Traveling
one can still encounter the extraordinary, the fantastic and barely credible.
Even in this age of globalization, uniformity and mimicry; even in one's own
regional neighborhood. What follows can be accepted with complete confidence
from a reliable source who received the information from her friend on the
spot, an actual participant. Second-hand, but quite trustworthy.
China Eastern is the largest airline in China. A big operation. Government enterprise with funds siphoned by the usual princelings and middle managers, captains, crew and ground staff, safe to assume. One can imagine the profits if proper fiduciary controls could be instituted. How large is the leakage is not indicated here.
There is a Singapore China Eastern office of course, unlikely to be small. The witness did not say the practice takes place in all the China Eastern offices throughout the world; it might be a particular local or regional Manager behind it here. At least in the Singapore office this was how it went.
Companies the world over undertake regular bonding exercises in order to lift productivity. Pressures on jobs, on profits; competition, new players with new ideas. Takes a great deal to maintain edge and precedence; team building, unity of purpose. An unending task to keep up to the mark. Must be innumerable ways and means devised across the globe. All the creative powers of the technocrats brought to bear.
How do they manage at China Eastern Singapore? Sounds like something from a manual devised back on the mainland and dispatched to the various branch offices.
Seven forty-five AM, before the herbal teas, a quart hour before the doors and phone lines open, a gathering in the Function Room. Fresh-eyed and bushy-tailed, all together now: chapter such-and-such, verse number so-and-so from the hymn book. A recitation quite likely. Inculcation was the point; the employees had to get it.
The Di Zi Gui roughly translates as Standards for Being a Good Student and Child, written during the Qing dynasty (1661-1772). In three-character verse and based on the Analects of Confucius, memorizing would not be difficult even for Customer Service people with shaky Mandarin. (The level of Mandarin among the Singaporeans a cause for concern for the government. Business opportunities gone begging; other nations that aren't even of Chinese heritage getting a cut of the action above their own. Hokkien and Cantonese more common here.)
Some lovely olde-world moral instruction delivered: dutifulness to parents; standards for younger brothers when away from home; cautiousness, reverence in daily life…. (Touching the glimmer of the past's treasure-house.) Trustworthiness; loving all equally; learning from people of virtue and compassion....
Xi' an—Terracotta Army territory—Laverne, who told the tale she heard from her friend, was greatly surprised at the choice at China Eastern. The group chanting every morning prior to the commencement of work was one thing. But the Di Zi Gui?.... Back in Xi 'an Laverne had it at primary school.
It was certainly a mark above Dale Carnegie and Donald Trump. The Self Enhancement shelves are well stocked here in the book-shops. Beside How to Win Friends... another ten Carnegie titles can be found in many of the stores in Sin’pore.
Girl-friend of Lav's had worked at China Eastern more than a year, Mainlander like Laverne. Understandably, the experience drove the girl half-crazy it seems.
.... Last night beers at Double Bay at the base of Raffles City, a large shopping tower beside the quaint old hotel. High wicker chairs for the smoking area. Marko had landed from Prague where you can have a fag with your drink in the Palace of Culture should you desire. A few heavily leathered old ex-pats at the bar in boating shoes; Little Creatures stubbies (in Fosters holders) not five or even ten a pop. Earlier a wonderful Geylang supper at Shan Dong Seow Tu again—Shandong Little Kitchen. Lav had been keen to see the famous "paradise for men". Telling working girls from the others had Laverne stumped, and Marko not much better. Always nice to show natives their own towns. (Four years Lav had been living in Singapore.) Girl serving at Shan Dong a lively scamp, coming out with a little arithmetic puzzle she had written out on a bill stub. Chap sources goods at such-and-such a price; sells at such-and-such. But in this case given a fake $100 bill. What are his losses?... Laverne and Marko at a loss why a waitress would venture such a thing. And Lav further concerned and blushing when her compatriot started out with some unseemly berating.
China Eastern is the largest airline in China. A big operation. Government enterprise with funds siphoned by the usual princelings and middle managers, captains, crew and ground staff, safe to assume. One can imagine the profits if proper fiduciary controls could be instituted. How large is the leakage is not indicated here.
There is a Singapore China Eastern office of course, unlikely to be small. The witness did not say the practice takes place in all the China Eastern offices throughout the world; it might be a particular local or regional Manager behind it here. At least in the Singapore office this was how it went.
Companies the world over undertake regular bonding exercises in order to lift productivity. Pressures on jobs, on profits; competition, new players with new ideas. Takes a great deal to maintain edge and precedence; team building, unity of purpose. An unending task to keep up to the mark. Must be innumerable ways and means devised across the globe. All the creative powers of the technocrats brought to bear.
How do they manage at China Eastern Singapore? Sounds like something from a manual devised back on the mainland and dispatched to the various branch offices.
Seven forty-five AM, before the herbal teas, a quart hour before the doors and phone lines open, a gathering in the Function Room. Fresh-eyed and bushy-tailed, all together now: chapter such-and-such, verse number so-and-so from the hymn book. A recitation quite likely. Inculcation was the point; the employees had to get it.
The Di Zi Gui roughly translates as Standards for Being a Good Student and Child, written during the Qing dynasty (1661-1772). In three-character verse and based on the Analects of Confucius, memorizing would not be difficult even for Customer Service people with shaky Mandarin. (The level of Mandarin among the Singaporeans a cause for concern for the government. Business opportunities gone begging; other nations that aren't even of Chinese heritage getting a cut of the action above their own. Hokkien and Cantonese more common here.)
Some lovely olde-world moral instruction delivered: dutifulness to parents; standards for younger brothers when away from home; cautiousness, reverence in daily life…. (Touching the glimmer of the past's treasure-house.) Trustworthiness; loving all equally; learning from people of virtue and compassion....
Xi' an—Terracotta Army territory—Laverne, who told the tale she heard from her friend, was greatly surprised at the choice at China Eastern. The group chanting every morning prior to the commencement of work was one thing. But the Di Zi Gui?.... Back in Xi 'an Laverne had it at primary school.
It was certainly a mark above Dale Carnegie and Donald Trump. The Self Enhancement shelves are well stocked here in the book-shops. Beside How to Win Friends... another ten Carnegie titles can be found in many of the stores in Sin’pore.
Girl-friend of Lav's had worked at China Eastern more than a year, Mainlander like Laverne. Understandably, the experience drove the girl half-crazy it seems.
.... Last night beers at Double Bay at the base of Raffles City, a large shopping tower beside the quaint old hotel. High wicker chairs for the smoking area. Marko had landed from Prague where you can have a fag with your drink in the Palace of Culture should you desire. A few heavily leathered old ex-pats at the bar in boating shoes; Little Creatures stubbies (in Fosters holders) not five or even ten a pop. Earlier a wonderful Geylang supper at Shan Dong Seow Tu again—Shandong Little Kitchen. Lav had been keen to see the famous "paradise for men". Telling working girls from the others had Laverne stumped, and Marko not much better. Always nice to show natives their own towns. (Four years Lav had been living in Singapore.) Girl serving at Shan Dong a lively scamp, coming out with a little arithmetic puzzle she had written out on a bill stub. Chap sources goods at such-and-such a price; sells at such-and-such. But in this case given a fake $100 bill. What are his losses?... Laverne and Marko at a loss why a waitress would venture such a thing. And Lav further concerned and blushing when her compatriot started out with some unseemly berating.
NB. An earlier version of "Double Bay" was published in the Hong Kong based Asian Cha Literary Journal, Dec 2013, under the general title "Ancient China: Post- (Almost) LKY Singapore"
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