Aquarium

Doing business in China is sort of complicated. A foreign operation cannot appear one day and set up shop, a joint venture is required, with substantial Chinese employment and ownership. There are two world class aquariums in Shanghai, one is a Singapore joint venture, the other a New Zealand joint venture. We went today to the New Zealand one, which was very good, and well geared to families. It was situated in a large park that had pedal boats (called “foot-powered”) and little rides, and a big aquarium.

The aquarium was almost entirely underground, much of it underneath a small lake. Once I let go of the claustrophobic feeling, it was very nice. It had a shark tunnel and a shallow reef with waves, and a deeper reef with enormous sea turtles, and James got to feed turtles and we saw a shark go poop. There was a beluga whale show, too, but it was not very impressive to those of us who have visited Sea World. It was super expensive by Chinese standards; it cost $40 for the three of us to visit. Having grown accustomed to $2 each for suppers and 40 cents each for bus rides, paying theme park prices is traumatic.

I think the Aquarium is making money, it was a weekday and they seemed quite busy. The tanks and equipment looked first rate, and although the entrance fees were low by Western standards, the labor costs are much lower here. At the hotel we are staying at, there are lots of foreign businessmen checking on China investments. I talked to a guy in the elevator today who had to get more pages put in his passport; he’d traveled so much overseas.