DalianDalian.com

Food price inflation has driven general CPI price rises for the past year. Things, especially food, are getting more expensive, and it is starting to be passed through.

Last year the city of Lanzhou in Gansu province encountered a popular and political backlash. Shops selling the local delicacy of Lanzhou Beef Noodles were accused of collusion and price fixing as an overnight hike of noodle prices, a response to rising wheat, oil, beef and seasoning costs, was met with suspicion. The city government mandated a large bowl must not exceed 2.5 Yuan and the difference between a large and small bowl must not exceed 0.2 Yuan. Noodle shops are not a high margin business, as prices were capped the amount of contents contents inevitably reduced in size.

Two weeks ago, after enjoying a bowl of 米线, Mi Xian or rice noodles (cooked in a chicken or pork broth with tofu skins, vegetables and slices of chicken breast) the shop owner regretfully apologised for the price rising 2 Yuan from 10. He explained the price rise was essential for him to remain in business. For more than 3 years he'd charged 10 kuai for a large bowl/pot.

Roddy noted the filling of his dumplings was going down, an alternative way for retailers to deal with the soaring cost of ingredients. The Zhongshan Hotel have a notice on each of their tables telling guests to add 10% to food costs because of recent ingredient price inflation. Even Kailong, the king of cheap beers, went up 25% in price to 2.5 Kuai several months ago.

This is important phychologically. Not only are prices in the market going up, food prices are being felt outside of home too. It isn't just food prices, power stations made losses in the first quarter of the year as coal prices soared yet higher electricity prices was mandated not to be passed on to consumers - a 1% rise in the cost of electricity directly causes a 0.089% increase in general CPI according to the China Daily. Inflation expectations cause inflation, expect a bunch more.

Pic: Typical Northern Chinese 包子, now with less filling.

Pic: CC lincence, attribution, sharealike.

Related: An introduction to 米线 and an explanation of why the dog ignores the dumplings, or 狗不理包子.

Either society isn't yet harmonious enough, or the prospect of increased disharmony has increased to such a level Beijing has decided to take action. In Dalian the only places still open at 2am are KTVs, the odd nightclub, BBQ restaurant or bar, filled with either the very drunk or the very voracious, neither being particularly harmonious.  The guys at Hopsctch Bar, source of the directive, were pleased to be able to get to sleep a bit sooner.

While increasing prices and Guo Jingjing's pregnancy may drive some to the drink, the main reason for this policy would likely be associated with the Olympics. The Government control development initiatives: the Forbidden City has been spruced up, the Great Wall patched (in easy to reach places) CCTV 9 filled with programs in sober voices about China's 20th Century struggle and 21st Century modernity-meets-tradition.

In seeking to portray itself as a rapidly developing country rich in culture, the Government perhaps want to avoid any association as a party or 18-30 resort. It doesn't want to become Ibiza, or worse, Pattaya, if it did, it would have happened already.

China is not alone in alcohol concern. Melboure is experimenting with a 2am lockout and the UK has for decades prevented bars from operating past 11pm, a law only now being relaxed. The US had prohibition and every weekend Swedes get ferries to Denmark seeking cheap plonk.

Enforcement may also be selective. During the Davos meeting in Dalian during 2007 guests were explicitly asked "Are you with Davos?" to which, if the response was "yes", more adventerous seafood dishes were denied. Take care of visitors and keep them safe. Register them with 4 and 5 star hotels, have government officials working in the hotels during the Olympics. The PR of China is of concern to itself.

Pic: Nepalese Bar at Dawn, 2007.

The victor writes the history books" is the classic expression, in the Google age it should perhaps be suffixed by "and the reader reads what they're interested in Googleing". The images below come from the New York Times Archive when Dalian was little more than collection of small towns and villages, two competing and complementing ports, Port Arthur (now Lushun) and Dalny (now area around the downtown port, train station and Zhongshan Square), and when both the Russian and Japanese empires had eyes on the region.

Archives from 1951 to 1992 are free, leading to an accessible historical record more focussed on war than the development which occurred under and after occupation.  read more »

The International Club of Dalian is a new community-based club for the ever-growing international community living in Dalian.

Launching later this week, the not-for-profit club will provide a social and business network to enrich the living experiences of expatriates and their families living in and around the city. Whether your goal is to expand your business contacts, share common experiences and concerns, or simply meet new friends, The ICD will be organizing a range of social, business networking, & family events to meet your needs.

Organized by volunteers from the international community, the ICD launch will be held in the ballroom of the Swissotel at 6.30pm on Friday 29th February.  read more »

For months Dalian's business gossip has been about Dalian hosting the 2009 Summer Davos, having already hosted in first 2007 meeting and this year's meeting in nearby Tianjin.

Xinhua reports:

The northeast China port city of Dalian is hoping to cement its place in the World Economic Forum (WEF) schedules by winning the third "Annual Meeting of the New Champions" in September next year, said Dalian Mayor Xia Deren

He said Dalian's selection for the third annual meeting of the New Champions indicated "a continuation of the cooperation between Dalian and the WEF and marked a new level of cooperation".  read more »

Somehow, this website flew under my radar until very recently. Just one of those many things that many may know about, but because everyone else thinks everyone else knows about it, no one mentions it. Similar to eBookers back in the UK. Book air tickets, hotels, etc, online. Whenever going somewhere I'd phone around some travel agents and compare prices. While maybe not always the best prices, CTrip can provide a very convenient benchmark, and the web interface really is very nice.  read more »

Dalian has an array of districts to get familiar with. Rather than re-invent the wheel, check out the map below and the links following that which lead to the government's official outline of each district, and the economic and social focus of each administrative area. While the linked pages aren't completely up-to-date, they do give a good indication about official development plans for each area.

 read more »

An interesting story about offshore schools supporting Canada's higher education sector. [A proxy is necessary to visit as wordpress.com is blocked inside mainland China.]

Maple Leaf, in Dalian in 1997, pioneered Canada's Offshore Certification Program established by British Columbia in Canada. "This was initially set up as a pilot project with only a small number of students. Today the school has approximately 2,300 students and there are ten BC certified offshore schools; nine in China and one in Egypt."

Significantly, this is an example of a service export from the West that has huge potential for growth. The potential is not based on current profits, but from the chain it feeds:  read more »