(Photo opposite: Coffee Garden at Shangri - La Hotel) You’ve read already about my favourite restaurant in Changchun, situated at the Shangri - La Hotel. When chatting about my favourite haunt in Changchun, I may have been - in typical Jurgen Klemann style - a little phlegmatic. In case you’ve got your boots on the ground in Changchun, you’re likely to query “which restaurant exactly is your favourite haunt there? After all, you can pick among a few restaurants at the Shangri - La in Changchun.” Let’s unpack things a little.

My favourite haunt at the Shangri - La is known as Coffee Garden. Coffee Garden’s neither a garden nor a coffee shop. It’s a high end restaurant with a marvellous ambiance. Coffee Garden offers a buffet for both lunch and dinner. The buffet for lunch blends Asian and Western cuisine. The buffet for dinner at times revolves around a certain theme - e.g. Flavours of Asia. Don’t give Coffee Garden a miss when in Changchun. The food tastes delicious. The ambiance comes across as cosmopolitan and discreet. Apart from Coffee Garden, Changchun’s Shangri - La Hotel too runs a restaurant called Shang Palace. At Shang Palace Cantonese and Dongbei dishes take centre stage. I’m not into Cantonese food. Don’t look for me at Shang Palace. For entertainment in the evening you may give the Red Door Bar at the Shangri - La a go. But bars don’t manage to lure me. Nutshelling all this, Coffee Garden at the Shangri - La has turned into my favourite haunt in Changchun. Chilling as well as mulling things there gives my quality of life a boost.

Coffee Garden at the Shangri - La samples why I again appreciate life in a vibrant metropolis. Miami, Cape Town and Johannesburg, Auckland and Changchun offer plenty more buzz than a Latin American backwater. Yet Changchun’s international flair deviates from the flair of my previous cosmopolitan stomping grounds. Besides Spanish English is widely spoken in Miami. English is widely spoken in Cape Town and the city of gold. Above all, the business community speaks English there. In Hong Kong and Singapore Chinese and English fuse to Chinglish. You may give Chinglish a shot in Changchun. But Changchun’s variety of Chinglish contains a pile more Ching than lish, so to speak. When stepping into the Shangri - La, you’re greeted with “welcome”. But that’s the exception to the rule in Changchun. Even at my second favourite haunt in Changchun - the Shi Jian - you’re greeted with “huanying huanying” (the Chinese term for welcome).

That sort of thing makes quite a difference. I typically feel quite at ease in a large metropolis. As a result, I move there like a fish in his pond, plentifully more than in a little backwater. However, when stuff gets largely done in Chinese everything looks slightly more demanding. Most billboards and signs make their announcements bilingually, in Chinese and English. Yet that doesn’t make a meaningful difference. Please don’t get me wrong. All in all, everything that doesn’t kill you makes you tougher. On top of it, when you roll into downtown Changchun and are overwhelmed with Chinese vibrancy…it’s a one of a kind experience.

Stock Exchanges in China

The Chinese stock market arguably gives plenty of investors a one of a kind experience as well. You presumably need no reminding that stocks in China have done some meaningful plunging over the past few months. The plummeting of Chinese stocks has largely given small retail investors a haircut. They’ve ploughed their dough into Chinese stocks listed on the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Look at the property implosion in numerous countries across the globe and you see how the set of dice is playing out with Chinese stocks. Almost everybody does the same thing. It creates a bubble. At the end of the day, the bubble implodes. As far as I can come to grips with it, that’s pretty much what’s panning out on the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Whilst small retail investors set the tone on the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, Hong Kong’s stock exchange to a large extent draws international investors.

The stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen may offer an awful lot of untapped potential. Yet good hunters know when to wait. Small retail investors have to foot the bill there at present. The implosion of the bubble takes its toll.

A handful of large banks worldwide too have to foot the bill for their diddling in dodgy mortgages. Many a private banking client also turns his back on them because his hopes have been dashed in terms of adding value to his portfolio. The so - called independent advice of large banks is often dispensed by a sales force that’s got to meet sales targets. It won’t surprise you that I hold a rather strong opinion on that sort of thing. Sniff out smallish private banks that are run by personally liable partners. Personally liable partners often make quite a difference. These smallish private banks come across as less pretentious and more understated. More often than not, understatement is the key, in private banking as well. I leave it up to you.

* More Articles on Living in China
* Real Estate in China
* Banks in China - Worldwide Banking Directory
* Universities in China - Colleges & Universities listed by Country
* Embassies and Consulates of China