I’m in seat 29A (out of 31 rows) flying back to Guangzhou from Shanghai, cramped between a slightly overweight male passenger and a wall.  I’ve been in Shanghai for the past seven days, four of which had me performing market research for the movie and music industries; the words “manual labor” and “grunt work” were uttered more than once.  For the most part, the work was repetitive, although it was pretty interesting and I can now answer the following questions:

1. What is the percentage of pirated movies/music on the market in China?
2. How many pirate music/movie shops have been closed down in the past 3 months?

I’ve also developed an uncanny ability to estimate the number of DVDs/CDs on a wall – who knows when this will come in useful!

The research was pretty easy to perform, but it ended in disappointment.  I was getting out of a taxicab and had my hands full with a digital camera, an umbrella, a book bag, some papers, and my cell phone.  I made a quick decision and for the first time in China decided to toss something into my back pants pocket.  I placed my cell phone into my back pocket while inside the cab, left the cab, took a picture, went to grab my cell phone, and just like that, it was gone.  All it took was 30 seconds.  The good news is I had a perfectly legitimate reason to go and buy a new cell phone, where I was able to bargain down the price by 500 RMB.

Unfortunately, everyone now has to update their address book with a new phone number for me!  011-86-135-0287-9250. 

The weirdest thing about the above mentioned theft is that throughout my travels within China, Shanghai has been the one city where I have felt the safest.  I have heard bad stories about theft in South China (specifically in Shenzhen and Guangzhou) and I always take precautions to make sure I am not an easy target (although being a very visible minority kind of makes me stick out like a sore thumb).  I guess this does prove one thing though, never keep anything in your back pocket!

On a somewhat related note, Sarah and I were treated to dinner at Laris last night (it is one of the top restaurants in all of Shanghai, with an amazing view of The Bund).  It was really good.  While at dinner, I was asked what I thought about China, specifically what I think the difference is between Shanghai and Guangzhou.  Well apparently my thoughts were pretty accurate, so I thought I’d share them with you.

Shanghai and Guangzhou are drastically different from the viewpoint of a foreigner.  Shanghai has a lot of the western conveniences that foreigners love to enjoy, and you can get by in Shanghai with little to no knowledge of the Chinese language (although your business prospects will definitely be limited).  A foreigner can also act like a foreigner in Shanghai and get away with it – you can say the wrong phrases in Chinese and people won’t correct you, you can act ignorant and oblivious to Chinese culture and no one will say anything to you. 

Guangzhou on the other hand is very different.  No one speaks English here (well ok, maybe a few people do, but compared to Shanghai, it feels like nothing).  You can’t act like a foreigner here; you have to learn the culture and language.  A perfect example of this would be when I walked into a store and was presented with an item to buy.  I said in Chinese the equivalent of “don’t want it!!”, whereas I should have said “no thank you, I am not interested”.  The shopkeeper immediately corrected me and said the proper Chinese phrase to me – she wanted me to respond to her properly, not like a foreigner! 

There are a ton of western style restaurants in Guangzhou (even a bagel store, which Shanghai sadly does not have!), but that is where western conveniences stop.  There are only three gyms in a city of over 11 million people, and they are not cheap (although I did join one, and besides the very weird operating hours, it is pretty good).  Foreign style goods are hard to come by, and almost everything you find will be in Chinese. 

Another interesting fact about Guangzhou is that as a foreigner, you are not special.  In Shanghai, the local Chinese treat foreigners a little different (a foreigner is treated better than a local).  But in Guangzhou, this is not the case; you are at most equal to the locals.

A lot of these differences have to do with the fact that Guangzhou is a very rich city.  Don’t get me wrong, Shanghai is very rich, but a lot of the money in Shanghai is not from local Chinese.  In Guangzhou, almost all the money is from locals.  Just by walking down the street you can see this.  The local people are better dressed than their counterparts in Shanghai, the local people drive better cars than their Shanghai counterparts.

It is pretty interesting to experience these drastic changes, and living in Guangzhou is definitely making me learn Chinese!

Oh, and just in case you wanted to read a good book about China’s history, there is an amazing autobiography called Falling Leaves. I really recommend it, even if you have no interest in China. I promise it won’t be boring!

Just a quick note about calling me in China.  After you dial my number you will hear music (instrumental) - this is normal!  The music is a replacement for the traditional telephone ring.  I don’t have an answering machine, so let it ring for about 30 seconds.  If I don’t answer, try calling back in 5 minutes.

I should have more free time next week, so expect some more writing!

Just a quick update before I head to bed.  I flew to Shanghai on Friday night.  Sarah and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on Saturday, and I’ll be in Shanghai until Thursday.  The climate change from Guangzhou to Shanghai is dramatic.  I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt in Guangzhou and Shanghai feels like it is mid fall!  Amazing what a 2 hour plane ride can do!  I’ll be flying back to Guangzhou Thursday night.  For the next few weeks I’ll be working on a market research project in Shanghai and Guangzhou involving counterfeit CD/DVD.  Speaking of which, there is a CD/DVD store in Guangzhou called MVH.  Upon looking at its logo you might notice a similarity to HMV.  I’ve written about copy-cat and counterfeit stores before, so this is nothing new, but still interesting.

Sarah and I went to Hong Kong the weekend of August 26, we had a fun time and took a ton of pictures.  You can check them out here.  Of special interest is Fat Angelo’s, an italian restaurant in Hong Kong.  It feels a little like East Side Mario’s, but the food is really good.  The restaurant was playing Frank Sinatra all night, it was a great evening!

Finally, if you for some reason wish to call me on let’s say… September 20th, or any other day for that number, my phone number is 011 86 13502868553.

I’ve noticed that I tend to give factories in China a bad rap, and for the most part this is justified, but there are factories in China that have a lot of positive aspects about them. For example, I was at a factory today, where all the employees that I saw (about 25 or so) were happy, friendly, and just having a good time. The employees were joking around with each other, playing games, and all in all just having fun (keep in mind it was after 8:30PM when I arrived, so there is a chance that this behavior does not surface during the 9AM – 7PM rush).

The factory was a huge electronics manufacturer; the size of the plant was massive (I would say it is about 6-7 times the size of the Eaton centre in Toronto). There were boxes upon boxes upon boxes in the warehouse, and even though the employees had to open over 200 units and re-package them (a very tedious and time consuming job), the employees were genuinely in a happy mood. The most amazing part about this factory, it had a defect rate of less than 1% for a fairly complex product (something which I had yet to see after visiting 20 factories).

In contrast, other factories I was at today, where the average employee did not show any sign of emotion, had very high defect counts. So it is very possible that the quality of the product is directly related to the mood of the employees. If the employees are happy, they will create a superior product, if the employees are unhappy or indifferent, then their attitude shows in their work. This is nothing earth shattering, but interesting to note that the teachings of employee moral still hold true – although they are not often implemented.

I have a couple stories I’m working on, so hopefully I should have some more stories soon, but in the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a day in the life of Adam (working in quality control).

7:00AM – Wake up, shower, eat breakfast
7:30AM – Get into the company car to be driven to the first factory
9:30AM – Arrive at the first factory, enter the factory and perform quality check
10:30AM – Finished quality check, head to the next factory
11:15AM – Arrive at the factory, start quality check
12:15PM – Factory takes lunch break, leave factory and head to a restaurant in town
1:15PM – Return to the factory to continue quality check
2:45PM – While waiting for a colleague, ask factory manager for tour of factory (the factory makes children’s jewelry such as lockets, rings and bracelets – all work is done manually)
3:45PM – After a 45 min drive, arrive at the next factory and perform a quality check
5:00PM – Finished quality check
5:15PM – Arrive at next factory, this is a huge (and I mean HUGE) factory that makes appliances
7:15PM – Finished quality check, but everyone is hungry, so we go for dinner at 7 instead of 9
8:00PM – On route to the next factory. I am practicing my Chinese in the car.
8:30PM – Arrive at next factory
10:30PM – Finished quality check, going home!
12:15AM – Arrived home, check my email, write some reports
2:09AM – Write a blog entry and go to bed!

I wonder if that beats a day in the life of an iBanker? Oh yeah, I’m heading to Bangkok for 4 days during the first week of October. If you have some recommendations on what to do, let me know!