Travel China and Beyond

Starbucks and the Forbidden City — Take II

Administrator — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:37:32 +0000

Well, just when we thought that the noise around Starbucks’ presence in the Forbidden City is going down, the “unthinkable” happened — the famous coffee shop is out… Earlier in the year (in January I posted about the controversy that was brewing up in Chinese papers and TV — here is the posting

Accoding to Seattle Times, Starbucks is closing its outlet in the Forbidden City. “So what?” you may say — well, I think it is a big deal — put enough noise and nationalistic spin on an issue and you may achieve what you were seeking… Question is what is next? Get a tea house in its place? May be it will be more appropriate, but then will that match the original courtyard? No! Nothing will match the original courtyard. It is gone. So, if you wanted to have your picture taken with the Starbucks logo in the Imperial Palace, too bad - you missed your chance.

If you would like to read some more on the impacts of cultural differences around the world you may want to check out this book: Understanding the Cultural Landscape

If you doubted that Tour Guide companies lead you to shopping, now you have a proof

Administrator — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:42:20 +0000

In discussions with some visitors to Beijing you would often hear their descriptions and some times complaints about the fact that they were lead to various stores or left for a long time at shopping arcades on visits to museums or historic sites around Beijing. I personally do not think much of tours as options to see the city, but many people do participate.

At any rate, now Sina.com reports that the Beijing Gov’t has not only confirmed (via their recent orders) that being the case, but are also mandating that the tour companies stop the practice. Here is a link to the article: http://english.sina.com/life/1/2007/0424/110414.html

So, now that you know this, isn’t it better if you explore the city on your own

Here is a great newsarticle in the Beijing media — “Beijing to appologize for erroneous weather forecasts…”

Administrator — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 04:47:14 +0000

Last year I saw an “interesting” article in the China Daily - at the time one of the government departments had stated that they are forecasting a “perfect” weather for the opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Many of us (residents in Beijing) were surprised at the forecast — how could you make such a long range prediction…but then many things surprise us in China every so often, so what’s new, right

Well, this week the Beijing weather bureau appologized to the public for providing incorrect forecast for a couple of days — they missed the temperature forecast by 6 degrees C or so… In the big scheme of things this does not surprise me — after all weather forecast is not an easy science, but I wonder who and how will not predict the weather forecast for August 8th, 2008 — Olympics Opening Day….

Austin American Statesman on China Home Improvement Retailers

Administrator — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 19:04:51 +0000

The Austin Texas paper (Austin American Statesman) published a rather strange article in its December 31st issue - (Home improvement, Chinese style Growing incomes and construction boom lure U.S. chains)

The reason I say that the article is rather strangely titled is that in the printed version of the paper it is actually written as US chains moving into China... However, reading through the article the author talks primarily about retailers like IKEA (not a US one), B&Q (also not a US one). For all of us who have spent significant amount of time in China in the last couple of years, this is rather strange — although B&Q looks very much like Home Depot (in terms of color schemes in the stores), the actual Home Depot chain (a US one) is essentially non-existent in China…

The second problem with the article is that it refers to the thin margins the retailers operate with in China and sort of suggest that those low margins are due to low prices in the stores. Well, I have recently shopped in both IKEA in Beijing and in IKEA in Austin and prices in both locations are very similar. A floor lamp my wife had bought in IKEA Beijing carried the same price in IKEA Austin (bought it in the Spring in Beijing and in December in Austin)…..

I can only conclude that the journalists writing these types of articles have either:

a. not actually visited the area they write about (I wonder if the guy who wrote the Austin American article has been in IKEA in Beijing)

b. not paying too much attention to detail — i.e. Home Depot is not yet in China (they are developing their entry strategy, but IKEA and B&Q are the main retailers now)

In today’s world of blogs and Internet I would recommend to journalists to get in touch with folks who live at the locations they write about via the numerous blogs and Web sites and check facts, get better up to date information. I encourage more writing about every day life in China — that provides more realistic view of the country to people / readers back in the States, but lets make it more accurate.

Welcome to Travel China!

Administrator — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:44:47 +0000

I have lived in China for two and a half years altogether, starting in Shanghai in 1989 as an English teacher at a Fisheries University (I never learned much about the fish–I just taught English to a bunch of naive first year university students), then as an English teacher at a Japanese hotel in Shanghai until I left China in early 1991. When my husband was given an expatriate assignment by the company he works for in the States, our family moved to Beijing in April of 2005 and we have lived here since. Coming back to China after a 15 year hiatus was really an eye-opening experience and I think it has given me a different perspective on China than many foreigners have.

In this blog, I wanted to take the opportunity to write about some of the great places we have been to in China and Asia…and some of those you might want to avoid. I know when I am going to visit a place, hearing someone’s first hand opinions and experiences of that area can be invaluable. I hope to provide such a service while documenting my time here. Welcome!