Cal Poly, Blogrolling, China Contradictions, And Cheap Sex
Though I have been a long-time regular reader of the Cal Poly MBA Trip Blog, I never considered putting it on our blogroll because it is written by a business school professor mostly as a means to interact/educate/communicate with his MBA students. On top of this, most of the posts have as many questions as answers.
Today though, I read yet another thought provoking post on the blog and started writing my own post on the same topic: China's contradictions. Halfway through my post, I realized this educational blog with the funky name is simply too good to leave off the blogroll. Yes, some of the posts will probably be relevant only to Professor Carr's MBA students but I find nearly all of them quite relevant to those of us seeking to better understand China. And is there any blog (present blog included) whose posts are relevant to all of its readers?
I should have added it long ago.
As its name implies, much of the blog focuses on an MBA student trip to China Professor Carr leads every year, and the post that pushed me over the blogrolling edge fits into that. It is entitled, "Get Your Head (And Heart) Ready for China's Contradictions," and it essentially talks about some of the things the China trip MBA students can expect to learn on their China trip and how to go about engaging in that learning:
There�s a well known saying among those who write about China: �After you have been in China for a week, you think you can write a book. After you have been in China for a month, if you are lucky you might be able to muster a short article. After you have been in China for a year, you keep silent." The point of this quote is, the more you learn about and experience China, the more you realize it has too many faces, it is too complex a place to master, and you have too much to learn. Many of you (all of us?) will return from China with more questions than answers. If so, that�s okay and natural. It�s also, in my view, the way true education should work and is one of the ways a truly educated person learns to view and experience the world. Happily for us, our goal for this trip and course does not require us to become experts on China, but to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the global economy and our ability to operate effectively within it.
In China CEO: Voices of Experience from 20 International Business Leaders, attorney Norman Givant (Managing Partner, Shanghai office, China Practice Group, Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer Law Offices) reminds us that China�s booming economic development has taken place despite the messy, chaotic, and confusing backdrop of the transformation from a communist to a socialist and market-based system. He very insightfully notes, �[Unlike many Westerners] the Chinese have no problem at all in living with contradictions. Their question is: Does it work over time?� He points to Shanghai�s� remarkable growth as an example. �Look out the window: you see a prosperous, dynamic city that has grown tremendously in the last 20 years, and it grew primarily by ignoring the contradictions [e.g., the poor shanty hutongs/alleys that exist next to a five star hotel or world class skyscraper] and focusing largely on economic development.� (Page 205) Simon Keely (Head of the Hewitt Asia Leadership Center, Hewitt Associates China) echoes a similar tune: �China is full of contradictions. Here we are a socialist country, but it�s one of the most competitive places on earth.� (Page 115) Well stated. Both men clearly �get� and understand this facet of China. I don�t think this means the US is not a place of contradictions, but the China hands I call friends seem to suggest that in China the contradictions are deeper and more disturbing than most places.
For more great examples of some of the contradictions in China that will mess with your mind and tug at your heart, check out following recent Wall Street Journal [subscription may be required] and NY Times articles [subscription may be required]required]:
- How Capitalist Transformation Exposes Holes in China�s Government
- So Much Work, So Little Time
- In Booming China, Protest By Poor Intensify
- China�s Reporters Face a Backlash Over Investigations
- In Chinese BoomTown, Middle Class Pushed Back
- Chinese Success Story Chokes on Its Own Growth
The blog makes for an excellent online course on China and I recommend it.
Oh, and the "cheap sex" part of this post's title. I just put that in there after noticing that (like so many other blogs and websites) the word "sex" pulls in far more readers to this blog than any other. If "sex" is good, I am thinking "cheap sex" should be even better.
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Comments
I can sum up china pretty easily:
1. Grassroots, cut throat capitalism from below
2. Stifling totalitarianism from above
3. Complete disregard for the people around you at all levels.
Posted by: nanheyangrouchuan | January 18, 2007 11:35 AM
Hi Dan,
After stumbling upon your site, I was surprised to read that there are people out there reading our Cal Poly MBA Trip blog! While we were in China June-July 2006, many students quickly noticed that China is struggling to maintain its culture and keep its economy growing. You can walk down the streets in certain areas and feel like you're in the metropolitan center of the world, and down the next alley, see the run-down buildings that have been neglected for a variety of reasons.
While I have not kept up with the level of foreign direct investment in China and how much of its growth is actually organic vs. FDI, but I wonder at what point does China really begin to push for internal growth? We've seen it on our trip, with many factories claiming they are majority owned by Chinese businessmen, but they are still very dependent on foreign investment, as we've seen recently in their push for global Chinese automobiles.
Posted by: James Sun | January 18, 2007 5:04 PM
I was searching for Legal Cheap Sex in China and you came up #1...What a rip-off!
Hey, you beat me to the punch on the Cal Poly blog...They are an amazing resource! But, you know academics: they have time to do all that surfing in the name of education...
Look at the student blogs in their blogroll as well...Fantastic stuff!
Posted by: Lonnie | January 18, 2007 8:02 PM
Hi Dan. Thanks for the post. We all enjoy reading and learning from the CLB blog, and will continue to do so. I hope that our MBA trip blog will continue to add value to the discussion and debate.
Posted by: Chris Carr | January 18, 2007 9:02 PM
nanheyangrouchuan
Well, as they used to say on Perry Mason, case closed.
But from your many comments and your deep interest in China, I know you are too smart to really believe it is that simple.
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 18, 2007 11:53 PM
Mr. Sun --
I think you are underrating China's internal growth. Though I am most definitely not of the "China is going to take over the world" school on China business, I do see countless dynamic, privately owned companies springing up that will take China forward. I also have to beleive that for every foreign company profiting from China, there are many more Chinese companies watching and learning.
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 18, 2007 11:55 PM
Lonnie --
That is so weird. I had never even noticed that list of student blogs until now. Thanks for the tip.
Reminds me of one of my favorite Kung Fu episodes when I was growing up:
"You sit by yourself grasshopper. What do you think of?" -Master Po (who is blind)
"My mother, my father. Both gone. I am alone."
"You hear the flock of birds flying overhead? You hear the fish? The beetle?"
(To all of this the young Caine nods.)
"In this crowded place you feel alone. Which of us is the most blind?"
As for academics having time, my father, who taught English literature for around 40 years, used to always say he had never worked a day in his life. Judging by his hours as compared to mine, I believe him.
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 19, 2007 12:01 AM
Chris --
You are very welcome. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 19, 2007 12:04 AM
This is why I love your blog. The CalPoly blog (even with the funky name and lacking in anything having to do with cheap sex) is a very informative and fun site and I appreciate how you are always looking for gems like this blog and always ready to boost them on your blog. Thanks.
Posted by: Clarkson | January 19, 2007 12:14 AM
Clarkson --
You are very welcome. I view sharing great sites with readers as the online equivalent of sharing a great restaurant find with a friend. Based on the comments I receive to posts like this one, including yours, I think this analogy holds water.
I really am kicking myself for not having listed it sooner. I have various rough criteria in my head for the blogroll (all of which can be modified to allow for great quality) and they are first and foremost that the blog be mostly no China. Then, that it be good/have something to say. Every blog must pass these two tests.
Then, I lean towards those blogs that I think would be helpful to the business reader. But I am definitely willing to bend here but if I am to do so, the blog has to really be good.
I also lean towards those blogs with regular postings, but I am, again, definitely willing to make an exception for quality.
The only reason I had not previously listed the CalPoly Blog was because I kept thinking it wasn't about China, it was about an MBA class. But if it were really just about an MBA class there is no way I would always be checking it.
And, to a certain extent that is my true bottom line question: is this a China blog I want to be checking frequently?
Thank you for the compliments. They are always appreciated.
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 19, 2007 12:38 AM
You made me laugh out loud, get out of my bloglines and write this comment.
Once you start to rank for cheap sex you can start to make some serious money:)
Posted by: Shangai China | January 19, 2007 12:46 AM
Shanghai (CS) --
Thanks for checking in. The words "China sex" are already bringing in nearly twice as many visitors as its next closest competitor, "China law." But, and I wonder why this is, those who come here with the search words "China law" look at nearly twice as many pages as those who come here via "China sex." Gee, sorry to dissappoint.
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 19, 2007 2:12 AM
"But from your many comments and your deep interest in China, I know you are too smart to really believe it is that simple."
After living there, I don't believe that China is any more complicated than any other country. The mystery is due to the fact that it closed itself off from the world for a few hundred years and takes great pains at keeping everything "secret".
And the best way to solve a problem is to break it down into components.
Posted by: nanheyangrouchuan | January 19, 2007 11:34 PM
nanheyangrouchuan --
1. I agree with you that China is no more complicated than other countries. It is more complicated to we Americans, of course, but not inherently so.
2. Breaking something down into its components is a good way to solve problems.
Yeah, so?
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 21, 2007 1:47 PM
James,
I am going to revise your grade in marketing.
NOBODY starts a blog purely/only for internal and intellectual discussion reasons, myself included; starting one is one way to market a program without spending huge $$$.
You are killing me! :)
Professor Carr
Posted by: Chris Carr | January 23, 2007 11:22 AM
Chris --
I say you reduce James' grade by a full point.
Just kidding.
Posted by: China Law Blog | January 24, 2007 4:43 AM