Are you serious to have breakfast meeting in Shanghai? Think twice before you make the appointment.
I never really understand why people would think of the crazy idea of having breakfast meeting in Shanghai. I received the invitation for some times, but always rejected it.
Why Breakfast Meeting is Good in the Valley
When I am in the valley, I found it so nice to have breakfast meetings. There are some benefits:
1. Breakfast in many places are nice – especially the brunch along the University Ave in Palo Alto and a nice restaurant famous for its brunch in Berkeley. People enjoy the scrambled eggs and coffee in fresh morning.
2. Commute. The early breakfast is very likely to be at some convenient place along the way to work for both parties. They may drive and stop by a cafe, to have breakfast together – they will have it at home anyway, and then drive on to their own work place. If you raise early, the traffic are generally better.
3. Dinner, and Lunch are too time consuming. Compared to breakfast, which is like the time for a cup of coffee, it is perfect for catchup, instead of serious discussion.
Why Breakfast Meeting is Bad in Shanghai
1. Most of places does not serve breakfast in the decent way. In Shanghai, the popular place serving breakfast is soup, dumplings. The street eateries often does not offer seats, or the seats is very crowded, not a decent place to meet. Hotels offering continental breakfast are very likely to be full service and expensive. There are not many nice and lite places for people to gather. (Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf started to offer scrambled eggs, which is good)
2. Transpiration is so bad. No matter how early it is, it is still in terrible traffic, that people want to avoid. Since in Shanghai, people basically don’t drive in downtown, and even people drive, the parking can be much more troublesome than park at free public 2 hour parking space in downtown Palo Alto, or Mountain View…
3. People prefer dinner over breakfast. The night life is actually the starting point for many people in Shanghai. The best meal in Shanghai is obviously in the dinner time.
Environment Matters
It is not the culture that makes the difference – it is mainly the history and the environment that shape people’s behavior.
That’s why parks are so much better in China than in the US. In the old days, people were used to being outside because their inside was not very nice, so now people use parks for many more things–for exercising, meeting friends, for playing with their children, for wedding pictures, for playing instruments, dancing, singing, even finding dates and marriage partners. Just walking in a Shanghai park is a pleasure because of all the interesting things people are doing. Since they are such important parts of people’s lives, the quality and variety of parks is terrific.
In the US, people are used to doing things indoors, mostly in their own homes or own backyards, so cities don’t pay so much attention to parks.
As you said, it is the history and environment that shape people’s behavior.
@jzemi, that is just different life style. Park is good in many way, but it is just for cities with limited resources of open space. If there is a small park (garden) for each one, I won’t complain for that life.
JZEMI,
While I agree that many activities going on in Shanghai parks can be interesting scenes, I disagree with your comment of the U.S. cities don’t pay attentions to their parks. I don’t know what parks you are referring to, but the parks near my home in the suburban LA city are all well-maintained with gorgeous green lawns, landscapes and safe children’s playgournds. I don’t like to stroll in Shanghai parks as they are too clowded, some are filthy with people spitting and littering on the ground. The park closest to my SH home is People’s Park near People’s Square. It’s not my type of park for a pleasant walk. I think parks in SH and the US serve different purposes. Whether you like it depends on what you are used to it.
TW
TW,
I do believe, parks even streets in Shanghai will be cleaner and cleaner without litter scattering. It’s just a time thing.