Monday, April 25, 2005

Model worker One of the communist traditions that are still around is the nomination of model workers. Mostly low-skilled workers like miners, farmers or cleaners used to have the honour to become a model worker. After China started opening up to the outside world also more educated people like successful professors could get the title. But now I feel the party is strechting it a bit: the latest nominee to become model worker is multi-millionaire NBA superstar Yao Ming. Even though Yao is doing a great job at promoting China, and he probably works harder than most of us, it seems odd that someone like him can be nominated. I don[base ']t think that[base ']s what Mao had in mind when he introduced the concept 50 years ago! 1:11:13 PM    comment []

Shanghai Auto Show I went to the Shanghai Autoshow to take a look at current and new models coming to the market. In China that actually means not just looking at the cars itself, but also at the female models that lean in and over the cars in sexy positions to attract people[base ']s attention to the car (it rather distracts me actually). I still remember about 5 years ago when we I was working for DaimlerChrysler in Beijing, and we had to do a selection of the models for our cars for the Beijing Auto Show. I think we had about 50 tall (all over 1.80m), slim, goodlooking young women waiting in the different meeting rooms on the floor where I had my office. During the two days that the selection lasted a lot of male colleagues that normally never bothered to come to my office floor, suddenly dropped by for some small-talk. Needless to say that working efficiency was not very high. It was quite busy at the Auto Show, what a difference to two years ago: that was right in the middle of the SARS crisis. That years the show was actually closed down after 3 days because the government decided that it was too dangerous. But this time around (the show is held every odd year in Shanghai, and during the even years in Beijing) the exhibition center was packed. People climb in and over cars, take pictures of their kid behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz and collect big bags full of car brochures. Now that cars have become affordable for more people, they don[base ']t only go to look at the latest top-of-the-bill sports cars, but also to inform themselves what cars they could buy themselves. Therefore also the stands of locally produced cars were quite busy, and people seemed to be genuinely interested in those cars. I met several former DaimlerChrysler colleagues during the show, among others Shen Limei, Stefan Schmitt, Ye Yongqing, Zhang Dan, Wu Yanyan and Gao Hong. Some have moved on to other automotive companies (Volkwagen and BMW), but most are still with DC. Always nice to catch up with them and hear the latest company stories. The car industry was a interesting industry to work in, and DC was a great company to work for. But looking back, I don[base ']t regret going in a different direction. It was not an easy decision to leave an expat position, but I am glad that I had the courage to do it so I could build up my own businesses here in China. 12:54:19 PM    comment []