Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

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To log in to the WIFI at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, you must first scan your passport to authenticate. This is completely different from all the other airport I've been to, where they let the public login freely. (Pro tip: use a VPN when you’re on public WIFI.) It seems to me like the authorities there care about what the public browse on the Internet. Would you get hauled right to jail should you Google a topic not in favor with the current government?

What I also do not understand is the need to go through security screening before entering Guangzhou subway stations. I don't see the need for yet another extra layer when the city is already massively surveilled upon. Are cameras in the subway station not enough? (This isn’t full autonomous self-driving!) I don't remember hearing about any subway bombings in China these past decades. Who the heck would be dumb enough to commit anything when you are so easily caught? Word on the street is that people don't even dare to pick up abandoned wallets full of cash.

Contrast that with our situation here in the States, and it might as well be barbarianism. We can't leave anything in our vehicles without hugely risking it being taken. There's spots in any American city where no one in their right mind would wander through past midnight, unaccompanied.

Of course, there's heavy bill to pay for that safety. American culture would never tolerate the sort of overbearing surveillance system in China. A central government knowing our every move is the stuff of dystopian action films.

But those are the tradeoffs. It cannot be argued that you feel absolutely safe in China. No matter where you go, at whatever time, no one will rob you. Nor will anyone pilfer from the convenience store you're currently shopping at. In the abstract, isn't this what governments - with sole power of the police - should aim to provide for its citizenry? I certainly want to live in a city where quality-of-life crimes are negligible to zero. (Hi, Japan!)

The methods to get there matter a ton, obviously.

What in the *r/tragedeigh* is going on here?

Are we not entertained?

Are we having fun with the tariffs yet? With so many things that we buy being manufactured in China, it's about to get expensive really quickly. The proverbial death by a thousand cuts. The best position to be is not needing to buy anything beyond pure sustenance for the foreseeable future.

Or you had the foresight to buy the things before the tariffs hit. Anecdotally, I've heard of people buying new cars before foreign-produced vehicles get taxed. Another person bought the made-in-China MacBook Pro before Apple has to figure out how to pass along the cost of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports. I'm going to convince my dad to upgrade his iPhone 11 somewhat soon.

I myself bought a set of bumper weight plates from Rogue Fitness. The plates are made in China, of course. As of this writing - April 11th - the price for the same set has already increased $25. Surely it will go up even higher still when inventory gets replenished with shipments coming after the tariffs went into effect.

Or maybe not? The directive coming out of the White House is so inconsistent. Hard to predict how much inventory will cost in two weeks' time because tariffs might not be a thing anymore. And then a few days later, it may be back again!

The people who are truly getting fucked over are the small businesses with a Chinese supply chain. You can easily imagine the situation where an order was made before the tariffs, but it shipped after the tariffs. Congratulations, your cost of goods sold is so expensive that you no longer have a viable business.

Better move that supply chain to the States, am I right? (Sarcasm.)

Direct flights, baby

As a member of the jet-setting class entirely reliant on credit-card points (rather fake-rich if you ask me), I've had the pleasure of sitting in the various classes on an airplane. (Right to privilege jail, right away.) As obvious as it may be that the further front you sit the more comfortable, in my experience it doesn't ease the pain of the truly long-haul flights. 15 hours from San Francisco to Hong Kong is arduous no matter if you are wealthy enough to lie completely flat to sleep. A pressurized metal tube with superbly dry air is a bad combination no matter what.

I think the lever to pull in terms of comfort is shortening the time spent on an airplane. It's a shame there were never follow-up to the sound barrier shattering Concorde. For the rest of plebs in the real world, direct flights are absolutely worth the extra costs.

Since 2014 - only interrupted by the COVID pandemic - I've flew back (birth) home to Guangzhou, China every single year. 2025 marks the first year I took a direct flight from San Francisco. Previously I had to make a transfer at Hong Kong, entailing another four hours of travel time on top of the 15 hours I just continuously spent on an airplane. Usually I am completely spent by the time I reach home.

Let me tell you: direct flight is magnitudes better in experience. This year I was back in the heart of Guangzhou by 9:00 AM (previously it would have been at least 1:00 PM). Not only that, it's a slightly shorter flight to CAN compared to HKG. For the first time, I actually had energy in reserve on arrival day, rather than zombie it through until I can properly sleep on the first night.

Let's hope China and United States relations remain amiable enough that the direct route from San Francisco to Guangzhou remains viable. But honestly the next three years is super difficult to predict. As I write this there's a 145% tariff on goods originating from China into the States. It does feel kind of weird to be a former Chinese national with a U.S. passport traveling between the two countries…

But what about me?

It’s not very nice to wake up to the news that the President of South Korea has declared martial law. Because I was selfishly thinking about the implications it has on my trip to Seoul in five months’ time. Would I be able to get into the country? I’m going to lose a non-inconsiderable sum if I have to cancel flights.

Good news for me - and South Korean citizens, obviously - the Korean National Assembly quickly gathered and voted unanimously to veto the President’s declaration. Crisis averted, democracy prevailed.

I would like to believe that should such craziness happen here in the States, our “guardrails” can also act quickly to stop it. Say what you want about January 6, but Congress - once safe - acted decisively to certify the election for Biden. There was not going to be a coup against the Constitution. Your misgivings may be about the incoming President (or any future Presidents) can be assuaged by our democratic rules. Richard Nixon won in an absolute landslide; two years later he was persona non grata.

Or maybe I’m too idealistic and optimistic. If America ever goes to actual war with China, you bet my Chinese-born ass is getting hauled to an internment camp. Koremastu can totally happen again, given enough social pressure and xenophobia. All it takes is five Supreme Court justices to affirm the action to be legal.

Sad thing is: in that hypothetical situation, I can’t even defect back to China! (Not that I would. Maybe.) My Chinese citizenship was forfeit soon as I naturalized as a U.S. citizen. The ruling Chinese government does not allow for dual-citizenship.

A free screwdriver

It’s kind of interesting that when I bought a non-stick fry pan on Amazon, it came with a full-size screwdriver to assemble the handle to the pan. It goes to show just how absurd the profit margins are on these products when they can afford to throw in a screwdriver for free. IKEA furniture at least expects you to have some tools at home. Or you can buy the tool set from them.

Avid watchers of Shark Tank understand how much margin are in the products we buy. It’s fine: that’s just how capitalism works. I needed a fry pan for eggs, another person is smart enough commission a factory in China to make them. I can certainly do it myself, but then I’d have thousands of fry pans that I’ve got to sell. I have a need, someone can fulfill that need, therefore that someone can reap the profits. (There’s a joke about hookers in there somewhere.)

The fact the seller can afford throw in a screwdriver for free with every pan shows how cheaply things can be made in my motherland of China. The country truly is the factory of the world. And with that means a whole spectrum of price and quality. I think it’s way past time to associate “Made in China” with horrible quality. Yes, many things coming out of China are crap (looking at you, Temu), but my brothers and sisters over there are equally capable of making world-class products.

Lest we forget, the Apple iPhone has been made in China for the longest time. The ever popular Fujifilm X100VI camera - a precision photographic device - is manufactured there. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a Hisense branded TV (if LG weren’t so damn fantastic with OLED).

The equation is simple: same (high) quality, lower labor cost. What corporation beholden to shareholders wouldn’t shift manufacturing to China - or any other country offering the same incentives. Made in U.S.A might only mean you’re overpaying for an American worker’s wage.

Always play offense

American football season is upon us, and all I can think about it to this past Super Bowl.

There I was in China on a Monday morning. Because that is how time zones work. While all my friends were gathered around the television on a Sunday afternoon back in the States, I was vacationing back home in Guangzhou. For a time I was concerned about how I was even going to watch the game. More so because our local team the San Francisco 49ers was in it. I can’t casually skip this one.

To the surprise of nobody, American football does not have a significant following in China. Besides, with an air time of 9:00 AM on a Monday morning, what working adult has time to even watch the game? Never mind finding a bar showing the broadcast. It’s way too early to be drinking, by anybody’s standards.

Lucky for me, the local sports station was showing the Super Bowl. I avoided performing many tricks to one, get by the Great Firewall of China, and two, get a not so legal stream of the broadcast.

The succinct memory I have of the game is during overtime. 49ers kicked a field goal instead of going for the touchdown. Soon as the ball sailed successfully through the uprights, I knew the game was over. You simply cannot take the safe points going up against Patrick Mahomes. Sure enough, he marched the Chiefs right down the field for a Super Bowl-winning touchdown.

The lesson is this: in life, you want to play offense. Even if it doesn’t materially increase the chances of success towards your goal, at least it minimizes regret. Because you took action, instead of reacting to what the world dishes out at you. Playing offense means leaving it all out there; there is nothing else you could have done differently.

Meanwhile, I bet the 49ers still sometimes think to themselves, “What if we went for it on 4th down during overtime, instead of kicking that field goal?”

There's no China in team

I love the Olympics. It’s a great reminder that there are no shortcuts in life. Because shortcuts, also known as cheating, is explicitly not allowed in Olympic competition. To reach a goal, there’s only the consistent grind. People love to see the end results of a triumphant victory, but behind that are countless sweaty sessions in a training gym. Successes are overnight only because on the television is the first time you’ve seen of some of these athletes.

The running joke regarding my mother country of China is that they perform superbly at individual events, but fail completely when it comes to team sports. If an event involves more than two people at once, it’s not going to go well for China. Doubles ping pong and synchronized diving? Not a problem. Football and basketball? A country of 1.4 billion souls can’t even qualify.

I have a theory on why this is so. In a way, Chinese culture is kind of selfish. For very good reasons, to be sure. The devastation wrought by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution created an ingrained atmosphere of not enough to go around. The zero-sum pie is very small. Therefore, for the common Chinese citizen, whatever you can get for yourself, you hang onto it for dear life. There’s no honor is sharing, because that means you yourself won’t have enough to survive.

There was a time when public bathrooms in China did not have toilet paper. Any stock would be stolen very quickly. You’d have to bring your own.

The saying goes: there’s no ‘I’ in team. A team of selfish athletes isn’t going to go very far. When the glory of personal accomplishment (and the financial rewards) overshadow pride for country, it’s obvious to see how China continues to fail at team sports on the world stage.