Microcracks in the Hainan FTP

The Microcracks in the Hainan Free Trade Port

 

I am reminded of a story back in 2018:

How 'Microcracks' Undermined San Francisco's New Bus Terminal

A cracked beam forced the $2.2 billion terminal’s closure after six weeks. Unraveling why required physics, metallurgy, and engineers with nerves of steel.

 

Could 「microcracks」  in Hainan cause the plan to collapse?

As Hainan continues in its reform and opening up and advances on the world stage, their primary concern has been to attract top talents and large companies and institutions from around the world to settle here.

I wonder and I worry if they are overlooking the smaller concerns while pursuing the grandiose.  I agree that attracting the top talents and the big institutions is indeed necessary; but I also understand that down here the little guys know a lot about what is missing in Hainan; what needs improvement, and the frustrations and difficulties we all face.  The top talents and bigwigs who are being drawn here may have someone to do everything for them…. all the little things; or maybe they will not.  They will also have families and they will also want to be able to do things independently.  If I were in Hong Kong or Singapore, I could go out of my hotel all by myself and do just about anything I wanted or needed to do even though I do not speak the language.  But this is simply not the case here.

        

Here at GCR we have instituted a program called Free Expat Assistance Services.  This can be anything really…. that expats need help with.  We have helped pregnant expats talk to the doctor or order important medicine from Hong Kong. We have helped people who locked themsleves out of their apartments get a locksmith,order hair dye, talk to their landlord, set up a Taoboa account, ship something from here to abroad, get a sim card for their phone… the list goes on and on.  These simple little things are the needs of every individual…. and it would be very nice if they could easily be accomplished by expats who have arrived here from abroad.

Sadly though, they cannot.  Today I met a business executive who just opened a company here in Haikou. He has been in and out of China for business over the past 20years.  He has always been too busy running businesses etc to take the time to learn Chinese.  We cannot expect that everyone who comes here will have the time or desire to learn Chinese. And we definitely cannot expect, currently, that there will always be someone bilingual around and available to speak Chinese for this person.

Altogether, these myriad little things form together to create a massive inconvenience. The island life is good.  The atmosphere is sublime.  The business environment is top notch.  But underneath all of this are microcracks.  

For now GCR will of course, continue to provide free assistance for these services.  We could definitely use volunteers who speak English and Chinese.  It is a good opportunity for you to expand your network and practice your English.  It is good for the community to make expats feel welcome here.  These problems are being worked on but these  problems need a better solution; a solution that makes these things possible for the expats and their families coming here.  We have solutions but they will take time.  But we need to begin to initiate the solutions now so that by the time this island becomes an international influence it will have an international reputation as being foreign friendly.