About China blogosphere, travel, and entrepreneurship

My film “600″ which I shot in Shanghai in 2007 has recently been accepted into some major U.S. and international film festivals after a short successful China festival 2007 showing(3 awards in 2 festivals). I’ll be heading to the following venues in the next month Austin Asian American Film Festival, Vancouver Asian American Film Festival, International Community Film Festival(can’t make this one, it’s in England). I’ve been wanting to share “600″ with CNreviews for the longest time, but post production with my 2nd film “Drowning” prevented me from having any free time to write. BUT!!!! I FINALLY have some time, so here it is:

Background: I spent my post-college years all over China acting in movies before ending up in Shanghai. While living in Shanghai, I also took a part time job at an English teaching company formerly known as TalkdaTalk as an events coordinator(flexible, easy, I loved it!). When I was free, I would also teach English there and hosted company events. During my time there, I met a lot of English teachers; people from all walks of life now living in Shanghai as expats. Besides the English teachers I met at TalkdaTalk, I also met a huge number of them during social and expat community events. Why teach English? The reason being English teachers are a hot commodity and the Chinese pay nice $$$ for a full time teacher. Full time English teachers are making the ranges of 10,000-15,000 RMB per month. Even though that doesn’t sound a lot to people here in the States, you have to consider the cheap living standards in China where you can eat a cheap meal for 7 rmb( $1), share an apartment for 2000 rmb ($300). To put things into perspective, most of my Chinese local friends all make between 2000rmb-5000 rmb per month (note: most have a college degree). For this reason, people come from all over the world to teach and party in Shanghai.

The film’s core: The core of “600″ is about the loneliness and struggles with identity of an American ex-pat living in Shanghai teaching English. I used the stories of many expat English teachers as inspiration in writing “600″. The main motivation behind this film being the crazy stories I hear from people talking about their lives and how they somehow ended up in Shanghai. When I was living in China, I felt this aura from all the expats that they were all lost(myself included), and was looking for something. This maybe the reason why most of the expats I knew had different jobs and was always trying to do different things. They all deeply loved Shanghai for the city’s energy and were drawn closely to it. In getting to know more and more of these people, I realized most of them were all looking for something in life that they hadn’t found in their previous existence. As expats of Shanghai, they all loved the city and culture initially and are having the best times there. But gradually, over time, the reality and problems begin setting in… and this is where our film begins…

The film”600″ is online and you can watch it for free HERE

(feel free to donate $$$ to support my next film)

In my next post, I will focus on the theme from “600″ and talk about

Living in China as an Expat

Don’t touch that dial!

A small city now 45 minutes of bullet train away from Shanghai(was 2 hours a few years ago), Wuxi is and has been one of the brightest spots of tourism in all of China for the past ten years due to the film sets and the beautiful Tai Hu( Lake Tai). Of the “Three Heavens” outside of Shanghai: Wuxi, Suzhou, and Hang Zhou, Wuxi is more frequented due to the popular studio sets of many Chinese television series such as “Romance of the Three Kingdom”.

Three Kingdoms City - The title of all the films/tv series shot here are listed on wooden boards with each respective title.

After they built the sets a few years ago, they have also named one of the huge studio sets Three Kingdoms City. Although there are other sets next to the Three Kingdoms City, I’d have to say none are as exciting and magnificent. If you go visit during the day, be sure to catch the 1:30pm martial arts show held in the round Shaolin temple located in the center of the attraction. Each film set costs about 100 RMB to get in, there are a few around the area, but I’d skip out on the other ones and just go to Three Kingdoms City. They are all mainly the same; you seen one, you’ve seen all.

I don't even remember where this was, LOL, can't tell you how to get here, sorry!

Traveling tip: If you are ever visiting Shanghai and want to get away from the city for a weekend, visit these cities in the following order: Hang Zhou, Suzhou, Wuxi.

Traveling tip #2: Do NOT fall for overpriced ripoff tours like this one. $191/person for a one day trip is ridiculous.

YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!!! 30 or 50rmb to rent this and take a picture! Bring own digital camera otherwise they charge you more!

How do I get there? If you decide to take a tour, it might be costly than going on your own(they charge locals and foreigners different prices for these tours due to language-barrier. Foreigners will most likely pay 4x the price of a local) But at least you don’t have to organize anything and worry about getting lost.

Wedding Crashers, well, a fake one...

WWJD? I’m a pretty adventurous cat, so I love to go out and explore, this is what I would do:

1. Get a map first and find out addresses of the spots I’d want to visit(from tourist guide pamplets available in your hotel room or internet sites. If your hotel has no tour guides, then you must be in a really ghetto part of town)

2. Buy a train ticket and go to that city.

3. Once there, take a taxi to the addresses (Make sure you get in a  legitimate looking taxi with a working meter or else you’ll get jacked without knowing it)

4. Once you get to the front gates of the attractions, buy tickets, and also get out 50-100 RMB bill ready to give out to walking guides looking for business. A lot of them can speak English, and they might cost more, but 50-100 RMB should be sufficient; unless there’s some new union or inflation in China I don’t know about. What SHOULD be included in that fee is a full day of walking around showing you around, showing you a nice restaurant to eat some local cuisine(invite them to eat with you even if they politely say no; common courtesy), and finding you a hotel if you need.

This isn't exactly England with the tall guards; THIS CHINA FOOLS!

Traveling Tip #3: DO NOT miss out on the world famous “Wuxi Spareribs” (pronounced Woo She Pie Goo). Ask a taxi driver and he’ll know where to take you.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Getting in touch and staying in touch has never been easier. These days, everyone and their mom has a cell phone, and we worry more about ignoring calls we don’t want to answer than trying to find a way to contact someone when we need to. Coming to China, you’ll probably want to know the basics of how to make yourself available and how to get a hold of those dearest to you:

The Cell Phone

The first thing you need is a cell phone that works in China. You probably already have a cell/mobile phone but you need to check if it is an unlocked, tri-band or quad-band phone that accepts SIM cards. Ideally, you may also want to make sure your cell phone has Chinese language support, because sooner or later, you’ll be getting text messages in Chinese from all your new-found Chinese friends. Or marketers. It doesn’t matter if you can actually read or plan to learn Chinese, you’ll definitely feel much cooler getting Chinese text messages than a bunch of garbled symbols about as inscrutable as Wingdings.

Getting a Cell Phone Back Home

If you’re from “the West” (typically, the Americas or Europe), chances are your phone might have language support for English, French, or Spanish. Great…that’s useless here in China. The good news is that you can usually get a phone with Chinese language support from any place that has a reasonable population of ethnic Chinese people and retail businesses. You can usually find lots of nifty grey-market phones typically unavailable for your market too, but just make sure it provides English and Chinese support and will work in China.

Getting a Cell Phone in China

If you arrive in China and realie your phone doesn’t work, don’t fret, for it is extraordinarily easy to get a working cell phone here. Indeed, shops or stands where you can purchase a cell phone are about as ubiquitous as barber shops. Where to go to get the best deals is beyond the scope of this article so I’ll keep it simple: You can get a no-nonsense working cell phone for less than 100 RMB. In fact, it can get far cheaper, limited only by your pride and self-dignity. Yes, there are older model Nokias, LGs, Samsungs, etc. even at that price, so don’t feel like you need to settle for a unknown Chinese unit, though they’re not all that bad either. The key thing is to have them power it up, make sure it supports the languages you need, play through the menus to see if you like them, and bargain. I’ll kill you if you get ripped off.

Remember, you can always get a nicer, shinier phone later on, once you feel the need to impress your new friends and have gotten acquainted with how to bargain appropriately in China.

The SIM Card

Alright, so you have a phone that works. Now all you need is your own snazzy China cell phone number and that comes with a pre-paid SIM card.

Note: In recent years, many visitors to the Middle Kingdom might have noticed that their cell phones and SIM cards from home still work upon disembarking from their flights. You notice that your mobile phone is connected to a network (on your display it reads “China Mobile” or “CMCC”), that you can receive calls, and that you can even *gasp* make calls. This likely means your mobile carrier back home has some sort of agreement with a local Chinese carrier, extending you coverage when abroad. However, unless you have an international rate plan or you’re insane enough to pay outrageous roaming charges, you’ll opt to get a local number here with a local network.

Buying a SIM Card

Now, there are two major mobile telecommunication companies in China: China Mobile and China Unicom. Of the two, China mobile is by far the larger and offers better coverage while China Unicom is perhaps better known for their CDMA service. I recommend China Mobile.

Pre-paid SIM cards are widely available at most newsstands, cell phone shops, certain convenience stores, and independent resellers (the random guy with a little table set up on the sidewalk). If they sell cell phones, they sell SIM cards, though not necessarily vice versa.

How much a SIM card costs depends on the phone number it is associated with. Lucky numbers are often posted up with higher prices for the superstitious (me? I make my own luck). A random non-lucky number should only cost you approximately 50-60 RMB.

Ask for a SIM card, pick a number, and the person will give you a sealed envelope. Feel free to ask about the rates and limitations before paying. For example, most pre-paid SIM cards cannot initially or directly call outside the country without an international phone card. Most China Mobile pre-paid SIM cards should include about 30-50 RMB worth of credit. It should also include free incoming calls. This feature actually costs a monthly fee - 16 RMB in Shanghai, might be various in different cities [remember to ask to activate this feature]  and can be disabled if you so choose because no one calls you. There is a per minute rate for calls you make and a per message rate for each SMS text message you send. If you’re cool, you’ll quickly learn that text-messaging is big in China.

For my current China Mobile package, the rate is RMB 0.13/min to call out, RMB 0.1/text message or RMB 0.15/message if you are texting cellphones outside of the network.

Your SIM card will come with a card that has a password on it. For many, you will never really need this password but you should keep it anyway, even if just as a souvenir. The password will come in handy if you ever plan on registering your name to your card, which is necessary for many additional services including moving from pre-paid recharge cards to monthly billing plans and letting the Chinese government know that a potentially dangerous foreigner uses that number.

Pop out the SIM card and insert it into your phone. Power on and you should be good to go. You can call 10086 at anytime to check your balance, perform some other administrative tasks, or talk to customer service to practice your Chinese. Don’t worry, they have an English language option.

Recharging and Adding Money to Your SIM Card

When you can’t seem to call anyone and, for some reason, people suddenly stop calling you), you’ve probably run out of stored credit for your number. This is when you buy a recharge card.

Again, you can typically find recharge cards just about everywhere SIM cards and cell phones are sold. Almost all convenience stores should have recharge cards even if they don’t sell SIM cards. These recharge cards either look like plastic cards or a small sealed piece of paper, and they generally come in denominations of 50 or 100 RMB.

Look for your recharge card password which is a series of numbers. You may need to scratch off something or just open the sealed piece of paper along the perforated lines. The instructions will tell you to call 138-0013-8000 (I remember it by 138-00-138-000, or by reading the recharge card). Follow the prompts and you’ll be golden. Do everything right and you should get a recorded confirmation of added value at the end, and usually then a nice text message confirming with your new total remaining value.

Dialing in China

One thing some people may quickly notice is that China uses an 8-digit telephone number format, with a 2-digit city code preceding it. The 2-digit city code is only necessary if you’re calling from a number that is outside that city. For example, Shanghai’s city code is 21 and calling Shanghai from outside of Shanghai would require one to dial 21-XXXX-XXXX (2-4-4), with the Xs being the desired number.

Mobile phone numbers follow an 11-digit format (3-4-4). The first 3-digits is something like an area code and most cell phone numbers tend to start with 131, 134, 137, 159, etc. followed by 8 digits that has as many 8s as possible if the owner is Chinese. Those first 3-digits are always necessary when calling a cell phone. If you dial without them, you’ll likely reach a land line and someone you don’t know.

Making International Calls

Dialing abroad should not be too difficult. However, if you got a China Mobile pre-paid SIM card, you cannot immediately make international calls. You either need to register your name to your number and enable it or you need to get what is known as an IP card (Voice Over IP card). As with getting SIM cards and recharge cards, you should know where you can find these. They come in all sorts of lame designs and in all sorts of denominations. The important thing to remember here is that the cost of the IP card should be cheaper than the face value of the card. For example, I typically buy 100 RMB IP cards for only 30 RMB. This is not an absolute, but just be aware of it. Once you have an IP card, just follow the instructions on the card to make an international call. Again, there is usually an English option.

Now that you have the tools and the knowledge to call people for help at any time, go forth and conquer.

      I have a friend, let’s call him “Terry”, he is a legendary “mattress wrestler”. What is a mattress wrestler? A mattress wrestler is not a glorious title, luckily I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing this work of art. But as Terry has gotten older and more experienced with “mattress wrestling”, he’s accepted the challenge and taken on his new identity full throttle. Below is Terry’s definition of “mattress wrestling”:

Mattress Wrestling - Near wrestling moves and countermoves performed in attack/defense of one’s attempt to get into panties. It is safe and no one is ever seriously harmed in the act of mattress wrestling. (I will save the mattress wrestling concept/philosophy and stories for another post).

Terry is going to be our spiritual guidance counselor in the world of dating local women in China. His comical, borderline sad experiences will make most American men cringe, but also remember Terry is one of the unluckiest man alive on any side of the world that I know. Terry is also one of the only guys I know that can say “Only in China” everyday due to his unlucky and crazy encounters with Chinese culture.

Disclaimer: This story will elicit the following different reactions:

WTF!!!   <–U.S./Foreign audiences

HAHAHA <—Understanding sympathetic “been there done that” laugh from the Expat community in China.

Dating Tale #1 Transcript: (Content has been edited to PG, feel free to laugh, he doesn’t mind )

Terry says:                DUDE, I ran into some crazy messed up things again just 1 hour ago!!!
James Z. says:          Again?
Terry says:                So I ran into this one: http://www.*****.com/2440*

Terry says:                Did the usual messages and text and all that, and she wanted to meet me at Rouge out at the Bund, she said she will reserve a table there.
James Z. says:          Ok, and then what happened?
Terry says:                So she said if I got there first just tell the bouncer I am her guest and she  has a table. So i got there before she does and waited downstairs.

Terry says:                She walked right by me and did not recognize me
Terry says:                So I went up and I saw her walked out to out side patio
Terry says:                Ok. she must not even seen my online profile then, I said
Terry says:                So I got a drink from the bar and paid for it and walked around to scope out the place
Terry says:                So she texted me asking where I was. So I walked up to her and finally met her
Terry says:                She saw the drink in my hand she was like where did you get that?
Terry says:                I said I got it from the bar.
Terry says:                I said this place is cool.
Terry says:                She was like oh you should order the table service.
Terry says:                I said ok, may be later after I drink this.
Terry says:                She said “Oh, we have a table, let’s just order a bottle.”
Terry says:                I said may be.
James Z.says:            lol, TRAPPED! Come on now, you should’ve seen this coming during the text messages! You rook!
Terry says:                Then i sat my drink down and asked her where the Men’s room is.
Terry says:                I said I gotta go to the Men’s room.
Terry says:                Luckily, I scoped it out and the kitchen has a utility stair way exit by the Men’s room.
Terry says:                So I ran the hell down and went out the utility stairs
James Z.says:           lol OMG!
Terry says:                I got lucky and was able to get out in time, it was close.
Terry says:                Some night huh
James Z. says:          LOL why am I not surprised anymore, LOL.
Terry says:                I pushed it too far man
Terry says:                I should have not even gone in the bar.
James Z. says:          LOL, you got played like an instrument! hahahahaha!
Terry says:                But lucky thing is I scoped where the back door is beforehand.
Terry says:                Gold-diggers!!!!!!!!!!
Terry says:                Yeah man. The legend of mattress wrestling continues…
James Z. says:          LOL
Terry says:               digger defense (defensive strategies against gold-diggers, we should write a book)

Terry says:               You know what though; I was smiling the whole way when I was running down the stairs,

Terry says:               it was an awesome fun feeling getting into some crazy ass incident like this, LOL, only in China…
James Z. says:          Lol ! I need to blog this.

Introduction(Who Am I?): I’m quite lazy, so please click on this —–> James Z. Feng <– introduction to who I am. Don’t wanna click it? Ok, fine, basically, I’ve been in China for past two years after I graduated college making films(mainly acting and directing) and did A LOT of traveling.

OK! Let’s get this baby started!

Hengdian, where is that? Many of you China touristy-amateurs are wondering why I would even bother bringing up Hengdian since you’ve never heard of it before. Let me ask you this, have you seen that new Jackie Chan/ Jet Li movie “The Forbidden Kingdom”? How about these films: ”Hero”? ”The Curse of the Golden Flower”? “The Promise”(Don’t watch it, trust me on this one)? Catching my drift? Great, congrats on your IQ and superb intellect(please pat yourself on your back, you are now officially in my book of smart)! jk. Yes, all those films were filmed in Hengdian, China.

Why are all these movies made in Hengdian? besides the scenery?

Well, the answer to that question is because IT’S FREE!!!

Hengdian does not charge these film crews $$$ for using their locations. The only stipulation the city has for films being made in Hengdian is that you use their main hotel “Du Jia Cun(the village of family Du)” for all your crew’s stay, and that’s it! I talked to a city official who was the commissioner of film there, and he said that Hengdian is not developed yet, so they are trying to attract all this movie business to build up the city both financially and also commercially. Their vision is one day Hengdian becoming the next Hollywood next to LA and Bollywood. The official said they now have a film school there in Hengdian for film/tv/broadcasting and he invited me to speak there, but I was too modest to accept that =P.

Traveling Tip- “How do I get to Hengdian?”: There’s a train that takes you from Shanghai to Wuye(closest city with train station), and then you have to take a taxi or bus to get to Hengdian. If you plan to visit Hengdian from Shanghai, I’d recommend you to just be a baller and spend 400rmb/day to hire a driver for two days and drive you there(the bus/train combo was not very enjoying…grrr… I’m still bitter). The drive from Shanghai is about 3-4 hours unless you get a flat tire like we did.

Introduction about Hengdian:

Hengdian is a very small boring town with one main street that is the main source of everything you’ll be needing to survive: restauarants(you can order delivery service to your hotel room and they don’t charge you delivery fee{all of China is like this}! the beauty of China! Some do have minimum but those are usually like $2), cafes(rip off U.S. wannabe cafes charge a ton for some lame sandwiches, I ate them everyday), shops, electronics(if your really cheap and stay at a hotel with no A/C and need to buy a fan) massage places(they hurt, a lot.), fruit shops, KTV,  and a police station in which I had the honor of visiting(we won’t go into why I was there). 

Anyhow,the town itself is quite ghetto and buildings are mainly old; I’m biased because I had to stay there for a few days and got bored of it quick. Hengdian’s official title is “Hengdian World Studios: The Chinese Hollywood”. Don’t get turned off by all the bologna I just fed you, because people don’t come to Hengdian to visit the poor buildings I mentioned; they come to see the beautiful scenery where all those big-time films were filmed at!

I was fortunate enough to work on “Kung Fu Killers” with David Carradine and Darryl Hannah last year which was shot in Hengdian. 

I’m not going to go into how beautiful the scenery is because I haven’t really seen it, hahaha, you all got tricked! What do you expect? I was there for work and had no time to really checkout the place. But I did take some pictures during my production so you can check that out.

Picture Time, YAY! Put your hands up!!! I know you all need it after staring at the computer for 10 days straight. 

The set of “Kung Fu Killer”

This is for you green people out there.

I have no idea why I took this picture, lol.

Hey look, it’s Bill!

My hotel room, I know you didn’t want to see this, but too bad, haha.

Hengdian was so boring, this is what I did all day! This and massages by some dudes with powerful elbows and hands.

Ouch! That’s a lot of hickeys.

It rains a lot there, or maybe just when we were there, us peons had to walk through this w/plastic bags around our shoes to get to set, but Mr.Carradine had a car deliver him so he wouldn’t get dirty (Bill’s a very nice guy, I won’t bag on him, I’m just jealous).

BURN BABY BURN! A scene which required some fire action! Where’s Dennis Leary when you need him?

Extras in China make about 30-50 yuan a day= less than $10. Usually film more than 12 hours a day. Another reason why more and more American crews are shooting films in Hengdian.

Ok. it’s 12:43am and I got to sleep now, got to wake up in a few hours to direct a theatre show in Berkeley, CA =/ goodnight ya’ll.

Two of my college friends are visiting us in Beijing right now, so we’ve been making the tourist rounds. Climbing the Great Wall, exploring the Forbidden City, eating Beijing duck and haggling at the Silk Market are all on this month’s agenda.

It’s still a bit bizarre for this Jersey girl to be a guide to Beijing attractions, but I’ve been noticing subtle changes in tourist spots over the past few years. In preparation for the Olympic visitors, Beijing is getting better English signage (or perhaps I’m adjusting, since my visiting friends saw plenty of photo-worthy Chinglish), more restrooms, more rubbish bins and some attempts at lining up. There have been changes everywhere, but when we visited Tiananmen Square, I was stunned at the difference.

On my first visit to Tiananmen, in 2006, I was mobbed by sellers of paper kites, postcards, bilingual maps. It was sensory overload, but in a delightful, uniquely Beijing kind of way. Hawkers offered discount tours to the Great Wall, pulled Mao watched out of their jackets, or quietly offered my male friends special services. Families munched on dumplings or fruit as they walked around. I spoke to lots of “art students” who really really wanted to take me their exhibit.

But yesterday’s visit was much quieter. The sellers of postcards and Mao paraphernalia are all gone, from the square itself and the pedestrian access tunnels under the street (I bet transit guru David has a much better word for those!). It seemed like no one was eating, although there were a couple parked vans selling chips and drinks. No one tried to drag me to an art show… ok, i didn’t really miss that bit. A smaller, milder crowd milled around taking photos.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen guards posted at every entrance to Tiananmen, but last time they waved us through, and only stopped a few people with large bags, probably to make sure they weren’t carrying in kites and postcards and maps to hawk in the square. Yesterday, we were all stopped, and our camera bags and purses were examined by a polite guard. There was nothing invasive or unpleasant about the process, one of the guards saw my Mandarin phrasebook in my purse and put my Chinese conversational skills to the test! But it’s a huge change from the Tiananmen carnival three years ago.

A trip to the Great Wall is planned for the next blue sky day, and I’m really interested to see if the Badaling vendors have been moved on as well.

Part Two: Shanghai PVG May No Longer Suck

After passing through for one reason or another, I’m often compelled to express my disappointment with the sheer inanity of mainland China’s international airports. For all the overwrought grandeur of their exterior architecture, they’ve repeatedly let me down with senseless interior design, poor construction quality, and the lack of confidence-inspiring, waiting-passenger-amusing, branded amenities like…I dunno, Starbucks. Reassuringly, I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Let’s take Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport (PVG) for example. I mean, Shanghai has been a pretty happenin’, cosmopolitan city for awhile now, right? PVG itself is pretty darn new too, having only opened less than 9 years ago in late 1999. So…what’s with the wrist-slitting interior lighting? Why do the grimy, smelly Terminal 1 restrooms remind me of mental asylums? And just why the hell are they located in the basement level anyway?

In contrast, you have the mega-mall that is the Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), where it is more about shopping Bvlgari, Cartier, Prada, Fendi, Gucci, Coach, etc. etc. etc. than about flying anywhere. Seriously, does anyone really need to buy a 6.4 carat Tiffany & Co. diamond engagement ring right before their flight?

In contrast, there’s also the spit, polish, shine, and arigato gozaimasu of Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT)…where the most retarded questions you could possibly ask are cheerfully answered, with the utmost respect for your ancestors, by the cutest Japanese airport personnel.

Both airports are fantastic examples of what an international airport hub for a major international city should look like. Up until now, Shanghai’s PVG Terminal 1 just didn’t cut it. It might look nifty from afar but for anyone who has travelled, it was an embarassment for a major Chinese metropolis like Shanghai.

However, the new Terminal 2 at PVG opened earlier this year and lucky for me, my Air China ticket to America meant I would finally get a chance to check it out. Accordingly, I didn’t have high expectations and frankly, I didn’t have any expectations whatsoever. I’m pretty jaded. Therefore, and fortunately for PVG, I was completely surprised to find something so utterly remarkable that I not only called my friends to share my sudden delight, I’m also writing about it.

Like Terminal 1, there’s plenty of cold steel, concrete columns, and marble expanses in Terminal 2. Unlike Terminal 1, however, there was an abundance of natural lighting, warm wood surfaces to break up the bleak white and grey, and (see above) a huge zen-like indoor waterfall. HoMedics, anyone? The latter was honestly revolutionary enough that everyone walking by took out their cameras to take pictures of this most incredibly inspired airport design feature…in of all China. Oh, and the restrooms not only had comfy baby-changing rooms with seating for weary mothers and weary fathers, I daresay there was even a pleasant scent about them. Lastly, the ultimate coup de grace for any modern traveller: free wi-fi internet and plenty of easily accessible electrical outlets for our laptops and gadgets.

Shanghai’s international airport is finally half-way respectable.

Of course, its not as good as HKG…yet, but it definitely has potential…so long as no one screws it up. As with so many things in post-Mao mainland China, the bar was simply set so low that basically any half-decent improvement results in–and deserves–ecstatic praise. This was a half-decent improvement and we should give them credit where its due. Now, it still has a lot really random, low-quality retail and dining (like Hope Star Coffee & Cate), but there were some known brands and even an Ajisen Ramen. Now the KFC by the Maglev Station won’t have a monopoly on my dining patronage.

Bravo for Shanghai PVG. Next up: Beijing Capital International Airport.

UPDATE:The wifi is frustratingly unreliable, consistently hanging every so often and resulting in serious disruptions to any effort at productivity. In better news, there are a lot more respectable dining and shopping than I previously noticed and mentioned (though still not more than HKG). They have a Burger King.

After a long spell in Shanghai, and aside from a few trips to Hong Kong and Taipei here and there, I’m now writing from beautiful Los Angeles. Officially, I’m here to visit family and friends. Unofficially, I’m here to get a healthy helping of good old American mad-cow. Neither In-N-Out nor Claim Jumper will know what hit them (unless I can somehow make it to the House of Prime Rib).

Of course, I’m not here to bore you with my culinary misadventures in the States. Instead, I wanted to take this opportunity to share my random observations as I made my way out of Shanghai and transferred through Beijing before collecting my luggage at Los Angeles.

Part One: Shanghai Metro Pat-down

After the recent bus explosion fire that had quite a few Chinese friends wondering if the Shanghai Metro system was safe from those dastardly Xinjiang terrorists, I actually wondered: just what sort of security does Shanghai have to stop random terrorists from running into People’s Square and creating an unfathomable disaster. That is, other than the logic disaster of trying to board before letting people off…during rush hour. Rarely have I seen any reasonable security in Shanghai’s metro stations, and it honestly looks all too easy for someone with hidden explosives and malicious intent to just walk on in and obliterate the mob of humanity that uses the metro system daily. With the Olympics quickly approaching and Chinese domestic media scaring the populace with occasional reports of terrorism threatening to derail (heh) China’s rightful ascension to international glory, I thought they’d ramp up security or something. It never felt that they did…

…until I, of all the harmless-looking people in the world, rolled my luggage into the metro station this past Tuesday afternoon.

As I fumbled to stuff my 10 kuai into the ticket vending machine, a station attendant immediately and briskly walked over to me. At first, I actually thought she was coming to offer, gasp, customer service! Pleasantly flattered, I quickly tried to politely wave her off to let her know there’s no need as I understood how to use the machine. But no, she neither cared where I was going or whether I knew how to pay for fare; she just wanted me to open my luggage to show her the explosives I was surely hiding. Oh.

I, of course, complied. I set my luggage down and flipped it open. Interestingly, she didn’t seem too bothered by the brick-like bulk hidding in one corner of my luggage wrapped mysteriously in yellow graphing paper and a baijiu giveaway bag. I mean, national product or not, it could’ve been flammable baijiu, a fatty amount of explosive C4 plastique, or something equally dangerous, like 6 month F visas. No, instead, she poked warily at my Calvin Klein Escape deodorant. I quickly explained its purpose for masking unpleasant, women-luring, body odor. Confounded, she had no choice but to let me continue with my journey.

Four kuai ticket in hand, and suitcase zipped shut again, I quickly entered the station. I glanced back only briefly, you know, to make sure I wasn’t being tailed, due to my pleasing aroma, and made my way towards Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport.

There is an utterly amazing perk many American expats or travellers in China can enjoy so long as they’re customers of Bank of America (whom are legion, despite the fact that Bank of America is somewhat widely despised amongst many in the States): BofA customers can use their BofA ATM card to withdraw the USD in their accounts back home as RMB cash via China Construction Bank ATMs throughout China…for free.

No ATM fees, no currency exchange fees, no credit card cash advance fees, and no need to set up a CCB bank account either. Just cold, hard, delicious cash converted at the day’s exchange rate.

I used this a year ago and, embarassingly, I didn’t think to write about this useful tip until Dan over at China Law Blog just recently discovered and posted about it earlier today.

Now, the daily ATM withdrawal limit in China was raised from 5,000 RMB to 20,000 RMB in mid-2007. Accounting for the current exchange rate (6.94 RMB per 1 USD at the time of this posting), this means you can effectively move up to about 2,880 USD into China each day, barring any daily withdrawal limits you have on your BofA account. If your limit is lower than the converted amount you want to access in China, you’ll need to call Bank of America in advance to raise your limits appropriately, lest you get confounded at the ATM. There’s also the current 2000 RMB per transaction limit at CCB’s ATMs, so you’ll need to repeat the withdrawal process 10 times to get the full 20,000 RMB daily limit. After making everyone behind you wait, however, you can walk smugly past them carrying your fat stacks of 100 RMB bills. Baller.

Now, 20,000 RMB is a decent sum of cash for the vast majority of transactions. That’s about 5000 street-cooked fried rice meals in China or 714 Starbucks cappucinos. Being able to freely access and convert your USD into RMB cash should be particularly useful for business travellers and other short-term visitors. You no longer need to hassle with carrying large amounts of cash, getting cashiers cheques, using wire transfers, or going through the hassle of setting up a Chinese bank account (which would require you to bring money in first anyway). Not only do you save money on fees and exchange rates, it is downright convenient.

The free ATM withdrawals perk has been available since April 2006 and you can thank BofA for opting to buy a stake in CCB and partnering with them instead of pursuing the retail banking market on their own. I, however, only learned about this service in mid-2007 when I needed to quickly move several thousand USD over to cover development costs for my startup, adex360, without fussing with wire transfers. In fact, BofA required me to physically appear at a US banking center just to wire my own money to myself in China. Yeah, like I’m really going to buy a round-trip airplane ticket just so I can pay them an additional 45 USD fee for a wire transfer to myself. I ended up withdrawing over several days to accumulate the RMB bricks I needed.

So yes, you can certainly make withdrawals over several days (or weeks) should you need to move more than 20,000 RMB. Of course, going to the ATM each day isn’t the most graceful way of moving large chunks of money, but it may be less annoying than having to set up, pay for, and then wait for a wire transfer that can sometimes take longer than you prefer. As with my example, you often can’t actually initiate a wire transfer of your own money to yourself from abroad anyway, thereby necessitating that you have someone abroad who can wire funds to you. Moreover, for many expats and travellers, trying to communicate with Chinese tellers when their English is about as good as your Chinglish can be a hassle as well.

There may be more good news too, as it appears that BofA and CCB has had a free wire transfer pilot program in place since late 2006 also. This allows BofA account holders to wire transfer money without the 45 USD fee or the 20,000 RMB daily limit to CCB account holders. But, before you think this is a better option than making 10 withdrawals a day over several days to move larger chunks of money, remember that you need a BofA account, a CCB account, and you’d still need to initiate the transfer at BofA in person in the United States. Therefore, as far as using this to wire your own money to yourself, it would only be useful if you’ve already set up your CCB account and you’re doing initiating the wire transfer right before you fly over from the States to China. The actual target market for this service are family members, friends, and businesses that need to move money between themselves and have the people to initiate and receive wire transfers on both sides. If you’re just one person in China trying to access your money in your US account, then the free ATM withdrawal service is still what you’re looking for…if you’re a BofA customer, that is.

18 days of free ATM withdrawals and you’ll be able to transfer the yearly maximum of 50,000 USD. Heh, how’s that for hedging against RMB appreciation and USD depreciation?

One final note: Despite the conveniences afforded by this partnership, don’t expect any service from CCB banks and representatives regarding your BofA account. The most they’ll know is that you can access your BofA account balance through their ATM. They are not there to help you with managing your account otherwise or answering any BofA questions.

Shanghai Railway Station (Shanghai Huoche Zhan, 上海火车站, a.k.a. Shanghai Station, 上海站) is also known as New Passenger Railway Station (Xin Kezhan, 新客站) by Shanghai residents to distinguish it from the old North Station which retired in 1987. 刘建春 (Liu Jianchun) described the history and development of the history of Shanghai railway stations in a book《火车老站地图》(Map of Railway Stations) published in 2007. The earliest railway station in Shanghai was put to operation in 1876. And there have been 7 railways stations existing in Shanghai in the past 130 years, including the existing ones. It is very interesting to see how these stations were built and moved or changed or disappeared. I marked them on the map below for your quick reference, check here for an interactive version. (The site of an old South Station in Luwan District is not included.)

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