived the winter, and was still locked up in the bycicle parking area. I think I have writen too much about the negative part of Beijing, I should give myself some positive energy boost.

Riding bicycle is so much fun. I feel so at ease when cycling around, inspite of the dust, polluted air and fume. There are filthy looking labour workers having a small bicycle service stall in every corner. My rear tire, paddle on the left and basket fixation were replaced in different stalls, since they broke down when I went around the city.

Those filthy looking labour workers might be farmers in the rural country side, they came to the big city for any chance that could make some money. They often don't have a proper place to live, not to mention the luxury of taking a shower. When needing help pumping up my tires, I only need to pretend I am so clumsy in finding where the valve is, they often offered helping hands.

Being Lazy or What?

They are eating hot pot without me... :-(

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I am sometimes thinking why is there so many small things that makes me feel angry. I mean, seeing the unprofessionalism always piss me off. I was flying with Air China to Tokyo last weekend, and being upgraded to the first class. The food was served in separate ceramic plates as other airlines do. However, the quality of food is so low that you really want to believe the hostess just replate them out of doggie bag.

The appetizer consists of a wedge of omelet, some mixed preserved veggie and salmon fish. How bad could that be? Believe me, it is just that bad. The chief made the Japanese style tamago yaki, however, putting in too much sugar. The mixed veggie are pure Chinese style, pungent with chilly oil and sesame oil fragrance, obviously doesn't go very well with the delicate smell of omelet. The dish came with the chicken stew sitting right next to the rice. Being microwaved, the rice in the bottom turned soggy. The ceramic didn't help, I completely lost my appetite. Every bit of the food tells you that this chief and this airline don't care what their customers are putting into their month. They are trying to copy what western style of first class service is, but are never too worried if they just got 50% right. That pisses me off.

Why cannot Air China think of a more innovative way to carry out the first class service? For example, serving food in separate plate individually already kills the true spirit of Chinese food (Chinese food needs to be served hot so to air the aroma of grease). If there is a way to serve food hot and let the wonderful smell stimulates passengers' appetite? Of course, while devicing a way to keep it safe? Those ideas might be too far from what they are now. But what they can do is to find some dishes that don't taste too awful after being baked in the oven for long, or even just separate the rice with a wax paper.

I believe they can have a lot of wonderful ideas though I am not very confident in their execution. But why is no one blowing the whistle, telling them what they consider the first class service has actually a lot of room for improvement?

Chinese Ghost Stories

When in London, I was hanging out with the anthropology study researchers from East Asia Study in LSE. One of the researchers has been dedicating her life into those girls who die before getting married. This book caught my attention naturally, it analyzes the ghost stories from Ming and Chin dynasties, trying to figure out how Chinese view death, after-life and how to make peace with it. It is pretty common feeling toward the dead, sarrow and fear. Feeling sad for the loss of the descease and fear of what it may become.

If the person died of an unnatural cause, the "Hun"(魂) will not rest until the mistake is corrected. For example, the murdurer is caught. The "Hun" is the backbond of ghosts. Also, there is another case where the "Hun" has died, but the "Po"(魄) remains. This creates monsters crawling out of the grave. Their hair and nails grow, they need to drink fresh animals' blood to survive, however, they don't recognise their families nor understand their lifes before death.

Chinese respect the dead family members yet are afraid of being haunted. That explains the ghost marriage. The parents would try to marry the pass-away daughter to a young man, dead or alive. Becasuse they fear the ghost of the daughter would come back and haunt them.

Xiamen

We had a presale meeting with a bank in Xiamen, I was dragged along with my manager for support and backup. But I think his true intention is to let me gain some presales experience and practice my Mandarin speaking in public.

I do struggle when speaking Mandarin in a formal setting, I constantly fumble around my brain to look for the accurate phase to use. I think if I talk in the way I feel comfortable (the way I talk to my parents), I might either sound like a rebelious adolescent or a 6 year old.
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My first time in Xiamen, arriving at night, the taxi drivers drove as if he is in a Formula car racing. Wow, that brings back so much nice memories. The local dialet is Hokkian, which is largely spoken in Taiwan. The Hokkian infused Mandarin is very easily identified. The "F" and the "R" sounds are never clear defined.

We went out for a late night snack, picked some fresh river shrimps and small razor shell clams. The shrimps were boiled to just cooked. Soy sauce with some minced garlic is the only dressing. Delicious. The small razor shell clams were quickly fried with scalion and chilly slices, mixed with soy sauce and rice wine. Yummy. I always wonder why we cannot enjoy foods like this in Northen China.

It is winter in Xiamen yet warm enough that smell the osmenthus moves around in the night. Xiamen is very nice and clean, less dust and filthy looking labour workers on the streets. Perhaps that's because it has less construction sites than Beijing.

The Ape in the Office

I am re-reading "the ape in the office"again, the Chinese version. I find that the translation is just simply lousy. Some of the passages are hard to understand because the logic wasn't translated precisely. The cause and consequence pair doesn't link with each other. Nevertheless, this is my only accesss.

In a part of the book, it describes how the ape in the high position usually demonstrates relax gesture among group while the lower-rank ape behave timidly. This can be observed in meeting room as well, the boss would come to the meeting, taking off the jacket and sit down with unapologetic face if being late. Some pick their noses or scratch behinds at ease.

In Tokyo airport today, I suspect my one of the fellow passengers, dress in suit, glued his snot on the plants next to the railing of the automatic walkway. (Or he is just touching the plant for fun?) Was he trying to show who is the boss?

How to become a Politician

This is the sequal of Go Fishing. The weather is really not very good...

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At Beijing project, the manager from our client's side is really a strange character. Actually, "manager" is not an accurate description of his position. In the China government environments, there is a strict managerial hieriachy. He is quiet high up.

He is the source of our stress most of the time. He visits the project room from time to time, roaming around and complaining about the product. He would pick up someone likc our project manager or lead consultant to scold, however, not from a contructive point of view, but only to release his anxiety. His complaints are mostly coming from shallow observation, he's not learned anything about the project since the project started a year ago. He is also not techincal enough to give meaningful advise. People under him started to avoid eye contact with him in the project room as well.

He thinks he should have writen the whole system by his team, rather than getting it from a vendor. What makes him most furious is that the decision was not made by him. It was repeatedly evaluated and tested (in other locations) for over 6 years, and the headquarter project was approved by managers above him.

I keep wondering why this type of character could survive this environment filled with people who have excelled the politican games (this is Beijing, afterall). I thought his character is what the communist party would admire. He is basically ignorant (thus consequently loud and scornful because of his insecurity) and full of unjustified confidence. But which managers could endure the face slapping unlimitedly supplied by their subordinates? His managers must be more intellengent than that? The only reasonable explanation is that he will be the scapegoat if project fails. But he is not seeing this coming himself? Hard to believe.

The Animals that don't Know How to Laugh

My brother claimed where the arrow pointing is the baby's penis. I am very skeptical about it...

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Remember in my earlier post I have described how those public transportation workers never smile and are always harsh when serving people?

I have found the answer in this incident. I was trying to recharge my subway card in the station so waiting in a queue. There was only one guy before me. As he spoke to the lady, another man (filthy looking labour worker) came from the side, reached in the window waving a 5 yuan bill asking for a luggage ticket. The lady gave him the change and ticket, of course, the transaction with the man before me was cut off.

The man turned furious, he yelled at the lady behind the window, questioning if she knows there is a queue. She protested, however, his voice was so loud that I cannot hear her. He is not getting the answer he wanted (what did he want, anyways?), he started fisting the window repeatedly and heavely, of course, at the same time, shouting. After a few minutes of violence, he left with anger. The lady behind the desk returned to her normal long face in a fraction of minute, asking me, "what do you want?"

Snow in Beijing

Coming back from Tokyo last weekend, Beijing was raining so hard and freezing cold. The moist turned into snow the next day. It was very spring-like before. Coming back from a-month long trip, my flat smelled awful because all the windows were locked.

I started to scrubb the toilet, shower area. Kneeling on the floor and wipe clean every inch of the kitchen area. Down almost a bottle of bleach in every drainage. Shut the bathroom sink, leave the used tea leaves on top of the drainage cover, I also tried the used coffee powder. Nothing seems to work. I went to buy the strong air refreshener and odour obsorber, let's hope it is going to work today.

Coming to the office and complaining this to my Beijing colleagues, he explained that is because the drainage pipe was old and the valve was damaged. Also, the heating only worse the rotten egg smell in a confined environment. No one really know what to do with it.

I was actually living in the very expensive apartment, which has 24-hour doorman, bright and airy hallway, well-managed communal area. Most of the residence are foreigners or wealthy locals. All these give me a very good sense of security. My new flat is in between the real local (no lift, nothing is managed) and super upscale residences. There are lifts, with survalliance camera. The doorman sometimes disappears, definitely not 24 hours. And he doesn't care who is in or out of the building. My neighbours are very native. Once getting out of this apartment complex, there are lots of filthy-looking labour workers.

I worry about my personal security when coming home late from work , I worry about getting breakins. I am slightly getting more relax about my new flat now (apart from the funny odour), though I still carry my valuables with me at all time. I sleep fully dressed, also sleep right next to my passport and wallet. I check windows twice before taking a shower or going to bed.