Post: #26

3 tips:

1. Try to time visits to Guangzhou during the Canton Fair in October. Great for networking, great for looking at products, but don't buy at the fair-- it's overpriced.
2. You can get better wholesale prices by going direct to the factory. Many are not necessarily located in and around Guangzhou.
3. Be really really careful, they WILL try to rip you off. Either they will try to take your money or they will screw you by sending inferior quality product/cut corners on manufacturing.

Guangzhou has a ton of wholesale stores/markets.

Post: #27

Great thread Vacancier Permanent. This has sparked an interest in me and I'm considering pursuing it. Seems like amazing opportunities exist there for all sorts of business ventures. Last post you mentioned bringing capitol with you. Are we talking big money or can you start off with something smaller and get rolling? Anyways look forward to the updates, gl man.

Post: #28

(09-10-2012 02:12 PM)whosyourdaddy Wrote:  3. Be really really careful, they WILL try to rip you off. Either they will try to take your money or they will screw you by sending inferior quality product/cut corners on manufacturing.

This. They can be very subtlely sneaky, so be forewarned. I discovered that I could usually take between 60-70% off the initial price offered in the market stalls (retail), after some haggling.

I once ordered some street food from a Wangfujing vendor and noticed that a Chinese woman after me got the same thing, but for 1/3 the price. I pitched a fit, but the seller wouldn't budge. I finally said that if she didn't give me the same price, I would call the police. Worked like a charm. Guess everyone the world over knows the English word 'police.'

Post: #29

(09-09-2012 12:49 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  Btw, how do I get to access FB in China? When at home, I don't use FB but when I travel, I use it to keep in touch with friends and family.

Thanks!

freegate. search for it once you leave china, it's sort of hard to get a proxy once your there because all the proxy sites are obviously censored

Post: #30

Swanson,
The capital needed can be as low or as high as you want it and feel comfortable with. However, unless you have good experience with import/export, I'd strongly suggest to start slow and not invest too much money into anything. Remember, the Chinese are authentic sharks and predators and we are the prey. Behind their all smiley façade, they're there to screw the rich foreigner. Mind you not all of them are like that but a big majority specially in the import/export are real crooks. So beware. For me, I'd be looking at coming back with about 20-30K which would allow me to live in China for at least a year without having to work to really focus on learning the lingo, make contacts, network like crazy and build my business. And of course, slaying as many Chinese girls as possible while finding one true keeper and have her as my main girl.

Post: #31

Just came from spending another fun time with 3 sexy and fun Chinese girls. The girls from the first night, last Friday invited me to go to the same place in their hood to have some traditional Chinese BBQ which was btw, absolutely delicious, specially the roasted egg plant is to die for! While there, they met a very pretty friend of theirs and invited her to join us. We had a lot of fun, flirting and and all around nice time together. At one point, the short but very cute and bubbly girl that speaks good english start telling me that her friend, the tall and good looking one likes me and she wants to know if I like her too. I looked at her and said maybe, I don't know and teased her. Then the topic moved onto to boyfriends and I asked the very pretty 22 year old friend that joined us tonight if she had a boyfriend and I was amazed to hear she didn't. She is totally my type: petite, think, long hair, slim waist, nice rack, creamy white skin and a voice to die for. I was going gaga for her. But the tall and pretty one, the one I have been chatting with for a month or so prior to my trip, looked kind of pissed that I was taking a liking to her younger and prettier friend but oh well.

We made plans to go all 4 of us tomorow night to a karaoke to sing as they said they loved to sing. So what's the proper etiquette in here when it comes rejecting a girl for her friend? Do you do it just bluntly say it to them that while you like girl A, you prefer girl B more?Or do you proceed with caution as to not embarrass or make the first girl not lose face? Also, what's the scoop with the karaoke places? Are karaokes a good place to run game at a non pro girl? Or to do it after having isolated her from her friends is the way to go? Like kino escalation, kissing and things like that, is that acceptable to do it in front of a girl's friends? or is it a total no no to do? I'd appreciate the feedback and tips from the China experts.

Other than that, was very lazy today. Didn't do much. It was the first day I was alone without any one to go out with during the day. I went for a week in the afternoon and tried to take the metro to go to the shopping mall near my hotel which is 2 or 3 stops by metro but it was overwhelming as I couldn't make out the names of the station I'd need to stop at nor which line to take to. Went to the information desk at the subway station but they didn't speak any English. At the end, just gave up and cabbed it. When I arrived at the shopping mall, I felt a sense of total isolation as it was the first time I was on my own, without any Chinese girl to assist me or my friend from Amsterdam who speaks fluent Chinese. It was almost depressing not being able to read anything or understand or ask anything. Wanted to buy a short but it looked quite difficult to make the sales people what I wanted, so at the end, just left and will return another day with a girl to assist me. All this to say that China, without speaking the language and without being able to read the signs is very overwhelming and makes you feel totally isolated and can be depressing. Hence the importance to learn the lingo asap specially if one wants to live there. My main priority now is to learn as much of the lingo asap and then build from there.

Tomorrow, I'm going to visit the Universities and inquire about their mandarin courses and also will ask them out of curiosity about their MBA programmes as they are way cheaper here than in NA. Will keep you guys posted on how things evolve. I will have to make a crucial decision in the next few days: stay here and find a gig to get me going initially while building a business or return to Canada, go to Alberta, save some capital and return in Jan. A very tough decision to be made as the opportunitis are incredible here and the social life and dating opportunities are also incredible. Will have to see, weigh the pros and cons very seriously and then proceed from there. So stay tuned on things evolve here... But one thing for sure, I really do not have the slightest desire to return to Canada....

Post: #32

(09-11-2012 12:57 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  Swanson,
The capital needed can be as low or as high as you want it and feel comfortable with.

The minimum for starting a single shareholder WFOE (Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise) is 100,000 RMB about $13,000.

I THINK it has to be wired from out of country into your set up business account.

This is the official number but apparently it can be reduced or increased depending on what your company does and the bureaucrat you are dealing with, and the city you are registering in.

Maybe it changed, but i don't think it has, and am pretty sure you can't just randomly pick a number.

Post: #33

VP,

How long do you think it'll take until you can function in reading/writing/speaking chinese? I would imagine that if you wait until you reach this level before you make a business move, it may take quite some time. Also, I'm eager to hear what you learn about the chinese MBA.

Bonne chance mec

Post: #34

Just caught up with your posts, VP. Great work on sharing a lot of good deets on your experience from HK to GZ. Keep it up! Sounds it's only a matter of time before you grab that Chinese flag. Myself, I'm currently staying in Saigon with my relatives until I get enough capital to hit up Hong Kong and work there for the long term. Hopefully in a month or two. I know that you said that you've only been in HK for not even a full day but what's your impression between HK and GZ? In terms of the quality of girls?

Quote:We made plans to go all 4 of us tomorow night to a karaoke to sing as they said they loved to sing. So what's the proper etiquette in here when it comes rejecting a girl for her friend? Do you do it just bluntly say it to them that while you like girl A, you prefer girl B more?Or do you proceed with caution as to not embarrass or make the first girl not lose face? Also, what's the scoop with the karaoke places? Are karaokes a good place to run game at a non pro girl? Or to do it after having isolated her from her friends is the way to go? Like kino escalation, kissing and things like that, is that acceptable to do it in front of a girl's friends? or is it a total no no to do? I'd appreciate the feedback and tips from the China experts.

I wish I can accurately give you good tips on how to proceed but I would go with the saving face approach since that's so important out there. Last time I've been to China was when I was a little kid so I wouldn't be able to offer any experience in dealing with that dynamic.

As for Karaoke, I'd imagine it to be like any other Asian Karaoke Bar where your group would rent out a private room with service to provide you drinks. There should be a booth so there's your opportunity to isolate and kino. Some rooms are huge and have their own dance floors with lights and disco balls - maybe if you all are feeling it, pop in a tune and run some dance game.

Some Karaokes will have a main bar there stragglers conjugate but often times there's just pros hanging around.

Disclaimer: This is basing off my experience in South East Asia so it might not fully apply to China.

Post: #35

(09-11-2012 08:21 PM)Technics Wrote:  VP,

How long do you think it'll take until you can function in reading/writing/speaking chinese? I would imagine that if you wait until you reach this level before you make a business move, it may take quite some time. Also, I'm eager to hear what you learn about the chinese MBA.

Bonne chance mec

2 years or so if you're starting from scratch

Post: #36

Wednesday afternoon, went with a very sweet and nice girl who spoke excellent English to check a couple of universities (The College of International Culture South China Normal University) and their Chinese programme is full time, 20 hours a week and are asking for 8K RMB. Link to the school's site: http://www.cicgz.com/

Next went to another University right besides the first one, called Jian and Jilin or something like that. Same deal for that one. After talking to my contacts here, they said that it's not worth it and that if I want to focus on biz, then 20 hours a week, is going to take a lot of my time and leave me with not much to work on my biz and instead to get either an exchange language with a Chinese or even better, a pillow dictionary which has been my favorite and most efficient way to learn any language...

Wednesday night, met with Tim and Nick from theelevatorlife.com .They are the coolest, most down to earth yet friendly and helpful guys you can imagine. When it comes to biz, they are the real deal. The funny thing is that they live just 5-6 minutes walk from where I'm staying. Spent all night listening to their tales and tips of doing biz in China and was blown away by what they have achieved in such a short time. 2 years ago, they came to GZ, with no chinese skills, no contacts and 5k and now, they've got amazing friends, killer contacts, built very successful business while speaking speaking good chinese in the process. And they just signed a 7 figure deal with one of the richest man in GZ. Just mind blowing. Some of their other equally awesomely successful friends joined us throughout the night at the bar and it was awe inspiring being surrounded by these brilliant, successful yet cool and down to earth guys. I'm going to party tonight and tomorrow night with them in STYLE...can't wait!

Yesterday, thursday afternoon, also met one of the guys from the forum, BadWolf. He's been outstanding, helping me a lot, giving my number to his hot students and friends who have been sending me texts and calling me left and right. He also hooked me up with a job interview which led to a job offer with another company in a city not far from here. Simply outstanding guy! Big shout to you brother!

First about the interview at his company. It didn't go well as I didn't have a teaching experience and it's very strict in GZ and they require teachers with experience. However, during the interview, the HR girl told me that if I were to go to the north of China, I'd be having a lot of options there in terms of jobs. She was kind enough to give give my number to one of her friends who works for another company and that girl called me a few minutes later and asked me if I was interested in working in Dongguan, a city not far from GZ right between GZ and Shenzen.

She asked me to send her my resume, copy of passport page, 2 recent pics and a copy of my degree. After emailing them to her, she sent me an offer in Dongguan city, not far from GZ. For those interested in the details, it is to teach kids, Monday-Friday, mornings only, from 9 to noon and 2 afternoon per week to do administrative stuff. Pay is 8500RMB/month+1000 allowance/month for accommodation and a bonus of 10k RMB at the of the 1 year contract. She said the company would help me with getting a work visa and if I were to get it myself, they would pay for my trip to Hong Kong to get a work visa (Z visa). She said I would start next week. I told her I'd let her know by Monday of my decision.

However, after talking with Tim and Nick from the elevatorlife.com and after really thinking about it, I decided not to take the offer and instead, will be flying back home on Wednesday and then straight to Edmonton next sunday to get a job in the oil fields, work a few months, have some capital and then return to China without having to need a job. This way, I would be able to totally focus on biz and without any job requirements/pressures. It really is the smartest decision for the long term even tough, I hate to go back to a boring life in Canada and work in AB in the freaking cold there. Yes I would have had a total blast remaining in China, and banging a ton of hot chicks, but I'm at a stage now that I need to be smart and think with the big head and not the smaller one.

China is where I want to be and where it's really at and to give myself the best chance of succeeding, I need to have some capital to allow me to live in China for at least a year without having to work and to totally focus on learning the lingo and building my businesses. I see returning to Canada and working for 3-4 months in the brutal cold conditions of Alberta as the price to pay for a life of freedom and total options and I am willing to pay that price.

So on sunday morning, I will be flying to Manila where my return flight is on wednesday. I'll be partying my ass of for the next few days, both in GZ and in Manila.

I have been hearing and reading for as long as I can remember that China is the place to be for business. But now that I've been here and seen it with my own eyes, I have the confirmation of that it is all true and some more. A LOT more! I can say with total confidence and faith to all of you guys out there who are stuck in a soul crushing, mind numbing "career" or worst a dead end J.O.B. in North America or Europe or anywhere else for that matter, that you need to come check China to see it with your own eyes to believe the magnitude of the opportunities available here. I suggest you start in Guangzhou as it is very developed, within very easy access from Hong Kong and is the world capital of manufacturing and hence, ground 0 for opportunities. And as the icing on the cake or part of the benefits package if you will, are the sea of adorable, sexy, feminine, friendly, sweet and beautiful Chinese women who LOVE western men...

So do your research guys and IMO, the best place to start is at thelevatorlife.com . Watch the videos on the site and get in touch with Tim and Nick. They are some of the the coolest, friendliest cats you'd ever meet. These guys are simply outstanding.

Post: #37

slightly off topic but does this mean you are shelving the membership that you sell while going to Canada/China, or will do it and also pursue other things?

Before people start hyperventillating about the millions they will make after a few years in China, remember this: most people don't last 2 years, living there is very hard, having a successful business is even harder.

You meet a lot more people that thought they made it and then got shafted (read about the founder of That's Shanghai, minutes away from millions and poof it was all gone)

Personally, I'd be very skeptical of the elevator boys (little too good to be true), but hey that's me. Checked out their website and thought it was more hype and little in the way of China insight, actually saw numerous things that were incorrect.

FYI Guangdong is the most corrupt province in China and that is saying something. The fast connections you make can go awry even faster.

Not hating on or trying to dissuade anyone from going (I loved my time there), but the other side of the coin needs to be seen.

Post: #38

I'm now in Manila and fucking hate it. I'm cursing myself for having booked my return flight from Manila and not from BKK. What a dump this place is compared to anything else I've seen anywhere else. Haven't eaten anything in more than 24 hours and the only meal I had yesterday afternoon, made me puck that's how bad the food is in this dump.

Anyways, about the good stuff. Saturday night, partied with the guys from the elevatorlife and it was wild crazy. First we went to one of their hot Russian friend's apartment to pre party and the apart was in the best and top area of GZ, 3 bedroom, overlooking the best sights in town. Just the view alone was wow stuff. And the best part was the price, only 7000RMB per month which is about 1100 bucks a month. In Toronto, you can't even get a freaking studio in the hood for that much. Just wow. We were then joined by more of their friends, some truly inspiring guys from all over the world. Made some good contacts that night alone.

After that, the boys had booked the best table in a brand new club which was its opening night. Bottles and models all night long. Brazilian, Colombian, Russian and of course Chinese hotties everwhere. And in our table was a bunch of other very cool and successful guys. Met with some truly movers and shakers of business in GZ. And check this, it was only 150RMB per person for the table which comes to about 23$!!! In most nice clubs in TO, you pay 20 bucks just to get in and here I was partying with the brightest and most successful expats in town surrounded by models who were coming on to our table like crazy and unlimited drinks all night? Just blown away. All I remember is passing out for having been drinking all night and all afternoon long. Remember that it was 5am and the club was about to close. Somehow made it out of there and found a cab to my hotel, just enough time to pack my stuff and head straight to the airport as I had a flight to Manila at 9am. I'm still amazing I still made it given the state I was in.

I'm DEFINITELY going to make Guangzhou my home base starting from January 2013. Now heading off home on Wednesday and then straight onto Edmonton next week to get a job there.

Redneckpunk,
I'm still doing my travel membership biz but coming to China has opened my eyes to a whole new world and level of business that is simply beyond reach in Canada. Agreed with you that doing business anywhere is hard and even more so in a foreign country. Nobody should rush into this. However, I invite everyone in here looking for a change of life for the better, to come check it out and see if this is for them. Not everyone will feel comfortable in any given place, thus the importance to come see it personally. I did and I got the answers I wanted and now feel comfortable returning on a more semi permanent basis, at least for the next 1-3 years in China. It won't be easy at least initially with all the language and cultural barriers but that's where a good social network to fall back on and to get help from comes in handy. And IMO, the guys at the elevatorlife are top guys. They are far from hypey or fake. They are very down to earth and do walk the talk. Like with anything and any place, do your due diligence, homework and research but ultimately, hop on that plane and come spend some time in here to see it for yourself. I am already counting down the days of my return in January!!

Post: #39

VP,

Nice to hear your updates. It's great seeing your enthusiasm for this move--you seem very invigorated.

Question re: the Chinese MBA was that 8k RBI for the whole degree? per semester? per year?

It takes guts to do what you're doing, so I commend you on that.

Post: #40

Technics,
Thanks man! T'es français?
The 8k was for the chinese course per semester which is for 4 months with a total of 20 hours of class per week in the local university. The MBA goes for about 15-25k which is 1/3 if not 1/4 of what it would cost in Canada and probably more in the US.

Post: #41

Great stuff VC. Do you have any plan put together or are you just going to go back with cash and wing it?

Post: #42

Vacancier Permanent, since you are already in the travel business, I suggest you to read this article by Simon Black in which he talks about the huge opportunities in the Chinese travel business sector:

http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/this-m...nity-7937/

You may explore something on it in the future.

Post: #43

VP,

J'suis pas français mais j'adore la langue. Tu vas faire quoi pour apprendre le chinois?

Also, it's great you already got a job offer, but there's gotta be something better for you job-wise than what you were offered, with your six languages. My guess is, they may know that they can lowball someone who just got in and hasn't gotten a chance yet to really assess their worth on the chinese job market.

Qazwsw,

Great link. I second you on that suggestion. I think anybody that travels a decent amount at all, has noticed the increase in chinese tourists. .

Keep truckin' VP!

Post: #44

Lovin in the info on China. I am super interested in it now. Never was before. As I said, I have a good friend in Shenzhen who has lived around China for 2.5 years. He is conversational in Mandarin. Want to head over there to visit him and check it out. Not sure if I would ever do business and live there, but would definitely like to check it out for a month or so and see how it stacks up to Bangkok.

Post: #45

Back now in Toronto after a few days of heaving partying in Subic Bay where I met a cool Brasileiro from Vancouver. We hanged out all the time and made plans to hit Asia and Brasil together. Since my return flight was at 9am on Wednesday morning from Manila, I had to make a decision and fast: go to Manila on Tuesday afternoon and leave the fun party town I was in or take a chance, remain there and leave at 3am on Wednesday morning to be at the airport in Manila on time for my flight. Took the latter decision and it was one I enjoyed very much. With the cool Brasilian cat, whom had done his homework prior to coming to the Philippines, he had lined up a series of very hot Pinay girls from Facebook and he had the the hot girls introduce their friends to me. Met a couple of very hot ones like that and for a 3 day stint, it's all I needed.

So Wednesday morning, left the girls and my buddy at 2 am and went to my hotel to pack my stuff and at 3am was picked up by the private car to take me to the airport in Manila. Made it there just before 5 am and had to wait an hour or so before check in started for my flight to Narita. My flight was with Japan Airlines (JAL). Great food but the seats were among the shortest/smallest I've ever been into. I couldn't sit properly that's how small the seats were. Thankfully it was a short flight (4 hours 20 minutes). Arrived at Narita and everything went smoothly. While waiting to check in again with Air Canada to get my boarding pass, saw a Pinay woman who was all panicky as she had just noticed that she had forgotten her purse containing her passport on the plane from Manila and with only 2 hours left before take off. Felt truly bad for her. Wouldn't even wish something like that to happen not even to my worst enemy. Don't know what happened to her afterwards but I did pray for her that she was able to find her purse and passport...poor woman!

The flight from Narita to Toronto was quite comfortable and uneventful. I had a seat once again at the back of the plane as per my request and this time wasn't lucky as I had two elderely Japanese women sitting next to me. But they were very kind so not complaining. I was pleasantly surprised that the leg room and seat with Air Canada was considerably bigger than with JAL and for a 12 hour flight, it was quite a relief!

Now I'm just taking care of a few things before flying to Edmonton either next week or the following week to get a gig in the oil fields, work for a few months and save as much possible and once I hit 30K, I'm back to Asia with 1 month of partying in Thailand and the Phils and then back to GZ to live for a year or so focusing on learning the lingo and building a biz there.

All in all, it was a very eye opening trip, specially to China. Some random thoughts on China: I knew that it was developing but I would have never imagined it was THAT developed. Even Hong Kong, one of the top 5 cities in the world didn't wow me as much as Guangzhou did. I have never seen so many Jaguars, Maseratis and Aston Martins than in GZ. As a matter of fact, there was an Aston Martin dealership 2 minutes from my hotel. As I mentioned in my first post about GZ, this is a city of BIG money and it shows big time. And the craziest thing is that it's still developing big time as you see cranes and construction everywhere. It's simply unreal!

I'm really glad I made that trip to see it for myself and get the confirmation that China is indeed the place to be. Now just need to return with some cash to capitalize on it.

Worldwidetraveler,
I do have a good idea of what I'm going to get into when I return to GZ. I want to first and foremost, learn as much of the lingo as possible. I also want to use my language skills and get into consulting with people and businesses from Latin America and specially Brasil. I do have some good and solid contacts in Brasil already who are very interested in doing business with China. This is IMO, the way to go at least for me. Of course while there, given the nature of China and being around very successful people, there will surely be more opportunities thrown my way than I would know what to do with. But that's the beauty of China!

qazwsx,
Thanks for the link, very informative. Yes travel and as a matter of fact, anything luxury oriented is going to be HUUUUGE in China....hint hint guys..

Technics,
forgot to mention on my last post that the tuition fee I posted for the MBA in GZ is in US$ and not in RMB. So about 15-25K$ for an MBA there VS 50-75K$+ in Canada and even more in the US.

Post: #46

This is what 35 bucks a night gets you in the best part of Guangzhou, in the Tianhe District:

(Edit: I've been trying to add a pic of the place I was staying in GZ but the attachment option seems not to be working...anyone knows how to make it work?).

Post: #47

(09-20-2012 09:57 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  This is what 35 bucks a night gets you in the best part of Guangzhou, in the Tianhe District:

(Edit: I've been trying to add a pic of the place I was staying in GZ but the attachment option seems not to be working...anyone knows how to make it work?).

Just upload the picture to somewhere like imgur and then put a [img] tag in front of the url and [/img] at the end of it.

Post: #48

Here is the link to the pic of the place I was staying at in GZ: (BIG thanks Man About for suggesting this awesome site imgur.com!!!).

25th floor, Kitchenette, washing machine, full size fridge, dual voltage plugs and fast free wifi in the room, plus located 5 minutes walk from the Zhujiang New Town metro station, which is the primest area in Tianhe, the poshest area of Guangzhou.







All in all, a great place to stay at and I'll stay here again when I return to GZ.

Post: #49

Looks like a great place but holy batman you need to resize the pictures!

Post: #50

OR,
lol, you're right...didn't notice that the pics were so big. Sorry about that. If I could edit and replace them I would but the forum only allows edits for 1 hour or so. Hey Roosh, how about you review that rule?

Btw, if anyone has any questions about Guangzhou, China, feel free to ask them here and I'll do my best to answer them. I'm not claiming to be a GZ expert after having spent a grand total of 1 week there but I did get a good feel of the place, met a lot of people, both locals and expats. And If I can't answer your questions, then I'll forward them to my contacts on the ground and will report the answers back here. All in all, I encourage anyone looking for new options, a new place to live a great lifestyle in a very developed city at a very reasonable costs (I'd say on par with BKK costs) and meet a ton of cool people doing and achieving truly inspiring things, have a blast with slim, sexy, feminine, fashionable and beautiful girls everywhere being very approachable and friendly all while building a thriving global business, then GZ is a must. At least to check it.

In the next few days, if/when I get a chance, I'll do a data sheet on Guangzhou. So stay tuned...