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May 8, 2019,
The learning curve to understand China is as deep as the Grand Canyon, as wide as Texas and as neon gaudy as Las Vegas.
It is a country that is broader, bolder and quietly more sensational than all of them combined, without possessing any of them.
If you want to scratch the surface of what China is about, one of the most financially successful and incredible cities there is Shanghai.
It is a good place to start.
Part of the confusion is that they are supposed to be a Socialist country, even a Communist country heaven forbid, but having said that, they are by far one of the most capitalist friendly and prosperous regions of the world.
And they just seem to be getting started.
Shanghai is one of the four municipalities under the direct administration of the central government of the People’s Republic of China, the largest city in China by population, and the second most populous city proper in the world, with a population of 24.18 million as of 2017.
Yes, you read that right. Over 24,000,000 people in the city proper. Mind blowing.
When many in the west think of China’s mega cities, visions of vibrant Hong Kong and massive but understated Beijing with lots of students riding bicycles come to mind.
Keep thinking Shanghai. Please.
It is a global financial center and transport hub, with the world’s busiest container port.
According to Forbes Magazine China registered a record 152 billionaires in the 2014 list, up nearly 25 percent from 122 last year, while Hong Kong clocked up 45 by comparison.
Located in the Yangtze River Delta, it sits on the south edge of the estuary of the Yangtze in the middle portion of the West China coast. The municipality borders the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the south, east and west, and is bound to the east by the East China Sea.
Shanghai has been described as the “showpiece” of the booming economy of mainland China; renowned for its Lujiazui skyline, museums and historic buildings.
Shanghai, we are incredibly impressed.
Happiness and prosperity aren’t just around the corner, they’re inside of that delicious seven course Chinese meal you are about to devour before you take the elevator up to your 25th floor luxury apartment with a view.
If you live in Los Angeles, Manhattan, Miami, possibly our San Francisco or Chicago, you might think you live in the center of the world, until you walk down the streets of Shanghai.
Around one corner is the old world connected to the new financially bustling one around the other.
China is a country that has not been at war for decades and that is a factor is their monetary growth where resources do not have to be committed to war machines but instead to manufacturing and businesses.
In terms of financially successful women in China, their numbers are surging. Often they spend some time studying at prestigious universities in the United States or other Western countries, then they return home to make their fortune.
Shanghai after all is a city of immigrants.
It is also a region populated with successful women.
Ms. Perenna Kei is one of them. Have you heard of her? If you haven’t, then you should. She is bright, beautiful and very rich.
Tremendously rich.
Perenna Kei, also known as Kei Hoi Ting in Cantonese and Ji Kaiting in Mandarin pinyin is a Chinese businesswoman and billionaire.
In 2014, Forbes named her the youngest billionaire in the world at age 24, with a net worth of US $1.3 billion.
That our friends is the essence of Shanghai.
Kei has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics. The power of immigration.
She owns 85% of Logan Property Holdings through a family trust and multiple companies, and is a non-executive director of the company.
Logan is a major real estate company run by her father Ji Haipeng, who is the chairman and CEO. The company is headquartered in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, and develops real estate for the Chinese market. Logan had a revenue of US $1 billion in 2012, and went public in December 2013.
The following is an example of her bright mind.
In May 2010, Logan Property was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, with Kei as the sole shareholder. Over the following years, Kei became the majority shareholder, using various British Virgin Islands holding companies and a family trust which she started in Guernsey.
Her father is a Chinese citizen, and in China, holdings in any offshore company must be declared and taxes paid on any dividends, but Kei became a Hong Kong resident in 2012, where ownership of offshore companies does not need to be declared to China and their dividends are not taxed.
Very clever. Raise a glass to her.
A celebratory drink leads us to think about some wonderful delicious food of which Shanghai has an abundance.
Shanghai dishes usually appear red and shiny because they are often pickled in wine.
This might surprise you.
According to CNBC, China has topped France and Italy to become the world’s biggest consumer of red wine, according to a study by International Wine & Spirit Research commissioned by Vinexpo.
The delicious unique cuisines are cooked using a variety of methods including baking, stewing, braising, steaming and deep-frying.
Fish, crab and chicken are made “drunken” with spirits and briskly cooked, steamed or served raw. Salted meats and preserved vegetables are also commonly used to enhance various dishes. Sugar is an important ingredient in Shanghai cuisine, especially when used in combination with soy sauce. Another characteristic is the use of a great variety of seafood. Rice is more commonly served than noodles or other wheat products.
Based upon that, as you might guess, sweet and sour is a typical Shanghai taste.
The exceptional globetrotters at Lonely Planet add, “Thirty years ago Shànghǎi’s dour restaurant scene was all tin trays and scowling waiting staff, with international food confined to the dining rooms of ‘exclusive’ hotels. Today the mouth-watering restaurant scene is varied, exciting and up to the minute – and Shànghǎi has its own Michelin dining guide in 2017, proving just how far the city has come. Food is the hub of Chinese social life. It’s over a meal that people catch up with friends, celebrate and clinch business deals, and spend hard-earned cash. Some of your best memories of the city could be culinary, so do as the Shanghainese do and make a meal of it.”
We certainly love the aroma of all of that.
Especially the handmade foods. An art that is disappearing.
There is a winning spirit in Shanghai that seems to be over laying a deeply spiritual city.
Yes, we only scratched the surface of Shanghai amd even less of massive China but even a touch makes us feel satisfied, full and substantially rich.
Please raise your wine glass.
~ ~ ~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai
https://www.asiaone.com/news/plush/beautiful-chinese-ceos-who-command-millions-assets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perenna_Kei
https://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/03/chinese-billionaires-growing-at-phenomenal-rate-forbes.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_cuisine
https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/28/worlds-biggest-red-wine-consumer-is-now.html
