Doing Business in Real Time
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The global economy has a life of its own, it lives in real-time, and we are all part of it. Hello brave new world.
From China With Love
Two countries share a common border in the real-time online world, but we hardly know each other
At this moment perhaps two countries epitomize the yin and the yang of world culture – China and the United States. The geographical distance between them is great, but the virtual distance is becoming nonexistent. It is as if these two countries now have a common border. We are virtual neighbors, yet still very much strangers to each other.
Kelly Yaksich is a Denver-based attorney specializing in complex transactions in telecommunications, entertainment and brand management (and also a good friend from college). On a Skype video call last week he explained, “I went to Hong Kong to look after the family business only to remember upon arrival that my family has no business in Hong Kong.” During the week President Obama was in China Kelly took a trip to Guangzhou, a big city on the mainland. In the real-time virtual neighborhood that IT has built, Guangzhou is just next door and now we’re getting to know each other. Here’s what he saw…
“I made it to mainland China yesterday. Took a 2 hour train to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), the capital of Guangdong Province. Home to 11 million people, it's the third largest city in China behind Beijing and Shanghai. It's also the home of several Chinese revolutions in the 20th century and birthplace of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the KMT (he mentored Chiang Kai-shek). Big port city on the Pearl River. Chinese customs officials at the train station kind of intimidating. I get into the station and there's a weird vibe to it. Feels really old. Not a sign in English.
My immediate problem is that NO ONE speaks English. I had a guidebook with a couple of places I wanted to see and a tentative plan to meet Randy Larsen, a friend of a radio colleague for dinner (he happened to be working in that city for a couple of days). We had emailed each other before I left the States. I was looking forward to meeting him as he had played running back for a couple of years in the NFL for the Redskins in the mid 80s.
I find a Starbucks and run into it to hide and catch my breath. Fortunately, a gal at Starbucks does speak English. I show her in my guidebook the places I wanted to visit (a temple and the old part of the city which has open street markets). She writes the locations down in Chinese characters (takes 14 or so characters for each place) for me to give to the cab driver. I take a deep breath and venture out into the bedlam. I find a cab and give the driver my slip of paper. He nods and off we go. The city appears to be a mixture of old buildings and new skyscrapers. Just like Hong Kong. Evidently, this is the theme for all of China. The twenty minute cab ride is about $3.00.
(Next day Kelly showed me directions the barista at Starbucks wrote out for him.)
The temple is pretty cool. Not like Thai temples which invite hanging out and talking with monks. This is a place to burn incense and pray for the ancestors. Several beggars approached me. Since leaving the train station I haven't seen another "gwai lo" (the Chinese name for white people which means "white ghost"). The gal at Starbucks had recommended a Dim Sum place near the market and wrote out the name for me. After the Temple,
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