Shenanigans in Shenzhen

Seriously, they have a poodle dress. I was sooo close to buying it because well, it didn't look that bad on! But too funny because this dress had a tag of PRADA but I saw the poodles elsewhere on a Marc Jacobs top. The Chinese love to copy/steal/sell. They almost had me drop 280 RMB for this - 40 bucks. Sorry, but I will take a picture and enjoy the Coco/Nica resemblance.

I mean Coco must have been a model in her first life, look at the feet they are even angled out like her's! Priceless!!



Proudly a Poodle lover, Catherine

Banh Mi Oh My!

Finally, photos from my epic Banh Mi (Franco-Viet Style sandwich packed with pork, liver, and carrots inside crispy warm bread) Adventure!

And I quote: "Your mother always told you never to go the the Man Ying Building. The massive residential block is where criminals hide, dealers deal their wares and illegal immigrants slave away in factories. But those few strong-willed souls will be well-rewarded with the kind of baguette shop you'd find in Vietnam."

Strike a Pose!

Delicate layers of random meats placed into the hot french baguette with chopsticks and care at the speed of lightening. Sorry, Calvert no cilantro and not that spicy, but savory nonetheless. 

Where did I go? Oh you know, Mae Yuen St. Down in the Slums of Kowloon ... Fortunate thing! It's within view of my office building.

42 for a massive baguette, 22 for a good sized lunch. That makes my lunch splurge a little under $3 usd. Wow! I love HK Foodie Finds.

The only other customer and I anxiously await the fresh sandwiches (ha there were a dozen funs just chilling on the counter, but our's were fresh). I showed up to Tim Kee's (well, there is no mention of Tim Kee's outside the all chinese shop and street) but I showed up and he was on his lunch break so this lady and I just stood in silence, salivating over what could possibly be the best banh mi ever. 

Going to have to clean up the drool from looking at these pictures, Catherine

CC at CUHK!

I went on a hike a long time ago, but Brian finally put up the pictures - Here is a great one of me overlooking our campus. Yep, our campus is a mountain. so right by my puff of brown hair is where I live then all the way by the water on the righthand side is where I go to class. Then the MTR, psh you can't even see it. Good pic of the campus and the smog!


Tarheel born, Tarheel bred, although in Hong Kong I still wear Tarheel threads, Catherine

Google may have left China, but the Search is On!

Proudly a sponsor of Google, Catherine

Sweet Skyline Bom Bom Bom

Just came across a website http://citynoise.org/article/3432 that has the top 15 skylines listed. Pretty cool that I live at numero uno and have seen 6 on the list. Soon to see 7 with Tokyo in the plan. I do enjoy the skyline of Hong Kong and their Epcot-style Illuminations light show: Symphony of Lights everyday at 8pm.

One of the few people that actually looks up when walking, Catherine

Extra Pages to My Passport

I just love this. I have to get extra pages to my passport - After having only 2 stamps at the start of the year, it's pretty cool to have the "the passport has been amended" page.

- Catherine

Understanding Chinese Consumers

Here are my notes from my last day in Chinese Marketing:



Cognitive Bias:

- Overconfidence



Major Differences in Eastern and Western Culture

Origin - Greek (Essence, abstractions, perceive object in isolation, static and unchanging)

Origin - Chinese (Taoism, Confuciansimsm, contradictions, harmony)



Individualism vs. Collectivism

- Independent vs. interdpendent self

- Attention to context vs. focus

- Continue vs. change

- Categorizaiton: rule vs. relation

- Dispositional vs. situational causal attributions: fundamental attribution error



East Asians are less happy.

East Asians are more pessimistic in comparative predictions of futrue prospect.

East Asians are more likely to exhibit hindsight bias.



Risk Attitudes

- Stereotype and reality

Both Americans and Chinese think Chinese are more risk averse financially but the reverse is true



Self Regulatory focus theory

- Promotion - westerners

- Prevention - easterners

Persuasiveness of Advertisment

Language as a prime for decision style: Cantonese vs. English



Increasing Inequality in China

- Urbanization

- Greying population

- Rising National Pride



153 million people over 65 according to 2007 data.



Wealthy Consumers in China

- 80% of them younger than 45 years old

- 1% of population



Legal system on Business

- Confucian principles + socialist style laws + European civil law style laws

- Hierarchy: no instructions , latest more authority



Chinese Companies

- State-owened

Low market orientation

Support from government

Financing

- Private

Market oriented

Low Labor costs



AAA Triangle of Global Strategy

- Adaption (Advertising to Sales)

- Aggregation (R&D to Sales)

- Arbitrage (Labo to Sales)



One discussion on the case analysis - if you understand KFC and Google.

Halloween, Nope! Hong Kong Sevens!

Never thought I'd see this walking down the street, a pack of Power Rangers. Must be the Saturday of Hong Kong Sevens, the worldwide Rugby fete celebrated by all, enjoyed outrageously by expats.

Please note this photo was taken at 9am in the morning... He must have woken up extra early to braid his hair.

Avatar, anyone? They went hardcore, you were either decked out or in a massive theme - Canadian hockey team, a fake police force, or geisha delights?

- Catherine

View from my Balcony

Now this is the view at night with the current cloud coverage below.















Haha gotcha!

- Catherine

Mak's Noodles

Highly recommended wanton noodle joint in Sheung Wan. it was good. but it was noodles.

Oh, yeah forgot to mention there isn't an english name so we found it by matching the telephone number...

- Catherine

Sweet Mochi Ice!

New favorite treat: Mochi Ice
The Concept: Rice dough surrounding a small ball of ice cream.
You have to wait 2 minutes to let it thaw a bit for the dough to be gooey then you eat it from the fork inside and it comes out of the tray clean because its covered with what the ingredient say is egg white powder. Funny consistencies all in one bite - powder, goo, frozen.
Size: flatter golfball
Price: 0.50 cents for one tray of 2 mochi
Maker: Kowloon Dairy

- Catherine

I'm baa-aaack!

Sorry for being away from the blog and updates - I was on an academic hiatus (3 exams) so I roleplayed Google in China and blocked my website for a week. I also wouldn't let myself plan any trips because that takes oodles of time away from precious studying. So that left me with lots of studying, good exams, and ... Hong Kong for Easter! (partially due to the fact that I'm getting my multi-entrance visa to China and my passport is out of commission for a week. But get ready because I'm about to update the blog.

Super excited to blog on a rainy day in HK, Catherine