Yearly Archives: 2006

Jet Lag? Finally Found Out the Cure

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This is the second day of my trip. Just some random note about this long day, in several different entries.

Jet Lag? Finally Found Out the Cure

I am a typical jet lag person. Every time I fly west bound from Shanghai, I experienced serious jet lag.

Jet Lag Patterns

My Most Serious Jet Lag Ever

I followed the advice from my friends and books not to sleep at day time no matter how sleepy I am, and wait until night to go to bed. According to the advice, this is the only way to get rid of jet lag. This theory is widely accepted, and practices. I followed the instruction every time – to stay awake for the first day, but still just suffer so much from it

This time, I felt really sleepy as soon as I get out of the airplane. I drove to San Jose, had Vietnamese noodle and went to hotel. This time, the first I did was to go to bed and slept. At around 9:00 AM Shanghai time (5:00 PM San Jose), I wake up, had dinner, and get back to bed to sleep again.

The next morning, I wake up (I didn’t wake up in the middle – I am the sleep guy anyway). What a magic! For the whole day, I didn’t feel anything – no jet lag, and I am still refreshed for the whole day – I even didn’t noticed that I am in another time zone.

Finally, I found out my cure to jet lag – to sleep as much as possible, instead of staying awake for the first day. It may also work for other guys who likes sleep.

A conclusion: do not aways listen to what others say. Try it yourself. It is a shame that I just found it out after so many times of international travel.

My Lifeline on the Little Plastic Card

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My first visit to U.S. was around the year of2000. I prepared for the trip for almost 1 month – from visa, to map, to research, to exchange money, and to create plan… The excitement and curiosity made going aboard very different from going to other city to me.

However, after visiting U.S. for more than 10 times, to visit a U.S. city is not a big deal any more. It is just like a Beijing trip (and a Beijing trip is like visiting another area in the city).

Money? Where is my Money?

After Boeing 747 of UA 858 arrived in the San Francisco International Airport in the typically sunny morning in the bay area, I realized that I didn’t bring a penny of USD with me during the trip. I still have much Renminbi cash in my wallet, but no USD. I don’t worry about it at all, since I have a magic plastic card – the visa credit card with me, and hopefully, the trip will be OK with the card. The only problem I can think of is, how to pay the tip in hotel.

To travel with no local cash? Bay area seems to provide this opportunity. I remember my first trip to San Jose with 100 USD and some changes in cash, and turned out to bring the 100 USD note back. I just spent the money on tip in hotel.

Australia is not so Credit Card Friendly

We applied the same “credit card” only approach in Sydney this Oct, but failed. The first problem is, the shuttle bus does not accept credit card, so we have to take train. There are many places, like restaurants, and coffee where credit card was not accepted, or at least not welcomed.

In Shanghai? Never go out of airport without RMB cash. The taxi, metro, bus, and food court, for example, all accept cash only. Exchange RMB at airport before going out.

Chance to Exchange USD? Oh. No. Thanks

We witnessed how fast the world is changing. During the first few visit to U.S. in 2000 – 2002, the first thing I’d like to do after getting ticket and visa is to exchange 3000 USD of cash, no matter I needed it or not. At that time, the exchange rate was something around 8.28 RMB = 1 USD, and USD kept going strong. To go aboard was one of the only few opportunity for people in China to exchange some foreign currency. If someone wanted to buy something from outside, they have to trade USD in black market. Any cash people had can easily change back to RMB at much higher exchange rate. Even friends wanted to exchange some USD from you at higher rate you pay the bank.

Just within 4 years, everything changes.

First, people can trade USD pretty freely. With a national ID, people can exchange up to 20,000 USD per year. This was enough, at least people didn’t have to go to the black market just for some USD to buy a book on Amazon.

Second, USD consumption in credit card can be paid by RMB. There is no limitation on it. If I pay USD with my credit card, I can make up the balance simply by RMB.

Third, and most important reason, USD continue to go soft and I don’t want to hold too much USD in cash.

So in the last three trip, I didn’t exchange any cash at all. I have some USD changes that I will bring to U.S., just in case. However, this time I even forgot the changes.

The good thing is, from renting a car, to hotel, to restaurant, everywhere credit card is accepted.

Till now, I didn’t see any problem. What a risky game I am playing. Hope everything should be fine. I will report my the first place I met problem later.

P.S. I am just a small potato in the big wave of change in history. My personal experience in the city or on the road sometimes reflects the bigger change in someway.

In San Jose from Nov 9 to Nov 18

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Jian Shuo Wang is flying from Shanghai to San Francisco on Nov 9, 2006, via UA858. For Saturday, there is still some time block. If any of my friends what a meetup, please feel free to drop me email at jianshuo at hotmail dot com.

For the whole week of Nov 13 to Nov 18, I will be in Santa Cruz (day and night) with limited communication with outside.

I am flying back on Nov 19, via UA857.

I am an ENFP

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According to my MBTI test result, I am an ENFP – Extraverted Intuition with Feeling (ENFP)

The test is very true. I feel the description exactly matches what I think I am. For example, ENFP s

See the need for and initiate change

Focus on possibilities, especially for people

Prefer to take charge of the start-up phase

Active, experimental and imaginative

May overlook relevant details and facts

May overextend and try to do too much

…

Update September 15, 2007

Here is the description of ENFP.

ENFP s are typically enthusiastic innovators, always seeing new possibilities and new ways of doing things.

Ha Ha. It is me. I like mashup and I like new things. That is true.

They have a lot of imagination and initiative for starting projects.

This may be problematic for people working with me because the speed of starting new projects may be too quick and new projects are endless until the team is fully burned out.

ENFP s’ energy comes from what is new and different, and they are spontaneous and enjoy action. They can become so interested in their current projects that they drop other things that are less exciting.Because they see so many possibilities, ENFP s sometimes have difficulty picking those with the greatest potential. They dislike routine and find it hard to apply themselves to the sometimes necessary details involved in finishing projects, easily becoming bored.

That explain the reason I like travel so much and quickly bored. I can start something quickly but, as the analysis reports, fail to pay attention attention to details involved in finishing a project. Wendy is just the opposite site of me – she is so patient and long-lasting for anything she started doing.

They are concerned about people and understand others’ needs and aspirations. ENFPs readily communicate their enthusiasm, and this can be infectious. They often inspire others as well.

This is the reason I care about people more than the result. Good manager, but maybe not tough enough to fight in this market.

ENFP s are likely to be most satisfied in a work environment that is welcoming to people, innovative, and full of exciting new possibilities. Others can count on them to find new ways of helping people solve problems and overcome barriers.

A stable business is not that interesting for me, even though it is climbing so quickly. New things are the source of my energy. I agree. It sounds I am a child-like mood – like new toys, and quickly bored and interested in another one.

ENFP Careers

This page listed the ENFP possible careers.

* Consultant

* Psychologist

* Entrepreneur

* Actor

* Teacher

* Counselor

* Politician / Diplomat

* Writer / Journalist

* Television Reporter

* Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst, or Computer Specialist

* Scientist

* Engineer

For me, I am especially interested in:

  • Consultant – Yes. I was a consultant, and always want to be one – even be an uninvited consultant.
  • Psychologist – I found psychology especially interesting for me, and I love to read books about this.
  • Entrepreneur – this is what I am doing now professionally
  • Teacher – teacher in a university or highschool is always my dream job.
  • Counselor, Politician, Piplomat – this is what I do with this blog, and the reason I enjoy YLF so much.
  • Writer / Journalist – again, look at what I am doing with this blog.
  • Television Reporter – for the third time, this blog. I want to be a reporter, and enjoy being involved in TV programs.
  • Computer Programmers, Systems Analysts, and Computer Specialist – exactly. It is my major, my past job, and something I am so interested in.
  • Scientist – very true. I love to read these kinds of books.
  • Engineers – my past job, and what I am doing

What a list – I would say from my point of view, it is very accurate descriptoin of me. Is there any other jobs in the world? I just found out all the jobs here are good one for me.

Look at the ISTJ careers?

* Business Executives, Administrators and Managers

* Accountants and Financial Officers

* Police and Detectives

* Judges

* Lawyers

* Medical Doctors / Dentists

* Computer Programmers, Systems Analysts, and Computer Specialists

* Military Leaders

I don’t like any of them except computer programers (maybe it is another type of computer programmer than ENFP type). I especially hate military leaders, judges, lawyers, and police, accountant jobs…

Metro Lines are the Bones of the City

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Winter arrives in Shanghai.

In the last week, a T-shirt is still OK; today, I wear a sweater, but still feel cold. The air started to show the character of air of winter of Shanghai – as cold as water. I don’t know whether it is the right word – the air in Shanghai always remind me of the word – crystal. People say something is crystal clear, and I want to say the winter of Shanghai is crystal cold.

However, the Sun shine today is wonderful – just like in San Francisco. In the morning, I waited outside the data center of China Telecom in Huamu. It was cold to stand in the shadow of the building, so I moved into Sunshine – it was much better. The heat of the Sun warmed me up. The only problem was, I have to rotate myself a little bit every minute to put the other side of my body into the Sun. I felt I was a pie in a pan, and you can only heat on side at a time… So you have some idea about how cold the air was and how warm the Sun was.

Metro Stations

On my way from home (Jinxiu Road and Chengshan Road) to Xujiahui, I past by many metro stations. They were on my way all the time in the last year.

The first one is Jin Xiu Road Station 锦绣路站 of Metro Line #7. It will be completed by 2010. I am waiting for that station to open, so I have a metro station within walking distance to my home. At the station, all traffic was detoured, and the roads formed interesting curves. The other station of the same line at Yanggao South Road 杨高南路站 is also under construction. It is a big block of area in the middle of the 4-lane road.

The construction site is much better than before. They have white walls (movable walls) to wrap the construction site up, so it still looks nice, and does not expose the ugly ground and construction materials to the public.

Along the Zhaojiabang Road 肇家浜路, there are three more stations, and cars wind left or right to give way to the construction site. These stations are to be completed by 2008, some even by the end of 2007.

Metro stations are no longer rare resources in Shanghai by then.

Nanjing West Road

At about 6:00 PM, after chatting with business partners, I stepped out of the Plaza 66. The West Nanjing Road 南京西路 has become another fashion center after Huaihai Road 淮海路. In my opinion, Shanghai looks the best at around 6:00 PM, when the Sun just set, and the sky is still a little bit light. The color is dark blue, and the lights of office buildings were already lit up. If you happen to be on a taxi and wind your way along the office buildings, you can see people working in their office – crystal clear. The saxophone music “Going Home” is the best music for this moment. On the West Nanjing Road, the night life started with fashionable ladies and gentleman hanging around – perfect image for me.

When I waited for taxi, for the first time in that area, I felt the ground is shaking. I could feel a metro train running just below my feet. It is metro line #2. I could even visualize a picture that many metro trains running in the tube deep under the road with thousands of people on board. There are hundreds of miles of such tube under the ground of the city, connecting stations, and business centers. Sometimes, I appeared deep under the ground level, to be one of the passengers, and sometimes, like today, I stand still on the ground with crowd passing by my shoulder and other people passing by under my foot – it is an amazing picture of a metropolitan city like Shanghai.

I am not a Big Fan of Hate – Part II

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I posted the first part of this article – I am not a Big Fan of Hate…. I didn’t plan to write the second part, but the hot discussion (52 comments in a week) urged me not to let it go. It is a controversal topic, but also an opportunity for people around the world to express, to listen and to understand about history, war and peace.

Before I start the discussion, I have to put some disclaimers here. Please read before continue and especially before you post a comment.

Please try to be open, try to listen and think before you argue what you believe in, and try to be respectful to others

You are welcome to post your thoughts as a comment. Feel free to disagree with me or anyone else, but do NOT conduct any personal attack. If I found any comment that is attacking someone else as a person, or a nation, instead of his/her opinion, I will have to delete it for the sake of a healthy discussion. The rule is much more strict due to the controversy nature of the topic.

Enough for a disclaimer. Here are my thoughts. It does represent anyone else. Just my view of the world.

On History

I don’t want to pretend to know history, and I don’t want anyone to pretend that they know everything inside out. Everyone just know what they were told, and never know what they are not told yet.

Personally, I admit that the younger generation in China, me included, don’t know the history of China well. For my fellow citizens in China, wait a minute to fight back when you hear something you don’t agree. Just wait a minute to do that, because there are big part of history of China missing in our history book too.

This is my personal experience. I was so shocked during my three weeks in New York in 2004. I saw different versions of the same history which tell totally different story. I don’t completely believe in any of version yet, but the difference itself made me think deeply about what on earth the truth is.

In the past two years, I started to read books I don’t read before, and think hard about matters I didn’t think. What I do is to try to understand more. I don’t argue as I was before, since if the evidence part of the argue was what I was taught. When I started to doubt what I were taught, I need sometime (maybe several years) to re-establish what I believe in. It is the same for people in any country – Japan, U.S., European country – any country if they find another version of history they believe in.

It is painful to accept an another version of history of his/her own country. People tend to refuse to accept anything that is different from what they are taught when they were young. It requires both courage and wisdom to accept it.

On the textbook issue of Japan, I can imagine how a normal young person in Japan (maybe another blogger in Tokyo?) feel when they realize their country ever committed huge crime in another country. He/she may never know that before. I can also imagine how shock a normal person in China will be if he/she was told and convinced about the crime China committed in the past. I know it is painful process, but people have to go through it if we want peace in the future and don’t repeat the dark part of the history again. This is why I insist to open a communication channel instead of spreading out hate.

On War

In the discussion in the first part this article, people talked about war. Recently I watched some movies, and books about WWII. In the Germany v.s. other European countries war, for example, Hitler should be the enemy of not only other countries, but also of German people themselves. When we talk about history, we should not only complain about Germany. German people also victim of the war. It was the people who started the war that need to be complained, sentenced, and punished, not the people. They were taught about how bad Jew are, just as we were taught how people in some countries are.

What I worry about the current China is, hate spread like virus, and people believe by hating other countries, they demonstrate patriotism. The situation is so similar to Germany and Japan before WWII. If you ask me, I would stand out and stop the hate. I know many people will throw stones to my window in the current situation, but I keep doing that, because I believe it is the right thing to do for a better future of the country.

People hate because they are taught to hate. Those who taught the people to hate the other countries are dangerous. People who claim by devoting their lives to whatever the government told them to do are dangerous. Think of those Japanese soldiers and German soldiers in WWII – they claimed they love their country. Their love were so deep that they are even willing to kill thousands to demonstrate their hate. It happened in Japan, it happened in Germany, and please don’t happen again in China. This is what I read from history.

I don’t want to pretend to know history well. I just want to think independently, assembly the limited information I gathered, and seek to be closer to the truth.

Thanks for the comments on this blog. During the last four years, you may saw many comments related to history and to current China. Emotionally, I didn’t feel comfortable when people point their fingers to China (it is common reaction, isn’t it?), but it also gave me opportunities to check out why people say so, what version of history they read, and which version is more likely to be true.

On Love or Hate

The hate dominate logic already caused problems in China. For example, the discrimination of people in other places is a social problem. Some people in Shanghai don’t like people outside Shanghai. It is also true in Beijing, and many other cities. “Shanghai people or Beijing people, which is better?” This kind of discussion is hot on BBS, and is guaranteed to have 100+ replies whenever it is raised. People believe there must be a right answer. There is NO right answer because the question itself is wrong.

I love my family. It does not mean I have to hate my neighbour. I am proud about what people in Shanghai archived, but don’t perceive it as I look down upon people in other region. Can I love all? Why I have to choose only one and hate others?

I never hide my pride to be part of the amazing country of China, and being who I am. But it does not mean I cannot appreciate other countries.

OK. That are some of my random thoughts. I experienced hard time to figure it out, and still seeking for a better answer to many questions.

Your thoughts?

Photo: Dog under Sunshine

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Update

This note is for carsten, and for everyone to give you some clue about these pictures.

Today, I put my quilt to the garden to have Sun warm it. And I put my little dog – a dull dog – on to it. Then I found it really looks relaxing and hope to have more time like it.

It is not a real dog though.

Shanghai to Hangzhou by Taxi

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I talked with Alex in Hangzhou. He took a taxi Shanghai South Railway Station to Hangzhou. The fair is 280 RMB for four persons, or 70 RMB for one.

How did he make it?

From Shanghai to Hangzhou

It is about 2 hours ride from Shanghai to Hangzhou. The distance is 192 km.

If you take a taxi, and the taxi charges by meter, it should be at least 560 RMB (since it is 3.15 RMB per km after the first 10 km). Many taxi drivers ask for the same amount of fee for the return trip, since they have to go back with an empty car.

So it is not rare that people charges about 1000 RMB to go to Hangzhou.

The Chain of Profit Ecosystem

Alex was approached by someone who claimed to be able to send them to Hangzhou, at only 280 RMB (or 70 RMB per person) using taxi. Frequent travellers said it is OK to do that, so they followed those guys.

They used a taxi to send them from the Shanghai South Railway Station to the entrance of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway, and then drop them off. There, that guy’s partner waved to stop taxies with Hangzhou plate, and asked if they are willing to take four people back to Hangzhou at 100 RMB.

Many taxi drivers agreed! Since they send their passenger to Shanghai and they HAVE to get back with an empty car. It does not hurt for them to make more money. So even if it is only 100 RMB, they did the job.

Finally, the 280 RMB was broken into two part – 180 and 100. People in this value chain get what they get.

Warning – don’t try it

Repeating the story does not mean I think it a good idea. Don’t take it if you have any other choices. It is too risky.

I just feel it is interesting that someone are making money this way.

Coincidence? Maybe Not

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There are some “coincidence” in the Chinese Blogger Conference in Hangzhou. The conference was originally planned to be at a place called Zijingang. One and half day before the conference, the venue owner cancelled the venue claiming that government is using the venue so they have to cancel all other events. Ops. What a coincidence! Then the venue was changed to another place in the Hangzhou University (what a rush). When the word of changing venue spread out, the university called and said electronic power will be shutdown for maintenance for the next two days. So the conference cannot be held there. Ops. What a coincidence! Then finally, people moved to the third venue at the night before the conference. This time, no meeting there, and there is electronic supply, which is good, but the Internet provide reported that they are conducting system maintenance and there is limited Internet access – I have to use my CDMA in my room. Ops. What a coincidence, for the third time!

Infected by Spam Virus?

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This is a technical article. (This is a friendly warning to people who don’t like to see technical articles on this blog. :-))

Spam

I was notified by my friend in Google that I have some spamware installed on my server http://wangjianshuo.com. This is very astonishing. I checked the directory and found the following files.

filename: /public_html/.htaccess

RewriteEngine On

Options +FollowSymlinks

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteRule ^[/]*([^/]+)\.phtml$ ./search.php?q=$1 [L]

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

and then found out files like search.php, proxy.php, feed_data/ folder and many other files.

I delete these files. But does anyone know why this happens?

Metron #2 Station Name Change

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There are some changes to the Metro Line #2.

1. The Dongfang Road Station 东方路站 was renamed as Centuary Park Ave. Station 世纪大道站, and was reopened this Monday. Today when I pass by the station, I found it already very crowded – looks like another People’s Square station. It IS bigger than People’s Square station in the plan.

2. Middle Henan Road Station 河南中路站 will be renamed as East Nanjing Road Station 南京东路站. This morning, the broadcast in Metro train has been changed but all the signs and logos on the platform were not changed yet.

3. Shimen No. 1 Road Station 石门一路站 will be renamed as West Nanjing Road Station 南京西路站.

That is the update for now…

Chinese Blogger Conference

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Backed from the Chinese Blogger Conference via a late bus from Hangzhou to Shanghai on Sunday.

Although I enjoy meeting many friends again in Hangzhou, I feel the blogger conference this year is not as “pure” as last year. I remember the last year, most people attended under the identity of a blogger, while this time, most people represent the company. Thus turned the conference to something like China Web 2.0 Conference…

Photograph by Aether

Photograph by Aether

Photograph by Aether

I am not a Big Fan of Hate…

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I got an email. It encourages me to act as “a patriot”, and writing something to boycott Japanese goods. I don’t like to mention this topic. Since people asked, this is my personal opinion of why I don’t like to do that.

The Topic of Patriotism, or Love to my Country

It is trendy to spread one’s love to the country by showing how much they hate a foreign country or a foreigner. It is very common, especially in the younger generation in China. I don’t think some government are doing the right thing, but I am not a big fan of hating something.

Patriotism means love. It means genuinely love people in your hometown, around you. It means to love the places you live in, the relationship you have. It can mean many things, but all around love, instead of hate.

In the blogger conference in Hangzhou, I met many old friends, and when I write the blog, each vivid face appears in my mind, and I do enjoy being with them, and love the land where all these lovely people live on, and enjoy being part of them. This is my cultural identity that I enjoy to have. When I think about this, I feel so happy about being in China, and feel proud about it. I guess, this can be called a feeling of “patriot”, if you want to abstract it to that level.

However, for whatever reason, people not translate patriotism to hate to anything against China. It is right that one has the responsibility to keep one’s country safe, strong, and enjoyable, but it does not mean to harm other countries, or draw an evil image of another country. People should show more love to his/her own land, instead of hate to people on other land.

I am aware of history. I am clearly aware of history. However, it is exactly what I learnt from WWII that we should not start WWIII. Anything leading to that direction concerns me. There are a strong intention to start war or something on BBS in China. I simply not a big fan of it, and I am proud (instead of feel bad) of not thinking that way.

Well. That is a simple note about my stake on this issue. It is not political correct for many people, and I know if I post it onto any of Chinese BBS, it will make many people so comfortable (how sad!). However, it works for me. When I am thinking about love, I am willing to do a lot of things to make the people around me feel better. If I think about hate, I really don’t have the incentive to do some positive contribution to the small piece of land in this world I am living on.

At the Blogger Conference in Hangzhou

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I at sitting on the carpet of the China Blogger Conference – just on the right side, near the podium.

Just like the last year, I enjoy this conference very much, even better than yesterday.

Several points I like:

1. Diversity

2. No center of the meeting

3. Non-commercial atmosphere

4. Meet with old friends

5. Easy and relaxed

6. Cool

Where are You – Part II

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It is amazing! I got so many high quality and genuine introduction about people from around the world in this blog entry: Where are You?. Thanks for the great comments.

Hey,

I am from Finland. A small, population a little bit above 5 million people, country in the Northern Europe. The neighbours in the map are Sweden, Russia, Norway and Estonia (Estonia doesn’t share any land with us in the borders).

Finland is part of the European Union and nowadays has Euro as the currency, we used to have our own currency, markka. Finland has been ruled by Sweden and Russia in the history but we have been independent since 1917.

They say that Finnish people are shy and quiet but if you get to know us then you will make a friend for a lifetime. I don’t know about that, I think the younger people are not so shy any longer but we still tend to appreciate friendship very much.

Finland is known to be a country of thousands lakes, it is actually true. According to some general definition for size of a lake, we actually have thousands of lakes, which are bigger than the definition. As we are small country by population, then there is still lots of land untouched and nature is one of the beautiful reasons for living or visiting here.

Winter time is a little bit depressing as sun will set very early and rise quite late. You get used to live in the darkness but it gets easier when it snows and everything turns white. During the summer time, people get really happy as sun practically doesn’t set so well. It is so nice to walk out from the nightclub at 4am and see that there is still lots of light available and temperature is such that you don’t feel chilly at all.

Posted by: Miikka on October 22, 2006 12:35 AM

I live just outside Washington, D.C. It is a very international city. One out of every eight residents here were not born in the United States. You can meet people from just about very part of the world. I have roommates who are Indian and Bulgarian. I love it here!

Давид <-- My name in Bulgarian Posted by: Dave G. on October 22, 2006 01:31 AM

Hello! Mabuhay! Greetings from Manila,Philippines.we are located on the southeastern part

of Asia, between south china sea and Philippine sea. I am from an archipelago consisting of

more than 7000 islands. Aside from the year round warm and summer like weather, beautiful beaches and great hideaways, the filipino people are what really is the real deal.

From a long history of Western colonial rule, interspersed with the visits of merchants and traders, evolved a people of a unique blend of east and west, both in appearance and culture.

The Filipino is basically of Malay stock with a sprinkling of Chinese, American, Spanish, and Arab blood. It’s hard to distinguish, accurately. but who cares, we are unique, both in

appearance and character. You have to visit us, to see, feel, and get the vibe!!

BTW, Thank you Mr.Wang for giving us, your readers, a chance to be known and heard.

You are doing wonderful.

Posted by: mariz on October 22, 2006 03:43 AM

Hallo, my name is Andrea. I am a psychologist in a childrens hospital in Stuttgart (600 000 people), Germany. 30 Years before I have studied Chinese at the university of Tübingen, but I never had the opportunity to go to China… Now will my husband go to Hangzhou (and Shanghai) tomorrow. He will meet people of the BOSCH plant there, because he is the chairman of the workers council (Betriebsratsvorsitzender) in the German plant in Leinfelden/Stuttgart.

I am excited to hear about the China of today.

Today we had a big manifastation against the government in Germany, also in Stuttgart, Munich, Dortmund and Berlin!

Many greetings, Andrea

Posted by: Andrea on October 22, 2006 04:36 AM

Hi,

I’m from Düsseldorf, Germany. Düsseldorf is the Capital of North- Rhine- Westfalia, the biggest Country of Germany (17 Mill. Residents, Germany: 80 Mill.). You may look at this Website for more information about Düsseldorf: http://www.duesseldorf.de/zh/index.shtml (in Chineese) and: http://www.duesseldorf.de/en/index.shtml (in english).

Düsseldorf is associated with Chonqing, so we have a lot of chineese People here – and also a lot of Chineese Restaurants, Supermarkets, Taiji- Chuan- Teacher (My taiji- chuan- master is from Shanghai), etc. There is also a direkt Flight Chonqing- Düsseldorf.

So, if you want to visit Germany, I would be happy to welcome you…

Xiong Shui

Posted by: Xiong Shui on October 22, 2006 05:08 AM

Hi,

my name’s Gabyu, I’m from Paris, France, used to travel back and forth from Shanghai to Paris since 10 years by now. Well, The world is much more smaller than we think, especially using the internet and jets …

Paris is full of many different foreigners, from northern African people to Southern asian people, and also Chinese people for sure. 2 chinatowns in Paris, essentially made from Wenzhounese. The city is very quiet compared to Shanghai… Less pollution, less CO2 et definitely less hot.

Here, people’s concern is to avoid polluting, to feel as quiet as they can, to hear silence, to avoid wastes, and to go to cafés after office time :)

Gabyu

Posted by: gabyu on October 22, 2006 06:28 AM

你好,

My name is Ben. I am originally from Shanghai, and now in Austin, the state capital of Texas. It’s a beautiful city with many mountains and lakes with blue water, though there are few Chinese people or restaurants. Life here revolves around live music performances (check out austinist.com) and enjoying nature. :)

Thanks for writing this awesome blog, it makes me want to return to Shanghai and do something big, bigger than myself. There are definitely more professional opportunities there.

~Ben

Posted by: Ben on October 22, 2006 08:37 AM

I am in New Zealand, the South Island. Air New Zealand has just started (or will very soon start) direct flights to Shanghai so next time to Shanghai it will be much faster and less tiring :-). I live in Christchurch and frequently eat at Chinese eateries without any other Europeans around. There are also lots of Chinese shops and the Mayor of Dunedin is Chinese.

Since my first visit to Shanghai I check your blog daily, there is always something interesting and relevant. Since my second visit I feel I “know” Shanghai a little (!) and feel very comfortable there.

Posted by: kiwiuncle on October 22, 2006 11:51 AM

Hi

I am from Chicago Illinois USA and visit China on Furniture business often. I really enjoy your blog

Lee Rosenberg

Posted by: lee rosenberg on October 22, 2006 12:11 PM

Hi,

I am from Singapore. I came to know your blog through a friend working in Suzhou in 2003, just a day before I left for Shanghai. I had stayed there for a month. Since then on my second trip to Shanghai, I moved around very comfortable like a local. Thanks all these to your blog. The next thing I want to do is to learn Shanghainese and plan for my next trip to Shanghai..

Jian Shuo, if you have chance to come to Singapore, please email me. I wish to give you a treat.

With Best wishes

Joyce

Posted by: Joyce on October 22, 2006 07:02 PM

Hi to all!

I’m also from Singapore, typically described as a ‘tiny red dot’ (on the world map). We are just 1/10 the size of Shanghai with a population of 4 million hence it is little wonder that many people don’t know our existence!

Like any other places on earth, there are good and bad comments about Singapore, the most common one being it a very clean country. Negative one would be that our government is too strict (think of the chewing gum ban, caning and death sentences) though I personally don’t think it is necessarily bad.

Although I stay in Shanghai for my work now, hopefully there will be an opportunity in future to show you or any readers on this blog around in Singapore!

Posted by: zee on October 22, 2006 11:21 PM

I come from Melbourne, Australia. U visited here a couples of week before. Do u like it? U really good in observe things.

I would definitely want to come to shanghai try the maglev.

Posted by: Ryan on October 23, 2006 07:49 PM

Hi, I’m Ying.

I was born in Shanghai, then moved to the UK. I lived roughly half my life in China and half in the UK. Currently I live in Manchester.

I’m really facinated by the difference between cultures and also discovering how much similarity there are. I enjoy travelling. The last time I visited China was in 2005.

Posted by: Ying Zhang on October 23, 2006 08:02 PM

Hi, I’m from Italy…seems like I’m the only one here :-) I studied Chinese and like to keep updated on all kind of things about China, that’s how I stumbled into your blog…months ago, can’t stop reading it now! keep up the good job please.

Ciao!

Posted by: elena on October 23, 2006 10:29 PM

Hi, I am from Kentucky in the USA. I live in a very small town, less than 1000 people. I have visited Shanghai twice, the most recent time being in July of 2006. My husband and I have three daughters adopted in China. We hope someday to live in China for a while.

I enjoy reading your blog and learning more about China.

Posted by: Carolyn on October 24, 2006 12:44 PM

Hello, I am from San Francisco. I really enjoy your blog and learned many things about Shanghai. The first time I was in Shanghai was in 1980, just when China opened up. The 1980 version of the city clouded my vision of Shanghai for many years. I returned in late 2003 on a business trip, and on arriving at the airport I was amazed. I could not believe the change. Taking the highway into town and checking in to the Grand Hyatt was a fantastic eye opener.

I took my family to Shanghai just to let them experience the transformation. Have returned a few times and Shanghai is now one of my favorite cities. I love your blog, thank you for your time and you effort.

Posted by: Alex Lee on October 24, 2006 01:51 PM

Hi, I’m from the Portuguese Island of Madeira!

It lies about 360 miles from the coast of Africa, 535 miles from Lisbon, 230 from Gran Canaria. More info (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira_Islands).

Nowadays my HQ’s is Barcelona but I had a chance to spend 6 days in shanghai last week.

Posted by: Paulo Martins on October 25, 2006 06:52 AM

Hi, I am a Chinese originally from Malaysia, and now in Busan, South Korea.

Malaysia is a federation of 13 states in Southeast Asia.Although politically dominated by the Malays, modern Malaysian society is heterogeneous, with substantial Chinese and Indian minorities. Nonetheless, Malaysia is considered to be a model of racial harmony.

I enjoy traveling a lot and my last trip was to Shanghai in April 2006.

Thanks for writing this blog and it make me understand more about China especially Shanghai. Keep up the good job.

Posted by: Teresa on October 25, 2006 10:21 AM

I am so excited to see people from around the world gather on this small blog and share their lives, and know more about others’ lives. Among the list, I have been to some places, like Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, U.S., and there are so many for me to explorer: Finland, Germany, New Zealand, and France…

The early days of my travel was mainly triggered by the desire to see “how different people are” in many places, and my recent travel is more about enjoying the commonality between people around the world – nice, friendly, having dream, and enjoy small happiness like sitting in the Sunshine. That is just so beautiful!

Kudos to everyone who posted on that entry.

P.S. I just checked my site log, and found out the top 20 countries/regions where my reader came from.

United States

China

United Kingdom

Canada

Australia

Singapore

India

Hong Kong

Germany

Thailand

Malaysia

France

Italy

Netherlands

Japan

Turkey

Brazil

Sweden

Spain

Taiwan

screen-wangjianshuo.blog-geo.PNG

Source: Google Analytics data for Wangjianshuo’s blog for 2006 (from 2006-1-1 to 2006-10-25)

This is the Geo overlay so we have some idea about how global this community is. :-)

screen-wangjianshuo.blog-geo.overlay.PNG

Source: Google Analytics data for Wangjianshuo’s blog for 2006 (from 2006-1-1 to 2006-10-25)

Suggest a Topic

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I write blog to help visitors and expats in Shanghai. I write daily, but sometimes I am lack of topic (not surprisingly). If you think there is any topic that I should write about, please post it here. Whenever I am out of topic, I will look at this page. This is also a central page to capture all topic suggestions. Otherwise, they will be randomly posted under unrelated posts.

Thanks.

China Eastern Airlines

Posted on by
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To ask the right question is more important than answering it, isn’t it. Here is the question of today:

What is flying with China Eastern like? I’ve booked to fly from Shanghai to Beijing. Are there weight limits with baggage with domestic flights? 20kgs? Long queues for checking in? Any seat allocations? I tried www.ce-air.com but couldn’t get the English web page to show up.

My Knowledge about China Eastern Airlines

China Eastern Airlines is the most frequent airlines I fly with, since I only took two mileage programs serious: one is China Eastern Airlines, and the other is United Airlines. Compared to Air China, I’d say air crafts of Air China is usually bigger than China Eastern Airlines, so more comfortable, and the service is better, but since I am based in Shanghai, and China Eastern Airlines is a Shanghai based airlines, it offers more choices for me.

How Flying with China Eastern Airlines Like?

It is nothing new. The airline industry is pretty standardized already. The same aircraft – Boeing 737 or 747, the same safety instruction, and even same food – you can expect bread in the morning, beef with rice or chicken with noodle for lunch or dinner. Not surprisingly, they also offer water, orange juice, apple juice, coke, and beer. To be short, there is nothing that is obviously different.

If you talk about Hainan Airlines, or Chunqiu Airlines, they may offer something different, a little bit different.

Weight Limit on China Eastern Airlines

5 Kg is allowed for carry-on baggage for economy class. Check-in baggage are limited to 20 Kg for economy, 30 kg for business, and 40 kg for first class. Above is all for domestic flight.

Checking in with China Eastern Airlines

Typically China Eastern Airlines don’t have long queues to check-in. In my previous experience, it should be around 5 persons. Of cause this is just some impression. Sometimes it is long, sometimes short, but basically, you don’t need to expect long queue for domestic flight.

Seat Allocation?

It is allocated by the person at check-in counter. Call them (95108) in advance to give you the seat you prefer.

Happy flying!

Cash on Delivery Still Preferred

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11

Got an email today asking me whether he has successfully booked air ticket via elong.net. The question was, he was not asked for details of credit card information (such as credit card number, holders name) while the system just reported the hotel and flights were booked successfully. He thought it was strange and want to confirm whether he booked it or not.

I checked elong.net and found out it may be a common question for people using websites in China.

Cash on Delivery Still a Good Collection Model

On the checkout page of elong, they have two options for getting the ticket – one is Deliver to door, the other is self-pickup. To deliver the paper ticket (may not be necessary now), they send a person to the address you specify. For the pickup, you have to go to one of their two offices in Beijing to get it.

For the payment, there is only one option: cash on delivery. That means, you have your cash (please note, cash, instead of credit card) ready, and when they deliver the ticket to you, or when you pickup your ticket at your counter, you pay the cash.

Cash on delivery is still a mainstream payment method for flight booking sites like ctrip.com, and online book store dangdang.com (joyo.com is almost over after acquired by amazon.com).

Obviously these two methods are not suitable for people outside China. However, it is a very good way to do business in China. Considering the very low adoption rate of credit card, and even rare of customer acceptance, cash on delivery is a good option. Now, many people have debit cards, but credit cards still have a long way to go.

Where are You?

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I found I have readers from all around the world. Every new commentor on the blog bring my interest to his/her own country if they mentioned about the name of the country. The world is so big. People tend to think of several highlighted countries, like U.S. and Canada in American, China, and India in east Asia, and UK, Germany in Europe. Recent, I met more people from Denmark, so I start to read the history of Denmark, and meet with good people from Holland, so I started to know that in the year of 1630, a tulip cost more than 50 Holland dollars. There are so many examples. So if you don’t mind, where do you live? Do you want to share more about your country with me and the rest of the community members?

To have a personal connection makes such a big difference to one’s view to the world. For example, now if someone talks about Holland, instead of a symbolic scenery picture, now I get excited and say: “Hey! I know someone in Holland!”. That is my personal connection with a country linked by my friend.

P.S. Get back to Shanghai, spend the wonderful day with Michael, and wonderful dinner. Thanks Limin, and Duib.