A Bryson in China

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

News and Blog Info

It's been the rainy season in Dongguan..... something I really do NOT miss! Watching the humidity listed for Dongguan, I seldom see it below 90% this time of year! It has been so bad that rains have caused severe flooding:

• Reports indicate 86 killed and 16 missing.
• And reports were widely circulating in one area last week, that the mirage of a mountain appeared on the horizon. See picture and article here.

In some recent blog reports:

• My favorite China blog, China Law Blog, has reported and started a dialogue about the reported labor shortages in China and Vietnam, and what may be causing it.
• And I came across a very good posting at Fool's Mountain about How to Survive as a Foreigner in China.
  

Labels: China blog, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 12:34 AM 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

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

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

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 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

In the News - Guangdong & Dongguan

• The government is taking action on kidnappings of youngsters, particularly around Guangdong. Bold claims are that "child abduction will be ended" to stop the actions often by criminal gangs.

• Pork is falling in price, over H1N1 fears, and an oversupply created in the last few years.

• A Las Vegas court has convicted several Chinese for embellizing from the Bank of China, after fleeing Guangdong eight years ago. The scheme started in 1991, and continued after the participants came to the US. They have been ordered restitution of $482 million.

• And in a scary development, a factory manager in the Zhuhai village of Guangdong, released hundreds of snakes for religious purposes. Villagers had to organize to kill over 200 of the reptiles combing trees and roads!

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 10:50 PM Comments: 0

Dongguan & Guangdong in the News

Recent news has not been kind to Dongguan & the Guangdong Province:

• Two Chinese Factories Close; 7,000 Workers Fired

• China's Worst Nightmare: Unemployment

• And even from CBS's 60 Minutes: Following the Trail of Toxic E-Waste

Maybe China's actions today will help:

• From ABC News: China Announces $586B Economic Stimulus Package

Labels: China Business, Dongguan, Economy, Guangdong, Guangdong News

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 4:05 AM Comments: 0

Chinese New Year in Thailand

Thailand….. HOT! And I love it! Yes! I’m finally warm!

Okay I was surprised to find rain on arrival in Bangkok, but that didn’t last too long. In fact, it has cleared off and gotten extremely hot. And that is the usual conditions here this time of year. This is typically too early for the rainy season, and that is okay by me.

Meanwhile, China continues to suffer from the worst blizzard in 50 years. Just, when the country was all primed for this being the year of China with the Olympics in Beijing, instead the coverage it is getting is all about the travails of the migrant workers caught trying to get to their homes.

I even had the chance to catch both sides of the news on the subject too. In Hong Kong, the newspapers were freely reporting the unrest and dissatisfaction of so many workers in their difficulties in going home. While the newspapers in China and releases from the government sanctioned news agency, Xinhua, was reporting how things were coming together and that migrant workers were happily not going home. That is the way news often gets reported. It is probably a little of both sides of the issue, and neither is wholly accurate.

And believe me I’m sure a lot of workers definitely want to get home. They often do not have a factory home any longer to go back to, particularly in Dongguan. Recent actions by the government have increased costs substantially, and reportedly as many as 1000 shoe factories alone in Dongguan have closed and moved to other regions or countries.

Couple that with the fact that many workers use the Chinese holiday break to change jobs, and you have a lot of workers that have quit their jobs and no longer have anything to stay for in their home away from home. A newscast reported that as many as 38% of white collar workers alone use the break to change jobs! I knew that every year I have gone back to the factory only to find several of the office staff had not come back. I didn’t know the numbers were quite as high as reported, but that’s what they said on a CCTV newscast.

Labels: Bangkok, China, China Weather, Chinese New Year, Guangdong News, Newscast, Thailand

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 5:53 PM Comments: 0

More Guangdong News

Well, I guess I don’t see enough of Dongguan. I just caught some more interesting news about Dongguan today: “Pig Farms Banned in 2009.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of the 433 pig farms mentioned here. I guess I don’t have to worry about one being built near my apartment complex either now. The city has banned pig farms effective 2009. I guess that’s fair warning. But kinda rude in the Year of the Pig!

Be sure to notice the website that the article appears in too: Pig Progress. Interesting… huh?!?!

Labels: Dongguan, Guangdong, Guangdong News, Life in China, Year of the Pig

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 5:50 PM Comments: 0

Guangdong News

I missed a major news item from Guangdong recently. A cousin was kind enough to ask about one and send me the link. I had often wondered how this area could handle the demands of water for all these people. It may not be so well. Read by clicking here.

The other news event is more apparent. Daily my drivers are faced with difficult maneuvering past service stations along the highway. They have some kind of separation here for which stations provide gasoline to trucks versus general transport vehicles. And at the stations for trucks, the lines usually spill out into the streets blocking traffic at each. However, for cars, the gasoline must be more readily available, because lines are rare.

Today, we even stopped at one station for gas in our van on the way to work. As we sat there, several trucks pulled in requesting gasoline, only to be turned away. I still haven’t quite figured out the separation, but they were sure disappointed.

In the meantime, the lines continue to back up for trucks. They say that gas is still being regulated at a rate far lower than market prices, so refineries and distributors claim to be loosing money (read about it here). Even though it was raised recently, that only temporarily fixed the problem. A couple of weeks passed, and with the oil futures still climbing, the suppliers have cut back availability again. It’s pretty simple supply and demand economics, but without free markets, its effect becomes more apparent.

Labels: Dongguan, Gas Prices, Guangdong, Guangdong News, Life in China

posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 5:12 PM Comments: 0