9/16

9/16 8:40am CST

http://picasaweb.google.com/105909573807230408134/9_16?authkey=Gv1sRgCK37uoydkejAbQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEgUspdlx4k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VWEsqsaBp4

After probably the first serious workout I've had over here, I showered and stumbled down to breakfast.

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In the morning, we went back to our old neighborhood in Beijing. Beijing is _my_ hometown. This vacation is a triptych of home scenes. There is my dad's old home, which I've covered. There is my mom's old home, which we'll get to soon. And there is my old home, which is the always changing city of Beijing. From my earliest childhood of 20 years ago to now, Beijing has been a mental beacon for who I am and the national Chinese identity. Not only is it a real thing and a real city, but it's also a symbol in my mind for the nation.
New Yorkers love their city, and say that all of its deficiences are simply character. I feel the same way about Beijing, despite having been on a 20 year diaspora.

When I was born, my parents lived inside the 3rd Ring Road, near the outskirts of the city, in a neighborhood called Hepingli, the Peaceful Acres. Our apartment sat in Hepingli Area 4, one of 7 areas making up the neighborhood. Many of my memories before coming to the US are from these city blocks. At the time, there were a lot of dirt roads and small flats in that part of Beijing. It was a relatively undeveloped part of town. Initially we were supposed to visit some other tourist site, but so attached am I to my memories that I made it our mission to walk through our neighborhood again. So we detoured and walked from our hotel on over to Hepingli. We first went through a park called Ditan, the Earthly Altar. When my family had a free moment, we would walk out to the park and play. Today there was some sort of book fair going on and there were tons of stalls selling new books. Didn't ruin the scenery, really. It was a quick walk through the park. And now we were on Hepingli Street, which of course borders the neighborhood. It took my parents a couple of minutes to figure out where there were, as literally every shop and every building has changed since we last ever lived here. But eventually they got their bearings and we walked down the street looking for Area 4. The apartments of my early youth were 2 floors, and very small. They were on their last legs even when we left China back in 1989. Soon after we left, they got torn down to make way for the ever expanding development emanating from the center of the city. When I visited it 1997, every block was a still pile of rubble, waiting to be rebuilt. Now in 2010, there are by current standards very small 6-floor apartments standing in Hepingli. This part of the city isn't under much pressure to develop more, but who knows how long before these apartments are demolished, too? Anyways, on the end of each block, a sign is posted on the corner of the building advertising what area it is. We right away saw the sign for Hepingli Area 3. So we were definitely close. After much looking around, wondering if the Areas had been redrawn, we found de facto Area 4. There was no sign for it, but there were some huge trees that must have been standing back in the old days. I tried my hardest to orient the streets I saw to the ones in my mind. To map this new neighborhood to the place from before; where a delivery truck once bumped over a pothole and spilled some of its cargo of eels, causing all the neighbors to spill out and run off with some free eels; where a friend and I very naughtily plucked a big cucumber from someone's backyard garden and toss it into a pit dug for a new septic tank a few meters away, just to see how long it would take to fall to the bottom (we aimed it to land on a pile of poo that some other genius had thought to contribute, but we missed our mark). I have no idea if my orientation is even close. But these streets and that line of trees is, for now, all I'll ever have of my old home. It's a fitting measure of progress that, in my parents' hometowns, not enough has changed in the countryside to take away their old homes, but in Beijing, my old home is already long gone. Think of it another way --
there's a little irrigation ditch running around Beijing that I always thought of as the city river. Along the concrete banks of this river, there used to be a dinky little park with a couple of stands for kids. One of the things that I always remembered through the years was this MiG 17 fighter jet. I don't exactly know the story behind it, but it was an honest to goodness fighter jet that was put up on a pole. If you wanted, you could climb on the wing and into the dusty cockpit and pretend to fly. I did that quite a few times. Even got back into it in 1997. I figured I'd visit the MiG this time around, too. Couldn't find it. We even called up our family friends to ask them about it. As soon as she heard the question, my aunt said, "That thing? Long gone." Again, I suppose it's only right that after so long, with the civilization of the city on the rise, that this dusty relic of the Vietnam War sitting on the side of an algae-choked ditch would be an amusement too far beneath the new generation. The Cultural Revolution said to throw away anything that is old, which went too far. The attitude in Beijing now says to throw away anything that is old and has no value. I think I can accept that.

Let me give you a brief history of the city. Over the centuries, China has had several capitals. Xi'an was the ancient capital when the empire was first unified. Then there was Nanjing (South Capital, relative to Xi'an). Then Beijing (North Capital) was built over the ancient city of Yanjing. It was the Ming who constructed the Forbidden City, which remains the center of the city. The confluence of ancient and modern history at this point is, for me, one of the great attractions for me. Refer to this diagram:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFeMfD3Zd6LhCALzT6h-kwRov31Ndd8mHkMJIbPH3ZBsWHLTkjPywDo7IkRnTsq6UHDTNC53VpEGBo6n24iA4MqiWlD0mRp0bpXBrfgHqkeEtz9WK5ZEAh_OD4dOJGMUtlz-B63b39vBpO/s512/9_16%20061.jpg
The Forbidden City's front opening (Tiananmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace) faces due south, after the ancient tradition. In old times, there was a straight path out to two ceremonial gates, through which all entrants to the Forbidden City must past, the Zhengyang Gate, and then the Front Gate. The area the Gates and the Forbidden City is now the location of Tiananmen Square. Mao stood in front of the masses standing in Tiananmen Square in 1949 to proclaim the founding of the People's Republic. From there, most of the modern structure has been built in symmetry around Tiananmen Square. West of the square is the Great Hall of the People, and to the east is the National History Museum. Both of these are massive, blocky and symmetrical Communist block style buildings, and certainly lend plenty of character to the square. In 1955 (so following the bloodshed of the Korean War), the Monument to the People's Heroes was erected in the center of Tiananmen Square, in the line between the Forbiddden City and the front gates. In some sense, the souls of visitors past and visitors present would thus be obligated to pay their respects to the people's heroes when entering through the front gates in the south, since it would be the first thing they see on their way to the Forbidden City. After Mao died in 1976, it was decided to house his memorial in Tiananmen Square. His huge mausoleum now completely blocked out the view of the Forbidden City when entering the gates. Over the years, trees have been planted around it, and now a fence further sets the building off in the center of the square. My politics on this progression is almost verbatim from the book Almost a Revolution. Which you should read. China is a huge country, and it owes its modern existence in large part to the sacrifices of multitudes of ordinary citizens. In that context, the Monument to the People's Heroes is a worthy memorial to the people themselves. Its base is decorated with socialist realism styled bas reliefs of the anonymous many advancing into symbolic battle. The inscriptions on the sides of the tower are dedicated to no particular person. It is a small but potent reminder of how so much was done by so many in the service of their country. Compare that to the expanse that is Mao's Memorial Hall, which, although it is open to the public free of charge, is like a tomb in the style of the Phaorohs, serving to deify one man. If you look back at the diagram, you can see how much larger a footprint it occupies in Tiananmen Square. In my youth, there was no fence around the square, and there was no special cordoned off area around Mao's Memorial. The square was open to the public to walk in and enjoy from all sides. It was a completely usable public space in addition to being the center of the city. Nowadays, after civil unrests that have raised fears of a 9/11-like incident, there are security measures in place that make the square feel rather more hostile and reserved. Despite all these changes, I was still totally charged walking around the square and seeing the Monument to the People's Heroes, which even brought some tears to my eyes. It is from this point that the essence of Chinese identity still emanates -- the various old and new buildings being the respective standard-bearers of ancient tradition, revolutionary zeal and conviction, and a modern dose of greed and xenophobia. It is around this point that the Ring Roads circle the city, each new road built another layer in the tree trunk of progress.

When people ask me where I'm from, I say Beijing. It may be a simple fact for them, but in detail, the above describes what being from the city means to me.
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Lunch was put on by the cousin who drove us around Beijing when we got there initially. He took us to a really exclusive spot. The restaurant was on the 6th floor of some ultramodern building that was packed with Western brand shops and stores. There was a Subway across the floor from the restaurant, as an example. That's the thing -- even now, I bet patronage to a place like Subway is at least 50% fueled by the desire for conspicuous consumption. If nobody sees you eating at Subway, an American deli, you probably wouldn't ever go other. So I doubt a Subway on the 6th floor of a fancy building is going to cut it. I certainly didn't see any customers there. The restaurant was called Wuyutai Inner Court Restaurant. We ordered a set menu for the 4 of us. It was a good variety and showed an incredible refinement applied to traditional Chinese food. Overall, I'd say it'd be a very high-class and appealing introduction to Chinese cuisine. The waitstaff was also much better trained than at other places. Not only did they never show any attitude like at other even pretty nice restaurants, but they were also discreet -- they didn't feel like they were hovering over us the whole time trying to prove that they were providing incredible service (which other places failed to do plenty of times, like seeing that I was out of my drink). That place wasn't terribly expensive, for a foreigner. I would probably recommend it first as the place to eat at Beijing.

At some point after lunch, we went over to the National Center for the Performance Arts, or something like that. It's refered to as the metal bird egg. I was really not feeling this place from the outside, but the inside of it feels very pleasing. I know nothing about architecture but I thought that the huge variety of elements inside bordered each other harmoniously, without any clashing. I took a lot of panoramas that tured out well, imo.

After that, we went to "Old Beijing" south of Tiananmen Square. It's pretty much a tourist trap, but it is decorated like Beijing once was, and does house some shops that legitimately have been in those spaces for over 100 years. The first order of business was to get some yogurt, now refered to as Old Beijing Yogurt for tourists' sake. It's served in a little stone pot. If you want it chilled, the pot cools you hand a bit and makes sure the yogurt is cold for the 30s or so it takes to suck it up the straw. Chinese yogurt is liquid enough for that. Old Beijing yogurt should be sweet but also sour. It has to be just right, or it would be really gross. The first spot we got some, it was like 5 yuan a pot. We found another place selling for only 3, so we had to have it again to set off the initial expensive batch. They actually tasted pretty different. I would definitely have it all day for 3 yuan a pop. We didn't really end up buying anything, as the shops, despite their age, were selling nothing of interest and didn't really have the character or old Beijing neighborliness to match the illustrious history.

At dinner, it was my mom's classmates and some of their children. I also happened to invite an old friend of mine who's been in Beijing for a couple of years now, to pick his brain on stuff. He showed me his corporate office and also his apartment, where we had a reunion with his wife, whom I haven't seen for as long. Because of the details of our talk, I guess I won't reveal his identity. Let's just say he works for an internet company. We talked for a long time and I'm still digesting some of the stuff. I don't have time to type it up nicely now, but I give notes from the two topics of our talk.

Google marketshare was increasing until conflict with Chinese gov got them to abandon the market. Which made it the only web company with any success in China.
avg turnaround time in a tech company 1.4 years
average lifespan of chinese company 2.9 years
companies tend to favor degree relevancy over eliteness of college. My friend does opposite
renrenwang cofounder notes:
- from the outside, any industry looks saturated. When you get on the inside, there's always holes you can identify. Not always actionable, but there will be holes.
- in any new venture, there will be a series unanticipated obstacles. To make it out, you have to keep detouring and changing it up a bit to go around the obstacles.
A senior Google China or Baidu engineer can see 25-50k/month.
The overhead of making a sale in China, given the business culture, is so enormous that it's hard for foreign companies to make headway against adequate local competition. "Excel has 100 functions, but I only use 3 of them. So anybody's product will do... It's about who throws the best parties and gives me the best kickbacks."
Chinese competition on the web is especially strong because there's so little sunk cost in the web industry.
State companies, because of their wealth, can be a good target for business development. You just have to convince them to try your product/service. If it is ok for a couple years, they'll stick with you for life and never deviate because of the cultural aversion to change.
Ultimately, the way to close the deal with such a company is to woo several top people at once so that they're all willing to jump off the bridge at once. A good tactic is to convince them that the move will make them look good to their superiors.
This sounds similar to how some conduct business in US or probably anywhere, but is to such an extreme degree in China.
It's easier to do set up a startup with huge potential in China than in the US. I can't remember his argument.


.5% own 70% of wealth
avg income of 99.5% is 1000/month
avg income of .5% is 500k/month
No bond and equity markets because of limited quality business in need. State biz has no need for issuing bonds. Central planning + nationalized banks + no competition == $$$ for state companies
Because no other consumers of excess money, housing market is the only sink of investment cash. Rich people buying up houes left and right, at pretty inflated prices. These aren't even houses that the middle class, which he defined as 15k/month households, can afford. Two bad outcomes:
- all the luxury units being built could be rotting in 10 years from lack of demand
- without careful urban planning, which would include high capacity projects, large cities like Beijing will suffer urban sprawl and might not support the projected 300 million Chinese who will urbanize through 2030.
Tax structure favors rich getting richer at a very rapid rate compared to the US. Resentment of the superrich on the rise, and evident on the BBSes and on the streets. THe sentiment could boil over and cause nat. change on taxation
The national goverment is aware of these issues and within the constraints of extant politics, it is doing a decent balancing act. While it does have ultimate control over # new housing units created, it tends toward keeping up the hot momentum of foreign and domestic building, as opposed to truly reigning in the inflated market.
His apartment's rent is $1000/mon, but to buy would be almost $1mil, which is obviously inflated.
There are some parts of Beijing real estate that are luxurious and exclusive enough where the inflation still might be worth risking investing in. There's this area out past the 5th Ring Road that's going to be the new Zhongguancun, where all the new web tycoons are living. That place might be really posh in a couple years. The original Zhongguancun is basically China's humble analog to Silicon Valley. Back in 1997, it was a bunch of dirt roads, guys lugging around boxes of pirated software, and rickety computer shops.