The always worthwhile China Beat has a great post up by Leslie T. Chang. Ms. Chang is a former WSJ reporter who just wrote a book called Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, due out in October. This post both previews the book and highlights the differences between writing for the… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: May 2008
Inside-Out China — I’m Lovin’ It
Posted in Recommended ReadingWhenever I come across a really good China blog that has been around for more than a few months, I get irritated. I get irritated at myself and at those who are supposed to be assisting me on this blog for not having discovered it sooner. I also get irritated at the Chinese blogosphere for… Continue Reading
Selling Into China
Posted in China Business“Another China Trade Opportunity” By JEREMY HAFT May 19, 2008; Page A13 As the Chinese recover from the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, it’s worth remembering that they can’t rebuild Sichuan province alone. They need America’s help. In the months to come, China’s central and provincial governments will spend billions to remake hospitals, communication and… Continue Reading
Navigating China’s Visa Problems And Finding A Mass Murderer
Posted in Legal NewsMelanie Lindner over at Forbes.com did a nice article, entitled, “Navigating China’s Visa Problems,” on the increasing difficulty in securing a long term China visa and on the impact that is having on foreign entrepreneurs. The article starts out talking about how in the old days, all one “needed to travel in and out of… Continue Reading
China: Is That A Passport In Your Pants Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
Posted in Legal NewsWhen I was last in China (in April), I asked a few foreigners whether they carried their passports with them wherever they went. The typical response was that they used to not do so, but now they were trying to do so and maybe they would try even harder in the future because they were… Continue Reading
China Earthquake’s Astounding Numbers: How You Can Donate
Posted in EventsJust read a post about a Wen Jiabao interview on the Time China blog and something really hit me from that post: “sixteen million buildings destroyed.” Some people can understand the Sichuan earthquake devastation through personal stories, but I am at heart a numbers guy and that number hit me right in the heart. It… Continue Reading
China Banking And Currency Exchange: Free Is One Of The Few Words I Always Understand
Posted in China BusinessA really good friend of mine who works at Bank of America is always touting its China solutions. He occasionally emails me beautiful brochures with beautiful graphics, presumably detailing how I can move my firm’s paltry earnings between the US and China, and vice versa. My reaction has always been to think that every big… Continue Reading
Sharon Stone’s Karmic Assessment Of China
Posted in EventsThe whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand Russell I was going to write a brilliant post on Sharon Stone’s attributing the Sichuan earthquake to “possible” karma, but since David Wolf over at Silicon Hutong beat me to… Continue Reading
Time’s Cover Story: China’s Times, Are They A Changing?
Posted in Recommended ReadingHeart of Beijing has a good post up, discussing the changes the Sichuan earthquake has brought to China and, in particular, to how China views itself and how China views how outsiders view China. The post is entitled “Time’s Cover Story,” and it uses Time Magazine’s article, entitled, “Helping Hands,” as its springboard. Both the… Continue Reading
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About A Chinese LLM
Posted in Recommended ReadingLaw Professor Donald Clarke, of Chinese Law Prof Blog fame, has compiled an extremely helpful compilation of views on the pros and cons of Westerners’ securing an advanced law degree, or LLM, from a Chinese law school. The compilation can be found here (h/t to China Esquire). What do you all think? Along these same… Continue Reading
Why You MUST Have A China OEM Agreement.
Posted in Legal NewsRecently received an email from CLB co-blogger Steve Dickinson, who is based in China. I have removed all of the names and any other potential identifiers, but have retained the gist of the story. My firm has gone through nearly this exact same scenario at least a half a dozen times over the last few… Continue Reading
China Earthquake Relief, Charitable Giving, Big Governments, And The Forming Of Civil Societies
Posted in EventsA few months ago, while in Seoul, Korea, I had an excellent discussion with a Korean-American friend of mine. This friend was born and grew up in the United States, but has been living in Korea for the last ten years or so. The day we met, he had seen a guy slapping around his… Continue Reading
Planned US China Flights Postponed
Posted in China TravelMSNBC.com is just out with a story on United Airlines raising its fares and within that story, I have learned that both United and US Airways will not be going forward with their US to China flights as originally planned: United Airlines has sought and US Airways plans to ask for one-year delays in launching… Continue Reading
China Visas — Just The Facts, Ma’am
Posted in Legal NewsThe Beijinger does a stellar job setting forth the current state of China visas in its post, entitled, “China Visa – Facts and Fiction.” Highlights from the post’s “What We know for sure” (i.e., “just the facts, ma’am“) section are as follows: 1. L (tourist) visas require documents showing your “outbound and return flight booking… Continue Reading
A Chengdu Personal Account
Posted in Recommended ReadingMy friend and fellow Grinnell alum, “Sunny” Seong-hyon Lee emailed me the other day to express his regrets for having been out of both Beijing and Seoul (where he usually is) when I was in both cities last month. More correspondence revealed he had just returned from Chengdu. Sunny wrote an amazing account of what… Continue Reading
How To Monitor Your Chinese Factory, The China Price, And QC By Motorcycle.
Posted in China BusinessInteresting post by Nina Ying Sun on the PN [Plastics News] China blog on the inherent difficulties in monitoring your China factory. The post is entitled “Hands-on due diligence in China,” and it starts out with the following quotes from an interview with Alexndra Haney, author of the book, The China Price: The True Cost… Continue Reading
China’s New Labor Law And Why Vietnam Is No Big Thing
Posted in Legal News“T’aint no big thing….” Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music I remember a time (Reagan era, I believe), when there was considerable talk about greatly reducing public television (PBS) funding here in the United States. In response to this, PBS reacted like any good bureaucracy does; it threatened to terminate that which the people found most precious…. Continue Reading
China Earthquake Donations: Doing Good AND Pumping Up The Miles
Posted in EventsJust got an email that combines two of my favorite things: doing good and pumping up my United Airlines mileage plus account. The email is from United Airlines and it says the following: Mileage Plus customers who donate $50USD or more will receive 500 miles as a one-time bonus. The United Airlines Foundation will support… Continue Reading
Blogging FOR China
Posted in Recommended ReadingNew blog out there of which CLB readers should be aware. It’s called Blogging for China and it usually takes a decidedly pro-China view on most issues. Though pro-China, it is not at all ridiculously so and that means it puts forth very well reasoned and thoughtful arguments and is duly respectful of opposing viewpoints…. Continue Reading
What Businesses Need To Know About Chinese Nationalism
Posted in China BusinessExcellent post on The ACF China Co – Millstone Trading blog. This blog describes itself as “a blog for Asian furniture industry professionals offering invaluable insights, comments and ramblings about importing home furnishings from China,” but this post is highly relevant for any business involved with China. The post is entitled, “Rising nationalism – Will… Continue Reading
China’s Earthquake — How To Help. Money And More
Posted in EventsCrossroads blog has a whole slew of posts up detailing various ways we can help Sichuan’s earthquake victims, ranging from sending money to orphanages to aiding with logistics. If you want to help but are unsure as to how, read the more recent posts on this blog and pick something that matches your abilities and… Continue Reading
China’s F-Visas — Put A Fork In Those Babies
Posted in Legal NewsThe Wall Street Journals’ China Blog just did a post on China’s current visa situation, entitled, “Visa Saga.” The gist of it is that securing F-visas and tourist visas has gotten much more difficult and that multiple entry visas are becoming nearly extinct and the “prospects of the government easing the rules are slim.” The… Continue Reading
China Demographics As Economics
Posted in Recommended ReadingChina Financial Markets (a very serious and numbers oriented China economics blog) has a fascinating post, entitled, “Demographic projections and trade implications,” on the interaction between China’s birth rate and age demographics and its economic and trade future. Marketers and futurists ought to be able to have a field day with this information and I… Continue Reading
China Earthquake Donation Guide
Posted in Recommended ReadingCn Reviews has the most comprehensive guide for donations to earthquake victims I have seen. (h/t to Black and White Cat) The post is entitled, “China Earthquake Donation Guide: 24+ ways to give,” and it lists more than 24 charities involved with the China earthquake, along with descriptions and links. It is all very impressive… Continue Reading
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