Chongqing

Now we spend unexpected but welcome time in China's and the world's largest municipality. Chongqing's mayor rules (under the central government) a city state roughly the size of Austria with roughly 4 times the people of Austria. It has been broken out from the province of Sichuan a couple of years ago and used to be its easternmost part on the Yangzi (Huang Jiang).

Like Austria it once had an automobile industry and it's got one again. Most of the cars here are small because on one hand instead of partnering with Canadian Magna and BMW they they have got a joint venture with Nipponese Suzuki. On the other hand smaller cars also make more sense for everybody but the toppest brass. It is said they are in the train to changing partners, and that most likely it is going to be Ford Europe soon.

As the 4^th city in mainland China Chongqing is building a subway now which is a bit of a feat, because, like Manhattan, the city core is built between two large rivers. But very much unlike Manhattan this is not an island but a set of very steep hills and mountains. So in and out many tunnels the subway goes.

They also have trolley and diesel buses here. The bicycle is ab bit rarer in the core than elsewhere in China, and understandably so.

Where no river view attracts real estate sharks you can find old parts of the city with fantastic traditional teahouses and markets.

As these teahouses they have no higher confucianist beauraucracy to cater to anymore they mostly cater to Taiwanese, American and European tourists which is a shame. These teahouses have fantastic bands with a large repertoire but the tourists talk so loudly and in such a barbarian way that even the best brain can't compute out the noise after a short while.

Practically all people save newly immigrated and longterm unemployed ones need to have their own apartments as a property. Standard apartment size used to be 36m² in the seventies and early eighties and is now 90m² we are told.

As people seem to do the interior furnishing of their flats themselves, good quality material and good quality furniture at affordable prizes is a tremendous business opportunity. Ikea is in Shanghai and soon to be expected here. Their catalogue already is.

Hello from Beijing

Off the track and on the place I am. I have seen the future. Chongqing (locals pronounce it as Dtuntsching) is the largest and biggest city in the world. Its area is about 5 times the size of Beijing which is already large and it's got 33 million inhabitants. More about this place later on.

Today here in Bejing ends the first session of the XVIth people's congress of the chinese communist party. After visiting the forbidden city we had to wait for about 40 minutes on the side of Tianenmen for the congress to end (or go to lunch). Only then did the people's armed police allow us to cross the place. Waiting meant moving around scattered in singles and pairs. Funnily the party's anger this year is not directed against students but against Fu Lung Gong.

The congress has elected a new president, Hu Jintao, aged 59. I hear he is the youngest member of the inner circle. At 59 he is no comparison to KH Grasser, smooth operator numero uno in Au De Li but compared to Jiang Zemin he really is a youngling.

In addition to that Meeting behind closed doors in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, the 2,114 delegates to the Congress picked about 200 full and 150 alternate, or second-tier, members of the party's ruling Central Committee ahead of the closure of the five-yearly conclave. Changes? To be watched!

The BBC is 80 today. It began daily radio transmissions on November 14th, 1922 and has been entertaining and informing the nation and at least the English speaking world ever since. Wow. We watch their World News here. Very pretty anchor from either Pakistan, India or Bangladesh on Asia Watch. Interesting talks. Some of the BBC is still working.

You're done with

gotta make lots of payments today.

Ab 18:00 findet der Open ORF.at Pentathlon statt. Radfahren I: Urania -Roter Hiasl Schwimmen: Donauinsel und zurück Radfahren II: Roter Hiasl - Praterstern Laufen: Praterstern - Schweizerhaus while (!done) { Kampftrinken Hochschaubahnfahren} Teilnahmebedingungen: keine Alle Disziplinen können ausgelassen oder absolviert werden. cu there!