Project 1 and Project 2

On the first morning, breakfast was made for us in the main house by Mrs. Liu and the housekeeper. Green onion oil pies, which were amazing. There was some relishes for spices to put on them. We could not stop eating.

After breakfast, we drove to the factory. AXL Musical Instruments. By coincidence, Yong's father was in town. He travels all the time, and we hightailed it up to The Chairman's office and met him. Eric Liu was very warm, but serious. As I grew to understand the scope of the business, I grew to understand why. We're in the Jiading district of Shangai, and there are a ton of factories. The Liu's have two next to each other here, and many more spread out across South China. The two factories are called Project 1 and Project 2.

Mr Liu, in addition to being the Chairman of the company, is an important Shanghai official in the local Communist party.

After meeting Mr. Liu, Fay took us for a trip to the Imperial Testing School (and Confusious Temple?) that for 1000 years or something was the location of a standardized test. Think of the SAT on acid. Students would study for years and then be sent off from their villages to take the test. If you did well, you got a great government job and brought honor on your family and village. The buildings are amazing. Most striking are the ceramic tiled roofs, which must weigh a ton. Everthing was built with hard rosewood.