English with an American Corporate Accent - 010

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* We'll consider all things together and determine what falls off the plate. [We'll consider everything together and determine what has to be dropped.]
* Oh, I'm sorry that I lost my train of thought. That should come back to me later in the meeting. [Oh, I'm sorry that I forgot what I wanted to say. I should remember it later in the meeting.]
* We are worker bees, we cannot change the process. [We are supposed to follow the orders, we cannot change the process.]
* Nothing comes to mind off-the-bat. [Nothing comes to mind at this moment.]
* I will need the driver team to help in explaining this. I have never been able to wrap my head around this. [I will need the driver team to help in explaining this. I have never been able to understand this.]
* I have been on my soapbox on this issue for more than two years. [I have been voicing my concerns on this issue for more than two years.]
* We are just looking for a smoke test and your swag on whether or not any code change is necessary. [We are just looking for a simple sanity test and your estimate on whether or not any code change is necessary.]
* At this point we have gone full circle on this item multiple times. [At this point, we have not been able to get to anywhere on this item multiple times.]
* It is just a one-off. They are not going to do that again. [It is just a one-time special case. They are not going to do that again.]
* I was being facetious with that comment. [That comment was a joke.]
* Those are not insurmountable problems. [Those are not problems that cannot be solved.]
* We have to do that better and different. That has to be part of our DNA. [We have to do that better and different. That has to be part of our traits and characters.]

The Pursuit of Happiness - Owning a Home in Beijing

[Home, Sweet Home]
Although China is still a socialist country in name, people already found ways to express their personal desires and aspirations. Having a home is a dream for many Chinese. And having a home tailored to their tastes is reflected in a big way by the plethora of choices in furniture, home decorations and essentials. Owning a home is a very basic element of happiness. This pursuit of happiness is happening in China everywhere. I cannot help but to compare this basic inalienable right of the pursuit of happiness to the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

[A Typical Home - an Apartment]

A typical home is an apartment unit in the city. A suburban house in the U.S., with a nice backyard and two-car garage, is not practical for the typical Chinese. That type of home is referred to as a "villa" or "resort".
Housing prices are one of the hottest and the most discussed topics in people's lives. The dream of owning a house certainly adds to the demand side in the emerging Chinese economy. But the opportunities of making quick and large short-term profits in the housing market attract many speculative investments. Government interventions are frequent, but it is hard to to be sure that the new regulations and polices achieved what they were intended to. It is sad to watch the middle-class in anger and in despair.

[What do you get as a new Home Owner - the Phase I Home Project]
One thing really unique in China is a so-called "bare-bones apartment" delivered to the purchaser of the new home. Let us say that the Phase I home project is completed by the developer and the new owner must hire contractors to do the Phase II work.
To enumerate a few of the must-do items: the ceiling has to be leveled, conduits have to be planted into the walls for desired plumbing and electrical wiring, and then walls need to be painted. The frame of the apartment is concrete. The 2x6 frames and plaster board/sheetrock that are common in many American homes don't exist yet. After that work is completed, work can continue: laying floors with ceramic tiles or wood panels, and installing doors, moldings, switches, electric plugs and light fixtures. The kitchen and bathroomare bare. All cabinets and basic elements of a bathroom have to be added, including a water heater and natural gas plumbings.

The picture to the left is a typical new "kitchen". It is bare-bones and looks quite devastated. It has radiator heating elements, a sewer line and some water pipes.











This picture to the left is what you get for a bathroom: a radiator, two electricity outlets, a water pipe, and a sewer line receptacle for the toilet on the floor.

It is very difficult for a new home owner to start from that point. But the Chinese take this as the norm these days. You might wonder about how much time and energy is spent and wasted along the way, because every new home owner must go through the second phase of home building to create a reasonable place to live. Only then can the homeowner begin to decorate.








The third photo of this primeval series to the left is a picture of the guest bedroom leading to a small balcony for drying clothes. It is easy to see that you need to wire for electricity, and to provide a door, molding, and flooring.

I call this a Phase II home project to distinguish it from Phase III. Phase III is the actual furnishing of the apartment, such as adding a dresser, bed, dining table, sofa, TV stand, refrigerator, stove, sink, washer, and other essentials. This Phase II work is unique in China. Most people have to spend 3+ months haggling with contractors to get things done correctly. And many spend a year or more to really complete the Phase III furnishing projects. Many are short of funds and are completely exhausted after Phase II work is completed.

I observed the following list of priorities in Beijing (from high priority to low priority): living room declarations, sofa, TV, guard rails (for windows), refrigerator, kitchen stove, sink, master bedroom essentials, dining table set, washer, bathroom toilet and shower stall.

[After the Hard Work of Phase II Home Project]

To compare the “before and after” of basic room finishing project, see the photo at the left. Here is a kitchen after flooring, ceiling, countertops and shelving are installed. Remember that the new home owner does this by selecting the materials and then subcontracting the work out. Notice that a range/stove and a sink are also in place in this photo. An 11-liter natural gas water heater is on the left wall with the gas meter at the end of the narrow kitchen. The long, narrow kitchen is typical in city apartment/house units. An open-space kitchen design is considered outrageous and unthinkable for the Chinese. Chinese cooking involves a lot of stir-frying and quick flame and smoke, so the Chinese usually like to keep the kitchen separated from the main open space of the apartment and house as a practical matter.






As a comparison, a remodeled bathroom is shown here to the left. It is quite a nice sight with the ceramic siding and a flushing toilet. The heater is slightly relocated to the front and closer to the door, and thus not quite visible. The glass shower stall and the sink are close to the door and to the right, and therefore are also not visible in this picture.














The guest bedroom is shown with built-in bookshelf and a computer table on the left and a closet on the right. A door opens to a small balcony that is curtained and normally used for hang-drying clothes.

[Furniture Shopping]
IKEA is big in China. It must have been an eye-opening experience for the Chinese when it first opened. Today it still attracts people who just come to look. I think that following are some of the reasons:
1) Comprehensiveness in terms of home furnishing needs. It is one-stop shopping.
2) No price haggling, so there is no negotiation required.
3) The modern and utilitarian designs are from the Scandinavia. These designs especially attract the new middle-class young couples.
4) There are places in the store to sit and rest, and even to eat.

To the left is a photo I took in one of the weekends when the place was packed.



IKEA is a new concept, but there are many other ways to meet home furnishing needs. There are furniture shopping malls in which a homeowner can find a great deal of name-brand furniture.
LanjinLijia is a furniture mall frequented by the middle-class in the northwest corner of Beijing. The variety and selection are good, so that this store could be a one-stop shopping place for people who wish to complete the modeling/remodeling and furnishing of their new apartments in one trip. These types of furniture malls are scattered throughout the city. It is difficult to see how smaller outlets can survive in this competitive environment.



To the left, you can see a nice 90 cm by 90 cm shower stall for 1200 RMB in the furniture mall. But many Chinese apartment owners place bathroom amenities at a low priority. Very often you can expect to see only a simple shower head over the toilet. People in China probably cannot imagine that American bathrooms receive much more attention. The room is even often carpeted outside of the shower stall and/or bathtub area. The same mentality prevails over the treatment of restaurant restrooms in terms of their importance and appearance. It is all too common to find lousy restrooms in nice Chinese restaurants inside and outside of China.











[Furniture City]
There is a giant Furniture Super Mall southeast of Beijing, the XiangHe Furniture City.
The picture to the left shows one of the many gates to the warehouses of furniture stores. As is typical in Chinese government planning and organizations, similar types of furniture are grouped in nearby parcels. That is convenient to the shoppers, but difficult for the merchants in differentiating product offerings and prices.















Free bus transportation to this super mall on weekends and major Holidays is available in 20+ locations of the Beijing city. I once took the bus from the east gate of the University of Geology in northwest Beijing. It took about 90 minutes to travel the distance of close to 80 km.
The picture to the left shows a converging bus depot for all the buses to come together. Some reshuffling can be accomplished to pack shoppers into different buses for the sake of efficiency.

Down with the Chinese Capitalism!

[Really no regular thermometers?]

My wife had the flu and a fever, and I could not find our good old-fashioned thermometer after our recent move. The drugstore told me that fact with a straight face, but the clerk also told me that the much more expensive electronic ones are available. Was the clerk really telling the truth? Or was this yet another example of institutionalized price gouging? For months now, it has been difficult to find affordable face masks for the H1N1 epidemic. Only the so-called "advanced" models are available, but they are expensive.

It is not really possible to legislate business ethics and morality. Those qualities are a matter of one's free will. Moral and ethical behavior is social and cultural, and is based on value systems. Many people can be law-binding citizens but can be very crooked any way you look at them.

[Bargain for a dead body]
I saw this picture in my daily dose of mobile phone news. I was outraged, not simply because the picture depicted bargaining for a price to the dead body the boat crew was able to retrieve, but also because of
the loss of human decency and dignity. I felt deep pain and outrage. What if I were this corpse's parent and what would I do if my son's body were waiting to be traded. Was it worth 12000 RMB?

You can also read the story about 3 college students who perished while saving two children in the Hubei province. You can read the CCTV's version. Society has become so selfish, and thus we have created heroes before our own eyes. What's wrong with this society? Where is the beloved government and leadership?



[China is a haven for Capitalism]
This country is sick. The last 30 years of economical openness and reform without corresponding political openness and reforms has turned the people into money-worshipers and government into investment bankers. Can China be capitalism's last haven? What happened to government and leadership? What are they focusing on? On maintaining the 8 percent year-to-year growth in GDP ?

The government's job seems to paint a glorious picture of an economical boom and military advancement. Have state-run branches invested in the Blackstone mutual fund again? Why is the government making such investments itself? Is it trying to create regulations so that there is a level playing field that benefits everybody, and now is it thinking how to make the pot of gold grow bigger? The government has screwed up its priorities big-time.
Maintaining a strong military power to defend the motherland while the poor and needy are crying out loud for justice and help? We are in the 21st century now. Does the government really see any serious threats from other countries and regions?

[Refocusing on the social fabric and value systems]
The government should refocus its energy and priorities to address the needs of migrants, the aging, minorities, and the medically deprived. Domestic justice and the fabric of society are in serious need of being repaired. A harmonious society is not just a noble goal or slogan. If the moral, ethical and spiritual emphasis is not there, society will continue to become corrupt and eventually collapse. The government will go with it.

On this note, I was by chance introduced by my good friend CH to the film director Jia Zhangke. Anyone who is interested and has the stomach to see the raw aspects of modern-day Chinese society should watch his films. Maybe in time he'll be the Charles Dickens of China, depicting the country as it goes through the painful process of modernization.

English with an American Corporate Accent - 009

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* You are absolutely right. She did mention that. My bad. [You are absolutely right. She did mention that. It is my oversight.]
* John, error checking and data validation checks need to be spruced up some more. [John, error checking and data validation checks need to be better taken care of.]
* That is too much to ask. It is pie in the sky. [That is too much to ask. It is something unrealistic.]
* Don't push that yet, we are not ready for prime time. [Don't release that yet, we are not ready to show that.]
* How much push back did you get when you talked to the customers? [How much suspicion and doubt did you get when you talked to the customers?]
* That tool is great. It has the whole nine yards. [That tool is great. It has everything in it. [That tool is great. It has everything in it.]
* To be honest, I couldn't wrap my brain around all the details. [To be honest, I couldn't understand all the details.]
* That was a mouthful of information. [That was a lot of information that you just said.]
* They are getting a free ride and they know it! [They are getting that without any effort and they know that!]
* One solution to this quandary is to call Jacob directly. [One solution to this difficult dilemma is to call Jacob directly.]
* I have been trading emails with John on that subject. [I have been communicating with John using emails on that subject.]
* For that question, I have to consult with my cheat sheet here to see if it has the answer. [For that question, I have to look at my handy notes here to see if they have the answer.]

English with an American Corporate Accent - 008

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* Let's avoid camping on pool equipment, that's not acceptable. [Let's avoid hoarding shared equipment, that's not acceptable.]
* Let's be cognizant of what we really need in terms of equipment. [Let's be conscious and considerate of what we really need in terms of equipment.]
* If everybody can be a bit more proactive about this bad trend, we won't get emails from high-level execs. [If everybody can anticipate and act accordingly about this bad trend, we won't get emails from high-level executives.]
* We have to walk before we run. [We have to do things in the right sequence.]
* I am behind my email communication with Steve. [I have not caught up with what I need to read from Steve's emails.]
* We have a lot of runways left to deliver this project and we can add a couple of new features. [We have a lot of time left to deliver this project and we can add a couple of new features.]
* I think that Charles is pulling your leg! [I think that Charles is joking with us!]
* Let's try to work this out together next week, so that we don't get blindsided by additional testing requirements. [Let's try to work this out together next week, so that we don't get caught by surprise by additional testing requirements.]
* We are poised to get in with the standard build for that device driver. [We are ready to get in with the standard build for that device driver.]
* The bits are ready. We are good to go. [The bits are ready. We are ready to go to the next step.]
* That item is a long shot in all those engagements. [That item has little chance to make it in all those engagements.]
* Let Henry present that first. We don't want to shortchange him. [Let Henry present that first. We don't want to treat him unfairly.]

English with an American Corporate Accent - 007

This is another collection from recent meetings and trips. It works best if you can find a native English speaker with exposure to corporate America to elaborate on the finer points that I cannot cover well here.

* What I suggest here is to put everything on the table for future discussions. [What I suggest here is not to hide anything for future discussions.]
* We like to make an informed decision in this meeting. [We like to make a decision based on solid information and good reasoning in this meeting.]
* David, you are right on mentioning that issue the engineers found yesterday. [David, you are doing the right thing by mentioning that issue the engineers found yesterday.]
* If you ask for that feature, Joe will tell us to take a hike. [If you ask for that feature, Joe will tell us to go away.]
* This is frosting on the cake for that project delivery. [This is just an extra benefit for that project delivery.]
* They were all strapped to the heels already. [They were all bogged down and busy already.]
* At the end of day, we'll not have that problem. Don't worry about it. [In the end, we won't have that problem. Don't worry about it.]
* Let's disseminate the right information down the pipe. [Let's send the right information down the normal channels.]
* Looks like we are trading horses in the meeting. [Looks like we are making compromises in the meeting between the two parties.]
* Let's compare notes and put our heads together to address that issue. [Let's compare what we know and work together to address that issue.]
* We have to expect a longer haul in this acquisition process. [We have to expect a longer waiting period in this acquisition process.]

Swimming Etiquettes in Beijing

I enjoy swimming very much. This is one of the few sports that won't hurt your joints and muscles. I am not a good swimmer and I swim about 500-700 meters each time for about 30 minutes. I picked up lap swimming in the Scotch Plains YMCA 20 years ago. I have never truly completed my swimming lessons, as I just could not manage the 'breathing' technique. So I had been using a snorkeling tube until a year ago. Years ago during my college days, I yelled help after only two sessions when the coach took us beginners to the deep end to practice. I think that subconscious fear of deep water was the culprit in preventing any further progress.

[My Swimming Epiphany]
A snorkeling tube is a rare sight even in the U.S. I used it to breathe so that I can move all my limbs. I was simply too tense and too nervous. I could not sustain a regular breathing pattern without going into a vicious cycle of sinking in deeper and deeper.
A young child at Huaqing Garden swimming pool once asked me what sort of special technique I was learning with my snorkeling tube. I was embarrassed and told him that I needed it because I had not mastered the breathing technique yet and that he should be quite proud that he didn't use this apparatus.

I learned to breathe finally with encouragement from the lifeguard Mr. Chen. He showed me that a true beginner friend could start to do breast stroke in a few months on a once-a-week schedule. All I needed was to relax and not get in a panic when I did not breathe in enough or got some water into my mouth. Being able to stay calm and recover to normal breathing pattern was key to my epiphany ;-) I was so pleased with this breakthrough, because I never thought it would be possible in my lifetime. Here is a picture of me without the tube in Sanya, Hainan at the end of last year.









I have listed below my observations in and around Beijing swimming pools. Since my samples are limited, I would be cautious in generalizing these observations too much.

[Locker Rooms and Shower Stalls]
When you are done with swimming, drying off right after the shower is common in the U.S. since the locker room area is usually carpeted. Locker rooms are rarely carpeted in China. You are lucky if they do not use ceramic tiles for the floor. The pool I had frequented in the last two years finally changed to a material similar to artificial turf, and I don't have to be extra careful and apprehensive of slipping and falling.

Some facilities have a sauna installed. In one place, the management finally gave up on repairing the sauna unit. Too often I have witnessed abusive users pouring water directly over the hot rocks. It is dangerous and also likely to destroy the sauna unit. I understand why management just gave up on this endless repairing, and it is a shame not having that sauna to use after a good swim.

Shower stalls have good water, hot and cold. But normally that drainage system is not designed to match the usage volume. Standing water here and there is quite common. It is often quite slippery in the shower area. Here is a sign I like. Instead of "Slippery, please be careful," it says "Slip Carefully." I am not sure what the Korean translation says.






[Swimming Pool Access]
There is always a wading pool to wash off your feet between the locker rooms and the pool. They could easily install shower heads to cover the access pathway so that people can really clean themselves before entering the pool. Although "shower before swimming" signs are posted in clear view, there are still some people not observing them.

[Swimming Etiquettes]
It is a common practice to put fast swimmers in the middle lanes and slower pokes on the outside lanes. This is usually clearly marked in the U.S. It is natural to let good (and faster) swimmers avoid the slower folks by staying in the middle lanes, since slower ones like to hang on and be close to the side walls of the pool. When sharing a lane, it is common in the U.S. to see a sign reminding swimmers to "split lane with two and circle with three or more." Here, people just swim in all directions, which is similar to Beijing traffic. Parents and instructors do not teach their children common sense like "see and avoid" and "pool courtesy."

It would be a while before you feel a higher level of civility in the swimming pool. There is no incentive to formulate common-sense rules as far as I can tell. Everything is from the top down, possibly all the way from State General Administration of Sports. A centralized system naturally limits its innovations and improvements to the selected few elites. Scaling is a big challenge to China in many of its policies and regulations.

Although there are signs showing "no jumping/diving" in shallow water, many children are ignoring the rules. Safety consciousness is not big on the teaching agenda.

[Pool Usage Convention]
I am not aware of any ideas along the lines of family swim versus lap swim. All pool areas are either all divided into lanes or completely open. Poor lap swimmers usually have to avoid the beginners and those who are simply playing around for fun.

Swimming is still considered fun and entertainment for families and individuals. Pool schedules are tailored to this type of usage. No pools are open to meet the needs of work-out times such as early morning (before work), lunch time and early evening (after work). Most, if not all, pools operate at management's convenience, not at users' convenience. This reminds of my friend SX's one-liner: There are no rights, only obligations for the individuals in China. It is so true.

[Others]
No photos are allowed in most swimming pools. I don't know why.
Men and women all wear caps, a policy that is mandated by pool management.
A deep water certificate allows swimmers to be in deep water areas. To get a certificate, you must pay 10RMB to apply and must be able to swim 200 meters and tread water for 30 seconds.
There are often swimming lessons for children, especially in the summer time. There are many more bystanders (parents/friends) than students. A typical scene in China.