Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 9:49 AM
Subject: Day 4
Today is another working day, as it appears every day this trip will be – the schedule is pretty full. I had to present to around 30 of my customer’s Chinese employees, many with limited English. It still seems awkward working with a translator. If I say something that takes 30 seconds in English, it seems like the translation takes 2 minutes.
The plant is located next to a Chinese Army facility – a four story building inside a walled area of 2-3 acres. The most notable features are the laundry hanging to dry from the balconies which surround the building – Army camouflage and underwear mostly; and the vegetable garden in the rear of the yard. It appears the soldiers spend a lot of their time on domestic activities.
In Chinese factories, it is common for the company to supply lunch to all of their employees. At around 11:45 all work stops and everyone goes to the lunch room to eat a prepared meal, usually something like stir fried vegetables and a chicken wing with Rice and tea. Factory workers do not typically own cars and there are no restaurants nearby. Bag lunches do not appear to exist either. After a half hour lunch break, they turn the lights off in the offices and everyone either takes a nap or does some other activity quietly.
One of the items distributed at lunch this day were hard boiled eggs, dyed red. One of my Chinese colleagues informed me that this is a traditional gesture when someone in China has a baby, much as we pass out cigars in the US
Following the day’s work, I offered to take some my customer’s employees out to dinner. Dinner was one of the typical family-style meals in a private room with a large round table equipped with a lazy susan in the middle for passing dishes around. The Chinese love to try and get their guests drunk, usually on baijo, a rice liquor which is deceptively strong and tastes a little like tequila. They attempt to toast you one by one, the net effect being you drink 8 shots and each of them only one. Not exactly a fair fight, but it is part of their culture and a way to earn their respect. I begrudgingly played along – fortunately the shots are small.
It was around 11:00 by the time we got back to the hotel. The taxi passed by the strip of “beer bars” which were all dark, not a soul in sight. I guess the local police must be on a mission. It will be interesting to see if they are open again on my next visit.
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