Author: Jeff

Welcome to CITIC…

Jeff, , ,

Today was my second [first full] day working at China CITIC Bank. Before I go into the full details of my current situation, let me recount yesterday’s slew of events:

…I wake up at 7:20, eat breakfast, dress in a red polo short-sleeve shirt, khakis, and a brand new pair of brown leather shoes. After walking ten minutes to the bus stop, I get on the 701 bus, which is already jam-packed. Although my destination, Dong Si Shi Tiao (东四十条), is only 15 minutes away, by the time I get off the bus, the back of my shirt is already soaked, and I’m sweating bullets by the second. Not the best way to stop off your first day at work. A brisk 500 meters later, I find myself in front of CITIC’s headquarters, which is located in a building complex called the Fu Hua Manor (富华大厦). There, I am greeted by Zhou Hua, my dad’s friend and my contact person at CITIC. He and my father both attended Ren Min University, where his father was my father’s professor (small world, indeed). Mr. Zhou is the head of the International Banking department at CITIC’s HQ, and is currently managing over 20 people. Coincidentally, one of my dad’s classmates from Ren Min, Sun Jianlin, is also at CITIC, and he is the head of the Credit Management department, which happens to be right across the hall on the same floor! After giving me a brief tour of the office, Mr. Zhou put me under the guidance of Yu Yong, who leads the [[代理]] group, of which I will be an interim member for the next few weeks. I was introduced to the other members of the group, Hu Xiao and Qin Ru, both women in their late 20s/early 30s, and spent the majority of the morning looking over the Bank’s 2008 Annual Report. In doing so, I was able to gain a basic understanding of the company. I was surprised, for example, that despite the financial crisis that left many banks around the world in ruin, CITIC was able to pull in 13 billion RMB in profits. Pretty impressive for a commercial bank that was only established 22 years ago. In fact, CITIC was a relatively small bank for almost two decades after its founding until it went public in 2007. Since then, the Bank has grown rapidly, with profits increasing by 40% and 60% over the past 2 years respectively. To be technical, China CITIC Bank is now part of a larger conglomerate known as CITIC Group, which holds a 60% stake in the Bank. The other 40% is owned by Banco Bilbal Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA) and HK Securities Clearing Company Nominees Ltd. Although the Bank still doesn’t compare to the size of China’s Big Four banks, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB), and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), CITIC is a competitive force in the industry, and it has demonstrated great potential for growth. (In case you are curious, CITIC used to stand for “China International Trust and Investment Company,” but like “SAT,” is now a dead acronym)…

Things were going smoothly until after lunch, when I suddenly noticed that I was terribly out of dress code. Everyone else was in formal attire: suit pants, black shoes, white collared shirts. I needed to get my hands on a suit, and fast. After calling Fan Wei and hurrying home to grab money and change into more comfortable clothes, I headed out for the second time that day—this time to Sogo, a modern shopping center with a wide selection of men’s formal wear. Along the way, I realize, much to my disgust, that my new shoes had caused four huge blisters on the back of my feet. Great. I needed another pair of shoes.

The next couple of hours consisted of my fruitlessly wandering from store to store in hopes of finding a suit that: (1) Fit, (2) Had two buttons (While Westerners like the two-button suit, Chinese businessmen prefer the three-button, as it makes you look more powerful), (3) Didn’t have pinstripes (I already have a three-button pinstripe suit), and most importantly, (4) Didn’t break the bank. If there’s one phrase that summarizes my shopping experience, regardless of whether I am in the U.S. or China, it is “size unavailable.” Back home, I usually resort to ordering all my clothes online, but in China, I have no such luxury and end up visiting every store before either giving up or getting lucky. (Honestly, I find it a bit strange that I am considered abnormally skinny even in China). Anyway, here’s how a typical visit to a men’s formalwear store might go:

Me: Hi, I’m looking for a suit that fits me.

Clerk (doubtful look): Here…try this on. [Hands me smallest size available in store]

Me: It’s too big.

Clerk: We could tailor it for you. What’s your waist size?

Me: 2’1’’

Clerk (involuntary eye popping/stare/double take/neck spasm): 2’1’’!? We don’t have that size…but we could tair it for you.

Me: Wait, how much does it cost for tailoring?

Clerk: 2000 RMB (~$300), and it’ll take a month.

Me (glancing at hefty 8000 RMB price tag, which only includes the jacket): Erm…no. I think I’ll pass…Plus, I don’t have a month, I have 12 hours.

OR ALTERNATIVELY:

Me (tired of introductions): Do you have anything for a 2’1’’ waist?

Clerk: Yes!

Me (involuntary display of bewilderment): You do?

[After trying on suit]

Me: Wow, this is perfect. How much for the suit?

Clerk: Well, we’re doing a special promotion this month. Everything is 20% off, plus an additional 10% off for buying the whole piece…all in all, 3200 RMB (~$470).

Me (-.-): Ugh.

[I had only brought 3000 RMB with me to China, all of which I had with me at the moment. Not to mention that I still needed shoes and a shirt]

Anyway, this is how things went for the better part of two hours. We were about to give up completely when suddenly struck gold at the last shop we decided to look at: a two-button black suit uniquely textured with subtle diagonal lines that fit like a charm. And the best part of all? The price tag: 1800 RMB (~$265). They even threw in a free shirt to boot! My cousin and I exchanged high fives. Within 10 minutes, I settled the deal and walked out with suit in hand. We couldn’t get over how good of a deal it was. I, for one, was fairly certain that I wouldn’t be able to tailor a suit in the U.S. for $250, not to mention the free dress shirt. Compared to the suit, picking out shoes turned out ot be a piece of cake. I ended up buying a pair of contemporary semi-formal dress shoes for 550 RMB. Not a steal, but not bad, either.

[Flash Forward: Tuesday Afternoon]

As part of the Financial Institutions Group, I spent the morning calling CITIC’s 30 branches located in all provinces of China. My job was to make sure that several overdue reports would be delivered to HQ ASAP. Although I initially found this task a bit daunting, with the language barrier being my primary obstacle, I quickly got the hang of it after the first couple of calls. By noon, I had called all but two banks (which were on break due to different operating hours), and had gained an adequate understanding of basic bank jargon in Chinese. I’ve discovered that as scary as overcoming an language barrier may be, I can never improve my skills unless I go ahead and try. Sure, I stumbled from time to time and had to struggle a bit to find the right words, but at the end of the day, I got the job done, and my confidence in my Chinese was higher than ever. A few people I contacted even asked me my name (您贵姓？), which made me feel pretty darn special. I guess they thought I was just another fellow CITIC employee. I wonder what they would think if they found out I was actually a high school graduate from the U.S. 😛

Grandma’s House = No Internet

Jeff, , ,

After a week of rest (but really not, since I had to help my cousin move into her new apartment,  as well as accompany her while she traveling around the city making plans for her wedding) at my uncle’s house, my aunt and uncle helped me transport all my luggage to my [maternal] grandparent’s house, where I will be staying for the remainder of my time in Beijing. My aunt and I joked that we had done so much moving this week that would should start a family business.

My grandparents live just inside the third ring on the city’s east side, a fairly convenient location as far as commuting goes. Traveling to CITIC, where I start working next Monday, is a mere 20 minutes away by bus. Grandpa and grandma live in a two bedroom apartment not too far away from the Beijing Lufthansa Shopping Center (Yan Sha). About five years ago, they decided to purchase the adjacent one bedroom suite and connect it to the original suite, so now, the place is pretty spacious. It is also more convenient for my grandparents, since they can accommodate guests more easily. Recently, due to my grandpa’s health problems, my grandma has “moved in” with him to the newer suite. As a matter of habit, however, I am still staying in the guest room on the apartment’s older side. Truth be told, I’ve stayed at my grandparent’s so often over the past few summers that aside from Lawrenceville, their apartment, and the guest room in particular, has become my home away from home. The only downside is that in this age of rapid technological growth, the apartment is still without internet connection. However, I’m not going to complain too much, since it gives me more time to read, write (offline) blog entries, and other more productive activities. Besides, I’ll most likely be able to access the internet during weekdays while I’m at CITIC.

My room at my grandparents' apartment My only major concern at the moment is mosquitoes. In the past, I’ve had some nasty encounters while staying in Beijing. This year, I’ve only been bitten once, and I hope to keep it that way. If things start to get bad, I may have to start burning incense every night, a measure I have resorted to in years past.

Web Censorship in China: Annoying? Yes. Logical? No.

Jeff,

After four days of isolation from the web (yes, that is a long time), I open Firefox to find 18 unread mail (15 of which are useless), that Dinara Safina is still the #1 ranked tennis player in the world, and that Facebook and Youtube are blocked. However, I suppose there is no reason why I should be surprised by any of this, least of all the last item. This is China, after all.

What I don’t understand, though, is why Facebook, a popular social networking program, is blocked and its counterpart, MySpace (arguably no longer as popular, but still going strong) is not. As an avid Facebook user, I must protest against such censorship discrimination. To be honest, I would be happier if both sites were banned, rather than just one. Now, instead of feeling frustrated, I’m left feeling both frustrated and confused. Along the same lines, how is that YouTube and Twitter are both blocked, but flickr is not? All three can be used effectively to disseminate information (or create chaos, in the eyes of the Chinese government), and as the adage goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words” (but apparently not 140 characters.)

So I understand you don’t want videos being posted on the internet of soldiers suppressing crowds in Tibet or of the current violence in Xinjiang, but posting pictures is OK?

That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. And let’s face it. As hard as the Chinese government tries to prevent such information from spreading on the Internet, images and video footage will eventually get out sooner or later. It becomes a matter of being embarrassed now, or trying to save face and getting embarrassed later. Either way, it’s more bad PR, but China seems intent on holding to the latter, which only has the potential to generate more confusion and misunderstanding on the international level.

I could go on about this topic, but I think I will stop now and go browse random pictures on flickr for the next couple of hours. I’ll see you tomorrow—that is, if this blog hasn’t been banned by then.

Arrival In China: Jeffrey – 1; Jetlag – 0

Jeff, ,

Phew, what a day it has been! I woke up at around 8:00AM this morning, after sleeping for roughly 12 hours. Not bad, considering that I had not slept for 24 hours. The problem with traveling to a country that is exactly 12 hours ahead of you is adjusting to the time zone. This process can be difficult, but is extremely crucial, and it all comes down to how you spend  the first night. The trick is to not fall asleep until your normal bedtime; otherwise, your internal clock will be screwed for the next three days or so. Trust me, feeling sleepy at 5:30PM and waking up 6:00AM everyday is not a particularly fun experience. Luckily, it seems that I’ve been able to overcome any major side effects of jetlag this time around, thanks to my cousin. To pass the time, she took me to her future apartment, where she will be staying once she gets married next month. The apartment is not huge, but my cousin and her husband Feng did do a very good job of decorating. The furniture all have a very nice flora motif, and the lights and lamps are aesthetically unique. Two identical Sony Bravia HDTVs serve as the focal point of the one bedroom apartment, along with a brand new (unlocked) X-BOX 360 gaming system. By unlocked, I mean that the console itself is modified so that it can play pirated game discs. So while consoles themselves run as much as 2200 RMB (more than $300), the games are as cheap as 5 RMB (less than $1). Now it’s no contest where one would want to purchase a gaming console. After playing various games on the 360 for a few hours, we went out to eat. By the time the day was over, I was totally burnt out, but I hadn’t slept a wink since the morning before. Success!

Last minute packing and other thoughts

Jeff, ,

After a month of waiting, the big day is finally here! I will be flying out of the Garden State at around noon tomorrow and arriving in Beijing the next day in the early afternoon, local time (can you say jet lag?). As usual, I will not be sleeping a wink on the 12 hour plane ride…I’ve found that watching movies non-stop is a much more entertaining way of spending one’s time. As for how I’m going to spend my free time in China, I’ve decided to bring the following items:

  • Jack Kerouac’s On the Road – an appropriate title indeed
  • Jim Collin’s Built to Last – finally, I can finish this book
  • Two issues of Discover magazine – plus I can do the puzzles in the back
  • My laptop – how else will I be able to blog while I’m in China? 😉
  • My iPod Touch – I just downloaded the solitaire app, so it’s all good.
  • Math textbook – this is for when I’m bored. Nothing burns time like doing differential equations…(nerd alert!)
  • Rubik’s Cube – this is for when I’m really bored…or when I feel like showing off, though I suspect all the kids in the China can probably do it faster than I can.
  • My GUITAR! – you have no idea how excited I am to travel with my guitar :D. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Continental will let me bring it as a carry-on. Hey, there’s nothing that a smile and a friendly attitude can’t solve.
  • Clothes – self-explanatory.
  • Money – also self-explanatory.
  • Other junk (i.e. gifts) – this is all the stuff that I’m bringing for other people, and can be divided roughly into two categories: consumable junk (e.g. fish oil, chocolate covered raisins, multivitamins) and non-consumable junk (e.g. sponges (wtf!?!?), wedding presents :)). Why my grandparents won’t buy their sponges in China is still a mystery to me…maybe the quality is bad?

Phew! That certainly is a lot. What’s sad is that the majority of the stuff I’m carrying, both by weight and by volume, does not belong to me. Like I said before, it’s all junk. Thus is my curse for being Chinese and traveling alone to China during the summer.

One last thing: according to my e-ticket, there will be no meals served during the flight. I hope this is some egregious typo, because as much as I detest airplane food, I hate starving even more.