We hit the Wall

Landing in Beijing, China, was a stark contrast to Texas. Our guide and interpreter, Angus Christian, met us at the airport and helped us to our motel for an eagerly anticipated tour. It would be fair to say China is busy, no matter what city we were in there was a lot going on. Street life here is no different in tempo to any city around the world, it's the culture of it's people that makes the place so interesting. A lot of businesses will have one of the 9 sons of the dragon guarding the entrance to it, protecting it from harm. Wishes above the doors of homes on red cards are common as red is an important colour for the Chinese. Red is believed to be a colour of wealth and good luck and it appears on almost everything.

Angus had meetings set up for us throughout our stay. He had arranged two interpreters to be with him to help us in our communications. Both interpreters had English sounding names, Tears and Sarite. I learnt that these names were not their true names and that a lot of Chinese pick an English name for themselves while learning English at school, which they use for most of their working life.

A meeting with Conti Asia was a very interesting meeting and Nick Rosa took us through some of the fascinating aspects of doing business in China. Many large businesses have come to China and not found success as expected. McDonald's and KFC are interesting examples of this. KFC are the most successful large foreign owned fast food outlet in China, McDonalds are not. Why? The Chinese hold the elderly in high regard and the Colonel fits that bill nicely, a clown as a mascot does not. Red is the most predominate colour scheme for KFC and they are cooking a food item they are very familiar with. It is not a place the Chinese go for a cheap meal as they can get that anywhere on the street. There is some status in being able to afford to eat there. Quite different to Australia. It shows that even something as familiar as these two businesses are not what they may appear in China.