Week at its end, again, finally!

"I thought I'd seen hell
Thought I knew it all
Now I know too well
Hell is to wake up"
- Pain of Salvation, 'Reconciliation'

Hell is to wake up. Yeah, I know. It's a hard and cold reality of the world, waking up sucks. Luckily weekend's just around the corner so I get to practice some sleeping again. Long nights, long sleep.

On Sunday morning my sister and brother will leave HK. It's been a fun two weeks having them here. Of course, like I mentioned in my previous post, past 6 weeks have disrupted my normal routines quite a lot and I'm glad to get back to my normal life. However, having guests is fun. It gives a good excuse to act like a tourist too and go see sights, go to shopping areas I normally wouldn't go, and do all the other things tourists would do.

Jolly, jolly!

One thing I have to mention is the local coffee shops. Forget Starbucks or Pacific Coffee, the HK-style places are nothing like them. While western style cafe's are quite silent, civilized and for a nice cup of coffee from a vast selection of high-grade beans, HK-style cafe's seem to only concentrate maybe 5% on serving actual coffee. HK-style cafe is a place to hang out with friends and have fun. They are a lot louder, a lot shadier, a lot more like a house-party with a bar.

The menu usually contains a vast selection of drinks (not just coffee but all sorts of stuff) and foods (not just snacks or bakery products but also proper meals). And the menu has a maximum of one word in English which is found on the cover, saying "Menu".

And they are full of local Hong Kong people, not Gweilos or tourists - nor have I ever even seen a person of other minority (Indians, Philippinos, etc).

Yet, I've been going to a lot of these places with Chi, and it's always an interesting experience. The way things are done locally is always fun to observe. I've touched upon the topic of being the only gweilo in some places and most of that stuff applies here as well. You attract attention like a Lada in Hong Kong Central. I don't know what to make of it really but I'm sure it's all in good humor, not hostile attention. People are merely surprised to see a gweilo in a place they usually avoid. And I would definitely not be there was it not for Chi, who has turned out to be my guide to the Hong Kong style way-of-life.

What makes it especially fun is that I'm obviously a topic for discussion. It's really weird, really, and I hope I will learn Cantonese language fast enough so I will understand what kind of crap they are talking about me. If it's anything like what we talk about the locals here (in Finnish), I'd be more than happy to follow any of the conversations.

Person A: 他係白痴鬼佬...
Person B: 係係係係係!!
Person A: Lol.

Something like that.

Anyway, I enjoy that kind of places. Makes life in HK so much more interesting. Seeing the way local people (especially young people) spend their time after school/work, how they have fun with all sorts of games, and just generally seeing the kind of places they like going to.

One of the key objectives when I moved to Hong Kong was to find where the locals go. Tourist guides only show places for tourists and gweilo's and since I didn't want that, I couldn't really get anywhere. Even the bars we've found that have less gweilo's still remain western-style bars. The local bars are quite different (as we found out at that one birthday party earlier) and so are the cafe's.

That's all about them for now. Live it, love it!

Now, a short rant about anti-China attitudes in western media.

I'm not trying to be pro-China here. I know there are a lot of things wrong in China and to deny any of it would just be foolish. But lately I've been paying attention on a few annoying things in Western media (Finnish big newspapers like Helsingin Sanomat and Aamulehti).

There has been two big news topics concerning toy companies withdrawing products from stores due to hazardous materials or other production faults. Other similar articles come all the time. Every time Chinese manufacturers are involved, the media never fails to mention how the problems originate from China, and how China has 'this and this' conditions poorly managed. It is China's fault the products are faulty. That is the picture conveyed from the articles.

Today I read about contaminated guarkum in European foods, I read about faulty wiring in Peogeot's cars but no fingers are pointed, except companies taking responsibility. So, unless the faulty product comes from China, country of origin not important.

Kiinalaisissa lastenkoruissa huimia määriä lyijyä (19.8.)
Kiinalaisvaatteista löytyi suuria myrkkypitoisuuksia (19.8.)
Kiinalaisten sekundatuotteiden turvallisuus huolestuttaa länsimaissa (3.8.)

("Chinese children's jewelry contains high amounts of lead", "Clothes made in China contain high amounts of toxins", "Safety of second-grade products from China raising concern in western nations")

That's just a few of the recent ones.

A short story for reference:
A merchant in the 1800's goes to China and buys stuff from there. He then takes them to Europe and sells them at a huge profit. Turns out the products he bought are crap and he gets an angry mob at his doorstep demanding compensation. His excuse: "It's Chinese crap, I'm not responsible - it's China's fault!!".

No, it doesn't work like that.

If you import stuff from another country it's the responsibility of the importer to make sure the products are high enough quality. You can't go to China, buy cheap stuff and then blame China for making cheap crap. You asked them to do it! Maybe you didn't say it straight, but get what you order, and if you want cheap crap you get cheap crap. Don't go blaming it on the Chinese if you're a greedy ass-hole.

No, once the products leave China, it's the responsibility of the importer. The importer has approved the products and is liable if they are faulty. If it wasn't for greedy companies in the West, we wouldn't have so many 'dangerous CHINESE products' in western markets.

Concerning the Mattel case especially I found that is was easily left out of the article that China manufactures more than 80% of whole world's toys. Reflecting the amount of faulty products to the total number of products made, it's still a rather marginal thing. Why is China blamed if Mattel failed to checked their products properly?..

Oh, and I'm not saying Mattel blamed China or the Chinese company. Actually they handled the situation very professionally and discreetly. However, somehow the media saw important to emphasize the country of origin.

I was in Finland during Christmas last year. I saw a small Chinese style wooden statue of a lion. I checked the price-tag and it cost € 35. In Hong Kong, I can buy the same thing (and I'm not lying: I've seen the actual same kind of wooden statue here in a number of souvenir shops) with HKD 10, which is about € 1.

How does the price of the product increase 350% during transportation? In fact, I'm sure the bulk price for purchasing these statues is a lot less than that HKD 10 so the price increase is even bigger - perhaps 400% is more accurate.

Well, someone is making a nice buck.

Anyway... that's about that. I've had my say.

Blackadder: It is said, Percy, that the civilized man seeks out good and intelligent company so that by learned discourse he may rise above the savage and closer to God.
Lord Percy: Yes, I'd heard that.
Blackadder: Personally, however, I like to start the day with a total dickhead to remind me I'm best.