china in oct 08
Thomas Friedman’s book: Hot, Flat and Crowded was my latest acquisition and I did not want to part with it. All Friedman does is talk about how green we could have been, how grey we are and how black we can get…eventually.
What fascinated me about that book was its apparent allegiance to the Chinese clan. The Chinese are trying to go green, truly!
Green conferences, green bikes, green offices…. and before you know it, you have a chance of being recycled too. China smog scares one; but not quite so anymore.
What scares one are under estimating reports published on the .7% less growth this quarter for China. That is a time when we all tend to forget that we still have light years of catching up to do.
On Oct 21st, I landed in Pudong and the first disappointment was the airport’s basement parking lots. The distance between terminal 1 and 2 was minimal but trying specially when I had accidentally landed up in terminal 2 with the driver being in 1. The language game turned painful as I kept on international calls to Marriot in Shanghai, while Marriott concierge in turn, tried to calm the driver down by telling him that the mistake was mine. I was running from one pole to another, trying to use body language to the maximum and trying to get to the policemen to speak to the driver over the phone and to carefully explain to him that I was stuck at basement level 2, stuck between cars and lorries and crushed by darkness and dust.
Well, I was finally rescued by my knight in Chinese armour and I eventually reached the hotel an hour later than schedule.
Man, was the same Shanghai that I had visited 4 years back? The staff had better English to impress the guests; the room had nothing Chinese in it; the food??? Italian and French to begin with… Where was China, indeed?
The fair that I had gone to was the international fair for fabric suppliers from all over. The fair ground boasted of at least 2000 stalls. How on earth would I cope with so many and in so little time? Well, I did cover many, finally:)
The hallways were separated by product categories. I entered Hall 1 and the sheer surprise of finding only suiting material was a reminder of China’s choices. China does not choose to make the lower end s… anymore; China wants the niche. China’s interested in anything that pays well; China’s not into any basic mode or mood right now. The fur, the artficial leather, the suede, the leather, the ‘memory’ fabric and the rest all turned out to be good news for Bangladesh. By the time we chase Italian buyers to buy Armani from us, China would be catering customers in the moon. As for now, we could simply concentrate on basics: basic pants, basic shirts, basic blouses, basic sweaters, basic basics and so on and so forth.
By the time I hit the ladies wear stands, it was yet another feeling. The ladies were wearing something different now….fabric was more complex, the fall was complicated, the drape was difficult. Weren’t the ladies buying the basic cottons anymore? Nope…the products were carrying mixed signals: easy to wear, complex to look at (embroidery, applique, print, yarn dyed rolled into one) and yet affordable. Did good things come for cheap now?
Is that what our stocks have done to us?
Well, the westerners have been buying cheap for a long time, haven’t they? The stalls crowded with Europeans and Americans had similar action going on in almoist all of them. They were all filled with original cuttings from the brands and all the buyers needed were similar quality, look and feel at throwaway prices. Here we hear international panels screaming about copyrights and there we see the same group Chinese suppliers being asked to replicate the brands at one tenth of the original prices! And tell you what…some were even asking the suppliers to shift a line, reduce the check size and that’s it. One would be looking at wannabe Armani, a could have been Xenya, a look alike Chanel…..
The worst or rather the best hit me later. I had read about a wholesale market: Xi Pu, pronounced as Chi-pu-lu. The last ‘lu’ bit means: streets.
I ended up in Xi Pu-lu looking at trench coats costing me RMB 80; dresses costing me RMB 50 and along with those, authentic copies….ahhhh let’s call them ‘branded fakes’, shall we?
As for me, I love fakes. Wow….Mont blancs were easy to spot items at one point, today they are rare copies! The Louis Vuitton leather sling bag was a sample of perfection and the Prada was a clear pride. I ended up being slapped by a Chinese vendor when I bargained hard for a Ferragamo (or rather Cherragamo: Chinese ferragamo) purse. I was simply dividing the asking price by 3. Wasn’t that fair, specially in a world which had seen the worst in September? How could they be asking for more? Was that fair??
Speaking of fairness, China is fair. When one can land up with 9 Chrench Chiffons (Chinese French) for USD 200.00 and is unable to spend beyond a three hundred and shop like crazy, China should certainly be given the title of the Land for the Greedy.
And last but not the least, I kept walking with J.Walker the last evening. The musicians made you forget that they were Chinese and were hardly able to speak English. The rocks, blues and jazz were not Chrocks, Chlues or Chazz. They were what they are…all over.
The voices were what they are…all around.
The heights were also what they are…all across.
They have indeed grown taller….
