Nadine Evans, of PST Inc, took an exciting trip to China in March for a cultural immersion trip offered by the Charleston Chamber of Commerce.

We arrived at the Beijing airport on March 16 for a wonderful week of exploration. While we were allowed to explore and travel freely there was a subtle government presence, for instance we were not allowed to ask political questions while at Tian An Men Square and had a government guide to and from the airport.

A construction boom is taking place in Beijing and Shanghai. There are more cranes in use in China than any other place besides Dubai. Shanghai was a dynamic city that mixed the old city (with English and French influences) with the new ultra-modern section. The new Shanghai has been built over the past 19 years and has many dramatic skyscrapers with multi-story video screens set into the buildings and lighting displays. There are hundreds of thousands of cars now in use, causing significant congestion in Beijing and Shanghai. Many citizens travel by electric motor scooters or bicycles. There are even separate lanes for those on scooters and bikes.

U.S. brands are prevalent with KFC, McDonalds and Starbucks all over the major cities. We even found two newspapers in English. Internet and television are exposing them to the world where they follow American politics and sports. There are several government TV stations and dozens of foreign language stations available (including CNBC, CNN and HBO). I saw a Chinese young man watching an episode of “Friends” with Chinese subtitles on his laptop.

Real estate was interesting because you can purchase a home (not land), with a 20 percent down payment, pay the balance over 30 years, with five percent interest. The government owns the land on which the home is located and after 70 years the home (even if it’s fully paid for) reverts back to the government. The government also at any time can take one’s home. If this is done, another home is provided. Homeowners pay a property tax once - when the house is purchased. The average cost of apartments in the cities is $120,000. There are no elevators in apartment buildings under 10 floors, so the lower the floor, the more valuable the apartment.

It was an exciting trip learning about the Chinese culture. In general, policies have moved to more freedoms and openness. The people we encountered depicted: joyousness, efficiency, conscientiousness, good senses of humor and very friendly to Americans.