China Questions
This is the third in my occasional series of promising China blogs.
I just came across a brand new China blog yesterday, very different from the rest. It's called China Q&A and what it does is pose questions on China and wait for answers in the comments. It's aptly subtitled, "We have the Questions, Do You have the Answers?" Because it has been up for only two days, it has yet to provide any answers, but I love the questions and would like to see this site make it as it might prove quite valuable to increasing China knowledge and understanding. For it to make it though, it needs readers to start answering the questions.
So far the following questions have been asked, and, though I think I know some of the answers, I am not confident enough to comment on the record.
- "There was an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman . . . ." In China, who is the Irishman?
- "Lassie, Pluto or the Littlest Hobo?" It's pretty well known that dog is considered a delicacy in many parts of China and even though an increasing number of Chinese are keeping dogs as pets the eating of dog meat shows no sign of falling by the wayside. What breeds of dog are most popular for human consumption? (border collie anyone?)How is it most commonly served? (dog on toast?)What does it taste like? (chicken?)Are there any supposed health benefits? (lets face it, almost everything you eat in China is supposed to be good for your health.)?"
- How many languages? " Well of course there are the big ones - Mandarin and Cantonese - but just how many languages are spoken/written in China (including Taiwan) and how many speakers of each language are there?
I encourage those with answers (and even those without) to check it out.
Comments (7)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endSam - May 15, 2007 7:10 PM
Here are some percentages I have seen for various languages in China (percentage of total population that speaks each particular language):
Mandarin 71.5%
Wu (Shanghai) 8.5
Gan (Jiangxi) 2.4
Xiang (Hunan) 4.8
Hakka 3.7
Yue (Cantonese) 5.0
Min (Fujian) 4.1
These might be a bit off, given that there were recent reports that only about half of the population speaks Mandarin. And there are many more smaller languages as well...
Jeff Ashcroft - May 16, 2007 10:59 AM
Hello,
Can you provide any insight into the environmental issues surrounding doing business in China?
ie; If a site is purchased which is contaminated as may be the case in some areas what are the various intricacies of this issue in China?
Also, is the Carbon footprint phenomena developing there as it is elsewhere in the world?
To see what I mean, review this article.
In Search of the Carbon Neutral Supply Chain
http://supplychainnetwork.com/?p=52
Cheers
Jeff
Supply Chain Network
http://supplychainnetwork.com/
nanheyangrouchuan - May 16, 2007 11:37 PM
"If a site is purchased which is contaminated as may be the case in some areas what are the various intricacies of this issue in China?"
Buyer beware. Inside of urban areas assume the site is contaminated. I wonder if Dan's China partners do enviro law in China.
In the US, you have to find previous owners and if they are still in business, go to the state and make them pay to clean up their share (you also have to prove "their share"). You are better off to work with state governments and tell them of your grand plans for economic development, job creation and increased tax revenue and the state/city will often help find the owners and go after them for cleanup money.
Some state and local goverments will reimburse a developer a certain portion of cleanup costs, but not much.
Ok, back to China. Off the top of my head there are some apartment complexes built on old factories or chemical plants. The chinese developer didn't know and didn't care until residents started complaining about fumes, sickness and strange liquids in the basement and on the grounds. As these were upscale developments, the residents had enough clout to effectively petition the Shanghai gov't. The developer claimed ignorance (and rightfully so if the polluter was military related) and both the city and developer found the name of the new company that was an old SOE and busted them big time.
So, it may be best to go through a well connected chinese entity that can provide site history, real estate services AAAAAND develop the site for you, with you getting in writing that the chinese entity declares "all is well".
This way, if you find pools of filth 6 months later and your employees all have rashes and open sores, you can sue the well connected chinese entity who will deny everything and you agree to drop the suit if the entity and the city gov't find the polluter and clean up your site.
I aced the "bar exam" every time I went home from work in China!
As for "carbon footprints", as far as China is concerned, all responsibility for environmental pollution control rests with the decadent West. Even though China invented everything, they lived in perfect harmony with nature until the cavemen from the West came along and made them do bad things in the name of progress.
China Law Blog - May 17, 2007 12:09 AM
Sam --
Gosh Sam, that is an answer, I guess, but seeing as how I was counting on you to answer somethin more complicated, like maybe the meaning of life, I cannot help but feel at least a bit of dissappointment.
China Law Blog - May 17, 2007 12:12 AM
Jeff/nh --
My firm's expertise/knowledge of environmental law is pretty limited. We do represent a number of environmental service companies in China, but not really on environmental matters. We also do quite a bit of real estate work in China, but we pull in others to handle the environmental issues.
chinaqanda - May 17, 2007 7:29 AM
Hi Dan, thanks for the vote of confidence. I've always enjoyed reading the "Notes and Queries" section in the Guardian and thought it might be kinda cool to have something similar but with a China focus. As you said though, the blog depends on readers to provide answers, and it'd be great if people could suggest questions too. As for not feeling confident enough to answer any of the questions yourself, i'm sure there'll be some questions in the near future that you could venture an opinion on (hopefully)
Anyway, thanks again and I'm looking forward to your first answer.
China Law Blog - May 17, 2007 1:48 PM
chinaqanda --
I hope so.