YOGAYUGA

I have been catching up with the news of Southern California wildfire. It’s so terrible. I also found this article very true about the fire and the warming. It’s hard the world can be in peace no matter in which way…..I always feel bad when I see sad news on T.V. It doesn’t really matter if it is related to me or not. I cherish even more for what I have as I feel I am very lucky.

There are millions of Chinese toys being recalled by the US recently. UK and Australia are also involved. Personally, I have my own opinion on this issue. I am also in the industry. I can see the problems occurred in both buyers and sellers.

Chinese production needs to be under strict control policy. This is the overall understanding of buyers worldwide towards Chinese market. The labour cost is low, so the production cost is low. This is why Chinese production is popular. Eg. Chinese production costs USD0.30/plush toy vs US production cost USD10.00/plush toy It’s a big difference. Strict policy is very much related to the production cost. If strict requirement needed to be achieved then certain policies should be adopted before products shipped aboard. A piece of plush toy is qualified to pass the standard international safety testing, which should cost USD1.00 - USD1.50/pc. If buyers gave a high price for purchasing, the factory will use high quality raw material to produce. But if the price was low, then they can only use inferior materials for production. This is the matter of fact. You get what you pay. Sometimes, it is really not a good idea to bargain too hard with Chinese manufacturers, as buyers will risk getting shoddy products.

Per my personal experience, every production of 100,000pcs of toys required two details testing conducted by international safety service before everything shipped to the U.S. If the quantity is up to 500,000pcs, then it will require three details testing to be conducted as well as factory audit. There will be up to 10% - 20% of products being tested and inspected randomly in one shipment. More testing conduct, more costs need to pay. It’s all about money issues. All qualified testing are well covered such as high lead content, physical and mechanical testing, packing evaluation and heavy metals analysis. If any of these couldn’t be passed, none of pieces can leave China. Design problem can also be tested under these criteria. We don’t allow suppliers to send us samples for testing. We appointed our testing service to collect samples on site. No one can cheat. This is adopted and restricted by our clients in the U.S. The testing service is appointed by them. They limited any chance of getting risk. They pay much more on their products, but we all are safe. No one will make any compensation in the end. They really get what they should have.

I am not trying to say who is making mistake, but I honestly don’t understand how come those big brand toy companies would have these problems occurred after they had their products on shelves. All the problems they are facing now, they can solve them right at the beginning. They are buyers, so they can control what they get. They just need to conduct very tighten control plan for every single detail process. It certainly requires them to pay much more on their production costs. Some toy recalls are actually back to 2003, then certainly they hadn’t done much control planning. The victims are consumer in the end.

Chinese production really needs to be controlled and strictly instructed according to my experiences. You need to tell the suppliers “YOU HAVE TO DO THIS” “IF YOU DIDN”T DO THIS, WE CAN’T HAVE OUR BUSINESS MAINTAINED” I always tell my suppliers they have to pass this and that, otherwise, they will pay all failure charges. I must tell them fact rather than let them to take everything too easy. It’s always very tough situation in Mainland production.

Regardless of what the issues are, I don’t believe Chinese production is all bad. It needs support and instruction of international partners. It needs smooth communication and co-operation of various parties solving these issues. Once mistakes made, there must be improvement. It could be an unlucky period for Chinese production, but it’s also a good way to step forward, and learn. This is how I think.

Starbuck is totally out of Forbidden City. After years of protests against Starbuck by tramping in Chinese culture, it eventually closed down. The new policy of Forbidden City announced that they are going to have an unique brand name for all kinds of products being sold inside Forbidden City included coffee. They required Starbuck to sell Chinese national brand coffee rather than their own brand coffee if they wanted to remain their store inside the Forbidden City. Of course, Starbuck chose to leave the palace. It was funny that the store is going to be taken place by a national brand store selling national coffee. It’s kind of sarcastic for my understanding. Let says some people want to kick western culture out of the Chinese palace, but they want to sell national brand “western coffee” for national benefit?? Is it contradicting? Coffee is part of the western culture. If Forbidden City needed to remain being very Chinese, then why they need a store selling coffee regardless what brand they are. Coffee is still coffee. Coffee is from the west. Tea is from the east. Why don’t they sell tea? Traditional Chinese tea should be respected, and being introduced completely in a historical palace. Well sure, there must be a tea house somewhere inside the palace, but it seems to be less important in this case.

There is a joke spreading around in big cities of Mainland China.

“If I wasn’t in the office, I must be in Starbuck. If I wasn’t in Starbuck, I must be on my way to Starbuck.”

You can tell how popular of Starbuck is in Mainland China around middle class people and young teenagers. Starbuck is very popular in HK too apart from office people and general public you can see them often; there must be many students around. Students love to sit in Starbuck and Pacific Coffee for hours. They can buy one drink, and sit there, doing their homeworks with laptops on the tables. This is the reason why Starbuck and Pacific Coffee are both so crowdy almost over ten hours a day no matter which one you go. If I didn’t remember it wrong, Starbuck entered in HK market after year of 2000. The first time I visited Starbuck was in Taiwan. Taiwan is a place filled with American and Japanese coffee and restaurant chains, which I don’t think HK will have them at all.

Since I met such congested situation in Starbuck and Pacific Coffee, I found Prets. Prets has less stores compared with Starbuck and Pacific Coffee, and mainly located in HK island side but usually you can find seats easily. People don’t stay long. I hardly see students as the environment is not suitable for them. They can’t connect their laptops with wireless. Since I tried the Americano of Prets, I am really addicted to it. I don’t drink coffee much, but I seriously love their Americano. Theirs is actually Italian type. When I finished one, I would just want another cup, and must be the hot one. The feeling is just so good by having it.

1st July is by the corner.

I have watched a short interview on TV about how Chris Patten thinks about the changes of Hong Kong after it was hanged back to China ten years ago. He said the changes of HK are much better than what he thought ten years ago. Chris Patten did the reasonable good jobs before he left. We still remember very well how much he likes HK style egg tarts and how beautiful three of his daughters are. During his interview, he particularly mentioned two of his daughters married and he became headmaster of two universities in the U.K. He understands so well what kind of topics HK people like to hear about his family.

I wasn’t in HK though ten years ago. I really don’t know what the feeling was. My sister told me I missed the best scene of my life. She said she will never forget the scene. I spent 19 years in HK so far, not continuously, from time to time. I have never thought that HK would get any worse after 1997. The period of SARS and stock market crash was tough, but we did go through fine. Many did emigrate to overseas before 1997, but most did come back for good. Shanghai is regarded as an international city to replace HK in the coming 10 years, but seems there is still long way to go. This major worry doesn’t seem to bother us much anymore. The positive growth of Chinese economy is the best advantage of HK. Chinese government does concern very much the position of HK in China. We are all looking forward to seeing all the good development of HK in the shortcoming future.

I am happy about HK, Mainland, Taiwan, U.K., and anywhere I had ever been. I am happy to live in anywhere actually. It doesn’t matter where I live, it does only matter if I had happy life.

“I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end”

Tony Blair has stood down as prime minister today. I still remember the excellent speech he gave ten years ago on the first day he became prime minister. The way he described Princess Diana as “people’s princess”, that I believe many won’t forget. However, Tony Blair’s family posed outside Downing Street for a final time today. I think the Question time is still not an easy section for Tony Blair’s last day as prime minister.

And Gordon Brown period begins.

I can’t imagine such incident still exists in the 21st century. It sounds like something happened in 19th century old China. The youngest kid found who is only four years old….dear…

I read this news on Chinese newspaper this morning. A cat got inside the cargo container, and being shipped to the US from Shanghai. The whole journey took 35 days. This cat survived through these days without food and water. It is very amazing. We always say cats do have “nine lives” in Chinese. It means cats don’t die easily. It seems really true though. The vet said cats can live without food for 3 or 4 weeks, but can only live without water for few days. Surprisingly, this cat has very strong liver that it can survive without water for 35 days. The colleague of goods owner will adopt the cat once the cat has been released after body examination for 6 months in pet protection centre. This cat is already named “China” by its new master.

I have just watched the fascinating speech given by Tony Blair on television. His speech is always powerful.

“Sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down.”

“I came into office with high hopes for Britain’s future, and I leave it with even higher hopes for Britain’s future.”

“I give my thanks to you, the British people, for the times that I have succeeded - and my apologies for the times I have fallen short.”

“And for many it simply isn’t and can’t be worth it. For me, I think we must see it through. They, the terrorists who threaten us here and around the world, will never give up if we give up. It is a test of will and of belief and we can’t fail.”

Tony Blair has announced he will stand down as prime minister on 27 June. I do feel a bit sorry for his resignation. He did a good job and reformed many aspects of society in the UK though is not perfect. He has contributed the positive development of the Irish peace process. His policy did recover the backward of UK economy in the past ten years. If he didn’t deal with anything about the war in Iraq, he would stay until the next election at least. However, he still insists on his policy towards the war in Iraq during the parliament debate yesterday. It was a bad decision in terms of stimulating terrorism rather than reducing it. It’s really a worst effect overall to lead to a great distrust of him.

Anyway, Tony Blair is the most successful Labour prime minister ever in the past history. I think the person who will replace his position; must have hard time to recover the confidence of British towards Labour Party.

Osama bin Laden is on the list, but Bush is not….

We are now supposed in the transformation period between spring and summer, but I am feeling like in winter….

Global Warming!!