This Just In from the Capital of Asia

This is my first trip to Shanghai and I was left speechless by mid-afternoon yesterday. Those who know me would say this was some sort of great miracle.

I won't try to summarize it here, and will refrain from the cliches you've all heard a hundred times. The city is overwhelming in a good way. Yet it's interesting to hear local businesspeople talk about how much more progress needs to be made in China, even with Shanghai.

From one American's business perspective, this city is now the equal of New York or London, and in some ways far superior. I had a notion before this trip that China wasn't quite ready to discuss the most forward-leaning IT ideas, but that is simply not true.

Everyone knows that this city has long had a cosmopolitan reputation, but there's more to it than that. Somehow this is a very Chinese city while being absolutely at the forefront of what's going on in the world, in serious business and popular culture. (Oh yes, they have Christmas trees and Santa as well, although with slightly less ubiquity than Beijing.)

My only problem has been with younger businesspeople asking me to teach them how to swear creatively in English, because they want to be the best in the world at this, too. I politely refrain, telling them I have no idea what they're asking me. They settle for my approval of their usage of "mindshare," "paradigm shift," "abstracting" and "virtualizing," "crossing the chasm," and one phrase that seems to amuse everyone, "figure it out!"

"Show us that you have fresh ideas and that you are serious about them, and we will listen to you eagerly. We must keep moving as fast as we can and we need the most fresh and best technology to do this," is a refrain I have heard over and over.

Visiting the Shanghai Stock Exchange today, and hope to have pictures of it up soon.