See the articles in SCMP that unfortunately describe too well the plight from construction workers, often unpaid, often beaten up while police and officials turn a blind eye.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1450123/construction-workers-pay-price-chinas-rush-development
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1450122/migrant-construction-workers-lowest-low
Welcome to “Communist” China where workers are exploited at times as bad as before 1949. Armies of thugs (well paid obviously) rule the sector while the police looks on and the officials pocket the bribes. Those workers are modern-day slaves, third-rank citizens with other migrants being the second-rank citizens, trying to make a living in the cities, without a hukou, without an employment contract, without right to education and healthcare for the family. And they can forget the dream to buy a modest apartment in the city, being faced with ever increasing rents by greedy landlords. Then Beijingers complain it is hard to find service people.
Now, as a foreign company, just try not to sign contracts with your staff, or pay no social security, or even just shout at your workers. No answer needed. In the meantime, during the “Lianghui” a lot of blabla. I can’t but deeply despise all those fake socialist officials. Worse is that while foreigners mostly treat their workers better, many Chinese become anti-foreigner and want us out. Many of the old expats are leaving in disgust. This is China 2014.
While I am not yet seriously thinking about leaving, the attitudes of the new rich, their despicable arrogance and ultra-nationalism, the ignorance among the young netizens (Putin is good, Obama is bad etc.) do shock me. Of course you can always find some foreigners who behave badly but that is still a minority.
Many of the “Old China Hands” miss the time when Chinese people were nice, cared about each other and had friendly attitudes towards the foreigners. There are still many “nice Chinese” but the amount of “Ugly Chinese” is growing unabated.
So sad.
Chinese officials promote pollution: more is better
Indeed, as I reported a couple of times in the past, local authorities, be it government or police, enjoy it creating more pollution and are proud enough to show it in China Daily.
Caption of the picture in China Daily 12 March 2014: Police in Ningming, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, burn 1 metric ton of confiscated narcotics on Monday. The drugs, including heroin, were seized along the China-Vietnam border since the start of 2013. LI BIN / XINHUA
Fortunately some in the government are a bit more educated, a recent huge haul of counterfeit cigarettes was burned in a power plant.
When will they learn? And then Premier Li Keqiang calls for “war on pollution”.
Duh.
Talking to Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School
On 14 March, other seminar, this time for a group of over 60 MBA students from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School (Dublin).
Topic: “China 2014: Policy risks, opportunities and challenges & The Chinese decision making process”.
The seminar was held in Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong Beijing and was organized by Legacy Ventures (UK).
The audience was again asked to participate actively during the overview of the challenges China is facing right now.
Pollution in Paris: less clarity than in Beijing
France, as well as other EU countries are as opaque as possible about pollution. None gives API or AQI figures. Most still work with PM10 instead of PM2.5. Beijing is more transparent. Maybe Paris needs the US embassy to start measuring. Right today in Beijing at some point the AQI was 112 with PM2.5 of 40 µg/m3 (US embassy) while Beijing says PM10: 370 µg and PM2.5: 71 µg; pollution level 228 (one of the rare moments the US embassy has better readings). The same lack of clarity is in Hong Kong where I have never seen clear AQI or API figures.
What I understand, Belgium is even worse. Not easy to know the figures there. Anyway, their “alarm levels” are a joke for us in Beijing: life would be at a constant stand-still if we applied theirs.
You can check the AQI of Paris (and Belgian cities, as well as Beijing!) here: http://aqicn.org/map/paris/
However the media never refer to those values. And the values are, compared to Beijing, a dream. Wish we had that “pollution” every single day!
Talking to University of New Hampshire (USA)
On 12 March, in the Beijing Novotel Peace, other seminar:
“A(nother) view on China – The Challenges it is facing in 2014”
A very interactive session with the small group of EMBA students. And lots of things to discuss in two hours!
See also two shots from the Novotel Executive floor: for once, a clear view on the west side of the city – low pollution!