(Dunhuang, China) Days on a camel: almost one!

Number of Days: 30
Cities Visited: 13

(Urumqi, Kashgar, Turfan, Dunhuang, Xian, Beijing, Hong Kong, Zurich, Lausanne , St. Gallen, Geneva, Bern, Brig)

Traveling in this order has been a great opportunity to observe the steady increase in wealth and developmental stages as I move from Western China to Eastern China, then to Hong Kong, and finally Switzerland.

Hours on a plane: 28
Hours on a train: 58

Most photogenic city: Kashgar

It has been a joy losing myself in the streets of this desert town. The way of life here is so alien, the creature comforts of development so absent, and the people so approachable, that this city has endeared itself to me.

City that scares me the most: Hong Kong

Materialism is such a powerful driving ethos in Hong Kong. I have nothing against people who want to be rich (I am in Wharton after all, where such people are everywhere) but I still feel uncomfortable with the way materialism shapes the way people here see everything. I know really nice schoolmates here who see having the biggest house, the fanciest cars, and the fancy luxury goods as being the best thing they can aspire to in life. I guess it is just hard for me to comprehend how this drive for wealth is such an overriding motivation here considering my interests in politics, international relations and public service. (Will blog more on this later…)

City that almost scares me the most: Beijing

The environmental degradation is serious here. The sky looks the color of vomit, and it makes me wonder development at what costs? I talked to the “King of Bankruptcy” Wilbur Ross in Hong Kong about this, and he feels that the environment is important, but the imperatives of solving poverty in China should come first.

City where I met the most familiar faces: Hong Kong
Number of familiar faces there: 19

It seems everyone is in Hong Kong during this period. Friends whom I have not seen in years suddenly appear in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I did not manage to meet more of my local friends who were studying for their finals during this period.

*Statistics do not include trip from Philadelphia to Beijing. Statistics include forecasts for Switzerland phase that is coming up.

(Kashgar, China) A card game goes on at 9pm at Kashgar.

After exchanging countless emails, and visiting two apartments in Beijing’s Central Business District, I now proudly reside in a trendy one-room studio apartment in Guo Mao (after I return from Hong Kong and Switzerland). My apartment is about 20 minutes by bus from my workplace in Jianguomen, and is located in the business district of Beijing. Cleaning up my new domicile, shopping for daily necessities, and putting my clothes up helped me understand the joys of home ownership. The feeling of becoming a part of a new place, of being part of its daily rhythm and flow, of being an insider, is also a cause of my joy. I enjoy this feeling of “going local” most in my travels - not so much seeing beautiful sights, but doing “normal” things such as shopping for daily necessities, making my own meal, and taking local transport.

Do come and visit. I am paying 2500 Yuan a month for my housing and hope to make good use of it. I suspect that I am paying in the high-end of the price range for my apartment. This is an information premium: as a stranger to the city lacking information of rental prices in the area, I cannot bargain effectively or persuasively. However, the exchange is still able to happen as I am able to visit the house, and easily discern how much I am willing to pay for it. I am able to determine how much I value this living space, and only suffer from a lower consumer surplus as a result of paying nearer my reservation price.

(Kashgar, China) Everyone wears suits here.

Unlike buying the house, there are some trades that do not happen because of incomplete information. I am reminded of suit-shopping in Kashgar in Western China. At the city at the edge of the world, everyone wears suits. Consequently, there are many tailors in Kashgar, some of them probably pretty good. I love nice bespoke suits, but admit that I am a poor judge of the quality of suits. Part of the reason is that time is often the best judge of a suit’s construction and material. Because of my inability to judge the quality of suits, I am unwilling to buy a suit here even though I would love to add to my collection of formal wear. I can almost hear economist Joseph Stiglitz whispering in my ear “where information is incomplete, markets might not form, and trades might not occur…”

Just before I left for Xinjiang, my friend’s father heard about it and told his friend, Mr. Tu in Xinjiang. Mr. Tu bought for me tickets to Kashgar, arranged my accommodation, and had his subordinates act as my tour guides. One of his subordinates called me the night before I left. He referred to Mr. Tu as General Tu. I am being hosted by the People’s Liberation Army in Xinjiang. I was apprehensive.

(Enroute to Urumqi, China) Auction on the plane

I thought little of General Tu along the way, as I was bemused by an auction on Hunan Air. I did not manage to discover what item was being auctioned, but it was lively as bids came quickly. It was an English auction, with the highest bid capturing the prize. I was wondering why the airline would hold an auction. It is a slow process that is unlikely to bring substantial and stable profits. I guessed that the entertainment value it had for passengers might be the auction’s appeal.

When I arrived, my guide met me at Urumqi’s airport, quickly dragged me into his 4-wheel-drive, and took me up to the Lake of Heaven – Tianchi. I expected to be greeted by waves of desert heat, but Urumqi was surprisingly cold and wet during my stay. When I asked my guide what he did and what organization he worked for, he remained vague and said his job was to take care of customers. As we headed out of the city, he stopped, got off, and changed our license plate. I asked him about it and he said it would bring us less attention in the country-side. I later learnt that the license plate was a military plate. Certain traffic laws do not apply when using that plate.

I met the big boss, General Tu, on my last day in Urumqi. We had hot pot together. He was lean and spoke with a quiet voice that gave him an air of being polished and well-educated. His son was immigrating to Canada, and I gave some advice on getting use to life overseas. The big boss seemed the perfect picture of the big boss when his subordinate clasped a lighter in two hands the moment General Tu picked up his cigarette, respectfully offering to light his cigarette. I am reminded of gangster-flicks out of Hong Kong. My lunch meeting ended abruptly when he received a call, and General Tu and his two burly associates took off for another meeting. My guide escorted me back to the hotel room.

(Urumqi, China) The PLA and CCP in Xinjiang.

(Kashgar, China) My new friends from the city at the “edge of the world”.

Spring semester is over and grades are out. In summary, my semester GPA is 3.96 standing at 7 As and 1 A-. This results in a cumulative GPA of 3.93. Despite a heavier course and extracurricular load, performance continues to overshoot targeted GPA of 3.6. Driving this improved performance is improved work efficiency, time-management, and focus during end-of-year examinations.

I believe the optimal GPA can be safely increased to 3.7. Reason for capping GPA remains: there is an optimal GPA-learning-extracurricular trade-off that I hope to achieve. Achieving over-target implies that I should dedicate time to other areas. This semester’s results looks like a fluke considering how much time EduHealth took up, and the traveling I did for the social enterprise fellowship and my conference in Germany. I attribute this to a lack of major research projects this semester, unlike the previous semester, and that I worked with a team on EduHealth, allowing us to achieve more – more easily.

I forecast next semester’s GPA to take a hit, as the Chinese class I will take is far above my ability. As I exhaust the Wharton core and take harder higher-level classes, I also expect my grade to suffer. The Wharton core has so far been good to me as they provide a far bit of learning, and are easily manageable as long as I find the time to do the homework. This implies an inverted GPA curve for my undergraduate career, as my GPA will tilt downward over my undergraduate career.

Thus ends a semester. I look forward to another semester of learning! Classes completed this semester:

CHIN 382 (BUSINESS CHINESE II) – A
ECON 101 (INTERMED MICROECONOMICS) – A
FNCE 101 H (MONETARY ECON & GLOB ECO) – A
MGMT 199 (GLOB PROB SOLVING) – A
OPIM 101 (INTRO TO COMPUTER) – A
SOCI 009 (WRITING SEMINAR IN SOCI: SOCIAL NETWORKS) – A-
STAT 430 (PROBABILITY) – A
URBS 299 (DEMOCRATIC HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS) – A

See also: Fall 2006 Report Card

(Beijing, China) A guard at Tiananmen Square.

I have returned from the first phase of my travels this summer. I will soon be heading out to Hong Kong to catch up with friends, learn something of the political and economic situation, and finally head up to Switzerland for my conference and meetings.

What was originally meant to be a trip to explore the rapidly-developing Western regions of China became a full journey stretching across the breadth of China. Flying in to Urumqi from Beijing, I was picked up by my People’s Liberation Army escort (PLA), and went straight up to the mountains to see the Lake of Heaven. After leaving Urumqi for Turfan, I met a Shanghai tourist who recommended that I take a trip out to Dunhuang. Being a serendipity-loving person, I took his advice. I was stranded in Kashgar, the desert town at the “edge of the world”, by a sand-storm and arrived back at Urumqi late sick with flu. After recovering enough strength to crawl out of bed and to stop watching the hideously addictive series “New Shanghai Bund”, I placed myself on a 12-hour overnight train ride to Dunhuang.

After cave crawling and camel-riding in Dunhuang, I sat in the train for another 24 hours and arrived at Xian, where I experienced the real Chinese night life in the “ancient city”. The next day, I was on a plane back to Beijing. It has been a great time to reflect and this pilgrimage has exhausted as much as it has recharged me.

As time permits over the next few days, I will elaborate on this journey. This is part 1…

Last week, before my statistics final, I grabbed lunch with Nobel Prize Winner (Economics) Lawrence Klein. This makes my second meal with a Nobel Prize Winner in Economics; the other was with Joseph Stiglitz in Tokyo at the World Bank ABCDE in 2006.

Lawrence wanted to talk to us about high-frequency forecasting. He took out a piece of paper containing economic forecasts for various variables, and went through them mentioning how one variable related to another, and how certain numbers did not look right. There were side conversations on topics such as the IMF and inflation. Somehow, we were supposed to learn something from the conversations that went all over the place.

We all promised to meet again in fall, to see how the forecasts played out. Before he left, Lawrence emphasized that the real test of an econometric model is the same as any science experiment: its results had to be repeatable under the same conditions. I felt inspired to take on my statistics final after such an inspirational lunch.