jay helfert said:
Thanks for your reply. I LOVED China and the people, although we were stared out everywhere we went. I rarely, if ever, saw another mixed couple (Western man and Chinese woman). But people were nice to us and especially to me.
Every once in a while, a young person would approach me and ask to speak English with me. Usually they were quite fluent, and that was also a pleasant surprise. I did not have a sense of being in a Communist land, with an oppressed people. Free enterprise was everywhere, from the marketplace to the malls and night clubs. Everyone had a gig, and if there were homeless I didn't see them.
The parks are beautiful and well kept, and very spacious even in the large cities. And of course, the Western dollar still has a lot of buying power. Of course, you must convert to Chinese dollars. Even Hong Kong dollars are unacceptable most places. It was no problem converting money, and we got about eight Chinese dollars for one U.S. dollar at any bank. And banks are everywhere.
In the bank, they asked for my passport and gave a $100 bill a thorough exam (more so than in a US bank), and then gave me exact change. Like 795.40 Chinese dollars. It was easy for me to travel around because I had a well versed tour guide. In some places we went though, men (like cab drivers and motorbike taxi guys) would openly flirt with her, and make suggestive remarks to me. Amy didn't like it one bit either.
I just brushed them off with a laugh and kept right on walking.
Jay,
Years ago, in Hong Kong, most big stores in shopping malls would give special treatment to Westerners and Japanese, because they were the ones with the most spending power. In the past, to work in a retail store in some high end shopping mall would require fluent Japanese and English.
In the past, some Chinese establishment would discriminate those coming from mainland China.
Nowadays, those from mainland China are the ones with the most spending power, and also most respected by the retail industry.
This last few days during Christmas, there were lots of tourists from China spending on high end watches and other name brands item in Hong Kong making up a hugh piece of the total sales in the retail industry. If you walk into a store that sells Rolex and high end jewelry, over 70% of the customers are from China, and they are paying cash.
In Hong Kong, there is a hugh difference in preception on Chinese from mainland China before and after 1997. Especially in the last 5 years, economy in China has obviously improved a lot, as can be seen from the way Chinese are spending their money everywhere they go.
In Canada where I live, there are lots of immigrants from China in recent years, a lot of them come with lots of cash and spent them on big houses and cars once they landed.
I am sure there is still a big gap between the rich and the poor in China, but it is obvious that there are more opportunities, and more people are making more money because of that.
About doing business in China, it is not about how good you are, but who you know, and who is behind you. A network is very important. If you know the right people, things can be done very quickly; if you do not, you may have to go through a lot of frustration. Bride is still a fairly common thing, and one needs to be able to read between the lines as Chinese do not like to spell out everything.
Foreigners do usually get special treatment in some cases such as yours, they worried you might make a big scene and complain to their superiors and cause them a lot of trouble, their chance of promotion or even their jobs. Since they did not know who you were, they just assumed you may know someone important, or was someone important yourself. You will find that to be a very powerful tool in some cases dealing with the Chinese in China, may be more powerful that you might think.
Happy holidays,
Richard