October 8, 2007
This week we have entered the clogged arteries of Beijing’s roads, hiring a car, and took ourselves away to the Fragrant Hills, in search of sunshine and fresh air, phenomena that the Government is telling us will be in growing abundance as we get to within 300 days of the Opening Ceremony.
I haven’t owned a car since 1993 but the prospect of trying to stop a Chinese taxi and convincing a driver that a baby seat would be quick and easy to install, and that LP won’t throw things around, or throw up, forced me to take the first steps by renting one. Somewhere in the north west of the city next to an obscure bank, beside a run down tea house and down an alley is an entrance to a block of flats converted into offices festooned with old posters of Mao and reeking of cheap Chinese tobacco. It was into one of these that I took an 8 month pregnant woman and grew concerned about the insurance cover for our Chinese made Mitsubishi. While Hertz rent in Angola they don’t operate in China, but if they did I doubt they could match the RMB2, 800 monthly rental fee charged by our crew cut, jade ring wearing operator. We think the car was so cheap because it belongs to one of the office boys; after we had it steam cleaned and took off the steering wheel cover we set off for The Fragrant Hills – Xiang Shan Park.
Driving in Beijing is kind of fun. The rules are:
1. If you get to the junction first, you go first
2. If your vehicle is bigger than the oncoming one, you go first
3. If you see pedestrians half way across the street, you go first
4. If you need to back up the high way off ramp because you went the wrong way, you go first
5. If you overtake someone and then find you are in the wrong lane, don’t let them pass first
I had read that accidents in China declined by 15% this year, still accounting for 58,268 fatalities and 288,000 injuries (Xinhua 2007-10-07 Road accidents drop), to some extent this seems surprisingly small for the number of cars as random acts of driving are matched by the Brownian motion of pedestrians who seem oblivious to the potential grief a ton of steel and glass can cause.
We arrived without incident on the west side of Beijing to the park first designated by Chinese emperors as playgrounds in 1186, Xiang Shan Park (http://www.xiangshanpark.com.cn/). The Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties all enjoyed this fir tree covered area that reaches to 557 meters above sea level, with Emperor Qianlong in 1745 commissioning 28 scenic spots to be built in what now covers 160 hectares. Unfortunately the Anglo French forces sacked the temples in 1860 and 1900, endearing ourselves only briefly by aiding the escape of Sun Yat Sen from the China mission in London just before he allied with the communists of Russia. In 1949 the green hilly area gained notoriety for acting as the base for Mao as he planned the “Crossing the Chang Jiang River Campaign” during the War of Liberation against the Kuomintang. Today there is peace and reconstruction, lovers under pine trees looking at carved lion statues and a wonderfully fresh air that is a nice respite from the Beijing smog.
We are some 305 days away now and the city is making headway, if slowly, to become ready. Line 5 of the Beijing subway system opened, covering 27.6km depositing passengers at any one of 23 stations and all for a fixed price of RMB2.00. One of the modern features that the newspapers have included is that the train is fitted with wireless so that mobile phones can still be used; a feat still not possible in London. It is interesting that an old business model of a unitary fare is being adhered to while modern technology is being deployed; perhaps this is a new business model of encouraging people to take the train where they can talk more while traveling than they legally can in their cars. Construction started in December, 2002 and involved 12 billion yuan (about $1.6 billion) in investment and Beijing have three new lines to open in 2008.
At EASTWEST I am continuing to make investments and I feel quite driven as we reach the end of the year and more importantly impending fatherhood. One milestone I am proud of is that of reaching the RMB1,000,000 turnover mark for the year to date. This from a standing start and almost all revenue generated by the Beijing office with few referral dollars. With a team of four staff plus myself, I have airlifted one of the Singapore team to support and train the Beijing consultants. This is liberating me to think of the business in the broader context and to prepare for the arrival of LP. At 37 weeks LP is now moving around more than most teenagers on a Saturday morning and while Wei is managing amazingly, she is ready to see the little person and push them around the Fragrant Hills instead of carrying him.
Once LP does arrive, we’ve got our snappy new rental car and LP can share in the excitement of being driven; or maybe they will prefer the train.
Manzou
Jim
