Me Ol' China (week 2)

The longer I am in this country the better I feel. I feel alive, I feel as if I have been missing out so much in my past years and I want to make up for what I haven’t done. This special place is opening slowly to my western eyes and revealing itself, its humanity and giving me a homey feeling that even my own country, where I understand costumes, traditions and language, doesn’t give me anymore.
A country that is seen as a potential New America. No, I really don’t think it is like that. I have seen, in the past, little Americas in making. This was in Saudi Arabia, where Riyadh seems like Las Vegas without the betting and the sex industry. Even Eastern Europe had this ambition. The feeling that they had been missing out 40 years of history made them push to the extreme. Freddie Mercury would have said “I wasn’t it all, I want it now” and like the other Freddie, the morbid one from Friday 13th series, they would not have hesitated in using the jigsaw to get it and to get rid of their heavy and unbearable past.

Except for the visible joy de vivre and ambition in having comforts at home and gadgets to use and show off during everyday’s activities, I haven’t seen this big sense of revenge. The rich people are rich because the system allowed them to be rich. The poor have something to look forward to and the doors to well-being are not barred. And they do not look at us as the lucky ones. Sure, America is America, but Chinese people do not have any sort of envy towards Europeans or Caucasions in general.

The one child policy is accepted as a necessity for living a decent existence. At the end of the day things are no different in Italy, for instance, where one child per household is the most common setting.

This country is not a potential America. People are not aiming to consume as much as the Americans. Yes, they enjoy a lot and the ostentation of wealth is visible but in the everyday’s life they still eat in canteens, they still enjoy secular traditions and they listen to their traditional music. China is the centre of the world for Chinese people as much as Australia is for the Oz’s or South American for the Latin Americans. They are proud of their language; their traditions and they crack jokes about their food that seems so strange to us.

Chinese keep up with the western world, as this is a necessity for surviving and not being conquered or wiped off by the events. China knows that it has a special position in the world and keeps it. China could stop supplying America with cheap goods or even sell part of their debt and leave them with some useless papers but what for? There seems to be no war against China and even Dubya before the end of his first mandate had to do a U-turn on his idea of China as non favourite partner, thing decided by the previous administration.

Why should China hurt America? I read a lot about this potential Chinese ambitions in ruling the world and I think that those saying that are those that are used to a special perception of the world where conquering is the main ambition. Talking about Europeans and about Americans but even neighbouring Japan, for example. Sure China has a big influence in its geographic location but the idea of seeing the People’s Army at the door of Berlin makes me laugh as it does the idea of China being the main economic power in the world.

China knows that America is a big market and that without America they could stop producing everything they export and get back in the dark days. China needs America and Europe as much as America needs them. Sure the local market is growing and according to some statistics, they are consuming more and more, but the magnificence of these numbers are due to the fact that we are talking of 1.3 billion people… Just to give you some numbers… There are nearly 400 million smokers in China, 400 million mobile phones, 200 million Internet users, 100 thousand people die on car accidents every day, every day there are 880 new cars hitting the roads of the Capital… They look big but everything has to be considered within the big numbers’ rule.

Questions are puzzling me every day about this country and I am wondering, as European, if WE need China.
I feel so American when I talk about Europe... As if Italians and Swedish or Britons and Greeks had something in common… But my point is that Europe, a competitor of China in supplying means to America to allow them to keep up a certain standard of living, hasn’t managed to become a consumer market.

With the exception of Britain, Europe is a country of savers, the biggest investment a European does is purchasing a house and in many cases, that will be home for life.

In countries like Italy were salaries are very low, spending money is getting thinner and thinner and people are suffering a deteriorating quality of those who were European standards and social guarantees obtained after decades of battles. Public spending has been cut, services getting poorer and salaries are not growing while prices are climbing constantly.

China is a competitor for us and our politicians know it. Italians believe, or at least they would make you believe, that they are epicureans, they know what the nice life is and so on… I really wonder how many Italians really enjoy life. Our politicians are contributing to create hate towards Chinese because of their illegal activities, because of counterfeiting of the Made in Italy and so on.

On the other hand the same companies praise themselves for the quality of the Made in Italy but complain about the weak sales.

Of course if you buy a piece of lingerie in Italy, look at the Made in China Label and stick an Italian name to it. This is quality, that’s how the quality is made. And ask for an extortionate price. This is cheating!

Chinese know that and they even know that the same piece of lingerie would cost here the same price of Europe plus Tax duty! So, nothing better than cloning it.

I have been looking for a pair of trainers last week. Prices were ridiculously high until I got into a hutong (typical Chinese quarter) and I found some Puma “clones” for 20 euro. I didn’t have time to bargain but I could have certainly gotten for half the price, actually a friend bought the same for 60 Yuan. Same with a Micro SD card 1 GB, 15 Euro and underpants for 2.50 Euro each. No difference with the original CK or D&G I got in Europe.

So why can’t Europe create a cheap clothes market? If Europe is getting poorer, why can’t we create a pair of shoes that cost 20 Euro or a Tata car at 2500 dollars? Are we really bound to have high prices? Yes, we are. We have high social costs. A big waste of money considering that guarantees are close to zero these days.

We are the luxury suppliers to the States and the world. So when even rich people start crying we are stuck with our glittering shoes and posh cars.

There are known reasons on how China can afford to produce at low costs and I am not here to talk about them but what I see here is that China is a growing country but without the ambition of becoming a world ruler. For a country of 1.3 billion people, aiming to grow at the US level would simply mean destroy the whole world natural resources. Already our friends from the States have contributed and still are contributing to this climate changes, imagine if China decides to evolve itself into another US… It would be the end.

This is the China I see over here. A China made of honest people, hard workers indulging their free time, loving their traditions, curious about Cucasians but definitely not envying them. We all look alike, let’s not forget it and uniqueness is one of the things that attracts admiration and envy and we got nothing to be envied about. We all live at the same way, we all struggle and we are all loaded with debts… Nothing to envy about…

Let me tell you now something about last week events here.

Every single time I go to a foreign country I tend to walk for hours without any special destination. China has been the exception. No way I would get lost here… I tend to proceed in straight lines and avoid what seem to be shortcuts. The language is a big problem! So walking in straight lines I managed to get to a very Chinese area and entered the first big restaurant I saw… food was plenty, cheap and fantastic but what really gave me some thrill was the police raiding the place looking for someone… they found the lady they were looking for and handcuffed her. I was there looking, in the front seat, and I could hear only people shouting… and this time they were shouting not really talking. More policemen joined in and a few minutes later, business as usual…

It wasn’t scary but I felt uncomfortable. And with a never seen non-chalance, they continued looking at me and giggling as if nothing had happened before… I was a better topic than a police raid… Amazing!

I even learned that Chinese do not eat crickets… My daughter teases me all the times asking me if I ate crickets and when I asked the question they looked at me as if I had asked a westerner if they eat ants or roaches… But when I asked if they ate grasshoppers, the answer was a convinced and convincing “Of Course!”. Well guys… They got me lost there… I will try, one day, to cook some grasshoppers and some crickets, I must check the difference out.

Amongst the delicacies I have tried this week I have to mention the sea turtle. Absolutely lovely, presented as a risotto with sticky rice. A Shanghai specialty that I highly recommend. I was actually thinking of going on holidays to the Galapagos next year.

For more than a week, apartment hunting hadn’t given positive result even because it’s difficult to plan anything here. Clients show up at your desk and ask for meeting without even calling you on the phone, so you have to cancel any viewing. However I knew that there was a special place waiting for me out there, not far from the Forbidden City… And I got it! I am not looking forward to the commuting part… Jeez boys… if you thought that cars are for Italians an extension of their penis, over here in China they are THE penis itself. And they like showing it out! They love blowing the horn; it’s just an exercise to show that they exist. Pedestrians? Road crossing? I guess that it’s one of the most challenging things to go through the day with some thrill.
Another thing that surprised me is the total absence of coins. How nice not to have the trousers falling off due to the 1 or 2 pounds coins or the 2 euro piece of metal. When I asked about this oddity, thanks to my father request for some coins from China, I was told, as well, that the lack of coins is something typical Pekinese as in other cities they still have coins… What can I say, they must have melted them and used in the industry… so, dad, I am afraid, no coins from China! Hold on, hold on! I got one! Not sure where it came from but I got one!

Going back to last week Visa requirements, on Monday I was informed that all the paper works were ready, including the medical result and the papers were submitted for approval. It should take a couple of weeks to get everything done. Amazing!

“Tradition” is a magic word over here and “Superstition” is another one. They remind me very much of the Neapolitans up to my parents generation. Tradition, as in the Fiddler on the Roof… Tradition to be regarded has historical heritage. Something that hasn’t ceased to be during all the changes in China 20th century history.

Superstition is very much a stronghold and I have started myself looking at the horoscope after I read on the China Daily newspaper this oracle “for good or for ill, you tend to reflect behavior patterns of your peers. Instead, if you know that your personality is stronger than your companions, step forward and be the one who determines the mode of operation.” This was the horoscope for my sign on January 16th. I read it on the 17th and, believe me, nothing was more accurate than that! I was really shocked… I felt as if they knew me personally…

Concerning superstition, I have seeing a few apartments and none of them are on the 4th, 8th, 13th, 14th floor... And I found silly that Alitalia didn’t have row 13 on their planes… But I am Neapolitan and my bad luck number is 17… My apartment! 17th floor, apartment 17… this means 1717… As I was not superstitious until the 17th in the morning, I gladly took it… But I am starting having doubts… the 17 repeating itself… 17 the day, 17 the apartment, 17 the floor…

I even signed the contract at 17:00 for 17 months contract. Of course the day I signed was January 17th…. The house number is 18, though… That makes my day….

Superstitions and traditions impose, in China, that roses are sent to people in odd numbers… Same as in Italy where you send either 12 or an odd number… But over here the odd number is … 99! Yes, you can send 99, 199, 299, … 1,999 roses at the time!

In Europe we, men, would be ruined if we have to send roses at every occasion… Over here nothing like that! 50 euro and it’s done!

Reading the news I found some interesting articles about global warming. China is well aware of the on going mess and they are trying to do something and pushing people to be more environment-aware and I am not sure it will work but, for sure they talk about it, showing some spooky data about coastal city threatened by sea level rising and Yangtze drying up living more than 40 boats on the river bed…

I wouldn’t like you to think that I am the new Marco Polo… According to many he was not in China because he never spoke about the tea… Well, you might think I am not in Beijing because I never mentioned the Olympics… Over here the Olympic fever is growing, mainly amongst the organizers and the business… common people don’t seem to bother too much about the herd of foreigners coming in the country… For them it will be business as usual and a few more faces to giggle at and I am sure they will still be spitting the way they do now and smoke as much as they do now. Talking to some commoners I realized that they fear that after Beijing 2008 there will be nothing left from the spirit that accompanies the Olympic Games and I tend to agree. If you have ever been to Sydney Olympic Park you will know what I mean: a desolated place in the middle of nowhere that costs money to keep the electricity running… Why should China be different? What makes Chinese a bit more special than the Oz’s under this specific point of view. Buildings coming up like mushrooms, a two bedroom apartment rents at 13K Yuan per month but 130K Yuan in August. What will happen in September? What will the owners do with the apartments left over? Will sport fanatics stay in China? Some might do if they fall in love with local ladies or gents but I doubt that this will be a phenomenon worth of mentioning. In my apartment hunt I had to refuse a few apartments because in August I had to move out or, in some cases they were spreading the August rate on the whole year. The result is that in the same condo you find a 1, 2 and 3 bedroom at the same prices and some 1 beds more expensive than a 3 beds… I think that locals expect a true invasion… I frankly don’t think so. Plane tickets from Europe are still widely available but costs are rising. I really wonder if between now and August, China will learn to speak English and spit a bit less… I seriously doubt but I might be wrong. And some businesses realize that the Olympic “Bug” can be just fried thin air. In fact, a week ago I enquired about some serviced apartments and the answer was that they would have been happily rented (a 2 beds apartment in a very luxurious place) for 28K Yuan per month but August itself would have been 250K Yuan. A week later we are back to 26K per month, including August and, “please please please, don’t mention to anyone as this is a very special price for you”. Please guys don’t tell anybody around either… She just called again and the price is now 26K including tax (15%)… Can only imagine what will happen after August…

Another concern that locals have about Olympics is inflation. I am a bad guy, I told you about my embarrassing tipping habits, well, Americans are even worse than me, they walk around with a calculator… I hope that someone will program their machines with a 0% tipping rate so that they wont let me pay future costs due to their 4-weeks-generosity! I am sure that local shops will not find anything wrong in our American friends using a calculator all the times. They are so used to it themselves and, that’s a good one for you, even when they count banknotes they put them through the money counting machine, regardless of the fact you give them 1 note or 100. They will still let the single note go through!

On Friday I wore my first antismog mask… Well.. that’s what YOU Westerners think those masks are for… Wrong! They are masks to stop germs passing to other people. I was offered one by a colleague after a bit of saliva went down the wrong side… It wasn’t easy to let her understand that I was fine so, I accepted the mask and kept it on for the whole afternoon… So, be careful! It reminds me the joke that was around the net during Birds’ flu. A place full of chickens; one of them sneezes. All the hundreds of chickens move on one side scared by the sneezing one that starts laughing! And a human figure summons the cheeky chick with a “That’s not funny!”

A few words about the real estate agents… Well there are many fake estate agents around, rather than real. It’ a bit of a jungle. Just anybody can be an agent, there are more people showing apartments than tourist guides. It works more or less like this…

You reply to an ad, the person on the other side will become your contact. You go together to view the apartment. Normally there is another intermediary waiting for you and this intermediary meets the key holder and takes you to show the place. This is the easiest setting… If you don’t like the apartment but you like the place, the two intermediaries start calling around and you might reach 5 or 6 agents all walking together and showing you the places… Who pays them? How they share the commissions it’s still a mystery… However I was very lucky as I met an agent, her name is Ginger and her colleague Freena that work for this company http://www.beijingrealestates.com. They have shown me around and asked no compensation as they get paid by the owners. However I promised them a reward for their efforts and they managed to get me a place. Other people have been extremely nice and helpful, I have to be honest, but one of the faults I found in some Chinese people is listening… Extremely hard for them to listen at the point that the request for a place in an area where there are not too many constructing sites around led me in viewing a property with the carpenters passing by the bedroom window as if I was at a Gucci fashion evening in Milan… Nice leg, indeed, but not my cup of tea…Thanks…

There are so many more things I would like to tell you but… I leave it to next week, in the meantime, have a lovely week and hugs to all those I know and a thank you to those I do not know, from Sexy Beijing!