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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 3985 City of Palo Alto (ID # 3985) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Informational Report Meeting Date: 8/5/2013 City of Palo Alto Page 1 Summary Title: Update on Yangpu "Smart Cities" Partnership Title: Update on “Smart Cities” Partnership with Yangpu District, Shanghai, China From: City Manager Lead Department: City Manager Background In December of 2012, Staff gave a presentation of the Council/Staff experiences as part of the Bay Area Council’s delegation visit to China. At that time, the Council discussed the City’s partnership agreement with the Yangpu District of Shanghai, China. Staff was directed to 1) Explore the Palo Alto Unified School District’s interest in creating a student exchange program; 2) Engage the Bay Area Council and Yangpu Officials to explore City participation in a “Smart Cities” Conference in Summer 2013, and 3) Engage the Stanford Research Park Management and employers to identify areas of mutual interest and potential collaboration with the Bay Area-Yangpu Digitization Park management and employers. This informational report is an update on those efforts. Further, Staff was directed to prepare a study session for the first half of 2013 to discuss metrics for determining whether a relationship with a foreign city is successful and to establish criteria for future relationships. The study session was tentatively agendized for May, but has been rescheduled for August 12, 2013. (Excerpt Minutes are included as Attachment 1) Update Palo Alto/ Yangpu Summer Youth Pilot Program In exploring the potential for a Youth Exchange Program with the Palo Alto Unified School District executive Staff and board, Vice Mayor Shepherd, Council Member Berman, and Staff were put in touch with teachers in charge of the Mandarin Immersion programs at the high school level for PAUSD. As the idea for the program took shape, two parents of students in the PAUSD program, Manao and Peter Keegan, City of Palo Alto Page 2 emerged as motivated volunteers to lead an exchange program to Yangpu that would be valuable to young adults in Palo Alto’s high schools. In a very short period of time, they were able to drive the planning effort for what became the “Palo Alto/ Yangpu Summer Youth Pilot Program”. The program was designed to build on the foundations of the Longfeifei Summer Youth Program (LFF), an established language and cultural immersion program provided in conjunction with Fudan University (in Yangpu) and administered locally by the Fudan University Alumni Association of Northern California (FDAANC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit in California. Although Longfeifei’s programs are typically for younger students, they agreed to prepare and staff a language and cultural immersion program appropriate for high school age students. Through the Keegan’s experience and contacts, as well as relationships forged by the Palo Alto/ Bay Area Council delegation visit, the LFF program was enhanced to also provide the young adults experiential learning through visits to several large companies, universities, and government institutions. As the planning came together, the Keegan’s, along with Vice Mayor Shepherd, put out an invitation to young adults and parents at both Palo Alto and Gunn High Schools to gauge interest/ participation levels. In an effort to defray costs and make the program more attractive to a wide array of students, Ken Fong, a local entrepreneur, made a commitment to underwrite a significant portion of the student’s expenses ($7500). As a gesture of support for the program, the City Manager agreed to include a small per diem for each student ($10/day). Due to time constraints and to make the process as streamlined as possible, through the guidance of the City Attorney, the City made the payment to FDAANC. The City was subsequently reimbursed by the donor, who generously covered not only his committed amount but also the small per diem amount. After several informational meetings, 6 students and their parents made a commitment to join the pilot program. Beyond the typical LFF registration process, waivers and travel arrangements, students were required to submit an explanation of why they were interested in the pilot program as well as what they expected to learn and experience. All the appropriate arrangements were made, and the students headed out for the program at the end of June. The three week program was extremely well thought out and implemented, largely thanks to the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Keegan and LFF Staff. The Bay Area Council Staff in Yangpu were also extremely helpful. A daily update log was provided via email by Mr. Keegan, which is provided as Attachment 2. As you can see, the program was very robust and provided an extremely valuable and memorable experience for all of the youth involved. City of Palo Alto Page 3 As part of their commitment, the students are preparing a presentation for the Council and Community in September. US-China Collaboration Symposium An effort largely driven by the Bay Area Council in conjunction with the California Governor’s office, Vice Mayor Shepherd has been involved on the steering committee planning for the “Smart Cities” Symposium. The event is planned for October 13-20 in China at Fudan University in Yanpgu. It will include representatives from government and business in both California and China. City Leaders have been invited to take part in three days of panels, meetings, presentations, and other programming focused on areas of interest specific to cities. As part of the steering committee, Vice Mayor Shepherd has been focused on Palo Alto’s involvement and how it can be most valuable to the City. Stanford Research Park Since early 2013, some meetings have taken place between Council and Staff and the Research Park Management/Companies. These have included a background presentation by the RP Staff, as well as some hosted visits by delegations from China and elsewhere. The focus of the company contacts in regards to Yangpu has initially been focused on making connections for the Youth Exchange Program. Staff will continue exploring a deeper relationship with the Research Park management and staff with respect to the City of Palo Alto’s international endeavors, and their potential involvement. Neighbors Abroad The Economic Development Manager maintains regular communications with the NA leaders and has attended some NA board meetings. Due to the rapid nature of the Youth Exchange Program planning, Neighbors Abroad was not asked to formally endorse the program for summer of 2013. They were informed of the planning activities, and provided valuable advice and perspective. NA Members will certainly be invited to attend the presentations by the students in September. Also, it is anticipated that if the program is to continue in 2014 that Neighbors Abroad would be approached for formal endorsement/inclusion. Attachments:  Attachment 1: Excerpt CC Minutes 12-17-12 (PDF)  Attachment 2: Yangpu Exchange Program Email Diary (DOCX) MINUTES Page 7 of 19 City Council Meeting Minutes: 12/17/12 building designed to house Kindergarten and Pre-K classroom and after school day-care program activities. MOTION PASSED: 8-0 Price absent 19. Presentation and Update on Council and Staff Visit to Yangpu District, China and Request for Direction on Next Steps of Partnership Between the City of Palo Alto and the Yangpu District of China. James Keene, City Manager said Mayor Yeh, Council Member Shepherd, Council Member Elect Berman, and Staff went to Yangpu, China. He said Palo Alto entered into a three year agreement with the Yangpu District. Yangpu had a relationship with the Bay Area Council and Palo Alto City Council wanted to discover the potential for a partnership. The visit to Yangpu included visits to technological parks, official meetings, and dinners. He commented on how the Bay Area Council partnership helped to leverage the value of the relationship. Establishing relationships helped to set a foundation that benefited Palo Alto. Thomas Fehrenbach, Economic Development Manager said there were several steps Staff sought Council direction on. Council sought to gauge the interest of Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) in a foreign internship/exchange program and wanted to determine Palo Alto’s involvement with the conference of Smart Cities in China, possibly including Stanford University. Additionally, Council wanted to explore partnership and collaborative opportunities. Mayor Yeh said the goal was to come back to Council with a clear follow up on the three year timeframe of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed with Yangpu District in China and the City of Palo Alto. Del Christensen, Bay Area Council member and Department Chief of Global Business Development thought the relationship was a very collaborative one and said working together was positive. The Yangpu district wanted to have some kind of a presence in the Silicon Valley; there were education programs he thought could be beneficial. China invited Palo Alto to the second annual Smart Cities Symposium in September and wanted to continue the conversation of building Smart Cities at that time. The Yangpu District was emerging from an industrial to an innovational zone and there were a lot of similarities between Yangpu and Palo Alto. He remarked that Stanford Research Park collaborated with similar projects that were emerging in China. Mayor Yeh said PAUSD needed to take the lead in instituting the foreign exchange program, imitating the model of the Japanese Sister City Program. MINUTES Page 8 of 19 City Council Meeting Minutes: 12/17/12 He said one difference between the Japanese Sister City Program and the Yangpu District Program was that Yangpu focused on internship opportunities. Part of the effort was to connect with several of the companies that existed in the Stanford Research Park District and for Yangpu to pursue opportunities with Palo Alto students, in tandem with PAUSD. In discussions with PAUSD with regard to Yangpu China, he asked school board members why students were learning Mandarin Chinese. Many said they learned the language to prepare for future career opportunities. This relationship aligned with the Youth Forum and PAUSD. He said having different complexity levels within the Student Exchange Program, the Smart Cities Program, and the Research Parks Program made the converge exciting. Council Member Shepherd mentioned Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State’s program called 100,000 Strong, a program dedicated to bringing 100,000 youth to China. Council reached out to the Super Intendant of PAUSD in order to connect with the Instructional Supervisors of the high schools and with parents of the students studying Mandarin Chinese. Dana Tom, PAUSD Board Member spoke from the perspective of a School Board Member and a parent. He referenced the Spanish internship/partnerships and said there was not a lot of effort that was needed to arrange the exchange. He thought it was good to speak to parents about their level of interest in the program and the volunteer participation options available. Council Member Holman asked what the financial arrangement was for the Smart Cities Conference. Mr. Keene said they did not have that information at this time and said the Smart Cities Program was part of combining a lot of different components of cities in many ways, and how it was timely to be thinking of the 2014 Symposium in Palo Alto. Council Member Holman confirmed that there was no notion of what the cost was. Mr. Keene said he would be coming back to Council at a later date with the cost. Council Member Espinosa mentioned the Neighbor’s Abroad Program and the Sister Cities Program relationship and wanted better understanding on where the Yangpu China relationship was headed. He talked about how the cities connected with Palo Alto wanted an economic partnership with Palo Alto and how that meant having nonprofit organizations run these programs. MINUTES Page 9 of 19 City Council Meeting Minutes: 12/17/12 He wondered if more cities were getting involved, where this left the Sister Cities Program and what the difference was in the present educational programs and Yangpu China. Mr. Fehrenbach commented that Neighbor’s Abroad meant mainly building cultural relationships and was a way to engage citizens in Palo Alto. He said Neighbor’s Abroad expressed interest in being involved in Yangpu China. Mr. Keene said a lot of the visitors from other countries helped show what opportunities there were. These relationships made clear the criteria for participation, allowing people to see new potential in economic, intellectual, and innovative ways. Palo Alto did not have infrastructure requirements outlined, but the Bay Area Council partnership helped to build requirements. There was a potential for the Sister Cities relationships to evolve and said the criteria that should be discussed was why, who, and how was Palo Alto going to support and sustain these relationships. Council Member Espinosa thought it was good to understand what the relationship looked like before engaging in a partnership, but more importantly, deciding where in the world Palo Alto should build partnerships, rather than being reactive about decisions. Mayor Yeh said there was some discussion on different ways for community members to be engaged with the Sister Cities Programs and what it meant to have an inactive status. There was an acknowledgement from Neighbor’s Abroad that some programs might need to be reinvigorated. The Student Internship Program was not intended to touch City Staff, the responsibility was on parents. One reason for choosing China was Palo Alto had a 15 percent Asian population, and in high schools the ratio was higher. He said this was an opportunity for people who were not civically engaged to be involved. He pointed out that Staff was not using time to arrange the 2013 Symposium in China, but was going to use time for the 2014 Conference held in Palo Alto. He said Stanford Research Park received a lot of interest to host and set up meetings. Mr. Keene said this was fair criticism and said they safeguarded themselves a little by creating a three year pilot program with Yangpu. He thought Staff learned a lot on how to build and sustain these types of relationships. Who Palo Alto wanted to be partnered with was a conversation that needed to happen in the future. In the case of Heidelberg and the dialogue had there, he asked if there were practices, leadership lessons, or healthy competition that could be used in the realm of municipal urban sustainability improvements that a city was able to make. With regard to the Sister Cities relationship, there was proactivity on their part and said there was MINUTES Page 10 of 19 City Council Meeting Minutes: 12/17/12 something to learn from places in Europe as well, adapting or deepening the relationships they already had. With any new relationship, he suggested a pilot program before engaging in something long term. Council Member Espinosa said the questions were Staff should create a pilot program before engaging in any new relationship, not why China, why Heidelberg. He wanted to know how they came to choose this particular relationship. Council Member Burt said in terms of collaboration with other community groups, the City had entities where people congregate, for example, with international schools and faith groups. Those organizations were yearning for relationships. He encouraged PAUSD to look at the relationship differently and said this could be done with facilitators. He said this meant working with parents within the community. He did not think this relationship was a reactive one, it was responsive. This relationship was not only grounded at a center of technology, but it involved the demographics of our community. The Mayor wanted to engage civic activity in Palo Alto, the Bay Area Council helped elevate that. He said the question was what commonalities were there between Palo Alto and Yangpu. Yangpu had innovation centers, did it have a strong commitment to urban sustainability, and was it university orientated. He thought this was a good avenue for collaboration and said Palo Alto needed to look outside the boundaries for participation; there was no reason to limit the relationship. Council Member Klein thought they should ask what they really wanted out of these relationships and was Palo Alto looking to make money for the community. He asked if the relationship increased sales by so many millions, was that the model, or was it about exchanging ideas about environment, or culture. He said Yangpu was very different than the Neighbor’s Abroad Program because the Yangpu China relationship was a business relationship. He was hopeful that Council and Staff would find the time to figure out what Palo Alto wanted. He thought it was good to ask how many of these relationships Palo Alto was going to be able to handle and what the goal was. He suggested looking at this relationship the opposite way. For example, he asked if there was a possibility of being a donor, or big brother and did Palo Alto want to be a peer only. MOTION: Council Member Shepherd moved, seconded by Mayor Yeh to accept the report of activities of the recent Bay Area Council delegation to China and direct staff to continue pursuing a formal “Smart Cities” partnership with the Yangpu District of Shanghai (Yangpu) by 1) Exploring the Palo Alto Unified School District’s interest in creating a student exchange program, 2) Engaging with Bay Area Council and Yangpu Officials to explore MINUTES Page 11 of 19 City Council Meeting Minutes: 12/17/12 City participation in a “Smart Cities” Conference in Summer 2013, and 3) Engaging the Stanford Research Park management and employers to identify areas of mutual interest and potential collaboration with the Bay Area- Yangpu Digitization Park management and employers. Council Member Shepherd said most of these questions were discussed on the trip. For example, they asked how Palo Alto was going to develop the next steps and why Palo Alto was entering in this relationship. Many people had relationships with China. She said there was a lot of connectivity that Council did not look at. This brought better thinking, not just with the community, but on a corporate level. Mayor Yeh was excited to deepen the relationship with the Bay Area City Council. The Motion encouraged community engagement and brought in new ideas about being civically engaged. He was very supportive of Council Member Klein’s comments. INCORPORATED INTO MOTION WITH THE CONSENT OF THE MAKER AND SECONDER to direct Staff to prepare a study session in the first half of 2013 to discuss metrics for determining whether a relationship with a foreign city is successful and criteria for future relationships. MOTION PASSED: 8-0 Price absent 18. 2012 Year in Review. James Keene, City Manager said it was good to look back on the year to reflect on accomplishments and to consider what needed to be done. The National Citizen Survey for 2012 showed data on improvements in the quality of life, the quality of Palo Alto’s services, Palo Alto’s neighborhoods, Palo Alto as a place to use, and recommending Palo Alto as a place. The survey enabled Palo Alto to benchmark their numbers and performance against other jurisdictions in the United States. Service ratings for Economic Development, Emergency Preparedness, and Recreation Centers increased and showed excellent or good; many of Palo Alto’s characteristics were above the national benchmark. When compared with County, State, and Federal government, Palo Alto scored significantly higher. He said the Council Priorities were City Finances, Land Use and Transportation, Emergency Preparedness, Environmental Sustainability, and Community Collaboration for Youth Well Being. The City Finances balanced and closed with a $5.8 million gap and $2.4 million in Ongoing Structural Changes. Since 2009 in the General Fund, there was a surplus of $9 million in Ongoing Structural Changes. Palo Alto was at the forefront in Structural Compensation Benefits with five new labor agreements adopted; Palo Alto kept its AAA Utility Bond Rating. $7.5 million was saved by refinancing the Yangpu Student Exchange Program Email Diary Day 1 July 1st Hello all! As you can imagine we've had a busy day here on our first day. The kids are checked into the dorm at Fudan University, Fuzhong. The kids' luggage showed up last night. In the morning they started their Chinese classes. In the afternoon I took them on a tour of the city via the subway. They were taught how to ask directions in Chinese on how to get to the metro, which metro stop is for Fudan University, how to buy tickets, how to order food in Chinese, and got a crash course on bartering in Chinese (always counter-offer with 25% of the asking point) :) Today is our finance industry introduction. We will be meeting with Wells Fargo Bank in the Pudong Lujiazui Area, followed up by a trip to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. We are still working out the details on internet connectivity and SIM cards for the phones. There have been some non-compatibility issues with local cards and the kids phones, we will try to work on that today. We will be out and about quite a bit during our stay here, and communications are not always available, but I will keep you all posted as much as I can. Things are going well here. We are trying to get the kids in direct communication with you today. Great day for Day Two. (7/2) The kids are continuing their Chinese classes. They essentially get a week's worth of Chinese everyday. In Palo Alto they have Chinese for an hour a day, three days a week. Here they have Chinese three hours a day. They reminded me that in the small group setting they also have much more interaction with their teacher as well. I have noticed them joking in Chinese and playing with the language. For day two we started at Wells Fargo, where we were briefed by Han Lin, the Deputy General Manager. His background alone was worth the visit. After college he used his black belt in Taekwando and Karate to join the US Marines as a hand to hand combat instructor. He then joined the Peace Corps stationed in the Ukraine. Returning to the US, he went to Johns-Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he enrolled in the Russian program, but then switched to the Chinese program. Han Lin told us that he gives the same briefing we received to the US State Department, the US Treasury Department, and frequent high-level delegations from the US military. His comments were that he was very impressed with the depth of the questions your kids asked. Commenting that the US delegations frequently don't ask the probing questions your kids did. After Wells we swung by the Shanghai Stock Exchange for a quick intro, and then let the kids run amok in an underground five-and-dime market for more street level Chinese practice. For Day Three we are scheduled for visits to the US-China Research Center at Fudan University, who help formulate Chinese policy toward the US, a visit to the Bay Area Council, a non-governmental organization who help SF Bay Area companies get their feet on the ground in China, followed by dinner with the Yangpu District government. Will let you know how it goes... Day Three The monsoon season is officially over. The weather broadcast says so. And they are right. It is hot and sunny. Jack, Charlie, Maclean, and Sean were able to get out and shoot some hoops just after lunch. I personally think it's nuts to go play basketball in that humidity, but they're teenagers, and they seemed to have fun... Our afternoon started at the Fudan Center for American Studies. The Center is a major think-tank aiding in the formulation of Chinese policy toward the US. The lobby of the building is plastered in photographs of Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Christopher Warren, Henry Kissinger and various US Congressmen attending seminars at the Center. The issues they cover are mostly in the realm of security, such as naval policy in the Pacific, nuclear non-proliferation, and economic stability. We spoke briefly with Mr. Fan on their overall mission. Several US universities also have offices at the Center, among them are Georgetown University, Washington University, and the University of California. While their main mission is to recruit Chinese students to the US, they also help US students find internships in China. We sat down with Ms Selena Liu to discuss what opportunities would exist, should the kids decide to do an Education Abroad Program with the UC system. From the Center we traveled a few blocks to the Bay Area Council. Ms Jennifer Zou was our guide. The Council helps Bay Area companies get established in China and aids Chinese companies looking to invest in the the Bay Area. Recently their mission has expanded. They are now the trade representative for the State of California as well. Pictures of Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and various business leaders adorn the walls. Jennifer took questions from the kids. She also explained that should the kids attend school in Shanghai, there is a good chance they could intern at the council, helping Bay Area companies and the State of California expand their ties in China. We wound up the day with a dinner with the Yangpu government and the Bay Area Council. Valerie and Kathrine excelled in their Chinese introductions. The general tone was very optimistic. The Yangpu government is very eager to expand and deepen ties with Palo Alto. Whew. It's been an active three days. The kids have the day off to relax with an open schedule for our fourth day. Happy 4th of July! Everyone sends their regards, Day Four Happy 4th of July! The Fourth of July was a day off for us. We took the afternoon to explore Shanghai and go get Western food. Our target was to go to Pizza to Go, as featured on CNN. After multiple subway transfers we ended up in a remote part of town on a darkened tree-lined street. Most of the stores on the street were shuttered and locked. Only one store on the block was functioning, a copy shop, with pamphlets and bound samples on the wall. "Uh, we're here for pizza and burritos..." The clerk pointed to one of the pamphlets on the wall and it was a menu for pizzas, burritos, and hot dogs. Happy Fourth of July! All the kids opted for burritos which is a sea-change for my Pizza Fanatic son. Jack commented that it was like a Speak-Easy from Prohibition. I have to say he was right. A woman came out of the back of the shop. Took our orders, and disappeared. 10 minutes later we were all holding surprisingly tasty burritos. More info here at the CNN web-site: http://travel.cnn.com/shanghai/eat/shanghais-best-value-money- burrito-232355 We headed back uptown to catch the lights of Nanjing Road and the Bund. Our young adults are making good progress. One of the delicate issues I have had is that our kids are almost no longer kids. They are only between a year and two years away from being legal adults. They have all the desire for independence, but exist in the legal realm of minors. How much supervision vs how much independence has been a constantly managed issue. But Fate has intervened a bit in that decision making. I took a nasty turn of the ankle and can keep up with them for a couple hours, but after that it becomes "OK guys I am going to sit down here. [geriatric sigh] Take this spare phone, stay together as a group, don't go more than a couple of blocks. Walk straight out and come straight back. Call me if you need anything. Be back here in a half-hour." One of my goals of the program is to have them gain confidence in a foreign environment. The ankle has kept me from hovering over them every minute. It is odd how everything in life always works out for the best. For Day 5 we swapped out Tai Chi to visit a local high school. It is the last day of their school year, we're trying to get in there in the afternoon. I have tried to attach some photos, but I am working on a local connection and have had a hard time with the uplink and downlink on larger files. I posted pictures to shutterfly.com. The files are highly compressed. The pictures went from 6MB each to just under 100K. When I view the files here, the page shows up, but the photos show as broken links. Let me know if you can see them. I will make the full files available when I get back to the States. For photos: Website: www.shutterfly.com Account: paloaltoyangpu@yahoo.com Password: Payp Day 5 The weather forecaster lied. The monsoons came back today. We had an all day drizzle, interrupted by torrential downpours. We had swapped out our Tai Chi practice for a visit to a local high school. Unfortunately Friday was the last day of the term before the Summer break for the school. After conferring with the school, our local Yangpu government coordinator thought it best to cancel the visit. The kids spent the afternoon here locally around the school. The internet connections here are sketchy without a local phone, so we have been wandering down to the local 5-star hotel to avail ourselves of the free wi-fi in the lobby. :) The purpose is so that the kids can check-in with you guys, hopefully they have been sending you emails, rather than downloading movies.... Manao asked me to mention that when I say the kids had the "day off" on the 4th, that they did have Chinese class. The kids have Chinese class EVERY WEEKDAY with the exception of their all-day visit to VMWARE / EMC on 11 July. They are using a lot more Chinese. When we go to local noodle places, shops, or buy tickets, they ARE using Chinese. Sometimes it's a little torturous to listen to, and they have to repeat themselves three times, but by the time they get to the third run-through of what they are saying, it is comprehensible. I have lived in a number of different countries and sometimes the most unnerving thing is to talk on the phone in a foreign language. But not for your kids. "Sure I'll do it. What do I say?" wow. Outgoing group of kids. Hope you were able to see the pictures on shutterfly. They won't come up for me here. Day 6 Weather's evened out to a pretty even overcast. I've been trying to take portrait shots of the kids with various Chinese backgrounds so they could potentially use it as a Facebook shot or throw it into a college application-oriented webpage, but the grey makes shadows tough. So it's been more "Just stand over there"... [grumble, grumble] "look man, let's just do this, you'll appreciate it later. Good." ..."NEXT!" :) That's those series of shots at Shutterfly with different backgrounds in case you're wondering. We went to Jing An Temple today. It's a Buddhist temple in the middle of town. As part of their cultural intro, they each got incense. They were taught how to hold it properly, bow three times to each of the cardinal directions, and I explained how the rising smoke represents your thoughts and prayers rising to heaven. They all tried it out. We got to witness a Buddhist funeral, and talk about Buddhism's path to China. The kids were pretty up on it. Apparently the PAUSD covers Buddhism in their social studies classes pretty well. From there it was across the street to Donut King and Subway! Actually, it was some of the boys that wanted Subway (because they got up so bloody late that they missed breakfast) "Hey man, you really got to get up. The driver's going to be here any minute. Seriously, you got to get up." "Whaaat tiiiime is it?" "Twenty minutes later than the last time I told you." "I got to take a shower." "You don't have time for a shower." Ah, teenagers.... Actually that's not fair. The girls were pretty good. They were up breakfasted, showered, and ready to go on time. The above dialogue was more between me and my son. I only got the "Whaaaat tiiiime is it?"once out of the other boys. Nevertheless, by unanimous consent we pushed our next outing departure time back from 9am to 10am. :) After Jing An Temple we went to Tian Zi Fang, a warren of shops, restaurants, and artist galleries. We split up boys and girls. The girls took the other phone and disappeared into the maze. We went to a Lanzhou pulled noodle place for lunch. It's was a muslim restaurant with a big bowl of noodles for 1 USD. Their Chinese skills are getting better. They could read some items on the menu, and kept asking questions about characters until I could only respond with a 'I have never seen that character before in my life.' The boys are pretty social in the evenings, they've made friends with a couple of the other teenagers here. Valerie has been studying pretty diligently for the PSAT. Off to Zhujiajiao (pronounced Joo-Geeah- Day 7 Yesterday's rain gave way to today's heat. Same stuff getting our teenagers up, just an hour later. We went out to Zhujiajiao, an ancient village on the outskirts of Shanghai. The town boasts 36 arched bridges, some which have been in the same place since the 1500s, most were built in later in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Zhujiajiao like Shanghai, is a bit over-commercialized. Lots of crowded alleyways and hawkers of every variety. The heat and humidity was blistering so we stopped in at a cafe that had air-conditioning and wi-fi. The place was called Zher (or "Here") in Chinese. It bills itself as a punk rock cafe (hey man, punk rock is Chinese culture too). But it was more like a bohemian coffee shop with Barry Manilow and Lionel Richie variety punk rock. It was a good shelter from the heat. You can see pictures of it on the Shutterfly page. After the kids were worn down enough we headed back to Shanghai for was is rated the best Chinese dumplings in Shanghai and therefore the world. The girls easily out-ate the boys. The boys tenderly poked at the steamer of 12 dumplings. One steamer for each of the two boys. The girls each had their own steamer. When I asked if they wanted to share with the boys, they looked at eachother, looked at me, and in unison said "No", and and happily finished off the whole thing. :) Not a bad meal for $1.75. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g308272-d1015824- Reviews-Jia_Jia_Tang_Bao-Shanghai.html The boys are pretty social in the evenings, they've made friends with a couple of the other teenagers here. Valerie has been studying pretty diligently for the PSAT. Geeow) next. Day 8 A surprising thing happened today. Before we left the US I researched the area where we would be staying. I noticed there are a number of American fast food outlets nearby. I had envisioned the kids trying to congregate at the nearby McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut. Something familiar in a foreign land. It's pretty common. Whether it's American kids traveling in Europe between high school and college, or traveling in Southeast Asia, you'll find large numbers avoiding the local food and sitting at fast food places. Not our kids. We had the afternoon open so the kids could study and relax a bit before we went out in the evening. They made a bee line for a local Lanzhou Noodle Shop. They came back raving about how big a bowl of noodles they got, how tasty it was ("it was even better than the place we went to at Tianzifang!") and how inexpensive it was. They also got a dose of China, Land of the Homophone. For those of you not familiar with Chinese, how you say something makes a big difference in what you are saying in Chinese. For example the word "ma" can mean mother, hemp, the verb to scold, horse, or placed at the end of a sentence means this sentence was a question, depending on the inflection. They asked for a bowl of "pulled" noodles ("la") and ended up with super spicy noodles (also "la"). Must have been good. They want to go back for more. :) Fueled up with their spicy noodles we went out for the evening. Wearing our PA/Yangpu t-shirts, we headed down to Jing An Worker's Stadium. On Monday nights a group of mostly expatriates rent the stadium for Ultimate Frisbee (www.shanghaiultimate.com). The evenings are cooler and there is always a thrill to playing under the lights at a stadium. I wanted the kids to see if they ever work here in Shanghai what kind of activities and community would be available to them. A group of about 100 people from a dozen countries show up for some pretty competitive frisbee on different fields sorted by skill level. The group was mostly made up of 20 to 30 year olds, foreign and local mix. They were really welcoming and one of the Laowai (foreigner) even took the time to teach the finer points of throwing a frisbee in pretty proficient Chinese. They explained to our group that there are multiple sports leagues. (The boys were bummed to find out Lacrosse is on Saturday nights and they missed it.)..... next time. I let the kids do all the navigation on the subway (transferring over three lines), they blended into the frisbee game seamlessly, brought water from an open front shop. I was there just to watch and take blurry pictures. Your kids are pretty much functional in Shanghai. The kids never cease to impress. Pictures are on shutterfly.com Day 9 is off for solar panel green tech. Day 9 After the the kids' Chinese class we went out to Fengxian Special Export Zone to visit JA Solar. With Shanghai traffic it took us about an 1 hour and a half to get out there. We were met by Ms. Guo Shu, our host at JA Solar. We were given a briefing on the current global solar panel market. By JA Solar's estimates, of the 150 current Chinese solar panel manufacturers only 50 will be left within the next year. JA is one of the top producers globally and will definitely make the cut. The kids were well-prepared with questions on US and European Anti-Dumping legislation and how that would change JA's business strategies, as they expand into Japan and Southeast Asia. They asked about Chinese government subsidies, which products are manufactured at the plant, and whether they had plans to expand into other green tech products. During the tour of the manufacturing facilities the marketing director pulled me aside told me that they don't ask questions like normal high-schoolers. I told them our kids are a special business leadership group. :) Our van didn't have the license plates to take the expressway back into town, so we had a rather interesting tour through narrow lanes of the Shanghai countryside on the way back. We arrived too late for dinner at the cafeteria, so at our request he dropped us at University Avenue, next to Fudan University. Oddly enough it has a striking resemblance to Palo Alto's University Avenue. Some upscale shops, a tree-lined street, and cafes with outdoor dining on the sidewalk, peppered with university students and families strolling along. The kids opted for... Pizza and Tacos. (so much for the Chinese food stuff). Of course they got a pizza. The food was pretty good, reasonably priced, and it turns out it was run by the same guy as our copy-shop burritos on the other side of town. After dinner I opted for taking a taxi home for two bucks. The girls and I loaded into a taxi. But the boys wanted to walk the five blocks (mostly because it was too expensive... um... 50 cents each is too expensive? They are budgeting.). Okay. Opportunity for a pragmatic Chinese lesson. I had taught them how to ask directions, they have a name card with the address of the school in Chinese, they have my phone number and a phone, Shanghai is very safe.... nonetheless I waited on the front steps of the school like an anxious father waiting for his daughter to get home from prom for a half hour. When they showed up I asked if they had any problems, they said they had to ask directions multiple times. Can't get that in a classroom. That's what they are here for. Another step forward. Day 10 Day Ten found us going out to the Jinqiao area of Pudong to visit General Motors' manufacturing facilities. Again, the crush of cars in the morning commute made traveling move at a snail's pace. As I looked out the window at the blank faces of the other drivers it reminded me of commuting on the 101 and 405 when I was living in Los Angeles. Four lanes wide. The glacial ooze of leaving a sporting event or a concert. Shanghai driving habits are about the same as the US. Most people drive by the rules. About the same number of people try to game the system for a slight advantage. One trick that seems pretty popular here is to take the exit lane, zoom head of a few cars, and then veer back in wildly just before the crash barrier at the exit. In US this is done less blatantly with drivers taking the exit only to reappear at the merge lane a few hundred meters ahead. As in any big city in the US, lane changes follows the same protocols of fighting for the armrest in a center seat on an aircraft. Some people just press up on you, hoping you will yield. A sort of test of who values their paint job more. Others do the quick insert and take the spot, when you leave more than a car's length ahead of you. Other times Cairo traffic rules take over where lanes are just a philosophical concept and lanes are shared. I suppose the only substantial difference between US big cities and Shanghai is that the emergency vehicles always have their blue and red lights flashing. Roadsides have mock up plywood cut outs shaped like police cars with the blue and red lights flashing as a deterrent. Ambulances, cops, and tow truck drivers all drive lit up all the time. We arrived at General Motors where we were met by Ms. Joie Ma. The factory is huge. In China GM is known as "Tong Yong". GM has 11 factories in China. The Shanghai plant, a partnership with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp (SAIC) is the largest. Their sales increased nearly 70% in the last couple of years. Shanghai is now manufacturing well over a million units a year and currently have a 13.5% market share. GM overall sold 2.5 million vehicles in China last year. Their goal is reach 5 million vehicles by 2015. During our visit they were producing three models. The Cadillac XTS, the Buick Excelle, and the Chevy Lacrosse. It was pretty amazing to see all three cars are moving down the line in a variety of models, paint and trim colors, and all come out as a finished automobile. The boys have set on going to a place called Munchies, an expat run burger place out near where we played frisbee. American food at Shanghai prices. (at least it's not McDonald's) They laid all the plans, but have yet to execute. Did the research, checked the menus, tracked which subway lines to take, and budgeted to include transport costs. Fun to watch when the overall budget comes up to 4 bucks. The girls are more focused. Katherine's studying for her AP American History and Valerie is studying for the PSAT. Having fun. Learning a lot. Day 11 is all day with EMC/VMWare Day 11 Today the kids spent the entire day with EMC/VMWare. Our host in the morning was Ms. Joyce Cao, from the HR Dept. EMC is a very impressive outfit. They specialize in information storage and information intelligence. They rank #139 in the Fortune 500 listings, and #12 on the Barron's 500 list, with sales of 21.7 billion USD. The kids were able to spend time with a number of the human resources staff, programmers, and customer service representatives. They were shown the facilities spread over several buildings, and given a feel for how the work environment functions. The surprising part was that aside from staffing from the local colleges EMC and VMWare recruits the top personnel from across China. They had staff from Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Liaoning, Henan, and Hunan provinces (very far-flung provinces) in addition to their personnel drawn from Shanghai universities. There was a strong sense of team in the building. They did seem a bit disappointed that none of our kids had decided on a IT programming career, but the kids are still young. :) The afternoon was hosted by EMC's counterpart, VMWare. Stephen Hu, a Boston native, heads up their operations in Shanghai. VMWare is similar in structure to EMC, with a stronger emphasis of cloud software development. The expansion of their operation is notable in that they hiring 2 new people per day and regularly have scores of positions open. One of the interesting conversations during the day, as it relates to our kids, is that Shanghai has four lead high schools, Fudan Fuzhong being one of them. In the international PISA scores (tests administered globally to 15 yr olds) Shanghai generally scores at the top of the chart. So the school your kids are currently learning Chinese at is ranked as one of the best on the planet. On Day 12 we look into the real estate market with LendLease Property Development. Day 12 We started the afternoon with Lend Lease property development to learn more about China's property market. Our host was David Nieh the Head of Development, Lend Lease China. Lend Lease is a rather large property development company, based in Sydney, Australia. Some of their notable projects include the Ground Zero Memorial in New York City, the Petronas office towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Here in Shanghai Mr. Nieh was deeply involved in the development of Xintiandi, one of the more active and popular venues in Shanghai. One of the main goals of the central Chinese government is shifting from a rural to an urban society. Just 20 years ago China was 80% rural and 20% urban. This year marked the first year in modern Chinese history to move the needle over to 51% urban, 49% rural. Lend Lease is extensively involved in urban redevelopment. The former Stanford professor was soft-spoken and informative as he took us on a personal tour of the Shanghai Urban Redevelopment Museum in Shanghai. The kids learned about the history of Shanghai's development and some of the more pragmatic legal, financial, and infrastructure hurdles that the city faces. David describes Shanghai as a "foreign city on Chinese soil." The pace of the infrastructure development is stunning. For example, during the World Expo Shanghai built 66 subway stations simultaneously and was tunneling subways at a pace of a kilometer per day. Following up on the planning aspect, we toured the location of the first Chinese Communist Congress, where Mao Zedong met with domestic and foreign communist party members to plan the new China. Small but interesting museum. Interesting juxtaposition on the communist planning after coming out of a briefing on the commercial development of the city. But we were not done for the day. It is Friday night! and... Today was Valerie's birthday and the Stephenson boys, Jack and Chuck, are headed home to the US tomorrow. We decided to hit the local mall and go to the Banana Leaf Restaurant for the big send-off. The restaurant labeled itself as Thai, but was more Malaysian with a very active Filipino band and dancers. For Val's birthday we all got up to dance Gangnam style in front of a restaurant of a few hundred people, as the crowd took pictures. (Luckily YouTube is banned here.) I'll post some pictures later. All in all we had huge dinner and dancing for seven for $40 US. (we got a heavily subsidized rate for Valerie's birthday, they checked her documents three times.) A great birthday party, but I am sorry to see the Stephensons go. Tomorrow, Day 13, Valerie, Kathrine, Maclean and Sean are off to Suzhou with the camp as I take the Stephenson boys to the airport. We'll have to have the kids write up the daily stuff tomorrow. Day 13 Saturday, the Stephenson boys left us. One of the goals of this program is to have the kids functional in a foreign environment. Jack and Chuck decided to take the Maglev (Magnetically Levitated) train to the airport. I asked that Jack tell the taxi driver where to go. We ended up at the Long Yang Station, where the boys bought their own tickets to Pudong Airport. The train was pretty cool. What would normally take 45 minutes to an hour to get to the airport went by fairly quickly at over 300kph. The boys checked themselves in and were gone. They did the whole thing solo. I was just there as an observer to make sure they made it without hiccups. I am pleased to report that The other 4 spent the day in Suzhou with Long Fei Fei, doing a treasure hunt with the other students. Day 14 We've had an active schedule. Everyone has been feeling a bit on the slow side. Sunday was a day of rest. The hurricane effects that the consulate warned me of never showed up. Just some strong winds that pushed the normal haze out to sea. We spent the day resting up, and went out in the evening to hunt for the Yunnan Road Night Market to see if we had the courage to try fried scorpions and Xinjiang lamb skewers. But no fried scorpions for us. We never did find the night market, but had a nice walk through town. Tomorrow, Day 15, we are scheduled to meet with Sidley Austin, an international law firm. Day 15 Today we went to Sidley Austin for an introduction to the foreign law firms operating in China. Our host was Ms. Chen Ling. Here in Shanghai, Sidley Austin covers a full spectrum of legal advice for their clients, however the Shanghai office spends much of its time involved in Mergers & Acquisitions, advice on the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Sovereign Wealth Management, and IPO listings for the Shanghai, Hong Kong, NASDAQ and NYSE boards. We covered a broad range of legal topics. Among the more interesting topics was some of the differences between the Chinese and Western systems. For example, the US and British systems rely more on a precedent system, giving much greater flexibility and power to the justices and the courts. In China it is much more geared to a strict interpretation of the current regulatory statutes. The judges must rule based on the verbatim statute without necessarily relying on previous rulings to bolster their opinions. There was a trend, especially in the rural areas, for judges to have no formal legal training, many judges were drawn from military backgrounds. Ms. Chen noted that there is a now a severe legal exam administered to court appointees, with only a 20% pass rate. This has led to a strong and growing trend in the Chinese courts to rule based on impartiality. From Sidley, we took a side trip to the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center. www.shanghaipropagandaart.com The museum is based in the basement of a out-of-the-way non- descript apartment block. Very cool place. I expected no one to be there, but it was actually full of foreigners (there must be a French website promoting the place). The kids were able to read a surprising amount of the characters on the posters. Check the Shutterfly account for pictures. Tomorrow, Day 16, American Chamber of Commerce. Day 16 Today we visited the American Chamber of Commerce. Our host was Ms. Stefanie Myers. Amcham, as it is known here, is a polished, very professional organization. The Shanghai chapter is one of the largest of the 115 international branches. They are very active in ensuring political support for American business in China, working closely with the US State Dept, Congress, and various agencies. As always the kids were prepared and asked terrific questions. (despite the fact none of them brought notebooks today.).... From Amcham we went across town to the Xiahai monastery, a Buddhist nunnery not far from where we are staying. Got there a bit late, just as they were closing but managed to get a quick intro of the front area and take a couple of pictures. As teenagers they have been tiring of the cafeteria food, so we opted for the $1 (giant) bowl of noodles just up the street for dinner. I have to admit I was surprised with the familiarity they had with the menu and the ease with which they ordered. Rounded out the evening with a walk to the park, where the boys had to try every piece of exercise equipment on the par course. Tomorrow Business Incubation at Tongji University Day 17 Today we wrapped up our business oriented programs with a visit to Tongji University and the Sino- Finnish Innovation Lab. Our host today was Lu Zhou. We were accompanied by Jennifer Zou of the Bay Area Council. Located in a remote area of Tongji University, the Lab is home to designers of every stripe. Some are working on building design, some on ergonomic furniture (the kids love the chairs), some on software development. The highlight of the software is their engagement with the Angry Birds software. A number of countries are represented. Finland, of course, but also designers from New Zealand, and a range of EU countries. They are doing the design work in China to mesh in with local manufacturing capability. A world map shows where each of the visitors and designers hail from. We were the first from California. The atmosphere is very go-go days in Silicon Valley feel. Funky furniture, people riding scooters in the office, bright paint, and a guy sitting on the sofa coding beside a 6-foot tall gorilla.... and they have got to have one of the coolest elevators on the planet. Bright red sofas with end tables. A vertically challenged living room. I personally attended university in China in the 1980s, and I can say they permissive atmosphere would have decidedly fallen foul of the communist party officers. All universities have a communist party office. Tongji is apparently in the innovation spirit. On a tour the rest of the campus the feel was a bit more traditional Chinese campus. The main campus is very traditional, standard classes, dorms, with many of the foreign student community leaning to African and Arab nations as is normal at Chinese engineering colleges. Very interesting contrast and a spark of opening up. Tomorrow we meet with Palo Alto High School Alumni living in Shanghai. Day 18 Today the kids finalized their Chinese classes. The emphasis was on a play that they wrote themselves in Chinese. They have been actively rehearsing in the afternoon. We had our farewell Shanghai dinner at Din Tai Feng in the evening in Lujiazui. Lujiazui is the main financial area of Shanghai. Our dinner was hosted by two Palo Alto High School alumni, Regan McDonald (Paly class of '82) and Ben Pinney (Paly class of '81). The two Paly alumni were high school sweethearts who married and decided to raise their two sons in Shanghai. Regan (who I went to school with at Crescent Park Elementary, Jordan, and Paly) was a Chinese major at the University of California, and decided to home-school the children in Chinese, "because the American School uses too much English." Ben is with a Hong Kong business consulting firm, but also is a professor at Fudan's Business School teaching leadership and business innovation classes in their MBA program. They have been living in Shanghai for 7 years. We brought Jennifer Zou, from the Bay Area Council, with us just because she has been so nice and helpful during our stay. The kids had a gazillion questions as we walked down the Pudong side of the river. The weather is perfect. Warm with a nice wind. We got to see the Bund from the other side of the river, and were able to see a TV drama being filmed, but had to call it early because we were running up on our school curfew.