Speaking of change, I arrived in Shanghai, China a couple of hours ago. It's quite a change of scenery from Seattle. There's a forest of yellow construction cranes across the highway from the airport building what looks like... another airport.

On the way downtown from the airport the maglev (magnetic levitation) train zoomed overhead, back and forth a few times. Fourteen hours earlier I drove by the light rail line Seattle has been leisurely building to the airport for what seems like years.

The government here is building infrastructure with a vengeance, and jobs are being created. Things here are constantly moving and changing. It's something you can hear, see and sense.

Shanghai smells like a machine shop. Call it pollution, but it's the smell of infrastructure being rapidly built. Closing my eyes, it's easy to imagine being in the middle of a giant factory full of machines cutting chips and misting cutting fluid. There are low clouds suspended in dark grey puffs, like the giant oil mists from factories below.

This is my fifth or sixt trip here. Each time I learn something new. So far I'm amazed that the building frenzy hasn't seemed to slow down. It makes me think of the "imperialist guilt" tactic sometimes used in international business negotiation in China, where the Western party in the negotiation is made to feel they owe the Chinese party something because of imperial misdeeds of Western countries, a century ago.

Whatever we can learn from China, hopefully we pay attention and learn fast. Otherwise 20 years from now the West may need to use "offshoring guilt" negotiating tactic.