So, I have not posted in a few days because my days seem to only get longer and my body only seems to get sleepier! I forgot how rough traveling is on your body. If you didn't already know, I am in China and will be spending a total of 2 months in Southeast Asia including China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan. The first part of my journey is a three week study tour through my university that is focused on Retail in China. This was a great opportunity for me to get some international retail exposure as I will be working for a large discount retailer in the U.S. beginning in September. The trip is three weeks of non stop company visits and some tourism. We are up between 5am and 8am every day and usually not back to our hotel until 7/8pm every night, when we try to go out and see the city. Our days range from 15-20 hours and I can honestly say I'm already exhausted and conserving all energy I have! I can't believe the trip is almost over and all the stuff we have seen. We will have visited a total of 6 cities all around China and seen a ton of regions and the difference between tier 1, 2, and 3 cities (on a 6 tier scale). This is the first time in Asia and I am constantly amazed and sometimes even shocked by what I am seeing and experiencing.
Today, we arrived in Shenzhen, which is in the Southeast of China and very close to Hong Kong, our next destination. Shenzhen is home to many factories that produce a lot of the stuff you are probably using or wearing right now. It is considered a Tier 1 city, i.e. the population is more than 10 million people. However, we are all a little disappointed by Shenzhen because we just came from Shanghai, literally the Paris of Asia. Shenzhen is known for pick pocketing and does not have the array of delicious American food restaurants as the larger, more developed cities we've been to. One of the biggest reasons we're in Shenzhen is to go to the Wal-Mart China headquarters and visit a factory of another company. I'm very interested to see exactly what a true Chinese factory looks like and if we're just being given a "show". I'm also interested to see what Wal-Mart has to say about their COO (Chief Operating Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) resigning just days ago. Hmm.
So, Shenzhen cannot hold a candle or even a match to Shanghai and all of us really miss it. Shanghai is the largest city in China with a population of 23 million people. Yes. 23.Million.People. Although I've been here for a bit, I still cannot even wrap my mind around the sheer SIZE of China. And just how many people live here. As a comparison, New York City has a population of 19 million people. However, this size of a city is not rare in China. They have 160 cities with populations over 1 million people. Crazy! Shanghai is the most desirable city in China for most people because of its size, development, opportunities, and lifestyle. It's a veyr international city and has a ton of different kinds of foods and communities. This is due to the International Settlement that was made up of many different, small settlements from multiple countries which governed themselves and their own areas. Two of the largest settlements are the British and French. The British owned The Bund area, which is right along the river in Shanghai while the French had the French Concession.
I just finished reading "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See and learned about Shanghai in the 1930's and 1940's, during World War 2, the Japanese invasion, and finally, the revolution that would create the People's Republic of China and install communism in China. The book also covered Chinese immigration into the U.S. and how difficult it was to move to the "Land of Opportunities" for Chinese in the mid-1900's. I'm still embarrassed by some of the bad choices the U.S. has made in the past regarding other races and ethnicities, but that is a whole other post in itself!
Shanghai was just amazing. It had beautiful temples, great entertainment, nightlife, delicious food that was NOT Chinese food (I'm over it), and the best shopping (and knock offs) you could dream of! We went to a great Mexican restaurant on the first night and I had probably the best Chimichanga of my life, but that could be because I am not fairing well on the food here. I'm honestly an extremely picky eater, but China is the most difficult place I've ever had to eat. The food is...interesting. I basically feel like I'm on Fear Factor most of the time and most of us leave half the food untouched. The Chinese appetite and taste is just very different from anything Western. They eat off literally dessert plates and their meals consist of a huge variety of food that is barely recognizable by our group. I admit they have the portion sizing right, but I need and like hearty food instead of lots of veggies mixed with some weird meat and tons of more weird sauces and spices. The textures are what most of us are having issues with because things are mushy or jiggly or hard as a rock. It definitely has taken getting used to and most of us are thankful every time we pass a McDonalds, KFC, or Pizza Hut! I don't typically eat fast food at home, but here, it's a Godsend! Shanghai has the most amount and variety of American restaurants we've seen and allowed me to eat something other than KFC every single day. In China, they love their KFC chicken. In fact, KFC is doing way better than McDonalds! Another funny thing is that Pizza Hut is a fine dining experience in China. They don't do take out and serve wine and are actually nicely decorated. You also can get steaks, lasagna, and seafood! It's like a mini Cheesecake factory. Awesome. The other best part of Shanghai was the shopping. You probably already know that China is notorious for knock offs. Of everything. We have coined the phrase, "China is where IP (Intellectual Property) comes to die." We found these great markets that sell everything from designer underwear to knock off purses. And we went crazy. Haggling and bargaining is addictive and we became obsessed with it. The fact that we could get margins of 10 or 15% on products became almost a competition between us and we would run back to the group, trying to boast about our amazing deals and savvy negotiation strategies. Sometimes, we would pair up and go at it together, widdling down the prices until they hit, literally, rock bottom. Many of the shops were scared of our group, roaming the halls mercilessly, ready to do business and get the prices they would never offer another person. But, we were a sale for them and when you're dealing with a market with over 100 shops with the same crap, they are desperate to make some money, because no matter what, it'll be some sort of profit. You might be wondering, how the hell do they get away with selling knock offs that are actually realistic? Because the government does not care. This is a huge money making venture for many people in China and keeps many mouths fed and the economy running. And besides, those brands are making loads of money off of the huge, newly rich class in China. So, regardless of the fact that their intellectual property is being blatantly stolen, they are still making damn good money. This is either a very distorted win-win situation or a major ethical issue. What do you think?
After a few wonderful days enjoying the beautiful and modern city of Shanghai and saying goodbye, we flew down to Shenzhen, sketch capital of the world. Soon, though, we will be driving over to Hong Kong, which is a Special Administration Region of China, meaning they have their own currency and govern themselves, but receive defense and protection from China. I'm super excited to go to Hong Kong and will soon post my upcoming adventures in Southeast Asia!
In the meantime, Stay Vibrant!
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