Shanghai to Xi'an

  Xi'an, China
Thursday, August 30, 2007

Thursday - August 30
This morning saw the conclusion of face-to-face business discussions concerning Monte's and Kane's compnies. We thanked him for being an incredible host during our entire visit to Shanghai. Kane, who is a US citizen also produces the entire line of company uniforms for Safeway stores in the US. He divides his time between Shanghai and Los Angeles.

Before coming to Communist "Red" China we had assumptions and expectations about what it would be like. Forget those, entirely. If you want to feel sympathy for a people who are slightly behind the curve of technology and modern innovation, feel sorry for Scottsdale and Phoenix. Where we have billboards, they have TV screens. Our most complex buildings and posh hotels would not warrant a glance here amidst structures pushing technology and archetectural design beyond that commonly seen in the West. Enter the Hyatt and you are silently whisked to the 54th floor in seconds to the check-in desk located beneath a 30-floor open atrium above. Next door, the world's tallest building is finishing construction. Entire skyscrapers become giant TV screens at night. The modern architectures of mammoth-sized skyscrapers, office complexes and condominiums are candy to the eyes, interesting to observe, and they are everywhere, going over every horizon to the point that ultra-uniqe is commonplace here. While Phoenix plans new light rail, Shanghai citizens ride magnetic levitated (Maglev) commuter rail with top speeds well over 400 kph. All their crosswalk signals display time until red light. Traffic alerts over highways are displayed in multicolor lettering. Gasoline is $1.60 a gallon and Chinese airports make Sky Harbor look quaint. Even our old hotel room had a motion sensing closet light, reverse osmosis sink dispenser, and the "Do Not Disturb" and "Please Make Up Room" notices were high tech bedside wall switches, not to mention electronic safe, and high speed Internet and room "keys" were cards you wave at the door. Kane's furniture factory produces two styles of furniture for two types of customers, Americans and Chinese. Monte asks to see the Chinese line and we are taken there. What do you think the difference between them would be? Chinese customers require more detail, design and intricacy. Kane states, "Making US furniture is simple, easy."

Shanghai Bridge

A huge bridge appears as an art form of fanned cables.

Driving on Bridge

Where is the poverty? Drive for 150 miles and you see rural versions of the same modern society.


Where are the Communists? We haven't seen anyone or anything that resembled a controlled or communal society. What is the future? Consider that Shanghai has become the "New York" of Asia in just the last 10 years. Everything old has nearly been torn down and replaced by new. Manufacturing and technology are cutting edge. Yesterday a Western businessman told me that he had just come from a lecture at the Chamber of Commerce. The leaders were stating, "Made in China" is fast becoming "Originated in China," an indication that trends and innovations in the world will soon be emminating from over here. The locals prefer automobiles made by Buick, BMW and Volvo and those brands fill the roads along with a lesser number of Toyotas, Mitsubishis and Hondas. But all of those vehicle brands are made here in Chinese factories. And English is not spoken here, even in international hotels. To get ahead in the new global economy, it seems one needs to be able to speak Chinese. Yesterday in the trendy "old town" of Yuyuan Gardens was a photo of those streets around the year 1900. Men here all wore robes and had waist-long pony tails and skull caps.

1900 Shanghai

Today they all dress in the same clothes they export to you and me. A top television show host sat nearby us at the posh restaurant last night dressed in stylish jeans. So was everyone in the group we joined.

Monte and I are on a new A330 jet from Shanghai to Xi'an, China's oldest city dating back to the Qin Dynasty of 200 B.C.. Perhaps we will find a different China there among the 7,000 terra cotta soldiers, horses, chariots and weaponry. But for now lunch on the flight is being served lunch, "Seafoo o pok?"

Xi'an is located 40km from the airport and we are riding in a hotel shuttle bus filled with Chinese tourists as Monte naps. The modern airport is in a rural setting punctuated by a new toll expressway bordered in intricately designed landscaping against an agricultural backdrop that is very reminiscent of rural Ohio and Indiana, though neither has an interstate comparible to this.

Chinese appriciate detail and complexity. This is seen in everything from their written charachters to their traditional clothing, art, music, architecture and even their cuisine. Americans, by comparison, are more straightforward and pragmatic in form and function. While we cook our eggs, meat and potatoes, they alter, marinade, sauce, reconstruct, recolor, retexture and reflavor nearly everything they serve. Then they create a separate intricate sauce for nearly every item. Each course is filled with a large variety of many different dishes only to be followed by another course of more intricacies. In contast saw an American dinner served last night, steak with steamed vegetables.The Chinaman ate a little and was bored with it. Another trait that is even more obvious is the need to push. Perhaps it comes from too many people having to get somewhere to have time to be polite. Whatever it comes from, they push. If you stand in line, you will end up at the rear of that line. Even when there is nowhere to go like waiting for the door of an airplane to open before exiting they climb over, go around, and just push. If a driver can get ahead of another by any means humanly possible, this will be attempted. A semi truck will leave a red light if he can get through the cross traffic. Sometimes there is too much room to have any need to push and they seem empty, lost in the vastness of a tiny void. The next time a Chinese tourist pushes past you, remember they are not being rude, they are being Chinese and Chinese push.

As we enter Xi'an the rain is falling on a less modern city more reminiscent of Detroit, perhaps as much for the weather as the architecture. The city is large with high rise apartments and tree-lined boulevards. During Mao Tse Tung's reign of the Cultural Revolution Kane told us that a 3-bedroom apartment had a family living in each bedroom. Our bus driver has a photo of Mao swinging on a red string next to his head. It is the only memento of Communism we have seen.

Xian Wall

The city center has an ancient tall wall that once defended what is now a continuation of the now seamless metropolis. Interesting old buildings and sights are scattered through the otherwise 1980's vintage city. We work our way to the hotel and sort out all the logistics of tomorrow's tour of the terracotta museum, walk the neighborhood, and after a talk over a a gin and tonic in the room, Monte is napping again.