China and The Company Man - why nobody eats alone in China.

The first thing you must understand that China is a cooperative society—everyone works together and nothing is done alone. Like all broad statements, there are no doubt exceptions but that is the rule. You see this in how the Chinese drive—road signs and traffic flows are followed most of the time but you see vanishingly few police here. Pedestrians will walk in the street, cross wherever they want, and expect cars to slow and stop to avoid them—and they do. Full-sized 3-wheeled bicycles are still used and ride the wrong way down one-way streets as a matter of course if that’s the fastest or easiest way for the rider to get where they need to go.

Cars turn into traffic, do U-turns on busy streets, you will see small children led by the hand crossing in the middle of heavy traffic—this is not reckless endangerment, this is China. Driving is not at breakneck speeds because the traffic is heavy and the driver must constantly move around obstacles. When a driver honks his horn it is not to say “hey you stupid idiot” but rather “watch out, I’m right behind you.”

The cars one sees are invariably either minivans or sedans, gleaming and new, mostly Toyotas and Kias, but you also see the occasion BWM, Honda, or even Pontiac. Their sparkling appearance are in contrast to the grimy apartment complexes which are all streaked and stained with soot from the local industry.

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While I am here, I stay in a 4-bedroom, company-owned apartment, currently housing myself, two permanent local employees (Jeff and Gino) and another traveler from San Diego, Steve. Each morning at 7:30 AM Steve, myself, and Jeff are picked up by a company vehicle and driven perhaps 3 miles to the local office. We then have a company breakfast with the company managers. The breakfast foods are distinctly different from in the U.S. Sometimes bread but as often not. Eggs in one form or another. Maybe a kind of rice, maybe some noodles. Some dumplings, plain or stuffed with something light. Little or no meat is seen at breakfast. All of the food is on a lazy susan and is in place before we arrive.

The bulk of the workers live in the dorms in a building next to the office, both of which are four-story long rectangles set with pale blue tiles. They have a company-made meal first thing also, but in a separate room. In China, there is a clear separation between management and workers. Workers are given room and board as part of their pay, though as one of the “managers” I have never eaten dinner here, just breakfast and lunch. After lunch (usually consumed between noon and 12:30) all of the workers can head off for their midday nap, not to return until just before 1:30. Steve and I always head back into the office and work ( I have typically taken the time to surf the internet.)

At the end of the day we all go out to dinner, again, typically driven in a company vehicle by a company driver ( it’s a minivan, clean and new) who typically has some western popular music playing. It is a bit disorienting to be driven around Dongguan province past the profusion of Chinese shops emblazoned with dense ideographic scripts listening to Nirvana and Percy Sledge.

When we go out to dinner it is again in a group, most often 6 or 8 or more around a big round table set with more food than a dozen people could safely eat. Last night, I thought the pattern would be broken and it would just be Steve and Jeff and Myself. We went to a Korean restaurant just around the corner from our apartment complex. But several of the female managers came, one brought her husband, two brought their babies ( one a five-month little boy and the other an 18 month old little girl. ) and then our boss (Sin) and the local company manager (Simon) both showed up and we ended up with 11 adults and two children and a table crammed with small dishes of dumplings, vegetables, meats, cups of tea, and small glasses to be filled with beer and which you are required to drain completely when another raises his glass to you and says “kanpai.”

Then perhaps it is off to a foot massage or to the "Hollywood Baby" where Simon has a bottle of Jack Daniels (literally) with his name on it. Last night I was tired so I went home early to try to get some sleep, but Steve and Simon went over to work on their bottle ( it's the third one they have bought since I've been here--but they do share with others).

I have been working with Jeff on the inventory system I am writing for Sin but he is apparently going to be away early next week while Simon and Jeff are away in Hong Kong at a convention. All of the evidence suggests that I will need to stay another week to get everything done.