One of Koh Rong Island's 23 beautiful beaches

Like much of Asia, Cambodia has experienced blistering development of late.  With the big-hitting attraction of Angkor Wot, and close proximity to billions of increasingly wealthy Asians, tourism in Cambodia has received a big share of that growth.  That’s why it was refreshing to find the beautiful Koh Rong Island so undeveloped, much like Thailand’s charming islands of a bygone era, Asia’s old hands will tell you.

No Roads, Electricity or Internet

The old tub of a ferry takes two hours from Sinahoukville on Cambodia’s south coast to Koh Rong Island.  It is well worth the trip.  It reaches a rustic village of tin and thatch-roofed huts clustering around three rickety piers.  Chickens peck around hand painted signs offering fish curries and guest houses.  A group of locals crowd around a card table while a smiley old man observes from his hammock.  A small wooden counter sits in the sand with one of the handful of western residents, barefoot, organising dive tours.

On the Pier at a Koh Rong Island village

There are a few backpackers around, sipping on mango juice on tables in the sand, but none are buried in a laptop or iPad like at a lot of tourist spots these days.  There’s no Internet on the island, and no electricity to keep it charged (although some guest houses power up a generator for a few hours in the evening).  It’s just a place to sit and watch the day away, cooled by the ocean breeze.  And if you want to go anywhere, you’ll have to walk or hitch a ride in a local boat as there isn’t a road on the island.

Paradise in a Hong-Kong-Sized Package

Koh Rong Island is the largest island in the Koh Rong Archipelago that sits about 25 kilometres off Cambodia’s coast in the Gulf of  Thailand.  At 78 square kilometres, Koh Rong Island is a similar size to Hong Kong Island, but with around 1,100 people, it has less than 1/1000^th of population.

Lush jungle blanketed hillsides fall into the turquoise sea.  Around the island there are 23 squeaky, white sandy beaches; virtually all of them alluringly empty. And it would be hard not to be grinning while splashing in the tepid and incredibly clear water, especially in the moonlight, when the phosphorous sparkles around you like you’re Peter Pan.

We stayed at Pura Vida Resort  in one of two bungalows and the thatch roofed restaurant on an otherwise deserted ribbon of white sand.  From the hammock or chairs on our deck, we overlooked three islands and that wonderfully clear aqua sea.  Pura Vida is owned and operated by Italians Beatrice and Fabricio.  They run a relaxed ship, complete with some good old Italian cuisine cooked to order (there’s no menu, but make sure you try the famed mango cake) using both local and real Italian produce.  At $50/night, there are cheaper bungalows on the island, but there’d be few other places that price would get you European service on a breathtaking beach with just one other hut.

Happily lazying on the hammock in our Bungalow at Pura Vida Resort

Worth the Walk

Aside from looking at colourful fish diving or snorkling, taking a dip, dining or just lounging in a hammock, there isn’t much do to on this little piece of paradise.  But the rugged terrain and lush jungle make for some good walks if you fancy a little exercise.  We met a Russian on the ferry who’d visited Koh Rong a dozen times and recommended a beach an hour’s walk from the pier, by Broken Heart Guest Hotel.  With watery eyes, he spoke of the clearest water he’d ever seen.

There’s only a vague paragraph about the whole island in the Lonely Planet, and no mention of any walks.  Other instructions to get to the beach are a little dubious, so I thought I’d shed some light if you fancy a stroll.

The clear water at the beach by Broken Heart Guest Hotel

Walking to the Broken Heart Guest Hotel Beach from Koh Rong Village:

1. Facing the village from the beach, by the left-most pier there’s a path that starts under the Blue ‘Cambodian People’s Party’ sign.
2. Walk up the path between shacks, through the rubbish heap and you’ll find yourself on a reasonably steep track past palm trees and grazing water buffaloes (don’t play with them) up the hill.
3. At the top of the hill, you’ll hit a T-junction, hang a left.
4. After walking along an undulating track, you’ll come to a fork in the path, hang another left.
5. The track weaves through foliage and comes to another fork, there’s a small sign that points to Broken Heart Guest Hotel, follow this to the right.
6. The track soon plunges down a pretty steep hillside, there are parts where a rope helps make a little a easier, but at the bottom you can reward yourself with a drink and some amok curry at the guesthouse (with unfortunately surly service) and bathe at that beautiful beach.

The walk takes about 1 hour, so carry some water with you as it can get hot trekking up.  I found jandals (flip flops) fine, but shoes might be a little more comfortable.  Remember left-left-right.

Ellen's gone bush on the track down to Broken Heart Guest Hotel

The Clock’s a-Tick’n

Some would call it progress, but the days of the roadless, powerless and shinynessless on Koh Rong are numbered.  Plans are underway (they’ve already started on the road) to make Cambodia’s unspoilt jewel just like a million other ‘resorts’ dotting SE Asia. The crew at the Royal Group have grandiose plans for Koh Rong Island with an international airport, resorts, a casino, marina, golf courses and of course, the Internet for those tourists who love to lose themselves in their laptops.  My suggestion would be to get there soon!

15 steps from my hammock at Pura Vida on Koh Rong Island

Days pass, you hear nothing.  Weeks follow, without a word.  One by one, you call up the companies you applied to.  In perfect English, you introduce yourself to the American HR representative, “Hi I’m Rambo, I’m calling about your graduate position…” An empty silence fills the receiver, then a click.

'Rambo' isn't an uncommon English name in China. Photo credit: kotaku.com/rambo

Across the Pacific in Vancouver, BC, a talented Chinese student graduates with top honours from Simon Fraser University.  Her well-connected professor arranges her a job in downtown Vancouver and now she’s looking for an apartment close by.  “Hi I’m Bambi, I’m calling about your apartment.” Click.

I can imagine that most downtown landlords hearing “Bambi” don’t think of that cute white-tailed deer that frolics in the woods with thumper.  No, they’re thinking lady of the night who’ll be renting their apartment by the hour.  And would you employ someone who sounds like they’ll gun down the office floor after a bad performance review?

Bambi is a common English name for Chinese people

Chinese and their English Names

Many young Chinese give themselves an English name while studying English at high school, with many others following when they start working.  A common reason for adopting an English name is in anticipation of dealing with foreigners who may be unable to pronounce their Chinese name.  With that in mind, you’d probably want a name that doesn’t sound too weird to westerners.  However, many Chinese with impressive qualifications, intellect and not bad English, make very interesting choices for an English name.

Your first name is the most tangible part of your personal brand.  There have been countless studies proving the economic and social consequences of your name, most famously chronicled in Freakonomics.  There is even analysis that can fairly accurately predict your education, income and health just from your first name!

The Most Interesting Chinese English Names Hall of Fame

With a good first name so important, I thought you’d be interested in the most interesting English names I’ve heard since living in China:

1. Rambo
2. Superman
3. Creamy
4. Potato
5. Gaga
6. Bambi
7. Barbara (a 30-year old Chinese man)
8. Spring
9. Sundae
10. Candy

Stay tuned for the top potpourri-inspired names coming soon.

Sundae - a suitable English name?

Chinese choose names differently than in the West

While some of the names above may sound unusual to westerners, they make more sense when you consider how Chinese traditionally choose names.  Chinese place much more emphasis on the meaning of a name and characters than in the west, choosing auspicious names that will bring good fortune. Many translations are quite beautiful, with meanings such as gentle, wise and humble.  Girls often bear the names of pretty flowers, similar to western names such as Fleur and Rose.

Doing a search for “英文名称”(English names) on China’s Google, Baidu.com, also returns some peculiar suggestions, similar to the Top-10 above, and with names you’d only find in the pensioner’s discount queue at a swimming pool.

No doubt, if westerners were choosing Chinese names with little guidance, we’d come up with some gems.

Options available for Chinese choosing English Names

As so many Chinese people have little support when choosing an English name, I thought I’d do my little bit to help by offering a free service where Chinese can enter their name, age, gender and what English-speaking country is important to them, and suggest an appropriate English name that sounds similar to their Chinese name and is easy for Chinese people to pronounce.  It’s all there at marktanner.com/english-names-china/advice-pick-english-name-chinese.html

How many western parents consider China when choosing the best English name for their newborn?

Every parent has their own criteria for choosing baby names, but how many take China into account?  As the world becomes increasingly international and connected, China’s influence is growing.  At the rate things are going, the Middle Kingdom will almost certainly have a bearing on your children’s life when they reach a workable age.

More studies into names (and yes, there are a lot of them), suggest that an easily pronounceable name will assist with making friends and getting promoted. You may want to consider that when naming your baby – once you’ve got the shortlist, try choosing the name that Chinese people can naturally pronounce – take it easy on the r’s, l’s and th’s (not just for Chinese, but Germans, Irish, Indians, Pakistanis, Indonesians, Malaysians could also struggle).  Not Harry, not Rachel or Ruth.

Don’t let that put you off that name that has always been special, but its worth considering.  If you’re Chinese and you need a hand, you’re at the right place at marktanner.com/english-names-china/advice-pick-english-name-chinese.html.

Happy naming.

Who's the Colonel in China?

As you read this blog, there will be over a billion chickens in China busily laying eggs, of which six billion will hatch, destined for the Lazy Susan sometime this year. And those home-grown chickens won’t alone satisfy China’s ravenous appetite. Poultry accounts for 75% of Chinese meat imports, which grew over 300% to $1.4 billion from 2005-2010. In 2006 the average Chinese urbanite consumed 8.3 kilograms of poultry per year, 244% more than they did in 1990. Although city dwellers averaged 19.1kg of pork, it only grew 108%.

Some pundits hypothesise that this growing love of chook comes from the Chinese becoming wealthier and more diet-conscious, therefore opting for healthier, leaner chicken over pork. But that theory falls flat when you note the large portion of chicken’s rise coming in the form of big buckets of greasy drumsticks from KFC and the slew of imitations.

Fastfood in China: Chicken vs. Hamburger

Nowhere is China’s love for chicken more obvious than KFC. Colonel Sanders’ restaurants rule the roost in China, blitzing every other chain for volume and profits. There are now more than 3,700 KFC outlets in China, with parent company Yum! Brands drawing up plans for 16,000 more. Yum! Brands, who also owns the much smaller Pizza Hut, accounts for 40% of China’s fast food market, slaughtering the number 2 ranked McDonalds’ 16% share and 1,100 stores.

Is the Chinese love of chicken solely responsible for The Colonel making a clown of Ronald McDonald? Partially, but KFC have been much smarter with their entry into China in what has become a well known lesson for foreign businesses with Chinese aspirations. While McDonalds virtually duplicated their menu from the USA, KFC took a good look at China’s considerably different tastes  and tailored their menu much more to their liking. Top sellers include egg and vege soup, pickles, preserved eggs and everyone’s favourite rice porridge, zhōu. With Yum! Brands bringing home an operating profit of more than $2 billion in 2011, the Kentucky crew are doing something right.

Chicken feet, yum! Image source:oneinchpunch.net

China: Paradise for those who love a good breast

Although KFC is popular, there’s much more to China’s chicken repertoire than the deep fried and battered. Chicken feet, cartilage, bones, skin, intestines, bowels, liver – all those lovely chicken bits that wouldn’t make the supermarket chiller back home, are things of beauty to your average Chinese foodie. The plump, succulent chicken breast doesn’t even get a look-in. Chinese consider breasts flavourless and too poultry-tasting, which is great for expats. When chicken breasts are for sale, they’re the cheapest meat of all; even at expensive expat supermarkets a nice slab of breast will set you back less than US$1. Although it probably wasn’t roaming free in an idyllic Chinese village, when the MSG and oil is all getting a bit much, those breasts are a godsend.

With the soaring price of pork in China, and chicken being much more efficient to farm, I suspect we’ll see many more of our feathered friends being served up in high rise apartments all over the mainland. Wonder what that’ll do to the price of a roast chicken in Wellington?

Designer or Dinner? Do the Chinese Eat Dogs?

Tibet isn’t called the Roof of the World for nothing.  The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and largest plateau in the world with an average altitude of 4,500 metres (14,800 feet).  Just 36 countries have a mountain that reaches that height. Yet at that altitude, even in January, much of Tibet is surprisingly pleasant.

Winter sun in Tibet

Unfortunately I haven’t visited Tibet in every season, but many who have will tell you that winter is a really good time to visit Tibet.

Don’t get your hopes up about scaling Mount Everest at Christmas time (go paddle the Nile that season ), but you can comfortably visit many of Tibet’s must-see sites that time of the year.  We were in Tibet in mid-late January and I would highly recommend it.  Here’s why:

The weather in Tibet isn’t that cold in the winter

You won’t be parading around in bikinis or shorts in the Tibetan winter, but there’s no need for dry suits or undie-warmers.   We didn’t even wear all the woollies we took.  Tibet’s capital Lhasa, where many big-hitting sites are in or close to, averages a balmy high of 9ºC/48ºF in January.  It got as warm as 14ºC/57ºF when we were there, and the sun was shining (it’s sunny 275 days each year in Lhasa).  But be wary that when the sun goes down (around 8:30pm as it is on Beijing Time) the temperature often sinks below freezing.

Tibetans on a motorbike, basking in the winter sun

Tibet is at its most authentic in winter

The best places to visit are the authentic ones, and Tibet in the winter is certainly that.  As winter is a quiet time for farming, many Tibetans from the surrounding plateau use the down-time to make their pilgrimage.  Monasteries, temples and streets are teeming with traditionally dressed Tibetans prostrating.    It’s some of the most genuine displays of devotion that I’ve seen anywhere.

Tibetan lady on her pilgrim

Tibetan Pilgrims outnumber tourists by a lot in the winter

What makes the influx of pilgrims even more special is that it’s unspoilt by hordes of annoying tourists with big cameras (like us) that take over at other times of the year.  Tibet’s 2.6 million people were overrun with 8.4 million tourists in 2011, 93% of them Chinese.  By 2015, Tibet expects 15 million tourists a year.  Fortunately in the winter time, tourists are seriously outnumbered by Tibetan pilgrims

Monks debating in Sera Monastery in Lhasa

Stunning light for photos

Tibet’s people, villages and natural scenery offer plenty of opportunities for the snap-happy among us.  As the sun is lower in the winter and the sky is clear, it casts beautiful shadows and illuminates almost everything you want to take photos of.  Even if photography isn’t your bag, just enjoying the scenery is great in winter

The Kumbum at Gyantse

Tibetan travelling is cheaper

Basic supply and demand rules apply with Tibetan tourism like most places.  You can usually get a good discount on the half-empty hotels; we got as much as an 85% discount off the rack rate at some of the hotels we stayed at.  There’s also never much of a wait for restaurants or tourist sites.

Us at Lhasa's Potala Palace

 Just watch out for the thin air up there

Most people experience some discomfort from the thin air up in Tibet, and it’s said to be about 50% thinner in the winter.  Even Lhasa’s 3,600 metres (11,800 feet) can bring on the pretty annoying affects of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness).  Couple that with restaurants cloudy from yak poop heaters and you’ll probably have at least one head ache.

There are many theories about what works best for dealing with AMS from a costly fungus that grows at altitude (and is also an aphrodisiac) to Chinese herbal called Hong Jing Tian that the locals swear by.  There’s western pills, black magic and lots of brussel sprouts.  Whatever you do, make sure you drink a lot of water if you do go!

Mt. Everest's North Face

If you’re like us and live in China, it’s a great destination for us during the Chinese New Year festival holidays.

Click here for photos of Tibetan people & yaks	Click for photos of Tibetan landmarks

While doomsayers have been stocking up on tinned asparagus in preparation for the world-ending catastrophe of 2012, the Chinese have been preparing for the biggest of their 12 zodiac years.  The Year of the Dragon is the most auspicious year of the Chinese lunar cycle and the one that is associated with wealth and power.

China's having a baby boom in the Year of the Dragon

Dragon babies everywhere in China

Over 15 million new babies will be born in China in the Year of the Dragon; about the population of the Netherlands.  With China’s One-Child Policy, many parents are banking on the auspicious year for their one chance to have a baby.

The characteristics of people born as dragons are passion, courage and self-assuredness, and they’re generally doers.  They’re creative, enterprising, a little hot tempered, and are customarily, the most likely to be rich and powerful.

Statisticians believe there’ll be 5% more babies born in the Year of the Dragon than other years based on the last boom in 2000 (the last Dragon year).  Yet, with the recent softening of the One-Child Policy allowing parents who are both only-children to have two kids, and rural couples with a daughter to have another child, newborns could exceed even optimistic forecasts.

So producers of baby products selling in China can expect a good few years ahead.  But it’s not just those selling infant formula and open-bottomed trousers that are cashing in this year.

The Dragon-emblazed Rolls Royce celebrating the Year of the Dragon

 Anyone for a Rolls Royce with Dragon embossed headrests?

Just as the Year of the Dragon marries up with wealth and power, no car quite epitomises those attributes like the Rolls Royce.  Well it seems the boys in Britain, Germany, or wherever they are, decided it would be a good idea to pimp a few Rolls’ with dragon memorabilia.

Rolls Royce, traditionally the antithesis of tacky, is hoping to sell 800 dragon wagons for a cool mill (US$990,000) to those who appreciate their headrests and wood-panelled interior emblazoned with the mystical creature.

The Dragon-branded leather interior of the Rolls Royce Phantom

Other Corporations Milking the Year of the Dragon

Fortunately, it’s not just the rich who can stock up on the Year of the Dragon memorabilia.  Everything from Year of the Dragon Lacquer Rollingball Pens, to Tea Pots, T-shirts, games, light shades, watches, dolls.  Heck, pretty much anything you can squeeze a drawing of a dragon onto.  Here are some of my favourites:

Year of the Dragon Handbags & Cosmetics

If there’s one thing a Chinese girl loves, it’s her designer handbag, so it was inevitable that Versace would issue their 2012 Year of the Dragon Jewel limited edition handbag.  What money’s left over will undoubtedly be spent on cosmetics, so unsurprisingly Estee Lauder are peddling their Year of the Dragon powder compact.

Versace's 2012 Year of the Dragon Jewel limited edition handbag and the Estee Lauder powder compact

Year of the Dragon Mice

With touch-screens popping up everywhere in China, you don’t hear much about the humble mouse these days.  But Microsoft is putting their money where their hand is releasing its super-slick Arc Touch Year of the Dragon Mouse.

Microsoft's Year of the Dragon Mouse

Year of the Dragon Coins & Stamps

America, Canada and almost every country’s mint seems to be churning out Year of the Dragon commemorative coins.  Australia’s Perth Mint claim their gold variety has been snapped up faster than any other series in the past 10 years.  And for the collectors among us, post shops in almost every country in the world will be selling their own issue of Year of the Dragon stamps.  My personal favourite are from the trusted folk at NZ Post.

NZ Post's Year of the Dragon stamps

Exercising in the Year of the Dragon

Butt-toning Sketchers were so Year of the Rabbit.  2012 is all about strutting the busy streets in the dragon scales-clad Nike Zoom Year of the Dragon sneakers. And all those plush Chinese golf courses redirecting scarce water supplies from agriculture to keep the fairways lush, will be happy to hear their members can now play a round with Dunlop Year of the Dragon golf balls.

Nike Year of the Dragon sneakers and Dunlop golf balls

Year of the Dragon Toys

The zodiacs aren’t just for the grown-ups. China’s highest grossing movie for 2011 is hoping to retain its popularity by dragon-branding its toys – The Year of the Dragon Ultimate Optimus Prime truck/robot has been rereleased with splashings of serpents.

Year of the Dragon Optimus Prime

There’s plenty more dragon stuff out there if you’re looking for a way to spend the contents of your red envelopes.

Regardless of what’s being bought, I wish everyone from Guangdong, to San Francisco’s Chinatown to the Chinese workers maintaining infrastructure on Sudan’s Nile River, a prosperous and happy Chinese New Year.

Chūn Jié kuài lè!

Click for more interesting information about Chinese New Year and the world’s biggest migration

Post Chinese New Year Update:  During the mass migration home and back to the cities over the Chinese New Year festival period, 547 people died and 2,080 people were injured in traffic incidents.  With all the fireworks, there 2,706 fires and 5 fire-related deaths.  Happy Year of the Dragon.

Everyone peddling something from adventures down the Nile River to skin-whitening face cream are redefining their strategies to get a piece of the Chinese pie. Even Porsche chose Shanghai for their world debut of the 4-door family wagon Porsche Panamera – its biggest launch in years.

Launch of the Porsche Panamera in Shanghai

But it seems ads with backdrops of Chinese skylines are for beginners, when you see the lengths the world’s biggest auto manufacturer is going to get their cars on Chinese roads…

Car of the Future - the Toyota Fun Vii

Toyota’s punt on the future, the self-driving Toyota Fun Vii launched this week at the Tokyo Motor Show. Those curves and all that technology squeezed into less than four metres of car could bring out the gadget-lover in anyone. But upon closer inspection, I’m not sure that I’m the target market.

Toyota Fun Vii's holographic Tinkerbellesque assistant

Although the holographic Tinkerbellesque assistant and two of the passengers appear distinctly Anglo-Saxon, you just need to look a little closer to realise who they’re targeting with their three-seats. The average US family has 2.06 kids and UK family 1.92. Even the unfertile Canadians with 1.58 kids will be riding on laps.

Inside the Toyota Fun Vii 3-seater

If you had any doubts who Toyota want to buy the cars, one glance at the massive glitzy LCD-screen exterior and it’s pretty clear that this car of the future isn’t destined for Walmart parking lots in Arkansas.

The glitzy, smartphone-screen-type exterior of the Toyota Fun Vii

According to Toyota, the future is China.

Let’s hope they make a family wagon.

There’s no arts and culture killjoy quite like a Cultural Revolution. In just 10 years from 1966-1976, innumerable works of splendid art, antiques, architecture, books and paintings spanning millennia were destroyed by Red Guards. Countless Chinese artists were persecuted and people were encouraged to criticise their cultural institutions. Arts students, or any students for that matter, were shifted en masse from their universities, to raise pigs and grow grain in rural labour camps.

Chinese Propaganda from 1967 translated to "Destroy the old world; Forge the new world." The worker is destroying classical Chinese text, music on vinyl, a crucifix and buddha.

That one decade saw the greatest destruction of art and culture the world has ever known; replaced with hundreds of millions of Red Books full of Mao’s one-liners, a spate of propaganda cartoons and political slogans printed on everything from bus tickets to cigarette packs. Peking Opera was one of the few traditional arts to flourish during the Revolution.

11 of the top 20 earning artists on the planet are Chinese

Starved of art for a generation, China’s nouveau rich are doing everything they can to play catch-up. More than half of the world’s top earning artists are now Chinese and China’s billionaires are ravenous for historic art such as Ming vases (many saved through illegal smuggling out of China during the Revolution). Massive decommissioned factories now support art districts such as Beijing’s 798 and Shanghai’s M50, bustling with galleries, cafes and artists.
 

Qi Baishi's 'A Long Life, A Peaceful World' set a record this year for Chinese Modern Art selling for a cool $65 mill. In 2010, only Picasso outsold Qi.

Chinese Art Sales Statistics

* Source: Ministry of Culture
** Source: European Fine Art Foundation
 

Add the rest of China’s cultural industry to those numbers, and the sector is worth almost $200 billion, a big number, but at 2.75% of GDP in 2010, it’s just a third of the ratio of developed countries such as the US. China still has a lot of work to do.

Can China pull out another Cultural Revolution?

The Chinese Government knows that arts and culture are vital to becoming a true world power; from both a national psyche and economic standpoint.

A large portion of America’s influence on the world last century came from selling its culture and ideals through Hollywood and its music. China is failing miserably at that. It will soon be the 2nd largest film market in the world, yet even with Government censorship, restrictions on foreign films (only 20 can be screened a year) and forced launch dates, just 54% of takings are from Chinese flicks. Most Chinese films struggle to break even.

The Government’s Role in China’s Art and Culture

The Chinese Government plays the main role in arts and culture in China. In any country, a Government’s contribution is vital to nurturing its arts and culture, but it needs to be balanced with private incentives to truly grow and flourish.

That commonly beaten drum of IP-Protection is choking artistic growth in China. The most widespread street vendors in China are those flogging pirated books, movies and music – a traditional breeding ground for much of the creative class. There’s no easy way for China to fix its piracy, but until it does, it’s unlikely the growth of home-grown artists will be supported by Chinese paying full retail prices.

China’s rote learning education cops a lot of flack for limiting creativity, yet it is necessary to memorise thousands of Chinese characters – beautiful art in themselves, especially when perfected through calligraphy. The attractive characters can only inspire more art and design, but it is a case of balancing that rote learning with creative learning – something the Government is working on.

The Colourful Peking Opera

China Has a Captive Audience for Art

On the subway in Shanghai I’m often surrounded by passengers who are entranced in their smartphones and tablets watching movies or reading ebooks. With more shipments of smartphones to China than anywhere else, that will only grow. Ask the average Chinese person what they did last night, and you’ll hear about some movie they downloaded (for free). If there’s a way for local and international artists to be compensated by the billion-odd Chinese enjoying their art, it could only help grow creativity in China. And that would correspondingly raise innovation and the standard of living.

Will China Deliver The Next Silicon Valley?

China knows to raise its living standards to western levels, it has to evolve from factories producing cheap goods to creating innovative products, much like Japan and Korea have done. Innovation needs to be fostered. Building large shiny Innovation Parks may help, but a truly innovative nation needs to be inspired and practiced through its arts and culture.
 
Wealthy Asian tycoons have teamed up with local governments around China to produce innovation parks inspired by the Silicon Valley. They’re helped along tax deductions, licensing for startups and generous grants, yet will it be enough?
 
I believe a key peice of the puzzle missing in China, that Silicon Valley does so well, is not fostering immigrants to China. More than a quarter of Silicon Valley businesses are started by non-Americans. Immigrants are generally hungier and look at new ways of doing things. However the Chinese Government make it especially hard for foreigners setting up a business in China, and even more difficult to sell out.
 
And then there’s the Great Firewall, that blocks YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and even makes Google searches onerous – key sources for ideas and selling ideas once you have them.
 
There’s little doubt that China will start producing cutting-edge innovations; we are starting to see some fruits from the their significant investment in green technology. But the speed at which China innovates can be bolstered and enriched by a society that supports arts and culture.
 

My little Rant: Is China Increasing the Need for other Countries to Spend More on Arts and Culture?

In a word, yes. In this world of globalisation, countries can rarely match China on price or scale, so they need to compete through innovation and design. There is a significant correlation between arts & culture and creativity & design. Ironically in difficult financial times, it is often the arts and culture funding that is first to be cut.

So it isn’t just China who needs to focus on arts and culture, but almost every country in this increasingly competitive world. Get drawing.

What makes it my favourite beach?  It’s raw, rustic and the first cheap, sunny, beautiful place that I’ve been to in a long time where the locals aren’t trying to peddle their wares.  Its people are wonderful, architecture charming, history fascinating and it ticks every box that I love to tick when I’m travelling…

Tamil fisherman overlooking the Indian Ocean at Trincomalee Beach

The People of Trincomalee

Trincomalee is one of those South Asian places where a mishmash of cultures all share the same ramshackle city block.  It’s one of the main centres for Sri Lanka’s Hindu Tamils, but the Buddhist Sinhalese and jelabea-wearing Moors also make up a sizeable share of the population.

Like the rest of Sri Lanka, we were bombarded with infectious smiles from locals; yet nowhere on the island did we find the people warmer and more hospitable.  Almost everyone, from the local kids to the sun-blackened fisherman, called out a ‘hello’ and held an open palm in our direction; the most genuinely hospitable people I’ve met since the Sudanese on the Nile River.  Just wandering through the sandy lanes we received numerous offers of dinner giving us the opportunity to sample some homemade Tamil cuisine.

The proud owner of a beachside shack in Trincomalee

A Tamil fisherman on a Beach at Trincomalee

Trincomalee locals down a beachside lane

Cows on the beach at Trincomalee

A Tamil family in Trincomalee

Trincomalee Scenery & Architecture

The city of Trincomalee is as colourful as its people.  From almost any spot you can catch a glimpse of the azure-blue Indian Ocean, framed with sweeping arches of white powdery sand.

There are a scattering of churches, mosques and Hindu and Buddhist statues and temples throughout the city; the most dramatic being the Hindu Kandasamy Kovil, perched 130 metres up on the edge of the headland overlooking the Bay of Bengal.  Just down the hill and straddling two stunning beaches is Fort Fredrick.  Its massive stone walls were originally constructed in1623 by the Portuguese before being captured and ceded countless times over the next 172 years, swapping between the Dutch, French and British.

Historic and religious buildings aside, it’s the crumbling, unpolished colonial houses and shacks on the edge of sandy lanes that really make Trincomalee charming.

Fishing boats on the beach in front of Fort Fredrick

Grand old doors by the beach in Trincomalee

A typical lane in Trincomalee leading down to the beach

Kandasamy Kovil Temple overlooking the Bay of Bengal

A beachside temple in Trincomalee

Trincomalee’s 2,500 Year History

There are references to Sri Lankan kings, Trincomalee and its sea port as far back as 500BC.

No one in Trinco is too shy to announce that Trincomalee habour is one of the finest in the world. There are just four natural harbours larger and it is the only harbour on the Indian Ocean that’s possible to enter in any weather, by any type of craft.  This, and its strategic location on the ocean route between Europe and Asia, was undoubtedly what drew sea-faring explorers such as Marco Polo, Ptolemy and Chinese sea traders since ancient times.  With the exception of the Spaniards, all the European martitime colonists had their day in Trincomalee.

During World War II, it became the East Asia naval base for the British Royal Navy and Dutch submarines after the fall of Singapore.

In recent years, Trincomalee was one of the regions worst affected by Sri Lanka’s civil war and was out of bounds for tourists.  There are still signs that things haven’t always been peaceful – the occasional armed, but unthreatening soldier, checkpoints and random spots with barbed wire.  But it keeps it interesting and means it’s not yet too overrun with tourists.

The city of Trincomalee with the harbour behind it

Soldiers keeping an eye on things. Although they looked scary with their guns, the Trincomalee soldiers were unthreatening

Looking out to Dutch Bay from the 390-year old Fort Frederick

Trincomalee is a world away from the hazy air and crowded subways of Shanghai, and most cities for that matter.  If the rawness of Trincomalee town isn’t your bag, Uppuveli Beach and Nilaveli to the north is a wonderful spot to wind down, lap up the Indian Ocean and sip mango shakes.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

Click for photos of crumbling colonial homes, bars and the beach at Dutch Bay, Trincomalee	Click for more photos around the Trincomalee area: Uppuveli Beach and Nilaveli Beach

But let’s take it one step at a time.  At this stage, it’s better to look at the grit of the 2nd Tier nations and their upsets as the true exemplars for aspiring rugby nations like China. Ireland beating Australia and the even more beautiful trouncing of the French by Tonga should show countries like China that with the right spirit, even the underdogs are in with a chance.   Yet even with the right spirit, rugby has a way to go in China.

Could Chinese rugby players be holding the Rugby World Cup some day?

Rugby in China is less important than the Russian Sailors Dance

As a New Zealander having just witnessed the spectacle of the Rugby World Cup, it is hard to believe that the Chinese couldn’t care less about the game with the olive-shaped ball.  But, from my earlier Chinese Rugby stats, only about 5,000 players are currently registered for the game.

Globally there are just 1,900 Google searches a month for China Rugby and Chinese Rugby – that’s less than the 2,900 for Russian Sailors Dance.

But things will change.

Japan will take their Rugby Seriously, which will help Rugby in China

The Japanese are very proud people.  With the world watching Japan when they host the 2019 Rugby World Cup, they will not accept failure.

Japan’s 2011 Rugby World Cup result will have embarrassed them.  They were one of just four teams in the World Cup to not win a match.    Fatefully, Japan was in the Pool of Agony, up against the eventual finalists, the All Blacks and France, and the ravenous Tongans.  But without even securing victory against the Canadians, heads in Tokyo will be rolling.  With adults making up 44% of the rugby players in Japan (its just 7% in England) they need to get the young more engaged. Asia’s rugby heavyweight has a lot of work to do.

After rectifying nuclear disasters and a spluttering economy, close to the top of Japan’s list will be doing whatever it can to have a super rugby team by 2019.  They’ll be calling on all the Toyota management principles, incorporating ninja style discipline and pumping as much Yen as is needed to bring the team up to scratch.

Increased emphasis and cash for rugby in Japan will overflow to the rest of rugby in Asia including China, which can only be good for the game.

Where to from here for Rugby in China?

There are a number of initiatives underway to develop rugby in China.  The New Zealand Government sees benefits in growing the game and has sent former All Black and Rugby Sevens gold medallist Dallas Seymour over to run coaching clinics.  There is talk of other New Zealand coaches being called upon.

Since 2009, the International Rugby Board has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into developing rugby globally, including a sizable portion ring fenced for the Major Markets Fund which includes China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.  There are even murmurings that China could host a Rugby World Cup some day.  To quote the IRB, “Rugby is considered to have compelling selling points in China as the Chinese modernize their ideas. Teamwork, camaraderie, playing by rules, and respecting opponents and referees are considered good values for Chinese youth to have as they aim to prosper in a society increasingly incorporating modern social values.”

Rugby has been added to the 2013 Chinese National Games programme and is included in the National Development System aimed at developing elite athletes.  And it’ll be an Olympic sport from 2016.  Fresh from being added as an official sport of the Chinese Military, the People’s Liberation Army recently competed in the 2011 International Defence Rugby Competition.  Although the Chinese team didn’t manage a win, it gave them invaluable international experience and a crucial building block.

Atlhough Google statistics would indicate little interest for rugby in China, the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou saw 80,000 Chinese spectators attend the matches – some of the biggest crowds of the games.  Faith in Chinese rugby shows in the sponsorship deal earlier this year with Japanese sportwear behemoth Mizuno and talk of Guinness getting in on it too.

Could This Be The Secret Key to Growing Rugby in China?

The Chinese have great genes for succeeding in the rugby stakes.  Studies show that Maoris and the other Polynesians most likely came from China.  I see a lot of people over here that don’t look unlike some of the bros back in NZ.  There are also some big boys to choose from in this massive pool of people.

8 is a lucky number in China, and is enough years to build a solid rugby team for Japan’s 2019 Rugby World Cup.  With DNA to back me up, there must be a few long-forgotten teenage relatives of Jonah Lomu and Inga Tuigamala punching shoe lace holes in factories in Northern China.  The key is to bring some of these boys to a 1st Tier rugby nation such as New Zealand or England and fully immerse them into the game.   Eat, sleep and crap rugby.  Teach them the clichés and get them used to the scent of rugby changing rooms.  Groom them to be Super 15 or Heineken Cup stars.

When Yao Ming retired from the NBA, 57% of respondents in a Weibo poll claimed they would stop watching NBA.  China is hungry for sports stars performing on the world stage and there’s no reason it can’t be Jonah’s 44^th-cousin-twice-removed, Mr. Zhou Ji from Dongbei.

In summary, rugby in China is going in the right direction. Coaching and player exchanges, and the IRB education programme are a good start to growing rugby in China. China’s population is getting more international.  Their diets are improving and they’re drinking a lot more milk. Japan’s focus on rugby will grow the game in Asia.  The Chinese Government is behind it.  They are all small building blocks for a China that may someday love rugby. Anything that gets a few less people playing Pokemon on their Android mobiles has got to be good for the nation.

Here’s to a bright future for rugby in China.

See my earlier post for more information on Chinese rugby and a video of Chinese rugby fans.

Datong sprawls across a coal-rich basin surrounded on three sides by golden-coloured mountains. The settlement was founded around 200BC and grew as a thriving pit stop for camel caravans transporting their wares north to Mongolia. At its peak as the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty from 366-494, Datong saw many labourers construct some of China’s most magnificent sites.

The gravity-defying Xuan Kong Si Temple 'hanging' from a cliff 17-stories up

Xuan Kong Si Hanging Temple

I’m not normally one to quiver at heights, but delicately treading along the Hanging Temple’s mid-air walkways, I felt a slight sensation of Acrophobia. It may’ve been the much-lower-than-usual handrails, but it was most likely the sheer 17-story drop to the meadow below.

Construction of the temple began in 490A.D. by a single monk – a very brave monk – called Liao Ran. In the years that followed, it was extended and repaired to what is now more than 40 rooms, linked with walkways, precariously perched 50 metres (164 feet) above the grass.

The precarious view from a mid-air walkway between rooms in Datong's Xuan Kong Si Hanging Temple. Don't look down!

In addition to the 1,520 year-old engineering masterpiece, the complex has plenty of statues from different dynasties and religions including Confucian, Taoist and Buddhism. As a bonus, there’re a few white-knuckled tourists to provide entertainment (including me and Ellen), nervously clinging on to whatever they can while posing for photos.

Viewing Datong's Hanging Temple from a much safer distance

Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

Although China is full of pagodas, the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is a particularly special one, holding some impressive titles in lumber land including the oldest and tallest wooden structure in China. Built during the Liao Dynasty in 1056, the pagoda towers 60 metres (200 feet) above parched plains and contains nine floors and six roofs. Amazingly, there isn’t a single nail holding together the 3,000 square metres (3,500 square yards) of timber in the tower.

Datong's Yingxian Pagoda, the tallest and oldest wooden structure in China

Yungang Grottoes

Datong’s most polished and celebrated attraction is the magnificent Yungang Grottoes complex. 2,400 years ago devout Buddhists started chipping away at a sandstone cliff just outside of Datong, creating caves full of Buddha and Bodhisattva statutes. The art caught on and there are now 51,000 carved statues from 4cm (1 ½ inches) to 17 metres (56 feet) tall throughout the 53 caverns. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the three most famous sites in China for ancient Buddhist art.

A couple of the 51,000 Buddha statues peacefully seated in a cave at the Yungang Grottoes, Datong

The caves are carved along about a kilometre (0.6 miles) of cliff face and sit amongst massive landscaped grounds. Although pilgrims removed the odd statue, the Red Army beheaded a few Buddhas during the Cultural Revolution and the occasional traveller has left graffiti, the ancient cultural relics are in mint condition, having been thoughtfully restored with no expense spared. Wandering around the complex under clear blue skies, I was amazed how little I had heard about this genuinely world class site.

Some of the 553 caves lining the kilometre of sandstone cliff at Yungang Grottoes, Datong

Amongst the crowds by the 17 metre high Seated Buddha at the Yungang Caves in Datong

Datong’s appeal doesn’t end with its golden days of ancients times; one of its most loved attractions is much more recent.

Go to page 2 for more about Datong >>

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