The Land of Jackhammers

One of the easiest ways to distinguish cities is by the ambient noise. Cairo it was taxi horns, Mumbai and Delhi were rickshaw horns (higher pitch), Singapore was the continuous hum of air conditioners and Shanghai it is jackhammers. They are constantly jackhammering away in this city... 6 new metro lines, dozens of new high rises, and countless renovations in order to prepare the city for "Expo 2010". In case you are as ignorant as I am, the World Expo is a chance for countries of the world to come showcase their latest and greatest accomplishments. More info can be found here http://en.expo2010.cn/ I don't have solid proof of this, but I've been told that Shanghai is spending more on preparations for the Expo than Beijing did for the Olympics. Considering that altering regional weather patterns is relatively pricey, it should give you an idea of how big of a deal this is to China.

Currently, I'm staying with a computer programmer from the U.S. who graduated from Berkeley in 2008. My first weekend in Shanghai was thoroughly expat-heavy. We went to a party hosted by a German expat, where I met Swedes and Norwegians who had come for the eclipse, and then we went to a bar in an old Cold War bomb shelter. They even played beer pong... it could have been any frat house in America, but in this case the damp odor was a natural phenomenon, not caused by the accumulation of layers of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

While my cultural immersion was lacking at first, I have learned a few important things about China before my research even officially begins. First, I met so many people who were American/British and had come to China because this is where companies were hiring. They were willing to take pay cuts because the cost of living is still much lower than Western cities, and most of them love it. This is a trend that I think is going to accelerate in the coming years. Educated Westerners could struggle to find jobs in their home country, or they could capitalize on their youth and come to the "wild west" of capitalism. A member of the Circumnavigators Club chapter in Singapore told me that China is considered implementing an urban development scheme in which cities are in clusters of 4-6 separate cities, linked by high-speed trains (to minimize the need for cars). They would utilize high-rise apartments (no sprawling California suburbia here) and each cluster would house between 30-60 million people. Think about that... more people in one cluster than in Spain. The economies of scale are mind-blowing. Advertising, product testing, professional services... all would be vastly more efficient because so many people are so close together. It's hard not to be fascinated by the prospect. When I asked if Chinese people are going to learn English or if Westerners would learn Chinese, he responded that you learn the language of your buyer. Export-led growth made China focus on English, but if we want to reap the potential of the Chinese domestic market, we better start learning Chinese. I for one have learned roughly 3 phrases. Might have to work a bit more before I can start brokering deals.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the head of Microsoft China. After a great meeting with the head of Microsoft India (thanks Lisa for setting these up if you're reading), I am excited for this interview. After that, I am going to the weekly meeting of CouchSurfers in Shanghai and then catching up on sleep. This sounds terrible, but my motivation for sightseeing has diminished substantially since I began this trip. After a while, I think you learn that traveling is more about the people than it is about the sights. Maybe if I was staying in hotels my mentality would be different, but I have been fortunate to be able to avoid hotels (CouchSurfing has been one of the greatest tools of this whole trip). Also, being in Shanghai for so long, I feel like I'm getting a chance to adjust to a place a bit, instead of moving on every 4 days as in India. It's refreshing and it has taught me that my dream of living/working abroad is even more feasible than I first believed.

As I've mentioned before, this trip has taught me the importance of recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses (whether you're an individual, company or country). I might be terrible at haggling and put too much of a premium on convenience, but I have been impressed with my own ability to adapt. It's hard to change surroundings so often and I think I've been able to make the most of this breakneck pace.

Before I leave... a few pictures.


The President of the Singapore Chapter of the Circumnavigators Club, Mr. ANG Thiam-Huat and myself


Singapore's new casinos


Singapore skyline from the 72 floor