I spent 3 weeks in India around 23 years ago and absolutely loved it. I was due to go back to India for 3 weeks or so this Christmas/New Year, but unfortunately Covid 19 has put paid to that.
I was lucky enough to have the chance to spend 6 weeks in China last year. I was able to travel quite extensively (China’s bullet trains are quite something) and was completely blown away by the experience. So many of my pre-conceptions about day to day life in China were well and truly proven to be wrong. I would love to be able to go back.
Over the past few years, I have been also been able to have short visits to Vietnam, Japan and Borneo, all of which exceeded my expectations.
I really hope the crisis eases up next year at some point, although I suspect that long range flights will unfortunately remain prohibitively expensive for a few years to come.
I visited Japan last year for a bit over 3 weeks - nowhere near enough and I am determined to go back to see more.
I’ve had a few brief visits to China and one longer one (not counting HK as China): some place I liked and some I’d certainly like to see more of, but also some place where I felt very uncomfortable. Throughout it is clear that the State exerts a high level of control and surveillance, which affects people’s lives and freedoms. Aside from tge place generally, the technology in Shenzhen City is amazing, and it was great being able to take a broken iPhone to what was essentially a market stall and have screen, wifi module, buttons and battery replaced - done there and then, by a fast and clearly skilled worker, in full sight and for under £20.
Theres a very strange device on ebay showing the green Naim Logo, with a description of “Naim All aluminum DAC Rear Stage Power Amplifier case Class A DIY Box”. Basically it’s an empty box, Hmmm…
Not liking the truth? Its a rip off cheating biased fraudulent country. I’ve travelled there for business many times and got behind the scenes in the area of medical products. Its horrendous.
No probs, you need a device called a Detauper, which uses a small explosive charge like a No 98 det to kill them. Might be forbidden in UK though, our neighbour has a homemade one that fires a .410 shotgun cartridge, that does the job too. Once set, I put a large bucket over it so the cats can’t trigger it as it goes with quite a bang.
Otherwise a few drops of diesel down the hole once you’ve uncovered it - the regular stuff, doesnt have to be anything special, will send them on their way as they hate the smell of it.
Those are the only ways that I know that works, smokes and windmills won’t.
Obviously quite unlike our pure as the driven snow country with a blameless colonial history and an economy that owes not a little to exploitation and the slave trade in previous generations.
The reality is that the world is a much more nuanced place than simple ‘two legs bad, four legs good’…
It is a bit how you see it. I was raised with the view that British people are true gentle(wo)men and arrive always precisely on time.
Great was the shock when I arrived precisely on time at my first British customer 20 years ago. Never seen such an office chaos like there.
Do in Rome as the Romans works best for me.
I had to learn the trick though how to be effective in a multinational/multicultural organisation. 20 years on my business way and I think that I just mastered it - a year ago.
Well plenty of countries have a colonial past and a history of slavery, not least of which is China itself of course. And on a scale far larger than many ‘Western’ nations I believe, which spanned much of the last four thousand years at least. The fact that they enslaved many their own people (it was normal in their culture to do so) and those from other Asian nations all the way up to the middle of the 20th Century doesn’t seem to matter so much as enslaving black Africans. Bizarre.
Don’t see what difference any of this makes to their state driven, more than dubious attitude to economic and intellectual property rights however.
Hi Svetty, and Hmack,
I have been to China myself both on holiday and also with my wife for her business. I loved the country but hated the business contacts and the way they did business. I know the saying is “let him without sin cast the first stone”, but it seems to me if you look at history all nations have been sinners, or at least their governments/rulers have.
But it is very much all too “WOKE” to in effect try and stifle or criticise anyone who points out uncomfortable facts about China’s business and state behaviour.
I have no doubt many Tibetans and Uighur’s may have a negative opinion of the Chinese state but it does not make them xenophobic… Perhaps I should go to a Chinese “re-education camp and have my views “enlightened”.
Seriously though we are all entitled to hold negative opinions without being accused of xenophobia / racism, or “first world" bias.
I was in China last November & wholeheartedly agree with you, especially on the Bullet Trains.
Unfortunately Covid has killed off a trip to Vietnam/Cambodia where i should be right now
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as they say.
It would stand people in good stead to remember that China is a massive country with both innovators and quality driven manufacturers, and knock-off artists looking to rip off what they can. I’ve yet to see country that has homogeneous traits in anything - even here in Japan which tries to present itself as a homogeneous society when it is anything but.
Most countries have startling duality of many things totally at odds with itself. Just look at the US. Painting anything with the same brush is hazardous. Most countries have multiple cultures and multiple value systems, and their cultures are not their government either. I understand that it is frustrating to need to think so hard about any society when a simple label can save so much time, but the world is complex and full of contradictions that we need to reconcile.
On a lighter note, very few people in the market for Naim are likely to be taken in by knock off goods. When I bought a knock off Omega in Shanghai at 20, I knew it was a fake and wanted one. Omega didn’t lose a single penny. I couldn’t have afforded it. Maybe Swatch lost $30 on my purchase of a fake Omega though . Most likely, people buying this stuff know it’s fake and want the image. I’ve met people who would quite happily fill their home with fake junk and just “pretend”. No way on earth they would spend money on anything real.
I agree, but painting a picture of an entire country by stating that "Its a rip off cheating biased fraudulent country …It’s horrendous. - isn’t quite tantamount to merely holding a ‘negative opinion’.
It’s this sort of comment to which I find myself compelled to respond.
I agree, but painting a picture of an entire country by stating that "Its a rip off cheating biased fraudulent country …It’s horrendous. - isn’t quite tantamount to merely holding a ‘negative opinion’.
Hmack Please note you are quoting from someone else and not me… see the above posts…
My negative viewpoint is of the Chinese State government and their policy’s, not the people. Many international NGO’s and charities hold similar highly critical views as do many other governments. It is not wrong to hold a negative view in the face of the evidence and facts. You may have a different opinion of the Chinese state which you are perfectly entitled to but I won’t criticise you for it.
Sorry - I was well aware that I was quoting someone else, and I had absolutely no quarrel with your posts.
I was simply pointing out that whilst I agree with your assertion that everyone is entitled to hold negative opinions without the accusation of xenophobia, the quote I included (from someone else’s post) amounted in my opinion to something more than a straightforward ‘negative opinion’.
Incidentally, I don’t entirely disagree with your viewpoint of the Chinese State Government, although it is only once you have been there that you realize that State oppression or suppression is not quite the norm for the vast majority of people in China that is sometimes portrayed in the West. Not withstanding that, there are some aspects of State policy that are worthy of International criticism.
. Most likely, people buying this stuff know it’s fake and want the image. I’ve met people who would quite happily fill their home with fake junk and just “pretend”. No way on earth they would spend money on anything real.