China Rising!

I went to Wuxi and Shanghai of China last week to visit an old friend and business partner. My friend used to run a CMMI consulting company in Hong Kong but moved to China two years ago. My curiosity prompted me to go there and see for myself what could have tempted him to such a drastic change. It’s also partly my other business commitment that I had to be in Shanghai for a meeting with another business partner that week.

So I took the first flight on a Sunday morning, right after my last workshop in March. I started with a lunch gathering in Shanghai with two of my former colleagues at AT&T. They are still in the ICT industry and doing great. One of them became a senior manager of a US-based telecom, and another a senior technology professional of a global technology company. Both of them seemed to be in buoyant mood, just like any other professionals you would meet in China. They are optimistic about the economic growth and future prosperity of China. Like any other Shanghainese citizens, they were amazed about the trend of property price there. None of them would bet the price would go any higher, but they would not bet against it either. They just knew one day property price would go down, though nobody could tell when. At the same time, I could also feel the slight dissatisfaction of most people about the vast discrepancies between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. Better wealth distribution is really a big problem in China.

Swamped with people in front of the Bund; Only later did I know it's the day of re-opening after extensive renovation works of the Bund for the upcoming Shanghai Expo.

My friend picked me up at the Shanghai train station. The new Concord train was both quiet and comfortable, despite lots of people trying to get onto one of the many trains running around in the Yangtze River region everyday. Compared to the train trip which was really relaxing, the time spent in the ticketing office was far too tense, and unnecessarily long. Most ticketing booths were automatic, and one thing I really admired was people started to get used to staying in a line now (that’s something I was really pleasantly surprised and liked.) Having said that, there were just too many travellers. Well Chinese constitutes one-fifth of the world population so one thing you would not be able to avoid was people.

No it is not demonstration! It was just a popular tourist place near the Bund. Chinese people are much more disciplined in public place and beginning to demonstrate good everyday etiquette.

To be continued...