Working in China

It was probably Bai Jiu - liquor made from a mixture of grains and, based on the taste, dead fish innards and turpentine. God awful stuff but if you do business in China you have to drink it. The worst part is the high end brands (Guizhou Maotai, Wuliangye etc.) go for 100 quid a bottle upwards and still taste like crap. Consider yourself lucky if you go the hinterlands some of the local stuff makes your toes curl - the proper Bai Jiu is like finest champagne compared to the utter swill you get in some of the smaller places. The local beers are usually decent and apparently the local wine is improving rapidly (I don't know a lot about wine as it all tastes the same to me)
I like that stuff! It’s rocket fuel mind
 


It was probably Bai Jiu - liquor made from a mixture of grains and, based on the taste, dead fish innards and turpentine. God awful stuff but if you do business in China you have to drink it. The worst part is the high end brands (Guizhou Maotai, Wuliangye etc.) go for 100 quid a bottle upwards and still taste like crap. Consider yourself lucky if you go the hinterlands some of the local stuff makes your toes curl - the proper Bai Jiu is like finest champagne compared to the utter swill you get in some of the smaller places. The local beers are usually decent and apparently the local wine is improving rapidly (I don't know a lot about wine as it all tastes the same to me)
I used to negotiate contracts in China. The negotiations would run through the night and include a banquet. Each one of their team would toast me with Mao Tai. At the end of the meal they’d had one each and I’d had 15. Not just sips either, Gambei.
 
I used to negotiate contracts in China. The negotiations would run through the night and include a banquet. Each one of their team would toast me with Mao Tai. At the end of the meal they’d had one each and I’d had 15. Not just sips either, Gambei.
All Baijiu is horrible, rancid. Mix it with coke or something to negate the foulness of it. Also, It's Chinese food over here, not what people expect back home. I would happily eat Indian food everyday, but not Chinese. They either fry it or steam it, nothing is oven baked, shite grub. Bread? horrible, may aswell be a cake but not sweetened with sugar, some chemical or other. The only western food is fast food, shite!
The best thing is, the women.
 
Missed this - been here since 2008 lived in Beijing, Lanzhou and now Shanghai. Xuzhou is (bear with me here) relatively small only 8.5 million people and about 3 hours from Shanghai, been there once or twice and it is a pretty nice place all told. XCMG are a big outfit we use a bunch of their cranes on site so should be alright to work for, if it was me I would give it a go, the worst that can happen is it is crap and you leave. One thing I would say is if you are working for a Chinese company make sure your contract is water tight and everything written down and signed off in English and Chinese (get someone to read and check the Chinese for you as this will be the legally binding bit normally) and make sure everything you want is written down. I would also be careful about people you work with helping you with housing as you may find your housing budget goes 50% to the the apartment and 50% into someones pocket. Personally I think it is a great country to work in and if you can put up with the inevitable bizarre times you can get a lot done and earn decent cash (the cost of living is likely pretty low in Xuzhou too) thought it will seem to be utter chaos at times.


Lucky I like sea food as I was over dosed on it noon and night. Only a limited amount of cray fish you can eat in a day.
We had a lot of respect come our way though as we tried everything. Chicken feet, sea snails the f***ing lot and to be fair I was OK.
They told us at the end of the trip that we were the first Westerners to try everything and you could see it meant a lot to them.
Don’t mind their tea to be fair and got given some as gifts.
Always respect cultures and you are half way there. I have a China team that report to me and constant Skype calls. The Manager, a lady is excellent and does a cracking job thus I always support her. They love the western men don’t they.
I used to negotiate contracts in China. The negotiations would run through the night and include a banquet. Each one of their team would toast me with Mao Tai. At the end of the meal they’d had one each and I’d had 15. Not just sips either, Gambei.

Bastard Gambei :)
Alright on beer, like piss water mind you but that whiskey was woeful.

Honest question do they eat dog as I saw one in a cage :)
Looked like my Lab.
I know in Korea it’s popular.
 
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Lucky I like sea food as I was over dosed on it noon and night. Only a limited amount of cray fish you can eat in a day.
We had a lot of respect come our way though as we tried everything. Chicken feet, sea snails the f***ing lot and to be fair I was OK.
They told us at the end of the trip that we were the first Westerners to try everything and you could see it meant a lot to them.
Don’t mind their tea to be fair and got given some as gifts.
Always respect cultures and you are half way there. I have a China team that report to me and constant Skype calls. The Manager, a lady is excellent and does a cracking job thus I always support her. They love the western men don’t they.


Bastard Gambei :)
Alright on beer, like piss water mind you but that whiskey was woeful.

Honest question do they eat dog as I saw one in a cage :)
Looked like my Lab.
I know in Korea it’s popular.
Dog is rare. But I have had it
 
Had dog in China and the Philippines, not something to rave about. Got invited to a meal in xinjiang once, loads of courses including fried water melon.
 
Had dog in China and the Philippines, not something to rave about. Got invited to a meal in xinjiang once, loads of courses including fried water melon.

Dog soup is on offer in North Korea too, bottled it though and chose not to have it. It is soon to be outlawed in the South.
 
Nope, not true at all.
I heard about it while I lived in Hong Kong from a number of westerners who had lived there,someone failed to tell this guy they don't do it :eek:
 
Lucky I like sea food as I was over dosed on it noon and night. Only a limited amount of cray fish you can eat in a day.
We had a lot of respect come our way though as we tried everything. Chicken feet, sea snails the f***ing lot and to be fair I was OK.
They told us at the end of the trip that we were the first Westerners to try everything and you could see it meant a lot to them.
Don’t mind their tea to be fair and got given some as gifts.
Always respect cultures and you are half way there. I have a China team that report to me and constant Skype calls. The Manager, a lady is excellent and does a cracking job thus I always support her. They love the western men don’t they.


Bastard Gambei :)
Alright on beer, like piss water mind you but that whiskey was woeful.

Honest question do they eat dog as I saw one in a cage :)
Looked like my Lab.
I know in Korea it’s popular.
I watched dogs being skinned on the street for food in Chengdhu
 

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