July 16 2022 - Quaint and Cute

 

Is quaint and picturesque the same?  There certainly are lots of picturesque villages in the world.  Which country does one want to go to for cute villages?   And then there's Shanghai China's "One City, Nine Towns".   The One City Nine Towns concept was an economic development plan introduced by the Shanghai Planning Commission in 2001. Each town was planned to be built in the style of a different Western city, incorporating European and North American architectural styles as a method of attracting investors and residents.  They were China, Germany, Ecology, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Spain.  Canada's town plan was abandoned,  others are ghost towns with lots of architecture but no people anywhere.  Thames Town (U.K.) was built and is part of the Garden City. Thames Town reportedly cost £500 million and sits 19 miles outside of Shanghai. But despite being completed in 2006, its mock-Tudor buildings, cobbled streets and English pub remain desolate and many tourists liken it to The Truman Show.  It is now used primarily by middle-class newlyweds, who choose it as the backdrop for their English-themed wedding snaps. On entering the town you could be mistaken for thinking you had strolled into a quaint southern counties settlement.  Except that there are no people in any of the pictures.  Bronze statues of James Bond and Winston Churchill are two of the tourist attractions, while hundreds of homes are designed to imitate Victorian, Georgian and Tudor architecture.    Looking for something that you'd only find in a town?  Here's the tourist ride in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

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May 19 2020 - Where is tmallcom

The most popular websites in the world include Tmall.com.  It is a Chinese-language website for business-to-consumer online retail, created by Jack Ma of Alibaba Group, China's richest man.   I checked out Alibaba's facebook page, and found this among the recommendations and reviews:  "Items displayed are great but how do i order my choice of a solar powered egg incubator?" That is intriguing to me - out of the 500 million people who use the site a month, it is solar-powered egg incubators that show up in a review.   But then, living in the first world bubble, what do I know about the topic.  What I find are developing country initiatives: Nigeria: "Egg incubators with regular, effective and efficient operation have the capacities of providing enough poultry birds which can serve every household in Nigeria with sufficient amount of protein on daily basis." Kenya: "CALL-MAIN HATCHERY, is a company that  makes solar powered incubators to provide employment to rural and town outskirt farmers, youth and women and to boost food security using renewable energy." I went back to the Alibaba facebook page and clicked through to look at the reviews.  Scrolling through them, the common feature is that they are mostly incoherent entries.  The egg incubator actually is interesting in comparison. We have a wonderful railroad scene today.

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Feb 22 2020 - China Work or Play

How do we know people are working if we can't 'watch them'? That's the remote work question, isn't it?   I know that we can easily measure employee output these days.   We've  been doing it with great vigour for more than 20 years - and even longer if you consider Total Quality Management started in the early 1920s.  We're experts at it now. But in China, there is great worry over productivity because of the coronavirus.  I found the most hysterical quote in the front page of the business section of the Globe and Mail yesterday.  Here's an excerpt: "Some Chinese executives and managers, though, have taken a dim view of their ability to get things done with workers at home. In a country that prizes long hours at the office, companies are keeping close track of how much is getting done by employees far from the gaze of superiors who worry they can’t trust their underlings to be productive on their own. With so many working remotely, ”there’s no way for us to supervise what people are doing. We don’t know if our employees are writing code or just playing with their cats,” said Cheng Zheng, founder of DDD Online, an augmented reality company. “It’s just the opposite of the traditional Chinese work style.” The article reports that productivity levels are varying. Solitary coders are fine, but those positions requiring communications had low productivity while working remotely.   It makes me wonder how they had been working and how efficient they actually were. They couldn't have been using teleconferencing or videoconferencing to meet in groups prior to this.  Or maybe they required employees to 'check in' with managers all the time to find out how things are going - judging on time spent rather than results. And that seems to be what the article says.  The Chinese are resistant to offsite work:  the Globe reports that there have been studies that prove remote work is more productive than on site work. The crisis is showing that remote work is as productive as on site work - a surprise to the Chinese managers.   And what is this about playing with their cats.  It turns out that there are more than 67 million pet cats in China and the cat owner population are generally millennials.  So the worry is there:  these millennial employees could be playing with their pets and making videos at home right now. (Don't read the other articles about cats and dogs - makes me sadly aware of my bubblesome existence). We are enjoying some daisies today.

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A Wall of China

Let's think about porcelain.  Somewhere around 960 - 1127 AD in China, the first fine porcelain was produced.  Marco Polo sailed in 1295 returning with ceramic dishes. We called dishes 'china' based on the country of origin.

One of Toronto's great experiences is a visit to William Ashley in the heart of Toronto, with its vast collections of dinnerware and everything related to elegant living and dining.   William Ashley was launched in Toronto in 1947 by Tillie Abrams.  I remember her in the store in the 1970's, demonstrating the durability of fine porcelain by smashing an expensive plate against a table edge and it did not break.

She transformed the store a number of times until it became a retail  palace.  It was a wonderful experience to walk through the store on the way to the east/west subway line.  Below is The Great Wall of China display and the water bar.  The Great Wall of China is one of their landmark displays.  

The most notable experience in this store is its New York style and sensibilities.  Elegant women who appeared to be on short leave from their Rosedale mansions were the store staff.  They always seemed to be dressed beautifully.  They were elegant, gracious and then very knowledgeable.  

As I scroll through the blog, I'd forgotten this:  "better than a gift card - give the gift of Ashley sterling silver coins in $50s, $100s or gold plated $500s."  I remember giving these coins as a gift at Christmas. 

The store has moved locations - from the Manulife Centre due to the significant renovations, and now is just down the street in the Colonnade - an equally significant landmark on Bloor Street West.   It deserves a visit to see what new transformations there are.

And what else might I find on Bloor Street - remember this picture from 2016?  Caught on my iPhone just across the street from where Ashley's is located.

May 17 - Dandelion Futures Up

We've heard a lot 'about trade with China'.  I realize I don't know anything other than the headlines.  In the China news was the death of I M Pei, the designer of the glass pyramid at the Louvre.  He was 102 years old.  The BBC article shows his most famous work HERE.  He was immensely prolific, and known for many works in the US and around the world. While he was a resident of the U.S., China celebrated his legacy there.  Some of his work, like the glass pyramid at the Louvre, had negative reactions initially.  That was the case of the Bank of China Tower - it is now described as the world's best bank building. Look at the field of gold in front of the expansive orchards of Cherry Lane on Victoria Street in Vineland.  It is one of the few streets that trucks can take to get over the escarpment.