#288 Grand Opening

Monday was the ceremonial grand opening for Caterpillar Suzhou. We had a big ceremony with dignitaries and visitors from all over China and the world. The guests of honor were the Suzhou government VIPs and three Caterpillar vice presidents. One of those VPs is my boss' boss' boss from Peoria. My boss' boss from Decatur, IL was also here. It made for a busy week with all of the upper management in town.

The Grand Opening consisted of a formal ceremony, tour of the factory, and a wine-soaked lunch at the Yangcheng Lake Fairmont Hotel. There were many speeches and we received many compliments on the appearance of the factory and the progress that has been made since the groundbreaking exactly two years ago.

I can tell you that all of us at the Suzhou plant feel very proud and excited to show off the factory. We are the first new machine plant that Caterpillar has built in over 20 years and the factory is world class.

Above, you can see pictures of the red carpet welcome area, three of my proud colleagues (Ellen, Mike, and Manley), the group assembly, and the row of VIPs.

#287 Avatar

We went to see Avatar at the Suzhou theater today. It is showing on multiple screens with the choice between normal theater 3D, IMAX 3D, normal theater 2D, Chinese language, and English language. We went for the normal theater 3D English option. The IMAX 3D would have cost us over $100 to take the family - sorry James Cameron - tai gui le.

The kids liked Avatar, except Maria who gave it two thumbs down for being too loud, too scary, and too long. I thought it was very entertaining, though a bit left-leaning. It was rumored that the Chinese media felt the same way, as there were rumors of Avatar in disfavor because of the theme of the minority uprising.

The movie theater is at the Suzhou Science and Cultural Arts Center (SSCAC) which is Suzhou's version of the birds nest. It sits in a prominent spot on the shore of Jinji Lake. Like everything along Jinji Lake it is decorated with multicolored lights that make quite a show each night. You can also see that the movie is very popular - there was a mob buying tickets and waiting in the slowest movie ticket line I have ever experienced.

#286 Xiao Hong

Dealing with house repairs is always a challenge in China. The picture above is of Xiao Hong, the local property manager and problem solver who works for our landlord. The kitchen in our house was peculiar because it had no drawers, only cabinets with shelves. One of Kathleen's early requests to the manager was to install drawers for things like silverware and plastic wrap. This was done several months ago, but the drawers have recently been sticking and coming off the track.

A typical repair such as this will take 6 to 8 visits to correct, though the root cause is obvious - the drawer runners are too light duty for the application. The first two visits, Xiao Hong put the drawer back on the track, but did not actually repair anything. After the drawer continued to fail, he remedied the situation by taking half of our silverware out of the drawer, putting it on the countertop, and informing us that the items are too heavy. Fifth visit, he adds a couple more screws to the small runners to hold them more securely to the drawer.

One of Mr. Hong's idiosyncracies is that he never brings his own tools or hardware. Instead he goes to the hallway closet and helps himself to my tools and box of screws. What kind of handyman shows up with no tools and goes into the tenant's closet for a screwdriver and screws ?

There is no conclusion yet to this story. Last visit Xiao Hong told us that it is impossible to find heavier drawer supports. This is silly, of course, so I asked him to look anyway. We hope he will be back next week with new hardware. In the meantime, I will be hiding my toolbox on the third floor.

#285 Xinjiang Food

Last week, I went out with a group of co-workers to a new Xinjiang restaurant. The guests of honor, were the three Brazilian men pictured above, Marcio, Parreira, and Weligton. They are spending a month in Suzhou as expert consultants in the assembly of Motor Graders. The dinner was to thank them for their support.

Xinjiang is a huge province is the far west of China bordering Russia, Mongolia, India, and the four "stans". It seems to have similarities in culture to the western United States. There is a non-Han Chinese population called Uighurs (pronounced "wee-gurs"). Uighurs are muslim and share much in common with the middle eastern cultures to the west. The Uighurs traditionally rode horses, raised animals, and some were nomads.

The food is more of a meat and potatoes cuisine than typical Chinese food and has some middle eastern spice and flavor. The centerpiece dish is the whole roast lamb you see in the picture above. We had to order it a day in advance. The Brazilians liked this food because the are very much into having lots of barbecued meat.

We also "enjoyed" a liquor called "ma nai jiu" which is a nasty, strong, alcohol made from fermented horse milk - another traditional drink in Xinjiang.