The world is becoming border-less as human beings on Earth are becoming more global and interconnected. China is a country which have over 2000 years worth of culture and tradition, however with globalization sweeping in, there is an increase in Western shops and stores along the streets in Shanghai. 

Coca cola, a soft drink company originated from Georgia in the United States is now present in everywhere in the world except in Cuba and North Korea. As seen in the above picture, this picture was taken during the Chinese New Year in one of the streets in Shanghai. It represents how Coca Cola has been decorated to adapt to the Chinese new year occasion. 

The Apple Store in Shanghai is one of the most profitable Apple store in the world. The store in built beside an expensive shopping mall, IFC which featured branded stores around the world. This store mimics the looks of the New York Apple Store. Instead of a glass cube, the Shanghai store has a glass cylinder. Known for its big space and clean environment in the store, the globalization of Apple products have taken place for Chinese consumers. 

Besides that, as one passes by the cargo ports in China, you can see how massive it is. I believe Shanghai is one of the world's busiest port as it handles a few million containers every year. The containers were destined for different parts of the world. 

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3 years ago, I was at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Today, I came back to the China's pavilion again. This time, it was different, less people and we did not have to queue for 5 hours like how I did the last round.

The exhibit mainly consisted of paintings of different famous artists.

At the end of the exhibit, we were greeted with different sculptures. This was the most interesting part for me. Below are a few sculptures we saw in the pavilion.

Soldiers standing firm. 

I guess they were discussing something important.

Biggest lotus flower

Reflection of Ebony and I in the lotus flower.

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American fast food have entered the Chinese market since a decade ago. Since then, they have been trying to adapt to the consumers in China. Every other corner on the street in Shanghai, you will be greeted by McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway and many more American brand shops. They all have striven to adjust to the local taste.

While I was in Shanghai, I observed a few things about these American shops in China.

In KFC, although they have the main dishes like how they were being served in the United States, there are many other new and exotic dishes which cater to the Chinese. The KFC here offer a few traditional dishes alongside with the familiar Western menu items such as porridge, egg tarts, mushrooms, preserved egg and many other. Furthermore, certain American dishes are being changed such as instead of coleslaw, you get to order a bowl of vegetables such as bamboo shoots or lotus root. Same goes to McDonald's where you have a menu that suits the local tastes. Another thing is that in the States, you have to clear your own trays, however in China, a server will come up to clear your own trays. Another big difference is the portion size. Here in China, you have much smaller portion size to cater to the local Chinese whereas in America, the portion size are much bigger. Pizza Hut is considered a restaurant here in China. Instead of the fast food chain where we get a 'to go' back in America, customers actually dine-in in Pizza Hut where waiters and waitresses serve you. Instead of the typical drinks sold in the US, Starbucks, on the other hand, introduced green tea flavored drinks that appeal to the local taste. Starbucks promoted dine-in services too for the Chinese market.

Overall those companies which are successful in the Chinese market adapted its business specifically for the Chinese, rather than trying to bring everything that worked in America into China. These companies understood that the value proposition it was offering Chinese was different than in the US. Therefore, they adapted their business to fit China better than other companies.

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Pasta Fresca Da Salvatore (沙华多利 )

It was one of the best pastas I have eaten in Shanghai. Located close to the exit of Dapuqiao, the restaurant has different pastas to choose from. 

The best Cabonara I have eaten was that Cheese Cabonara they have. I definitely recommend to go to this restaurant. 

The twins enjoying their pasta

Frank and his salad

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While I was in Shanghai, I had the opportunity to go on a business trip to FESCO Adecco.

Adecco, a worldwide leader in human resource services, has set up a joint venture with FESCO, a leading human resource service company in China. FESCO Adecco goes by the motto "better work, better life". They provide their clients with general and professional staffing and also outsourcing services. Currently, the branch in Shanghai has more than 400 employees.

The trip was insightful. Since it is a human resource company, the presenter touched a lot on how to be prepared for a job or internship interview. He also mentioned that recently there is a growing in demand for engineers as well as people who are fluent in Mandarin. Even as an expat, you are expected to be fluent in the Mandarin language to be able to get a job in China. I am not surprised that companies today are looking for people who are bilingual, especially in English and Mandarin. However, I believe that in the near future, China will be the No.1 market in human resource because it has the largest population in the world. 

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Fake Market

How good are you in bargaining? Try looking at the products you own, how often do you see the "Made in China" label? China is not only known for manufacturing almost everything but also known for being good at imitating things. They have many fake markets here where they sell fake designer bags, shoes, clothes, electronics and many more. In order for you to be successful in purchasing things in the fake market, an essential skill one should have is "BARGAINING".

In Chinese Class today, I learned how to bargain in Chinese. To put my skills to test, we went to one of the fake markets in the technology center for shopping. The whole market was so huge that everywhere you go they looked entirely similar. I wonder how tough the competition will be when there are more than 30 shops selling similar stuff.

This is what I learned from my Chinese class to be put to test during my first shopping trip:

1. If you are interested in a product, look at it carefully and ensure that it's a new one. Check to also see if the logo is close to the real one. Since most of the things here are imitation goods, don't expect too much from it. 
2. When you find the thing you like, ask the shopkeeper "多少钱？" (duo shao qian?--how much is it?).
3. Most likely, the shopkeeper will give you a price which is incredibly inflated, so always start by saying "太贵了！" (tai gui le!--too expensive!) in a shocked voice.
4. So this is your time to bargain. The first thing is to take 50% off the original price. This is difficult as the shopkeeper will most probably tell you No No No, too little. But you should stick to your price and keep bargaining. 
5. You now want to ask the shopkeeper to reduce the price, most probably she will take out a calculator to type the price. And you should say  "便宜一点儿" (pian yi yi dianer--a little cheaper). 
6. The shopkeeper will now talk to you about how good their product is, how great the functions of your product is. They will do this in hopes you will buy at their calling price. However, don't give in and continue bargaining. And if the shopkeeper does not want to bargain anymore. Just say "我不买了" (wo bu mai le--I won't buy it) and leave the store. I would say that about 80% of the time, they will call you back saying OK OK, pay money.

What I found out is that as long as they could sell their products, they will gain a little. It's better than losing their potential customers.

This is how I bargained and it helps. The things I bought below cost about 300 yuen ($50) only. 

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The night life in Shanghai is very different from what you will experience in the Western world. Any foreigner who comes to Shanghai has to experience the night life here. The night life here is happening no matter it is during the weekday or the weekend. 

On Thursday, we went to Bar Rouge, a rooftop bar which oversees The Bund. As it was ladies night, the bar was crowded as ladies come and get their free drinks. 

Bar Rouge with them

They had a fire show by some of the bar tenders while we were there. The ladies were all entertained by the highly-skilled bar tenders who juggled bottles of fire.

Fire Juggler

We left the bar quite early to another rooftop bar which was more quiet. It was a great night in Shanghai! 

Nervado and Camila

A group picture of us

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Running along the West bank of the Huang Pu River, The Bund is the symbol of Shanghai. Every tourist who goes to Shanghai has to experience the night view of The Bund. The view of The Bund was breathtaking. Never in my life I have ever see such a beautiful landscape with magnificent skyscrapers. The buildings across the river with is on the Pudong side will light up in every evening.

The best picture I captured while I was there

On The Bund, we see people of all nations trying to get pictures of this picturesque view to bring back to their respective countries. There were camera flashes going in all directions, some towards the buildings and some towards the people.

Look at how crowded it got when I was there

I went with Nervado, John and Ebony to The Bund. Never in my life I have ever seen people trying to get pictures of foreigners especially Blacks. Nervado and Ebony soon became the center of attraction as the Chinese took their turns to take pictures with them as if they were celebrities. Being an Asian myself, I don't quite understand the Chinese culture here. In addition, I also realized that people were staring at them with the 'Wow' expressions on their faces. It was really interesting to see how the Chinese reacts to foreigners.

Ebony posing infront of The Bund

Nervado with two Chinese

I strongly encourage anyone who visits Shanghai to take a look at the night view of The Bund. However, do this before 11pm as the lights will go off to conserve energy!

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Although I knew that people in China uses different social media sites compared to the rest of the world, I never knew social media is huge here. According to McKinsey&Company, "In addition to having the world’s biggest Internet user base—513 million people, more than double the 245 million users in the United States¹ —China also has the world’s most active environment for social media. More than 300 million people use it, from blogs to social-networking sites to microblogs and other online communities.² That’s roughly equivalent to the combined population of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In addition, China’s online users spend more than 40 percent of their time online on social media, a figure that continues to rise rapidly." 

Apparently, a lot of social media sites were blocked in China. For example, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Netflix, Blogger, and many more. The government have been controlling the people's access to all these sites through a system called "China's Great Firewall". 

However, with the help of a Virtual Private Network, I manged to get access to all these. China has their own version of 'Facebook' called 'Ren Ren', 'Twitter' called 'Weibo', 'You Tube' called 'QQ' and many other equivalents. In fact, the Chinese are the most active social media users in the world as they have the largest population in the world. 

I found a social media comparison for China and the rest of the world on Google. 

According to Theresa in her article about social media at http://growglobally.org/?p=754, she gave the following tips for one to adapt to the social media in China.

1. Relearn what you know about Social Media platforms:  Using Social Media in China requires understanding which platforms offer the kind of reach you need to build brand awareness.  These tools can be different in terms of capabilities given they are designed for Chinese user preferences.
2. Know your target audiences and their domicile in the Social Media world :  Different social media platforms have different target groups. It is important to identify those and engage on the platforms that suit the associations’ mission and objective.
3. Understand the Chinese way of communicating:  Less is often more – China is a low-context country, meaning that communication should be short and precise.  Chinese users prefer short message services to long blogs and articles.
4. Stop thinking campaign, think communication:  Social Media is about interaction and reactions, it is about engaging.  A predetermined campaign cannot deliver that value without blending a more spontaneous, two-way communication that reacts to users.
5. Mind the new generation: The younger generation in China knows how to handle media and is adapting fast.  Associations have to be prepared, otherwise users already moved on and actions are too late.

I am definitely looking forward to how the social media in China will develop in the years to come. I strongly believe they will dominate some of the popular social media in the world in future. 

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She's Ebony

My roomie

I arrived at the hotel entrance of Charms Hotel with Hayley and Nervado. We checked in our rooms and settled down for the night. We had shared rooms with another person. It turned out that I was mistakenly paired with another guy as a roommate. Thank god that Hayley actually went up to the room with me and soon found out that I was rooming with a guy after checking the stuff in the room. The guy wasn't there in the room at that moment.

"That's odd, how can you be paired with another guy?" Hayley blurted out.

"No way, I wouldn't be comfortable sleeping with another guy." I replied.

"Don't worry, we will have it changed for you." Hayley reassured me.

So we went back down to the reception to have it settled out. So happened that a girl named Camilla who was supposed to be rooming with another girl named Ebony couldn't make it for the night as her flight was delayed. For the meantime, I moved in to her original room. 

My roomie is awesome. She's from Alabama currently studying in Berea College. And I found out she loves Disney so much! I'm sure we will have a great month together. 

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