Golf in Shanghai with Meiwa Corp!

December 8th I went with Matsui, Iwashita, and Takahashi to the Shanghai West Golf Club to play golf. It turned out to be a whole-day affair, and was an awesome day. We started early, leaving Shanghai at 5:30am and arriving at the golf course about one hour later. After some breakfast, renting clubs/shoes we hit the links. And it was COLD. Right at freezing when we teed off, it reminded me of golfing with ‘the boys’ during many Tri-Cities winters. My hands hurt just thinking about it.

One difference between golf in Asia and golf in America are some grounds rules. In America, as long as there is frost on the ground no one will be allowed to go out on the course (to avoid damaging the grass). Not so in China. When we started there was frost and a ground-covering fog about 6 feet deep. So, white grass and fog. Our first question: “How are we going to find our golf balls?!”

But after the second hole (at which point I had already lost three of the four balls Matsui-san gave me) it was smooth sailing. Sunny and beautiful. The course was laid out along a lake, with barges, fish hatcheries, and houses on stilts. Very interactive scenery. And just like on TV, the course was golden and beautiful. Only the tees and greens were green (and very well kept). The contrast was very vivid.

And of course, after golf we had a 3.5 hour lunch with about 12 Japanese dishes, beer, and Johnny Walker. I’m just glad the bai-jiu never made an appearance...we all slept well on the drive home!

Shanghai Symphony

One of the problems with such an enormous city, is how easy it is to forget how many great and/or unique things are offered in just about every corner. Last week I went with a friend to listen to the Shanghai Symphony, which turned out to be really great, but it’s too bad I waited until now to attend a concert. It actually reminded me of my years in concert band during high school, afterward I even dug out our Wind Ensemble’s performance at the National Concert Band Festival.

The Shanghai Symphony travels around the city, country, and world. This performance was in the Shanghai Concert Hall; a newly-restored theatre built in the European-era of Shanghai, and originally called the Nanking (Nanjing) Theatre. It’s definitely a European-styled building, surrounded by grass parks on two sides. This is surprising considering the high-priced real estate near Nanjing W. Road in the heart of Shanghai. The performance was “Viennese Glory”, a collection of compositions all written in Vienna, with a guest conductor (whose name I forget…). It was a really great change to my normal ‘routine’ life in Shanghai!

The changing city

I’ve talked to several people who visited Shanghai in the early 1990s, and then returned after 2000 to find the city almost completely unrecognizable. Well, that’s going to happen again at least once during the next 10-20 years.

Shanghai currently has one of the best subway systems in mainland China (second maybe to Guangzhou). There are four lines, and its really typical to use it conveniently every single day. But, before the end of the year, three more lines will open. And the same thing will happen next December. This means that about 13 months from now, the subway system will go from four lines to TEN lines.

Hard to imagine when you come from a city like Seattle, that is much more ‘developed’ but is still working on Line One.

Shanghainese family

About six weeks ago I sat next to a young Shanghainese guy in the dumpling place across from campus. After asking one question (What are you eating?) we had a good, half-english-half-chinese conversation, and we have been friends ever since. Monday night he invited me to dinner at his parent’s house, and I can definitely say that living in Shanghai and eating at restaurants for almost every meal is NOT the best way to enjoy Chinese food. There is nothing like a home cooked meal in Shanghai.

Of course, there was way too much food and of course, I was expected to eat most of it. That’s fine. Two hairy crabs, lots of fatty pork, Beijing roast duck, egg/tomato, lotus, veggies, and beef tendon soup was plenty. But the best part is the traditional Shanghai-family environment: The grandmother, parents, and child living together in a very small three bedroom apartment, closet- sized kitchen, one bathroom, and an entry/dining room with a nicer Mahjong-table nicer than the dinner table. Complete with a one-year old furball dog (Bao Bao), it was definitely was of the funnest nights I’ve had in Shanghai, and we didn’t even “do” anything. Incredible!

Connor Wingfield in Beijing

Seeing a photo of an acquaintance in a small office in Tibet is a rare connection. But, seeing a friend from freshman year of undergrad (I know, it was only 5 years ago for me) randomly in a bar in Beijing is enough to blow my mind. Wow.

Tibet

About 10 days ago I returned from my last sightseeing of the quarter. Jerilyn and I went together to Tibet, which was nothing short of an adventure. There we saw many eye-popping sights, which caused various emotions ranging from my amazement in the Tibetan pilgrims prostrating around sacred sites, anger with the dominating presence of the Chinese government over a completely docile population, speechlessness from a Himalayan sunset (and an Everest sunrise), disbelief at the sparsely-heated hotels in sub-freezing weather, and a longing for something not Yak-derived.

The trip truly was more than text can communicate, and can best be described as a succession of small excitements and surprises that somehow tied together. An important part was from the help our classmates Jwalant Gurung, Abi Devan, and Cortilia Lin, who connected us with contacts and travel companies that made the trip so memorable (including a couple ‘not so memorable’ moments!). It’s amazing how far the UW network reaches around the world: in a tiny 4th story office in Lhasa, I saw a photo including Ambrose Bittner (UW MBA 2004) who I climbed Mt Baker and Mt Rainier with last summer!

If you have the chance, go to Tibet. It’s cold. It’s desolate. But it’s unique and totally worth it. And for the record, if you take the train you *probably* don’t need the TTB travel permit J

I have posted almost 200 photos of the trip on www.picasaweb.google.com/mattkuffel

November 8, 2007: Trip to Nanjing with Bill Taylor (President of ITT Industries’ China organization)

Last week I had an incredible opportunity to spend an uncensored day-in-the-life of a senior executive at an American multinational corporation. I went with Bill Taylor to ITT Industries' new 400,000 sqft factory in Nanjing, China. He was going for the day to check in on its progress and to deal with some issues getting up-and-running, and invited me to join him. We spent four hours on a train, so had lots of time to talk and share perspectives. For simplicity, I’m just going to give a rambling list of our conversations:

• ITT in China (what products, why), Manufacturing quality in China, manufacturing safety in China, corporate insurance and EHS, China’s water situation, dealing with the Chinese government, Environmental issues in China: government action vs. government publication/announcement, Industrial equipment sales channel in China, the border between ‘relationships’ and corruption (would an American distribution model ever work here?), The type of people and organizations that western MNCs do business with in China (ones that “look like” western companies, and where corruption is not the primary requirement for success or occurs at organizations lower in the value chain), M&A, conflict of interest in the American sales channel, executive recruitment and building a team, company politics, spotting hidden agendas in a corporation and bringing them to the surface, promotion through networking vs. promotion through results, skiing and mountain climbing, how to go to Tibet, taking risk in your career and spotting key gateways to advancement, spotting and analyzing ambition

The conversations and overall experience was so interesting that I now have a new cause for confusion. In particular, the trade-offs in life. Undoubtedly MNCs can off a career full of excitement, opportunity, leadership, variety, and even social change, but what about the other aspects of life? Hmm...lots to think about. Life is interesting.

Fake money in China

I’ve heard so much about them, but finally I found my own counterfeit 50 RMB bill. I’m not exactly sure where it was passed to me, but now its mine. Cabs are supposedly the most common place to find a fake 50 (solution- don’t pay an 11RMB fare with a 100RMB note). The woman at Hello Pizza was the one who rejected it, but she was very helpful in explaining showing me the incorrect aspects, and even offered me some comparison with a real note. Now I can spot fakes on my own. Actually, this one turned out to be a really bad fake. It wasn’t even the proper size! The next question is whether or not to get rid of it…

Tibet planning adventure- Part I

“Half the fun of going to Tibet is getting there”… Now I know what Lonely Planet was talking about. Actually, all the confusion surrounds a single, mysterious document: the TTB (Tibet Travel Bureau) permit. Supposedly all foreigners must buy this, or risk being sent home (or worse depending on the current government situation!?). The easiest way to go is to pay a ridiculous amount of money and have a travel agency figure everything out for you. But, we decided to try to do as much on our own as possible.

Here’s a quick list of Jerilyn’s and my adventure trying to get to Lhasa legally:

• Scouring the Thorn Tree forum on Lonely Planet’s website. Lots of contradictory information about the TTB. Half of the posts say its useless and is never checked, the other half say it’s needed. Great. We’ll be safe and try to buy it.
  Tibet guide book. The newest edition is two years old. Yikes.
• Train tickets. “Must purchase at Shanghai Station 10 days before departure”. We went to our neighborhood ticket office and bought two tickets 11 days before our desired date. 49 hours on a hard-sleeper. 850 RMB.
• “Tibet is closed to foreigners since August, because the Chinese Army is training”, said the biggest travel agency in China. The Tibet Travel Bureau in Shanghai had never heard of such a rule. Why can’t the travel agent just tell us he can’t do the TTB? Let’s try a Taiwanese travel agency instead (Findchina)
• Findchina travel agency. Very responsive, cheaper TTB quote (550 RMB), free hotel room in Lhasa with purchase of flight out of Lhasa for departure. One caveat: must book a guide for 280RMB per day while in Tibet in order to apply for the TTB. The Thorn Tree forum told us that some agencies can get around this “law” of needing a guide, but this apparently this one cannot. But, after some more thought, is really good. It will be infinitely better to have a Tibetan speaker at our side than to try to organize it on our own from Lhasa.
• The agent will fax our TTBs the day before departure (or maybe the day-of!). Payment is remit-to-bank-account. This is a very popular method in China, but makes a westerner slightly uneasy...I’m told from my people that its no problem. So, I guess we won’t worry about it. Now, just need to find a fax number that’s safe.

November 3, 2007: Crabs at the lake

Crab is a delicacy in China. Especially famous is Yangcheng Lake near Shanghai (an 18 minute train ride outside the city), where the lake crabs are in season every fall. Last weekend Jerri, Kien, our classmate Jane (Xu Man), and I all went to the lake to have lunch. As we found out, the delicacy is not the legs as in America, but the yellow ‘guts’ under the shell. I’ll try anything once, but that’s probably it for this one (as with chicken feet, stinky tofu, beef intestine, and pig ears and snout). I admit that the crab was tasty, but my mind couldn’t get over the ‘guts’ part. I’ll stick to the legs. But even not from the small, hairy, lake crabs I China. Seattle seafood here I come!

November 6, 2007: Dinner with our e-Commerce professor

During the beginning of the second week of class, Jerri set up a dinner with our e-commerce professor. Our classmate Allen, from Vancouver (Taiwanese), picked the restaurant and ordered dishes. Mongolian hot pot, basically everything was Lamb in some form or another. Lots of bone-in pieces of meat, complete with a straw used to suck out the juice inside the bone. The meat was delicious, the bone marrow was strange but also good. Professor Chudzik told us some stories from his tenure at General Electric, where he had some opportunities to sit in meetings with Jack Welch. Nothing too out of the ordinary if you’re familiar with what kind of personal Jack Welch at GE was, but it was very interesting to hear from someone who saw it first hand.

October 30, 2007: Dinner with Meiwa Corporation

Jerilyn has also covered this incredible evening in her previous post. Thanks to Yoshi for putting us in contact with such a great group of his co-workers from Meiwa. They treated us to an evening of great Hunan cuisine, drink, and conversation. One of the funniest quotes of the night: Matsui-san pointing out a dish to everyone saying, “Watch out for this one….tomorrow morning!”

By far the most memorable part (my memory fades after the infamous Chinese white wine came out, served in HUGE tea cups), was the communication. So many great stories were told, songs were sung, introductions were made, all in a combination of Japanese, Mandarin, and English. What a great challenge it was to communicate, but success was incredibly rewarding, both for the speaker and the listener. I feel like all of us connected that night, much more so than in (seemingly) similar situations that arise in America where you may end up eating and drinking with a group of unfamiliar faces. Maybe it was the language barrier that actually brought us closer together? Maybe it was all of the warm personalities, open for anything? Or maybe it was the white wine, sake, and beer?! Whatever it was, I look forward to keeping in contact with this great group of friends in the future. There are talks of a golf outing in China in the coming weeks, are you in Paul?

Paul was traveling in Tokyo during this week, so couldn’t make the trip with Heidi and Annie. We all missed him (although I didn’t need any more encouragement for gan-bei!), but are very happy he had his own great experience in Japan with a new group of great friends. What a great experience for all of us. Thanks again Yoshi, Jerilyn, and Paul!

October 29 - November 7, 2007: e-Commerce

This course is not nearly as exciting as International Business, primarily because the professor doesn’t seem to have the stories and experiences as El Namaki did. But perhaps he just can’t convey them to us, because he does have considerable experience at General Electric. A lot of the topics discussed are very basic, and not ‘differentiators’ at all in respect to have doing business online, or creating an online presence. I mean, at this point in time, all of the information about website design, content, security, and search engine-friendliness are pretty much baseline for doing anything online. Basically, it seems like a lot of basic knowledge.

Fabric market

Before heading to Beijing to meet the rest of our family, my brother and I stopped at a fabric market in Shanghai to have some suits made. We spoke with three stores, and finally decided on a smaller one with the colors/fabrics we wanted. Supposedly they had everything, imported fabrics from around the world, any style you want, etc. But the prices argue the opposite. I think everything was made in China.

The verdict is still out on how ‘custom’ these suits are. Even though we pointed to pictures of what we wanted in terms of fit, they probably just took our measurements and made us ‘ standard chinese’ suits. Oh well, I guess if I can’t tell for myself then I won’t worry about it. They look and feel good and were insanely cheap (less than $100). Good enough for me.

October 18 – October 28, 2007: The Kuffels Do China

The last two weeks of October my family came to China. Nick came to Shanghai on the 18th; we spent the first afternoon around my apartment and then went to dinner with a big group of people from class (thirteen in total: Stefano, Jerri, Kien, Jerilyn (with cousin and friend), Kimi Fan (with friend), Laetitia, Mathilde). After dinner, about half of us went to Hengshan Road and had a few beers at one of the many bars.
On the second day, Nick and I had a flight to Beijing to meet the rest of the family (9 in total: Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, and the Zhous). At about 9pm we all met in the Beijing airport; and started what would be one of the best parts of my time in China so far.

My parents, brother, and I stayed in Beijing for 3 days while the rest of the group went down to Tianjin to see a new condo purchased by the Zhou’s. After seeing the Great Wall, Tiananmen, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, the four of us joined the rest of the group.

What would we do without Mr. Zhang? Our driver was awesome. The negotiator. He never settled for anything, and always seemed to catch the hotel/restaurant/stores trying to add line items to our bill. When the hotel staff is too slow in ‘talking to the manager”, just go behind the desk, into the office, and talk to him yourself! When there’s a traffic jam, get out and direct cars into open space so that you can get through yourself. When you miss the last exit on a freeway to is closed up ahead, turn around and drive the WRONG WAY back to the exit. These are life lessons.

In Shijiazhuang, the whole group did a walk-through of the factory and saw for ourselves what Lawrence Zhou and Florian are working on. There’s a ton going on, and its constantly changing. Part of the current happenings will give me the chance to meet and spend time with Bill Taylor, the President ITT China. ITT is an American multi-national, with most of its businesses in water resources and fluid control systems. On the way to the airport, we again had to negotiate a closed freeway (due to thick fog). We used backroads, and this was the second time I was truly scared to be in a car in China (the first was driving through a land-slide zone in a ‘micromachine’ bus at Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan Province). This time, the visibility was about 20 meters, we were going about 20 mph, and constantly swerving to avoid the trucks and cars who were using the oncoming lane to pass! Why change your driving habits just because of some fog? We were all braced for a collision.

Shanghai was the last stop on the trip, and the main focus was shopping and seeing my day-to-day life here. I showed my parents and brother the rat race that is the Shanghai subway, then my apartment, and campus. Going to campus was tied really well, right when classes were out so they had the opportunity to meet some of my friends in the IMBA program (Mathilde, Laetitia, Ben, Margot). Lawrence arranged a day-trip to on of the three water-towns near Shanghai. We went in a 20-person bus, about 3.5 hours each way. Normally bus trips like this are pretty miserable with the bumpy roads, traffic jams, loud trucks, car exhaust, etc. But this was different because we were all together and had a bus to ourselves. It’s very rare for us to have so much time together, in America its usually just for a day or two, or even for just one meal. We had lots of fun, mainly telling stories and teasing each other.

October 4 – October 10, 2007: Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Zhaoqing

I visited three cities in southern China on this trip, going to each to see friends who were living there

In Gaungzhou I met with Ivy Chen. She was in the same Finding Your Voice class as I was last spring in the UW MBA program. She came to Seattle from mainland China where she now lives again (working for Colgate). This was the first stop on my trip to southern China, and Ivy and her husband were excellent hosts. Here are a few of the trip highlights:

• The food: double skin milk (yes, skin), pigeon, chicken feet, oysters, and sweet sesame dumplings, to name a few.
• Cruise on the Pearl River at night: On a large dinner boat, with lots of young people. The weather was hot, and so was the tea. I was still sweating at 10:00pm
  Historical sights: The Chen Clan Academy (set up by the Chen family, of which Ivy and her husband both belong, to educate its members), Tomb of the Nan Yue King (an archaelogical site, complete with the remains of the ancient leader and his royal staff), Orchid Garden
• Home Inn hotel. The Southwest Airlines of the hotel industry. Really incredible how they do it- less than $25 a night, with the looks of a typical hotel chain in America. Started by the founder of c-trip (a really successful online travel booking website in southeast Asia

Hong Kong essentially felt like a weekend-trip to America. It is nothing like China. High prices, English speakers everywhere, and a more civilized society.

• Old East meets New West. A very interesting contrast between what seems like an older Chinese culture (that is, not affected by the Mao-era reforms that the mainland went through), and western-wealth and status symbols. The super-high class lifestyles can of blindsided me; famous brands were everywhere, as were nice cars and lots of lights.
• Paul, Annie, Heidi, their classmate Rachel from UC Davis, and I met in Soho on Hong Kong Island for dinner at a Cuban restaurant. It was a really great break, as I had been craving meat and cheese for some time. It had both! The streets in this area were very unique, filled with international cuisine. Shanghai also has this, but the key difference is that in Shanghai these restaurants aren’t centralized, and the staff is usually 100% Chinese. This is a key difference, and the food seemed very authentic. The prices were ‘real’ too!
• Civilization. Hong Kong citizens are much different than mainland Chinese. Even though there are still many people in the city, it seems more personal, and people seem to acknowledge each other. Also, there is far less smoking and no spitting on the streets. Paul said this is because there are rules for all of this (illegal to throw cigarette butts on the ground, and illegal to spit). Maybe there are too many rules, but I definitely like these two.

My last stop was Zhaoqing, to visit a friend I met this summer through Andrew VanSchoiack. Pat is working at a clothing manufacturer in this manufacturing town, and living on site as well. From my two days there, I was a bit jealous of his opportunity to see so much about doing business in China and (being the only English speak at a facility of about 1,500) learn about the culture and language so quickly.

• Being here gave me flashbacks to the movie that Heidi Blair organized last winter, China Blue. It was about the terrible environments that exist at many clothing manufacturers in China. I was really pleasantly surprised to find this company was totally different. The owners were Hong Kongnese, and treated the employees really great. Pat gave me a tour of the factory, from rolled fabric to finished product. Lots of being stared at, also.
• This was a great opportunity to practice my mandarin also; we spent most of our time hanging out with a few of his coworkers, and a group of security guards. For some reason, everyone gets a kick out of foreigners.

First course at SJTU: Impressions

The first class of the quarter, International Business, ended today. Overall it was a good class, highlighted by an outstanding professor (Dr M S S El Namaki) and a challenging classroom environment.

El Namaki was born in Egypt, and raised in Holland. Probably about 60 years old, he now lives in Dubai but spends most of his time travelling all over East Asia teaching executive programs at various universities, corporations, and governments. His career is not 100% clear in his bio, but was revealed during his lectures. It has included McKinsey, Philips (Holland), Time Magazine, followed by consulting with many governments (China, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Egypt,..., European Union). To say the least, he offered personal experiences for just about every issue raised in his lectures and by the students.

Kien and I agree, he would be a great candidate if a Fares Boulos replacement was ever needed. His lectures, selected case studies, and follow-up stories definitely imparted many meaningful strategic lessons and theories into my brain. It was more effective than Fares.

Here's how the classes progressed:

45-75 minutes of lecture, followed by a live case, all having China flavor. The case was typically presented in print media or video. Afterward, groups assembled for about 30 minutes to create a presentation using material from the lecture. No PowerPoint- just poster paper and markers. Definitely 'on the spot' thinking, group organization, and problem solving. Of course, depth of analysis was lost in these quick cases, but the shear number solidly drove his lectures home for me.

The classroom environment was a distraction, however, and often frustrating. I didn't think I would use "shhhh" so frequently in my life ever again, but Kien and I found ourselves doing it almost daily. It is clear that the interest in education, the level of respect for classmates, and the level of professionalism is much higher at UW than at any other program represented here. What does that say about these programs? One thing is for sure- they are definitely not the same as an American MBA Program. As jerilyn said in a previous post- excessive talking was prevalent every day. During lectures, during presentations. We didn't have the 'luxury' of a seating chart as we did during our core classes at UW (hah!) but the absense rate would have been embarassing as well.

Overall, it was definitely a worthwhile class, but we'll see what the next class brings soon.

But first: some time for travelling!

Bicycle update

I don't think it will last 3 months. Let's recap:

Purchased the bike 10 days ago.
Day 6 my pedal fell off. Seriously. 25 RMB to have a street-side bike repairman fix it.
Day 8 the other pedal was threatening to falling off. 1 RMB for another repair man to do some preventative wrench turning.

I guess it can be expected from a $25 Chinese bike bought at a French mass-retailer?

Other symptoms of 'new' Chinese bicycles (also bought at Carrefour):
- Nuts and bolts spontaneously fall off.
- Seats gradually 'recline'.
- Rear-wheel moves forward. Chain repeated falls off of sprockets.


Luckily, there exists one solution to ALL bike problems: The mobile repairmen. Someone should do a Porter's 5 Forces for this industry.

A typhoon and a bike

There are two ingredients one needs to become indistinguishable from a local:



1. A typhoon

2. A bicycle



















That's really all, because most foreigners in China wouldn't even think about riding a bike in a torrential downpour.. And wearing a bicycle-poncho means only your face is visible- no problem because in a typhoon it's raining so hard no one can see your face anyways!



And while it's hard to believe until you experience it, the bicycle poncho is far dryer than walking with an umbrella. Buying a bike was a good choice. Hope it isn't stolen (and that it doesn't fall apart in less than three months!).

Easy steps to finding housing in China

Finding housing in the states is pretty easy, right? There are lots of options:
-newspaper ads
-online classifieds
-driving around your desired neighborhood, writing down phone numbers
-Real estate agent (a last resort, esp for low-budget students)

Unfortunately it's not the same, and more difficult, in China...

Here are the steps to finding an apartment in Shanghai:

1. Find as many housing agencies in your neighborhood as possible. There are plenty, and yes you need a housing agency- there is no open market for apartments other than two or three websites, but the selection/location there is still fairly limited.
2a. If you can speak mandarin- tell them what you want (#Bdrms, lease length, location, price range).
2b. If you cannot speak mandarin- find someone who can, ask them to help you
3. Look at as many apartments as possible
4. Decide
5. For short term leases, plan on paying all of your rent, plus 35% of one month commission, plus one month for deposit ALL upfront. For my roommate and I this was over 25,000 RMB. Writing a check really isn't an option either. Just bring cash (yikes!)
6. Move in!

This is how it went for me, and it was pretty stressful. Especially if you don't have a mandarin speaking person to help. The housing agencies are hit and miss- from really friendly, sincere, and willing/able to speak a little english...to the other end of the spectrum of unhelpful people who actually seem to make fun of you while you are standing right there. This is why you need a mandarin speaker.

I suspect that this entire industry will not last forever. Younger generations in China are beginning to use the internet for nearly everything, and once the majority of the Chinese population begins using the online classifieds that already exist, there won't be a need for the agency middleman. During my process we had an interesting situation- when we went to view the apartment, the previous tenant, apartment (condo) owner, housing agent, and myself were all present. Immediately the agent became very nervous, because it would have been incredibly easy for the owner and I to make direct contact to cut the agent out of the loop. But this didn't happen...otherwise my roommate and I would have each saved 875RMB!

Now we are all moved in, and can finally relax.