Shanghai Day 1 & 2

I arrived in Shanghai on Sunday afternoon around 2pm. We quickly learned that "leeches" like to approach consumers on the street and ask if you would like to buy watches, bags, and man other useless things. Most of the items on the list, like rolling wheels that attach to your shoes (thus making them roller blades), have barely any appeal and I fail to see why there is a supply here in China. On any given popular shopping street, a consumer can be attacked by double digit "leeches".

My 1st full day in Shanghai involved a little tour. This included a Temple and a Garden. I was pretty Temple'd out, so I just sorta went with the flow... angrily inside my head.

We walk around a cool looking part of the city that had an old feel, but was obviously built pretty recently. Nonetheless, it was a fun area to be in. In the afternoon, we went to Scientific Atlanta. In this China plant, they manufacture items such as digital TV boxes and other TV/Internet type hardware. Pretty neat to see the people working. Like human machines.
After a day of travel, a handful of us went to get custom fitted suites. Below is the beginning of the mayhem that ensued. I ordered a suite and a sport coat. After a semester in Paris, and a few weeks in Asia, I have totally transformed myself into a respectable person at 1st glance ( I have always been perfect on the inside). This is very important as people make assumptions based on appearances only.
Day 2: We went to Su Zhou (population larger than Chigago), an industrial park for lunch. To read more about it click me. Basically, it's a new community set up with everything. It was a little sureal and looked like a Hollywood set or strip mall dirty jersey. Just like the rest of China that I have seen, there were construction sites all over the place. Jump on the Bubble if you wish, it should not burst for awhile.
We visited Altay and worked through a real time case study. It was an educational experience there. Altay manufactures, among other things, human models for science education (like the below).
One more thing that I must mention, China is a highly driven consumer society. For so long, people have been saying India and China in the same sentance and that is just wrong. India is probably about 10-15 years behing China. Even though India and China are both "emerging" markets, China is developed. Sure you cannot drink the tap water, but the infrastructure is great. Beijing's subway system is far superior to that of Philadelphia's, as in nearly everything else.

Shanghai is a city filled with high end international stores. Basically, if you want to make a splash here, come in with the top notch stuff, not the items for price consious consumers. After all, these consumers can go to buy the knock-offs if they so choose.

Alright, enough for now. If you have gotten this far, thanks for reading. I usually try to make these posts short, and this one did not accomplish that.

Good day.