talk 560

I went to Shanghai from 12/26/03 to 1/9/04 after more than fifty-five years. I was in the third grade when the family left. The visit was not planned but by chance. One of my co-workers has arranged for himself and I to become consultants for the city of Haimen ( two hours away from Shanghai by car and ferry) on improving her industrial park. The city will be very accessible from Pudong International Airport when the bridges, tunnels, and freeways are completed.

The first three days were in Haimen. The food was very good. Had many crabs and regional Shanghai/Youngchow cooking. The consulting was not very successful. We visited two of the best performing factories: one makes automotive electrical systems (head lights, tail lights, brake lights, and turn signals). They started out for VW's and now covers most of the domestic made German, Japanese, and American cars. The other factory is even more restricted. They make the sliding blades in the hydraulic clutch in automatic transmissions. The only product is a highly precise blade cut from imported German steel plates, and machined to fairly simple geometry with high precision. They make 50 cents RMP (run-min-pei) per blade. Both owners are happy with their business, and do not want to move into high tech like Suzhou or other cities. Although the trip was uneventful, it does show the government is changing. People do not have to listen to the government, but following their own decisions on making money. Government cannot direct them to do what the country wants. True American social economical forces are present. We do not have to worry PRC will follow Russia's downfall.

The rest of the time was spent in Shanghai and Hongzhong. In Shanghai, I gave a 90 minute talk on aircraft gust response (i.e., the infrequent vibrations passengers feel in flight. Sometimes long falls with stewardess hitting the ceilings) at Fudan University. Fudan ranks number three in the country after Bei Da, Beijinag University, and Tsinghua. They do not have an Aeronautical and Aeronautical Engineering department like the neighboring Jiangtung University. I remembered Chan Win Ming, the second year junior high math teacher went there and studied Aeronautical Engineering. He also bought a K&E slide rule for his classes there. It was not a bad deal for half day's work to get free wine and dine plus hotel for three days. Hongzhong is my hometown, but I never went before. It is growing fast, and West Lake is truly a place worth couple days of visit. We bought Lungjiang green tea up the hill called "Lion's Peaks" with water taken from the well that Emperor Chienlung used. Lunch at Lou-why-lou, and dinner at Gee-wei-kuan. The food preparation is of "national" level. One desert has crab meat steamed inside an orange. The night before returning, we went to Peace Hotel to listen to the live five piece band playing oldies. One thing I noticed is that the songs were all off a little in timing. I can swear they somehow learned from listening to 78 rpm records playing on equipment with the speed off. Most of the people there were tourists. Limies (British) and Krouts (German) were well represented. Returning Chinese Americans with their second generations can be seen as well. I visited the old apartment on Shiaoshing Road too. Although the building is in tact with all the art-deco design. The grounds were totally destroyed by adding new apartments in the front yard, and in the garage area. The whole street becomes a walk street for young people with dim lights, and galleries. People's Press has a nice office building next door to the old apartment. Only workers there can enter. I talked to the guard about being an old neighbor, and he lets me take a peek.

The visit was short for me, and I hope to return soon. There is a saying " A ten year long sleep is but a Youngchow dream" (Say nee yip joy yang joe moom 十年一覺揚州夢). My was more than half order of magnitude to the ten years, and deserves more reporting. I know quite a few other Lighters went to Shanghai before me. Please do write to the web-site about your
experiences. We all like to learn.