China Law Blog

The problem with a lot of what is written about China is that is has this stereotype of businessmen that isn't true. In order to do business and make money, you have to develop an extremely deep understanding of your business partners.

There is this condescending tone that businessmen see only the surface, and that they are blinded by the glitz and the glamour of China. This, in general, is not true because making money requires a seriousness, hard headedness, and deep understanding, and I've found that people who do business in China successfully have some of the deepest understanding of the place since that understanding is essential to make money there.

Mr. Wang --

I concur that those businesspeople who succeed in China almost invariably have a deep understanding of those aspects of China that relate to thier own business. But, at the same time (and I will admit to being equally guilty of this), we also sometimes view the big political issues from a real distance.

I did a post the other day on China's courts not being as bad as they are made out to be and then made clear that in saying this I was ignoring their handling of political and criminal cases. Someone wrote in and asked how I could ignore those two things. I replied that this is a business blog AND my only knowledge regarding the non-business cases is from what I read. But, to be perfectly frank, it is limited to what I read and I do not read very much on that at all because I am just not that interested. If you ask most business lawyers in the United States a question about criminal law you will almost invariably get a blank stare. I am certainly not touting ignorance here as a good thing, but it is the reality that people tend to focus on what is most relevant to them and by doing so, they tend to miss a lot.

I know Rupert. I think he's a pretty darn good reporter, and his departure is BBC's loss. His comments on what lie beyond the glass and glitz strike me as on the money.

Tim --

Thanks for checking in.

I have to confess to having been unfamiliar with his work.