But she's MY Barbie!

I'm not sure if the opening of Barbie's first-ever flagship store in Shanghai made its way to the press back in the US but it's been Shanghai's hottest news for the last couple of weeks. On March 6th, Mattel solidified its place on the China commerce landscape with the grand opening of a 6-story, "unapologetically girly", ultra pink, mega-store and it is AMAZING. I should mention before I describe the store that I was very, VERY cynnical about the idea since first hearing about it about 6 months ago. For me, at 27 years old, the appeal of Barbie is a distant memory. So to have it resurface in my life with such vigor (in China of all places!) I balked at the very notion, convinced that Barbie's hayday was long over.

I agreed to go with a group of girlfriends to test out the restaurant which was conceptualized and consulted on by a friend's company. The new House of Barbie sits on Huaihai Road, said to be Shanghai's most cosmopolitan street (cosmopolitan is being very liberal with the word). The facade is meant to resemble the outside packaging of a barbie box but inside is the real treat. After a long escalator ride up a pink-lit tunnel customers are dropped off into Barbie wonderland and this is where the magic happens. The second floor is more like a Barbie museum with over a thousand different dolls and pictures chronicalling Barb's rise to prominence. Instantly, I was thrown back into my childhood when friends and I would gather our dolls and play with the latest dream house, convertible or whatever flash new accessory Barbie happened to come out with. Looking back it was the only time I gave in to my girly-ness. My house was dominated by sports and while being girly was never discouraged there just was never really much time or interest for it. I mean I played three sports until I was 15, one of which was in an all-boys league! So here I am in China, oohing and ahhing in the 80's & 90's section over Gym Barbie, with her leotard and legwarmers and Rockstar Barbie with her cropped jacket and punk rock hair and wishing my childhood friends were by my side to share in the nostalgia.

There were 4 more floors of adult couture clothing (all quite amature in my opinion), a Vera Wang designed wedding gown, a spa, cafe and restaurant, Barbie design center and even a runway for girls to strut their Barbie stuff. How wonderful is that for a little girl?! When it was all said and done, I had lost my cynicism for the concept but replaced it with disappointment. Why was this built in Shanghai and not the States where generations of women have grown up on the icon and would truly appreciate this hommage to Barbie (not to mention make Mattel a multi-million dollar company). The answer Mattel gives is this:

When deciding where to place the House of Barbie, Shanghai beat other contenders — including London, Paris, Milan, New York and Los Angeles — because of its strong cross-generation reaction to the doll and the brand.

"Shanghai showed the absolute most passion for the Barbie brand, not only among girls three to eight years old, but for teenagers and mums, too."

Reading between the lines, this says, China has over 1.8 billion customers who we want to capitalize on. I often wonder if Chinese people ever get the feeling as though they're just seen as dollar signs (or Euro or Yuan) and cheap labor to the rest of the world. There is a rich and storied culture here that is being buried in the pursuit of economic prominence. No public space is spared when it comes to advertising and commercialism with each company looking to grab a slice of the China pie. Mattel's new store doesn't even try to hide that fact. It's quite a risk to have spent some $30M+ on the hope that Chinese females young and old will fall in love with a doll that doesn't come very close to representing them or their culture. American girls built the Barbie brand but since sales have dropped we are no longer of use to Mattel and the haven of girly-ness and nostalgia will serve a new market.

Call it a longing for the past that is gone, or even jealousy but the bottom line is...well...the bottomline I guess. I wish Mattel luck and will view this as another leverage point to lure some friends over to come visit me in Shanghai.Who wants to see Baby Doctor Barbie?? Anyone???

Oh and the Barbie-tini??? Fabulous.

Career Development, But at What Price?

It is well known that Chinese businesses operate on their own levels of what is acceptable and what is not and often those levels sit at extreme opposites of what is acceptable in the US (and most other developed nations as I imagine). A few weeks ago I decided to ramp up my networking efforts to help my job search. This lasted all of one evening because I was reminded of why I despise networking events. Making small chit chat with people about mostly mundane topics ("so how long have you been in China??, What do you think of it?, etc) is not my ideal evening but on this occasion I volunteered to go for the group I was doing an outreach project for. It was exactly as I expected but, begrudgingly, I tried to make the best of it. I met a few people and decided I had done enough and was about to step out when a friendly, older Chinese gentleman stepped up and said hello. I obliged and engaged him in conversation and it turned out he had lived in San Diego for over 20 years and was in venture capital so we had an interesting discussion on China and start-ups, etc. He asked if I spoke Chinese and I responded in Mandarin with a common reply to something when you want to be modest to which he responded with a remark about my appearance and ability to speak Chinese. Annoyed, I tactfully said it had been nice talking to him and I had to go. I wouldn't normally care about such comments but I received this email a few days later:














This is just a ridiculous email on so many levels I really could only laugh at it. It wouldn't be so significant if this hadn't been someone I'd had a very respectable conversation with. I never responded to his email and try to avoid thinking about how he was cheered up otherwise on his "lonely overseas journey."

Happy Niu Year!

(Niu being the Chinese word for Ox) Happy Year of the Ox!

I have survived my first full Chinese New Year. Phew. I must admit, despite years of studying Chinese and China relations, I hadn't the first clue about the cultural traditions surrounding China's most sacred holiday. Here's what I expected: People in dragon costumes dancing down the street as everyone stands along side streets cheering it on and lighting firecrackers. Blame it on my San Francisco Chinatown experience for being culturally unaware but there were no dragons in site and NO PEOPLE! For a city of 18 million in 2450 sq.m (by comparison: LA is 10 million in 4000 sq.m) this is no easy feat. This has to do with a few reasons- many of Shanghai's residents are migrant workers from the countryside who have come in search of better work and better pay and return home for the weeklong national holiday. Also the city felt empty simply because families stay inside together and eat and watch holiday programming much like the West does on Christmas.

Rohan and I banded together with the few other friends who also stayed in town for a lovely dinner at the JW Marriott where we sat before a 360 view of the city from the 64th floor. From here we had the perfect perch to watch the city-wide fireworks show that was to come later. Now, its no secret that I am not the biggest fan of Chinese food, even still after nearly a year here. But I thought what the heck, it's Chinese New Year, a nice hotel, it must be good. When in Rome, right? I won't say anything else about it now except that my views have not changed and may have even been strengthened following a menu that included...pigeon and fried condensed milk. Enough said.

What I was not at all expecting was the magnitude of fireworks and firecrackers being lit across the city. In the States we are so weary of using firecrackers and fireworks because every year the local news channels run stories of little Billy losing his fingers from playing with illegal firecrackers. To this China laughs. It is an unspoken competition every year between the different housing complexes as to who has the bigger and better fireworks display. There is no government sponsored display so everyone takes to the streets with their own. Shanghai is not a spread out city like LA is, it's more Manhattan-esque with apartment and office buildings towering 35+ stories- EVERYWERE. So imagine the wonderment of colorful fireworks going off in between building after building as far as the eye can see for hours on end. I tried taking pictures but they would do no justice. "But Nicole, isn't that dangerous!?" you ask? YES! It is.

This happened in Beijing on the final evening of the Lunar Festival. The newly iconic CCTV complex (dubbed 'The Trousers') saw an incomplete building, which was soon to be the Mandarin Oriental, catch on fire from wayward fireworks that had been launched from an observation deck. (Note: there was no coverage of this in China. All news of the fire comes from international media outlets as many China blogs covering the fire have been blocked or frozen.)
The luxury hotel was supposed to open in Spring but work had been delayed due to the slowing economy.

So the 15 days of the lunar festival are over and hopefully along with it the fireworks and firecrackers at all hours. It was widely noted by several friends who have been here many years that this year was significantly quiet compared to years past, which is crazy to think of since I thought this year was nuts! It looks like the economy has claimed yet another victim.

澳巴马-rama!

That would translate to "OBAMA-rama!" (ao ba ma)
(editor's note: the first character is the incorrect character that they have given for Obama's name but the right one doesn't exist in my computer's character list, leading me to believe China invented a whole new character for him. THAT is how cool he is)

The first paper with Barack and Michelle roughly translates to: "Life stirs in the Capital after a long sleep"

The second headline translates to: "What has Bush left for the World in Eight Years?"

I couldn't exactly say the excitement was palpable here in China. It was just another day. However, my Facebook page and phone were flush with comments and texts from my expat friends all very excited for the renewed hope and change. There were the expected "Inauguration Parties" at bars around town which was just another excuse to get people in to drink on a Wednesday night. I chose to watch from the comfort of my couch, power napping from 11pm-12am Wednesday morning to be up in time for all the festivities. It was equally beautiful and powerful and I was filled with emotion for my country, which I hadn't felt in a very long time.

Many have asked if Chinese people discuss American politics with me. No they do not. I also have pretty limited contact with well educated Chinese but even still, there is little political dialogue engaged in when I am with friends. I find that when I do get into conversations Chinese have very limited information about not just international events but also their own, for obvious reasons. However, every once in a while you find someone not afraid to be opinionated and when it happens it's poetry in motion. Such was displayed in this e-mail sent to Rohan (formerly special friend) and his colleagues by another Chinese colleague. Feel free to find your own significance.

Sent: Wed Jan 21 13:08:49 2009
Subject: Obama Inauguration Speech

Hi all,

Without doubt, Mr. Obama was and is surely a “world stardom”, who attracts people’s attention to see if he is able to rescue and manage the ailing American’s financial system; hence, the world’s economy will have an impressive turn in the near future.

Therefore, his inauguration ceremony and his speech would be one of the shining points in the world last night. However, due to the different time zone, you might miss out the great time to watch and listen to his great speech with full passion. No worries. I downloaded the video clip and uploaded on the L drive. You can have quick access to the material via the following link.

L:\Acquisitions\Inauguration Speech

Enjoy!

It's the little things

I've been back in Shanghai now for 2 weeks after 3 1/2 glorious weeks in California over the Christmas break. I came back with a renewed and refreshed sentiment for China and committed myself to an attitude of optimism and warmth for all things Chinese. Even the spit, rammed metros and 'scents' were not going to break this spirit.

And I was doing so well about 3 hours into my return. I walked to my gym ready for a good workout after 25 days straight of face-stuffing, wine-consuming, California gluttony. I arrived without incident only to find out that my membership had been revoked! Apparently the 24hour fitness reciprocity agreement only lasts 90 days. Never mind that I had been using it for 9months without anyone telling me this! With the close of my studies just one week away I planned on filling all my spare time (after looking for a job of course) with 4 hour long gym sessions. After talking to two different managers I got to one who said she will just have to look at my agreement and will be re-instated after if I qualify. I will spare you all the details (and ranting about the conflicting management at 24hour fitness) but this is turning out to be no easy task. Silver lining?? I now force myself to walk to more places to get exercise. While my lungs may be suffering from increased air exposure I have seen more of the city than before and come across more friendly faces. Just last week, a migrant worker on a bike stopped in front of me while I waited to dodge traffic and get to the other side. He smiled a wide toothless smile and asked if I was cold because I didn't have a scarf on. In America this would be creepy. In China it's cute and made me want to just hug him (that may have to do with him being a pint size little man but still). We exchanged a few words, crossed the street together and said our goodbyes- him putting a smile on my face and me hopefully doing the same teeth or not. It's the little things.

My second test of renewed China-vigor began last week when I left my US bank ATM card...um...somewhere. It had been a few days since its last use until I realized it was gone. Some would think this a cause for panic. The first time it happened to me (in April) it was! The second time (in June), I knew exactly where to return to get it. Now being the third time (oops!)- it's like second nature. Only this time I couldn't remember where I had left it which sent me on a city-wide cardhunt for my little-plastic-that-could. It took me three different banks and 5 days to get it back. In the end I was more proud of my ability to effectively communicate how I "left my international, gold colored bank card in the ATM machine at ShuiOn Plaza because I forgot to take it back out after getting my money." ATM machine, gold colored, and careless (mamahuhu) are all well etched into my Chinese vocabulary, along with a heightened confidence in my Mandarin (and maybe a more conscientious effort to hold onto my ATM card). It's the little things.

I now spend my days mostly in cafes calling on job prospects and studying Chinese. My timing for a job search was just perrrrrrfect given the trainwreck of an economy but I know this down time will not last forever. I am enjoying the free time I have to focus energy on things I enjoy and are important to me. This is a lifestyle that may soon be over and I will never get to live again. When the big picture may be a little cloudy, it's the little things I'll use to weather this storm that is China.

The Marathon!

Yes I am still alive here...barely :) Much has been going on in good old Shanghai lately but before I get to that we must discuss the marathon that consumed a good part of my life for the past 4 months.

I fully completed the Hangzhou International Marathon with Special Friend (SF) on November 9th. Times are not important, what matters is that we finished :) I'll just say it wasn't a PB time (personal best). But it was SF's first ever endurance run and I must give him much respect to have stayed motivated through pretty torturous training conditions and complete the 'thon in a very respectable time. We dealt with 100 degree heat + major humidity, running in one of the most smog infested cities on the planet and just plain a disgusting place to run. But when all was said and done we really enjoyed the actual run and are already talking about the next one. Maybe in more of a smog free city...so LA is out of the picture. The run itself in Hangzhou was really pleasant except for when we were running with traffic which was 70% of the time. For about 6 miles though we were off the main road and running up through tea fields which was one of the most serene trails I've ever run on. But then it was back to the main road with the buses and cars and major exhaust inhalation. Yuck!

What was quite inspiring though were the amount of septuagenarians running AND BEATING us along the way. There was one group of men, about 5 of them, who were all between 70 and 78 (they told us as they passed us... :[ ) Running together in a tight herd. The age of the men isn't so unusual, I saw much of this in the states, but more so their gear- the shoes looked as though they could have been homemade from cardboard and cloth. But damn those guys had endurance! One of them would occasionally pull off for a bathroom break and the rest would go on and that was when I thought we had them broken down but I'll be damned they would always come right back up behind us in a little trot say a friendly "Ni hao" and keep right on going. And here we are in our latest "high-tech, turbo-mode, dri-fit" Nike gear and Chocolate Outrage Gu super energy gels strapped all around my waist for "ultimate endurance!!" And I'm pretty confident they had never heard of a little chafe-saver called Body Glide in which we were sufficiently lubed up in. Of course in the end they kicked our buts and finished probably 10minutes ahead of us. I couldn't tell you b/c I couldn't see them ahead of us after mile 20. Siiigh. I don't know if this was worse or the time I got beat in my second marathon by a speed walker.....

It was a great weekend shared with many friends including my cousin Megan who has been in Shanghai for the past few months. She is the Director of the East Asian program at Union College in NY and brought a class out here to study at Fudan University. She brought a flag for us and was my number one fan out on the route. This is marathon number 2 for which she has been my support staff and I'm thinking of hiring her out for all future marathons :) New York next....



So there was the good

the bad(ass)

and the just plain ugly
Fun China!!

You Know You're Living in the Internet Age (and China) When...

Here's a riddle:

Q: American girl meets cute Australian boy while living in China. Girl and boy fall in love in China. Girl is very happy and wants boy to meet American parents. American parents are traveling in Germany. How does girl introduce boy to parents?

A: Via the Internet of course!

After nearly five months of dating the time had finally come for Special Friend to meet the parents. Ideally, we would go to their house, sit down to a lovely dinner and hope for no talk of milking cats or wayward grace saying ala Ben Stiller in the 'Meet the Parents' movie. But I live in China which doesn't afford such luxuries. And, like I've said many times before, when living in China one must get a little creative. Call it my mantra. SO, the ominous task was reduced to a Skype video call. Now most of you probably know that I talk to my parents nearly every day via video skype [My mom doesn't know how to delete emails but tell the woman that if she learns how to use skype she will be able to see me over the internet and she suddenly becomes a Google programmer].

Naturally, there have been many a skype calls when Special Friend has been over but it just seemed too ridiculous to introduce my new boyfriend over the Internet. Well try getting that logic past Dave and Andrea! With Dave being the self-appointed Skype spokesman (it is a rare occasion when the wonders of Skype don't somehow work its way into one of his conversations ;) and Andrea holding the patent on the Skype hug n' kiss there was no way of getting out of the Skype meet n greet.

So the time had finally come. No dates or times were set as with a normal parent intro, it just happened that SF came over and I was online with my Dad. There he sat with airplane-pilot headphones on and 8am bedhead and SF looking quite dapper in his shirt and tie coming from work. It was a beautiful site. But what is the first thing my Dad says?? "Hi [special friend]. Nice to FINALLY meet you. I was starting to wonder who wears the pants in that relationship!" Nice Dad. Of course it was a joke and Special Friend responded well and the conversation (mostly about sports) went on for about 10 glorious Skype minutes with nothing traditional about it.

Funnily enough, this article from the International Herald Tribune (NYT) was sent to me by a friend earlier this week:

Surveillance of Skype messages found in China

Ahh China. I hope my Dad provided a little entertainment to what must be the most mundane job on the planet.