Dr. Mark Nan Tu 涂南博士

微软的前老板和朋友要归美国了。美国总部要他写个Top5 items about china that Microsoft senior managers should know 微软的高层必须知道的中国的5条建议。这是他的答案：

1: China is expensive；
2:1.5 billion people does not mean 1.5 billion customers；
3: The development in China is entirely driven by western investment, western style management and western trained managers；
4: The modernization in China will take 50 years, not 5；
5: Success in China is a total randomness.

我的解答和点评：
1：中国很贵：
在中国成本高，人力：有能力的人很贵（比美国便宜不了多少），便宜的人多，但干不了事。为什么海归回国？因为可以拿到和美国差不了太多的薪水。你请便宜的人的话要非常有能力的人来管理，非常有能力的人都很贵。所以软件外包没有希望。
商业成本贵，不用多说，大城市的地产，商业中的交易成本很高。

2：市场不大：
中国有购买力的人在增加但不是想象的那么多。中产阶级还不大。穷人多。所以在中国要赚钱要走高端或低端的策略，不要呆在中间。

3：中国的崛起是完全由西方管理，资金，人才的推动：
没有西方的这些东西，中国靠自己是没有希望的。所以：海归大有机会。

4：中国的硬件可能在5年就能上去，可软件方面要50年以上：
人为本：要改变人的思想要一两代人的努力，清华的本科生和美国的本科生的水平差不太多，可研究生的水平差太远。所以在中国搞高科技，搞科研没有戏。

5：在中国赚钱不能用理性思维：
中国现在是乱世，不能用发达国家的理性思维方式来做生意。要用的方法是：The Quick and the Dead （Starring Sharon Stone）http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114214/
要短平快，老外看不懂中国就是没有看懂这些基本原理。

My friend Peter is a young and energetic guy from Los Angels. Last January, I was in the States, he brought me to a few dance clubs. He always seemed to get to talk to the best looking girls and had their phone numbers. “How did you do that?” I asked him. “Try this, you walk to the most beautiful girl and say, are you a Japanese Model?”

Couple of weeks ago, I brought a lady friend to watch a movie in the Oriental Plaza in WanFuJin, Beijing. When we were having our dinner, a young Chinese guy came over to my lady friend and said in Chinese: “You have great facial features, you should be a model.” My friend just happened to have a few years of modeling experience when she was still in high school. She had Russian blood and great facial contour. “I did that for a few years. But have since retired from the business.” The young guy went on and told us that he is from a modeling agency and they are look for models of all kind.

“Our headquarter is in Atlanta, USA. Here is our address in Beijing. Our office is in JianWai SOHO (a high end business district or Centre Business District) Come to our information session next Tuesday night at 7:00pm. There will be a lot of people. So do come on time.” He left us with his name card. My reference number is: xxxx.

“I am interested in attending. What do you think?” My friend asked me. “Sure, give them a call, they will tell you to bring some money for the entrance fee.” I told her.

The next day, my lady friend called me. “Hey, smart guy, you know what? They will charge me 200Yuan for the entrance fee.” “Yes and if you do attend, they will resell you to a training session and you will pay a few thousand RMB course fee” I stayed cool.

My friend graduated from the Beijing broadcasting institute. “You know, you should start similar business and with your knowledge of the Beijing broadcasting institute. You should have no problem buying a BMW 5 series with the business. You can franchise the business model to all the cities in China.”

“By the way, you need also hire a few agents who speak Russian. Yes, Russian also can pay you in RMB, don’t they? Hey, beautiful, are you a Russian model?”

The Internet café is owned by Thomas a Norwegian guy in the early 30s. He is married to a Thai woman and this is his Thai biz. He spends a few months in Thailand every year and goes Norway to run another biz the rest of the year. After a bottle of Siam beer, he started to complain about the corruptions in Thailand. Thailand is one of the most corrupted countries in the world.

Thailand left with me very bad taste. Besides the dirty street, lack of concept of service, the sex industry, I was scammed three times in 6 days.
1: The most famous gem stone scam: http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/Scams/Sapphire.shtml

2: A Taxi driver wanted 200 baht when the actual fare should be 79. He did not have the meter on. I knew the fare as I took the taxi there in the morning and the fare was 79 baht. “Here is 80 baht, keep the change” I left the taxi.

3: A Tuk Tuk driver wanted only 20 baht to get me from the Grand Palace to the Gold Mount and the back to my hotel in Maha Rat Rd. The normal fare should be at least 60 baht. I knew some thing is fishy here. What the heck? I will take this challenge. As soon as I am on the Tuk Tuk, the driver asked me if I can spare a few more minutes in a souvenir store close by. “No way, the gold mount closes at 4pm and I need to get there,” I sounded angry. Tuk Tuk diver insisted. “Only a few minutes.” “Sorry, I do not have a few minutes, I need to get to the Gold Mount” “May be after the Gold Mount”? He is persistent. “Maybe” I did not want him to bring me to a deserted street and beat me up by a few Thai bouncers or boxers.
I spend about 20 minutes in the Gold Mount. I got out from another door. I headed straight for a taxi. I handed over the name card of my hotel to the taxi driver. “Meter, please” I said. As my taxi zipped through the front gate, I could see my Tuk Tuk driver was still waiting at the gate. “asta la vista baby”.

No doubt that Cambodia is a poor country. After years of war and the four tragic years under the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot’s leadership which killed estimated 2 million people, Cambodia which was once an artistic and religious power, is now in the process of rebuilding.

Riding on the back of the tuk tuk, I was going to the River Tonle Sap. I have been visiting all the temples in Angkor Wat for the past 3 days. I needed some changes.

On the way to the Tonle Sap river, my tuk tuk stopped for gas. I noticed a military SUV with a pair of loud speakers mounted on the top. There were some announcement came from the speakers.

No doubt that Cambodia is a poor country. After years of war and the four tragic years under the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot’s leadership which killed estimated 2 million people, Cambodia which was once an artistic and religious power, is now in the process of rebuilding.

Riding on the back of the tuk tuk, I was going to the River Tonle Sap. I have been visiting all the temples in Angkor Wat for the past 3 days. I needed some changes.

On the way to the Tonle Sap river, my tuk tuk stopped for gas. I noticed a military SUV with a pair of loud speakers mounted on the top. There were some announcement came from the speakers.

“What are they saying?” I pointed to the SUV and asked the tuk tuk driver.
“Oh, they are getting these kids to go to school to study at night.”
“But today is Saturday and it is a weekend.”
“That is why they are only going to school at night and have the day off to help with the family business.”

Cambodia needs a lot of foreign investment. However, most of those are concentrated in the tourism industry. Cambodia needs to build its infrastructure such as roads, telecommunication, and most important of all, Cambodian kids need education.

On the tour boat at the Tonle Sap river, I had a few kids following my boat. They put up a victory sign and said: “Good Luck. Mister. One dollar .“

I handed out a few one dollar bills to them. “Go to get a book with the money.”

Traveling in SE Asia, I was constantly annoyed by the service people who do not speak much English.

I booked a trip from Ko Chang Island, Thailand to Siem Reap Cambodia at 11pm, last night. I was supposed to be picked up by a bus at 700 – 800 am from the hotel lobby. As expected, the bus did not show up. So I called. “Will my bus come?” “Yes.” “When will my bus come?” “Yes.” “But it is already 800am and my bus did not come.” “Yes.”

So, I had no choice but to get into a taxi and went back to the travel agent. After much talk, the travel agent owner decided to drive me to catch up with the bus which was supposed to have left. Any way, to cut the long stories short, I was finally in the Cambodian side and sit in a Toyota, Camry driven by a Cambodian young kid. He had a driver’s license displayed on the wind shield which showed a totally different picture but has a birth year of 1979.

The ride from the boarder to Siem Reap was a pleasant one. I was sitting on the front and there was a French family sitting at the back. Finally, we arrived at the Siem Reap. The night street was lighted by the glow of the shinning new luxury resorts. I had already booked a hotel so as the French family. I showed the driver my hotel name card. “Can you get to this place?” “Yes.” “Do you know the place?” “Yes.” “How far are we?” “Yes.” Well, here comes the yes again. We all read that the taxi driver will some times drive you into a dark part of the town and have all of you stay in a partner guest house where you will be over charged. Actually, I do not mind at all as the surcharge was no more than a few dollars. But I had already booked the hotel so I need to get to this hotel as soon as possible.

After struggling with the driver and on and off the busy street for over one hour, I found my hotel. I shake hand with the driver, “Good drive, I enjoyed it” I said.

I checked in and sit down to have a delicisious Cambodian dinner with Angkor beer. I called the taxi driver who was recommended to me by my friend back in Bangkok. “He speaks a bit English.” She added.

I am now in the internet café again. I happened to find out that both the hotel owner and the internet café owner speak a bit English. I would happily pay a bit more for any service people who speaks English.

I will tell my taxi driver tomorrow to put a sign on his taxi: “I speak English.”

Traveling alone can be fun at times when you meet interesting people.

I was sitting in a bar at Siam Reap, Cambodian watching a documentary of Angkor Wat, drinking a coke and eating my fish fillet. A man in his 60s walked in and sit across me. He was white and had a cow-boy hat on and looked well-fed and prospers. “What do you want for drink?” “Asked the waiter?’ “Diet Coke please.” He answered.

I was very uncomfortable when a stranger watching me eat my dinner. So I decided to break the ice. “American?” I asked.
“How do you know?”
“Well, only American (woman)orders Diet Coke”
He was apparently embarrassed. “Yes, the doctor told me to watch my weight”. “Traveling alone?” He asked
“Yes, how about you?”
“Me too.” He replied

So we chatted about the US politics, the foot ball, traveling in SE Asia and we compared with the “service” in these SE counties. “You know one of the main problem I had in this part of the world is that the girls do not speak much English, here, let me tell you a story.”

Once I met this girl in Bangkok. She was super nice and she even carried the bags when we went shopping. “I told her that in America, man are suppose to carry the bags” She said that this is Thailand, women are equal. You know, I love Thailand.
At night ,we came back to my hotel. She helped me with the bath and finally we were on the bed. Then she asked. “Do you have a condo?”
“Yes, I do have a condo.”
“Show me your condo.”
I was very surprised. My condo is in the US. Why does she want to see my condo?
“Sorry, I can not show you my condo, my condo is in the US, I do not have a picture with me.”
Apparently, she was not happy. “Condo, condo.” She cried out load.
I thought may be she wants me to buy her a condo in Thailand. “How much is a condo in Thailand?”
“Cheap, cheap.” She replied.
“Really?” This is really bad. I mean I can get a full service in Darling (Nana plaza) for $65 + tip. Why should I buy her a condo? I was angry. “No, no condo.” I said.
“No condo, no love making.” She insisted.
So, we dragged on and on. I was pretty tired the next morning. I finally got so pissed off by the whole condo episode and I called my friend who spoke Thai.
“Could you please ask her why does she want my condo? “

My friend spoke to her and then she passed the phone back to me.
“Jerry, please go across the street to the 7/11 store and get a Durex.”

I am sitting in an internet cafe at the Ko Chang island, Thailan. The cafe owner greeted me: Ko Ni Chi Wa. (Japanese equivlant of Hello). “Sorry, I am not a Japanese and do not speak Japanese” “Korean?” she asked. “No, I am a Chinese”.

Throught out the North America and now in SE asia, I have been mistaken as Korean or Japanese. Not a single time that I was greeted with familar “Ni Hao” This makes me wonder when the Chinese will start to roam the world, not as illegal immigrants shipped in by containers but as tourists and explorers.

Across the street, the resturant has a TV set which is showing the Star TV movie in English. Yeap, after this artical, I am going to walk across and order my favorate Thai dish, – fried squid on rice. I will watch Nicholas Cage.

How many times that I have to say that I am a Chinese?

离开美国这几年，在加拿大温哥华住过，在中国北京住过，衡量利弊，还是决定回中国去发展了。这次回明尼苏达，这个我居住，奋斗过10年的地方，隔壁的老Rod还和以前一样，住在1954年他买的房子里面，Lueck夫妇已经从Owatonna搬到Rochester,处于半退休装态。35W和94号高速路和几年前一样。

1月的明尼苏达非常寒冷，厚厚的积雪要到4月份才会化掉，我是出生于中国南方，长在中国南方的人，刚来的时候非常不适应这里的寒冷，这次回来我更加坚定了我离开这里的愿望。

我去了在Minneapolis的学校，去了Snelling Ave.上的Barns and Nobels 书店，去了St. Paul的那家越南Pho店，服务员还是那个，去了St Paul的Qinn’s Kichten, 老板娘居然还能认识我，我刚来这里做学生的时候，经常在这里吃饭。

我也去看了Lueck家在Rochester的房子，这是一栋新的房子，我还在他家住了几天，Lueck退休以前是一个牧师，夫人是个保加利亚的移民，一辈子没有正式工作过，两个人虽然在物质上并不富裕，但是精神生活很重质量，他们经常在美国各地露营，也每过几年出国旅游，去过世界上很多地方，我在他家的地下室看到从70年代一直到今天的国家地理杂志。

明尼苏达在我离开这几年没有什么太大的变化，就像其他美国的地区一样，这里的人过着日复一日，年复一年的同样的生活，很多人的周末娱乐就是到北部的苏比里尔湖露营，这里的人以自己是MidWest人自居，但是什么才是MidWest人呢？他们自己也不清楚。只有明尼苏达的土话:you bet yah. (意思是没问题）MidWest，包括明尼苏达，威斯康辛州的人在电影Pearl Harbor上被好莱坞搞笑，这里的人的确很土，而是思维保守，连学校里面评选系主任都要是Angol Saxon的后代。

 不管如何，在这里我度过了10年的时光，有欢笑，有悲哀，这里的一切伴我成长，我上学，工作，创业，买房，买车，过着和这里的人一样的生活，有时都觉得自己是这里的一部分了。

但是，我还是不属于这里，每次看到周围的邻居去教堂礼拜，看着他们的各种节日，他们开party时的场面，我就知道这里不属于我。而且一个几十年不变的社区和发展缓慢的社会不适应我的性格和年龄。

10年一觉美国梦，我要离开美国了，中国那片各种报纸上说的Land of Oppotunity在等着我。再见了，美国！

St Paul街景

宁静的Rochester

一片新的社区在Rochester. 这是美国房地产最后的疯狂，2006年开始美国房地产下跌，幅度达30%

Lueck工作的教堂

谁说美国说有的路都免费，弗罗里达和纽约我都见过缴费的路，这是我们的大切

商场里的东西好像比其他地方贵一点，旅游城市嘛，可以理解

蓝天，碧海，棕榈树，弗罗里达的印象

漫长的KeyWest 路上的一个桥

海鸥

闲情逸致

海滩边的售货亭