CHINA - pics

The most expensive brand name world-wide, also well-known in China - ENJOY!

Another very famous product from another famous brand - unlucky us, this product cannot be ENJOYed as often as we might wish to. (Porsche in Shanghai)

和谐号 - Harmony a very important goal for the Chinese government to reach for the Chinese society. With this train they are on a good way. 330 km/h from Shanghai to Suzhou! Worthwile being ENJOYed!

From the mud underneath the water, through the root, grown to be the most beautiful flower of the Chinese perception. The famous and most ENJOYable lotus flower. Is the lotus also a symbol for the development of mankind?

外国人！ A foreigner in Shanghai. A great sight, at least for me, as he is ENJOYing his bread while riding a bike.

ENJOYing a cigarette? Neighbourhood watchers in Shanghai. What a great life...

'Which one safes on gas?' A taff question for the growing Chinese economy and the new wealthy class. Why should they safe on resources, while others used to and still spoil a lot of resources? Don't we all just want to ENJOY life!

Metro in Shanghai, the best way to ENJOY modern city life's traffic.

Another shot of the Metro in Shanghai. High-speed for a better future.

Thinking about a lot of things going on around him? A man standing besides the road in Shenzhen.

Anyone ever seen that font type? I don't think so, and even if any Western company has a patent on that font type, didn't your forebears colonize China and steal a lot of wisdom through the force of violence?

China is moving fast. Not everyone is moving at the same pace, but the direction is set: Straight ahead into a better future for the next generation.

ENJOYing the sun in Zhuhai. But why do you protect your skin from these UV-rays? So uncool! Don't all of you want to be nice and tanned as your Western idols are? Stop caring about things like health...

Here we are, some stars, but no stripes! Does China make a difference?

Shenzhen the workbench

Today I went to visit a factory for water resistant LCD TV's. A small company in a clean factory environment. When we arrived the energy was halted already (a regulation by the government to control the massive energy consumption).
The manager of the company showed us around and gave us the chance to try and test their products.
The trip to the company was a nice experience by bus. We had to switch a total of 3 times, both ways, and drove through an uncompleted and extremely growing city. It is amazing how fast things change here. After a road has been finished it might not take long and construction starts again to expand it, to be able to deal with the huge traffic. I think they don't have a rush-hour here, simply because there is no opposite to that term existing. Whatever time of the day, roads are busy and crowded.

Hong Kong, Shenzhen and China (English)

I am back to the mainland, the motherland almost it seems. After a brief stop of about 8 hours in Hong Kong to obtain my visa to enter the People's Republic I arrived in the flourishing business city Shenzhen.
It is not as humid here as it is in Taipei, but there are not as many air-conditioners as on the island, so it still is pretty hot. One great rule (I really mean great) is that air-co's may only cool down to about 28 degrees. Sounds hot, but it is cool and a great measurement to reduce energy waste. The air-co's in Taiwan are so cold that it is almost nicer to stay outside in the humidity.

I am here to visit a friend and I can stay with a family. This is great as it is the opportunity to see more of the real China. Actually Shenzhen is a special place compared to other cities. It really is a melting point of all the different cultures within the great Chinese empire. People from all over the country come here to make a better living as business men or working in factories. All of them bring along their own customs, dialects and traditions. The real people of Shenzhen are barely existing, as the real Shenzhen is nothing but a small fishing village, located north of the great Hong Kong. That is one reason why the term 外地人 (people from a different region) is not used here, there simply are too few 本地人 (people from here) to use it.
The sphere might be somewhat close to New York or other immigrant cities during the time of maybe the late 19th century, when the US where the place to be for those hoping for a better live and making a fortune by working hard or even being smart. Of course the same downsides can be found here and there, today as well as back then. Quite some crime and a huge gap between poor and rich. But I was told that the actual presence of police officerers every 200m helped to reduce crime in boom-town Shenzhen.

Post 200: Shenzhen and Hong Kong (English)

Wow, after about one and a half year of filling this blog I have reached the magical number of 200 posts!

But anyway, I might be the only one interested in this fact, so I go on and tell about my China trip:

After a "nice and relaxing", but after all quite ok 24h traintrip from Yichang to Guangzhou, and another 1 hour in a Intercity like train, I arrived in Shenzhen on March 1st. Though I had my own bed in the train (even a softsleeper), I was pretty tired after arriving in the former fishing village and now pulsing metropolis of Shenzhen. Only the fact that I was not travelling alone and expecting to see my good old friend Daniel kept me alive ;-).

Shenzhen has litterally not existed until about 25 years ago and is growing at a typical Chinese and incredibel highspeed, that new city districts get finished about every year. The metro system is still young and only a couple of lines are finished yet, but it is a very modern and clean system. Just as I am used to now in Taipei. There are no really traditional sights in Shenzhen, but a few new ones, like an Ocean Park or an amusement park where the best touristical highlights of the whole world can be watched in miniature. I didn´t go to any of Shenzhen´s attractions until now. Shenzhen also has a very nice Southern flair, with beaches and palm trees throughout the city.

And besides that there is another not to ignore highlight: Shenzhen is located right at the border to Hong Kong. That makes it possible to walk into Hong Kong. And that is exactly what I did today. Walking across the border, stepping into the train and riding into one of the most exciting cities on this planet.

And I can state, though I did probably not even see 1/5 of the whole city: Hong Kong is the trip worth. You can do excellent shopping there (clothing, computers), seeing a lot of modern buildings (not as modern as in the booming cities of China, yet more established), a lot of Culture, typical Cantonese street markets, and more and more. And DISNEY WORLD (what a pity, we had not enough time to go there this time)

Another interesting experience where the people there: A lot different from the typical Mainlander, and more like the people from Taiwan. That means that everything is a lot more quiet, less dirty and relaxed, and people practice more of what Germans call Rücksicht, which means to look out for each other. People in the big Mainland Cities, simply tend to be more rude and everything has to be fast and furious. But as far as I am concered is this due to the developements people here and there undergo and things will adjust according to time.

We had a very nice day in Hong Kong, with nice weather and some "typical" travelling adventures....