The World Economic Forum just came out with its world competitiveness rankings , putting the United States in first place, with Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Singapore, Japan, the UK, and The Netherlands rounding out the top ten. Korea (South, of course) was 11th, Hong Kong 12th, Taiwan 13th, Malaysia 21st, Thailand 28th, China 34th,… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: October 2007
Chinese Factories. Chinese Workers. Chinese Deaths. U.S. Tort Liability?
Posted in Legal NewsJust read a chilling article on Chinese factory working conditions in — of all places — the Salt Lake Tribune (h/t to All Roads Lead to China). The article is by Loretta Tofani and it is entitled, “Chinese workers lose their lives producing goods for America.” It is one of seven articles by the Pulitzer… Continue Reading
China Needs More Lawyers. Hallelujah. Hallelujah
Posted in Legal NewsThe Red Kemp Blog has a post up that is music to every lawyer’s ears. The Post is entitled, “China Needs More Intellectual Property Rights Experts” and it essentially says China needs more lawyers, or at least that is how I read it. The post discusses how at a recent forum on “Intellectual Property Rights… Continue Reading
Chinese Internet Usage After Sex
Posted in China BusinessWhile on the subject of statistics (oh, and sorry for the gratuitous reference to sex in the title, but it seems apropos as a follow-up to my previous statistical post only hours ago), I just looked at this site (h/t to Asia Business Media Blog) listing internet usage in Asia. Not surprisingly, Hong Kong, Japan,… Continue Reading
Chinese Smoking After (By) Sex
Posted in China BusinessAmazing statistics on smoking by gender over at the China Game blog in a post entitled, “Tobacco in China (Part 1): Real Men Smoke.” According to a World Health Organization (WHO) 1997 study, 63% of Chinese men smoke, but only 4% of Chinese women do. There has to be social and economic significance to these… Continue Reading
The Times They Are A-Changin’ For China Lawyers
Posted in Legal NewsChina just amended its rules of lawyer conduct (h/t to Boulder2Beijing). China’s original rules on and for lawyers became effective on January 1, 1997. This is their first amendment. Among other things, this amendment deals with the attorney-client privilege, conflicts, criminal law representation, and solo practice (now allowed under certain circumstances). New York mega-firm, Fried… Continue Reading
Danone vs. Wahaha. Danone vs. China Law Blog. Ogilvy vs. Steve Dickinson. Have I Missed Anyone?
Posted in Legal NewsA couple months ago, China Law Blog’s own Steve Dickinson wrote an article for the China Economic Review, entitled, “Danone v. Wahaha: Steven M. Dickinson on the lessons to be learned from the tensions within China’s largest beverage joint venture.” Danone, acting through its public relations firm, Ogilvy “responded” to Steve’s article, with its own… Continue Reading
China, Burma, Great Powers And Responsibility
Posted in Recommended ReadingNot sure I buy everything in this post on the Far East Economic Review Blog, but it is a thoughtful analysis of China’s handling of Burma. The post was written by Bruce Gilley, [pdf] a political science professor and it is entitled, “China, Burma and Responsibility.” Its position is that China may not have dealt… Continue Reading
USPTO China Roadshow. San Jose, CA November 7-8
Posted in EventsThe United States Patent and Trademark Office will be putting on another one of its usually fine roadshows. This one will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown San Jose, California on November 7 and 8. Click here to register. These tend to be very informative events and, amazingly enough, they are free. I… Continue Reading
Girls Just Want To Be Born. What Korea Could Teach China About Sex.
Posted in Recommended ReadingExcellent piece at the consistently excellent blog, How the World Works, entitled, “Girls Just Want to Be Born.” The piece is on how South Korea has become “the first Asian country to reverse the discouraging trend of ‘rising sex ratios at birth’ — by which is meant families taking advantage of new sex-selection technologies (or… Continue Reading
Promising China Blogs: The China Game And The China Vortex
Posted in Recommended ReadingTwo good new China blogs out there by two already pretty well known China hands. Paul Midler (who I believe coined the phrase China fade, referring to the diminishing quality of China products) has started a blog called The China Game. Paul has been involved with China manufacturing for more than 15 years and many… Continue Reading
Famous China Troll Nanheyangrouchuan Deconstructed. Somewhat.
Posted in Recommended ReadingNanheyangrouchuan has commented 532 times on this blog, of which we have published 531. I do not remember exactly why we blocked that one comment, but I think I felt it too cruel/racist. We have received a number of comments and emails from our readers asking why we publish nanheyangrouchuan at all and suggesting we… Continue Reading
The Great China Toy Conspiracy. It Ain’t Bush, It’s Another.
Posted in China BusinessThe zhongnanhaiblog (on our blogroll for a reason) just came out with a post entitled, “Has the Bush Administration toyed with the toys?” Gist of the post is that Chinese product quality control issues have been going on for many years and so the recent media attention reeks of a conspiracy. Zhongnanhaiblog readily admits he… Continue Reading
Private Equity With Chinese Characteristics
Posted in Recommended ReadingInteresting post over at the Managing the Dragon blog on the differences between private equity investing in the United States and in China. The post is aptly entitled, “Private Equity with Chinese Characteristics,” and it nicely sets forth how private equity companies like Carlyle, Blackstone and KKR are having to modify their investing methods to… Continue Reading
I Hate Alibaba (The Website, Not The Company)
Posted in China BusinessJust back from China (Hong Kong, actually), where I saw a television interview with Jack Ma of Alibaba. He never fails to impress the hell out of me and every time I see him my first thought is BUY. But then I think about all the harm Alibaba has caused to so many Western SMEs… Continue Reading
China Corruption Spurs On China Sex And/Or Vice Versa. With Ants, Bees, Dolphins And Malaysian Sun Bears.
Posted in Legal NewsThe China Economics blog has a short pithy post up with the short pithy title: “Sex and Corruption.” Recognizing the hundreds of new readers such a post will bring in, I figured I to run my own. China Economics’ post is based on an article from the Malaysian Sun (the newspaper, not the bear) entitled,… Continue Reading
What About Hong Kong?
Posted in China TravelHong Kong International Airport In the Dragonair lounge waiting for Asiana Flight 724 Eating peanuts (h/t to the Silicon Hutong) 2319 hrs I am just wrapping up my one week visit to Hong Kong. I am (was?) here to cover eight depositions in a case pending in Kentucky Federal Court in a case I was… Continue Reading
Goodbye China. Good Morning Vietnam. I Don’t Think So.
Posted in China BusinessOne of the things we keep hearing is that small and medium sized manufacturing companies that manufacture in or outsource to China will soon be leaving China, mostly for Vietnam. China’s increasing enforcement of its environmental and labor laws, coupled with its rapidly increasing wages and its “dangerous products,” will lead a whole slew of… Continue Reading
China’s Youth Explained — Internet And Urban Slang, Oh My!
Posted in China BusinessIn the for what it’s worth department (I say not much), ResearchAndMarkets.com has just come out with a new study on China’s Phoenix Generation (defined here as between 16 and 30 years old) based on a survey of less than 400 Phoenix Generationers in China’s first and second tier cities. Tells us, among other things,… Continue Reading
I Also Have Nothing To Say On The Recent Schneider IP Decision
Posted in Legal NewsChina Hearsay has a post up entitled, “Why I Haven’t Posted on the Schneider Patent Decision,” explaining why he had been avoiding saying anything about that decision. I actually got a couple emails asking me to write on that decision and I started writing a post on it, but then stopped when I realized I… Continue Reading
China Does Not Own The Future
Posted in Recommended ReadingThough I usually strenuously avoid big picture stories on where China is going to be fifty years from now, a recent op-ed piece by Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the book, “God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World” is too… Continue Reading
China Software Revenues Rising. IP Protection Following?
Posted in Legal NewsXinhua just came out with an article entitled, “China’s software revenue up 22.9% in first eight months,” both touting the increased growth in this area and making clear more remains to be done if China is to become a true powerhouse. The article reports China’s software industry booked nearly 46 billion dollars in revenue for… Continue Reading
China’s Dirty Little Secret
Posted in China BusinessLast time I was in China, two American consultants all but whispered to me “the secret nobody wants China to know:” American companies make greater profits in China than they do in the United States. Both people then cited to an AmCham survey which got plenty of press when it came out earlier this year…. Continue Reading
The Pecking Order On China Buses. And The Laowai Shall Lead Us.
Posted in Recommended ReadingGreat post up on the China Machete blog on a Beijing bus ride the blogger took involving an elderly couple who made known their preference to take over the seat in which the blogger’s wife was sitting. The article is entitled, “An eventful bus ride” and it makes for an interesting ground level assessment of… Continue Reading
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