Over at The Diplomat I’ve a post on the innovative ways in which local Suzhou DVD shop owners are honoring China’s national pledges to protect Intellectual and Creative Property Rights.

The sale of domestic DVDs is lightly regulated in mainland China, so illicit copies of films by Zhou Ren Fa (Chow Yun Fat), Anthony Tse, Zhao Wei and the two Bing Bings (Li and Fang) are de rigueur in such shops. So are Japanese and South Korean films, and especially South Korean soap operas, which are hugely popular in China (rich boy meets not-as-rich-girl, tries to catch girl, who demurs for many episodes, eventually feeling great affection for the young man whereupon the girl announces she’s going to die—which she does, slowly and painfully and to a flood of tears. Not mine, of course). Chinese local governments don’t much mind if their neighbours’ stuff gets ripped off.

Read the article here. Always a revelation around nearly every corner!

Image credit: France24.com

A friend and I today walked past an apartment complex that overlooks Golden Rooster Lake (JinJiHu) in Suzhou. The faces of the apartments are dirty and worn. He lives in one of the apartments, which now sell for more than US$1 million. He rents, though. He’s had numerous problems in the apartment, from leaking pipes through faulty sliding doors to a recalcitrant toilet through electricals that shut down when he and his apartment mate run the washer/dryer. I said to him as we strolled down the sidewalk, “So that’s what a million dollar apartment looks like?” We laughed. “When did they build those things,” I asked. “Five years ago? Six?” He answered, “Six”. I told him I remembered when construction had started, even went into the sales office to pick up a brochure. At the time the apartments were facing the lake were selling for about US$150,000. I told him, “Even if I had a million dollars I wouldn’t buy the place.”

Later on in the day he sent me the link to a website that’s translated the words to a popular Chinese song that’s just gone viral in China. It’s about the stratospheric heights to which property prices have aspired, and the dashed dreams of average Chinese to ever manage home ownership. It’s a witty and sad video, very creative. Highly recommended: Huang Zheng’s “Sell” Music Video

NOTE: If I was one of the characters in the video, my head would burst.

Related posts:

China Property Woes: An un-American Response

Shown the Money

Michael Jackson Heard Rolling In His Grave

Bubblicious

Image Credit: World Wide Real Estate: The China Bubble

I’ve been writing some exclusives for The Diplomat website, based out of Tokyo. I’m one of the guys on the ground here in China, chiming in with the odd observation, analysis and what-not. This week I comment in my entry China’s Casino Economy on the rapidity with which Chinese business investments come and go here in China.

“Businesses in China are structured to be obsoleted when they don’t provide the kind of pay off owners expect as quickly as they’d like. Businesses across the services and manufacturing sectors come and go in China with head-spinning rapidity. Restaurants, bars, clothing stores, entire malls and factories come and go with a speed difficult to match in Western countries.”

A couple of the comments I’ve received indicate that I’m making much ado about nothing about business closures here in China. Having opened and lost a couple businesses myself in the States, I can most assuredly say the approach Chinese take to starting up and terminating businesses is much more akin to speed-dating in the States than to the sort of sober financial planning/business planning/support group/networking group hang-in-there approach Americans attempt to apply.

And for those who don’t believe me, I encourage you to start up a business here with a Chinese partner.  Boy, are you in for an adventure. Let the Games begin!

With more protests erupting in South China arising over wages, I still hold with what I said in an interview back in May for the July 2010 issue Eurobiz Magazine, in the cover article, entitled, “Labour Pains”.

Employers have been slow to understand the increased financial pressures burdening this young generation. “These people know they have dowries to pay if they are in their twenties. They have to buy a house on top of the dowry. They have parents and maybe even grandparents they are increasingly expected to look after, and the cost of living across the board is rising at an incredible rate in ways that the figures are just not reflecting properly. Employers – especially the Western employers – are kind of clueless about the burdens that the Chinese employees are working under,” says Bill Dodson, director of strategic analysis at TrendsAsia and author of the upcoming  China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Re-shaping China and Its Relationship with the World.

It’s a very insightful article. Check it out.

Further reading: Strike in China idles another Honda supplier amid wage protests

With all the new China books coming out each month it’s always good to see something by Paul French, Chief Representative of Access Asia and prolific writer of some of my favorite books about the original China Hands. Now, he and his partner at Access Asia, Matthew Crabbe, have come out with a new one titled, Fat China: How Expanding Waistlines are Changing a Nation. Paul had told me about the project last year December, just before Christmas. I loved the title when he told it to me. He loved the title, too. The British publisher thought it was a gas, also. The American publisher hated it; something to do with political correctness. However, having lived here in China so long I’ve forgotten what that means. So I still love the title.

The tip sheet Paul emailed me about Fat China describes the book as: “An in-depth analysis of the growing problem of obesity in China and its relationship to the nation’s changing diet, lifestyle trends and healthcare system. “

It’s a huge and important issue in the modernization of the country. As difficult as it is to get one’s arms round the problem, it’s good someone took to it head on.

Related posts:

Building the Ethical Corporation in China

Warlords in Suzhou

When Journalism Made a Difference

Book Review: A China Hand’s Story: – Something to Crow About

Almost two months ago to the day my son was born. My first child. Now, my first ISBN was born; or, rather, the ISBN for my upcoming book, China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Re-shaping China and its Relationship with the World.

ISBN: 978-0-470-82643-0. How cool is that? I want to memorize this number. And now, whenever I walk down the streets of Shanghai or Suzhou and someone greets me, I want to reply, “ISBN: 978-0-470-82643-0″.  Actually, it was one of my nephews back in the States who twigged me onto the fact the book just became available for pre-order on Amazon. (Yes, he pre-ordered it – he said – good nephew). Except the book still lacks a cover (come on, you graphic designer!), so the Amazon page is not very attractive. You’ll find a full description of the book on the Amazon site, and on the publisher’s site at John Wiley & Sons. The John Wiley page for the book has a little tab behind which you can read the Table of Contents. I didn’t see anything like that on the Amazon site. The Asia edition of the book should be out in October-ish; the UK/USA edition the end of December (just in time to miss Christmas).

So, should you surf over to either the Amazon or the John Wiley sites to read a summary of the book, consider pre-ordering it – just takes a click of the mouse button. And a credit card. And a line of credit. I promise you it’ll be a good read.

And if you can’t recall the name of the book. Remember: ISBN: 978-0-470-82643-0 …

Last year I blogged about a Shanghainese friend named Grace who organized and hosted a charity event for her own birthday. Recently, while sipping tea at a traditional Suzhou tea house, we gabbed about the continuing trend for young Chinese professionals to give charitably where they can. Grace gave the example of couples who have received red envelopes of money from well-wishers for the birth of their child who, in return, would like to show their thanks in a special, sustainable way. For instance, she offered, “they may want to give a gift of Fair Trade Coffee, or give to the person’s favorite charity.”

“The older generation,” she explained, “just wants to save money when giving gifts.” Now, with money more plentiful, “younger people want to do something special for others.”

Of course, it’s tough to tell whether this is a major trend or if Grace is a particularly unique individual in China’s rush to wealth.

Related posts:

One Egg Can Go a Long Way

The China expat website eChinaCities recently interviewed me on how difficult it was for foreigners to set up and run a business legally in China. I’ve been doing it for years here in China, without having paid graft or taken kickbacks or making shady side deals with government officials. Part of the reason for that is I don’t have the time or patience to mess around with these kind of relationships: the times during which I’ve indulged someone through guanxi, I’ve regretted it. So I now rationalize even that very Chinese way of doing business. Also, though, it helps our business is based in the Suzhou Industrial Park, which has a very strong influence from the Singaporean government. The Singaporean government itself is based on the colonial British model of efficiency in government affairs.

Shanghai has improved greatly in the manner in which it treats foreign investors; however, the brand corporations with deep pockets of course receive much greater assistance in wending through the maze of policies, regulations and bureaus than do tiny companies. Outside the close orbit of Shanghai, though, and setting up and managing companies requires far greater due diligence of the area, its regulations, and the departments that affect the investment. Localities throughout China are notoriously parochial, so new enterprises need to spend extra attention on the relationships that will supposedly facilitate approvals and audits. The relationships can cut both ways, with locals’ expectations for the business way out of wack with the Westerners’. The further away from Shanghai foreign investors venture, the further back in time the enterprise travels, back to where the rule of man is far more important than the rule of law.

And always have an exit strategy. Local governments that believe themselves the only game in town for a foreign investor inevitably become sloppy and demanding. Companies need to be sure they know how they will extricate their project from a location with minimal damage to the image and bottom line of the mother company. Though China has become a more straight-forward environment in which to do business, the shifting tides of domestic interest in foreign adventures in China is on the wane, depending on the industry. Experienced local governments that support “pillar” industries like automotive, renewable and clean energy, and aerospace will facilitate approvals and business transactions for investors; whereas foreign invested companies that want to set up in discouraged industries like textiles and toys will find a gauntlet of unpleasant restrictions with which to deal; in which case, China may not even be the right place for the enterprise.

Read the article.

Related posts:

Kicking the Kick-back Habit

Corruption Rules

Dan Harris at the China Law blog Group on LinkedIn posed a fun question:

Why is China so mediocre in team sports like basketball and soccer, and what does that mean, if anything, for business in China?

I answered:

“Well, I’ve done exhaustive research in China about this very subject, having talked with several taxi drivers in China about what they thought! ^_^ Interestingly, their consensus is that the players just don’t play well together. One fellow told me the players were always quarreling, and never wanted to work together. A Chinese businessman told me the environment of corruption in which football in China has been stunted only emphasizes the mercenary aspect of the sport for Chinese players and officials. It would be impossible for a team to grow up mentally and spiritually fit in such a condition.

“I also think the sports in which China has excelled typically have great government machines behind them that pluck children from their families at a very early age to mold the children’s bodies and temperaments. Most of the sports, though, involve single players.The only team sport I am aware of the Chinese have excelled at through this model is women’s volley ball.”

“I see the lack of cooperation between Chinese daily; let’s face it, with so many people vying for limited resources it’s no wonder it’s one of the most competitive societies in the world. Local governments do not coordinate investment policies; employees will not give advantage to coworkers who may be able to take their jobs; and suppliers are only happy to cut corners fully well knowing their actions may spoil cooperation with other suppliers and customers.

“Though Chinese society and business culture would not have to change in order for the Chinese to cultivate a winning football team, it sure wouldn’t hurt.”

The discussion thread is fun and insightful, a good read. Check it out.

Since the birth of my son about a month ago we’ve had my Chinese mother-in-law stay with us to help us out with the little one and with odds and ends around the apartment. She is a big-hearted woman from the countryside, though she and her own family have lived in Suzhou for nearly fifteen years. One of the biggest surprises I’ve had is the sheer educational value of home-spun wisdom from the Chinese countryside as refracted through the prism of taking care of a newborn.

Some of the things I’ve learned include:

• a box of two hundred eggs from the countryside is far fresher and healthier for mother and child than any eggs bought in the city. Given that at most my family eats two or three eggs a day, I hope those country chickens put something special in their eggs to keep them fresh for the three months they’ll be taking up space in my refrigerator;
• a fried egg (no liquid yolk) wrapped in a small cloth is a sure way to make sure the baby’s tummy stays warm and his total body temperature stays above 100-degrees Farehnheit;
• when baby has a slight cold nothing unblocks his sinuses better than warm piss on cotton placed on baby’s head;
• if baby has a bad night’s sleep, blame the annoyed ghosts of ancestors past who were disappointed not to be around when baby was born;
• always keep baby boiling: several layers of wool tightly wrapped around baby’s legs and torso are sure to keep out breezes, especially when temperatures are a frigid 35-degrees C (about 100 degrees F);
• mothers should not cry as it sours their breast milk;

Happily, my wife did not drink coffee while she was pregnant, though as gentle readers already know, I love my daily espresso. The family urged me to stop my caffeinated ways lest the baby be born with a permanent coffee-stained complexion. The baby’s skin at birth, though,  was milk-white, much to the family’s relief. So I guess spermatozoa are immune to caffeine, after all. Thank goodness!