A Few Notes on Living in China - Taxis, Banks, Ugly Characters

Taxis in Beijing cost RMB 1.60 (~20 cents) a kilometer. There's talk that the fare will be raised to 1.80 or 2.00 per kilometer by the end of this year. Gasoline prices have risen dramatically here (I think gas is around $1.85 a gallon here now), so the taxi drivers are really hurting, but raising the fare isn't the best idea to help them out. The cabbies tell me that if fares jumped to 1.80 to 2.00, the demand for their services would fall off a cliff (stable demand from fat expats notwithstanding). The average cabbie works over 12 hours a day and takes home about RMB 2200 (~270 dollars) a month.

I went to my Chinese bank (Industrial & Commercial Bank of China) to deposit a dollar-denominated check issued by another branch of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China. I had to wait in line for half an hour (which was a very short wait compared to the people who were doing RMB business) and was told that it would cost me RMB 20 (~2.50 dollars) to deposit the check, and it would clear in approximately two months. Good thing I don't need the money now.

I next went across the street to the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank to send the landlord some money. (I can avoid paying a transfer fee by depositing the money into the landlord's bank account directly.) I had to wait in line half an hour there as well, but at least the transaction went very smoothly.

Lastly I went to the HSBC branch to do a very complicated multi-currency transaction (I won't go into the gory details). My wait time was zero, I was served a cold soda and a bowl of chocolates while I sat in a plush chair, and the transaction was completed in under five minutes. Do you understand now why foreign banks want access to the local market?

One disturbing thing I saw while looking out of the window of the bank: A young Chinese woman was waiting for a taxi. A young foreign woman came out to wait for a taxi too. Lastly two young Chinese men came out to get a taxi.

When the first taxi arrived the young Chinese men ushered the waiting foreign woman into it, ignoring the Chinese woman. When the next taxi came (a kind of junky taxi), the young Chinese guys pushed past the Chinese woman to get into it. After they got into the junky cab, a nice cab came up and the Chinese woman (who was first in line don't forget) started towards it. The young Chinese guys jumped out of the junky taxi and tried to get into the nice cab ahead of the Chinese woman, but she beat them there. I could see that they were swearing at her as she closed the door.

What a nasty business and a perfect example of the character of some Chinese men... toadying to the foreign lady, and abusive towards their fellow Chinese.

Natural Gas Explosion - NGAS, NGS

Natural gas plays have been all the rage since about the end of July. Super-low float micro-cap stocks like these two have moved wildly higher in a flash. Parabolic moves tend to end badly though, so folks holding these stocks have to be aware of the risk of self-immolation.

NGAS, Weekly Chart

NGS, Weekly Chart