One of my friends scoffed when I said I was visiting "Communist China", and this photo is a good illustration of why the reaction is appropriate. I'm not sure what's more impressive, really - the number of malls you'll find, or the scale of these shopping centres! Hong Kong is far more sophisticated in terms of how its shopping centres look and feel, but the mainland Chinese are definitely learning "how it's done." The only thing missing here, really, are the crowds. No doubt because I arrived in the middle of working hours for most people - and this mall is relatively pricier than the street-front markets and the discount mall next door. You'll notice, however, that Christmas-bunting tinsel is draped along the handrails. The commercialization of Christmas is bemoaned back in the West, but it's simply The Thing to do in China. In many stores and restaurants the staff (must?) wear Santa hats or other costumes. I wasn't surprised by this in...
Is triggered by Junior Deputy Accountant, who seemed to enjoy my Bernanke photo - awesome . I've just returned from a three week adventure in Hong Kong, including trips to mainland China and Macau, which explains why I've been so quiet lately. As usual, I took tons of photos which tell the stories better than I could in most cases - I mean, how else can you explain Crispy Whitebait to someone? Perhaps I should've actually bought it but I didn't really feel like eating chips that day. I did write a bit of a micro-journal documenting my observations since I didn't feel like dragging my laptop along with me when I crossed the border. China's ridiculously fast transformation into some sort of capitalist-ish economy under a one-party state is obvious to anyone who sees the construction of high speed rail lines and the rapid development of formerly sleepy towns into bustling cities - I'll share more of that soon. Looking at this through the eyes of a CA which means...