In China, His Pay is Hers to Spend?

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Fei forwarded the message from Straits Times Interactive and asked me if it is true.

Jan 25, 2005

In China, his pay is hers to spend

BEIJING – CHINESE women, although not the main bread-winner in most households, have a big say over how the pay cheque is spent in the world’s most dynamic economy, a survey has found.

Nine out of 10 Chinese women who are married or living with a partner claimed in the survey that they have at least an equal say over big purchases such as property and cars.

Although 74 per cent of the respondents said they earned less than their partners, 75 per cent disagreed that whoever holds the money holds the power in the relationship.

Half of them subscribed to the philosophy that ‘my partner’s money is my money, my money is mine’.

These findings were presented by market research company Synovate after polling 314 women aged 15 to 64 in China last month.

It was part of a worldwide study of 4,000 women in nine countries including the United States and Japan on women’s attitudes towards financial issues.

‘Socially, Chinese women would always claim that their men held final sway over big purchases – it’s part of giving ‘face’ to the man – but it’s a different story at home,’ said Mr Larry Wu, director of Synovate’s China office.

The Chinese respondents answered differently than women in Japan, where marriage often means the end of financial independence. \– AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

I cannot claim it is the situation in the whole China, but I guess it is pretty much close to the truth in Shanghai. The percentage of the wife controling the family expense in Beijing should be a little bit lower than in Shanghai, I guess.

Chengdu Impression

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PC asked for my impression about Chengdu. I’d be happy to share. Before I write about Chengdu, I want to talk about the other important cities in China.

Three Most Important Cities

If you ask people in China about the top three cities in China, you are very likely to get a list like this: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in the same order.

Beijing = the capital (with huge economic power) of China

Shanghai = municipality directly under the Central Government, the largest city in China

Guangzhou = capital of Guangzhou Guangdong Province, one of the most energetic area in the economy

The Forth Most Important City is Uncertain

If you ask for the forth most important cities, the answers are not as unified as the first three.

Some say Tianjin, which is another important municipality directly under the Central Government; some nominates Dalian, Wuhan; others say Chongqing. The question is not easy to answer.

When I asked Wendy, Suzhou was her immediate answer (note: I was very surprised). Later she added Chongqing and Hangzhou… Later, I understood why Wendy mentioned Suzhou – the recent development of the city impressed her a lot. Many investor from Taiwan and Singapore chose Suzhou as the top place to do business in China.

If you ask me about the standard of the rank, my standard is the “feeling” you have about their overall power – politics, economy, location… everything

Anyway, no matter what people would say, most people may agree that Chengdu is a strong candidate as the answer of the question. Yes. Chengdu is important and Chengdu is the rising star of the country. Located at the southwest part of the country, it is the capital of Sichuan Province, the province with the second largest population. It is an very important entrance for the west part of the country – Tibet area. It is the first stop of most travelers or hikers. I arrived in Chengdu before we entered the wild vast area of Daocheng.

Here is all the four articles I mentioned Chengdu:

Impression of this Time

Located in the bottom of the Sichuan Basin, there is no Sun light most of the year. It is either cloudy or rainy. When I was in Chengdu last week, on Friday, before we left Chengdu, the Sun came out. It is the breaking news. My friends told me: “Hey. The Sun comes out. It means today is holiday. We don’t need to go to work.” I thouht he was kidding. I was totally wrong. They went to drink tea in the Sun that afternoon. When my car past a large square in Chengdu, I saw the entire square was occupied by chairs and tables. I guess there are at least 200 people there, drinking their teas and chat. The pace of people is slow. Everything indicates it was a holiday. :D

There are very nice mountains and rivers near Chengdu. Check these pictures by my friend Maphis. They were taken at Jiuzaigou near Chengdu. Below are two of my favorite pictures.

Chengdu preserves the Chinese tradition better than most other cities. There are historical buildings and temples there. The paces of people are slow and the life is easy. During my talk, most of them care about the quality of life instead of the money they get. Well. Let me try to explain this. I mean they’d rather sit in the Sun and chat for days instead of rushing to the marketplace and work harder to get more money. The current minute seems to be more important than the future minutes. It seemed to the typical Chinese culture – the passion for the peace of mind is more important than the financial benefits.

What I don’t like Chengdu is, it is far from Shanghai. I can arrive in Beijing from Shanghai for 50 minutes, Guangzhou for one hour and a half, but for Chengdu, it takes 2 and half hours. If it was nearer, I guess I will visit Chengdu very frequently.

BlueZone’s Xinjiang Impression

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Eric sent me a link early morning to ask me check a photo website on Xinjiang. The pictures are very good – I especially love the photos in Shanghai which reveals exactly the feeling I have on Shanghai. The story is quite long, as Eric “complained”, and I didn’t go into the Xinjiang scene part yet. If the author want to provide a thumbnail view, it would be very nice.

In Xinjiang, there are scenes like this. China has a diversed culture: The

Bar, the cups, the musical instrument, the people, the road, the house, the field… It is all so different.

BlueZone, very nice job!

I planned the Kanas trip but still cannot fullfil the plan. Eric and Dan went there with very nice pictures. Now, I feel my passion to go to the wild and far areas is not as strong as before. Why?

Chun Lian Started to Appear

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The Spring Festival of 2005 is coming! I started to see Chun Lian in my client’s office and in the restaurant I visited today. Chun Lian can be translated into New Year’s Couplet. It is one of the most obvious parts of the Spring Festival celebration.

I hope the Chinese tradition continue to come back to families in China. I like it. I am obviously more happen to see the Spring Festival decoration than those for Christmas. I don’t mean to offense Christmas, but for people in China, Chun Lian has much tigher culture connection with people here In the previous years, people seem to celebrate Christmas more seriously than the New Year’s Day (Jan 1).

I like the city of Chengdu very much because the Chinese traditions are preserved much better than other cities. Regarding the folk tradition, it seems to be that it is even better than Beijing. There are even newly built pure traditional houses developed by modern real estate companies. It is very impressive.

I decide to celebrate the Spring Festival with the Chinese tradition and take the Spring Festival of 2005 more seriously than ever. I believe that returning to the tradition is part of the way to cure the ethical problem.

On Ethic

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To be part of the current society is not easy, if you still bear ethic in mind. Because it is not easy, the easiest way to handle the conflicts is to forget about ethic. Astonishing, isn’t it?

Check about Bozzetoo’s Yes & No and see how to obey the traffic rules in Italy. I don’t mean to offense people in Italy. I like this flash because it is exactly how traffic works in Shanghai.

I tried to stop at STOP signs, but the cars behind me may hit me, because no one stops and no one would expect a car before them to stop when there are no cars passing by.

When I yield for pedestrians, drivers behind me horn crazily and flash their lights.

I talked about it before. Recently, I was filled out with courage to do the right thing, according to ethic conduct, no matter what others do. It has been very painful in the last few days. I am so sad that people in this city has been so rude and show no sympathy to others, who is also part of the members in the city. Why there are no smiles on people’s face when they meet? If Shanghai is moving toward to be a city like New York, I hope at least people should not be as faceless as in New York, if you still think Shanghai is a little bit better than Wall Street now.

I fell in big trouble these days and I kept thinking and thinking everyday about ethic stuff. Do we still respect people telling the truth? Do we still respect people who take other’s benefit, and the general public’s benefit as a factor to consider to make choices? The ethical level of the society has reached to a new level these years, despite of the rocket-rising economic development in some specific cities. I am not surprised of anything terrible in the news at all – we have got used to it.

“Ethic? Hahaha. Ethic! Do you still believe in ethic?” These are the responses on this topic…

I am confused and feeling bad. The question is in my brain these days even after I fell asleep…

Seoul Changes Chinese Name

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The city of Seuol changed its Chinese name from Hancheng 汉城 to Shouer 首尔. It is interesting to me. Personally, I don’t think the new name looks nicer than the previous one. Maybe it is because I didn’t get used to it yet. Meawhile, I think it is their own choice and everyone should respect their choices. People in China also has the right to call it either Hancheng or Shou’er, depending on how it is more comfortable for them. Anyway, I don’t understand the real reason behind the name change – why?

Rainy Crazy Friday Night in Shanghai

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Mao and I met today and we wanted to go to Starbucks and chat. The large Starbucks store at Metro City was full of people, and there were no seats. We went to another coffee shop inside Metro City and there are only two seats at the door. We didn’t like it because many people passed by the table and it seemed we were drinking coffee at the platform of Metro Station. We went to Chatea in Metro City, a Taiwanese tea house. It was fully packed of people. Anyway, we finally settled down. People are competing with each other to get a seat in cafe shop. When we left, more than 10 persons were lining up to wait for those inside to finish their tea or dinner quicker so they can get in.

Outside the Metro City, at the exit 10 o Metro Xujiahui Station, Mao couldn’t find a taxi. It is impossible to hire a taxi during the two rush hours in Shanghai. Empty taxis are rarer when it rains, like today. Finally, Mao has to take bus although he well affords taxi expense.

I called Wendy to have dinner with Jin and Peng. Wendy asked me to go to the restaurant one stop away to occupy a table for them first. I argued that there are thousands of restaurants in Shanghai and why I need to go to this specific restaurant. “Just because we can book there?”. Wendy confirmed my guess. She told me it had been the first restaurant that offered four seats when she booked. She had failed on other five. It turned out Wendy was right again. I happened to step into the wrong restaurant on the opposite of the Hua Shan Road, and they said “Sorry. We are full tonight.” to me. Well, well. No matter good or bad, expensive or cheap, as long as it offers something to eat, it is full on Friday night.

On Friday night, Shanghai seems to be a city with too much demands and too few resources.

Disclaimer: Please note that this is my limited observation in Xujiahui area – the most crowded regions in Shanghai. I hope I didn’t mislead you and help you form an impression that everywhere in Shanghai is the same; or every city in China is the same or it is more wrong to claim it is the general life in China. I have to put a disclaimer anywhere when I can think of. Otherwise, I may be challenged to describe only a small part of life in China. It is true, that I am only one person and I can only experience a very small sample of the world at a time.

P.S. Claire, one of the most-frequent-travellers I know, arrived in Saigon. BTW, where is Saigon? In which country? I know I can easily find out the answer by typing it Google, or even select it and right click and choose Google Search (after I installed the Google Toolbar), I want to record my first impression here. How poor is my geographic knowledge? And how about you?

Spring Festival in 2005

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The Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, starts from Feb 9 to Feb 15, 2005. There will be a long vacation for people in China. Here is how this works:

  • Feb 9, Feb 10, and Feb 11 are public holiday.
  • Feb 12 and Feb 13 are Saturday and Sunday.
  • Feb 14 (Mon) and Feb 15 (Tue) are not holiday, but exchange with the weekend of Feb 5 (Sat) and Feb 6 (Sun).

That means, in exchange of the continuous holiday, people need to work 9 days continuously from Jan 31 (Mon) to Feb 8 (Tue). This is very similar to the arrangement of the last year. My friend in New York heard people in China have much more holidays than they do in New York. It is not true.

My Spring Festival of 2005

Wendy and I will stay in Shanghai this year. This is the second year we stayed in Shanghai. (2004)

To return home for family reunion is the tradition of China. No matter where you are and no matter how poor you are, you have to appear at the New Year Eve dinner table. This was THE rule for many centuries. Meanwhile, the estimated 1.79 billion person * trip will stress test the railway, airlines, and long distance bus business. To travel at during this time is not a good idea.

There are hot debates on whether the national wide railway should raise their price by about 20%. The “pro-” side says the price is made by the market instead of government. The “anti-” side says it is rubbery to raise the price of something people have no other choices. I haven’t decided which side to support yet.

Stay Instead of Fight

After fighting for a ticket back home and back to Shanghai for 8 years (1996 – 2003), we decided to stay in Shanghai and invite our parents to Shanghai before or during the Spring Festival for reunion. They have more flexibility of travel time. Every time I returned home in Henan Province, I suffered a lot. I had to get up as early as 4:00 AM exactly 7 days before the departure date (when the ticket hit the market) and to line up before the ticket office. It opened at 8:00 AM. Standing in the cold winter for at least 4 hours, a ticket is still not garenteed. I got “sorry” more often than “yes”.

The Most Memorable Trip Back to Luoyang

I still remember the Spring Festival of 2002. I couldn’t get a train ticket anyway and I finally chose to fly to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province and take bus to Luoyang. There are about 1 and a half hour’s bus ride between the cities.

After delaying at the Hong Qiao Airport for 6 hours (Yes. I Expect the Flight Delay), we finally left Shanghai around 6:00 PM of the Lunar New Year Eve. I had no hope to get back home that night. There should be no bus or taxi when we arrived at Zhengzhou Airport around 9:00 PM. With the strong reunion tradition, who will work in the New Year’s Eve? It turned out to be a quite good guess.

Then I thought of the idea to try something special. “How about gathering some people with same destination and hiring a bus (if we were lucky) at Zheng Zhou airport?” I was sure I was not the only person facing the problem. I asked the flight attendant to broadcast on the flight and asked for all passengers who want to transit to Luoyang to come to me. Unexpectedly, about 20 persons signed up quickly. I asked everyone to hand in 50 RMB and contacted a bus driver in Zhengzhou and offered 1000 RMB for the trip – it is much higher than their normal price. BTW, I got the driver’s phone by calling my friends in Shanghai to Google “Bus Zhengzhou” to get the mobile numbers. Haha. It worked!

The rest of the story was simple – we waited for the bus and took it to Luoyang. I was the person in charge and sent almost everyone to their door. When I arrived my home in Luoyang as the last passenger, my family was welcoming me at the door – it was about 11:30 PM of the New Year’s Eve. Thank God! I finally showed up at the dinner table. To be home for Spring Festival was well worth the trouble.

BTW, the other passengers were so kind that they asked me to keep my part of the bus fee for the organizing work. They said it is much better than spending hundreds of Yuan in a hotel in Zhengzhou, on the New Year’s Eve.

Daily Build Script Sample

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These days, I still get query about my article 7 steps of daily build process I posted at the end of 2002. I have not posted to devmanclub.com for a long time. I feel guilty that lots of people are asking for the daily build script I mentioned. I’d like to post the article I wrote two years ago here and share with my readers who are interested in development management processes.

Seven steps of build and release process

1. The builder (part of development team) is primarily responsible for managing the build release.

2. A build is made after the check-in deadline. Typically build will be made at mid-night.

3. The builder creates a share point on a well-known server for releasing the builds. The share point to be used will be \\servername\builds [1]

4. Under this share point, each build is released. The process of release would be a copy of all the relevant binaries, files and necessary setup scripts from the build machine to a corresponding directory under the share point. The build release directories would be named as the build number. \\servername\builds\buildnumber.[2]

5. The most recent build will always be mapped to the release point of \\servername\builds\current [3]. This enables easy location of the current release and also helps in the development of automated scripts by the development and testing community to install the most current build on their test machines etc.

6. At any time, the last 20 will be kept on the build release server. As new builds are released, the old ones falling outside this range will be archived.

7. All key milestone builds will be kept on the release machines until the product is released. The release directories would be appropriately named. For example, \\servername\builds\beta1 would contain the Beta1 of the application.

================================================================================

[1] This is a typical file share. Right click a folder in Windows Explorer and select ShareÂ…

[2] The folder will be created by build script.

[3] You can archive this using DFS (Distributed File System) that comes with Windows 2000

作者：王建硕

声明：本脚本及注释仅代表个人观点，不代表任何组织或公司。

它以”现状”提供且没有任何担保，同时也没有授予任何权利

Author: Jian Shuo Wang

Disclaimer: This scripts and comments only represent personal opinion and do not represent any organization or company. This post is provided as-is with no warranties and confers no rights.

整体上讲，这个编译脚本做了几件事情：

拿到最新的版本

通过更改配置文件把版本号加到DLL中

编译

把结果拷贝到发布服务器中指定编译版本号的目录中

Basically, the build script did the following things:

Get the latest version of the source code

Add the version number into the DLL by modifying the configuration files

Build

Copy the build result to the folder for the specified build on the release server

我尝试加入中文注解，并补充行号，以便引用

I added Chinese comment (and English translation) and line numbers, for sake of easy reference

1 @REM ===============================================================================

2 @REM Build script

3 @REM Author: Jian Shuo Wang

4 @REM Created: 12:04 PM 3/12/2002

5 @REM Modified:

6 @REM 1.1 SD Label added at 12:04 PM 3/12/2002

7 @REM 1.2 Fix the bug to delete .css file from release server

8 @REM 1.3 Add version numbers to both DLLs and web page

9 @REM 1.4 Added facade server and moved all webclient

10 @REM to web folder.

11 @REM 1.5 Fixed bug 258 [Build] Build script doesn’t provide label description

12 @REM 1.6 Reorged the folder and added WinUI to builds]

13 @REM 1.7 Add build number to all EXEs and DLLs

14 @REM 1.8 Depress prompt by echo D to web.config.

15 @REM

16 @REM

17 @REM ===============================================================================

18

编译脚本的变化有可能产生编译结果的变化或产生新的Bug，编译脚本也可能产生Bug，所以编译脚本的也要有版本号

Changes of build script may affect the compile result or cause new bug. There may be bugs in the build script itself. So we need to give a version to the build script.

19 @SET BuildScriptVersion=1.8

20

21 @REM ===============================================================================

22 @REM Usage:

23 @REM copybuilds.bat

24 @REM is the revision number. In case you need

25 @REM to create a build with revision number other

26 @REM then 0, you can use

27 @REM copybuilds.bat 1

28 @REM to create builds like 2295.1

29 @REM ===============================================================================

30

建议Build号的格式：

a.b.cccc.d, 如2.0.2533.0

a – 主版本号

b – 副版本号

cccc – 每日编译号

d – 更新号

主副版本号在一个产品大的发布之前不变，每日编译号每天加一 （注意，开始值不一定为1，建议为一个随机的4位数，这样保证它的位数一直是4位，方便引用。

Suggested Build Number Format:

a.b.cccc.d, eg: 2.0.2533.0

a – Major Build Number

b – Minor Build Number

cccc – Daily Build Number

d – Revision number

每日编译脚本每天自动运行，不过有时当出现Build break (自动运行/编译失败），或BVT测试没有通过， 可能会临时产生新的版本，这很少见，但一旦发生，可以手动运行编译脚本，并指派更新号。如果一天有多个build, 他们会有不同的更新号，比如 2.0.2533.1, 2.0.2533.2….

Daily build runs daily automatically. However, when Build Break (auto run/build failure) happens, or BVT (Build Verification Test) does not pass, it is possible to create some temporary new build. This is rare. But when it does happen, we can run the build script manually and assign a new revision number. If there are more than one build on the same day, they have different revision number, for example, 2.0.2533.1, 2.0.2533.2….

31 @SET BuildRev=0

32

33 @REM ===============================================================================

34 @REM This script is extended to be used on sha-jswang-02 exclusively

35 @REM ===============================================================================

36

37 @REM ===============================================================================

38 @REM Define variables

39 @REM ===============================================================================

40

定义一些变量，因为编译脚本基本上只会在编译服务器上运行，所以很多东西直接写到Code里了。编译服务器可以使团队中配置最差的机器，或利用率最低的机器，最好保证没有人在上面编程，否则不小心更改了设置就会产生Build环境改变，就可能会改变最终的编译结果。

Define some variables. Since the daily build script generally only runs on the build machine, we can hard code a lot of places into the script. It is OK to use the most poorly configured machine in the team, or a computer with lowest utilization. It is important that nobody develops on it. Otherwise, the developer may change the configuration that causes Build environment change, so to change the final result of the daily build.

41 @PATH=c:\program files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\Common7\IDE;%PATH%;

42 @SET SCRIPTROOT=C:\WebRaid

43 @SET SDROOT=C:\webraid\workplace

44

45 @SET SLNROOT=C:\webraid\workplace\src\RAID

46 @SET WEBUIROOT=C:\webraid\workplace\src\RAID\RAID_WEBUI

47 @SET WINUIROOTDEBUG=C:\webraid\workplace\src\RAID\WinUI\bin\Debug

48 @SET WINUIROOTRELEASE=C:\webraid\workplace\src\RAID\WinUI\bin\Release

49 @SET RELEASESERVER=\\sha-calvin\WebRAID\builds\

50 @SET WINUIROOTRELEASE=C:\webraid\workplace\src\RAID\WinUI\bin\Release

51 @SET BUILDREPORT=%SCRIPTROOT%\BuildReport.txt

52

53 @REM ===============================================================================

54 @REM Database related variables

55 @REM ===============================================================================

56

57 @SET MASTER_DB_SERVER=steven02

58 @SET MASTER_DB_SA=sa

59 @SET MASTER_DB_PASSWORD=123

60 @SET BCPCMD=-U”%MASTER_DB_SA%” -P”%MASTER_DB_PASSWORD%” -S “%MASTER_DB_SERVER%”

61

62 @REM ===============================================================================

63 @REM Generate build numbers, SD Labels.

64 @REM ===============================================================================

65

66 @CSCRIPT //NoLogo %SCRIPTROOT%\GenBuildNo.vbs > %SCRIPTROOT%\SetBuildNo.bat

67 @CALL %SCRIPTROOT%\SetBuildNo.Bat

68

69 @SET SDLABEL=build%BuildNo%

70 @SET BuildName=%BuildNo%

71

72 @REM ===============================================================================

73 @REM Check whether is is parameter for this script

74 @REM ===============================================================================

就在这里加更新号

Add build revision number here.

75

76 @If A%1A==AA goto :Continue

77 @SET BUILDRev=%1

78 @SET SDLABEL=build%BuildNo%.%BuildRev%

79 @SET BuildName=%BuildNo%.%BuildRev%

80 :Continue

81

82

准备编译报告。编译报告要存放到该Build所在的目录，以便以后了解Build时的情况

Prepare compile report. Compile report should be saved into the folder of the build, so you know the situation when the build was created.

83

84 @ECHO ===============================================================================

85 @ECHO P E C K E R B U I L D S C R I P T V %BuildScriptVersion%

86 @ECHO ===============================================================================

87 @ECHO.

88 @ECHO Build Number: %BuildName%

89 @ECHO.

90

91 @REM ===============================================================================

92 @REM BUILD REPORT

93 @REM ===============================================================================

94

95 @ECHO ======================================== > %BuildReport%

96 @ECHO Build Report for Build %BuildName% >> %BuildReport%

97 @ECHO Build Script Version: %BuildScriptVersion% >> %BUILDREPORT%

98 @ECHO Builder: Jian Shuo Wang (jswang) >> %BUILDREPORT%

99 @ECHO Start Build: >> %BUILDREPORT%

100 @Date /T >> %SCRIPTROOT%\buildreport.txt

101 @TIME /T >> %SCRIPTROOT%\buildreport.txt

102

103 @REM ===============================================================================

104 @REM Get the latest source

105 @REM ===============================================================================

106

107 @C:

108 @CD %SDROOT%

109

我的这个例子中用的是自己的一个工具，VSS有自己的命令行参数

I am using our own tool in this sample. Visual SourceSafe has its own command line parameter.

110

111 @ECHO ===============================================================================

112 @ECHO Retrieving source code from SD Server

113 @ECHO ===============================================================================

114 @ECHO Please wait …

115

116 SD sync -f src… > NUL

117 @ECHO.

118

建立Label，就是把产生这个版本的所有文件的当前版本记录下来，一旦以后某天需要恢复到这个版本，只需把代码同步到这个标签就可以了，然后我们就能保证从源代码树中编译出来任何制定的版本。

Create Label, which is a record of all the version numbers of the used files that generates this build, in case one day, we need to restore this build from the source code. We can do a label synchronization to make sure we can build out the certain build from the source code tree.

119 @REM ===============================================================================

120 @REM Create label

121 @REM ===============================================================================

122

123 @REM Create Labels

124 @ECHO OFF

125 @ECHO Label: %SDLABEL% >%WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

126 @ECHO Owner: FAREAST\jswang >>%WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

127 @ECHO Description: >>%WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

128 @ECHO Build Number %BuildName% >>%WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

129 @ECHO Options: unlocked >>%WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

130 @ECHO View: >>%WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

131 @ECHO //depot/… >>%WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

132

133 Type %WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt | SD label -i

134

135 @ECHO ===============================================================================

136 @ECHO Synchronizing label

137 @ECHO ===============================================================================

138 @ECHO Please wait …

139

140 SD labelsync -l %SDLABEL%

141

142 DEL %WEBUIROOT%\Temp.txt

143

144

正式开始编译。 我会产生一个release版,一个Debug版

Finally, starts to compile. I will generate a RELEASE version a DEBUG version.

145

146

147

148

149

150

151 @REM ===============================================================================

152 @REM Begin to build

153 @REM ===============================================================================

154

155 @REM ===============================================================================

156 @REM Change the version number for DLLs

157 @REM ===============================================================================

158

159 @ECHO ===============================================================================

160 @ECHO Adding build number to DLLs

161 @ECHO ===============================================================================

162

163 Call %SCRIPTROOT%\AddBuildNumber.bat %SLNROOT%\SystemFrameworks\AssemblyInfo.cs

164 Call %SCRIPTROOT%\AddBuildNumber.Bat %SLNROOT%\Common\AssemblyInfo.cs

165 Call %SCRIPTROOT%\AddBuildNumber.Bat %SLNROOT%\DataAccess\AssemblyInfo.cs

166 Call %SCRIPTROOT%\AddBuildNumber.Bat %SLNROOT%\RAID_WebUI\AssemblyInfo.cs

167 Call %SCRIPTROOT%\AddBuildNumber.Bat %SLNROOT%\BusinessFacade\AssemblyInfo.cs

168 Call %SCRIPTROOT%\AddBuildNumber.Bat %SLNROOT%\WindowsControl\AssemblyInfo.cs

169 Call %SCRIPTROOT%\AddBuildNumber.Bat %SLNROOT%\WinUI\AssemblyInfo.cs

170

171

172 @REM ===============================================================================

173 @REM Add Version Number to Default.aspx

174 @REM ===============================================================================

175

176 Attrib -R %WEBUIROOT%\Default.aspx

177 Type %SCRIPTROOT%\VersionSpanStart.txt >> %WEBUIROOT%\Default.aspx

178 @ECHO Build %BuildName% >> %WEBUIROOT%\Default.aspx

179 Type %SCRIPTROOT%\VersionSpanEnd.txt >> %WEBUIROOT%\Default.aspx

180

181 @REM ===============================================================================

182 @REM Build debug version

183 @REM ===============================================================================

184

185 @ECHO ===============================================================================

186 @ECHO Begin to Build Debug Version %BuildName%

187 @ECHO ===============================================================================

188 @ECHO It may take 1-2 minutes. Please wait …

189

190 DEVENV %SLNROOT%\RAID.SLN /rebuild “debug” >> %BUILDREPORT%

191

192 @ECHO Build completed

193 @ECHO.

194

195 @ECHO ===============================================================================

196 @ECHO Begin to Build Release Version %BuildName%

197 @ECHO ===============================================================================

198 @ECHO It may take 1-2 minutes. Please wait …

199

200 DEVENV %SLNROOT%\RAID.SLN /rebuild “release” >> %BUILDREPORT%

201

202 @ECHO Build completed

203 @ECHO.

204

205

206 @ECHO ===============================================================================

207 @ECHO Begin to Build Release Version of WindowsControl %BuildName%

208 @ECHO ===============================================================================

209 @ECHO It may take 1-2 minutes. Please wait …

210

211 DEVENV %SDROOT%\src\WindowsControl.T\WindowsControl.sln /rebuild “release” >> %BUILDREPORT%

212

213 @ECHO Build completed

214 @ECHO.

215

把开发现状的数据库结构Dump成SQL语句, 以便安装程序可以完整的复原开发现状

Dump the existing database structure into SQL scripts, so that setup program can restore the database

216

217 @REM ===============================================================================

218 @REM D A T A B A S E S E T U P

219 @REM

220 @REM The following script is provide by Jian Wu. It uses bcp tool to get all the

221 @REM data in the SQL Database and put it in files with .db.txt extension.

222 @REM ===============================================================================

223

224 @ECHO ===============================================================================

225 @ECHO Dumping databases

226 @ECHO ===============================================================================

227

228 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.Alias” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\Alias.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

229 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.BugStore” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\BugStore.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

230 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.FldItems” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\FldItems.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

231 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.Flds” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\Flds.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

232 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.Links” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\Links.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

233 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.LinkTokens” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\LinkTokens.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

234 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.NotificationRules” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\NotificationRules.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

235 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.StaticWebPart” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\StaticWebPart.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

236 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.Tabs” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\Tabs.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

237 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.TabWebParts” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\TabWebParts.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

238 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.[User]” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\User.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

239 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.UserAlias” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\UserAlias.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

240 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.UserQueryStore” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\UserQueryStore.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

241 bcp “GTECRAID.dbo.WebParts” out “%SCRIPTROOT%\WebParts.db.txt” -c %BCPCMD%

242

编译完成,开始拷贝编译出来的二进制文件

Compile completed. Start to copy the binary outcome of the compilation

243

244 @REM ===============================================================================

245 @REM Begin to copy files to release server

246 @REM ===============================================================================

247

248

249 @REM ===============================================================================

250 @REM A T T E N T I O N ON A P P S E R V E R S E T U P

251 @REM

252 @REM The builder moved the file web.config from Pecker_Facade folder to

253 @REM setup folder and rename it to server.web.config during the setup.

254 @REM This helps to reduce the complexity

255 @REM of the code by reducing the number of folder needed. The setup script

256 @REM will re-build the server folder and move the web.config file there.

257 @REM

258 @REM C H A N G E S

259 @REM

260 @REM THE NOTE ABOVE IS NOT LONG VALID. I have setup a new folder named

261 @REM “Sever” in the root folder of the distribution disk that holds all server

262 @REM DLLs and configuration information

263 @REM ===============================================================================

264

265 @ECHO ===============================================================================

266 @ECHO Copying AppServer Debug Version

267 @ECHO ===============================================================================

268

269 ECHO D | XCOPY %WEBUIROOT%\..\PECKER_FACADE\web.config %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Server /I /S /Y

270 XCOPY %WEBUIROOT%\bin %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Server\Bin /S /Y /I

271

272 @ECHO ===============================================================================

273 @ECHO Copying AppServer Release Version

274 @ECHO ===============================================================================

275

276 ECHO D | XCOPY %WEBUIROOT%\..\PECKER_FACADE\web.config %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Server /I /S /Y

277 XCOPY %WINUIROOTRELEASE%\*.DLL %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Server\Bin /S /Y /I

278

279

280 @ECHO ===============================================================================

281 @ECHO Copying Database Data

282 @ECHO ===============================================================================

283

284 XCOPY %SCRIPTROOT%\*.db.txt %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Database /S /Y /I

285 XCOPY %SCRIPTROOT%\*.db.txt %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Database /S /Y /I

286 Del %SCRIPTROOT%\*.db.txt

287

288 XCOPY %WEBUIROOT%\..\PECKER_FACADE\database.sql %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Database /I /S /Y

289 XCOPY %WEBUIROOT%\..\PECKER_FACADE\database.sql %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Database /I /S /Y

290

291 @ECHO ===============================================================================

292 @ECHO Copying WebUI Debug Version

293 @ECHO ===============================================================================

294

295 XCOPY %WEBUIROOT% %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Web /S /EXCLUDE:%SCRIPTROOT%\Excludelist.txt /Y /I

296 COPY %WEBUIROOT%\*.css %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Web

297

298 @ECHO ======================================== >> %BUILDREPORT%

299 @ECHO Copy WebUI Debug Ends: >> %BUILDREPORT%

300 Date /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

301 TIME /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

302

303 @ECHO ===============================================================================

304 @ECHO Copying WebUI Release Version

305 @ECHO ===============================================================================

306

307 XCOPY %WEBUIROOT% %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Web /S /EXCLUDE:%SCRIPTROOT%\Excludelist.txt /Y /I

308 COPY %WEBUIROOT%\*.css %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Web

309

310 @ECHO ======================================== >> %BUILDREPORT%

311 @ECHO Copy WebUI Release Ends: >> %BUILDREPORT%

312 Date /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

313 TIME /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

314

315

316 @ECHO ===============================================================================

317 @ECHO Copying WinUI Debug Version

318 @ECHO ===============================================================================

319

320 XCOPY %WINUIROOTDEBUG% %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Win /S /EXCLUDE:%SCRIPTROOT%\Excludelist.txt /Y /I

321 COPY %WINUIROOTDEBUG%\..\..\help\*.chm %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Win /Y

322

323 @ECHO ======================================== >> %BUILDREPORT%

324 @ECHO Copy WinUI Debug Ends: >> %BUILDREPORT%

325 Date /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

326 TIME /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

327

328 @ECHO ===============================================================================

329 @ECHO Copying WinUI Release Version

330 @ECHO ===============================================================================

331

332 XCOPY %WINUIROOTRELEASE% %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Win /S /Y /I

333 XCOPY %WINUIROOTDEBUG%\WinUI.exe.xml %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Win /I /S /Y

334 COPY %WINUIROOTRELEASE%\..\..\help\*.chm %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Win /Y

335

336 Copy %SDROOT%\src\WindowsControl.T\bin\Release\WindowsControl.dll %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Win\WindowsControl.dll /Y

337

338 @ECHO ======================================== >> %BUILDREPORT%

339 @ECHO Copy WinUI Release Ends: >> %BUILDREPORT%

340 Date /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

341 TIME /T >> %BUILDREPORT%

342

343

开发过程中有简易的Setup.bat保证可以在一个崭新的机器上安装最终程序,这保证了测试的起点是一样的

Simple setup.bat to install the compiled build onto a new machine. This ensures the starting point of the test is identical every time you setup.

344

345

346

347 @ECHO ===============================================================================

348 @ECHO Moving the setup.bat script

349 @ECHO ===============================================================================

350

351 Move %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug\Web\Setup.bat %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Debug

352 Move %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release\Web\Setup.bat %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%\Release

353

354

355 @ECHO ===============================================================================

356 @ECHO Copy the build report to release server

357 @ECHO ===============================================================================

358

359 Copy %BUILDREPORT% %RELEASESERVER%%BUILDName%

360

大功告成

Mission completed

361

362 @ECHO ===============================================================================

363 @ECHO Build completed successfully

364 @ECHO ===============================================================================

如有任何疑问,欢迎跟贴

Comments are welcome.

王建硕[微软]

本贴子以”现状”提供且没有任何担保，同时也没有授予任何权利

Jian Shuo Wang [Microsoft]

This post is provided as-is with no warranties and confers no rights.

Is the Real Estate Cooling Down? – Part III

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22

Is the Real Estate Cooling Down? – Part II got responses. I posted the following comments to the thread that is already hot. Please forgive me to abuse the right of more control on this blog so I can post at the top of the page while others who holds different oppinion can only argue at the end of the page. :-)

Disclaimer: Don’t treat me as an expert on real estate. I am not. I just copy what I heard from the 91facai.com conference, which I think is reasonable analysis.

After collecting some information, I think it is the time we pay attention to the following factors:

It is true that when all investors withdraw money from real estate market, the bubble will crash. But in a closed economy, people have not many choices other than putting the money into real estate and will continue to put in more money. In LA or HK, people can easily and quickly move the money from one country/region to another. It is not the case in mainland.

If you want to withdraw your money from real estate, tell me, where you put your money? You cannot put it into any investment abroad. Maybe you can, but majority investors cannot. You may not consider putting it to stock market in China – fewer people believe in the stock market in China now. Do you want to put it into investment like REITS? There is no such investment channel in China yet. It seems you only have to put it into bank and enjoy your 2-3% interest.

One day, the foreign investment channel will open to Chinese investors. When it happens, money will flow away as quick as possible and the bubble will crash. Before that, so many people with millions of dollars on hand have no where to invest. That is part of the reason why the real estate price raises so quickly – it is an indicator of the lack of other investment channel.

We do compare from apple to apple. The income v.s. apartment ratio is a key theory foundation for the argument that we should not compare Shanghai and NYC. The annual family income to average house price ratio is around 1:6 worldwide. It is 1:12 in Shanghai. That means, 12 persons working for year can get a house in U.S. (considering two persons with income per family) or 24 persons working for one year can buy a house in Shanghai. It reflects the ratio of the price of labor and the price of resources. Now the price of resources can be traded – all the goods that flows between China and U.S back and forth, so the price is comparable, but the labor price in China is much lower. Which means, it is quite reasonable that if the household income v.s. house raise from current 1:12 to 1:20 or even higher. The secret behind it is, labor is over supplied in big cities like Shanghai and capital is also over supplied (with huge amount of money flow in from around the country) but the construction of real estate properties does not catch the speed. So the price will continue to rise.

I don’t mean the price will continue to raise forever. I agree there is bubble, serious bubble. But who cares. People only care about the bubble before and after it crashes. The most important factor for the bubble to crash is:

More investment channel is open so people have more choices to move the money out of real estate.

The ratio of household annual income v.s. properties price will drop below current 1:12 only when the labor cost of China increase dramatically.

Nice Shanghai Blogger Meetup

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5

It is very nice to attend the Shanghai Blogger Meetup organized by Fons. This meetup is held monthly on every third Wednesday @ 7:00 PM. This time, Trombly kindly hosted us in thier home. I am not sure about whether I should disclose the full name of other participants yet. I had a great time. K and M came from the film industry. They make real films. I am very interested in joining their next film effort and see how a film is created. Matthew and others shared very interesting topics regarding blogging. I would like to recommend other bloggers to join the meetup. It is a very nice place to discuss about interesting stuff.

Kabb in Xintiandi

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3

KABB Bar and Grill is famous. I remember when I first join Michael Conolly’s Shanghaiexpat.com meetup party, it was in KABB in Xintiandi. I called my new friend tonight, and we decide to meet at Xintiandi, he asked: “Where to meet up in Xintiandi? How about KABB?”. He pronounced it as Cab which misled me to imagine it as a meetup in a taxi.

There are two or three places I’d propose to meet besides Starbucks. Starbucks is always the first choice if it is a casual meetup. Beside that, one is the KABB in Xintiandi and the other is the Height at Three on the Bund. Not surpisingly, KABB is full of foreign visitors or expats but seldom do I see local customers. The price on their menu is, of cause, not friendly to local customers. A can of Pepsi is 30 RMB and coffee starts from 45 RMB. But it is rated as a restaurant and bar with reasonable price and good by my foreign friends. You know the gap. Of cause, with the experience in New York, Kabb is the best restaurant with reasonable price – I agree that.

shanghai-kabb-inside.jpg

Image in courtesy of Kabb bar.

KABB is at the north part of Xintiandi. Coming out of Metro Huang Pi South Rd. Station and walk southward along the Huang Pi South Road. When you see the area of Xintiandi, enter at the Huan Pi South Rd. and Tai Cang Rd. entrance, the first bar you see will be Kabb.

Converting RMB to USD?

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22

How to convert Renminbi to USD, Canada dollar or other currency is a FAQ. The simple answer is, it is not easy.

Renminbi is not a free trading currency. That means, you cannot convert between Renminbi and free trading currency like USD freely.

Exchanging for RMB

Now, it is pretty easy to convert free-trading currency like USD into RMB. Just to go to a bank branch and ask for the exchange. Not all bank branches provide this service. At least those in Pudong Airport and Hong Qiao Airport can help you on the conversion. After you get Renminbi, be sure to keep the receipt with you. You will need the receipt to exchange RMB back to USD, or other currency.

Exchanging for USD, CAN, YEN…

If you want to exchange Renminbi for other currency, limitation applies. If you just exchanged it from other currency before, provide the receipt and they can exchange RMB for other currency up to the amount you exchanged that time.

If you just want to exchange, I am not sure about the policy for foreigners. For local resident, there are many regulations. I remember you have to provide a reason for exchange. The most common reason is to visiting other countries. With the passport, valid visa and sometimes flight ticket, you can exchange USD from Renminbi up to 2000 USD. They will stamp on the passport visa page that states: “Foreign currency supplied.” so you cannot use the 2000 USD allowrence twice for the same travel.

For foreign investment to China, there are also some limitation to move the money back since the exchange of currency will be an issue. Other countries does not accept Renminbi yet.

Disclaimer: The information provided may be inaccurate because I am not an expert in this field.

Update April 10, 2008

Look at how RMB is doing in the last few years. When I first know foreign exchange, my memory of USD to RMB is 1 to 8. Today, the exchange rate is as low as 6.9924. The exchange rate changed so quickly in the last few years. Imagine what it means to the industry related to outsourcing in China.

Is the Real Estate Cooling Down? – Part II

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41

This is part two following the last article Is the Real Estate Cooling Down?

I attended a conference on Investment in 2005 today. To be honest, I have very few investment and financial knowledge and I never care too much on the financial numbers such as the government debt and raise in gold price. I was surprised to see so many people concern these numbers so much.

One of the argument was about the trend of real estate price. I asked the question about the real estate bubble of Hong Kong and Hainai and asked about their compare between Shanghai’s situation and other real estate crashes in the world. The host answered my question. I found it reasonable.

Regarding the crash in Hainan, it was not an economy crash. It was purely cheating. No houses were built after the real estate developer got the money. They spent it elsewhere.

The biggest difference between Shanghai and Hong Kong is, Shanghai is in a closed economy. Renminbi is not free trading currency. You cannot exchange Renminbi to any free trading currencies, like USD or Canada Dollar. That means, people in China cannot invest in investment with higher return. So people have to invest locally.

People have been very disappointed in the stock market in Shanghai or Shenzhen. Huge amount of money goes out of the stock market. There are very few investment channels for the capital, so real estate has to accommodate the money. The money comes not only from people in Shanghai, it comes from all across the country. The number is a strong indicator that 40% of high-end properties in Shanghai Real Estate market comes from outside Shanghai.

So the conclusion is, the real estate price will keep raising until Renminbi becomes a free trading currency. At that time, money will flow away.

Disclaimer: It is just one of the opinion I heard. It does not represent my point of view.

Donation Needed for Zhan Xiao Feng

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21

The Bad News

Within 24 hours, I got the same message from three different channels, that a student in SJTU (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) was seriously ill. His name is Zhan Xiao Feng 詹晓峰. He majors in computer science. Now the only possible cure for him is liver transplant. The three different channels are – 1) Shuguang Ye forwarded the message to SJTU Alums alias in Microsoft and I read the news on my smart phone when I was on my taxi back from Shanghai Airport home. 2) Wendy told me Danny has forwarded the message to her. 3) Claire Song left comment on my blog about the message. I am very moved by the helping spirit and willing to help. The cost for the liver transplant is at least 300,000 RMB or around 36,000 USD.

Update: PayPal icon removed

For more information about the donation, please refer to the following resources:

Wangjianshuo’s Blog Donation Matching Program

I’d like to ask my readers to donate for Mr. Zhan Xiao Feng. To encourage more donations and show my own support, I created a donation matching program.

Propose:

To help sponsor Mr. Zhan Xiao Feng to successful complete the liver transplant operation.

Time:

Since his situation is instable, I’d like to set the program to be only 3 days. The program starts immediately and ends at 18:00, Jan 18, 2005, Shanghai time. (or 2:00 AM, Jan 18 Seattle time). After the program ends, I will announce the total amount and my macthing amount. Then donate the money to Mr. Zhan Xiao Feng via donation committee.

Rule:

To encourage more people to lending an helping hand, I am running a donation matching program. I will donate one dollar for every dollar my readers donate to Mr. Zhan Wei Feng within the program time frame up to 200 USD. It means, if all the readers donate 150 USD, I will also provide 150 USD matching donation. If the total amount within 3 days exceeds 200 USD, I will provide 200 USD. [3]

Benefit

Besides showing your support to a life that needs your help, I would also like to present the following benefit to all donators associated with Wangjianshuo’s blog

  • For ALL donators: I will create a hall of fame that remains on the homepage of Wangjianshuo’s blog with a link (as long as it is non-commercial website) and an description of the donator at the donator’s choice. It is optional benefit. [1]
  • For the first, 10th, 20th, 30th donator, I will have all the articles on this website printed as a book and mail the book to you via international post service. (the destination can be anywhere in the world). [2]

Pleease allow one month of shipping and processing time for the benifits.

How to Donate?

There are several ways to donate.

1. PayPal

I am using my PayPal account as a channel to collect the donation, since currently there is no listed paypal account yet. Meanwhile, all the organizers are students who don’t have U.S. bank account or credit card. It is impossible to directly withdraw money from PayPal in China. I have setup the channel (that is the reason I opened Bank of America in Seattle). To ensure you feel safe about your good will money through this channel, I will ask the person who accepts the money to issue receipt about all your donation and will invite two students of the donation organizing committee to audit the transfer. [4] Click the button below:

Update: PayPal icon removed

2. Bank Account

If you read Chinese, please use any of the donation methods listed in the donation page created by the students. After your donation, please post under this entry with your donation and you are also entitled to this program.

If you cannot make a donation, please also pray for him and show your support to him and his faimly by posting comments.

Footnote

Note 1: I keep the right of editing, rewriting or not accepting of the links or descriptions. If you don’t agree with the final result, you have the right to quit from the program and get full refund.

Note 2: The print and mailing cost will be part of the 200 USD matching funding, and act as part of my donation.

Note 3: Please understand there is no charity or NGO organization involved in this donation. It is because of the passion to help others that students and I joined the program. Because of the fact that it is the first donation program students run, it may not be professional, or even legally or financially correct. By participating this donation, you acknowledge that you are aware of the risk.

Note 4: Currency will be converted to RMB before delivering to them. Fees related to PayPal or bank charge will be deducted before sending the money.

Important Disclaimer:

This entire program is based on volunteer. As the initiator of this program, I didn’t verify the accuracy or truthfulness of the information. I am NOT liable of any damage, losing of money, or other expense related to this program. I am also NOT liable to any mistakes I or any donation organizing committee, or students make during the program. It is based on good will only.

Update: Zhan passed away

this morning before we can lend helping hands. How quickly the life disappeared is beyond our imagination. The donation has stopped, so does my program. Life is so weak…. Thanks for whatever you did for Zhan. Take care. Sign… January 17, 2005

Yes. I Expect the Flight Delay

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2

After posting two blog entries (I and II), I am still at the Chengdu Airport. My flight CA4519 from Chengdu to Shanghai was expected to depart at 7:20 PM but the latest information I got is, it is delayed to 9:50 PM. At its departurer time, the aircraft was still in Shanghai airport – about 1500 miles away.

Well. I expected the delay. It happens every day. Sometimes I even wonder what went wrong my flight departed on time. I hate to be stack in an airport – I even thought about going back to hotel and coming back tomorrow, but I guess Wendy will definitely feel happy if she see me home, no matter how late it is tonight. Some passengers have fallen asleep on the long benches. It is 18°C here – not suitable for sleep, at least for me.

I just finished the free Sichuan style box meal and half botton of purified water. If I were a beggar, I may be the happiest beggar in the world.

The Chengdu airport has been renovated. The previous old airport was as dirty as typical train station. People enjoyed their hot instant noodle, standing near the boarding gates, and pushing each other for their way to get on board. Now, the new airport is completely a new airport that is as modern as Shanghai Pudong or Beijing Airport.

Visa Card on ATM in China

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31

I received my Bank of America Platinum Check Card before I came to Chengdu. There is a Visa logo on it. It means, I can access my money I deposited in U.S. at all ATM machines here. To check whether it works, I checked the balance with China Construction Bank ATM. It shows the money in currency of Renminbi (RMB). Also, I successfully withdraw 100 RMB from the ATM. I checked the balance again. Only 100 RMB was deducted from the account. It seemed to me that there are no service charge for withdraw cash here, even though I used it on ATM of another bank (and another country).

I was able to check the balance of the card in ATM in Chengdu also. I didn’t try to withdraw money this time.

To Tip or Not to Tip

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8

Yesterday’s entry on tipping received many responses. It was a very interesting discussion and reflects the difference of culture.

I found the explanation of tip in Wikipidia

A tip (also known as gratuity) is a small amount of money received by some service sector professionals from persons they serve, in addition to or instead of a formally required payment.

Tipping is neither regulation, nor required; it is social custom. In China, it is pretty safe to claim that it is a general practice that you do NOT need to pay the tip. Meanwhile, it is high appreciated by the receiption if you do pay tip. It is the unexpected gift.”.

Bob pointed out that “It seems that some people in china target the westerners for request tips.”. It is true. With more and more visitors coming to China, people who pays tip in their country continue to pay the tip before they realize the difference. It helps the server to build the expectation for tips. So some may “request” tip. The bellmen are most likely to expect tips. Wendy and Grace once had unpleasant experience in Five Continent Hotel that the bellman refused to help them (two ladies with heavy boxes) without tip. The 10 RMB tip worked like a charm then.

Regarding the service charge, I agree with JH that it is not a good practice for hotels in China to charge the 15% service charge. For everything you consume in the hotel except the room fee, you are automatically charged 15% of what you consumed. It includes all the restaurants inside the hotel, in-room services, business centers…. I didn’t realize it is some forms of tip until JH reminded me. It seems the hotel has charged the tip on behalf of the servers.

I asked the bellman of Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Chendu where I stayed today. “Do you accept tips?” He answered: “Yes. If guests give us tips, we will be very happy. If not, it is common”. I asked: “Do you keep all the tips?” His answer was positive. I checked with other servers about 15% regular service charge, they answered there was no relationship between the charge and their salary. This obviously went to far from the spirit of tipping.

I treat tipping as a survey system. It is the chance to show the customer’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the service. I am a strong supporter of resuming tipping practices in China. With tipping, I can clearly show my feeling of the service I received. 1 RMB or 2 shows the difference. I don’t understand why some business spent millions of dollars to install expensive survey systems (like those in Banks) that very few people use it. Whenever I was treated badly by taxi drivers or restaurant servers, I think of tip – if I have the choice, I will pay very few tip or tip nothing for this service.

History of Tipping in China

China is actually a country with history of tipping. According to some documents I found, tips were accepted before 1950s. Hairdressers in Chengdu accepted tips [1]. In Shaoxing in Zhejiang province, the public bathroom (with many services) accepted tips, but it was abandoned in 1956. [2]. It was the same in hotel industry Shaoxing in the same year. [2]. The document attributed the improvement of service quality to the abandon of tipping. It is not rare to read about the extra money people gave to service people in old Chinese novels.

Voices of Forbidding Tipping

Regarding the newly emerged tipping practice of some tourism agents, China Consumer’s Association claimed that 1) There is no direct relationship between tipping and service quality. 2) Tipping is NOT a common practice worldwide. I do not agree with any of these two points.

Many business treat tip equally as cheating. In a regulation of China Tourism Bureau, which was published in 1987, “(For all staff in the tourism industry), those who didn’t request but accepted tips will be educated and the tips accepted will be confiscated”. Also, “those who denied tips will be praised and awarded.” “Those who requested, or implied to request tips, will be fined at 3 times of the tipping amount”. Obviously, this is an out-of-date document, but still in use.

Top Two Differences in China

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20

Tip and Tax are among the top differences between China and most western countries.

Before someone steps out of the door of his/she own country, he/she cannot really understand how different people do the same thing. I try to list top differences for foreign visitors to China. Check if you have known this before you pack your package to China.

  • No tip required. You don’t need to pay tip for any service – in restaurants, hotels, taxi… The salary for hotel or restaurant servers is fixed and there is almost no relationship between their performance and their income. In most of the business, accepting tips are strictly forbidden to “protect the right of consumers”. Personally, I believe tip is a good way to encourage good service.
  • Tax is included in all price. If you see something labeled 300 RMB, you pay 300 RMB. All the tax is included in the listed price. This makes the goods in China even cheaper compared to other places. For large goods, like house or business to business transactions, tax are calculated separately.