Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: China

Nanxun – Water Town

Reflections

After spending Saturday in the factory, I was keen to get out of Shanghai and see some sights. Initially thinking of heading to Suzhou or Wuxi, I came across this article on water towns, and opted instead to tick another one off the list; especially since I enjoyed visiting Tongli and Zhouzhuang so much. Nanxun, which I hadn’t heard of before, topped the list.

Enlisting a newly moved-to-Shanghai Drew, we headed West. Two or so hours from Shanghai by car (yes we were lazy), it’s a place that must surely arrive soon on the Chinese tourist map – the new motorway heading out in that direction guarantees it. However, for now, it seems that the crowds have not yet arrived, and we were pleasantly surprised by how quiet the place was.

Pleasant surprise soon gave way to broad grins, however. The state of preservation felt like it could have been a real live water town just weeks before, boats carrying silk yarn merely taking their Sunday rest. The people were warm and friendly, the scenery preposterously beautiful, and by the end we simply felt lucky to have been able to visit such an historic town that still housed a real community of people. Unfortunately, I am sure the youth will not want to return and it’s likely that if I ever return tourist shops will have replaced the townhouses by the river.

But how about a Bali-style retreat of river-side escapes, two hours from the city? I can see it now.

What’s for dinner? – Visiting the library

Two lovely ladies that virtually chewed our ears off upon discovery that we spoke Chinese. Charming!

Sucker for patinas of use.

Stylish man with cell phone

View up the first of the side-canals. We meant to catch a boat at some point, but in the end the guys on bikes won out!

Can’t resist peeking into the side streets

Handsome hat seller

Red lanterns, reflected

Textures

This guy … how sartorial!

I mean really

He kept on appearing in photos, as if someone was paying him to walk by.

The mop project continues

There he is again

No matter where I go in the world, there are always groups of old men hanging out, drinking, playing games, riding motorbikes, gambling … I am sure I will be the same some day.

Pixelated … a designer definitely sweated the details on that top rivet

View up the main section of the river

Watching the world go by

Pleasing mixtures of colours

‘Jonny, you arrange your images into graphic design layouts’ – according to Drew … he is absolutely right. I do – that’s what happens when you have a graphics designer for a Mum.

At first, we thought this guy was going to be your normal tourist trap pusher, but he turned out to have a real sense of humour and amazing idea of the photos that we wanted to take. I suppose with all the visitors, you get photographic training for free!

Resting, away from the rain.

I always enjoy it when it rains in a new place … interesting to see how people react.

Gone Fishin’

Lots of people peeking out to catch a glimpse of the funny foreigners … not sure how much longer these guys will be here. I imagine it will all be tourist shops if I ever come back.

Pointing out the birds nest above our heads.

Across the river

Drew and I could not believe our luck at being here – truly a great experience.

Like a scene from a movie

Checking to see if the rain has stopped

Red shorts

Neighbours

My best mop image to date

This character had me giggling – doing his afternoon exercises while the rain had paused.

One of the pleasingly semi-circular bridges

Rain adding a certain something to the wet roofs.

Our guy, very pleased with a highly-inflated tip!

2013/06/24
Back in the Saddle

After 18 months away from Asia, I finally headed back. Back in the saddle!

Blurry trip from the airport

Up at the crack of dawn the next morning … I was so used to living on the ‘other’ side of the world and travelling East to reach Asia that I often felt quite disorientated with time.

The Bund, Shanghai

Morning boats

Hiking Hong Kong

High-rise living

Tanja & Edgar!

Reminders of the little nooks and crannies that Taiwanese people would take over … lovely to see the same thing in Hong Kong.

Play time

Good times … all rather different now with a car … and a walking talking addition to the family!

Panorama

Views out to the island

Great to have access from their back door

Urban vertical sprawl

Down into Mongkok and Kowloon

Ello Dad

Out at Discovery Bay … kind of like Disneyland, but you live there.

Water world

Couldn’t believe I caught this one – a guy was carrying a dragon’s mask and some shopping as I was waiting for a taxi in Shenzhen

View up the street in Shanghai

Some random digging

Young chefs

2013/03/31
Tongli – Water Town

Escaping Shanghai is always a challenge, but as I have highlighted in previous posts, the HSR service heading out to Nanjing is opening up the entire Yangtze corridor.

This time with my manager, Paul, in tow, we headed out on Sunday to Suzhou station, and a cab to take us out to Tongli, a so-called ‘water town‘. While I supposed it would be similar to Zhouzhuang, which I visited last year, I enjoyed that trip enough to warrant another try.

Claiming 1000 years of history, the town is criss-crossed with canals and viaducts. It does not claim to be the largest or most famous of the water towns, and as a result the level of tourism does not quite meet the levels of Zhouzhuang, at least when I visited. And while there are no doubt touristic areas, it’s striking how many people still live and work in the town; it naturally gives the place a different vibe. Unlike many places in China, there seemed to be an uncanny amount of cleaning going on; after a few minutes of shooting photographs, I realised that almost all my photos featured mops or brooms somewhere in the background. Sipping a beer by the banks of the river, we also amused ourselves as we watched old ladies sweep fallen leaves into the river, and then the men fishing them out again to be disposed of.

First of a series of photos I call the 'Mop Project'

As I have said before, I am a sucker for all graffiti in China and Asia.

At first, I thought the piles of wood outside the shops might be for sale, but then I realised these were the shop shutters; rather more charming than electric roller shutters that will no doubt replace them some day.

I call this 'Mops & Shutters'

Afforementioned shutters, before a store opens.

A very fancy blue bike.

Waiting for the end of the day.

Organisation

Mops were hung, cantilevered, and propped up in all manner of ways.

I really did take a lot of photos of shutters. I like that there are both Chinese and Roman numerals on these boards.

Several times, groups of giggling local girls asked for our photos (convinced we were brothers); we naturally obliged, but not without taking some 'meta photos' first.

Running back to Mamma.

Roofs, augmentation, nice building materials.

I couldn't resist this one. How kind to choose a completely non-matching piece of fabric to patch the hole.

More mops; modern this time.

Waiting for … something.

Shoes stored neatly away.

I rather liked this non-recycle sign.

Restaurants lined the canals. Perhaps as a result of the cool, sunny weather, I was rather taken with this place.

Back passage.

Umbrellas provide shade in the summer.

If I had been a bit quicker, I would have caught this policeman handling a plastic gun. Next time.

The town was definitely a bit sleepy, but all the more pleasant for it. I wonder if their children, no doubt working in Shanghai now, will return here any day.

Grumpy.

This guy was terribly proud of his bird collection, and was delighted that I might take a photo of them.

One more for the road.

One of the local boats, plying their trade on the river.

So that was it – a great escape from Shanghai!

Getting To Tongli

[mappress mapid=”4″]

Basically, take the HSR out to Suzhou (about 40 RMB, 24 minutes), run past the hawkers trying to sell trips to the sights in Suzhou, wait in the line for a taxi, take the 30 ish minute trip out to Tongli (about 90 – 100 RMB) and enjoy. We also did not have any problems getting back.

2011/04/10
iF China Design Awards & Hangzhou

Latest update on the Pudong transformation.

I seem to be travelling to China a lot recently. This time, mixed in with some supplier visits and research (oh, and picking up an iF China design award for my wee Vostro V13), I decided to whisk Nikki off for a weekend in the big smoke. Since she had not been to China before, the main aim was to give her a chance to see a quick cross-section of the place.

Looking at China, and especially Shanghai, through the lens of a Taiwanese person is a really interesting experience. In some ways, it’s like an American person visiting London for the first time, but in other ways the comparison falls apart. China is not a small island separated from it by thousands of miles of ocean, the roles of economic upstart are flipped in favour of the ‘homeland’, and of course the political status of the ‘settled’ land is far from clear.

Most of the time when I am with Taiwanese people in China it is for visiting the multitude of factories that supply components for Dell; themselves mostly run by Taiwanese bosses. In these times, they are excessively protective and mollycoddling, and I will find myself being whisked around the Yangtze river delta plain for hours on end in shaky VW Santanas, in order to wait in dimly lit rooms for hours more, only to have a twenty minute-long meeting about something they should or should not be doing. If you choose it to be, it is the purest description of boredom and frustration, and for this reason I travel solo whenever I have the opportunity; thus, working out the train system. It also means I avoid the round-table dinners when I need a night off, scheduled as they are with heavy drinking, heavier food, uncomfortable conversation and thinly-veiled sliminess from the sales guys.

It also makes travel with Taiwanese in China on personal time that much more pleasant – curiosity, modesty and politeness from the Taiwanese, in a sea of nail clippings, car crashes, shouting, and general rudeness is at once touching and heart-rending. It’s like being reunited with an old friend that seems to have gone off the rails (but that is driving a flashier car than you). Looking at China through their eyes, I at once see them staring in wonder at the history and the stories, in mild shock at the pace of development compared to Taiwan, and in disbelief at the chaos that is ensuing.

So, I installed Nikki into the local scene for a few days. Hooking up with Gerhard and the crew, we rattled around the bars, restaurants and night-life that makes Shanghai, Shanghai. We saw the sites, and while I was working for a couple of days, she had time to get to grips with the city. I think she enjoyed it, but one or two excessive nights (I blame Oktoberfest) brought home the fact that while Shanghai is a great place to visit, it’s not the best place for your health.

Jump!

Admiring The Bund

Nathan Road lights

In the French Concession with one of the many groups of newly-weds getting photographed

Wide-angle Shanghai action

Inevitable consequences

A trip to the more sedate city of Hangzhou (if 8,000,000+ people can be called sedate) was just what I needed. I had been there before, but it was obviously Nikki’s first time. My previous experience on the Kunshan rail system had obviously spoiled me; just turn up, buy your tickets and you are done. We had to wait in line for what felt like an eternity, only to be told that the ‘fast’ trains were fully booked; I should have just got the hotel to book it for me (in fact, that makes so much more sense than going to the station myself to get tickets). Three hours on a stinky, slow, packed train, quickly became three and a half hours, and we were beginning to wonder if everything was okay when suddenly everyone alighted. We had clearly arrived. Not quite recognising the station from my previous trip, we made a beeline for the taxi rank, and virtually had to shout at the drivers to persuade them to take us to the hotel. How can they be so stupid?

[mappress mapid=”2″]

Almost, but not quite.

Well, it perhaps turns out that we were stupid. Somehow, we had ended up at Hangzhou South Railway Station. It actually displays ‘Xiaoshan’ Station, so you can imagine the confusion trying to work out where we were, and profuse apologies to the taxi driver as he drove us the 45 minutes it took to get to our hotel. A little research goes a long way, Jonathan, especially when it is late at night in a dark corner of Zhejiang Province. Ironically, the high-speed rail service between Shanghai and Hangzhou opened only days later, shortening the journey to a mere 45 minutes. No matter, on the way home we got the hotel to buy the tickets, and it took us about an hour and half on the train that I originally wanted to take.

Shanghai South Railway Station roof

Boarding the slow train

Watching the world go by

Spirits remained high!

Sun setting …

Waiting some more, and contemplating life

Confidential doodling

Are we there yet?

No really … are we there yet?

Onto the design awards! The V13 has been a big success for the team, and has been steadily picking up design awards along the way; G-Mark, Red Dot and an iF China ain’t bad. Oh, and the fact that it’s been selling at 300% over original projections. It was a nice opportunity to bump into a couple of colleagues from Asus, make some new friends at Philips and have a chin wag with the bosses at the iF organisation.

Yay!

What was even more interesting was to bump into a few designers from the local Hangzhou design scene; it’s no surprise that it exists, and it sounds like they are in the same position as Taipei was perhaps ten years ago; quantity trumps quality, and intense price competition makes for compromised solutions. But they are making strides, and I would say Hangzhou would be a great location for a design centre; the culture, the considered pace, and the proximity to nature makes for a more creative feeling. Perhaps Hangzhou is to Chicago what Shanghai is to New York. Something to keep an eye on.

Hangzhou as a location? I have to say I am quite smitten with it, with Xihu Lake forming the centre-piece for the city. I suppose I was a little carried away with the image of China, so I was a little disappointed when Nikki said ‘well it just looks like Lake Constance‘ … looking at the pictures now (though I have never been), I can see what she means! Probably the same number of Chinese tourists as well.

No matter, we had a thoroughly pleasant day meandering along the lake shore, and taking in a few cafes and tea rooms in the setting sun. Magic. With the light fading, we headed for the aforementioned train back to Shanghai, and the amusements awaiting us.

I hope it was a good introduction!

Nationalism from an early age

There is an entire sub-class of my photography that includes monks carrying high-tech equipment.

Peeping Tom

Mountains in the distance … there must be good mountain biking around here!

Flag-waving.

Watching the world go by.

Hangzhou locals

Oh what book are you reading?!

Tea time.

Okay, put the book away – we get the picture!

2010/10/13
Yangtze Rail

Kunshan station at sunset. Along with the track hardware, the stations are impressive in their design intent.

Beyond the Expo, the biggest impact to my China experience on this trip was the incredible improvements in the transport infrastructure, and in particular, the trains. Most of our suppliers are located in the Yangtze River Delta region; an unimaginably dull expanse of land stretching west of Shanghai for several hundred kilometres. Just imagine The Fens in East Anglia, but many hundreds of times larger, and packed with factories relocated from Taiwan.

Getting around usually means relying on suppliers to send cars out to your hotel; the distances involved and the vagaries of travel in China leave you with little choice. This does rather put you at the mercy of your vendors, though, and usually results in unwelcome round-table lunches and forced conversation, invariably discussing positive aspects of life in England, shortcomings of life in Taiwan, and which local Chinese town has the most famous foodstuffs. Any way to prise this control away, and return the day to me is most welcome. For this reason, the new rail networks being installed throughout China are a breath of fresh air, and offer as formative a change to my life as the Taiwan High Speed Rail. It really opens up the area to exploration, allows increased connection to local travelers, and means I no longer need to stay so close to the vendors in Kunshan; a town of few features beyond the walls of the Swissotel.

[mappress mapid=”1″]

The Chinese high-speed rail network is expanding at an exasperating pace; the Beijing-Shanghai line was started in April 2008, and will be completed in Summer 2011, with trains operating at 380 kmh (240 mph). Britain, I am embarrassed to write, has plans for high-speed lines to be completed in 2025, operating at a meagre 250 kmh (155 mph). Our peak speed, Eurostar excepted, has not increased since the Mallard in 1938, when it set a record of 125 mph. Does anyone in Whitehall understand what is going on here? China is going to blow us into the weeds, at a rate that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Britain, time to wake up.

But this isn’t about the British Rail, this is about the newly completed Shanghai-Nanjing Huning Line. Opened in July this year, it connects the major cities along the Yangtze; Shanghai-Kunshan-Suzhou-Wuxi-Nanjing, and several other cities you have never heard of before with populations over 4 million people. But know these city names; they will enter common parlance as the reach of China extends.

I still remember my first trip to Shanghai in 2006; at the weekend, I turned up at the train station wishing to buy tickets to go to Suzhou. Huge queue, wall of people, unhelpful staff, crap Chinese, no dice. Defeat. Several more trips, and late nights, friends and all manner of distractions mean that I still don’t manage to escape. Yes, I manage to make it to Hangzhou with Anke and Lars – but nothing under my own steam, as it were. That is why, turning up to the station, facing the automated touch screens, punching in the coordinates, and receiving those tickets felt so good; I was finally free of the shackles. Kunshan? 17 minutes. Suzhou? 24 minutes, sir. Nanjing, over 300 km away, is dispatched in a mere hour and ten minutes. All your stations are belong to us.

The stations match the track hardware in intent, matching or exceeding the architecture in Taiwan, and certainly better than the great majority of stations in the UK (though they ain’t no St. Pancras). On that note, it was also amusing that at every opportunity China Rail made a point of including Taiwan on their network maps; cheeky, eh? You can see the map here.

With internet ticket sales apparently around the corner, these new tracks really open up this corner of China to exploration; something I really look forward to in subsequent trips. Here are some photos of my first adventures.

Kids hang outside Kunshan station on their rides

Enjoying the sunlight

Fading light

Symmetry

One of the regional trains.

… and the more Shinkansen-ish high-speed trains.

Transport cops on alert during Expo – all stations had x-ray detectors.

End of the line in Nanjing.

Threads on display outside the station.

The Chinese ability to make pointlessly large displays of flowers is unmatched.

View from near the station over to Nanjing downtown.

… and venturing further away … workpeople at rest.

Novelty petrol stations on the route to one of our vendors.

Amusing views from the car.

Team photos – a common sight.

… but no matter how good the transport system, with 1.3 billion people wanting to travel some people are going to have to wait. And wait they do, for painfully long periods of time.

2010/09/25
Shanghai Trendspotting

Shanghai is a huge, vibrant, emergent city that has had the world’s gaze upon it for at least the last five years. I might argue, however, that there has not been a any cultural development coming out of the city that has really influenced the rest of the world; and ‘modern Chinese style’ doesn’t count – I think it just as likely that this fad is being spun by foreign design agencies eyeing Shanghai. No, there is not yet a Harajuku, Carnaby Street or South Compton that is setting the world’s imagination alight, and no youth culture, musical or style trends that have had any meaningful effect outside of China.

But that is not to say it won’t happen.

This trip, far more than any previous visit, I was struck by the sophistication of the young people on the trains, buses, and on the street. They were dressing more cohesively, colouring their hair, flaunting their iPods and demonstrating the embers of individuality that a large city like Shanghai should be driving. The general manner of people (ie: selfish and rude) also suggests to me a capacity for individualistic, independent thought; probably more-so than what I see in Taiwan. I could be entirely wrong about that though; who knows what a Quasi-Communist education does to you.

But no, this trip I saw people dressed in some tasteful clothes, expressively vulgar clothes, and a whole host of trying their best to piece together a ‘look’. It will be interesting to see how this evolves since the media is so restricted.

A local lad stands proudly, showing off his purple mane.

The other thing I couldn’t help noticing were the number of Sony PSPs and Nintendo DSs on display during underground train rides. It’s perfectly possible that these were fakes, and simple movie players instead of bona-fide games units, but it was interesting none the less. What I found more surprising were the sheer number of female players; clearly the macho game scene of the west is translated a bit differently here.

Indeed, on my last day, I came across a Nintendo demonstration area in the mall beneath the hotel. A hoard of girls were demonstrating the things you could do with the DS to a delighted crowd of females and children; boyfriends and fathers in tow. There were tables showing-off make-up games, cameras and games … I have heard of female purchasers being persuaded by tangible benefits rather than brutal features, and it was interesting to see this demonstrated.

Make-up apps. Isn’t it funny that I now say ‘app’.

Other stands welcoming a stream of visitors.

But this is still China, and demonstrations of wealth still rule the school. Ferraris and Porsches were everywhere, and there were as many Bentleys and Rolls Royces as you could shake a stick at. Best of all was this modified Buick (a premium brand in China, bizarrely!) … smooth.

Gin & Juice

But as I have said before, I maintain that what makes Beijing cool is the Chinese (the rock music, the art …), what drives Shanghai are the foreigners. Tony and Kelly took me to a British-style gastropub called The Waterhouse. Serving hearty, modern food in a distressed warehouse atmosphere, it offered the perfect vantage point for looking out at Pudong and the amazing developments happening there.

New York’s scene is, by definition, driven by immigrants and foreigners. And maybe Shanghai’s will be in a generation’s time, blurring the line between what ‘foreign’ and domestic Chinese trends mean.

View from The Waterhouse restaurant roof bar (avoid the cocktails, though).

2010/09/24
Britain: A Showroom for Chinese Automobiles

There is little that is more depressing than considering the slow, lingering death of the British car industry, but in China at least, the heart of British industry beats strong. In a complex turn of events, both Rover and MG were bought by SAIC, and for reasons I cannot quite fathom they changed the name of Rover to ‘Roewe‘.

I have been chatting to taxi drivers and other people during this trip, and it seems that many people consider the brands to be British, and they do seem to actually be respected. It’s odd just how much resonance the ‘noble and rich’ side of British aristocracy carries here, with all the glitz and trimmings. Perhaps that will be what the UK becomes; a showroom for Chinese automobiles.

The Roewe 750 … rather like the Rover 75

MG – alive and kicking in Shanghai

Interesing that they spell out the whole ‘Morris Garages’ nomenclature … I doubt many people in the UK know it means that. With so many Chinese companies shortening their names to TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms), like HTC, KHS and DEM, perhaps it makes sense to spell out its ‘Englishness’.

Yes, it really says that.

2010/09/23
Zhouzhuang – Water Town

After several years of trying (admittedly, probably not trying hard enough), I finally made it to one of the ‘Water Towns’ in the Jiangsu province, near to Shanghai. The whole country had come to a stop to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, which I understand indirectly commemorates overthrow of Mongol rule (although I have never quite understood the full background of the story).

Zhouzhuang is proudly titled ‘Venice of the East’, though it should be noted that along with nearby Tongli, Wuzhen and Zhujiajiao, seventeen places also make the same claim. According to Wikipedia, seven places also call themselves Paris of the East, but since Casablanca is actually further west, I don’t think these claims hold much water.

The massive expanses of coastal plain around Kunshan and Shanghai are perfect for mega-scale manufacturing sites, but you can forget escaping it with the same ease that one can in Hong Kong or Taipei; places like this are normally bulldozed to make way for factories, well, making parts for computers. So, while the weather was suffering as a result of a Typhoon hitting Taiwan, and there were a couple too many tour groups led by leaders with loudhailers and flags, it made for a thoroughly pleasant break from the grind of factory visits and sitting in offices waiting for parts to be spat out of a machine.

A girl poses beside one of the bridges.

While the towns are increasingly pure tourist centres, some people are evidently still going about their daily business, and there are still signs that people still live there.

One of several temples in the town – the number of temples and religious establishments here are dramatically less than in Taiwan; indeed, one Chinese person quipped to me ‘Taiwan has too much religion. And too many dogs.”

Falling in line with my Rules of Graphics Design: there is no logo that cannot be improved with lightening bolts.

Mirror evidence I think of some subtle Fengshui at work.

Boats on the river ply their trade (of tourists).

Hide-out.

Back garden.

My obsession with shooting windows and doors continues.

Toys on display on the street.

Modification of the roofs for modern conveniences.

Super shapes.

Laid out bare.

I watched for a while this mysterious hand sell traditional toys on the street.

This shop, as far as I can tell, sells round things.

More roof details.

I got a serious earful from the lady on the left before, during and after taking this photo.

Ladies wot lunch.

Monkeying around.

Portraits of eminent leaders … but can you spot some of the others in the background? …

2010/09/22
Shanghai Manners

In Shanghai, it’s apparently oh-kay to clip your fingernails on the underground train.

Apparently, it is also okay to leave a pile of clippings on the seat for the next customer.

This made me physically revolt, more even than seeing people spit everywhere. Rant over.

2010/09/21
474m, 100 Floors, 500 Posts

And what better way to mark it than with an introduction to the skywalk in the Shanghai World Finance Center? While I had been there before, I had not had the chance to experience a death-defying encounter with a 474m drop, in the world’s highest observation deck (higher, even than the Burj). All I can say is ‘sweaty palms’; I was not in very good shape, and all my natural instincts to ‘fight or flight’ kicked in at the same moment. Humans, I am convinced, are not supposed to walk on glass floors, half a mile in the sky …

Just a normal day at work – wave at the funny foreigner with the camera.

Nothing can phase those guys.

My hotel – the Renaissance at Zhongshan Park – is the building at the middle-top.

A split personality.

Just watching the world go by.

I was really pooing myself.

An impressive sight!

Window cleaners.

What made it even scarier were all the mirrors everywhere … when I walked in, I was actually a little disorientated to know what was floor, and what was glass.

Said mirrors.

Exit at the junction.

Silhouettes.

I think this captures all the main buildings!

Quite a view …

The first punchline …

… the second punchline is that they sell a bottle opener of the building in the shape of a bottle opener! Sadly, it was huge, metal and about thirty quid! Get me a fake, please.

2010/09/19