"Environmental renovation is a long-term task and we need to uphold the spirit of the Long March in the 1930's of the China Red Army to overcome every difficulty," says Chief Beijing Olympic organiser Liu Qi. But it would appear that most people in China don’t see the parallels between saving the country from Chiang Kai Chek's Nationalist forces and restraining the effects of the very kind of industrialisation that Chiang intended to establish on the mainland before he was forced to flee to Taiwan. As a result of the pollution, I still have Beijing lung, a condition enjoyed by many here as a precursor to emphysema. It's limiting my exercise to the gym. So as I left China this week to fly to Hong Kong and Singapore, I was looking forward to breathing fresh air in the "fragrant harbour" and "garden city". Unfortunately, there was none. HONG KONG SKIES I left the occluded skies of Beijing on Monday early morning for Hong Kong, called the ‘fragrant harbour’ (xiang gang), but landing at the the Lantau island airport we couldn’t see the buildings until we were 100 feet or so above the ground. Apparently small particulates coming from China are to blame for this poor visibility, and it is not the fault of the locally generated pollutants like nitrogen oxide or respirable suspended particulates, but emissions of factory owners who are not submitting to central legislation from Beijing. Apparently the Hong Kong legislative council adopts a ‘polluter pays’ policy which means that the Chinese companies continue to pollute with impunity as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has no jurisdiction over the factories just to the north. I had gone to Hong Kong to meet the owners of an agency that has just listed in London and wants to talk about working more closely with EASTWEST. This is an interesting possibility as it could create the beginnings of an Asian marketing group in which EASTWEST would play a part, and the opportunties that this creates need careful evaluation. I have been running EASTWEST since 1995 and especially since 2004 have been working to build a great company, one that enshrines the wellbeing of people and clients at the core, believing that this will yield a sustainable business. I realised when talking about the fresh possibilities that I have built a rigid vision for the business and myself, and find myself questioning both of these paradigms with equal measure of excitement and trepidation. SINGAPORE HAZE
I flew to Singapore with these thoughts fresh in my mind. Singapore, billed as the Garden City, is becoming Casino City as over S$5bn (US$1.87) is being invested to create the Marina Bay Sands, the first of two Integrated Resorts. The IR’s were received with mixed reviews but certainly there is a buzz about the city state that I haven’t felt since 1995 with cranes everywhere and property, including my own flat, being traded at large multiples. These IR’s will no doubt be mainly indoors to take into account the year round 30+°C temperatures, humidity in the 80%’s and the annual attempt by Indonesian farmers to smoke out their neighbours. This year, the haze resulting from burning forests on the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra is the worst since 1997. When I landed at Singapore's Changi Airport, the Pollutant Standards Index was 75, down from a previous high of 150. According to the US Environmental Agency a PSI above 100 means that the ‘general population should reduce vigorous outdoor activity.’ It doesn’t specifically mention marathon training but as visibility at 75 PSI is reduced to 3-4 km it seemed wise not to aggravate the Beijing lung and injury sustained running in Hong Kong. EASTWEST STRATEGY SESSION A long running tradition is our quarterly strategy session, now into the 24th meeting and my way of preserving the One Firm firm concept, but this was the first time for Ben. After the slight hiccup of taking Judy to Singapore and her subsequent resignation, and some moments when I felt that Ben was not going to work out, I decided to recognize my part in his behaviour and to invest in bringing the 26 year old to meet with the team, in the hope that he would be imbued with the wonderful comraderie and freedom of expression that is encoded in every strand of DNA in the Singapore team. There was a tense moment as bashful Ben was elected by the guys to lead them through cones blindfolded, but quick as a flash he devised a cunning plan to lead the 15 through a maze of cones. For this and many moments, the strategy sessions are a highlight for me in the calendar because at each and every one people discover their hidden talents and receive collective reassurance that it is ok to take risks and move forward as a team. THE WEDDING The question on the weekend was which person should move forward first, as Justin and Queenie Ho performed the old and fading custom of the Chinese Tea ceremony. Firstly, they tried to remember who should sit where and who should serve the tea to Justin’s nonagenarian, cheongsam wearing grandmother while the assorted Eurasian family took digital photos. That evening the married couple repeated the ceremony to give respect to their elders remembering the following: • The bride is positioned in front of her father-in-law, the groom in front of his mother. • Arrange for lucky women, or ones who will bring you good luck, to help you serve. • Hold the teacup in both hands when you present it to each person. • Serve the tea to the groom's parents first, then proceed in order from the oldest participant to the youngest. • Expect to receive lucky red envelopes, called lai see, containing money or jewelry, from the groom's family. Justin and Queenie chose to have their wedding reception at the Beaufort Hotel on Sentosa, the southern most point of the Tenasserim-Malay Peninsula overlooking the South China Sea; it was a wonderful place for them to have a fresh start to their lives together. At the end of the evening the hardened late stayers retired to the outdoor bar, from where we could make out the flotilla of large merchant vessels, but only for 2-3 km before they were lost in the haze.
I flew to Singapore with these thoughts fresh in my mind. Singapore, billed as the Garden City, is becoming Casino City as over S$5bn (US$1.87) is being invested to create the Marina Bay Sands, the first of two Integrated Resorts. The IR’s were received with mixed reviews but certainly there is a buzz about the city state that I haven’t felt since 1995 with cranes everywhere and property, including my own flat, being traded at large multiples. These IR’s will no doubt be mainly indoors to take into account the year round 30+°C temperatures, humidity in the 80%’s and the annual attempt by Indonesian farmers to smoke out their neighbours. This year, the haze resulting from burning forests on the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra is the worst since 1997. When I landed at Singapore's Changi Airport, the Pollutant Standards Index was 75, down from a previous high of 150. According to the US Environmental Agency a PSI above 100 means that the ‘general population should reduce vigorous outdoor activity.’ It doesn’t specifically mention marathon training but as visibility at 75 PSI is reduced to 3-4 km it seemed wise not to aggravate the Beijing lung and injury sustained running in Hong Kong. EASTWEST STRATEGY SESSION A long running tradition is our quarterly strategy session, now into the 24th meeting and my way of preserving the One Firm firm concept, but this was the first time for Ben. After the slight hiccup of taking Judy to Singapore and her subsequent resignation, and some moments when I felt that Ben was not going to work out, I decided to recognize my part in his behaviour and to invest in bringing the 26 year old to meet with the team, in the hope that he would be imbued with the wonderful comraderie and freedom of expression that is encoded in every strand of DNA in the Singapore team. There was a tense moment as bashful Ben was elected by the guys to lead them through cones blindfolded, but quick as a flash he devised a cunning plan to lead the 15 through a maze of cones. For this and many moments, the strategy sessions are a highlight for me in the calendar because at each and every one people discover their hidden talents and receive collective reassurance that it is ok to take risks and move forward as a team. THE WEDDING The question on the weekend was which person should move forward first, as Justin and Queenie Ho performed the old and fading custom of the Chinese Tea ceremony. Firstly, they tried to remember who should sit where and who should serve the tea to Justin’s nonagenarian, cheongsam wearing grandmother while the assorted Eurasian family took digital photos. That evening the married couple repeated the ceremony to give respect to their elders remembering the following: • The bride is positioned in front of her father-in-law, the groom in front of his mother. • Arrange for lucky women, or ones who will bring you good luck, to help you serve. • Hold the teacup in both hands when you present it to each person. • Serve the tea to the groom's parents first, then proceed in order from the oldest participant to the youngest. • Expect to receive lucky red envelopes, called lai see, containing money or jewelry, from the groom's family. Justin and Queenie chose to have their wedding reception at the Beaufort Hotel on Sentosa, the southern most point of the Tenasserim-Malay Peninsula overlooking the South China Sea; it was a wonderful place for them to have a fresh start to their lives together. At the end of the evening the hardened late stayers retired to the outdoor bar, from where we could make out the flotilla of large merchant vessels, but only for 2-3 km before they were lost in the haze.