China Law Blog: The High School Edition
When we started this blog nearly two years ago, one of our main precepts was accessibility. In our very first post, we described where we saw ourselves fitting in among the China blogs, we stressed we wanted to be read by more than just lawyers, and we laid out our plans:
There is even a superb Chinese law blog, The Chinese Law Prof Blog, but it has a distinctly academic bent and we will not.We will be discussing the practical aspects of Chinese law and how it impacts business there. We will be telling you about what works and what does not and what you as a businessperson can do to use the law to your advantage. Our aim is to assist businesses already in China or planning to go into China, not to break new ground in legal theory or policy. We want to start a conversation with, for and about the person who wants to know what is what in China and the practical aspects of starting and grow a business in or involved with China. We are not writing for those who want to know more about Section (A)viii of a particular piece of Chinese legislation or the history of that act or the policy reasons behind it. Our site is not focused on the legal scholar.
We want to initiate a discussion regarding the changing laws in China. We will constantly be challenging the various misconceptions the West has about law in China, including that the law in China does not really matter or that guanxi can supplant it. We will provide information to those who conduct business with or in China as to how they can use the law as both a shield and a sword. We will give you our insights to achieve practical solutions, while doing our best to entertain. We know lawyers are not popular, and though we are ourselves really quite likeable, we recognize the need to avoid those things that incite lawyer hatred. In other words, we will strive to avoid legal jargon and namby-pamby language that attempts to camouflage our views or avoid controversy.
We want this site to be a place for conversation and even controversy. We expect many of you will disagree with us much of the time and we do not care. We will always strive to avoid boring you or being unwilling to take a stand. We are not going to be afraid of being wrong -- in fact, we want you to tell us when and how we are wrong. If you want "lawyer language" or long strings of caveats, you are going to have to pay exorbitant legal fees to get that elsewhere.
I am proud to announce a computer has decreed our success.
According to The Blog Readability Test , one needs only a high school education to read and understand our blog. On the other hand, one must be a genius to understand these China blogs:
-- China Economics Blog
-- China Business Blog
-- Chinese Law Prof
-- Danwei
-- ImageThief
One needs a post graduate education to understand these China blogs:
-- China Business Law
-- China Hearsay
-- This is China
One needs a college degree to understand All Roads Lead To China and Silicon Hutong.
But one needs only a high school degree to understand us.
Now before anyone (everyone?) writes in and rails on me for being a high school level thinker/writer, please remember I could not be more delighted with this result. In the words of the immortal George Bush (maybe quoting him is what puts us at the high school level), bring it on.
http://www.chinalawblog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/2280
» It doesn't take much to read this blog... Zhongnanhai
... in fact, you can probably read and understand the content here if you are in junior high! So says the Blog Readability Test. China Law Blog, which notified us of the site, is only slightly better, at a high... []
» Vote for China Law Blog and earn some lawyer karma Imagethief
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Comments
You are right to be so proud. It is the clearness of your writing that has earned you the accolades of both the computer and your many readers.
Posted by: Mercer | November 26, 2007 5:53 PM
Congratulations, if they are indeed in order. That puts you at the same level as the Wall Street Journal and one level above the New York TImes.
Posted by: Paul Maidment | November 26, 2007 5:54 PM
Mercer,
Now this is EXACTLY what I meant when I said "bring it on."
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 26, 2007 5:56 PM
Paul Maidment,
Oooh, you're killing me. I did not even know there was a Junior High Level, but I guess that gives me something to which I can aspire. I see that your mag (Forbes) requires genius, but since I am a regular reader, I know that cannot be accurate.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 26, 2007 6:00 PM
I guess congratulations are in order to you, and, in a back-handed way, to me, since I don't often have to look up new words in the dictionary when reading your blog. Now, if you start adding bigger words, be kind enough to publish a glossary for me.
Posted by: Law Office of Todd L. Platek | November 26, 2007 6:40 PM
At the risk of sounding like a CLB groupie, I add that it is this same level of accessibility and clarity that have earned Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams such well-deserved respect. If your legal advice is as good as this blog -- and I suspect it is -- your clients are, indeed, fortunate.
Posted by: Nonin Stone | November 26, 2007 8:06 PM
So wait, if I don't understand something on this blog that puts me at elementary school level?
Ah man, that sucks so much. And just when i'd got my head round Venn Diagrams too.
Posted by: Pelops | November 26, 2007 10:24 PM
wow, danwei.org also checks in at the "genius" level!
Posted by: boyce | November 26, 2007 10:44 PM
Todd,
Always at your service.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 26, 2007 11:10 PM
Nonin Stone,
At the risk of sounding like someone who craves compliments, I love you.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 26, 2007 11:11 PM
Pelops,
No, Junior High is the school right below High School. Venn diagrams are typically taught in elementary school.
BTW, great blog on the Olympics. I will be back.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 26, 2007 11:13 PM
Jeremy (the brains behind Danwei) has always struck me as one smart dude, or maybe it is just the accent.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 26, 2007 11:17 PM
I'm obtuse, verbose and didactic! Rock on!
One of my friends once told me why he doesn't read Imagethief: "You use too many big words." He didn't mean it as a complement.
I take this as a challenge. From now on I'm writing my blog to a junior high bathroom level.
Posted by: Will | November 26, 2007 11:39 PM
Will,
I will test ImageThief again in a month.
I don't think you can do it. Even the name of your blog is somewhat obtuse, almost ethereal. What is an imagethief? What topics would an imagethief blog cover?
Note how our name leaves very little room for doubt. China Law Blog. Think it might be a blog on China law? Good guess.
Even your own name could be rife with inner/hidden meaning. Will Moss. Is that a question or a statement of fact? Dictionary.com (note how I go to that, not the Oxford Unabridged as you would no doubt do) lists 23 entries for the word "will," which has to be some kind of record. Even moss can be both verb and noun. Are you implying a "mossing over?"
I say you just resign yourself to your sorry genius fate.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 27, 2007 12:14 AM
I'm sorry I brought it up.
Once upon a time Imagethief was the name of the domain I devoted to photography (still there at www.imagethief.com). There was some poetic rationale which I'll not go into here, but it had nothing to do with copyright violation. It was certainly an improvement on my prior domain of ten years, "mmmutants.com", which had a perfectly good explanation that I'll leave to your imagination.
Anyway, "China PR Blog" sounds, well, derivative. And it doesn't leave much room for the 90% of my posts that are just general rant. Perhaps I should have called it, "China Rant Blog plus some PR". But that lacks a certain (Oxford alert) euphony. If I was going for traffic I'd call it "China P*rn Blog" and just sneak the essays in among (Oxford alert) salacious pictures of people doing unimaginable things to cheerleaders and livestock.
Anyway, genius be damned. Everyone knows jocks get the chicks. And the livestock.
Will moss for food.
Posted by: Will | November 27, 2007 1:03 AM
Will,
I thinkin ya'll jussa joshing wit me an all cuz ain't no need for no * in dat name as the real thang still done be available.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 27, 2007 1:36 AM
Chris D-E,
Just hire Americans. We also don't strike or go on holiday nearly as often.
Posted by: China Law Blog | November 27, 2007 1:38 AM
Dan:
A while back I mentioned in one of my comments here that there are lots of things about CLB that I want to imitate:
-Clarity
-Keen sense of the legal issues involved
In retrospect, I think I forgot to mention:
-Readibility
-Humor
When it comes to writing, I try to make it simple and clear. But, that is no easy task, which you have done so well.
Posted by: Brad Luo | November 27, 2007 6:19 AM
Dan: We have special software that lets you read our site. It is part of our outreach program :)
Posted by: Paul Maidment | November 27, 2007 6:22 AM
I hope your paying clients (as opposed to us freeloading riff raff) are getting something that is better then high school level writing.....
Posted by: Derek | November 27, 2007 8:06 AM
Hmm... mine's genius too... I'm not sure why.
Posted by: Rene | November 27, 2007 1:54 PM
Can anyone give me a hint on how to conduct "Blog Readability Test"?
Posted by: George | November 27, 2007 10:24 PM
I think that your blog is much better, than listed above. So don't be worry, I'm sure, you have a lot of visitors every day.
Posted by: School teacher | December 11, 2007 3:09 AM