As the companies struggle the employees win

With company seniority numbers in the single digits, most companies here is China are desperate to attract and keep their highly trained and skilled employees.  To this end, at our recent management offsite, the company had everyone break into functional groups and come up with ideas on how to lower the turnover rate.  Although there were many novel ideas, the real problem is that there just aren’t enough skilled people available to support the astronomical growth rates, especially in the major cities. 

So my company has focused on trying to make the employees more of a family than of a collection of colleagues.  They encourage company team dinners (for most any reason (we have already been to 5)), as well as team sports and teambuilding activities.  So it is on this topic that I will spend the rest of this article.

This past weekend, Catharine and I were invited to join 49 other members of our work team and their families on a teambuilding outing.  So early this past Saturday morning we all boarded a bus and headed for the nearby seaside town of Ningbo.  This is a popular place with the Shanghai people as the drive is a pretty one and can easily be accomplished in less than three hours.  The route took us across what must be one of the longest bridges in the world; it spanned more than 40 kilometers.  For us our destination was what we thought would be a water park but in fact was an amusement park (small Cedar Point).  As we struggled with the local language we missed out on many things but managed to have a great time in the park and rendezvous with our colleagues at the appointed time.  As you can see from the picture below, I finally completed my list of participation in all the daring sports I care to participate in.  This one being bungee jumping.  The location was not as picturesque as Tommy’s bridge over Victoria Falls in southern Africa, but it was a thrill jumping off a platform from a height of 400 meters.  The real part of the thrill was actually the first 5 feet,  after that the anxiety lapsed and the free fall thrill began; I guess once you know you are going to die, you can relax a bit!!

The rest of the amusement park was fun but soon it got too hot and we spent the last hours lying in the pool at the waterpark portion of the park.  The temperature was in the upper 90s all weekend and the water felt great.  From here we went back to our 5 star hotel in Ningbo and dressed for our “teambuilding” dinner. The dinner was a great variety of Chinese dishes followed by way too much wine which is typical of these events; thus ended the first day. 

The following day we headed for the mountains (we were unaware that the east coast even had mountains) which were in the middle of the national forest.  The views were spectacular and we were all very glad that we were not driving a car no less a bus.  Unfortunately the winding roads got the best of those of us that might have had a bit too much to drink the previous night, but we still enjoyed the scenery.    During the trip we were surprised to see the biggest Bronze Buddha on the east coast.  It must have stood over 300feet high on top of one of the mountains.  Very impressive.

Our destination was the “drifting park”.  What we might call a white water rapids park.  So our group of 50 and what must have been about 300 other Chinese, boarded our rafts and headed down the river.  The river had quite a large natural drop which was enhanced by the “Chinese Builders” .  They diverted the river and added a huge concrete “slipway” where our rafts literally plunged down the rapids while taking on a full boatload of water; a refreshing feeling on a hot day. Our rafts continued down the natural river for some time until we encountered another man-made waterfall where we found that our bailing skills were once again put to the test.  After another series of sharp turns and more waterfalls we finally reached the main part of the river and rejoined my colleagues for a float through town.  We all had a great time and it was nice getting to know some of my colleagues and their families.  From here we headed back through the winding stretches in the mountains and back to Shanghai.  Most of the employees see these kinds of events (which are a bi-annual occurrence) as a reward and also believe it is a real sign that the company values their contributions and skills.  For us it was a great weekend away and a good time to get to know my colleagues.  I hope this will translate into more communication at work and more friends in the long term.

A worrying Imbalance

Here in Shanghai more than any other place that we have lived previously, we find the government continuing to try to control societal balance. The issues that the government fears more than any other is the uprising of the people and the people’s choices changing the balance of the fragile economic order.

I remember a story my dad once told me about the government trying to fix the inflation problem in Brazil.  It seemed that the government’s response to the rising inflation was to enact laws to force producers to stabilize their prices.  The ultimate extent of this “control” was when the government tried to control the cost of beer so the government enacted a law which controlled he price of a can of beer.  So, as you can imagine, the size of the can kept getting smaller.

I mention this here because it seems that every time there is an imbalance here, the government enacts some sort of control.  Case in point this time is the imbalance in the population, that is, in the ratio of boy babies to girls.  The ratio is actually improving from its worst level in 2008 of 114 boys to 100 girls, this year in Shanghai the ratio is 106 to 100 girls and 111 to 100 overall.  What this means is that by 2020, millions of Chinese men of marriageable age will be bachelors.  The worst imbalance occurs amongst the migrant farmers where the ratio is 121 boys’ to100 girls.  

So this week, the government started a new campaign of awareness and has banned “sex-selective” abortions.  It is also banning non-medical sex checks.  I must say I agree with bringing critical information to the masses and even showing the issue a little more critically than necessary,  but I stop short of enacting laws to “control” the population.  In the end the real change needs to happen in the societal views and cultural behaviors which focuses on the equality of the sexes.   They have a come a long way in having equal opportunities for men and women but the “son” stigma still exists.

Beijing the Royal City

One thing we have always found to be true in all our travels is that although the country or the language may change, the work remains the same.  Then enter China, it certainly breaks the mold. The most obvious difference is that all work and meetings occur in Chinese!  This may not come as a surprise to most of you but in all my other experiences, the working language has been English (even in Germany and the Czech Republic). 

This may seem a bit disjointed from the title of this blog entry but the reason I found myself in Beijing was a Yanfeng management meeting.  These meeting occur twice a year and always in a different location.  I think the purpose is really more team building and as a reward for hard work than it is to report out the status of the company and motivate the management.

Although it sounds great, I was really lamenting the fact that I would have to work on yet another weekend, and this weekend was to be near 100 degrees with high humidity.   So what was our first event, a plant tour and not just one, but four of them and needless to say none of them were air conditioned!  Although getting through the day was tough, it was more than made up for by the dinner and the great teambuilding (or should I say drinking) events that followed.  I had a great time and got the chance to make many new friends (or should I say drinking buddies).  It is very hard for me to meet people at work because I really do not interact with many of them as I am in the advanced group dreaming up solutions to problems you didn’t know you had.  So it is great that I can now strike up conversations with my “new friends”. 

Fortunately the next day was more team building, so with head in hand (because of the throbbing), we headed out to the Great Wall Of China.  I had been to the great wall some 25 years ago and although the wall didn’t change, the environment and the crowds sure have.  It was a logistically nightmare trying to get 350 people all going in the same direction at the same time but the staff did a great job and we really enjoyed the often strenuous climb on the great wall.

In 221BC the Emperor Qin unified the six states and set up the first unified kingdom.  In order to strengthen his authority and defend himself from the Huns in the north, he ordered that the wall of the six states be connected and then added more sections of his own.  This was the start of the great wall which was already some 5000 kilometers long.

During the second dynasty, the Han dynasty, the Hun became a stronger threat and Emperor Han Wu ordered the extension of the wall, it was now 10,000 kilometers long.  But the wall that we see today was built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 

Although the wall was built principally for defense, it never housed an army, rather it was patrolled by guards who would signal their counterparts with smoke signals which were passed along the wall until they finally reached the garrisons which were then deployed to cast down the attack. 

It was a great experience to see what dedication and hard work can accomplish, and I am sure this is the message that the planners of the trip were hoping to convey.   

So the next day it was back to propaganda and more group discussions, but once again the dinner was a fantastic experience with a Chinese show and great food. Then of course more team building, this time with some great wine and even the CEO got into it. 

So for our final day we toured the Temple of Heaven complex.  Now what was normally a beautiful location turned into a real steam bath!  Even the Chinese people thought it was unbearable, 102 degrees with 95% humidity.  But not to be beaten by the weather we soldiered on.  Actually the tour was great and the grounds were very beautiful, I especially enjoyed the “echo wall”. 

The Temple of Heaven or the “Altar of Heaven” is a large complex of Taoist buildings situated in the southern part of Beijing.  The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties (the builders of the new wall).  Here they would hold annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for a good harvest.  It is regarded as a Taoist temple although Chinese Heaven Worship pre-dates Taoism.

The temple complex was constructed by Emperor Yongle in 1420; he also built the Forbidden City.  The complex was expanded to its present size in the 16^th century by Emperor Jiajing.  The complex was inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1998 when it was described as a masterpiece of architecture and landscape. 

In ancient China, the emperor was regarded as the “Son of Heaven” and he represented heavenly authority.  Twice a year the Emperor would come here to pray for good harvests.  The largest of the ceremonies takes place at the winter solstice when the Emperor would make sacrifices to the god of the heavens.  The complex is comprised of many buildings for worship all with blue ceilings and roofs. The blue and gold colors were reserved for Royalty and no ordinary people were allowed to use these colors. 

The trip was a great experience, a great cultural learning opportunity and a great time to enjoy friends and colleagues. 

More pictures on Picasa:  https://picasaweb.google.com/116382736159542073538/Beijing#

Jian'an Temple Shanghai

Although the temperature was somewhat north of 95 degrees, we decided to leave the comfort of our apartment and venture out into the big city.  Today’s destination was Jianan Temple in the center of Shanghai. 

Jianan Temple was originally built in 247AD during the The Kingdoms Era but it was not referred to as the Jingan temple until 1008 during the Song Dynasty.  In 1216 this temple was relocated to it’s present day site in the heart of Shanghai.

The only item which still exists from the Ming Dynasty is the copper bell.  In 1903 The Chinese Buddhist Association used the temple as it’s headquarters, and Buddhist monks have been living in this temple ever since.  The temple houses a collection of bronze, calligraphy, paintings and Buddha sculptures from most of the dynasties.  We enjoyed seeing so many  varied Buddha representations in one location.  The most unusual was the Female Buddha made of one 30 ton piece of camphor wood.  In addition the temple houses a pewter Buddha, a bronze Buddha, a large jade Buddha, and a sterling silver Buddha. 

In 1983 the temple opened for public religious activities and in 1998 the temple underwent a massive reconstruction.  The results are nothing short of amazing. Its large complex is nestled in one of the most densely populated areas of Shanghai which may seem at first thought to deter from it’s charm but like most of Shanghai, it is a city of contrasts and this is just another great way of getting a glimpse into eras past.

Shanghai is full wonderful cultural sites and despite the weather, we had yet another great time exploring Shanghai’s  history.

More pictures on Picasa

A deviation from the norm.

This week I find myself in a reflective mood, reviewing the exceptional experiences that we had with family and friends over the past weeks and the road ahead.  The sermon this past Sunday seemed to tie my diverse thoughts and plans together.

Many times in life we find ourselves in situations where we know the solution is beyond our control and our understanding and we pray for help.  But recently I have noticed that we are really not praying for help or for a solution rather we are praying for God to justify our solution.  Now it may seem silly to believe that we know better than God how to resolve these difficult situations yet we find ourselves trying to convince God that he should agree with our solution and make the world right according to our vision.

Looking back I noticed this being my behavior when I started dealing with my Moms declining health.  I of course prayed that he would give her strength to fight this terrible disease and become her old self again.  Instead, God knew that she would be better off with him and thus found a way to deliver her in such a way as to bring comfort to all of us.  Although I still would have preferred by solution, I thank God for his.

The next instance was about 1 year ago. We were all praying for a solution to my sister’s issues and of course our solutions involved God making her “normal”.  God once again choose his plan but we can see the logic and the love in his solution. 

But this was all really brought to light recently when we were preparing to move back to Shanghai with our dogs.  We had done everything we could possibly do to make this plan work but it really was a flawed plan.  But instead of admitting that it was a flawed plan, we prayed for our solution (a cold day in the middle of July!).  Alas, it was not to be.  As I was bemoaning the fact that I would lose the comfort that they bring me for my difficult life in Shanghai,   the pilot came on the plane’s loudspeaker to say that we would have to wait on the tarmac for an hour before we could take off.  This would have meant that the dogs would have been exposed to 90 degree plus heat and another unexpected hour while they readied themselves for the 15 hour flight in a small crate.  Then once we arrived in Hong Kong no one was there to meet us, fortunately I reached them by phone and they said that they thought we were arriving the following day, this would have been yet another stressful event for the dogs.  And as if this was not enough, the next morning on the flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai, we had to wait another 1 hour on the tarmac but this time it was in 95 degree heat. 

Put your trust in the lord and he will deliver (his way!).  A life lesson well learnt.

In Search of a Better Life?

Although there are have been many surprising aspects of life in Shanghai, maybe none more so than the abundance of young Chinese girls/women with older (sometimes much older) Western Men.  It is a phenomena that caught us by surprise.  I guess it is really no wonder that they are attracted to the possibility of leaving their role in Chinese life to live abroad; but the surprising fact is that many of the “new couples” never leave China. 

Come to find out that of the 7 colleagues/friends that we have in Shanghai, 5 of them are now living with their Chinese girlfriends.  Now this is not meant as a typical percentage rather an alarming realization.  Although the potential benefits for the Western Men are obvious, so are the consequences.  Starting life over at the age of 45-65 is, in my book, is unfathomable.  For many of these young women this is their first chance for marriage and to have a baby.  So with that expectation, many of these western men really are starting new families.    

So is this love? Or something else.  It appears that this starts out with the enjoyment of a better life then many evolve into a comfortable / loving relationship.  The most surprising relationship is that of a friend of ours.  He is a Germany who is living with his girlfriend and their son of three years.  But the surprising part is that she is a doctor and owns a $400,000 apartment in Shanghai!  So there must something more than the obvious.

After digging further into cultural uniqueness, many people say that the Western men treat the Chinese women with more respect and involve them in much more of their life activities.  I do see signs of this but when it comes to equal opportunity in work, the Chinese culture is way ahead of most of the rest of the world. 

I am sure that there are internal struggles with these decisions as the family is very important in the Chinese culture but on the other hand, what parent would not support their daughter’s decision if they truly believed that this would give her a better life and a better life for their grandchildren.  So although I may never really know the reasoning for such decisions, suffice it to say that it is happening in record numbers and may have some small effect on the future of the Chinese culture.  In terms of the total population, this is an insignificant movement but it probably shows signs of unrest of a population that places more value on sons than daughters and where the possibility of a comfortable life is only a dream for many. 

Searching for a Role Model

I guess I first starting wondering about this issue while I was enjoying the Shanghai Auto Show this past winter.  And now you are wondering what I was perplexed about, was it how the country can afford to have some many models of cars?  Or why there are so many car manufactures in China?  Or how can a low income economy sustain such a huge industry?  Or how is it that they have the highest number of Rolls Royces, Astin Martins, Bentleys and Ferraris?  Good guess but actually this was not high on my mind, rather it was how do they find so many very tall Chinese Models (beautiful girls).  And let me just say that there were more pictures being taken of the models than there were of the cars (by far!). 

So although I know there are millions of Chinese on the streets everyday, I have yet to see a tall woman on the street.  So I asked one of my colleagues if they were actually from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan or some other Asian country.  He let me know that China is very proud of their “Models” and that the Shanghai Motor Show was all about the Chinese Models!!  Only the Ferrari stand was allowed to have Italian girls. 

But after I obviously insulted my colleague with this question I dare not ask where they grow them this tall.  Well they actually  borrowed a system from the Japanese.  Yes the Sumu wrestler system.  Now the two couldn’t look any more different but actually the methods are similar.  So come to find out, the girls are identified at and early age for their beauty and for their apparent capability of growing tall and are “Breed” this way.  Now as you can imagine, things can change so the Chinese have invented a procedure to cope with that as well.  Believe it or not, they have invented a surgery just for this purpose.  If you are a bit queasy then stop reading now.  They actually go in and saw the leg bones apart being careful not to cut into the bone marrow and then add steel “stretchers” to their legs and continue to pull the bones apart as the bone re-heals.  This can add as much as 4 inches to their height and is becoming a popular elective surgery.  So why are the tall girls preferred?  I think it is that the Chinese culture tries to model itself after the US culture in many ways and this is one of them.  They like the look of the tall American models but they prefer the Chinese culture, therefore there is a growing demand for this “LOOK” in a Chinese model. 

This type of surgery is gaining in popularity, and cosmetic surgery is becoming more popular as the middle class emerges.  The most popular cosmetic surgery is the Eye Lift, giving their eyes more of a American/ European look; this is followed by the nose lift and then by the breast augmentation.  I guess this should not be surprising but I must say I WAS SHOCKED!

So I think we all know that the Chinese are great at copying most everything but I never really thought that they would go this far!   I must say that it is very interesting to watch the culture grow at an alarming rate.  I guess if we were in their position and had the means to grow at such a fast pace and really did not know how to do I,t then we too would probably start off by copying the traditions of others.  They should be able to pick the good things of each culture and establish themselves as the best of everything but I see that they want to grow big overnight and that mean cutting corners (I eluded to this issue in my previous blog entries).  So as they continue to “SEARCH FOR A ROLE MODEL” I am sure we will see them slowly loose their own Chinese culture as they scramble for success but I just hope one day that they look back, remember who they were, and where they came from and restore some of the great things about the Chinese Heritage.  The one thing that I hope they do not loose is the “FAMILY”.  Today it really is the most important thing and even if they have nothing they are happy because the family is strong.