Quingdao

We spent most of the morning getting our exit planned. The coordination was interesting- trying to coordinate flights from Qingdao to Dalian to time with our FF tickets back home. There were a few stressful moments when we didn’t know if it would all work, but we got everything arranged for a departure for Boston next Friday.

We hit the streets after our admin tasks were completed and walked to the Catholic Church It was interesting to have to pay to get into the church (the Chinese have even themed Christianity!) and even more interesting to read the descriptions of Jesus and Mary. The church was filled with plaster statues of solemn saints. The Virgin Mary was described as “an ordinary Jewish girl” who was visited by God and asked to be the mother of God. “She agreed and pregnant Jesus”. According to the plaque by the Jesus statue, he was born in 4 BC and Joseph got billing as Jesus’ father. You had to wonder what the Chinese would make of this strange religion.

From there, we headed through parks and streets lined with old German buildings. The city was beautiful and for some reason, the Chinese haven’t knocked down the old German buildings, but have simply taken them over and used them as apartments. It must be that fine German construction. We went to the Xinhao Hill Guesthouse (which had been converted to a museum). It was a huge Richardsonian Romanesque building where the German Governor lived. Mao also stayed there, so they’ve preserved his rooms exactly as they were.

At that point, we were hot and sweaty and ready for a break, so we headed to the Dynasty hotel and their revolving rooftop restaurant. John got them to start the revolver (his 3rd successful revolving restaurant startup in China) and we watched the city while the sun set. Since all of China is on Beijing time, this city being on the far eastern edge has a very early sunset...about 6:15. After a full revolve, we decided that some greasy German food was in order, so we headed to the Shangrila’s German pub. The Chinese chef had never heard of schnitzel, but the meal was passable (and not kung pao chicken!).

We stayed on at the bar and met some of the 300 expats in Qingdao. They evidently hang out either at the Shangrila (the “Shang”) or the new Holiday Inn. Over the karaoke sounds of the Filipino band, we tried to carry on a few conversations with them. One of the Belgians echoed our puzzlement at what’s going on economically here in China. No one seems to be able to figure out where all the money is coming from to build these huge offices and hotels.
Note
* The focus of the daily life of the Chinese seems to be on routine and meeting the expectations of their immediate supervisors. Information in and of itself has no inherent value.
* They also have no ability to anticipate or to problem solve. When trying to get anything done, you need to do the thinking for them. They will respond to requests, but don’t take the initiative to figure out what you’re trying to do and make it happen.