Dan's China diary - day 10

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.

Monday 15 May, Shanghai

Breakfast is congee (rice porridge). Eat up and head out to the Shanghai HQ of CNET (the global parent publisher of silicon.com).

The streets of Shanghai are filled with trees. Apparently the French started this trend and the locals have carried it on. On the way to the office I spot a group of tree surgeons, about 30 of them, cutting back a row of trees on one of the main roads. It seems to sum up the Shanghai mentality of getting things done - throw a big group of people at a job to get it done in little time.

The construction industry works the same way I hear, with builders working shifts 24x7. They say that skyscrapers are completed at the rate of one floor per week. On the skyline you can see there are dozens of cranes busying away.

Shanghai feels more cosmopolitan than Beijing - people don't stare at the awkward-looking foreigner (me) as there are so many (around half a million)... It's got a futuristic, Blade Runner feel to it in parts, and a hum of excitement...

Shanghai is much smaller than Beijing. It is said that westerners and expats prefer Shanghai to Beijing because it offers more home comforts such as bars, nightclubs and a culture that has welcomed Starbucks coffee onto its streets.

Like Beijing, there are still old bicycles zooming around, people carting rubbish on strange contraptions, beggars on street corners, people tirelessly honking car horns under a pollution-scorched sky.

But there are trendy restaurants and cafés near run-down noodle bars. It feels more cosmopolitan - people don't stare at the awkward-looking foreigner (me) as there are so many (around half a million). The buildings are sexier and not so function-orientated. Girls are taller and people are better-dressed. It's got a futuristic, Blade Runner feel to it in parts, and a hum of excitement throughout the modern parts.

At the CNET office I meet Even, who shows me around and gives me a few pointers for getting about the city. Her English is excellent. CNET is taking some big steps out here and acquiring a number of popular tech media brands. There are around 700 people working for CNET in China, which makes it the company's second-largest office in the world (the largest is in the US).

Head over to PricewaterhouseCooper's building, which is close to People's Square. It doesn't take any time getting around this city compared to Beijing. On the way, I overhear three men, two of them Chinese, talking about how big 3G will be when China gets its licences. That's a contentious subject in China as the government still hasn't given the go ahead. I'm obviously in the right place to find out about the tech industry though.

That evening I go out to meet Luke Nolan, a real estate agent who I got acquainted with through an entrepreneur called Shakil Khan. Shak lives between London and Shanghai - you can check out his blog: Chinawhite.net. By the sounds of things, the two of them enjoy living the high life here.

We meet at a bar called the Velvet Lounge on Ju Lu Road.

Tonight the bar is hosting a private concert with a Brazilian guitarist called Jubbo. Luke and his friends are real gentlemen and we talk until the early hours. It's an effort to leave but there are interviews in the morning, so I go.

Tune in tomorrow as Dan gets an education about the media in China.