Dan's China diary - day 4

In May 2006, silicon.com senior reporter Dan Ilett travelled to China, seeking to get behind some of today's most interesting tech and business stories. This is his warts-and-all diary, which appears daily this month. For in-depth coverage of this fact-finding trip inside China, including analysis and exclusive stories, click here.

Tuesday 9 May, Beijing

Take another nail-biting taxi ride, to the Zhongguancun Software Association (Zsoft). On the way I work out that someone beeps their horn every three seconds. The government is trying to clamp down on the horrific level of noise here but it hasn't really worked, they say.

Zsoft is at the heart of Beijing's Silicon Valley. It's a not-for-profit organisation with strong links to the government. It's obvious from what Yu Bin, the head exec, says that they are keen to attract foreign money to China. But I'm also a little suspicious when they tell me there are no problems with intellectual property here. But they seem like a nice bunch and agree to set me up with some interviews at a local university.

Later on, I make my way to a company called Worksoft - a software outsourcing firm based at the heart of Zhongguancun. Problem with these huge software parks is everything is so big. The taxi driver eventually drops me where he thinks I should be. I walk into the building, state my name to the receptionist and she shows me through to the meeting room. She gives me a cup of tea and I wait for the execs to arrive. A man in a suit walks in and says: "Hello, Dan."

Five minutes later I'm being escorted out of the building by the account manager I'd just met. He works for a company called BeyondSoft, which does almost the same thing as Worksoft and is located next door. Smiling, Mr Jie gives me his card. "We were expecting another Dan today," he laughs. "But keep my card as we compete with them. If you need anything, call me."

This kind of people poaching must happen all the time - there are several companies in the same building as Worksoft that do the same kind of thing as them. I'm guessing it's not just customers who are poached but staff as well.

After finally meeting Worksoft (and being half an hour late) I head back to the hotel. Have promised my guide Susan to meet her friend Jennifer. Apparently she is very traditional, doesn't watch American films yet studies English and is a big fan of the internet.

I somehow manage to make my way to their university campus and meet an old lady who is standing feeding the birds. She smiles at me, so I smile back and she shows me some English flash cards she's using. She tells me she's 79 and studying English. It's pretty basic but far better than the four words of Mandarin I now speak.

Susan arrives with Jennifer, who is carrying a stringed musical instrument called a guqin, and we head to a café, near the campus. The girls have booked out a room for us so Jennifer can give a private concert.

I feel a bit bad using English names for these girls but it's a common custom and they say they quite like it. It's not uncommon for young people to frequently change their English name. Until they get older, no one really takes it that seriously, Susan tells me.

Jennifer is quite an interesting character - unlike many of her friends, she's interested in going back to her home town of Wu Han when she's finished university. She's interested in preserving her culture there.

Jennifer opens up a session on the guqin, playing a song about drunken people (is she hinting at something?) and Susan and I listen attentively. It's something I feel I've heard a hundred times before in Chinese restaurants but I've never really listened.

She later shows me the ancient Chinese music system - basically each character represents a note, though there are fewer of them in this system, which is similar to the pentatonic scale.

One thing that strikes me about Beijing is how the people are so connected with their history. When Susan was showing me around the Forbidden City she reeled off facts about Qing dynasty emperors and stories from the Han period. Apparently children aged eight learn Tang dynasty (618AD-907AD) poetry and Qing dynasty (1644AD-1911AD) songs at school.

The written language seems to be the key to this as it's been in existence for 3,500 years, some believe. When students leave university here they will have learned between 10,000 and 20,000 characters, each of which has a different meaning.

From my studies in Japan I know these characters as kanji but here they're called hanzi. It's a strange thought that each word, rather than being spelt alphabetically, has its own drawing and concept behind it. You get a real sense of the depth of the language when you think of that.

Jennifer finishes playing and because I'm the oldest person in the room, it's a custom for me to pay for the meal.

Jennifer heads home and Susan and I head for a bar downtown. We end up drinking 'Great Wall' red wine. I'm expecting vinegar, but it's actually really good. Apparently next door to the bar there is a gay club.

I'm curious to see what a Chinese, possibly underground, gay club is like - but I'm not that curious, so we call it a day.