
I did not know it existed, but today for the first time I saw ‘taxi money’. What happened is that the taxi driver from the Dazhong taxi company did not have change for a 100 RMB note. Therefore he handed out taxi vouchers that looked remarkably like real money. They have a value of RMB 10 each, and can be used for Dazhong’s buses, taxi’s and transportion vans. They even have a bar code on there to make sure they are real. Not that this helps much, because the taxi driver did not have a bar code reader in his car. The owners of Dazhong are quite smart: they not only print their own money but earn additionally by putting ads on it (the back is an ad for gas stoves and heaters).
I am a Dutch entrepreneur in Shanghai who has lived and worked over 12 years in China. Co-founder of among others Tudou.com and unitedstyles.com, advisor to Spil Games for which I set up and led the Asian operation (2006-2011), and angel investor in Chinese Internet and tech start-ups. Married to Grace, with whom I have a son (Scott) and a daughter (Elaine). These are my personal views and do not necessarily represent the companies I am involved with. You can reach me at marcvanderchijs (at) gmail (dot) com