Wednesday – Squashed like Sardines and Intellectual Chit Chat.
This morning was my first experience of the Shanghai subway in rush hour. Squashed like a sardine wouldn’t even do it justice. It was so packed that you didn’t even have to hold on to a bar because when the tube stopped, there was not a chance you were moving anywhere. I think that people who decide to slither their way through this trellis once the train has already stopped at their designated station must think they are contortionists.
Work today was really interesting, whilst admiring the amazing views out over the boardroom; Miguel and I started chatting to the programme planner Shelley, who was really interesting. She was telling us that for the 2010 Expo, all the chemical factories in Shanghai stopped working in order to make the skies a bit bluer and clearer (without so much pollution) but now they are working double time to make up for the 6 months they took off. This combined with the end of winter and the generally miserable weather is what creates such foggy, murky climate, making the view not as spectacular as it could be. We still had a picture taken though! Even though she is always super busy, she still stopped to say that we should exchange language lessons and that if I needed anything (like help explaining that I do not eat meat) not to hesitate in giving her a call.
After work was so much fun. Miguel suggested that I join him as he was reconnecting with a girl named Rosalyn who he met on the train to Beijing last time he was in China. She came to our office to meet us at 5.30pm. We decided to go for dinner together at a nice restaurant on the same road as our office. There were large fish tanks and a very Chinese décor inside, which is actually quite refreshing - when everything else is so Westernized and modern in Shanghai, however they were randomly playing French music!
Rosalyn is a post-graduate; her degree took her 4 years and her masters 3 years. Apparently this is standard in China. She is studying International Economics at the moment and has done placements in both investment banks and management consultants including Bain, she recently turned down Deloitte and she has also worked at Jin Mao Tower in Pudong. Needless to say I was rather impressed.
Rosalyn, Miguel and I all got into an extremely interesting conversation about the industrialization of emerging markets. It was intriguing for me to hear new ideas that I wouldn’t have thought about as a Westerner, but seemed obvious from Rosalyn’s Chinese (and very educated) perspective. I was also intrigued to hear her views on the party and communism (she said she was in favor) and used the metaphor ‘whilst the cake should be large, it should be cut into small pieces’. She also said that people are now satisfied with the party, then she corrected herself and said ‘put up with the party’, because they now use actions rather than words and this action is GROWTH.
Rosalyn’s current role as a researcher involves analyzing the consequences of floating the Yuan against other currencies, the obvious negative effects this will have on Chinas exports and how ‘the party’ will deal with these issues as they arise. Rosalyn believes that the next economic powerhouse in line after China, India, is the one to watch right now. As China industrializes and moves away from manufacturing towards services, this will leave a great glut in Chinese labor. Rosalyn believes that it will become necessary for the Chinese government to allow for these nationals to migrate to newly emerging economies such as India and Africa in order to keep the economic equilibrium in balance and benefit all of these countries. However, as India already has a comparative advantage in the IT industry as well as a better infrastructure, we all found the possible scenarios and opportunities available very thought provoking.
The food was also amazing tonight as Rosalyn explained I didn’t eat meat and the waitress agreed not to include any. I was astounded that you could order a whole frog on the menu! Like, not even just frog’s legs…a whole frog. China is crazy, but it’s definitely growing on me. I really enjoyed tonight ♥.
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