China - February 2011

We journeyed to China for one reason -- to obtain the Chinese police certificate from the Shijiazhuang police department for my Canadian immigration application. Ten days later we were welcomed back home with frigid temperatures of -28C/-19F, but we had the police certificate in hand, so Mission Accomplished!

Unfortunately, my hopes of providing updates while in China did not come to fruition, as we had an extremely difficult time finding Internet Cafes. The couple we did find ended up being 'hidden' on the 2nd or 3rd floor. However, we would have had no idea there was an Internet Cafe up there unless we asked someone. Even though some signs are in both Chinese and English in China, it seemed the Internet Cafes did not follow this same type of signage. Needless to say, we learned to say internet in Chinese; but the problem ended up being that people didn't know where one was or we didn't understand the directions they responded back with in Chinese. I won't bore you with all the details of our trip, but here are the, still lengthy, highlights...

THE MISSION:

The first morning we were in China we were determined to tackle the task of obtaining the police certificate in Shijiazhuang, the city I lived in China. Normally when we took trains in China, they were the older ones, so we were surprised to see that we were getting on a very modern train to Shijiazhuang -- almost bullet train-like. It was really nice, comfortable, and fast, which also helps explain the increased ticket fare. Instead of taking 3-3.5 hours to get to Shijiazhuang it only took 1.5 hours.

When we arrived in Shijiazhuang we went straight to Middle School No. 42. We weren't able to reach anyone at first, so we explored the area and visited some of the markets I used to frequent. As we walked through the street market, I recognized several of the vendors -- they were as I remembered five years. We were later able to reach my old boss, Mr. Dong. He took us to the Lian Meng Police Station. However, when we arrived we found out the policeman we needed to seal the document wasn't there and wouldn't be back for a couple of hours. So we walked around the waterpark located nearby. I have to admit, I was a little paranoid that we wouldn't get what we needed that day. When we came back, the policeman still wasn't back, so we waited a little longer. He soon arrived and we took the paper my Chinese employer had provided and he stamped it with a seal and a signature. Once he arrived, the whole process of sealing it only took about five minutes. The purpose of our trip to China was accomplished in the first day! (Much faster than we expected.) But we were glad Mr. Dong came with us, if he hadn't been there I think we would have had a very difficult communicating what we needed.

*Everything in China is about getting a red seal. Each business, school or association has their own specific stamp they use for all important documents. Even the grocery stores stamp your receipt before you leave the store.

On the plane to Dallas, TX we were telling someone about the purpose of our trip to China. She thought we should try to claim it on our tax returns since it was for the government. Although I like the idea, I don't think that would fly with the Canadian government. However, we did take several photos at the police station to prove that we went over there to get the police certificate -- in case there is any doubt of authenticity.

At the Police Station

Waiting for the police man with the seal

Mr. Dong and I proudly displaying our sealed police certificate.

Next steps...now we just have to take it to a certified translator in Calgary to get it translated and notarized. Once this is done, we send it to Canadian Immigration.

NOW, ONTO THE HOLIDAY PORTION OF OUR TRIP....

For the rest of our trip we spent a day in Beijing, flew down to Nanjing for about $80/ticket for one day (cheaper than flying straight to Shanghai), and then took the 1.5 hour train into Shanghai to spend the remaining portion of our trip there.

The day we returned to Beijing from Shijiazhuang, it was the last day of the Chinese New Year. On the last day, it is tradition for people to light off fireworks in front of their homes or businesses to scare away any of the evil spirits for the next year. If we didn't have an idea of what was going on, we would have honestly thought we were in the middle of an active war zone. The fireworks were constantly going off from before we woke up in Shijiazhaung, until after we went to bed in Beijing. During the day it was difficult to tell if the gray skies were from the pollution or the smoke from all the fireworks. As we were trying to get to one hotel in Beijing, we actually got caught in an alley between two separate families shooting off their fireworks. I was afraid one was going to hit me!

When we arrived in Nanjing, a very historic city in China, we discovered the International Lantern Festival was being hosted there. There were several beautiful and unique lantern displays located throughout the city. We also visited several historic sites like the Chiao Gong Temple and the Zhonghua Gate, which were parts of the ancient city during the Qing Dynasty.

In Shanghai, Alex was able to contact one of his former flight students, Jerry. We went to dinner (featuring Shanghai dishes) our first night there and the following day he drove us to Zhujiajaozhen, a little town that has many canals located in the older section. There are a few of these towns around Shanghai -- they are a Chinese version of Venice, Italy. He also took us shopping at Yu Yuan Market and explored the Yu Gardens, as well as took us to a delicious hot pot restaurant!

Hot pot is one of my favorite Chinese meals. You either have a central pot or individual ones (like we did) and then you get a variety of fresh vegetables and uncooked meats. The pot is so hot that when you drop in each meat or vegetable piece it cooks it for you. After waiting a few minutes, it's bon appetite!

The cooking pot

Some of the Hot Pot Sides

In Shanghai, we also checked out the Bund and went to the China Expo Building from the 2010 Shanghai Exposition.

View of Pudong from the Bund

For more photos from our trip, click here.

Spending time with Jerry gave us a whole new perspective about the costs in China. When we lived in Shijiazhaung, it was relatively cheap for most things like food and clothes. However, Jerry shared with us that living in Shanghai is pretty expensive, especially if you have a higher standard of living. After talking more with him we discovered the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" is especially large China, and especially within the city of Shanghai.

• On average, the cost of a place in Shanghai would be 20,000 RMB/sq. meter. The average sized place in Shanghai is around 150 sq. meters (but can range from 60-190 sq. meters), so in U.S. equivalents it would be a total cost of $461,538 or $286/sq. foot.
• If you lived in downtown Shanghai (the expensive area), the cost could be 70,000-80,000 RMB per square meter. At 150 sq. meters it would make the total cost of a place 11,250,000 Million RMB. In U.S. equivalents, that would be $1.73 million for 1,614 sq. feet. Many analysts are saying that Shanghai could be the next real estate bubble.
• To purchase a house (which is more like an apartment in size), most Chinese people are required to provide a 20-30% down-payment on it, and for second homes a down payment of 50%. But within the last month the government changed it to 60% in order to try to prevent the 'bubble' from popping.
• More and more people are buying cars, but for imports it tends to be priced more than the same imported vehicle in the U.S. Chinese vehicles are a little cheaper, but still expensive. However, to insure their car they have to pay about $1000+ USD per year for insurance and about $6,000 USD to license a vehicle in Shanghai (in other Chinese cities it only cost about $300 USD to license).
• Although there is health insurance available for everyone, Jerry told us there are basically three different levels of medical care. The basic level is what everyone gets, but it is poor medical care or the cheapest medicines. The supplementary insurance provided by an employer is the second level, but it still doesn't give you the best medicine. The third level provides the best medicines and care, but it comes at a cost as one has to pay additional for it (beyond any health insurance premiums through your employer). This may become more of an issue as diseases like cancer become more prevalent. Traditionally, China has had much lower cancer rates than U.S. or Canada, but with them adopting more western lifestyles and obesity becoming an issue, China's cancer rate has increased 80% in 30 years (a 37% increase in 10 years for breast cancer alone).

NOW VS. THEN...

Although there were some things that haven't changed since we lived in China five years ago, we also noticed some major changes. Here are a few of our observations....

"SAME-SAME":

• A lot of smoking by men -- no such thing as smoke-free restaurants, etc.
• People cutting in line (i.e. when standing in line at train station ticket office, McDonalds, etc).
• Men and women hacking and spitting on the sidewalks. However, I do think people are becoming more conscious of this, and it's something you rarely see the younger generations doing.
• Many of the bathrooms stink and don't have toilet paper or soap for washing hands. However, places like McDonalds had hand sanitizer available for use.

DIFFERENT FROM FIVE YEARS AGO:

• The biggest difference was the increase in vehicles! For example, in Shijiazhuang it used to be all the bicycle parking areas were filled with bikes. Now it isn't as full and instead parts of the sidewalk are used for parking spaces because they don't have parking lots.

Cars being parked on what used to be the sidewalk.

• Of the bikes still on the streets, more of them are motor bikes or mopeds. Seemed to be less of the traditional bicycle.
• More modern and faster trains. In fact, later this year in June they will open the new fast-speed train service between Beijing and Shanghai. It will be even faster than the Japanese Bullet Trains!
• Didn't seem to be as much litter in the street.
• A little less honking by vehicles.
• Coffee is a little more popular with the locals, but mostly as something they'd drink while out and about.
• More milk-based drinks like smoothies or milk teas. They even have the heated vending machine drinks available, like in Japan.
• A little more environmentally conscious...(1) All the city trash cans we saw had a recyclable and non-recyclable sides; and (2) one of the grocery stores in Shanghai was even charging for plastic bags.

For more photos from our trip, click here.