20 April 1999 – We dined in a restaurant that had 25 different kinds of mushrooms on display. We asked for one plate full of the best three mushrooms; instead we received three plates of mushrooms. One of the mushrooms, small, flat and light brown, was delicious. The other two were too chewy for my taste. We also ate chicken, vegetables in garlic and steamed rice. As we were getting ready to leave, I heard a whistle. Then all the staff – maybe 25 of them – ran into a military-style formation of three deep. I asked the manager to come over and she explained that she opened the restaurant six months ago at a cost of one million yuan ($116,000 US dollars). She and her family (along with an overseas Chinese) invested in the restaurant. She told us she was 43 (after first saying 35). We asked if there was any Japanese involvement in the restaurant and she said no. We asked where she learned her management style – she said she thought what she did with her staff was the best way to make them improve – it was ‘her idea’. Twice a day she lines up her troops and along with the two supervisors, she tells them what to improve on that day and about the daily specials. At the close of the evening, she advises her employees on what they did well and what to do better. That evening she reprimanded several men for playing cards during the day when business was slow.