Just read a great post over at Seth Godin’s blog. The fact it was a great post is not the least bit unusual for that blog, but that I can relate it to legal work in China (well sorta, anyway) is. The post is entitled “The problem with doing it by heart” and its gist… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: August 2009
China Honey, You Are An Adulterer. Can You Stand By YOUR Labels?
Posted in Legal NewsA couple of Chinese “executives” were recently found guilty in Seattle Federal Court of having imported and distributed adulterated (well it at least sounds like adulterer) and mislabeled honey into the United States. The honey contained “ciproflaxin, an antibiotic that is used to fight bacterial infections but in rare cases can cause tendon damage and… Continue Reading
Manufacturing In China. Because There Are 1.3 Billion People There.
Posted in China BusinessI expected the routine this morning from a Wall Street Journal article entitled “LG Display Plans Plant in China.” I expected it would say that LG was going to be manufacturing in China either to save costs or, more likely, to diversify its manufacturing. But the following line from the article gave me an ah-ha… Continue Reading
China: Where East Eats West.
Posted in Recommended ReadingWhirlwind China entrepreneur and friend Sam Goodman has a great and blissfully short book out on how to do business in China. I say blissfully short not because I did not like his book (because I did), but because its shortness is one of its strengths. Most people wanting to learn the ins and outs… Continue Reading
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in China. September 3, 2009, Teleconference.
Posted in EventsStafford Publications is putting on a teleconference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in China. Before I talk about that though, there is one thing I have to get out of the way. Every time I see a very British name like Stafford, I cannot help but smile and remember a hometown friend of… Continue Reading
China’s Big Political Picture Writ Small For Business.
Posted in China BusinessI am not generally a fan of extrapolating the way a country conducts its politics to the way its enterprises conduct its businesses even in China where so many businesses are government owned. I am not saying it cannot be done, but I generally find it too complicated for too little value. David Dayton, a… Continue Reading
China’s Border Disputes And Use Of Force. A Serious Analysis.
Posted in Recommended ReadingThe Sun Bin blog has a fascinating and thoughtful post analyzing how China handles border disputes and when it uses its military. The post, entitled “China’s Policy in Border Disputes,” mostly consists of an interview with Professor M. Taylor Fravel of MIT, whose academic focus has been on Chinese territorial disputes and its use of… Continue Reading
China Food Safety. Don’t Blame Legal.
Posted in Recommended ReadingThought provoking post over at TwoFish’s Blog, entitled, “Best and the worst – The Sanlu Settlement.” The thesis is that China’s handling of payments to those injured by the Sanlu dairy food poisonings was handled better than would have been the case had Sanlu been in the United States and been subject to a class… Continue Reading
China: No Brands No Cry. What Does Peoria Say?
Posted in China BusinessSince my using references to Bob Marley songs seems to play so well (see here and here)….. Anyway, just read an excellent and blunt blog post on Chinese brands over at the perpetually insightful Silicon Hutong Blog, entitled, “Brand Reality Check.” The post uses a Tom Doctoroff article in AdAge (subscription required) as the starting… Continue Reading
Hiring In China. The Seminar. September 24, 2009. Seattle.
Posted in EventsOn September 24, 2009, I will be speaking on China labor law issues at Seminar International’s Hiring in Asia Seminar in Seattle. I will be sharing the podium with Dave Parker, CEO of 9spaces, a leading China-focused human resources research and services company. Together we will be discussing hiring and retention in the Software Engineering,… Continue Reading
The King Of Diplomacy On China-US Relations.
Posted in Good PeopleI have always loved the television commercials where some cheesy guy wearing a crown (presumably the owner of the appliance store or whatever else it is that is being advertised) screams out the discounts you can expect to get by shopping at his store. If my memory serves me right, I’ve been witness to the… Continue Reading
China’s Rio Tinto Arrests. A Rapid Fire Historical Perspective.
Posted in Recommended ReadingSometimes big events can be so complicated, controversial and unwieldy, there is hardly any point in reading current reports because they are likely to be so biased and/or inaccurate as to be of no value. In those instances, particularly when the underlying topic is not of huge interest to me, I generally pretty much stop… Continue Reading
Business Taxes In China. Feels Just Like Home.
Posted in Legal NewsErnst & Young is out with a very informative online publication on indirect taxes in China (h/t All Roads). The publication is entitled, “Navigating Chinese Indirect Taxes,” and it provides a great overview of these taxes and how they can, and almost certainly will, impact your China business. It starts out with the following general… Continue Reading
Representative Offices In China. Things Just Got More Difficult/Expensive…..
Posted in Legal NewsMy wildly unscientific observations tell me that about nine out of ten companies that go into China legally end up succeeding. My wildly unscientific observations also tell me that about eight out of ten companies that go into China illegally end up failing within a couple of years. Of the other two companies that went… Continue Reading
China’s Food Chain. Nobody Trusts Nobody.
Posted in Recommended ReadingThe Eileen Eats blog did an excellent, though very disquieting, post on the state of Chinese food. The post is entitled, “Food Safety– Can’t let your guard down,” and it has the following money quote: Hung Huang, chief executive of the China Interactive Media Group in China, said recently in an article in the New… Continue Reading
A Western Woman In China….Sex, Sex, Sex????!!!!
Posted in Recommended ReadingNot me, of course. But Gina in Shanghai, who on her blog, Gina in Shanghai, has written a very thought provoking piece, entitled, “Peter Hessler and laowai nuzi,” on how Western women are viewed in China (h/t China Beat). To grossly summarize, Chinese view Western women to be like the women in “Sex in the… Continue Reading
An “American” Law School In China. Explanations Sought.
Posted in Legal NewsMy tiny firm must receive at least ten resumes every day. About a third of these come from students who, even in the best of of times, would likely never be hired as a law firm associate. Go ahead and get mad at me if you want, but those who are in the bottom half… Continue Reading
Got A China Criminal Matter. I’ll Get Barack….
Posted in Legal NewsOne of the interesting things about the exposure that comes from this blog is that my firm gets contacted by all sorts of people with China law problems. This is mostly good because it can lead to real work. This is also good because even when it does not lead to real work, it provides… Continue Reading
China Retail As Piracy Prevention.
Posted in China BusinessOne of the things I love about being a lawyer is what I learn from clients. I recently started working with a company that makes a high end consumer good. In the US, this company sells its products to high end retail outlets, including department stores. It has no retail outlets. This company has been… Continue Reading
Cross Cultural Dating — China Style.
Posted in Recommended ReadingI normally hate this sort of thing, but “Steve” over at Fool’s Mountain does such a great job with it, I cannot resist posting on it. The post is entitled, “Cross Cultural Dating,” but I think it goes way beyond that and that is my point. The post does a great job explaining the need… Continue Reading
China’s Migrant Workers. The Revolution Will Have To Wait.
Posted in Recommended ReadingRobert D. O’Brien (have I linked to the right person?) over at China Beat has a great post up on the impact China’s manufacturing downturn is having and will have on China’s big picture. The post is entitled, “China’s Migrant Workers in the Wake of the Economic Crisis: Unemployed, Undeterred,” and it basically concludes that… Continue Reading
The WTO’s China Video/Media Ruling. Shedding Some Light….
Posted in Legal NewsYesterday, I wrote how it was too early to proclaim repurcussions from the WTO ruling on foreign media in China. It is still too early and I still know too little, but I have seen a few things which shed a bit of light. The first is Businesweek’s Eye on Asia post on the ruling,… Continue Reading
China’s Labor Laws. Find Me That Company.
Posted in Legal NewsSpoke with a reporter last week regarding China’s labor laws. The conversation went sorta like this: Reporter: I want your views on how enforcement of China’s labor laws is holding up despite the economic downturn. I am also wondering how representative are the stories we’ve all heard of one bad-egg employee winning a huge lawsuit… Continue Reading
China Guest Blogger Sought. Must Read AND Understand WTO Rulings.
Posted in Legal NewsGot an email today from a leading finance magazine asking me whether the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ruling today “against” China meant “piracy is now dead in China.” I told him I would review it, figure out the answer to his question, then call him. WRONG. I read a few news articles on the ruling… Continue Reading
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