Dan's China diary - day 11

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 16 May, Shanghai

Wake up early to check out of Partridge Palace (the motel). At a breakfast I get talking to a businesswoman who's staying in the area. She speaks no English but fluent Japanese so we have a bit of banter about Shanghai.

"It's all changing so fast," she says. "You wouldn't recognise it from years ago. There are areas where generations of people have been moved to make way for the new buildings."

Sounds like property developer Luke (see Monday's diary) is in a lucrative line of work here.

One of the headlines in the Shanghai Daily today is 'China's press authorities order the arrest and firing of four journalists for allegedly blackmailing companies and citizens'.

The press in China works very differently to back home. For starters it's widely accepted that journalists can take money for writing stories about companies, I'm told. Secondly, few stories criticise the government directly. That's because there are government officials who monitor and censor what goes out. So you end up with some incredibly positive stories, some of which will be accurate and balanced, and some will not. And of the stories I've read in the English language press, this seems to be the case.

The big threat to the government's stronghold on the media is undoubtedly the internet. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) have really taken off here, I've learned. People seem to turn to these forums much more than the press because they trust each other. If someone publishes something, people post comments on it. If you want to buy a product, you post a comment asking for help. I don't know why the forum world is so popular but there must be something liberating about being able to write to your fellow countrymen about most subjects. There's still censorship though.

Zhu Rella from mobile phone chip company SpreadTrum comes to pick me up (bags in hand) and we head to the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park to see CEO Dr Ping Wu. The park itself is made of new concrete and there's nothing to suggest that this place is anything other than a software park.

Ping only has a short time to speak to me but it's an interesting interview. A graduate from Tsinghua University, he was one of the first returnees from the US and has all the usual traits of a successful technology entrepreneur. He says the UK hasn't really woken up to what China's doing yet. I think he's right.

In the main meeting room there are photos scattered on the wall showing him meeting several government representatives, including the Prime Minister.

That afternoon I meet the guys from CNET (publisher of silicon.com and several titles in China) and the COO from MediaSky - a media ad agency that is partnering with CNET. The COO, Kenny, was born and raised in Hong Kong but moved to Shanghai more than 15 years ago. He says although a lot of things have changed, the service level on the mainland is still not up to scratch.

Sarah - my guide for the day - and I take a walk through Shanghai down to the Bund - the riverside. Some of the new buildings are impressive but along the way you see that the architecture changes - for example the Preeace Hotel has all the hallmarks of an old, 1920s New York building. We stop for a £5 cup of tea.

Sarah takes me to a restaurant in Shin Tien Di. Apparently the area was home to hundreds of families before it was developed. Ten families used to live where we are now. They've been moved on - this seems to be an issue in many places I go. I know there are compulsory purchase orders and the like back in the West but this seems a world away.

Someone recommends I check out a place called Park 97 - sounds like another software centre but it's an area with a lot of nightlife, apparently. Been burning the candle at both ends so have to give it a miss.

Tomorrow: search engines, bright young entrepreneurs and money, lots of money.