Shanghai Scrap

I’m in the midst of deadlines and they”ll require my undivided attention through the weekend. So, more likely than not, there will be no updates here until Monday. That is, if I know what’s good for me.

Before signing off, though: a hearty recommendation for the second half of the interview that Andrew Sullivan did with the Atlantic on the occasion of his current cover story. I say the second half, because that’s the part covering his career as a blogger (mind you, the first half is plenty interesting, too). Believe it or not, Sullivan was one of the original bloggers (yes, he really was), and his thoughts on the medium are grand:

There’s an enormous intimacy that blogging fosters between a blogger and his readers. My particular blog, which has been around for eight years, has always had that feeling … [d]oing it in real time creates an astonishing relationship between reader and writer—I think unique in the history of writing—which is why I’m fascinated by this medium and why I’ve stayed with it even though it’s grueling.

I mean, how many writers in their lifetimes stumble across a new medium like this? This is about writing in a whole new way. It’s never been done like this before. So here you are, present at the creation. We only have one life to live. If you’re a writer with an opportunity to be part of this, why would you pass it up?

And on that note — see you after the weekend.

[P.S. While away, I'll be listening to Raising Sand, the wonderful new collaboration between Robert Plant and Allison Krauss.]

I have an uneasy feeling that I may be the last person in Shanghai to notice that there is a pharmaceutical dispensing machine on the edge of the city’s best (if not largest) fake market. And even more uneasy to think that such machines are common throughout China – if not the world – and thus I am setting myself up for some “where have you been, pal” comments to this blog. So be it. Here’s the machine:

Close-up of the sign:

All concerns about buying medicine from vending machines aside – I harbor serious doubts about anyone who considers purchasing ‘medicine’ from a vending machine stationed outside of a mall stocked with fake LV purses, fake ipods, fake sports jerseys (Johan Santana replica jerseys available for RMB 100!), fake whatever. But what do I know (after all, I’m the guy who thought Starbucks would fail in China)? After the jump, photos of how to purchase drugs from a vending machine: (more…)

Over the last month I’ve spoken to several Chinese factory owners who claim that their biggest challenge is the rising price of skilled and semi-skilled labor. In Tianjin, for example, two separate owners told me that the price of skilled machinists had risen 30% over the last year to roughly RMB 3000 (US$378) per month. New trainees can expect to be paid roughly RMB 1000 (US$126) – and factory owners can expect to lose them to higher paying employers within weeks. One owner complained that rival machine shops post recruiters outside of his factory gates, offering higher salaries. (to which I say: good for the machinists).

Above, a photo of a very modern Tianjin machine shop outfitted with Chinese copies of American and European CNC machines. According to an American machine shop owner from the Midwest with whom I am friendly, the cost of running such a machine in the US is roughly US$2000 – US$2500 per employee, per month (including overtime). In China, unlike the US, machines shops generally assign two machinists to a CNC, and thus – as of late – skilled manufacturing costs in Tianjin are approach one-third of those in the United States. That may not seem like much, but – when shipping and all of the trouble of supervising Chinese quality is figured in – it’s high enough to make US-based manufacturers think about going elsewhere – or home. Which is what was on the mind of the owner of this factory when we discussed the price of Tianjin’s labor. “I don’t know what we’ll do if the price goes up much more,” he told me. “We’ve lost the margins that brought people here.” In the midst of this conversation, I paused beside a window facing the machine shop’s backyard, and saw this scene:

In case the photo isn’t clear: eighteen employees were spending the day (or two) cutting the dry grasses behind the machine shop by hand, using scythes and pocket knives. When I pointed out to the machine shop owner that a power mower could have finished the job in an hour, he replied that it was cheaper to send his company’s army of low [no]-skill employees after the problem. Unfortunately, he was unwilling to reveal the cost of the human lawn mowers – or the cost of renting/buying a power mower. (more…)

Over at WorldChanging, Mara Hvistendahl asks: “As an amateur runner in Shanghai’s half-marathon on Sunday, I wasn’t overly concerned with my time. But what was I doing to my lungs?” Her answer is an interesting essay that touches on Beijing’s efforts to improve its air quality in advance of the Olympics, what it feels like to run a quarter mile behind a diesel-spewing bus, and Shanghai’s dubious marathon route. Recommended.

As noted by Shanghaiist, a recent fatal explosion at a gas station in Pudong is garnering international attention. No surprise, the international coverage doesn’t mention a cause because – let’s face it – no Shanghai bureaucrat wants to be the one pinning responsibility on China National Petroleum Corporation, the state-owned oil monopoly that happens to own the destroyed station. So the blame game is left to the folks at Xinhua who, predictably, take the path of least resistance and blame those who can’t retaliate:

Improper work practices caused Saturday’s blast at a Shanghai gas station that claimed four lives …

And who did the work? A thirty-year-old from Anhui, and a forty-six-year-old from Jiangsu. As it happens, the only local entity involved in this blast is the company hired to do the maintenance:

The two workers were employees of the Shanghai Pacific Gas Co.,Ltd. and the municipal administration of work safety is trying to determine if they received proper training for maintenance work.

In other words, the “municipal administration of work” is looking to blame this accident on somebody other than China National Petroleum Corporation, which owns the exploded tank. Which is ridiculous, because responsibility for this accident belongs – squarely – to China National Petroleum Corporation – a conclusion easily drawn from Xinhua’s hand-waving: (more…)

I suppose it’s too much to ask a major environmental group to say something funny about lead-contaminated toy exports from China. Which is why I didn’t ask. But the Sierra Club, the US’s leading environmental advocacy organization, decided to try their hand at lead-related humor, anyway, and the results – in cartoon form – are now available for everybody to see. Entitled “Happy HoLeadays” [note to Sierra Club: not clever], the Sierra Club’s perky flash animation turns out to be a minor (and surprising) surrealist masterpiece starring a creepy little character named “Spacey the Lead Elf.”

[that's a Chinese toy factory in the background; more screen captures after the jump.] (more…)

Sunday morning’s Shanghai Marathon, to be specific.

Today, Xinhua ran its second story in a week claiming success in reducing the amount of explosives available for criminal use in China. Unlike the week’s earlier story, which only provided statistics on the overall decline in explosive-related crime, today’s story provided numbers on just what’s being seized and destroyed – in a remote, 80% Tibetan county, on the edge of Sichuan Province:

• 19,676 guns (of which 577 are “used military weapons” — how’d they get those?)
• 4,725 kg of dynamite (!)
• 236 hand grenades (!!)

As big as those numbers may seem (to me, at least), they’re mere fractions compared to the seizures that took place from June to September of 2006, during what Xinhua characterized as a “national crackdown.” Among other items, that crackdown took in: (more…)

To all of my friends, no matter where you are – and what you’re eating! – I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Earlier this week the South China Morning Post reported that Fr. Joseph Gan Junqiu received government approval to be ordained as bishop of Guangzhou on December 3 (Papal approval was granted earlier this year). According to a very reliable UCAN report, no date has been fixed, but preparations are underway [My thoughts on the Guangzhou situation can be found here.].

More important, the UCAN report includes news that two additional Chinese ordinations are imminent: Francis Lu Shouwang will be ordained bishop of Yichang on November 30; and Father Joseph Li Jing is tentatively scheduled to be ordained the co-adjutor bishop of Ningxia on December 8. (more…)

No surprise, China has become a recurring feature in US presidential debates as of late. And no surprise, each candidate is attempting to top the other in demonstrated ability and willingness to “get tough on China.” But so far as I can tell, Hillary Clinton is the first candidate claiming that she has a track record of getting tough with China.

According to the New York Times Politics Blog, on Tuesday Clinton delivered a speech in which she claimed this:

I went to Beijing in 1995 and stood up to the Chinese government on human rights, women’s rights.

That’s an awfully strong claim. Is there anything backing it up? (more…)

Cheap freshwater pearls are an entitlement in Shanghai and Beijing. Locals tell me where to buy them; expats tell me what to pay for them; and tourists like to show me carry-on bags filled with them, destined for listing on ebay (US-based flight attendants are very well-represented in this last group). Which brings to mind a question: how is it possible to sell a nice-looking string of pearls for US$5 or less (I say “nice-looking” in full acknowledgment of the fact that I am 100% ignorant in the jewelry grading department)? Maybe I’m missing something here, but I’ve always thought of a pearl as a semi-precious (at least) jewelry item – and not a commodity.

Enter my pal Randy Goodman (of the Carolinas Recycling Group), who traveled to the Zhuji Pearl Markets in Zhejiang Province last week (about 250 km south of Shanghai). According to Randy, and a brief google search, Zhuji is the heart of China’s cultured freshwater pearl industry. And now, thanks to Randy, we have photos of what the Zhuji pearl harvest looks like:

After the jump, more … (more…)

Today, Xinhua reports that explosive-related crimes in China are on the decline, with a mere 2,727 cases (involving 6,593 people) committed from July to October. Now, by my count, there are 131 days in those four months, which means – using China’s own crime statistics, that:

Between July and October, a daily average of at least 20.81 explosive-related crimes were committed in China.

I write “at least” because – presumably – not all explosive-related crimes were reported and/or caught.

So what is an explosive related crime? According to Xinhua, there are three categories: explosive cases (down 20.1%), explosive incidents (down 16.7%), and explosive robbery cases (down 2.9%). The latter one is a little unclear to me: does it indicate robberies utilizing explosives, or just theft of explosives? And the first one, too: are we talking about cases of unauthorized possession of explosives (the article hints that unauthorized coal mines are involved in much of this business)? Whatever we’re talking about here, this seems – to me – like a whole lot of criminal activity in an area that I always assumed was rigidly controlled by the insurrection-wary authorities. Shows what I know.