Totally un-pc... doing business in China

Doing business in any foreign country can sometimes be supremely frustrating, China certainly being no exception. A friend of mine sent this to me, asking for help. I am aware of the somewhat un-pc content, but it's equally hilarious:

"Here are my demands. If you cannot get him to agree to all of them, Don't
worry. I still have buyers at the original agreed upon price. But I can
sell about 50 a month if he can get his act in gear.

1)His current quoted prices are as follows 2gb-800 4gb 1200 30gb 1580. His
price for 2gb is 180 rmb lower than the real one. HOWEVER his price for
the 4gb is actually 20 rmb higher than the real one. For 30gb his price is
only 20 rmb lower than the real one.

2)I bought a 2gb black nano two weeks ago and tried to get buyers for it.
They wanted to buy it but the hold button simply fell off the machine.
Even still they wanted to buy it, but they needed for less than his quoted
price.

3)There is no fucking warranty you piece of shit chink. How can I pay the
price you demand without a warranty and expect to make any money? The cost
of shipping alone will make your ipod more expensive if anything goes
wrong! I will take care of repairing the machines, but I need at least a
30% discount right off the top, then we can talk about volume discounts.

4)My current demand for 30gb players is about 50 units. Can you supply us
with these? Can you assemble them so the fucking hold button doesn't fall
off? Don't you want a long term relationship with your buyers?

5)If you can agree to my demands there are other extremely important
factors you should consider about your packaging.
a)The headphones you supply are very low quality OEM. Please supply us
with more authentic looking headphones
The installation disc is actually ok. In fact it's probably the only
thing you supplied me with that is just right
c)The usb cord is also fake as fuck. It is missing a plastic snap
connector to keep the usb coiled when it is not in use.
These are cheaply available in the wholesale market where you work, why
the hell don't you just buy the real ones? It does matter you fucking
chink!
d)All ipods whether they are from China or Japan or Timbuktu come with 2
more things you didn't place in your package. A universal docking adapter
(the removable plastic piece, 1 per ipod
http://beelan.com/product.asp?id=769 ) and a plastic vinyl slip cover.

6)Your serial number on the box and the one on the ipod don't match.
Granted you have to use the same serial number for all ipods as you are
using a real stolen serial. But why the hell would you use a fake fake
one? Please ensure the box serial and the unit serial match. This is
common fucking sense!~

7)Your soldering work is also shoddy. When you lay a real ipod on the
table it's thinner than yours. Yours is not securely sealed and the
finishing has scratches from your shitty handwork.

You should consider whether you want to make a real deal or if you want to
sell these as is. I can still buy them as is. That is as you are capable
of producing shit work, I am capable of paying the market value for shit.
I suggest you lower your 2gb to a very reasonable 700 rmb 4gb to 1000 rmb
and the 30gb to 1450 rmb. At these prices you make a fair profit and I can
resell these 20% lower than the wholesale market in my own country. If
this deal works out our demand would be around 100 pieces a month.

However since I cannot count on you for decent work yet. I would like you
to prepare 5 units in total, all black, for Wednesday afternoon. I will
stop by and inspect them. If you have made the necessary improvements, I
will take those 5 units back to Vietnam and sell them. Barring no problems
I will return the next week and purchase the remaning 45 pieces I
currently need.

Can you handle this? I hope so you fucking pea brained coke head!

(Mr. Marc)"


And my hazy attempt on all of 4hrs sleep?

你好

我是马克的朋友。你记得他吗？他是个美国年轻男人，正在在越南住居。两个星期前他去你那儿购买你制造的一个iPod Nano，黑色，两gb.

他邀请我替他发给你邮件，安排你们之间将来你交易。他的要求是下面的。如果你想跟他做贸易你应该听话：

1）现在你告诉我朋友的价格是这样：

2gb - 800人民币
4gb - 1200人民币
30gb - 1580人民币

但是 你制造的2gb ipod的价格比正确的2gb ipod 便宜180人民币。当时你制造的4gb ipod的价格比正确的4gb ipod 贵20人民币。当时你制造的30gb ipod的价格比正确的30gb ipod 便宜20人民币。这些价格的水平有什么道理？

2）两个星期前我朋友购买2gb ipod， 黑色的。在越南他尝试寻找这个东西的买主们。他们都喜欢你的2gb ipod 但是那起来你制造的2gb ipod 时上面电钮立即跌落下了。他们还想购买你制造的ipod但是价格太贵。

3）你制造的ipod 没有什么保单。正确的ipod都有一年的保单。如果你的ipod没有保单我的朋友不会给你那么多钱。他怎么会挣钱？如果没有保单我朋友不会挣钱。为什么呢？因为如果ipod有毛病的话，托运费加你ipod价格后他怎么会挣钱？太贵啦，危险他厉害！他建议他会负担ipod的修理费，但是你必须把你的ipod价格便宜一点儿，比如3折。现在的价格百分之七十怎么样？然后你们会讨论批发的购买。

4）现在我朋友的客人想购买50个30gb ipod. 你会不会制造那么多ipod？你会不会保证上面的电钮不会跌落下了吗？你想不想跟你的买主建立一个很长期的关系？

5）如果你会上面做的我有别的要求。大部分都是包装的问题：

- 你给我们的耳机质量不行。看起来不正确的。请给我们好像正确的耳机。
- 安装CD盘很好。
- USB线的确不正确的。它没有塑料的回形针，所以不用的时候线不会盘绕。这个东西真的很便宜，为什么你不购买正确的？
- 所有的ipod （包括中国制造的，日本制造的等等）都有额外两个东西。一个"universal docking adapter"，（每个ipod有一套http://beelan.com/product.asp?id=769 ） 和一个塑料"乙烯基"包。

6）你ipod合资和你ipod机有不同的连着顺存的号码。我知道你制造的ipod都有同样的连着顺存的号码因为你用的连着顺存的号码是偷走的，打你是为什么合资的连着顺存的号码和ipod机的连着顺存的号码不是同样的！？你必须把他们写同样的。没有道理。

7）制造的时候你焊接是软弱无能的。因为真个问题正确的ipod比你的ipod微小一些。你制造的ipod不关牢好的又有很多抓痕，可能没有仔细得制造。

8）你想成功还是这样继续吗？如果你的商品还有毛病我还会购买他们，但是你必须把你的ipod价格便宜一点儿。我建议：

2gb = 700 rmb
4gb = 1000 rmb
30gb = 1450 rmb.

这样我们都会挣钱，有利润。另外我会在越南再卖这个东西（比当地东西便宜百分之二十）。这样我们会提到这里对你的ipod需求， 可能每个月会卖掉100个。

但是我不会相信你的商品的质量。现在我想买5个ipod，都黑色的。我打算周三下午去你那儿。到时候我会跟你见面，检查你制造的ipod怎么样。如果相面的毛病都修理好了我要把那些5个ipod拿到越南。在越南我会把他们卖掉了。如果没有别的毛病的话我会下个星期回来购买45个ipod.

你会不会这样做？我真希望你会这样做，为了我们将来的关系和相互成功。


谢谢。

马克先生（和康岱文）

有些照片

Tents: Wall-Mart 80RMB
Mini-Van Rental: 170RMB
Food and drink: 300RMB
Parking at abandoned house: 10RMB
Cold mountain water hose shower: Free
View: Priceless

Head for the hills

So a rocky start to a much awaited trip but all seems to be back on track or at least a track...

There are those that ridiculed me for returning to Qingdao so soon after leaving, having lived here for almost 8 months, and in retrospect a lot of it may have had some basis! I arrived pretty tired, having done all the flights back to back, and to some pretty shitty weather and a lot of traffic noise. I was yearning for beaches, peace and quiet, and strangely enough the thirst for a starched white bedroom which led out onto a starched white beach where the sand didn't cling to your feet even when wet, and where everything was squeaky clean and refreshing... it's amazing what one craves from ones holidays when one is least expecting it. I think the essence was that I may have misbalanced (especially the squeeky clean part) what I actually needed on day one of a holiday vs what I thought I wanted having enjoyed this place so much when I was here. Much of it is down to mind set, but it is true that sometimes we need a certain environment to help induce in us a certain feel/mood, whereas here my poor head was left to do all the chilling out and catching up on its own. Before you read on, don't worry, I did get there (and still have a week left!).

At first the weather was a real shocker - not one to add to the 'return to work tan' - humid and overcast with a bit of thunder for fun. But the clouds parted and I caught up on my sleep (amazing that even though one lands a king sized bed one still curls up in the corner and wastes the other ten square meters!). The last few days have been extremely good fun, coinciding with my eventual relaxing and getting out of my neurotic perfectionist high-chair. Mark has his girlfriend Oanh here from Vietnam, who has been cooking up a storm. I've spent some great days by the beach with my Chinese pals, and Karin has her German mates here this weekend, so we have managed to poach ourselves a mini-van (MianBaoChi in Chinese, which translates literally as a bread-roll van) and will be camping at LaoShan on Saturday night and heading back on Sunday - we hear the beach there may be clean.

I also made the decision (within about 3hrs of getting here) that as much as I love catching up with people here and watching Qingdao swirl around, without a definite purpose or task I'm going to kill myself from boredom and regret wasting a precious week of holiday. So after much discussion it looks like a Monday flight awaits to speed Karin and myself to Hangzhou, which we will use as our launch pad to check out the famed Thousand Island Lake and (if we have the energy for it) Yellow Mountain, just across the border to Zhejiang in the neighboring Anhui province. I decided that anything further than two provinces away was still too much of an effort this time around.

As for this evening, we're off to the restaurant in my hotel for a good slap-up feed and a bit of a sashimi binge. While we'll probably be satisfied after 5 pieces Mark and I have a bit of a score to settle after being denied on Wednesday at the all you can eat Japanese buffet. For all of 68 RMB one can stuff oneself on sushi but not sashimi. So we did what any sensible punter would do and ordered lots of the stuff, only to then peel off the fish and leave the rice, which was then met with a rather angry "do not waste the rice" from the local staff. Oanh proceeded to squash and hide the rice under each stacked plate while Mark and I paid and made a run for it. After dinner I'm sure a whole gaggle of us will be gathering at the Jazz Corner (Hole) to moan about how crap it is and get predictably drunk while dancing badly to the Backstreet Boys.

That highlight aside I have exhausted my old DVD haunts, ordered a new suit for all of £25 (hope nobody from work sees this, and if they do... ha!), and had a good fill of hot-pot. I've also been witness to a most strange phenomenon - Pepsi is a fashion label out here (and no it's not fake! Who would ever fake 'Pepsi' clothes!?!?!). The clever kids at Pepsi Co have decided to take all their sports stars, Beckham and all, and import them across to a high quality mid-price fashion label, which seems to be aimed at all those cool kids who still want to be 'it' but can't afford the prices that Nike and Adidas demand out here. The range, which includes some very nice underware and assorted sportsware, is now available in the flagship store in TaiDong and in Jusco. I was pretty impressed and it seems the Chinese public are too.

Before I head for the shower here is a selection of tantalising(ly amusing) excerpts on the next destination (finger crossed I do actually go!):

"Like a shining pearl inlaid in this golden tour line QianDaoHu is about to become one of the best tourist attractions in the world.

Qian Dao Hu (Thousand Islets Lake) is a young lake. She is an artificial lake formed as the result of being a reservoir for constructing Xin'an River Waterpower Plant in 1959.

Qian Dao Hu (Thousand Islets Lake) is a crystal pure lake. Covering an area of (143, 321 acres), it has a storage capacity of 17.8 billion cubic meters. The average depth of water is 34 meters (112 feet) and the visibility in the water can be reached to 7-9 meters (23-30 feet). According to the national water evaluation standard, the water, which can be drunk directly from the lake, is top ranking. (Aron, that part was for you).

Qian Dao Hu is beautifully featured with verdant hills, elegant water, queer caves, and odd stones. In spring, flowers spring up everywhere, dressing the lake in many vibrant colors. In summer, visitors like boating on the pure green lake and are reluctant to leave. In autumn, visitors will be attracted by the hills in heavy red, for leaves here turn red in autumn. Even in winter, although blanketed with snow, Qian Dao Hu warmly welcomes visitors from all over the world. The snow scenery of Qian Dao Hu is so exquisite that poetry can hardly capture it. Truly, Qian Dao Hu is beautiful and inviting in all seasons.

...Different seasons have different activities: Muju (local drama) in the spring, Dragon Lantern show in the fall, Tiao Zhu Ma (local dancing party) in the summer may be visitors' favorites.

...Qian Dao Hu (Thousand Islets Lake) is like a dream, an enchanting dream. Matching with the ocean-blue sky, snow-white cloud, and golden bright sunlight, Qian Dao Hu with its pure water is so charming that we cannot exactly describe the special beauty by our language. We see many colors here; the most attractive is green. Each islet here is vibrant, each hill here is emerald, and each mountain here is verdant. Green here is uniquely pure, small wonder that Qian Dao Hu is famed as a green wonderland. Green is a symbol of life; seeing the unique green here, everyone will cherish his life.

...Leave out of the crowded and noisy city and throw away all the mundane affairs; you'd better wander around Qian Dao Hu (Thousand Islets Lake). From time to time you will think that you were walking in Xanadu."

Sonic Mafia?

Hah! I knew I wasn't crazy... things just got so much better.

Just as I think I've missed a night of hopping kung-fu antics, because I myself am late home from the opera, the lights go on. In comes kung-fu kid, who I am about to rename Sonic because of the way he styles his hair. He immediately strips off his bluey shirt at lightning speed as if he's about to get pneumonia (it's pissing down outside - I make the causal link) and puts on a new pink one. All of this is done in the slightly frenetic and unnerving way that he does everything. But better still (it doesn't take much) he does have mates - two of them, constantly on their phones, dialing and re-dialing - who he sporadically points a gun at. Granted from 20 meters away it seems like a slightly beefy/plastic looking airgun, but it's never been about the object, more the substance. Lights off, boys leave. He also randomly bounced and hopped in front of them for about 2 seconds.

It strikes me I never saw his friends' faces. There's something I like about that, it feeds my darker theories and makes the whole 2 minute show that much more suffocating! Which leads me to my next line...

Do we think the Russian Youth Mafia do blog searches?

Insignificant

Something very strange has been happening in Marylebone in the last few days. No, that's innacurate. Some very strange people (probably including myself) live in Marylebone and in the past few days I have become aware of their presence and feel compelled to write about them. This may also betray the fact that between the hours of 11pm and midnight I have become somewhat of a voyeur - but so be it.

There is a house oppoite the flat I live in which caught my attention sometime ago. The building is in the heart of Marylebone and has clearly recently been refurbished. From cursory walks past the house and everyday glances one can pick out the flat-screen TVs that have been placed on almost every wall, the plush modern furniture and designer bathrooms. There also seems, now that I looked carefully, to be some very clichéd modern art on the wall - some big red spots on white canvas with sprays of color dotted across strategically chosen corners. At night the house is also lit by rather bright up-lights which are clearly intended to attract attention, if not keep the neighbors awake. The finishing, positioning and attention have, so I hear, managed to net the owner of the house a weekly rental income of c.£2,500.

I was first drawn to the inhabitants of this rather overpriced pad by a buxom blonde parading around with her bed linen draped over her during the early hours of Sunday morning. I had just come home from a run with the dog and was hanging out of the kitchen window catching my breath and trying to sweat a bit less. As I sipped on my Tesco's "with pulp" orange juice I noticed the bombshell - and then next to her what could only look like a rather beefy body builder type man with cropped hair who looked like he should have one rot-weiler tattooed on his chest and another by his side. At that moment I vowed not to make a point of staring at the blonde. I also at the same time made the assumption that the whole house was theirs, and over the course of the next few weeks, whenever I caught glimpses of the place, I would try and work out what the "human interest" story was there. The hours were erratic, the fights frequent, the money clearly quite abundant, and the number of swear words equally so. My curiosity was also indulged by a weekend morning scene (the night after a domestic where the words "why can't you just fucking love me" were screeched out) when Mr. Cropped Hair left the house with a friend and drove off in a very snazzy new Merc. Night clubs, that had to be it. And so my interest abated.

Then the hot weather came. The searing heat of a British summer surprised us all in mid-June, and suddenly the shutters and windows of Marylebone opened to allow us all to breathe a little better. Yes, this was one house, yes, there was one button on the door, yet it seemed there were units of people living in this house as they would in a house which had been broken up into a block of flats. The comings and goings increased, Mr. and Ms Cropped Hair featured less and less, and then things got very dull. It seemed a young man lived upstairs on the top floor. Boring. The floor below that seemed devoid of excitement until a couple arrived home last night from what I imagine was a very romantic evening out, judging from how content she looked and how relieved he looked! And the floor below that contained the Cropped Hairs. Been there done that – until that floor seemed to become the home of a very attractive and slim black lady and her partner – yet Mr. Cropped Hair and a new blonde sometimes appeared (never at the same time as the new tenants). That really was about it. The most exciting event until two nights ago was the front door being left open to cool the house down.

Then three nights ago at about 23:05 the top floor boy decided to become karate kid, or maybe more like kung-fu kid. After that he just became weird. But it is this weirdness that has kept me captivated since Friday and to a certain extent caught my imagination. There is no doubt that in common parlance the boy is a bit of a loser, he’s strange, he’s clearly obsessive and he seems to waste an awful lot of time being all of those things. I come from the world of thought whereby if you are intent on being that way at least keep it efficient, to a minimum, and relatively in balance with other things.

So what is it he does? I’m not really sure what he does during the normal hours of the day. Given the rental he must have to pay in the “flat-share” he must do something that nets him a bit of cash. And despite what is about to follow in this description, I very much doubt he is a kung-fu, or even aspiring, kung-fu star. For that matter I am not even sure a kung-fu star would make enough cash to live in Marylebone, let alone choose to live in Marylebone. But what he does at night is a strange ritual that reminds me of what I sometimes do at the gym when I simply cannot be bothered to exercise (please hold that comparison in very loose terms). Window open, Kung-fu kid stands and does nothing. He stands very upright, normally with no top on. Then suddenly, like he just did now as I watched him and wrote this, he will fire a punch, then another, then an elbow to the side, an uppercut, jab, swing around, knee, elbow, punch, double punch, both hands, chop, duck, punch, pause, hold hands in stiff karate pose, and stop. That whole routine takes about 4 whole second, and is then normally followed by him ducking out of site for either a press up, a dive onto some kind of surface (below my eye-level) but with legs temporarily in the air, or some tricep dips on what must be a step which divides the room (obscured by a wall). After a while he stands up again does a jumping kick at thin air, I get bored and go to bed. It’s amusing, and I probably would have thought nothing more of it all had it not happened again the next night.

Hands in pose. Chest out. Upright. Sudden punch, then another, then an elbow to the side, an uppercut, jab, swing around, knee, elbow, punch, double punch, both hands, chop, duck, punch, pause, hold hands in stiff karate pose, and stop. A pat of the stomach, a good observation of himself. I then imagine an internal conversation (clearly based on my opinion of him) “you’re in good shape, but too scrawny – but it’s OK, at least you’re fast”. Some dips follow. A trip to the bathroom to view himself. And then the fun really started.

Kung-fu kid takes what looks like a stretchy rubbed band, black, thick, and long enough to hold with both hands and stretch two shoulder lengths apart. I’m thinking this must be resistance exercising, until he cocks a leg, ties it around the other at an angle and proceeds to hop, like a chicken pecking its head after feed, around the room. Stumble, skip, hop. Then follows a series of very low dips, all clearly on one leg, then a good dose of standing still, a few grimaces of what look like pain (is he part of some strange sect!? Am I a narrow idiot for even entertaining that thought!) then he swaps legs. Hops a bit, texts a bit on his phone, dips, and then gets a call. He puts the phone down and rushes, like a child caught stealing candy, to undo the strapping with a few grimaces of pain. It also occurs to me at this point to tell you that now I consider myself his audience I have turned by light off so as not to be detected and for fear that I might be picked out as the loon and not him! Safety first and all. He finished unbinding himself and opens the door. It’s none other than the very slim and beautiful black lady wearing a stunning strapless white dress. Any man reading this will know what my next thought was, I was either expecting him to get a right telling off for making too much noise or shaking the house with his hopping, or a real show worth watching. I quickly figure the noise wouldn’t bother her, she is two floors down. She comes into the room, walks around, snoops a bit, and then just as quickly leaves. Kung-fu kid, obviously not expecting the action I was, sheepishly walks around the room, looking at a loss. Has the neighbor who lives in between him and the black lady asked her to speak to him? Nah. He hesitates, picks up his torture bands, hops some more, dips a bit more, and then I once again get bored.

I’d pretty much decided not to bother watching any more, but ran the occurrence of loser boy past some mates. They all thought it was hilarious. Then after the football Annie came over for dinner and I told her about it, “if you’re lucky he’ll be performing now!”. And there he was. T-shirt on this time he spontaneously throws a pillow, then some covers. Calms down, takes his shirt off, and we’re off again for the latest 2hr session of anger management/kung-fu practice/self-admiration/self-punishment ritual. Once Annie leaves he settles into the normal routine, this time throwing in some hand-stands, which he can’t seem to nail perfectly or for long enough. The result is that he throws himself into one after another until he is so angry that he moves onto something else. The whole thing is strange, and it’s also boring already, especially now that I’ve distilled him down and written about it. All I can really add is that he spikes his hair up like we all did when we were 13 and thought we were cool. This adds to my assumption that he must be foreign, which then adds to my assumption that I am a really prejudicial prick sometimes. For some reason I also hope he has some mates. I think I’ve decided they would be good for him, but that also he could build his body up in a quarter of the time (if it is that which is bothering him) and spend the other hour and a half developing other more useful skills. The bottom line is that I have also assumed he is somewhat socially inept, but that if he is not then he is at least socially uncomfortable. It’s just a sense I get. But I sit here and think, if that is why he carries out this little body-temple ritual, then he’s not really getting to use it. Where is the benefit? What is the end-game? And if he restructures his approach then he can not only have the temple but also do something between the hours of 10pm and midnight with other people that may be more interesting, and possibly reduce the psychological need for his rather strange and isolated temple worship. What's also pretty interesting in all of this is what the reader chooses to read and interpret from a text which in terms of active presentation or interaction produces little information and has no words, but which has already almost made it to 2,000 here. I won't deny I'm slightly concerned by the fact that I have felt compelled to watch Kung-fu kid and burdened by a feeling of compulsion to share what I have seen with others - but I am also fascinated and certainly think that many other people who chanced to watch all this would be too.

英国航空公司的退休基金

So here is my second essay for my new Chinese tutor. For those of you unable to read it, it's about the trouble BA are having with their pension scheme, and how they plan to address them. My teacher joked with me that I'd cribbed too many phrases from online sites for my last essay, so I made a real attempt to go native with my writing of this one - much to my suprise a lot more fun and not too much harder. That said certain technical phrases have obviously stumped me! It's nifty therefore having a friend from the Honk Kong office sitting next door to me at work!

Meanwhile the the life of a trainee lawyer has started and continues apace. Obviously there are interesting times and not so intersting times, but that is part of the training, and surely part of starting (and contuining with!) any job.

Last weekend I was in Ljubljana, which was fantastic. So I plan to take a break from heavier topics and make the next essay about that - though worried my dictionary lacks the translation for Slovenian Proteus! Also gives me an opportunity to put some recent photos up for those of you bored sensesless by my persitance at posting Chinese blogs.


Ciao.

Dan


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各位大家朋友好！

很久没给你们写我的消息和文章。工作很忙是主要的原因。另外我心老师三个星期以来不在英国。其实多我来说那些休息的事件很好。太累的时候人不应该强迫自己做事情 - 结果质量可能不高。现在我不但适应伦敦的生活，而且适应工作的节奏。这样很好。下周末我跟朋友们一起去斯洛韦尼亚，牛肉吃得很多，美女看得满足！


我打算下次给你们写在斯洛韦尼亚的文章。另外我在那里拍的照片很多 - 肯定把它们放在这个网站上。

晚安。

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06年03月25号
英国航空公司的退休基金

周四金融时报报道英国航空公司打算重新组织它的主要退休基金计划。董事会计划支付5亿英镑给英该公司的退休基金。同时员工们必须同意提高他们的退休年龄与限制他们的退休金待遇。

这个交易是英国航空公司重新财务改革的一部分。很久以来这个退休基金让该公司无数困扰。到现在它的退休基金赤字已达到20亿英镑。在所有英国公司当中它的赤字是最高之一。

很多历史长久的公司有这种的问题，原因是老的基金系统对当今的社会不适合。本来有一种正常用的退休金叫“最后工资计划”(“Final Salary Scheme”).在这个计划下公司保证员工的退休金额。这个金额跟员工的收入和工龄有关。不管退休基金的情况怎样公司保证支付这笔固定的金额。股票市场崩盘时结果是退休基金比公司保证金小很多。

现在公司会选择各种各样的退休金计划。最常用是“Money Purchase Scheme”。在这个计划中每个月员工把他们工资中的一部分投在公司的退休基金。按照员工的投的钱公司也加上一笔钱。可以说他们本人的退休基金是公司的退休基金的一部分。（有一些退休基金计划下每个人可以做自己的选择）。各人退休金的朵小反映公司全部的退休基金价值的涨落。这种的计划不但比较公正，而且公司的损失不会那么多因为它没有将来的责务。

在这个上下文下我会给你描写英国航空公司退休基金计划的整合。本来英国航空公司退休年龄是55岁。该公司的总裁提出除了飞行员以外员工新的退休年龄改变到65岁。在它的安排下，五年之内退休年龄一直是60岁，然后再提高到65岁。

英国航空公司提出退休金增值应该随着物价上涨而改变。

这些计划有利于解决英国航空公司退休基金的问题，吸引更多的投资者。最近该公司的利率没有以前好。退休基金整合之后可能会恢复。

英国航空公司希望六个月之内执行这个计划。但上周五英航的工会威胁公司。它们要保护员工退休金权力。英国航空公司害怕员工罢工。该公司曾经经历过这样的事件。去年夏天因为工资争议论员工罢工引起航班日程的混乱。

英国航空公司的总裁宣称：”改革是不可避免的。如果不改革退休基金计划我们将来无法生存。。。有这么大的赤字公司是不能继续下去.”

Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA, said: “Change is inevitable. There’s absolutely no situation where we can continue to exist with the scheme as it is . . . The scale of the problem isn’t sustainable.”

康岱文

纳斯达克对伦敦证交所的收购提议

终于我找到一位特别好的辅导老师，我们打算每个周末见面。我的计划是巩固我现在的中文基础，然后继续学习。同时我们想找好一点的方法提高我的词汇，比如讨论比较专业的话题等等 ，而且有时间的话学习有关中国古代文化的内容。每周我看报纸时选择一个有趣的话题，告诉老师，然后我给她写一篇关于那个话题的文章，那个文章是我们课的基本材料。我知道我的中文还有一些问题，比如词序，语法等等。但我希望这些课程可以帮助我维持现在的中文水平，并且不断进步。修改与完善是我的新口号！

下面是我第一篇文章。

晚安吧。


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纳斯达克对伦敦证交所的收购提议 - 06年03月18号

对伦敦证券交易所（证交所）本周很忙。第一个主要的原因是下个星期美国纳斯达克证交所提出收购伦敦证交所提议。它们的提议价值是41亿美元。用现在的外汇率这个价值等于24亿英镑。第二个理由是昨天伦敦证交所的”金融时报100”突破6000点，高达6044。我应该解释一下。金融时报100是伦敦证交所的一部分。这个部分是伦敦证交所资产最大的100公司。对外界它们的点表示表示伦敦全部的证交所的状况。好像伦敦证交所很”健康”。（当然那些公司的钱不是伦敦证交所公司的钱。）但是伦敦证交所是个服务公司，它们的服务是提供交易地方，为了买卖股票公司需要申请注册，等等。伦敦证交所提供这个服务为了挣钱。金融时报100的成功是和证交所的管理分不开的。

最近全球证券交易所之间的竞争越来越激烈。每个交易所都想吸引各国公司在它们那上市，以提高交易所的收入与名气。比如，2004年伦敦证交所在香港设立一个办公室。它们的目的是吸引中国大陆和香港公司到伦敦上市。

去年以来已经有三家公司提出收购伦敦证交所提议。其中有欧洲证交所德国证交所和今年初澳大利亚麦格里银行提出的15亿英镑收购建议。那些提议都失败了。

纳斯达克现在提出的提议价格比其它公司高。而且是付用现金（而不是用”提议公司”的股票）。对大部分的股东现金更有吸引力。

前面提过纳斯达克提议的价值是41亿美元，每个股票是9.5镑。这个价格比实际报价高一点。但是上周二伦敦证交所拒绝纳斯达克的现金提议。伦敦证交所和它的多数股东。他们觉得纳斯达克低估伦敦证交所的价值。这个议价不够。可能他们没有估计到伦敦证交所的未来潜力。

总地来说在国际贸易合并市场，”靶子公司”很少立即采纳提议公司第一个提议。这样的做法是正常合并战略。有时候这个战略会让提议公司提高它的议价，或者是吸引别的公司与它们竞争。

按照英国合并公司的规定纳斯达克还有时间重新它们的提议。BBC的网站分析者说伦敦证交所未来很难再抵抗外界的敌意收购。他的意思是提议公司会用强迫的手段收购靶子公司的股票。这个方法不是理想的方法，但如果没有更好的办法纳斯达克会这样做。

如果这个交易成功纳斯达克会成为世界上第一”跨大西洋”的证交所。这种世界范围的证券交易所不但会改变证交所市场而且会刺激它们的发展和提供更好的服务。

康岱文