Trying being white and walking into a Bank of China on Shanghai’s Nanjing Road or other commercial center. “Hello, money change, 换钱” is a greeting you’ll get. Usually it’s a passive effort by one of the 2 or 3 dudes in black plether jackets congregated near the doorway.
The last few days, though, I’ve noticed them getting aggressive. On February 5th, I was identified by them well before I got to the bank’s door, and one guy walked along with me giving the standard greeting but with much more urgency in his voice. Dismissing him, but before inside the bank, another guy gave me the same pitch, and actually walked one step with me inside the bank. Once safely inside the bank, I looked out and saw yet another guy pacing around like a caged tiger and clutching a huge stack of crisp RMB notes.
Are they trying to dump their RMB? Do they know something? Is RMB depreciation on the way?
After I completed my bank business – which did not involve “changing money” – I stepped outside and asked one of the guys why they were trying so hard to actively change money. Did they expect the RMB to depreciate? The Read the rest of this entry »
This story on the TMC new website notes that Motorola’s latest round of layoffs will included “hundreds” of Chinese this time. I got a message today from one Shanghai based Motorola employee who received notice of her termination today.
Motorola has been struggling in China for years. The Harvard business school even has a case for its MBA students about the company’s missteps in the China market (mercifully changing the name of Motorola, but that doesn’t do any good for the company’s workers who are out of jobs as of today).
Notwithstanding this, for now, the scene on the street in downtown Shanghai does not reveal obvious signs of economic strain.
Hong Kong’s Yumiko Cheng (郑希怡) covers a song by Israeli singer Sarit Hadad. The original is called “In the Tel Aviv Heat”. Both are here for your viewing pleasure.
McDonald’s price cut for 4 of its set meals made international news last week in the New York Times and elsewhere. Layoffs are underway, and not just in Dongguan and Shenzhen. Intel is closing its Shanghai plant, laying of 2,000 workers.
Less than a year ago, one of the economic concerns to me in Shanghai was rapid appreciation of the RMB and inflation. Now it seems unlikely that the RMB will gain anything – if it doesn’t actually give up some gains its made since 2005 – and deflation may be on its way? The Coffee Bean chain in Shanghai is peddling its mugs with a promotion of getting a free “cuppa” with the purchase, and the bilingual encouragement of “Don’t let the economy get you down! 不要让经济风暴打垮你”, and bars like the Mexican Adobo offering a daily Economic Recession Happy Hour, with beers for 5 yuan and hard liquor for 7.