Greetings from China!

[hifiguy]

Some of you around these parts may remember me - I took a break from DU after the first of the year because the drama was too difficult to deal with.

Since then I received and accepted a job offer to become the marketing director of a German owned and operated high-end audio firm that manufactures at its wholly owned plant just outside of Hangzhou, China. Hangzhou is a city of about 6.5 million 185 km outside of the mammoth Shanghai metroplex. My boss is a German citizen of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry who has lived in China for 15 years.

I am going to be here for about six weeks for my orientation to China and the company.

First impressions are that the food is so good as to be indescribable, the beer is perfectly acceptable, the traffic is barely organized entropy that makes Paris and Rome look like the suburban US. I get a few stares as Westerners are not quite as common here as in the huge cities. I also feel a little like Andre the Giant as I tower over most of the locals and I am only six-one. For all of the glittering modernity (there's also some very visible third-world rattiness) here, for some reason Western style toilet paper is a concept the Chinese have not yet grasped, so to speak.

More later, and it's nice to be back on DU.

[LadyHawkAZ]

1. Congrats on the new job!

Sounds exciting. I've got a friend living outside Taiwan, he really loves it there.

And it's good to see you back around. Don't be a stranger.

[LeftofObama]

2. Congrats on the new job!

Enjoy China and make sure to keep us informed. I love reading about new places. Pics would be great if you get a chance.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. good to hear that all is well, Congrats on the job!

[Kali]

4. I remember you posting about this.

Congratulations and enjoy the experiences!

[Major Nikon]

5. I was in Hangzhou last October

We visited all the tourist attractions like a boat ride on West Lake, Lingyin temple, etc. I found the people there to be even more friendly than the other cities we visited.

[AsahinaKimi]

6. Nihao!

A toast to your new career! with Tsingtao of course!

[hifiguy]

7. Thanks, everyone!

I have been introduced to the ubiquitous electric scooter and actually gone from the clean but ratty hostel where I am staying to my new place of employment and survived. As crazy as the traffic is here there are at least scooter lanes on every road of consequence, and they are physically separate on the main drags. I have to say Chinese drivers - at least drivers of everything but big trucks - are remarkably attentive and if you slide into a spot they will not run in to you. Also, the horn is the only signaling device used and it is used with the enthusiastic abandon exemplified by the US Air Force dumping Agent Orange on the Mekong Delta in 1968. It is going to take a while to get used to it, though. Drivers think nothing of whistling by other cars within a few inches. There's also a tendency to simply drive on the wrong side of the road if it will get you there quicker.

All things considered, what the Chinese have done in the last thirty years is little short of boggling. That it is somewhat chaotic is decidedly understandable.

[NewJeffCT]

8. Ni hao - I was just in Hangzhou in April

Very nice city - somebody from Hangzhou told us that in Hangzhou, there are 60 trees for every person, while in Shanghai, there are 60 people for every tree. (I think he used 60?) He also said that because of the better environment there, the women of Hangzhou were more attractive than the women of Shanghai.

When I'd been to China in the past in the summertime, I found the heat & humidity comparable to a Houston, Atlanta or similar southern US city - only with more pollution added to the mix. So, I don't envy you having to deal with the weather there, on top of the inconsistent air conditioning in many places.

The high speed rail system in that part of China can be outstanding - the 200 mile drive by car from Nanjing to Shanghai that is normally 3+ hours without traffic (fat chance of no traffic...) and 4+ hours on a normal day is 1 hour and 7 minutes by high speed train.

[hifiguy]

9. Atlanta is a good comparator.

I spent a week there ten years ago and it is very similar in terms of temp and humidity. The air conditioning in the room where I am staying and in the office is very good, so no complaints there.

I am here for six weeks of orientation to the job and primarily to China, and will be visiting both Hangzhou and Shanghai on several occasions; will also be going to Taipei for a meeting with a distributor. Haven't been on the bullet trains yet, though if they're anything like the French TGV it will be a treat. IIRC German or French companies were involved with developing the Chinese high-speed rail system, so they should be very nice. The Shanghai subway system - all built in the last 20 or so years - is breathtaking. Fast, clean, and a dizzying number of lines/routes. Truly world class in every way.

[elleng]

10. KEEP IN TOUCH!

[Paulie]

11. I too remember you talking about the job!

Glad you're enjoying it!!! Safe travels!

[Art_from_Ark]

12. 6.5 million is not a huge city?

Holy cow!

[hifiguy]

13. Not by Chinese standards.

"Big City" has a different meaning in China. The Shanghai metroplex is about 26 million, Beijing is about 21 million and Guangzhou and Chengdu (which is way inland west) are around 14-15 million. So Hangzhou's 6.5 million is big, but not BIG.

[NewJeffCT]

14. There are almost 50 cities in China

with populations of at least 2 million. In 2011, the fourth largest city in the US was Houston, was a population estimated at 2.16 million. #5 was Philadelphia, with about 1.5 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population