dispence

Counterfeiting merchandise is something China does well. From name brands on Silk Street in Beijing to US$1 DVDs on the street to electronics, China offers deal-seekers something of a candy store. But a good shopper in China will understand you get what you pay for. That 30 Yuan hat will probably not last until next winter and there’s no guarantee the DVD inside the case is what the cover indicates. Electronics share a big chunk of the counterfeit market but at the same time China is emerging as a world leader in computer development and manufacturing. Lenovo Group has grown to the fourth largest personal computer manufacturer in the world. But I could still find a questionable webcam for 50 Yuan.

In China, the manufacturing of electronics clash between world-class companies like Lenovo, to cheap unknowns selling everything from webcams to hard drives. Buyers expect expensive computers coming from reputable companies to fully function. The same can’t be said for cheap and/or counterfeit goods.
In my electronics life journey, I’ve come in contact with several Chinese goods. Right now I’m typing on a laptop bought form Lenovo. I just backed up my entire system on an external hard drive I bought from a Chinese electronics mega mall. There’s a headset and webcam sitting on my desk for Skype calls – bought here in China. And for bumping to good tunes, I have a three speaker setup I bought from the Lotus Center nearby.

Before I review the functionality of these Chinese electronics – be them counterfeit or just plain inexpensive, let us learn a little about China’s electronic behemoth: the Lenovo Group.
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This country is gigantic. It’s about the size of the United States but has 1.3 billion people. The United States has 300 million people. In China, that’s how many people smoke. The west half of the country is all mountains so almost everyone lives in the east.

Some Facts:

• Beijing’s population is about 18 million. New York City’s is just over 8 million.
• Coal accounts for 2/3 of China’s energy.
• China consumes seven percent of the world’s oil market.
• Four new nuclear power plants are planned, one already under construction.
• China has seen about a 10 percent growth rate for the last 26 years.
• The Three Gorges Damn will be over 600 feet tall and 1.4 miles wide when completed in 2011. In all, over four million people will be displaced to make way for 400×70 mile reservoir on the Yangtse River.
• Construction has begun on China’s newest tallest building. It’s in Shanghai.
• In a taxi the other night, the driver told us there’s about 67,000 taxis in Beijing.
• Speaking of construction, it’s booming. Especially with the Olympics coming up. Below is an artist’s rendering of the soon to be completed new CCTV building in downtown Beijing’s Central Business District or CBD.

Last weekend we checked out the “Eight Temples” over on the west side of Beijing in the foothills of the nearby mountains. From the top of the area we could see all of Beijing. There’s no real suburbs. Just apartment buildings stretching into the smoggy horizon where downtown Beijing looms. Follow this link to see for yourself.

There are also some big problems. Twenty four people were killed recently in a mine explosion in Wu’an. Just last year, 3,700 people died in mine related accidents in China. (Note how in that story this fact is buried several paragraphs deep.) Pollution is a huge problem but the national government is creating new policy to change that. Rights for farmers, social security, affordable health care, a class gap and the inability to drink tap water anywhere in the country are all challenges facing China. These will by no means go away come Olympic time. My only hope is that media covering the games will realize this.

The Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the biggest holiday in the country. Every year millions of people migrate home for a week long celebration of the new lunar year. On Monday we checked out a festival nearby. Even if you’ve been to the crowded Taste Of Chicago, the shoulder bumping and packed crowds don’t compare to this Chinese festival.

We arrived in Dalian Saturday at about 4:30 am. After stumbling off the ferry we walked to the train station and bought tickets home to Beijing. We ate breakfast at KFC, spent 6 hours in an underground internet cafe and then found much cooler stuff outside.

In Chinese, Dalian means basically a “come together place.” That makes sense because Dalian is the main port where passenger ships come in from South Korea.

“Cooler Stuff”

A Podcast….

[audio:http://www.dispence.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/021008pc-up.mp3]

…and as soon as we stepped outside the train station we came across a great outdoor market.

After leaving Qingdao for Yantai by train, Andres and I headed for Dalian. Yantai sits on the southern coast of Bohai Bay. Dalian is directly across the bay to the north so the best way to get there is by ferry. I bought two tickets early in the morning on the day of our departure. The boat was set to depart at 10pm so we showed up at the station around nine. There was already a huge line of people waiting to get on the ferry. Instead of standing for an hour, we just took a seat. There were plenty.

When it was time to go, we went outside the terminal and got to ride in cool little bus things around to another pier to hop on the ferry. The vehicle was sort of like a golf cart but much bigger and longer. It was electric and didn’t have a good turning radius.

We ended up going 2nd class with two others in our cabin – a middle aged couple. Our cabin even had a bathroom. Wow. We talked as much as we could wit the couple. It turns out the husband has been to quite a few cities in the States and they have one kid. We realized that was a silly question after we asked it.

The old man in our cabin knew how to play my Erhu and gave us a bedtime concert.

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