I know you are plugged in to the SM and Gearhead groups mainly on twitter, but there IS a whole group focused on China (not only China) embracing and collaborating on global business. I’ll intro you to a few of my “china focus” twitter friends. I’ve learned a great deal from them, which has helped me tremendously in propelling my own learning experience about China through my own travels. It all works together.

The thought of “Chinese food” over there being authentic and not the Americanized stuff that I regularly enjoy kind of scares me, as does the thought of being somewhere I can’t even guess what the signs say due to the characters used on them, but I love the history, the art, and many of the cultural traditions.

The world is shrinking at an exponential rate, which makes it easier to discover new places you’d love to visit. Not everyone has the budget to travel so extensively and really make those dreams a reality, but your travels give me an idea tonight.

I don’t think this trip had anything to do with your Bank On Rain program, but it gets me thinking, we’re all doing so much these days with our websites to enable a potentially global audience, it would be awesome to see a movement where more people attempted doing international business. Rather than focus on social media popularity contests designed to net speaking engagements or build material for a book, instead of coming up with a website to sell widgets on Ebay or as a home-based business, what if more people tried to think globally about their business ventures?

There are plenty of charities out there competing for donation dollars, struggling to raise awareness of this cause or that injustice, but it strikes me that awareness of a global need and working on solutions to that need could be the catalyst for exciting travel to places we’ve never been which end up being far more rewarding than the usual tourist junket.

I’ve never been to China. I may never go to China, but your trip introducing James to the culture leads to a revelation of sorts; one which I hope rings true with my own recent endeavors. Thank you!

The scale of it does blow your mind, and it came home to me even more last week when a friend brought me a 1988 book of aerial views of China which she found in the Island recycling of all places. The 1988 aerial view of Shanghai was especially interesting as it was just about when our friend Gregory first visited the Urban Planning Museum. I’ll let you know when I post 1988 Shanghai.

Thanks so much Brian for your comment which made me realize that even though China has changed, to many the view of China has not. I’ve been going to China since 2006 and even though each visit has it’s new revelations I am becoming accustomed to what is happening there and can see how things might play out in the next ten or even twenty years. Even James who has heard me talk about it for several years, was amazed by the scale of everything; definitely he said you had to see it for yourself to really believe it. I had hoped that my Scale Model post might bring the reality home, and judging by what you said and several emails (& a phone call) I received, I think it did.

Was it merely cloudy or is that the famous smog? I’d love a misty, overcast day, but not if the clouds are full of death and pollution on par with Mexico City.