We went to Chicago and next week, I'm going to New Orleans for a week of post Katrina volunteer home building. Didn't have the time or money to go to HK this year though the missus is clamoring to. With one kid in college and another about to start, I gotta watch every penny, unless of course, my winning lottery ticket finally comes in, LOL... But you're right in how money focused Chinese are; from a century of poverty, they're innately trained like blood hounds when it comes to finances. Women there really don't care what you do. If they had the choice of marrying a doctor who made a good living, or a triad member who made a better living; they would choose the triad member, and with their family's blessing. That's just how culture in the PRC is nowadays. IMHO, China needs to be given a century of prosperity first, with several consecutive generations of living well and at high standards, for them to socially evolve beyond the dollar and cents mass attitude prevalent today.