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.

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When Journalism Made a Difference

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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.

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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.

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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!

A couple Sundays ago, late morning, workers began shearing stone tiles at a curbside near my apartment building. They were laying sidewalk tile by tile, by hand. Their weapon of choice was a grinder they would use to painstakingly slice the stone to fit snugly with those they had already fitted. The noise the stone cutters make is akin to fingernails scratched on a chalk board, or a dentist’s drill boring into a tooth. I eventually went to bed after 12:30am, some fourteen hours after they had started. A neighbor told me the next day he had gone to bed at 1am, and the workers were still at it. The next morning the granite slicing was still going on, at 7am, though I cannot say with certainty whether it was the same workers.

And then the question occurred to me: “What’s the rush?” “It’s Sunday,” I thought, “why not take the day off?” And then, in the evening, I mused, “It’s night; why not sleep?” Not just with manic stone masonry, but with everything in “the country that never sleeps” that is in overdrive. Whether property development or manufacturing production work or servicing customers or going shopping, the sense of having achieved a supersonic speed of life is palpable. It’s no wonder that a Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Psychology report in 2010 presented that in a sampling of 50,000 urban workers 60 percent were “sub-healthy”. The Chinese Academy of Sciences report stated, “”While one in 10 Americans will encounter situations where they need help from mental health professionals, most Chinese turn to their families and friends when they need help,” according to the China Daily. Chinese culture, though, believes mental health issues are shameful, a loss of face to the disabled individual and to his family. So, basically, most people genuinely suffering from the stress of economic development at the speed of light are screwed.

China’s GDP growth figures are still not up to the double-digit rates they need to create enough jobs for the young people coming out of university, the potential foot soldiers of the country’s nascent services sector. Nor does much of the interior of the country have the infrastructure in place to bring its citizens up to the living standards many along China’s east coast enjoy.

Still, is this 24/7 craziness really necessary? It’s certainly not sustainable. Not over the long haul. One day, China will rest, I’m sure. But not because of a job well done. It will have been through karoshi – Japanese style overwork. With Chinese characteristics, of course.

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While in Beijing for the Clean Energy Expo the week of 21 June a friend and former editor of mine at the China Economic Review invited me and a colleague to the rooftop of a siheyuan to enjoy the USA World Cup Match against Algeria. Siheyuan are traditional homes with courtyards in which wealthier families lived during dynastic times. After 1949, most of the siheyuan were divided into living quarters for four or five families. The unit I visited had been redecorated to include a large kitchen and living room area, a couple bathrooms and modestly sized bedrooms. The place was well-lit. We walked a steep iron stairway to the rooftop of the place, where a dozen other Americans and Chinese friends sat on fold-out chairs watching a large screen that fluttered in the wind. Beer flowed freely and introductions were easy. After a frustrating 89 minutes during which the USA team fumbled nearly every shot on goal, our side eventually triumphed.

A warm, breezy night. Camaraderie. Beer. USA v Algeria:1 – 0.

What more could a guy want?

USA winning the World Cup. In my lifetime.

The Financial Times recently published two articles about the increasing number of protests in China after the Foxconn suicides and Honda plant shut-downs spotlighted employee dissatisfaction with salary levels and working conditions. I had written a few posts back how some smaller Western companies in the Suzhou area are being affected by the confidence-building actions down South; however, the FT’s coverage indicates something slightly different afoot in Suzhou’s industrial actions.

“Workers born after the 1980s and 1990s are concerned not just about pay but about safety, rights and respect,” Dong Baohua, professor of law at East China University of Politics and Law, told the FT. A strike leader at Suzhou NSG said “That strike is about pay, ours is about safety conditions,” referring to discontented worker actions in South China.  I would go so far as to proffer that Suzhou is also one of the first manufacturing centers in China to upgrade its industrial policy to attract higher-value manufacturing, R&D and outsourcing services. It began those efforts as early as five years ago: one of the reasons for the outbreak of green algae on Lake Tai (Taihu) – Suzhou pushed lower-end manufacturing westward – to cities like Yixing and Wuxi – which would take the dirtier, more labor-intensive industries like textile and plastics manufacture. Suzhou industries typically have workers with far less education levels than higher-value producers and service sector offerings. Hence, a greater focus in the Greater Shanghai region on quality-of-life aspects of work.

Interestingly, a feature protests in the Yangtze River and Pearl River Deltas share is an extreme distrust workers have for the Party-sponsored and controlled unions in the companies. The trade unions are more a function of Party control and monitoring in the Party’s interests than in either advocating employer or employee concerns. “Low union credibility is contributing to unstable industrial relations, labor analysts say, adding that more disputes are inevitable.”

Of course, further protests are inevitable for plant managers who insist on keeping their heads buried in the sand, instead of acting proactively to address possible worker concerns.

Further reading: FT

Related posts:

Chinese Workers Extorting China Operations

China is Cracking Up

Managing the Return to Normalcy

There’s No Place Like Home: Worker Shortages

I’m in Beijing this week attending the Clean Energy Expo China, one of the highest profile shows for foreign and domestic companies that want to throw a spotlight on what they’re up to in the clean and renewable energies sector in China. Just having come off the Offshore Wind Power China Trade Show in Shanghai, the Beijing Show will be another opportunity for one of my colleagues and I at TrendsAsia to catch up with old friends and make new contacts in the industry. While in Beijing we’ll also be interviewing movers and shakers in the industry – Chinese and foreign – same as we did at the Shanghai  show a couple weeks ago.

You can hear my interview with AVN Energy CEO Tom Weiling in this podcast. AVN Energy specializes in components for pitch hydraulics, hydraulic braking and cooling solutions, rotor locks, and hatch opening systems. Tom spoke with me about educating the Chinese buyer, many of whom have a long and steep learning curve ahead of them as the industry matures.

You can hear other podcast interviews on the downloads page of the TrendsAsia blog, ChinaEnergySector.com.

Enjoy!