Chinese bureaucracy

08:00am 26 Nov 2009 13 comments

BY PATRICK CREWDSON

The hardest thing about travelling to China was the paperwork.

I decided to apply for a journalist visa. One media-savvy friend who works in that corner of the globe cautioned against doing that - recommending I slip in on a business visa instead - saying being IDed as a journo would see me supervised, scrutinised, and maybe followed.

But I wanted to do it the straight-up, legitimate way. I'd had friends who'd tried to procure J-class visas so I expected it'd be difficult - but I wasn't prepared for a months-long, stressful ordeal like this.

As you can see on the Chinese Embassy's website, the requirements for a media visa are laid out pretty clearly. Most of the paperwork, though time-consuming to produce, is straightforward.

The catch is this requirement:

English perfects your life

08:56am 24 Nov 2009 7 comments

BY PATRICK CREWDSON

As previously mentioned, I collected sightings of Chinglish - mangled Chinese English - during my travels. Okay, so that's not remotely original but these lost in translation moments still make me giggle.

The most fertile ground seemed to be signs at tourist locations.

That's from the museum at the awesomely named and truly beautiful Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou. (Please excuse my poor, out-of-focus photography.)

With many Chinglish signs the message the authors were trying to convey is clear, even if the wording is garbled. For example, consider this sign from the city walls in Xi'an:

The best of Shanghai

07:30am 23 Nov 2009 4 comments

BY PATRICK CREWDSON

We arrived back in Shanghai just in time for the earliest onset of winter in nearly 30 years. It was a dramatic change from the baking sunshine we'd experienced there just three weeks earlier.

We took a couple of days to re-acquaint ourselves with the city before flying back to New Zealand. It felt like something of a homecoming, as we re-visited our favourite locations and scoped out a few new ones.

When we left Shanghai for Xi'an in early November I was a bit over the city - the noise, the spitting, the stench. But returning I found I'd developed quite a strong sense of affection for the place.

These are the things that struck me most about Shanghai:

* The intensity. Not even Manhattan can match Shanghai's energy levels. On a good day the city's constant buzz is invigorating; on a bad day it's draining.

Loose ends: Queen Day Spa and Haibao

08:29pm 22 Nov 2009 0 comments

BY PATRICK CREWDSON

I mentioned in an earlier post that when we were in Shenzhen we relaxed at the luxurious Queen Spa. Probably the best-known spa in Shenzhen - where retreats for visitors from Hong Kong is a niche industry - Queen Spa is a five-storey palace of pampering. For more details, read this Time Out Hong Kong column by the friend who recommended the place to me.

I also mentioned that I was going to write more about the preparations for next year's World Expo in Shanghai and in particular the omnipresence of Haibao, the blue Gumby-like mascot (that's him to the right). Somewhat belatedly, here are the links to the story I wrote for the Dompost. The main piece covered what New Zealand is getting for its $32 million investment and the sidebar introduced Haibao and briefly covered the flourishing trade in counterfeit mascots.

If mascots are your thing and you'd like to learn more about Haibao, I recommend this article from Shanghai Daily, which begins:

MORE people, especially children, have started to recognize Haibao, the mascot of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai. ... But do you know whether Haibao is a boy or girl? The mascot is lively or shy? What is the mascot's favorite food? Where does Haibao come from and does Haibao have any superpowers?

It's impossible to overstate the ubiquity of Haibao in Shanghai. It was one of the first things I noticed on our drive into the city from the airport when we first arrived.

How to haggle

04:25am 20 Nov 2009 7 comments

BY PATRICK CREWDSON

Negotiating is a vital shopping skill in China.

As soon as you step into a store or stop at a market stall where the price isn't fixed, the shopkeeper will instantly size you up. How wealthy do you look? How foreign? How much of a sucker?

Say you find something you fancy. You'll ask how much it is.

Here's the first of three crucial moments. Having sized you up, the shopkeeper will throw a number at you - often, depending on your Chinese and their English skills, by typing it into an oversized calculator.

Don't think for a second that the price is the same for everyone. If it was, they'd have fixed prices, like the big chain stores do, or a sign up saying 'no bargaining', as in a few boutiques. The price can vary greatly depending on how you look and act.