From the trenches of China

svrart · Jan 20, 2009

Hi,

I am a US citizen living in China. I have been reading in the western press about how China is being affected by the problems in the US. From first hand experience shopping, traveling etc recently this is simply not true. I went to a supermarket today and every aisle was so crowded I decided to leave. The new year festival starts in another 5 days. Its like christmas in the west but the crowd is just bursting with energy. I have heard that factories that sell to Walmart etc have suffered but first hand I have seen no slowdown.

Reporting from Lanzhou, China,
Sridhar

Daal · Jan 20, 2009

I'm tired of armchair economists who measure economic perfomance by couting heads in Malls. No ofense

sakimonohito · Jan 20, 2009

I can attest to this fact as a long time buyer in Shenzhen markets. There is simply no stock available at all for popular exports.

nutmeg · Jan 20, 2009

Quote from Daal:

I'm tired of armchair economists who measure economic perfomance by couting heads in Malls. No ofense

I thought that was the job of the governors of the fed reserve.

ralph00 · Jan 20, 2009

China is imploding.

AMT4SWA · Jan 20, 2009

The oil usage rates in china tell the tale.....it is not at the same trend it was a year ago......case closed.

TGregg · Jan 20, 2009

Quote from nutmeg:

I thought that was the job of the governors of the fed reserve.

They're too busy running the Mergers & Aquisitions department to do any of that measuring stuff.

sc85 · Jan 20, 2009

Quote from svrart:

Hi,

I am a US citizen living in China. I have been reading in the western press about how China is being affected by the problems in the US. From first hand experience shopping, traveling etc recently this is simply not true. I went to a supermarket today and every aisle was so crowded I decided to leave. The new year festival starts in another 5 days. Its like christmas in the west but the crowd is just bursting with energy. I have heard that factories that sell to Walmart etc have suffered but first hand I have seen no slowdown.

Reporting from Lanzhou, China,
Sridhar

Just sent you a private message, please check.

sc

Robert Weinstein · Jan 20, 2009

I have been to China many times and used to run an import company (sold last year to hang out with you guys)

From the emails that I get from factories things are soft in terms of sales. Prices are coming down and that's a first since the 'float' of the currency july 05.

I am sure there are parts of China that is doing well and busy but to say that during the biggest celebration of the year that its busy and equate that to a strong economy may be a bit of a stretch.

4444CJones4444 · Jan 20, 2009

Quote from svrart:

Hi,

I am a US citizen living in China. I have been reading in the western press about how China is being affected by the problems in the US. From first hand experience shopping, traveling etc recently this is simply not true. I went to a supermarket today and every aisle was so crowded I decided to leave. The new year festival starts in another 5 days. Its like christmas in the west but the crowd is just bursting with energy. I have heard that factories that sell to Walmart etc have suffered but first hand I have seen no slowdown.

Reporting from Lanzhou, China,
Sridhar

Thank you for the update. If you were to visit a mall or go out for dinner over the weekend, all appears normal where I live (Arizona), too. Trust me when I say the local economy is pretty bad. We're not standing in bread lines or anything, but property values and 401k/IRA/Pension accounts are down 30-40% (or more).