Update – 6/9/10! – All Hail Freegate

After more than a couple months scraping along with proxy sites I’ve managed to get my hands on a professional version of Freegate which performs superbly well in getting you through to Facebook, Twitter, and any other non-adult blocked website from within China. Download the rar file here and hopefully you’ll be surfing Facebook without having to go through loop holes that will leave you with patches of hair missing . If your unfamiliar with Freegate and how to use it take a look at my quick introduction below. Let me know if you have any problems!

Tweeking with Tor

Tor is, for those of you that don’t know: “free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.” you can read up on it at TorProject.org. Basically it anonymizes (that might not be a word >.>) your connections by bouncing them around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world. You can download various packing’s of it here – I’m still playing with it and a simple install / connection to the tor network seems to be blocked by China – never fear I’ll update again when I have something concrete to give you about Tor. It is very promising and I’m sure after I’ve jumped through a few loopholes we’ll have another solid option for breaking through the GFWC .

Enter the Great Firewall of China

It’s the kind of problem you usually run into in the office place or in your university when the powers at will are seeking to keep you focused on productive things like… not giggling at Facebook pictures. Well for those of you that are unfamiliar its an everyday occurrence for all netizens residing within the boards of good mother China. The blockage of Facebook began several months back after an incident in western China where after some folk decided to write some not-so-agreeable / controversial things about the uprising. A similar event took you tube off the list almost a year ago – for those of you that have a decent memory (unlike me) it had to do with events in Tibet at the time. If your unfortunate enough to have a site hosted in China that would dare host such controversial content (anything anti-chinese government will do – take your pic) the troops will simply parade your business and shut you down no questions asked. Being unable to extend the same courtesy to sites outside their borders they’re solution is to block domains containing said content – for the sake of their o so childlike citizens. Whatever would they do if they were held responsible for deciding for themselves what to believe and what not to!?

Knocking holes in the GFWC

So I’ve been asked time and time again – “hey Dave! How the heck are you getting on facebook in China!” “Hey Dave can you show me how to get on facebook?” or the less common “Can you help me get on facebook I’ll do anything *wink wink*” Ok so I’ve never actually been asked that way but hey I can dream right?. Basically these are the ways I’ve employed over the past year or so.

Freegate – Currently Being Blocked

I’ll let wikipedia take the lead on this one:
Freegate is software that enables internet users from mainland China, Iran, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates, among others, to view websites blocked by their governments. The program takes advantage of a range of open proxies, which allow users to penetrate firewalls used to block web sites.[1] Developer Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT) estimates Freegate has 200,000[1] users. The maintainer and CEO of DIT is Bill Xia.

You can download freegate (OLD) from my server if you would like to play around with it yourself. Interestingly enough it was funded by the US Government… let’s not dig too far in that direction. Anyway you’ll see that I’ve noted in the previous title that this method is currently blocked. Several months back I noticed Freegate was intermittently allowing me uninhibited access – my fears were confirmed shortly thereafter by fellow users I’d brought into the know about this o so useful bit of software. For now I wouldn’t keep your hopes up for this being a reliable source to get through to the other side of the wall but it may be worth holding onto once the big heads behind this nugget find out a way to outwit the knuckleheads behind the great wall here. Just an FYI for those of you with more… single handed browsing needs – pornographic sites are blocked by Freegate as well – sad faces all around I know

Update: There are a few pseudo-Freegate’s floating around that are now working in China. FreeU10 and u96f I’ve been using FreeU10 for the past week with no problems – I recommend giving it a try!!

Update 1/18/10 – FreeU10 also is no longer working – I’m going to try paying for Black VPN for a little bit and see how that goes. Getting on Facebook in China for free is becoming more of a dream than a reality to me nowadays .

Black VPN – Partially blocked

Black VPN was beta testing for a while and during that period of time they issued free access logins, as far as I know this period has now ended – making it difficult for me to share this method of enabling my fellow web users to access their beloved facebook. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is essentially having your computer log onto another computer somewhere in the world – that isn’t blocked by China – and then using that machines IP to go about accessing the world wide web. Black VPN is one of several open VPNS *cough* well not so open anymore since free beta testers are no longer being recruited. Here’s a short list of some other free VPN’s you may want to try using to provide you with the same GFWC cracking options:AlonWeb, PacketiX.NET, UltraVPN, CyberGhost, and the slightly less popular AceVPN.com, JAP VPN, andAnchorFree Hotspot VPN. You can read a bit more about these free vpn services on this blog article I found.

UPDATE 1/18/10: BlackVPN is no longer free however if you would like to tried their paid service (which I recommend) using this code will give you two extra months for free: QCYVZMB. I believe the fee is 5 Euros for one server or 13 if you would like access to all 3.

Four your reference here’s the procedure for signing up for Black VPN.

1. Navigate to Black VPN.com and fill out the form as listed in the first picture below (with your own info of course) the Invite Code in the picture will not work as it was discontinued. Hope you can find a new one and share it here if you do!!
2. You’ll then receive your log in information that I would recommend you copy&paste to a notepad or word file as you like (see 2nd image below – actually the logon listed should work as long as no one else in the world is using it!)
3. Lastly you’ll need to add a new VPN connection to your computer – the instructions are linked conveniently on the blackvpn website

Image 1

Image 2

I marked this method off as partially blocked because the only server offered by black vpn that has been working lately has been the one located in the Netherlands. I wouldn’t mind much but getting Google results in Dutch does tend to turn my smile upside down after several searches. It constantly reminds me of how aggravating IP sensoring location specific auto language selecting sites tend to make me – I think the world is ready for drop down menu’s to select your language of choice on multilingual sites don’t you? Is it so much to ask for that to be standard? Anyway if you do manage to get one of these Free VPN’s set up correctly you should be readily able to access Facebook and Twitter and Youtube and anything else that is getting moderated by China.

UPDATE 1/18/10 – this path for signing up is no longer valid as Black VPN is no longer free – you’ll have to follow their order flow from their homepage in order to obtain a username and password which you’ll get in an adobe document attached to your follow up e-mail after you process payment through paypal. Again if your signing up use this code to get a couple months free: QCYVZMB

Proxy Servers – Mild degree of maintenance – a little more technical

A step up from proxy sites this tends to be a little bit more technical than simply logging onto a proxy site and browsing through their search bar. I use Foxyproxy with Mozilla Firefox when I dabble with this option. This option requires you to surf the web for free proxy servers (Thanks Google) and copy their IP’s and ports to the proxy handler on your computer. That would typically be your browser in most cases. [Internet Explorer >> Tools >> Internet Options >> Connections] in the case of Internet Explorer. [Tools >> Options >> Advanced >> Connections >> Settings] for Mozilla Firefox. If you don’t already know how to configure your connection in your browser I would suggest finding a nerdier person around you to help you out a bit. If your a little more geeky like me I would heartily suggest picking up FoxyProxy and configuring it to your liking with proxies of your choice. The browser add-on lets you select when to use certain proxies for certain sites allowing you to optimize connection speed while also easily being able to access forbidden sites without having to manually switch proxies when you navigate to them. One way or another setting up a Proxy server correctly on your system should grant you access to Facebook in China.

Proxy Sites – High Maintenance but always a faithful if not tiresome last resort

I won’t bore you with going into any great detail about the various options out there for free VPN sites offering you freedom to surf the web. Basically the idea is very similar to VPN servers. You log onto a site and you are thereafter allowed to use that sites IP to surf the web. You can do a simple search on Google to find a sleu of Proxy site options. The biggest problem with these, hence the labeling of high maintenance, is the fact that they are always being blocked so there is a constant stream of new ones produced daily. There is also the considerable risk that your running your data through a medium that may not be trustworthy. Careful when logging into your banking and other personal/sensitive information carrying sites – more often than not your in the clear but when you do get taken advantage of it’s a nightmare. I would even be slightly concerned with accessing Facebook through these – I’ve been hereing of more and more hacking occurrences. It’s 2nd on the internet in terms of traffic as ranked by Alexa so I suppose we should expect as much

That’s all Folks!

Those are the primary channels I’ve used to access Facebook whilst in China. There are more involved ways such as having a remote system in a unmoderated part of the world enabled to accept remote control from your terminal in China. For example having a box in the US that allowed your computer in China to log onto it and use run it remotely. That’s kinda neat the first time you do it but the lag time can become an issue depending on distance and system configurations. More advanced techniques are out there I’m sure but I’m not one to talk about those. Unfortunately like many in my position I’m a jack of all trades – master of none. I’ll look to you geekier folks for guidance beyond these simpler methods

$ $ $ $

I’ve been stuck in Hong Kong since Wednesday last week and I’ve come to realize just how relatively expensive everything is! Now that I’m accustomed to Chinese pricing I can no longer look at everything relative to the dollar. A pork bun for $6HKD – that’s 5.6RMB – bloody expensive! I could get that for half the price in Shenzhen! WTF! Then I think back to when I first came to Hong Kong so long ago. My mind was incapable of thinking in any currency but US dollars. Everything became priced against what I would pay for the same product or service in the US. Fake goods were dirt cheap – now I see them as expensive dirt. If I want real dirt cheap prices I need to hit the marketplaces around China.

I guess at the end of the day I consider it a good thing – I’ve learned more about the true cost of a product and/or service as I’ve learned more about business. I’ve learned about the influences of price and the driving factors contributing to consumer assessment of value in the marketplace. It allows me to keep my head from popping off when I’m asked to pay $18HKD for a bottle of water at Starbucks that I could easily obtain one store front over for a fraction of the price. Then again 7-11 is more expensive here too – nearly twice as expensive on some items as in China…. Bloody Italian Sparkling water…

Anyway at the end of the day I’ve spend somewhere in the neighborhood of three times my daily/rate of expenditure in China whilst in Hong Kong. That’s ok though – it’s not like I was saving my savings to buy anything special like birthday gifts for my family or anything *shrug & sigh*

My passport was lost/stolen in Hong Kong this past Wednesday.

- Here’s how I fixed the problem the next day -

7:50 – up – check e-mail – say goodbye to my guma – out the door down central escalator to HK/Central station MTR – Commute to Mongkok – sooo many people. Exit station, reverse direction, right around the next corner – enter HSBC Mong Kong Branch. Ask receptionist about passport – check rooms used yesterday – inquire with a few departments – leave number for receptionist to contact me with after she finishes asking other departments. Return to MTR proceed back to Central Station. – Exit J₅ towards peak tram – up hill to US consulate – bag double checked – cell phones left in consulate custody. Proceed to 3rd floor – received 2 forms to fill out after a 5 minute exchange @ window #1. Fill out forms and wait ~30 minutes. 10 minutes of talking later decide to get temporary passport and apply for full 10-yr in Guangzhou. Friendly onlooking sympathizer advises me on how to manage this situation – thanks dude . Proceed to pay cashier – confirm payment is extracted from a US location with cashier and use US CC to pay bill.

Leave consulate to obtain photos across the street. 40HKD and 10 minutes later return to consulate. Submit photos and receipt of payment to window #1 on 3rd floor after double recheck of bag, rebsubmission of cell phones, and thorough metal wand scan (forgot to unpocket my keys… oops). Wait another 15-30 minutes. Proceeed to counter 5 to get verbally sworn in for statements made in new passport application. Return to sit for another 20 minutes. Called to counter 2 to obtain temporary passport. Verified information and signed passport. Exited consulate. Powered on phones. Time check 11:50.

Construction outside consulate makes phone calls impossible – moved down hill one intersection. Migrated Patrick (visa guys) HK number from China phone to HK phone – called Patrick. Patrick instructs me to proceed to immigration tower in Wan Chai to obtain sticker in passport verifying my date of entry into HK. Also needed to give passport to Patrick by 1:00 to make deadline for expediated visa service in order to receive the visa by the next day. Proceeded to run to MTR station. On train called Viola to inform of status + text message Mike + Dad about current status. Run from train to nearest exit sign – locate exit A₅ as immigration tower exit – proceed to exit. Stop @ escalator to confirm building location on map. Continue up escalator and over footbridge at ‘people traffic’ limited speed. @Information board in immigration tower noted 2nd level for inquiries. Ran to 2nd floor. Proceeded through inquiry line. Counterman instructed me to proceed to the 5th floor to process my request.

Ran to 5th floor – receptionist informs of need to fill out 3 forms + copy of passport. Express dismay. “I just need a stamp! are you sure all these forms are necessary?” A few minutes later receptionist confirms necessity after conferring with counter-mate. Inquire where to get copies. Informed of location on opposite side of the room. Jog to copier – sign declares “lunch break – please use the machine on the 3rd floor” .. ugh. Off duty personnel inform me the 6th floor copier is also available. Run to 6th floor and copy passport + memo of police report. Fill out forms at breakneck speed on windowsill behind row of chattering phillipenas – “why is everyone in the building phillipeno?” – Return to 5th floor receptionist and call Patrick as I hand in the paperwork. Receptionist elastic bands my forms (minus detachments) + passport and hands me a number along with the detachments. Patrick asks me how long – I ask the receptionist – 1 hour – Time check 12:30 – Cantonese chatter on Patrick’s end. He tells me he can meet me @ the immigration tower in about an hour.

Move from receptionist counter to side-counter to call my uncle and ask about sleeping arrangements that evening – Negative – aunt has friend coming over – 2 people would be a problem. Call Viola to call off special delivery. Call dad to inform of progress – no answer – call Mike – inform + request a forwarding of my message to him should my father call him. Called Patrick again to confirm date possible to receive passport back with visa. Changed meeting time @ immigration tower for 2pm. Proceed out of immigration tower for food + internet. Spot Pacific Coffee, Starbucks, + another coffee shop below footbridge… internet… but food’s expensive… on staircase down from footbridge spot a delifrance – food! Select food + combo upgrade to iced lemon tee +$4HKD as opposed to $20HKD separately (woohoo)

Unload pockets on tray upon sitting. Change battery on China phone and consolidate pocket clutterinto change pouch. Tuna melt arrives – consumed w/tea with haste. Receive call from father – informed him of status. Moved two shops over to Pacific Coffee – purchased $18HKD sparkling Italian (bla bla whatever) water. Used internet for ~10 minutes – replied to critical e-mails – received another call from Jimmy (patrick’s coworker) – returned to immigration building 5th floor – verified @ counter that I still needed to wait. Time check 1:30 “hmmmm.. she informed me when handing it in that it would take an hour…”. 2:00pm – Jimmy arrives for pick up – informs me of 3:00 pm cut-off & price $1700HKD (WHAT!!) – Call father to inquire with Patrick about the pricing situation. Receive call back from father “the price is the price unfortunately..” I again inquired at reception desk – informed them of need of passport by 3:00 in order to get my visa for the next day. Go with Jimmy to get pictures for my visa application on the 4th floor. Returned ~2:20 again inquired at reception. Immigration officer personally comes to counter to ensure me he’s working on my case. Called Patrick to ask about pricing of non-expediated visa service + delivery date – $1200HKD/Wed.

Jimmy let’s me know if we don’t have the passport back by 2:45 there isn’t any way we can get expediated service in until tomorrow – meaning no visa until Tuesday of next week. Decided to used normal service if we don’t have my visa in hand by 2:45. ~2:39 tell Jimmy not to worry we’ll just do normal service. agree to meet him later to give him the passport @ his office in Jordan. 3:20 name is finally called – verify officers findings + receive instructions to proceed to pay a fee of $165HKD – should be a 10 minute wait. Call/text to re-initiate special delivery. Mike – to gather clothes, Viola to meet at our office to pick up, Sophie to deliver computer to office + call university to ensure I can get my money back on Wed. (that’s another story).

3:50 – name is called at payment counter – pay bill + receive passport. Message Mike/Dad/Viola of progress on way back to MTR – Subway to Jordan – locate Jimmy/Patrick’s office on weelong street after 2-3 phone calls to their office. Drop off passport and collect receipt + gather information from them on cheap local hotel in TST. Call hotel to inquire about rate – $350HKD. Field phone calls and texts from Dad/Mike/Viola. MTR to TST – locate hotel and inquire about rate + internet availability again. Time Check 5:10.

Aftermath and Conclusions

Don’t lose, or let anyone steal (pragmatically speaking) your passport abroad!

I was happy to find out the process at the consulate was pretty efficient if not cumbersome. After checking into the hotel for the evening I managed to passout for a few hours waiting for Viola’s arrival that evening. O, what i was referring to by “special delivery” was a bag full of toiletries, clothes, and a computer I coordinated via phone while bouncing around HK. I considered it “special” because it was being delivered on short notice as an act of kindness by Viola. It was the day before my birthday – still – I was very thankful for the assistance I received in putting everything together and delivering the “package”.

Now wait just a minute – I’m not going to go off on some kind of ignorant man-rant. This entry is simply a reiteration of a warning I hear over and over again about Chinese girls from those I care about in my life and what I believe we should take away from them.

For anyone that’s had the privilege and position to be a westerner in China exposed to younger Chinese women in this day and age you will know the allure. It’s almost too easy for us to attract attention and affection with minimal effort. Satisfying needs requiring the opposite sex become all to easy. It truly will spoil you. However dealing with this situation with the tools your mother culture has equipped you with can leave you in some very sticky situations. Here are some of the guidelines I’ve learned – in the form of the voices that delivered them to me:

Don’t let a girl live with you..

Unless of course you have the intention of marrying her and having babies and buying her all the things she wants + her parents and extended family need.
I find the meaning in this step forward in a relationship usually extends deeper for Chinese women than western women. Moving in together is essentially step A in the sequence of steps necessary to obtain marriage. Take care – don’t make this move unless you basically want to spend the rest of your life with this woman – or want to pay hell to get out of it.
As for the parents/extended family aspect. I’m not saying that all Chinese girls are created equal and that their entering into your lives in any long term fashion will automatically involve her parents and extended family. However it would be wise to consider this influence on their lives. I have yet to meet a Chinese girl who doesn’t have parents that are upset with her for being unmarried after her early 20’s. I also have yet to meet a Chinese girl who doesn’t feel strongly that she needs to care for her parents in a “hands-on” fashion until the day they die.

Be Careful with your financial data..

This is a lesson I’m still too naive to enforce full strength. I don’t believe that the majority of Chinese women are gold-diggers. On the contrary most of the women I’ve spent any time with have been quite the opposite (as far as i can gather). However, we’re talking influence here not absolutes. Consider the fact that, historically speaking, Chinese women have been socialized to find a good provider (rich dude) and latch onto him for the benefit of her family. Even those women that are doing their best to fight this influence will be hard pressed to ignore the allure of a man candidly revealing the multitudes of his wealth. Strong social forces are at play – keep your bankbook to yourself and don’t drive her around in your Lambo to see all your property in the area – again unless your looking for a permanent situation.

Generally Speaking..

Just like most of my cultural learnings in China – you need to be respectful and accepting of the ways of the Chinese – women’s right’s, cultural influence, social position, perspective, and belief system’s are no exception. If your interested in making an impression on them and adjusting their expectations – you’ll first need to be prepared to do some accepting of your own. Blunt force will not help you achieve any meaningful goal with a beneficial end. Adopt the perspective of a respectful student and teacher – push gently and firmly when you find you have an appropriate amount of social capitol – listen carefully and thoroughly when she voices her own perspective and understanding of things. Be ready to adapt just as you would expect her to if turns out it makes sense to do so.

Life’s tough, I’ve learned a lot the past year and I thought I’d take a moment to record and review a few of the bigger lessons I’ve learned recently.

Perspective: Opportunity or Threat

I’m particularly proud of this one. For most of my life I’ve dealt with life as a threat to my existence. I engaged it only when it was absolutely necessary and saw it only as a threat to my happiness and self-esteem. I understand a lot of why that was but before now it was difficult to find a way to change that. What I’ve slowly discovered in my experiences here in business and personally is that each moment you have, each day is an opportunity. An opportunity to grow, to be more, to learn, to fight for what you want. That is kind of a big thing for me. I can’t pin it down to one experience or another but it’s a lesson I’ve found in time – and one of the ones I”m most grateful for.

Shut Up

Behold the value of silence. I used to be – well I still am when I have the energy – an understanding and patient person even when people were wasting my time with useless words. I’ve come to realize the value of my time and that if I aim to be successful at what I do I need to capitalize on every moment I have by spending it listening to things and people that matter not accommodating those that add nothing to my life and business. I usually won’t go so far as to tell someone their wasting my time that is in tune with the next lesson.

If you don’t have anything nice to say…

It’s tough in a world where everything seems to go wrong and no matter how hard you try you can’t get the pieces together again just how you like them. It’s tough to be positive and to realize that there really is no benefit to anyone (primarily yourself) to wasting your breath speaking poorly of anyone or anything. Even when they/it are/is deserving of it. Now don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of constructive criticism and putting people in the their place when they do something wrong – I’m talking more about those of us that “vent” to others about the lackings or shortcomings of others and situations. Not only are you doing yourself no favors in terms of the relationship with the fellow your complaining about but your wasting mind power. Mind power that could be used to think about how to solve problems and make yourself a more valuable person to your customers and your friends. Complaining for the sake of personal release is a waste of time. Find something more constructive to do with your energy and stop wasting your friends time with complaints.

Cover your @$$

There’s no space in the world I live in for ambiguity and naive trust. I live in a world bound together by rules based on non-trust. Some Chinese would sell-out their own mother for a profit when large sums of money are involved. In a way I’m thankful because getting burned when I’m small teaches me how to position myself correctly so I don’t get into real trouble when I’m bigger. So my proposals are longer and wordier, my negotiations harder and less accomodating, and my results will be that much more secured. Though they may complain and some will go a different direction, in the end those customers smart enough to realize the value I’m giving them are thankful for it – the customer is always right but that doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes. O and… if you don’t trust them with your baby don’t enter into a JV with a Chinese person – trust me on this one.

The Power of Guan Xi

This is another big one. I’m very thankful to China for teaching me the value of a relationship in business. I suppose it makes sense in a land where everyone is more than happy to cheat you out of anything they can trust means everything. Traditional marketing methods are far less effective in this country. It’s who you know, word of mouth is king, and if you have a strong relationship no one can steal your customer – they will fight to keep you. What does that mean for me? Now when I approach new professional relationships even if I can see an immediate opportunity between us I don’t talk business. I take an active interest in who they are as a person and get to know what matters to them as a human being. I approach business partners like I would an intimate relationship with care and genuine concern. Sounds a lot like what you read in all those good sales books doesn’t it . Friendship first, business 2nd. Don’t laugh it’s really the best way to guarantee success here and I would argue everywhere.

It’s a developing trend I’ve been noticing in my communication with others, and my preference for communications from others. Is what your saying useful? If it’s not why are you bothering to say it in the first place. If what you say serves absolutely no purpose that either you nor the intended listener can immediately discern why are you bothering to open your mouth in the first place. I call this type of talk and communication (phone, e-mail, chat, instant messaging, etc.) noise. More and more I notice that when i get fatigued my tolerance wanes quickly for this type of useless chatter.

China, in my experience, is notoriously aggravating when it comes to noise. So many times I ask a simple question that can be answered in one or two sentences and in return I have to comb through two to three paragraphs of fluff to get to the meat of the matter. The language barrier is helpful when it comes to talking to some Chinese through mediums such as e-mail but if I dare approach them with my Chinese that is a horse of a different color indeed.

It’s funny because I used to be and still occasionally am a noise-maker. As I’ve gotten busier and my perspective on life has adapted in this new environment I’ve learned the uselessness of some of the things I used to bother talking about. There simply is not enough time or energy to go around to waste blabbing about things people don’t want to hear about. If I ask you how much your product is – just tell me how much the goddamn thing is. I don’t want to hear about minute details of your products quality, that your family has owned this shop for generations – that the shop down the street underselling you by 10-15% is no good. I don’t care if you think my Chinese is good or that you think it looks good on me. Shut up – just tell me what I need to know!!!

Ah that reminds me of another thing that really gets me going. I love Chinese people you can ask anyone that I know on a first name basis – but one bad habit that tends to push my buttons is their avoidance of saying “I don’t know” when they don’t have the slightest clue what your talking about, looking for, asking about, etc. You don’t know how many times I’ve walked in 3 or 4 different directions only to find out when I asked the next person that my destination was nowhere near where I was walking. I literally need to stress 2 or 3 times + “are you sure” to figure out if they actually know what they are talking about. I have to soften them up to the idea of saying “I’m sorry I don’t know.” I understand some of the why behind the habit – but my soft skill capacities are better spend on profitable endeavors… I guess its difficult to realize that by telling me false information due to inexperience is actually more aggravating and makes you look like a bigger asshole than telling me you have no idea. Maybe I’ll make a T-shirt about it – write it both in Chinese and English.

Anyway back to my Noise rant. I think this is a lesson that can be applied liberally pretty much everywhere. Get to the point – order your sentences to reflect their relative importance and keep all the useless fluff to yourself. Maybe I’m too hard – thinking too much like a company man than an accommodating human being, but really, who has enough time in life to examine the minute details and nuances behind every interaction and exchange of information. I think like a businessman. My time is precious and my mind is already full of other shit I have to deal with and when I take the time to ask you a question I am looking for the answer to the question so I can solve that problem and move onto the next. If you want to be successful you need to be useful – not loud, not overly informative, not well-spoken, nor attractive, not even accommodating and filled to the brim with soft skills – first and formost you need to be USEFUL. Nurture the mindset of solving people’s problems and you’ll have a lot less trouble getting ahead in life.

Anyway I need to get back to pumping out this worksheet for my Chinese corners this afternoon. Hopefully I’ll have enough time to eat properly – that way I can take the inevitable noise-storm of bs I’m going to run into as soon as I step outside in stride. -end rant-

I’ve been telling people my head popped off earlier last week and I’ve been kicking it around ever since trying to keep everything in order. Here’s a taste of what the fixed portion of my schedule looks like:

Aside from this schedule I also need to prepare materials for the Chinese and HTML classes I teach as well as do a good deal of online marketing work for the Volleyball and Chinese Corner event’s I run. Of course this doesn’t include my nightlife activities which usually occupy me at least twice every weekend.

I’ve been trying my best to break up my week and responsibilities in a manageable fashion but boy let me tell you, it’s a bit of an intimidating task. I guess it’s worth it though, I’m young I’m supposed to run around like a crazy person trying to make the right connections, put things together, and suck up as much as I possibly can on the way. I’ve been thinking to restructure my commitment to Topnotch Partners as I don’t think I’m going to have sufficient time to develop myself in that direction while I’m taking classes. I guess my thought was simply place “learning Chinese” as my commitment to the company. It is after all a critical skill to have in order to successfully expand our business here and maintain the relationship with our current portfolio of suppliers. I wonder if my Dad will buy into that .

I guess everything considered what I’m putting myself through isn’t in any way, shape, or form uncommon here. Long hours, poor sleeping/eating habits, obsession with making money, allowing myself too much ethical leeway… hehe. I wonder sometimes about what we do to ourselves – being here you get to take a glimpse back into the past of developed countries. Everything’s moving, looking in one direction with the majority of people disconcerned with some of the big problems they create in their ignorance. Can the world afford populating a nation of 1.4 billion with automobiles and all those wasteful trinkets we developed country folk can’t bear to live without.

I’ve been thinking as I’ve been encountering more and more customers in the market for SEO work in China. The voice of the customer can be summed up in a short sentance “I want it to look this way!” Why is that a problem you might ask? Well I’m not in the business of web design – I’m in the business of online marketing. Not to say that a flashy user interface and eye-catching graphics and imagery are going to harm the impression on your customers.. but your not going to have any eyeballs on your site if it’s not properly marketed. It’s much like having an attractive storefront without any windows for people to see your work through. The Chinese seo marketplace seems, to say the least, underdeveloped.

People don’t care about marketing aspects of their site, actually it’s worse – they are completely unaware that aspect of site development even exists. Educating a customer to a place where they are comfortable enough to sign a contract for that service takes quite a bit of time. *Cute the light bulb!* Why not create an informative site, commodified for this market that isn’t selling anything. A site designed to bring in people who have a website or who are interested in one that know very little to nothing about the wonderful world of websites. A site to build GuanXi and network amongst the reputable sites and key figures in the local SEO industry. Not selling something directly on the site would be a huge differentiator.. however monetizing that arrangement is something I need to consider more fully.

There is also the issue of very similar to “scope creep” in the programming world which seems to be effecting some of our web design projects. Communication is key and that is obviously something that always needs to be worked on when we’re dealing with people who speak English as a 2nd language or worse yet those that we have to speak to through a translator. We try, but there always ends up being miscommunication that results in us having to do more work. Manage Expectations I always say. We’ll have to keep working on the clarity of our work proposals. We also need to properly advise when we run into ambiguity and idealists. Many are looking so far down range they can’t see what they need to focus on now to get to where they want to go later. It’s all our responsibility, a challenge, something I dread and look forward to everyday – there’s money to be made if we can get our formula right.

Every day I feel a little less motivated to do this

China is crazy. That just about sums it up. I’ve been running several events in the Nanshan area this past month including Volleyball, a Chinese language corner, and a weekly social event. This past Sunday I learned one of my participants was late because his bus broke down. Nothing unusual about that right? Wrong! One need only ask what do you mean by ‘broke down’? Turns out the buses audio system had some wires crossed and was blaring a high pitched sound regardless of what volume the driver set it to. He was actually covering his ear with one hand while driving the bus. Everyone on the bus was holding their ears. Every red light the driver turned the bus off to ease the suffering momentarily but he eventually dumped everyone on the bus off in the middle of the street to fend for themselves.

Today, another glorious Monday was more of the same, it’s funny now there doesn’t seem anything wrong with carelessly bumping into people, spitting, getting scraped in the head by an umbrella arm end, watching a little girl drop a deuce onto a crushed plastic bottle, or seeing children cheerfully run around with no bottoms on. I remember last week when I finally managed to get a bank account set up in HK I managed to receive several disapproving gauks and scoffs when I bumped into people or accidently did something “uncivilized.” I thought it was hillarious – I guess I’m turning Chinese.

Then again I do get angry because some people can’t figure out how to use my toilet… and worse yet not having the common sense to clean it up afterwards. The shower is right there, you just need to turn it on and rinse the mess away – is it so difficult? Then again I must admit I’ve never seen some of the “accidental” spillage I’ve seen here before… how do they do it?? Perhaps I should post a sign on my door, “if you use it, leave it cleaner than you found it” Probably wouldn’t change anything but I’d feel a little better.

Gotta run for now but I’ll be sure to post Mondays and Thursdays moving forward – sorry for the 3 weeks of silence!!

A. 1x Chinese Immigration Departure & Arrival Card (slightly less convenient)
B. 1x Hong Kong Immigration Arrival & Departure Card (small & convenient)
C. 2x Shenzhen – Hong Kong Entry/Exit (aggrevatingly inconvenient and useless)

I usually fill these forms out beforehand as it can be quite a pain to do it while standing in line or running from bus to boarder to bus. I usually go through Huang Gang boarder (there are several ways to travel from SZ to HK you can see a thorough list of them here) The process is pretty straight forward, if not a little cumbersome, you first pass through the immigration at the Chinese boarder (leave china) – hop on the bus that takes you about 1/2 a mile to the entry station into HK (enter HK) – after your through there you get back on the bus which takes you to your final destination in HK. Rinse, Reverse, and Repeat for the return trip. You buy your bus ticket after passing through the Chinese border (you can buy 2 way tickets at a discount – tickets range in price from 35-55HKD one way & 50-85HKD two way)

Anyway, now that the logistics have been handled lets examine what I’m actually interested in sharing. Though I’ve gotten used to it more or less there is one phenomenon that seems to pervade no matter how meticulously I try to avoid it… the loud Cantonese cell phone user. You see once you get through the boarder hubbub you get to enjoy a nice 40min+ bus ride into HK wherein you would think you could take a quick nap or at least relax quietly by yourself. This is what happens – no matter where you sit he who knows not how to control the volume of his voice sits behind you. He then proceeds to receive or initiate a phone conversation a few minutes after departure that does not end until just before you arrive if not afterwards. Perhaps you think I’m being to sensitive or complaining unnecessarily… consider this – I covered my ears with my earlobs and shoved my fingers down my ear canal and I could still clearly make out every phenome these guys say. My pulse and his conversation as clear as a bell. I guess thats one vote for me against the Cantonese .