Kung Pao Chicken

On my walk to work this morning I passed a man, cigarette butt in mouth, with a pole over his shoulders and about five roosters hanging from wires tied to their feet on each side. Closer examination revealed, as it usually does in China, that the animals were still alive—just tactically paralyzed in a way that made transportation easier. These roosters along with the big silver fish I see in an inch of water gasping for air bubbles as I make my way down xiangyang lu always make me look away, make feel incredibly guilty for enjoying gongbaojding. It’s almost as if I forget that meat comes from animals. Afraid of becoming the American tourist that spends a month in China and quickly draws conclusions about Chinese culture, I can’t help but think that the Chinese are much more open about a lot of things. I appreciate and admire the straightforward, frank attitude I’ve encountered.

This past week, I attended author Mina Choi’s book talk at Garden Books in Shanghai. Her presentation of Shanghai Girls: Uncensored & Unsentimental roused an audience of Shanghai girls, English ladies and gentlemen, American men and women, Chinese men, German businessmen and many more who observed without comment. Choi’s Shanghai girlfriend under the pseudonym Lanlan shared stories about all the Shanghai girls she knew for the author to present to a Western audience. Shanghai girls, she says, wouldn’t be interested in the book. These aren’t new ideas to them. Lanlan told Choi and Choi told us stories upon stories of Shanghai girls marrying foreign men thirty years their senior and the quick transformation observed by their friends from an 800RMB/month lifestyle to perfect spoke English, perfect hair and makeup, and a foreign passport. Most often, these girls would use their newfound money and connections to improve both themselves and the situation of their families. The Western men in the audience were the most outraged by the book, citing true love and ethics. They were married to Shanghai girls.

The "marriage market" in People’s Square provides another prime example of frankness about relationships that many Westerners find crude. Grandparents and parents of busy career men and women gather at the park on weekend days and post papers with their progeny’s height, weight, education level, monthly salary, and dating history for females and the same minus weight and plus the ownership of a car and house for males. I hear girls on the street answering these kinds of questions from their moms all the time. In fact, I get these kinds of questions from my mom back in Nebraska. Let’s be real, we all talk about all the same things, we still eat meat: we just whisper when we do it. We feel bad about it, as if practicality means whoring out our western ideals.

The practical girl in me feels like we Westerners with all of out touted idealism could get a lot more down with a lot less pain if we were more honest about what we wanted. Remember there’s chicken in gaobaojiding (affectionately known as Kung Pao Chicken in the West).

A Tour of the Alibaba Empire: The Peak of China’s New Capitalism and a Little Mao?

The statue of a staunch, naked Chinese man half the height of the architecture next to him greets visitors at Alibaba’s Hangzhou headquarters. Our guide, Susie, says the statue is meant to represent company values— namely, direct speech free of any hidden agendas.

I’ve been interning with enoVate, a young startup, for the past few weeks so it was interesting for me to walk around a building (er, seven buildings) that employs over 7000 workers. While Alibaba now has offices in more than 50 cities across China, Japan, Korea, Europe and the United States, founder Jack Ma has stressed the importance of maintaining Alibaba’s startup energy and identity saying, “The company will remain a ‘start-up’ no matter how long it has been in existence.” That is, a startup with its own Starbucks among other amenities.

Jack, a former English teacher fondly nicknamed “ET” by his employees after the Spielberg character, started Alibaba.com in his hometown Hangzhou in 1999 with a team of 18 founders. Since then Alibaba has grown to become the world’s largest E-commerce Company and Alibaba.com now houses the world’s largest business-to-business marketplace for both global and Chinese domestic trade. Susie explains that Jack chose Hangzhou because of its closeness to small and medium size cities and the fact that Zhejiang province is especially active in export business.

Susie wasn’t the only employee I met that was beaming with Alibaba pride. Even though the company Starbucks is closed on Saturdays, many employees were still hard at work. Inside, offices are equipped with large drums to communally celebrate workers’ successful deals and keep the office energy high. Chinese medicine stations and jump ropes were abundant as were mirrors on desks, which call center employees use to make sure that they are smiling and giving off friendly vibes to clients. Alibaba works to provide real home for its employees; Alibaba couples and families are common and even encouraged by company leadership.

As I walked past the naked man statue for the second time—this time with the rear view, I started thinking about ‘capitalism with Chinese characteristics.’ I learned that Alibaba currently provides the government with free CPI (consumer price index) data from smaller regions. Before Alibaba, it took a very long time for local heads to get back to Beijing with this information. I thought about Google and EBay’s Sino misadventures. Despite investing enormous amounts of money and hiring local Chinese talent, no major American Internet company has been able to find footing in the Chinese market. Alibaba and other successful Chinese Internet companies have all realized that on some level they must cooperate and work with the government. Maybe it’s my American Cowboy roots but from my perspective in enoVate’s one-room office, working with the government seems about as far from ‘start up’ as you get. It will be harder for Alibaba and other companies as they get bigger to retain the independent innovative spirit of a young company as their guanxi with the big man develops.

Another Monday

My body is sweating out all the toxins that have built up from eating Chinese food all the time. This Chinese girl stole Fabio (my Italian coworker) and I's fan. She was smiling and we didn't really get what see was doing until she was walking away with it. I think I might walk over smiling and take it back. Buttttt, my skin is baby butt clear. Speaking of baby butts, I think I freaked out a Chinese dad this weekend in Hangzhou. I kept taking pictures of this kid because #1) he was cute and #2) he had the slit in his pants that Chinese parents sometimes make so the kids can conveniently squat go to town on the sidewalk. He probably wouldn't have caught onto why I was taking the pictures except for the fact that I kept saying "jiji jiji jiji" which translates to "penis penis penis." Jiji was kind of my word this weekend. Seeing little kids' genitals in public is indeed a very foreign thing for me. I'm so used to Chinglish being my secret language to talk to friends in when we gossip at Yale that now in China I sometimes forget that everyone speaks Chinese in China and I should use English to say my secret thoughts.

Doodling at work...

I'm sad my first roll of holga pictures are REALLY blurry. Doodling is basically my job these days as I work on illustrating Eno's first print publication. My Chinese friend, Shen Lin is having us over for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we're heading to Hangzhou for an adventure. I can't wait to take pictures and draw some more. People watching in China provides me with endless inspiration and entertainment. In other news, I discovered the best Thai restaurant in China on accident while I was walking home last night. I proceeded to tell every white person I passed to go there.

狗肉

So I think I may have found the key to staying healthy in China: asking for qingzheng qingcai (清蒸青菜）or veggies steamed in broth with a bowl of rice. And yogurt. China has really good yogurts. Eggs are also a cheap, easy-to-find protein source. Actually buying and cooking stuff is harder and more expensive than eating out in China.

I'm still a little traumatized after seeing 狗肉 (dog meat) on the menu at the Korean restaurant last night. I inspected my "beef" very suspiciously. It was good food though, great literal hole in the wall. Of course my favorite was spicy rice cakes. There were lots of Chinese playing loud drinking games with dice. My kind of fanguanr.

One thing I can't quite get used to is all the smoke. I swear smoking breaks take up a third of our work day.

My walk to work is 40 minutes right now which I don't mind too much. I think I might mind when July comes around and consider getting a bike.

Another way China is different: open containers. You can just walk down the street, through the grocery store, wherever with an open beer. We paid the cab driver 5 extra kuai to let us all five ride in the same cab to the restaurant. It was pretty cozy.

中国朋友

So i've been complaining to my coworkers and cab drivers and anyone who will listen really that I'm finding it hard to make Chinese friends. Most Chinese my age are way too busy studying and probably working at a job to hang out with waiguoren. Jim and I decided to proactively search for Chinese friends and we made it further than the bus line before we found Alan. Alan is his English name because everyone uses English names at work because they are easier to remember than Chinese names. Alen and Shen3lin2 both mean friendly. How fitting. Apparently my Chinese name, 葛英, means charismatic or outgoing. Somehow I think I'm more charismatic in English. I appreciate how Chinese people think about the meaning of names.

Alan said many funny things last night. He kept trying to compliment me saying things like "You look like a flight attendant, you know flight attendants all come from the countryside because they're very tall." But they're too skinny because they have no money. You're not so skinny.

I think you are outstanding/excellent/magnificent. These words were some of Alan's favorites.

We took a bus to the bund and walked by the water and then over by the historial buildings. While walking on a bridge I asked Alan why there was this short Chinese guy with this tall beautiful tattooed woman. He said they must be in a gang. Chinese people really think tattoos mean you are in a gang. He said she was probably his mistress, not a prostitute. I asked isn't it weird for a guy to be with a taller women? According to Alan all Chinese men want tall women. It's a status symbol. I guess there's hope for me yet in China. After the mistress encounter, we made our way to the red light district. Prostitution isn't legal but it's very common. The signs say things like "relax and wash head." Hmm. Lots of girls sit on the couches inside with their legs spread apart. I really wanted to talk to them but chickened out.

Chicken Feet

It seems like there are always a thousand things I want to blog/write about but after I'm done doing said activities I'm too tired to post. It's nearing the end of the day at Enovate. We're heading out for drinks together and then possibly a concert. Alternatively, after drinks I might hook up with the Yale crew to walk around the Bund or watch the World Cup.

One of the things I enjoy is walking to work every morning. I could take the metro for part of it and slim down the forty minute trek but I like taking in the glimpses of daily life I get. Yesterday morning I didn't realize what was happening until a rooster's head fell by feet all bloody as some housewife was purchasing her groceries. Today there was some kind of bike accident but no one seemed to be badly hurt. Nevertheless there were five police officers and a crowd of onlookers. Chinese people are very much into that whole crowd thing. Ask me about the gallery opening I went to on Wednesday with a cute Chinese artist. Talk about hordes of teenage girls with camera phones.

The Yale club gave us all a packet with coupons for Starbucks and McDonalds. I find this amusing but appreciate the free lattes I'm enjoying (there's literally a Starbucks outside my hotel room). There are far more xingbake (Chinese for Starbucks) in general compared to Beijing. Last summer I became very well acquainted with the locations of Starbucks in Beijing. My best friend is a complete junkie. ;) Four tall sugar-free coffee light frappucinos with 1 pump sugar-free vanilla and 1 pump sugar-free caramel a day anyone?

I'm on my last pair of clean underwear so I suppose I'll have to face my fear of the Chinese laundry machine. There's no way all of those buttons are necessary. Maybe I'll hang my bras on a line out the window like all the Shanghaiese do.

I added another animal to my list after lunch today. Bullfrog. Very very good. I really enjoy saying "another animal" because I'm actually not all that adventurous of an eater. I can pretend right? Just don't try to feed me duck soup with the intestines and crunchy bits. I'm afraid of where those crunchy bits come from.

I've given up on cooking even though I made a trip to the grocery store this morning (at 7, I woke up today without an alarm at 5!). I keep getting invitations to eat out. The social aspect is great but I really wish I knew how many calories were in say qiezi? I'm kind of afraid. Oh well. You can't ask in China.

Another favorite Chinese food I don't quite understand- chicken feet. Is there really any meat on them?

In other news, Eno has been making a lookbook so everyday there has literally been a parade of models male and female through our office. No one can concentrate.

关系

I'm really enjoying this summer so far. I think this may be because I have more control over my life than I've ever had. My productivity is more efficient because I choose projects that interest me and work on them when my energy levels are naturally higher.

I've been listening to business podcasts on my iTouch as I commute to work or wander around the streets near my workplace. Yesterday morning I listened to one produced by MIT about guanxi (关系)- this is Chinese for "relationships." The podcast talked about Microsoft's experience doing business in China and how to break into the extensive networks you really have to socialize and get to know your business partners on a personal level. My coworkers tell me that drinking and basketball provide fail-proof common ground in these types of situations. I've actually heard of American companies hiring professional drinkers to hang out with Chinese business partners. If you've ever tried baijiu (Chinese rice wine less than a dollar a bottle, tastes like rotten asparagus and Mr. Clean mixed together), you'll understand why this could be necessary.

If my own experiences in China provide any barometer, Westerners really have to go out of their way to initiate friendships with locals. I've started just sitting down in restaurants across from people sitting alone. I ask what their favorite dish is and usually this is all that's needed to break the ice. Still, cab drivers are my favorite.

Sometimes I fear that I won't have any marketable skills when I leave Yale. It's probably true but not necessarily a bad thing. My internship is forcing me to learn technical skills. My coworkers give me random assignments in different Adobe programs that I have no idea how to do (I don't tell them this) and I sit and watch tutorials on Lynda.com. Great website for all kinds of tutorials, btw.

I think Wednesday ladies night is my thing. We went to the same club as last weekend and had a fabulous time. Lots of dancing on the stage. I was back home and in bed by 1 for work at 9. Perfect.

Now what about all that Chinese grammar I planned to review this summer?

Taxi Driver

My most meaningful experiences in China have been wandering alone. I’ve recently realized (tonight) why I love Chinese taxi drivers. It’s because I can talk to them completely without inhibition about the way my Chinese comes out or the politeness of my questions. Taxi drivers don’t care. Worst-case scenario they brush me off as a funny foreigner trying to learn their language.

Tonight I flagged my taxi down outside xiannanguo, a delicious, somewhat pretentious restaurant, and told the driver the address of my jia (home, aka the Somerset)- ba ba ba shanxi nan lu.

First I ask if he’s a Shanghai ren (from Shanghai, most Chinese are not). I told him to guess where I’m from and he whips around squints at me, pronounces me faguo ren (French). He says because I’m prettier than an American. Faguo ren have lighter skin than Americans he says and I have really white skin. I ask him if he likes Obama. Of course he does. Then I ask if he has kids, nusheng or nansheng (girl or boy) and if they’re married if they have grandkids etc etc. My nameless taxi man had a 27-year-old son who married a friend from college a few years ago. Right now they don’t want kids. He’s decided to forget about having a grandson for a while. I told him I wanted lots of kids but that I didn’t have a husband yet so I’d have to wait. I ask him if this is strange and he says guai guai guai (strange strange strange) adding you want kids but you don’t want to give birth to them. I can't argue with that. I agree with pretty much everything he says. Mainly because he’s laughing so it must be funny and sometimes it’s too confusing to figure out what he’s actually saying. I’m forgetting to mention that in the middle of all this laughter we’re looking for ba ba ba shanxi nan lu. He gets out of the cab at least six times to ask people for directions. We end up at some nightclub called 88 on shanxi lu. I tell him this isn’t my bedroom. I ask him why I always see Chinese girls with western guys and few Chinese guys with western girls. He says because western men have money and Shanghai girls like money. Chinese guys don’t have money. They like white girls he says but are intimidated. I say that’s not a problem because white girls have money. He asks if all foreigners have money. I say no, well kind of. He says all Chinese guys like western girls. I say but we’re fat he says no Shanghai girls are too skinny.

I finally learn that I was saying it wrong- for “888” to appear in the taxi driver’s head I need to say ba bai ba shi ba. Those are the magic words. He tried to not accept my money and finally I tossed it onto the front seat and waved goodbye smiling at 888 shanxi nan lu.

下班了！

(Post from last wednesday)

Today was my second day on the job at Enovate. The inventive nature of Eno as a start up means that I'm somewhat on my own to structure my internship and propose/offer to work on projects that I will help me develop a skill set in Indesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.. The first deadline is a print publication with articles about Chinese youth culture that would serve as a handout for clients to show them the kind of work Eno does. Right now I'm researching creative bookbinding and create-your-own USB drive websites. The second project is a comic strip that illustrates the lives of Chinese youth with different interests going through their daily lives. The third was re-organized text and logo placement for a client's email newsletter. And fourth, this weekend I have plans to go to the Shanghai marriage market in People's Sq. to do field research for an Eno blog article.

Apparently lots of parents and sometimes grandparents go to the park, sometimes without the knowledge of the wife or husband to be, and arrange potential matches for their children. Supposedly most Chinese at this age are too busy working to devote time to finding a soul mate. Many parents additionally employ matchmakers. With the male/female ratio there are a lot more single guys competing for wives. The listings for both guys and girls include a glamour shot and essential information. For guys this essential information is height, salary and whether or not you have a car and house. For girls- age, weight and height. Chinese are really into height. I'm imagining, "Man with car and 3000 rmb/month looking for wife around 23, who should be above 1.65 meters in height, as pure as a lotus flower, fair-skinned, slender, and quiet." ....

I've been amazed so far at the amount of research Eno does to know its consumer. Chinese youth (considered people between 15-25) wield an amazing chunk of purchasing power. China has 420 million citizens under 25 years old (THIS EXCEEDS THE ENTIRE US POPULATION). These youngsters are spending or influencing 50% or more of their families' incomes. Big market.

I feel like something bad is going to happen to my eyes looking at the computer screen literally all day. I'm also struggling to sit in an office chair from 9:30 to 6:30. At school I usually work on the floor or sit at my desk on a big bouncy ball. Most of my coworkers don't take lunch breaks either- they just eat at their desks. Hmm.

Time for ladies night.

Week 1 以后:

(This post is actually from yesterday)

Wow this was a busy week! I love my job, especially my coworkers. I'm basically just helping people with random projects or watching them do things in Indesign that I don't know how to do yet. We usually go together for veggie-pork dumplings at noon at sit in this homey, sweaty, noisy- typical chinese-fanguanr. I love asking people what brought them to Shanghai. I'm amazed at the number of people that have been here 4 years + without making any attempts to learn the language apart from nihao. People keep telling me the foreigners and the Chinese don't mix well in Shanghai. So far my experience has been that the social scene is very self-segregating, even at work. All the Chinese girls stay and eat some warmed up leftovers in front of their computers while we (the westerners) go out for lunch. The great thing about Eno is that they do a ton of research about pretty much everything relating to trends and Chinese youth culture. They're constantly altering and re-evaluating their approach. On Friday, a Improv/Stand-up Comedy group from Chicago called Chopsticks came in and led a company workshop in the Chang le lu store. I'm learning a lot just watching about what working for a start up in China might be like.

In other news, the Yale Club of Shanghai is really great. Their coordinator, Deanna has been organizing lots of activities around the city to keep us busy. Andi and woke up bright and early for a tour about the Jews of Shanghai. Basically, Shanghai saved more Jews than any other city in the world because there was no immigration quota; it was the only metropolis where you didn't need a visa to enter. Russian and Iraqi Jews were in the city even earlier than that (1850s) and helped build Nanjing rd. and started a bunch of businesses. Everyone had to pick up quick and leave in 1949 with the Communist Revolution. Really interesting stuff.

Last night we met up with a group of alumni for some sushi and sake-bombing, true to New Haven style. It was all you can eat for 138 rmb so we went a little crazy. I'm not sure about the impression I left with my chopstick-walrus pictures.

Today, the bulldogs (girls and boys) are getting manicures and pedicures paid for by Yale. No joke.

到了上海！

This is sort of a back room picture of where I work. Basically, lots of Chinese 25ish year-olds drinking coffee or chrysanthemum tea (really good) or coffee working on their computers. Eno, the company my internship is with, does a lot more than just designing clothes. It seems like people are working on a hundred different projects from organizing youth concerts to designing an architectural space to making a magazine to working on websites.

I really love the whole team- lots of smart, creative people. It looks like my first assignment may be designing the layout for a mini magazine.

Observations walking around xiangyang lu:

1) There's nothing in this world cuter than Chinese babies:


2) laundry laundry everywhere:


3) I'm not even sure I have a comment for this one:


4) You can count on the grannies to be out in the morning practicing taijiquan in the park:


The size of our suite is ridiculous. I'm so happy to finally be in Shanghai!