Now, a lavender garden in southern China is trying to emulate this unqualified marketing success by holding a competition to recruit two Lavender Angels.

According to the China Daily, the Panlongxia lavender gardens are the largest in South China, covering more than 200,000 square metres. Located in the city of Zhaoqing in Guangdong province, the gardens are looking for two people who want to be ‘gardeners’:

"We will recruit two ladies to be our special gardeners," said Liu Liang, a director of Panlongxia ecology tourism region. "Their titles are ‘lavender angels’."

The lavender garden at Panlongxia in Zhaoqing by denn (License)

Duties Of The Lavender Angels

According to the article, the successful candidates will guide visitors around the gardens and be involved in promotional activities. This will include making promotional videos.

I’d suggest that there’ll also be a fair bit of standing around smiling in hotels and shopping centres, trying to get people to visit the gardens. I’ve done exactly this, in the same city, for schools after students (rather than gardens after visitors).

Remuneration

In remuneration for their duties, each gardener will earn ‘as much as‘ 20,000 yuan per week and will be given accommodation in a 5 star hotel.

Zhaoqing has some nice hotels – I’d think the best are probably closer to 4 stars than 5, but I’m sure the winners will be fairly comfortable.

I’m a little less confident about the salary. 20,000 yuan per week is a huge amount in China. Some of the locals will earn less than 200 yuan per week. The starting rate for foreign English teachers is probably less than 1,500 yuan per week (I’d guess 5,000 or 6,000 per month). Even the top earning foreign teachers are probably on less than 4,000 yuan per week (ie 16,000 per month).

However, it’s not the amount that worries me – there’s plenty of money in China. It’s the ‘as much as‘. Anyone who has worked as a foreign teacher in China knows that what you’re promised and what you’re given is often very different. Even one of Chinese people asked about the competition in the article has doubts:

But I wonder if it is a trick to attract people’s attention to the lavender garden. I think the event will be more convincing if the organizer signs a contract with contestants and winners in advance.

So the winners be warned!

Attractive Angels Only

I’d be quite happy to win this competition. Unfortunately, I can’t because I’m a man. The competition is only open to women. Actually, the competition is only open to women between 18 and 25 and taller than 163 cm. I’m sure there’s an unwritten ‘attractive’ in there as well. Oh wait, it’s not so unwritten:

"The winners should look good, be familiar with environmental protection and be passionate about ecology and lavender," Zeng said.

You see this sort of thing quite often in China. It’s still quite acceptable there to employ women on the basis of their looks. No one cries about women being treated as sex objects – in fact I’ve heard women defend this sort of thing. Everyone values beauty in China.

Second Best Job In The World?

The Lavender Angels competition obviously didn’t work as an international marketing tool.

A search of Google for ‘Panlongxia Zhaoqing lavender garden competition’ only finds a few stories on the competition – the China Daily story above and a couple of other copies of the same story.

Of course the original article was from May and the competition is now over. I had to dig a little harder to find out who actually won the competition: He Zhifei, 22 from Guangdong and Chen Huiyuan, 20 yrs from Henan.

Although the original article mentions that international women were encouraged to apply, I think it’s safe to say that very few international women even heard about it.

Who knows, it may have been a roaring success in China. However, remembering that they were trying to emulate Hamilton Island’s international success, the Panlongxia competition has to go down as an international marketing failure.

Final Thoughts

He Zhifei and Chen Huiyuan will have now started in their roles as Lavender Angels and I wish them success in the role.

I’d like to find out how they are going. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a blog about their experience, but it would be in Chinese, which I’m unable to read (I really have to get my act together and learn chinese!).

Still I’m glad I heard about the Lavender Girls competition – it’s brightened my day somewhat.

If you’re renting an apartment in Beijing and have plans to stay there long term, it’s time to consider buying an apartment instead. If you’re thinking about investing in international real estate, consider Beijing as an option.

This is an interesting topic for me. Although we ended up deciding not to buy an apartment in Beijing, we did set out to buy one back in 2006. We researched the process, visited Beijing real estate agents, looked at apartments etc.

Beijing Property Prices Predicted To Fall

The China Daily reports that the average cost of a Beijing apartment is poised to fall:

The average house price in Beijing will plummet by as much as 20 percent as buyers snap up cut-price homes, according to the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

Prices have been predicted to fall before, without a reduction ever eventuating. However, this time it seems much more likely, due to two factors:

1. The global financial crisis: This has resulted in Beijing’s property market stagnating.
2. The influx of cheap price-limited condos: Although foreigners can’t buy them, their existence will drive down the average property price in Beijing.

Combined, these two factors mean that the price of a Beijing apartment is likely to fall. Predictions are that the housing market will recover by the end of the year, so there’s no time like the present.

Restrictions On Foreigners Buying Real Estate Lifted

The China Daily also reported that restrictions on foreigners buying real estate in Beijing have been lifted throughout 2009. This seems to be directly related to revitalizing the sluggish property market.

The restrictions were introduced in 2007 and were aimed at preventing foreign investors driving up the housing prices in Beijing:

In 2007, the local government issued regulations stipulating only expatriates living in Beijing more than one year and those who could provide details proving they would be the primary inhabitants could buy one house.

This resulted in a dramatic drop in foreign investment purchases:

Foreign purchases accounted for seven to eight percent in all the real estate transaction in Beijing before the regulation took effect. After that, the number dropped to 0.5 percent, he said.

Now, these restrictions have been lifted, meaning that foreigners can buy as many properties as like, without having to live in them. Heaven for investors.

Although the article doesn’t say whether the restrictions will be re-introduced next year, you’d have think that there’s a real possibility of this happening. If so, now really is the time to buy real estate in Beijing.

Reasons Not To Buy Property In Beijing

Although it appears to be a good time to consider buying property in Beijing, there are some things you need to be cautious about:

• Building quality: some of the Chinese buildings I’ve lived in have been of terrible quality, with cracks appearing in walls, leaks springing from the roof, water logged walls, you name it! Whilst most buildings aren’t this bad, there is a nagging doubt in my mind regarding the quality of buildings in China.
• Understanding the process: The process of buying a house in Beijing can be complicated. You’ll have to deal with laws about what can be bought (some properties are reserved for certain demographic groups), paper work, legal agreements etc. It’s probably not much more complex than buying a property anywhere else, but it’s all done in Chinese. You’ll get translations etc, but you’ll have to trust the person translating and you can be guaranteed there’ll be some confusion during the process.

I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons not to buy a Beijing apartment. On the other hand, I know people who have bought apartments and haven’t had (m)any problems. So proceed with caution and do your research!

Final Thoughts

The price of a Beijing apartment has fallen and the restrictions on foreigners buying property in Beijing have been lifted. Cheaper and easier to buy – sounds like now is the time to buy.

Textbook and newspaper publisher Pearson is poised to buy a chain of private schools in Shanghai to tap into the growing demand for English language teaching from increasingly affluent Chinese families.

This is part of a trend of overseas companies buying, or setting up, English schools in China. I’ve seen an increase in the number of Universities moving into China. Their motivation is clear: The money they make from the students attending their school in China is only the tip of the iceberg. The real money is getting the Chinese students to study at their university back home.

It’s an interesting move by Pearson, as they don’t have a university back home to send them too. I’m sure they’ll have a deal lined up with a university, to send students their way. And as the article points out:

Pearson leads the English teaching books market worldwide, claiming half a billion people are learning the language with its Longman materials.

So all the students will have to buy their textbooks! I guess that’s one way to combat piracy: Buy the schools so that they have to buy the genuine article for each student, rather than giving them photocopied versions!

Note to the lawyers out there: I’m not saying that LEC (the chain that Pearson is buying) does this, but I’ve seen it done by other schools. On a similar issue, I wonder what they’ll do when they come across schools with names such as Longmans English School, which are named to capitalise on Pearson’s reputation, but which have nothing to do with the school.

Anyway, what does this mean for foreign teachers?

Well the trend of Western companies moving into China’s English Education sector means rising standards, resulting in:

• harder work for teachers: it won’t be the ‘turn up and talk to the student’ lessons that you can get away with in some schools, it’ll be real work.
• qualifications may be necessary: unqualified teachers won’t be able to just waltz into a job.
• better conditions: as standards rise, so will the pay for qualified teachers.
• better working environment: as teachers become more professional, so will the organisations, resulting in better planning, materials and support.

Of course, I’ve seen western organizations struggle to come to terms with the way things work in China, so I’m sure it will be far from plain sailing, but good luck to Pearson!

I wrote this quite a while ago, but didn’t have time to post it. I’m a little hesitant to post it now, as it doesn’t add much value, but seeing it’s written (and I want to use the header image), I figure I may as well go ahead:

Much has been written about the 5.12 Earthquake in Sichuan and it’s aftermath. There are many stories of heroes and people helping out. I’ve highlighted just a few below.

Teachers Who Became Heroes

There are many stories of heroes and I can’t link to them all, but Teachers’ ultimate sacrifice from the China People’s Daily provides a great roundup.

It carries several stories of teachers who died saving the lives of their students. I’m sure there are many such incidents of bravery.

It also details the stories of other teacher’s efforts to look after students during the aftermath, including that of an Australian teacher called Dane.

Getting Personally Involved

In my previous post on the rise of nationalism in the wake of the earthquake, I mentioned a student who travelled to the quake affected area and volunteered to help.

I’ve read quite a few stories of people, especially students, doing just this. The China People’s Daily carries the story of a young businessman and his friends, who personally delivered food, clothes and medicine to those in the quake affected areas.

This group only stayed three days, but that’s a still big commitment to make. For those volunteers who stay even longer, all I can do is salute the sacrifice they’re making.

Beggars Give Generously

The China People’s Daily also carries a story about a beggar who has been donating money.

“The victims are in a more difficult situation than me; and I would like to help them however I can,” is his standard reply.

The story also mentions a ‘shoe shine woman’ who also donated what little she had, and at the other end of the spectrum, a businessman who donated 150,000 yuan.

Although this article focuses on those stories which make good headlines, there is no doubt that millions of ordinary Chinese people have made donations, along with many others around the world.

A Sichuan Earthquake Movie

In the West, when tragedy strikes, you can be sure that at least a couple of movies will be made about it. It seems China is not so different.

Jackie Chan plans to make a movie about the earthquake. He says:

I want to make the movie about the earthquake because there’s so many touching stories

He also says:

“I want through the movie to show the whole world, I really want to salute the whole army of China, really.”

The increase in nationalism seems to have affected Jackie too. And he’s really put his money where his mouth is:

Chan has donated 1.5 million U.S. dollars to help earthquake victims and vowed to help rebuild schools affected by the disaster.

I’ve always had a lot of time for Jackie and this just reinforces what a great guy he is. It will be interesting to see how the movie turns out. I’ve also heard of a separate project to make a documentary.

Great Pictures

Lastly, I want to link to a great post showing pictures by a wedding photographer in Sichuan, who captured the before and after moments of the earthquake.

Fantastic photos and great presence of mind by the photographer, to keep shooting.

Final Thoughts

I chose a photo of doctors working in the earthquake aftermath as the header image for this post. The medical profession in China has done a lot of great work during this disaster.

There are probably many other people who have given generously of their time or money, or have made other sacrifices. I salute all the heroes who emerged from this tragedy.

One of the major side-effects of the 5.12 Earthquake in China, is that it’s really brought the country together. One article I read, Tragedy brings new mood of unity from the Guardian, really highlights this.

Students Becoming More Patriotic

The article includes the story of Zhang Qiyu, a university student in Beijing, who left her studies to go and help with the earthquake recovery efforts:

Petite, pony-tailed and bespectacled, the 22-year-old swapped her urban dormitory for a tent in the Mianzhu countryside among thousands of the 5 million people made homeless by China’s most devastating natural disaster in more than 30 years.

I’ve seen numerous other stories of students doing the same thing. It’s a selfless act and reflects the increasing nationalism and sense of pride in their country, that is replacing the borderline apathy that many youngsters had before this year.

I say borderline, because the average Chinese university student is still much less apathetic than the average Western student, but compared to previous generations, they tend to be far more involved in material things.

The story goes on to say:

Like many of her generation, Zhang says she is now more patriotic and concerned about China. “I have grown up because so many things have happened,” she says. “I used to look at events and think how they affected me. Now I consider whether they benefit my country.”

This captures the point. Previous generations used to consider the country before themselves, but the current generation had grown to consider themselves first. That’s now changing. One of the hottest items you can buy in China right now seems to be the “I Love China” t-shirts.

The Chinese Government’s Response To The Earthquake

The article also praises the Chinese government’s response, which is great because they often seem to only attract negative comments. There are still some negative stories floating around, especially about building quality, but as the article says:

There is praise for the government among the vast majority of refugees in the quake zone.

On balance, they seem to have done a great job in responding to the earthquake. Certainly, they’ve done better than some Western countries in responding to natural disasters in recent years.

A Bad Year For China Sees Increase In Nationalism

As the article points out, the year so far has been a bad one for China:

Along with the turmoil in Tibet and the Olympic torch protests, the earthquake is part of a triptych of events this year that has taken nationalist sentiment to levels not seen in decades.

Add the terrible snow storms at the beginning of the year, the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak, train crashes and assorted other issues and it certainly does appear to be turning out to be a bad year.

I know some Chinese people who were thinking that China’s bad luck will continue all year, affecting the Olympic Games. However, it now seems that the hardship is being translated into pride in China.

A couple more quotes from the article:

Zhang exemplifies a change that has made China more internally sympathetic and externally assertive.

and:

At the start of the year the law student was mainly concerned with applying to study overseas. But after the Tibet unrest in March she – like millions of other young Chinese – signed up to internet sites that blamed the western media for distorting what happened in Lhasa, projecting China in a negative light

For those people protesting against China about Tibet, I could have told you it wouldn’t help. Rather than the government changing their stance, it’s just resulted in the Chinese people getting behind their government and turning against the world:

“Now I want to go abroad not just to admire the west, but to tell them something,” she says. “Before I wanted to change myself. Now I want to change the way people in other countries think about China.”

So do I. It’s time the West got to know the real China, instead of relying on cliches. Sure, China has problems and issues, but most countries do – and China has many positives which are ignored by the West.

Here’s to rebuilding China’s image.

While this blog was in remission, the tragedy of the 5.12 earthquake in Sichuan occurred. I’d left China only weeks before and listened to the emerging news with horror.

As of 8 June 2008, the death toll stood at 69,134 people. 17,681 people were still missing and 374,061 were injured. The scale of the disaster is hard to take in. It’s hard to comprehend that so many people lost their lives, especially the cruel twist that so many children were amongst the dead.

Yet the pictures I’ve seen on the Internet really drove home the extent of the devastation to me. I haven’t been to that part of China, but I’ve been to other similar areas. Similar cities and villages, with similar landscape and similar buildings. So although it’s hard to comprehend the numbers, I can imagine the scene all too easily.

My heart goes out to the Chinese people, especially those who lost loved ones, were injured, or were involved in the earthquake. My heart also goes out to China itself, which has endured so much hardship this year.

Thankfully, there’s been no epidemic. It’ll take time to stabilize the situation, longer to rebuild, longer still for those involved to come to terms with what happened. My thoughts are with China throughout this period. I’m sure China will emerge stronger than ever.

I have other thoughts on some of the issues around the earthquake, but I’ll leave it at that for now.

Following my recent post on Beijing’s new airport terminal being the biggest building in the world, Beijing has claimed another record: Having more public toilets than any other city in the world.

From the China People’s Daily article:

with 5,174 public toilets, Beijing has already outpaced New York, London and Tokyo in the number of public toilets.

This is according to a municipal government official. There’s no verification of this from other sources, but it’s still pretty impressive.

Of course, some of the public toilets in Beijing leave a lot to be desired, meeting only the most basic criteria of being a toilet. I’ve used some that look something like this:

Image Source: toilettes publiques by crypt K.License

Beijing does have some excellent public toilets that could be from any major Western city – and I’ve seen some pretty dodgy toilets in the West. However, toilets in China often leave something to be desired.

The article does say (emphasis mine):

with more than 5,000 public toilets built and renovated

Hopefully, that means Beijing is trying to improve the standard of public toilets in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics. I’m well adjusted to toilets here, but many Olympic visitors will be in for a surprise, unless there are some improvements.

While searching Flickr for photos of toilets in Beijing, I found some amazing photos that took me back to some of my own experiences. I think I’ll have to write more about toilets in China in a future post!

I recently read about the new Terminal 3 at Beijing International Airport. It sounds mightily impressive. Here are a few quotes from the article:

at the size of 170 soccer fields, qualifies as the world’s biggest building.

It’s the biggest building in the world!

The $US2.7 billion ($A2.9 billion) project will have 17 per cent more floor space than London Heathrow’s five terminals combined

It’ll take a while to walk from one side to the other!

“It’s so big that under a certain amount of light you can’t see one end of the building from the other,” he said.

I’ve been to many airports around the world. The current Beijing terminals (pictured in the post header) aren’t bad, but they aren’t great either. It will be interesting to see how the new terminal shapes up.

Of course there are often teething problems with new terminals, wherever they may be. Also, building quality in China often leaves a lot to be desired. You can expect a future post on this – my apartment is terrible!

However, I suspect they will have done a good job. When the Chinese really put their minds to something, they can come up with amazing results. I’ve visited China’s third biggest furniture shopping complex and it is truly enormous. I’ve never been a building that big anywhere else in the world. The scale is just amazing!

The new terminal is obviously timed to coincide with the Beijing Olympics, so I don’t think anything will be left to chance. I’m sure that by the time the Olympics roll around, the new terminal will be one of the best in the world.

Anyway, I’ll get a chance to experience the new terminal firsthand in a couple of months. I’ll try to remember to report back on it. If anyone else has used it, please share your experience in the comments!

I recently read an amusing news article asking whether Beijing taxi drivers should stop eating garlic and onions during the Beijing Olympic Games.

Here are a couple of choice quotes from the article:

No Shi Xiangpeng, a political consultant from Hong Kong, raised the issue last March, saying one-third of the taxi drivers he had hailed here stank of garlic. I believe Shi’s ratio is right but his concerns are misguided.

and:

The fellow who owned the cab always stressed the importance of having fresh odorizers in the car just to ensure a comfortable trip for customers. But considering the massive chunks of garlic Chinese people like to eat, not even an industrial strength odorizer could do the job.

Although it’s amusing, there are some serious questions underneath:

1. How far should taxi drivers (and Chinese people in general) go to make sure the Olympics are as successful as possible? Do they have to go as far as even changing their eating habits?
2. And what about visitors, especially Westerners – shouldn’t they be expected to be tolerant of things that may seem odd or unpleasant back home?

I’ll write more about tolerance in a future post, but for now I’m interested to know what you think about the first question.