5 (More) Things China Hasn't Changed In 5 Years

About year ago this blog ran a post called “5 more things China hasn’t changed in 5 years.” Suddenly everything is changing. Economic growth that steers much of the world’s trade and finance will slow to 7% this year from an official 7.3% last year, per an Asian Development Bank forecast. The yuan currency weakened 3.5% in August against the U.S. dollar, a hit to importers. Share prices on the benchmark Shanghai index have dropped almost 2,000 points since a historic peak in June because investors distrust stocks as well as China’s economic pivot from reliance on heavy industry to services and domestic consumption.
But another visit to China in August points to another year of static on some crucial fronts despite popular discussion of epic change. Here are five more things that still haven’t changed in five years:

Dog-eat-doggery

A friend in Guangzhou who I met last month rolled her eyes on her way to meet a prospective partner for her retail business. The partner hadn’t said what she was really onto. Would she help sell, buy a bulk order or just sit over tea and dig up proprietary information for an unseen competitor? You never really know. This tiny vignette is just another story in library compound full of scholarship bribery, hiring based on nepotism and the ubiquitous fear that people are nice to your face so they can use you behind your back. The stories started piling up after the Deng Xiaoping years when it was increasingly OK to pursue personal wealth – for those who knew how to work the competition.

Gmail barely worksIn

China, Google GOOGL +0.00%’s e-mail service with 900 million users worldwide crawls slower than the short hand on a clock, if at all. Most efforts time out. Other offshore Web-based e-mail services come up more promptly, though no websites based overseas zip along as fast as China’s own. Internet veterans in China say smartphone inboxes stand a better chance than PCs of downloading Gmail messages. Google has had access issues in China off and for about 10 years, per my personal records. China doesn’t let on what it censors or filters and Google reports no problems at its end. Some believe the government is blocking Gmail or filtering it so heavily that only a virtual private network guarantees access. A possible cause: Google decided in 2010 to quit censoring search results in China.

“Ren qing wei”

This term for which there’s no perfect English equivalent means the success of any transaction depends on how well your whole being hits it off with the other party, likewise the other party’s innate sense of duty or generosity. These ad hoc relationships stand in for written rules, creating a consistent annoyance for foreign investors who expect consistent collection of fees, fair consideration of applications and timely granting of permits. “Ren qing wei” could mean the difference between paying a hotel deposit or reserving a room with a simple phone call. I’ve had prices lowered on me as a Chinese-speaking foreigner (and kept high because I’m just a foreigner). It helps to have gone to the same high school and all that, but usually anyone who’s patient, respectful and basically nice can taste “ren qing wei.

”Smoking

Chinese hotel rooms may still come with ashtrays, while the smell of second-hand smoke competes with disinfectant in the lobbies and corridors. In higher-end restaurants you may not see white columns billowing off a cigarette at the next table as diners did 10 years ago, but the odor of butts past might haunt your dining chamber. Cigarette shops are easy to find in the cities, starting perhaps from the international airport. A minority of the population understands the risks of smoking, the World Health Organization says. Women are picking up the habit. A pack of smokes in China sells for less than in more developed countries. The WHO estimates 300 million smokers in China. Where’s the change? It’s 50% increase over 1980.

Traffic jams

The light turns green and no one moves. Actually, someone does. It’s a column of traffic, linked grill to bumper so tightly that no one can penetrate, still turning left from when the light was in their favor. They just keep flowing through. Your light turns red again, green again, red again, green again and you can’t move. (When this happened in Guangzhou last month, our city bus driver opened the door to let off anyone who couldn’t take any more.) This traffic pattern doesn’t care whether you’ve got a pushcart or a Mercedes, whether you’ve got all day or got to reach a meeting on time. The pattern has solidified with China’surbanization drive, leading in 2013 to the worst jam in history as city populations grow faster than road systems and people are more intent on getting ahead than following laws.

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