Hangzhou
I went to China for work a couple months ago. It was my second time in China and I got to visit much more central urban places. My workplace was in Hangzhou, a small city of six million people built around an enormous lake. It felt like walking around a city of one million in a rich country with an excess of tall apartment buildings and hotels. Geoff figured that it was indicative of the fraction of people there with enough disposable income to patronize shops and services.
Every horizon was prickly with cranes pulling up dozens of new high rises. Little patches of old asia were still around, but I almost missed the narrow alleys of vendors and people squatting to play cards or eat noodles entirely in the cities. There wasn’t much street food in the parts of China I saw on this trip. The traditional markets were there under old cement communist bunkers, taking cover from the shiny new towers. Several times a day small colorful bursts of fireworks pop off over the sky, likely launched by individuals. Occasionally larger barrages go off that might be part of a corporate or government event?
On our daily commute to work we often couldn’t see across the river through the smog. Due to the oppressive pollution, the Chinese have outlawed most petrol fueled bikes. So the scooters are all silent electrics with a few propane models scattered among them. We did see a cop on a proper 450cc motorcycle.
The overall level of wealth in Hangzhou was greater than I’m familiar with from southeast Asia, but there’s clear economic disparity. There aren’t legions of beggars in Hangzhou. Actually, there were hardly any beggars. The wealthy were far more noticeable. Buick is doing quite well there. Owning one of their vehicles is a status symbol. The VP of my company’s China office had a personal driver for his. There were plenty of Audis and BMWs on the road. A Ferrari was parked on the sidewalk outside my office building. We saw Porsche’s, Maserati and an even a Bently on the road. Near our hotel was a Rolls Royce dealership. Geoff commented that he saw more exotic cars in Hangzhou than he has in San Francisco.
With an inexhaustible cheap labor pool a great many people are paid to stand around. At the entrance to restaurants two girls would hang out like curtains and sometimes two more inside just to usher you to the host. Standing around all day doing absolutely nothing, the girls look more look bored and dejected than attractive. Men who are paid to stand around look a little better, mostly because they’re wearing security uniforms or are actually in the military. Standing at forced attention masks their brains melting under the excruciating tedium.
Despite the plight of the underclass, one of my favorite things about China is how assertive the women are compared to other Asian countries. I’m guessing its a product of communist egalitarian ideology. Its quite pronounced when you compare it to the rest of Asia, where women are very subservient, basically do most of the work and reap few of the rewards.
Some photos of Hangzhou.