China Plans Megacity ..... or Not

Did ya see the news recently about the plan by China to create a mega city of 42,000,000 people??!! Reports were broadcast widely from CNN to the internet. A good Aussie friend from Dongguan, Roger, sent me an article about it posted by several newspapers, including the Sydney Morning Herald and The Telegraph in London. The headline read:
Reading you will see that the city, basically already exists. It includes the area between Guangzhou, with its 25 million, to Shenzhen. So that includes Dongguan. Total population of around 42 million!!

But reading a later report from an announcement by a Guangdong Province official, the efforts are just to integrate public and commercial services. Not necessarily to integrate governments. It would be good to integrate transportation efforts, and other public services!

I guess it's already basically VERY BIG!! Question is, will it be just one mega city or just a big Province?? Either way, it's a lot of people!!

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong, mega city

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 10:06 PM Comments: 0

Nihao Neighbors - What a Great New Service!

My good friends from One for the Road pub in Dongguan, always send me newsletters to keep me connected with goings on back in my former home. Jason, the manager, had a little contest to see who could catch an error in his last monthly edition. Within minutes, he had over 150 entries. I wish I had that much interest in my blog!

They recently started offering a monthly classified newsletter for interested local businesses and individuals to reach the ex-pat community through the OftR mailing list. This month the Classified featured a most interesting new group. They call themselves Nihao Neighbors, for being the Welcome Wagon for expats to Dongguan. Nihao means hello in Mandarin. And this group of ladies states that they:

"have come together to offer guidance and information as you take your first steps toward the adventure of living in Dongguan, China. Yes, you CAN have a great time and meet some terrific friends while on this journey. We've been where you are and we're ready to help you get started."

What a great concept, and should be of great service to newcomers to the area. Wish they had been there when I got to Dongguan.

But what really got my attention at their website is a monthly feature: To Pee Or Not To Pee (toilet report)! Yes, it’s a toilet report! Where: “Each month we will feature a clean western toilet complete with paper and hand washing facilities.”

Remember how I showed on Facebook recently where Asian toilets are “squatty style.” Well, here they are helping new residents – particularly the ladies – know where to find “Western Style” toilets when out and about in Dongguan! Great new service!

Labels: China News, Dongguan

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 3:59 AM Comments: 0

Rain and Labor Strife

It's July, and that means rain, heat, and high humidity in China! I don't miss that! Rains have caused havoc across the nation. Economic losses are estimated at over $13 billion, but far worse, is the fact that over 500 people have been killed, many in the Guangdong province.

The wildcat strike is over at Honda, but the results there and with the Foxconn news, have had a ripple effect through industries in China. After workers received a substantial increase in pay at Honda and Foxconn, other factories have had wildcat strikes by workers expecting the same wage increases! Workers are becoming more knowledgeable and expectations are increasing. A general wage increase is being enacted, but with over 360 million internet users in the nation, word is spreading more rapidly about the increases and more workers are expecting the same. One friend informed me he had factories that had suffered absences of 50 percent of workers, because they hadn't received the same increases.

Even with the increasing wages and labor strife, China is still considered a prime industrial location. China Law Blog put together an interesting comparison of countries and their advantages, even considering current increases.

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 10:28 PM Comments: 0

Update

Before I get to some recent news from China, let me post again why I still maintain this site. I've been back from China now for over 2 years. I had to come back when my kidneys failed. I'm still awaiting a transplant (help if you can by checking my Favorites site for information), and doing dialysis daily.

But I still maintain this site to maintain communication mostly with my friends still in China. While there, I realized it isn't always so easy to find out what is happening right in your backyard or around the corner. And many others of you seem to just enjoy it. So here is some more news:

• Honda is offering labor concessions to end strikes impacting auto factory production. Organized labor is a new challenge for the Chinese.

• There has been a lot of publicity recently about the Foxconn factory complex in Shenzhen. At least 10 employees have committed suicide there. The complex employs over 400,000 workers, making electronics for Apple, Dell, and Sony. Many of other iPhone and iPad products come for here, and Apple is assisting in trying to assure its name doesn't get hurt in the publicity. The factory is increasing wages and adding "anti-suicide" nets surrounding the buildings.

• In a most interesting posting, The China Tracker blog of Forbes, is reporting that China is buying Hawaii!! It all has to do with how much of China owns of America's wealth. It's also all in jest, but a good read nonetheless!

• And have you ever heard of QQ? Well, in China it is hotter than Facebook! There are hundreds of millions of users. It's basically an IM type site, but very popular. Don't be surprised if you don't hear more about it in the US in the future. My good friends that publish the great English magazine of Dongguan, Here Dongguan, had a good article about QQ last month.

Good reading my friends!

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 3:30 AM Comments: 0

More News from Guangdong and China

Driving into Dongguan the fist time, I remember being awed by a new highway that crossed a big lake, Songshan Lake. A monstrous building under construction was pointed out to me on a point across the water. It was to be the new Hyatt hotel that I later frequented and enjoyed immensely. The development around the lake continues. The Administrative Committee of Songshan Lake Science and Technology just announced a major greenway corridor around the lake. It stretches 122 kilometers. That's over 75 miles for my American friends! It will even have bicycle rentals along the corridor. Wish I could get back to enjoy that!

Other news from Guangdong continues to lament about the rising cost of manufacturing in the province. Surprising considering the recent reports of labor shortages, the government has announced a minimum wage increase of more than 20 percent!!

The China Law Blog came out with a recent post, "You Want Chinese Workers? Think Outside the Guangdong Box". There are certainly still plenty of workers in China, and more interests is being given to areas other than Guangdong.

In an interesting post, NPR recently posted "Wait, What's the Difference between 'Yuan' and 'Renminbi'. Good reading and a nice audio on how to pronounce yuan and renminbi in Mandarin.

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong, Songshan Lake

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 11:12 PM Comments: 0

News from the Last Month

Sorry, but it's been over a month since I updated news I've observed about China and the Dongguan area. During that period, the Chinese Lunar New Year was observed. Many workers and other Chinese nationals made their annual treks to their homes. It is probably the biggest mass movement of people in the world. With it come some of the interesting points observed over the last month:

• Many migrant workers are not coming back to the Guangdong area after the Chinese New Year. A few years ago, this trend started, as many workers want to stay in their home area, or have been disappointed in pay and opportunities in Guangdong. Many lost jobs as the recession hit, and decided not to continue their migrant work, thus leaving the area in a severe shortage of workers - over 2 million by some estimates!

• Since the implementation of the "one child policy," there are now severe shortages of women. Unmarried men outnumber women by as much as five to one in the Dongguan area!

• Two police officers from Guangdong province have been reprimanded for holding extravagant family weddings where they received gifts from constituents.
  

• Free Market Mojo blogsite posted some very interesting facts about China, including: there are more Christians in China than Italy, and China will some become the largest center of Christianity in the world; and China has more than 150% more soldiers than the US.

• And Stephon Marbury is playing basketball now in China. His first game was in Dongguan where his team lost to the local team. ESPN.com has some interesting coverage.
  

That's all for now. Enjoy!

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 8:21 AM Comments: 0

Chinese Buy Mall in Wisconsin

Well, here is a twist! The Chinese have bought a dormant mall in Milwaukee, WI and plan to reopen it as a Chinese megamall:

Coming to Milwaukee: A Chinese mega-mall?

I hope it does better than the world's largest megamall in Dongguan, where it has become a ghost town!!

Labels: Dongguan, South China Mall

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 11:55 PM Comments: 0

Miscellaneous Notes

Guangdong Province to soon have new world records:

• Construction began this past week on the world's largest sea bridge to connect Hong Kong with the Guangdong province.

• The world's fastest train starts service from Guangzhou to Wuhan in Central China on December 26. The bullet train is expected to hit speeds of almost 400 km/hr. The current 10 1/2 hour journey will now only take 3 hours.

In other news from China:

• Asian Games will be in Guangdong Province next year. Land fights are erupting with developers where encroaching with villagers.

• Migrant workers number up to 170 million, and are now demanding more rights.

• In a recent NPR broadcast, the move of furniture manufacturing from North Carolina to southern China was highlighted. The news seems a little old now, but does relate the recent decline in exports and fewer jobs due to the US recession.

In a completely different issue and around the globe in Spain, new efforts to encourage organ donation, has catapulted the country to the highest rates of donation in the world.

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong, Guangdong News, kidney donation

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 8:18 AM Comments: 0

HSBC Champions Tournament

Its been great the last couple of days watching the HSBC Champions Tournament from the Shanghai area. The Shenshan International Golf Club reminds me of golf in China. Some of my best time in China was on the links at the Dongguan Hillview Golf Club, with my good golfing buddies Lucas, Leon, and Mitchell.

But I am reminiscing, and I really meant to focus on HSBC. The Golf Channel is showing the tournament on a time delay (not too many viewers probably want to watch in the middle of the night). And they are even repeating several times in the course of the day.

The Shenshan course looks much like Hillview, although not with Hillview's tall berms surrounding the greens for viewing. Amazingly, Shenshan, it is said, edged Hillview for the HSBC Tournament several years ago. Hillview would probably be better for spectators, but probably not long enough to be a challenge to Tiger and others.

Speaking of which, Tiger is challenging. Phil took the lead today, so tomorrow should be very interesting with two of the world's best vying for the win.

Try to catch some of the tournament if you can. And check the homes around the course. In true Chinese spirit, the homes are impressive. A few links to see online:

• HSBC Champions Golf Tournament website
• Shenshan International website - be sure to put in English and go to the photo gallery to see the course and homes!
• Dongguan Hillview Golf Club
  

Labels: Dongguan, Hillview Golf Club, Shenshan

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 6:35 AM Comments: 0

More News from Dongguan

Reports continue to come out that fewer workers are returning to southern China as economy improves. More are remaining in hometowns, creating shortages for some companies increasing production.

The Financial Times reports conflicting information on wages in the Guangdong Province. One estimate reports wages increasing 19-38 percent in the first quarter. But other sources claim they "see the opposite."

In an interesting twist, The People's Daily, the main newspaper of the Communist Party of China, is claiming Google is censoring some of their content. It has usually been the other way around!

It's Halloween season, and that means some big parties in Dongguan! Hollywood Baby Too and One for The Road will both be having special events. It's definitely one of the biggest party nights of the year. And also a little strange to see locals trying to understand why foreigners dress up in very weird costumes.

In some news, not related to Dongguan, more patients with failing kidneys are going straight to transplant and foregoing dialysis. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a transplant before having to start dialysis. I have now been on peritoneal dialysis for one year, and on the wait list for a transplant for 3 1/2 years.

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong News, kidney transplant

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 11:22 PM Comments: 0

Dongguan News

Interesting tidbits of news from Dongguan recently:

• Officials are probing reports of illegal racing in the streets of Dongguan late in the night; complete with betting.
• In a report of particular interest to me - reports of a black market for kidneys in Dongguan and other parts of China has surfaced with more details
• A Dongguan resident got stuck in an elevator in a hotel in Guanzhou and called his wife. He later stated: "I should have called the police." (Think he caught some grief over that statement?)
  

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 5:17 AM Comments: 0

From China Recently

News items of interests from Dongguan and China recently include labor unrest, arrests of politicians, and cultural shifts.

Dongguan reported job losses of 10 percent during the global recession. Exports are down 24 percent in the heavily industrialized city.

The higher unemployment has continued to raise labor issues:

• Rules to protect migrant workers are reportedly being "widely skirted" and resulting in many claims, but probably little change in management actions.
• Factory workers, killed a plant manager at a steel factory in Tonghua City during a riot.
• A mould factory in Dongguan was even reported to have locked toilets from employees, for use only upon permission.

Politicians in Guangdong Province and China are having problems of their own:

• Many big political names have been linked to graft and corruption and imprisoned or worse.
• The chief of airport authority was executed Friday after conviction.
• The former mayor of Shenzhen has been stripped of his membership to the people's provincial congress.
• But some things never change, as many of the politicians arrested have been linked to concubines, a practice still seeminly in vogue at top levels.

In one cultural shift, parents are now preferring their offspring are daughters. The glut of boys has caused need for more girls and is even economic considerations are being blamed.

In odd news, an old Chinese couple in Tanxia Township of Dongguan, is complaining about a neighbor girl that wears no clothes in her home with the blinds open.

You just never know.

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 10:36 PM Comments: 0

Cat is a "Winter Dish"

Well, that's what the article says: "We don't serve cat in the summer time. It's more of a winter dish."

Click here to read the whole article. It seems there is a backlash against cat as a dish in China. But in the meantime, you can still buy cat in the markets.

Labels: Cat, Dongguan, Guangdong

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 12:01 AM Comments: 0

Good Economic News

There is some good economic news coming out of Guangdong recently, for a change:

• Many factories closed previously during the recession have reopened in Guangdong. Of 1000 closed textile factories, over 700 have reopened.
  

• Employee demand increased 15% in May and 10% in June for Guangzhou and Dongguan. The only drawback is that due to so many migrant workers going back to their homes during the downturn, there are not enough available workers now for the openings.

• A very large steel plant has announced it is starting construction in Dongguan City to open in 2010.

Unfortunately, ethnic tensions remain high in China, but is primarily focused in the western province of Xinjiang.

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 3:58 AM Comments: 0

Seen in the News in China

News from China continues to be grim and concerning:

• Number of cases of swine flu continues to climb. Over 60 cases of H1N1 recently reported in Macao.

• The "great firewall of China" seems to be strengthening. Reports of blockage are up, and blogs I've often read are "unavailable".

• One blog did have an interesting if not bizarre story of the writers encounter of a knife fight at a Dongguan bus station, where the police did little to instigate things to a riot, but at the same time let the knife-wielding attackers leave without arrest, even though one person was visibly victimized and bleeding.

• A recent fight at a toy factory in Guangdong has been blamed for the rioting in the Xinjiang province, thousands of miles away.

• That riot in Xinjiang grew so violent last Sunday, that 140 have reportedly died from the conflict. The conflict involves Muslims in the western province of China.

Be careful over there my friends!

Labels: China News, Dongguan

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 3:30 AM Comments: 0

Entrance to One for the Road on Grand Opening Day three years ago!













Bar gets crowded at Grand Opening of OFTR!














Original scene outdoors at OFTR!

Labels: Dongguan, One for the Road

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 9:07 PM Comments: 0

In the News from China

Contrary to most opinion, China does seem to try to get ahead of trends, even when related to the environment. Shenzhen is currently considering subsidies for buyers of hybrid vehicles.

Weather conditions have been particularly difficult in Guangdong province lately:

• Two persons were killed and one is missing after record rains in the eastern section of the province.
• In a bizarre report, 10,000 homes were destroyed by mega-hail, while tadpoles were raining from the sky in Japan.
• Photos of Dongguan rains highlighted on this site.
• While officials in the Guangdong government were sweating in their offices on a recent Tuesday, under restrictions to reduce energy for the day, to understand the demands on the public. They must also not use private cars one day a week.

Speaking of cars, traffic was halted on a major highway recently in Jiangxi province by furniture dealers, protesting a proposed tax crackdown.

And a Chinese worker in Dongguan, recently stabbed and killed two of his Taiwanese employers last week.

Be careful over there!

Labels: China News, Dongguan

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 10:08 PM Comments: 0

Seen in Guangdong News

Recent posts regarding Guangdong:

• Guangdong area of China continues to get recognition as a "destination" for golf. The San Francisco Chronicle recently profiled the area's golf options, particularly the Mission Hills complex of 12 courses and the worlds largest clubhouse in Dongguan.

• Police in the Guangdong area continue to publicize efforts to "crackdown on criminal activities". More than 1300 police have been involved in Zhongshan alone.

• In an interesting twist of discrimination, a Dongguan investment firm has been accused of bias in hiring workers with surname Liu, just like the boss.

• And remember Mayor Nagin of New Orleans. He has struggled through the Katrina ordeal, but now has a new delima. He recently traveled to Shanghai on an economic development trip, but has now been quarantined in the city, since a fellow plane traveler has been suspected to have H1N1 (swine) flu. Enjoy the city - or probably just the hotel you're stuck in for now.

Labels: China golf, Dongguan, Guangdong, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 8:13 PM Comments: 0

Items from a restaurant menu in Dongguan - Spiced Donkey Meat on left; Snake on right

Labels: Chinese Food, Dongguan

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 2:26 AM Comments: 0

Travel Channel in Asia (Forget Seville)

Ahhhh!! ...... It's Samantha Brown climbing to the top of the Cathedral of Seville again! I feel like I'm stuck in a rerun of Groundhog Day!

But I look outside, and I'm in North Carolina. It's not Dongguan this time! What's going on?

Okay, it was just a local rerun of Samantha Brown's visit to Seville on Travel Channel. Unfortunately, that's the same show I saw over a hundred times while living in China. It was the default show whenever the China censors didn't like the ABC Evening News broadcast. Which was frequent!

But I have enjoyed a couple of other Travel Channel shows in particular recently. The best is Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods. He travels the world and tries everything and anything. Recently, I caught reruns of his shows from Guangzhou, Taiwan, Thailand, and Asia. Wow! It had me downright wanting some of those local specialties, like black chicken, duck tongue, tofu, and tea. ............Okay, maybe not the tofu.

I didn't get to where I loved the foods of Asia, but I certainly enjoyed the foods. The adventurous nature in the choices, the spices, and the settings were all great. And Andrew explores them well. He even visits the Guangzhou Reasturant where our company dined on a business trip to the city. And the fresh chicken with the yellow skin looks exactly like that I had almost daily from our company chefs.

The shows get rerun often, so set your DVR and travel from your home to these special locales in Asia. The Guangzhou show is next on June 8 at 2 PM EDT. Catch it if you can, and just think of me sitting there being served all the same "bizarre foods".

Labels: Chinese Food, Dongguan, Travel Channel, Zimmern

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 1:47 AM Comments: 1