Back to China

 

It has been almost a month and I figure that I may as well write a little post on my visit to China.  I go once a year.  Not because for the fresh air, but because, for a patent attorney, it is infringer Mecca.  Now getting to China is a lot easier than is was 20 year ago when I went through China on the way to Mongolia.  That time is was Salt Lake to San Francisco to Tokyo to Beijing (stay 2 days) the to Mongolia.  I really had no comprehension of time on that trip, but I think we traveled for 40+ hours.   Now a days it is a 17 hour flight.  Not too long, but long enough to get some pretty sever numb-bum on the ultra comfy United seats.

This little trip was going to be a 12 nighter.  My longest business trip to date.  The visit had two parts, a visit with Chinese government group with an AIPLA (a US IP lawyer group) and to bust some infringers at a trade show.  So you can see at this point, I will not be able regal anyone with dramatic events or exciting stories.  This will have to just be a bit of a travel log.

Each year when I get to China, I also get picked of by some fake taxi cab driver who tries to charge me 5x the normal price from the airport.  Fortunately I have always figured it out last minute.  This was intent on this not happening again.  I walk past the gauntlet to people asking if I needed a cab and went straight to the taxi stand (picture Ted Striker in the movie Airplane fending off solicitors).  I got to the front of the taxi lines and started to get into a taxi that was on the wrong side of the cones.  I quickly grabbed my bags out and told the driver who was just pulling out his price list "No!"  The airport official managing the taxi looked at me and said "It is a trick."  No duh Sherlock, but wouldn't it be part of your duty to tell folks that before they try to get in these cabs!  Regardless, my real taxi ride went just fine.

 The first two days were devoted to visiting 8+ governmental/lawyer groups in Beijing.  To preserve inducing a involuntary coma, I'll leave it with a picture in a few words.  Part of the formal Chinese meeting process, was for our group to make introductory statement; at EACH meeting; in BOTH English and Chinese.  This would take 30 min. of an hour and a half meeting.  Needless to say by the end of the second day, the entire delegation was able to recite introduction like a mantra.

Because the tradeshow did not begin until Monday, I had the weekend to site-see truly living for the weekend.  on Saturday, a group of us went to the Great Wall of China.  A quick tip-on a hot sticky summerday did not wear jeans to any traction which consists primarily of thousands and thousands of stairs.  The Great Wall was pretty cool and unsurprisingly unchanged since my last visit 20 years ago.  It really is amazing how large the wall, on a clear day it is amazing how far it stretches.  Unfortunately, in modern day China there are just not many clear days anymore.  You can actually taste the pollution.  It was actually funny that when I landed in New Jersey and could see New York City, it was pristine.

 

One of the delegation members, hired a tour guide named Marlborough could just return from New York the night before and essentially slept most the time when he wasn't trying to tell dirty jokes masked as Chinese folktales.  Needless to say, at the end of the trip he offered to help one of the members the delegation get a masseuse to his hotel room, after having sized up Marlborough's moral underpinnings for the better part of the day, he wisely passed on the offer.

Marlborough the Tour Guide, no doubt having just told an off-color joke

To get down the Great Wall they put in an Alpine slide.  I figured, what the hay.  The people in front of me were so slow, however, that I figured I'd get out the iPhone and take some video. 

On the second day of the weekend, I visited the Forbidden City in the center of Beijing.  It is always a cool place to visit.  This actually of very commercial part of Beijing with Rolex shops and Ferrari dealerships.  I enjoy rubbing it in Chairman Mao's chubby little face.

Though the Forbidden City is really extraordinary and very large, after a while it all starts looking the same.  There are always tons of tourists there.  I love the groups where they all wear coordinated garb, like all the folks in the red hats behind me.  When I first when there 20 years ago, every tourist group had a little flag they would follow.

The next stage of the trip was the trade show.  It was packed with infringers.  Truly, when it comes to copying, the Chinese people have no cultural shame.  The only fun part of the show was when our attorney, all 105 pounds of her, was discussing an issue with an infringer.  Despite our patents and the presence of a government official, this company would not comply.  As they argued in Chinese, the infringer got more and more antagonistic.  Having this all going on in Chinese, I just stood there being generally ignored.  Finally, this dude threw a business card at our attorney.  It got me mad and firmly banged my hands on the display case we were arguing over and said in English "That;s enough!"  That wuss coward back like a little girl and wouldn't even make eye contact with me.  What a little weasel. 

After the show I took the high speed train from Beijing to Nanjing.  It only took 3.5 hour going 300 km/hr.  No a bad way to travel through China.  The train stations there are huge and very western.  All in all, think that I have a preference for European train stations, a little more rustic and a lot more charm.



Nanjing was a new city for me.  What I noticed was that there was no city center.  There seemed to be a skyscraper here and another one there.  It just seemed to make no sense.  The city was very polluted.  I took a video of the elevator of my not to great Sheraton hotel.  Though it had a nice little Irish pub that served pizza and German beer (with some bad mock-tails) with a Polynesian band playing the best of the '80s.  Post-sociopolitical, but enjoyable non-the-less. 

One oft the highlight of Nanjing was the Nanjing Judicial Museum... OK, no, not really.  I got a picture with pictures of the prior chief judges.  Gripping.

After another day of conferences in Nanjing, our last day of meeting got cancelled.  I figured this would give some extra time for sightseeing, but it took a good portion of the day to get to Shanghai, where I was flying out.  I was in Shanghai last year with the Mrs. and we had some good whether and good times.  Not as much fun without her.  I do always love visiting the Bund, even on a smoggy day.

Despite some the longest jet-lag I have ever had and a flight that found my leg loosing feeling far too many times, I made it back.  It is good to be home, at least until next year.