The New Cultural Revolution in China

I received the following story through email today. This story, entitled "Come Settle My Bill", is fictional and supposedly 2006's 'Best Story From China".

The story's sub-heading says "Is this how our national culture fosters? What does it say (about our culture) for the fact that the story has won the 'best plot' recognition?"

The story was obviously written in Chinese originally but I will provide its English translation in whole here for our non-Chinese readers' benefit.

Feel free to leave me a comment if you happen to know who wrote it and who organized this award or contest.

"Come Settle My Bill" - The Best Story of China (2006)

It's weekend today, so old classmates from our senior high decided to reunite at the Tian'an Hotel .

Many of them have made a good life for themselves after guaduation. But I've chosen to keep a low profile.

I'm just a chart drawer in a factory, and on monthly terms my husband and I barely make enough for our family.

Lately my husband has been busy helping our son study. He's old enough to get to high school soon, so my husband's been running around looking for a good school that would accept our son. But so far we still haven't had any luck.

Before stepping out, I looked at my son one last time.

*****

Tian'an Hotel is a high-class hotel. Most of the old classsmates were already there as I stepped into the private room.

Business cards came flying my way before I got the chance to grab a seat. Everybody is either a senior manager or supervisor now.

Even Ah Fei, who used to fail everything in school, is now a police dispatch supervisor.

Looking at the fancy dishes our waitress brought, I lamented at how ignorant I am - just our dishes tonight will cost as much as three months of my pay.

Ah Fei acted as if he's everybody's host. He kept pouring us wine and urging us to eat.

"Just eat, it's my treat tonight."

We all let loose and indulged ourselves with cup after cup of wine and conversation on just about anything.

Having stuffed ourselves enough, it's eventually time to go.

But who would settle the bill? Didn't seem like anyone's generous enough to pay for everyone.

At that moment Ah Fei took out his cell phone and punched a string of numbers.

"Hey Xiao Li, did you manage to arrest any johns tonight? Yeah? You got some? Great! Send one over to Tian'an Hotel to settle my bill."

Everybody laughed as Ah Fei proudly put his phone back into his pocket.

A middle-aged man showed up within 15 minutes. But he raised his eyebrows as he read the bill, as if he didn't have enough cash to settle it.

So the middle-aged man took out his cell phone as well and punched a string of numbers.

"Hey Mr. Liao, this is Principal Ma. Didn't you say you wanted your son to go my school? Well, I can settle this for you today......I'm hosting a dinner for my friends tonight, could you come over and settle my bill? I'm in private room 203 at the Tian'an Hotel."

Someone came knocking on our door 20 minutes later.

When they opened the door, I fainted.

It wasn't anyone else but my bespectacled husband.

--- End of Story---

Piper's Note: This story has won:
- The 2006 Best Plot Award
- The Most Touching Story Award
- The Funniest Short Story Award
- The Average Citizen Judging Panel's Recommendation Award

Going back to the question "What does the story tell us about Chinese culture nowdays?"

Well, maybe 'go Dutch' still isn't something people do in the mainland?

Drinkable Despair

Hotels in Hong Kong certainly have a way to sell themselves (cough cough...Langham).

To help smokers overcome their tobacco cravings in the wake of the city's total ban on smoking in restaurants - so Mandarin Oriental claims - the M bar is introducing a series of "smoke-inspired" drinks.

These range from 'Smoky Martini' to fruity cocktails served in cigar/cigarette look-alike glass tubes.

Creative this promotion may be, there are things that just don't seem to add up.

First of all, when did alcohol become a cure for tobacco cravings?

I'm still trying to remember the last time I heard someone said, "Crap, I ran out of cigarettes, give me a triple JD on the rocks right now!"

Second, I'd think people drink cocktails to celebrate.

Since smokers won't be celebrating a ban on smoking, I assume the M's actually promoting these drinks to console these lost souls.

But why smoke-inspired drinks for smokers before a smoking ban?

Isn't it like rubbing salt on their wounds?

I look forward to the next June 4th, when some hotel bar would hold a Bloody Mary drinking contest ( all drinks served in glass tanks) to help students overcome cravings of democracy.

Asia's World City - Prologue

2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the "Asia's World City" marketing campaign in Hong Kong. I thought this would be a timely occasion to revisit the campagn's birth and evaluate its success (or failure).

Long-time Hong Kong resident and humorist Larry Feign was right to question why it's "Asia's World City" and not simply something along the line of "Hong Kong: A World City".

Isn't it apparent that a city is either a world class city or it isn't?

What does it mean by "Asia's World City"?

Does it mean Hong Kong is a world city by developing Asia's standard but don't bother comparing it with those other 'real' world cities like London, Vancouver and Vienna?

Stay tuned for my 2-part series on this topic.

Rest in Peace Neda

The death of Neda Agha-Soltan of Iran has sent waves of shock and anger around the world.

Reformist protestors in Iran are now calling her a "martyr", while the New York Times hailed her as "an instant symbol of a movement" and her death was nothing short of "a symbol of Iran's crisis".

But hang on a second - Neda wasn't even a partisan - so why's everybody assuming she wanted to be treated like a heroine or martyr of any sort.

I think it's disrecpecful to use or even see Neda as any kind of hero or symbol, as if she'd wanted it to be her destiny to die violently for some grand political cause. The fact of the matter was that she was killed for simply being at the wrong place and the wrong time.

Somehow I think Neda just wanted to live her life like any normal girl.

Why can't we grant her that wish?

RIP - Neda.

Banks That Hate Money

In this economic atmosphere, you'd think banks in Hong Kong would do whatever they can to attract deposit and enhance cash flow. Apparently you're wrong.

My wife and I learned this the hard way when she recently made a large-sum cash deposit at a local Bank of East Asia branch, only to be told by teller that they would impose a service fee for deposits over a certain amount.

Now, bank charges for deposits are nothing new, and in fact there have been a few recent consumer complaints over these charges in India and Malaysia. But being an international finance center as Hong Kong is, I would think banks here would have been more enlightened.

In any case, my wife was advised by a teller to make our deposit on two separate days to avoid going over that amount limit and the subsequent service charge. But this also meant my wife had to visit the bank again the following day and this, as far as my wife and I were concerned, was time well wasted.

So I subsequently took this up with the Bank of East Asia's compliant department, and their response, larded with PR and bureaucratic language, can be boiled down into 2 points:

• The Bank of East Asia isn't the only bank charging people this fee. Others, like the HSBC, also have similar policies.
• Banks in Hong Kong maintain this policy to enhance service efficiency (i.e. discourage people from tying up the line with large sum deposits)

From my point of view, the Bank of East Asia's response was pretty ludicrous, not least for the fact that the bank has recent experienced a bank run at the outset of this economic crisis and should have known better the importance of large sum cash deposits from customers.

Charging customers a service fee to enhance efficiency is no more logical than breaking someone's ribs to distract him from his headache.

The fact that HSBC also maintains a similar policy means little to me and my wife. We are customers of the Bank of East Asia, and we'd care less what policies HSBC maintains. The fact that most banks hold similar policies only means this is a popular policy among banks in Hong Kong. It doesn't mean it is a policy that makes sense.

And how did these banks come to determine that customers who have a cash deposit over a certain amount are the culprits who affect the tellers' service efficiency? What if a retiree walks in and requests a withdrawal, followed by the purchase of an international money order and then a money transfer? Isn't that retiree tying up the line too? Would the bank charge him accordingly for "enhancing service efficiency"? I bet not. So why should we be charged in order to enhance the bank's operational efficiency?

If customers' cash desposits are having a negative impact on the tellers' service for other customers, the bank should take the initiatives to think of better ways to improve their tellers' efficiency, instead of penalizing those who have large-sum deposits to make.

If I was a bank manager and someone walked in with a briefcase of cash, I would invite him into an office and handle his deposit privately without any charges. This will free up the line and give that customer a good impression of my bank's service.

What this little episode shows is that despite Hong Kong's status as an international banking center, the banking industry's notion of what customer service means is still very much at a very primitive stage.

The fact that the Bank of East Asia had the guts to say "We aren't the only one who keeps such a policy" (and you should therefore shut the hell up and accept it) pretty much shows Hong Kong people's docility towards any rules issued by an authority - regardless of whether these rules make sense or not.