China Law Blog

Barking at the Sun blog has been online from Chengdu since August, 2007, and it has become a good source of information on the recent quake. Check it out.

As I mentioned just last week, US National Public Radio (NPR) is in Chengdu (got there just in time for the quake), and it has been doing a good job blogging on events there. That blog can be found here.

Are there any other good English language blogs out of Sichuan?

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I feel almost compelled to pass on some of the gems Warren Buffet (an apparent hero to the Chinese as well) voiced at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting the other day. They are that good.

“Contemplating any business act, an employee should ask himself whether he would be willing to see it immediately described by an informed and critical reporter on the front page of his local paper – there to read by his spouse, children, and friends.”

“The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.” I particularly like this one because I am always saying that the older I get, the more convinced I become that the simple strategy is almost always the right strategy.

“Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.”

“If I were to land on earth in a UFO and I went to the bank for $1 billion in currency, would I put all $1 billion in the U.S. dollar? No.”

“If past history is all there is to the game, the richest people would be the librarians.”

“The ability to say ‘no’ is a tremendous advantage for an investor.”

Regarding Coke: “A ‘brand’ is a promise. Ten years ago Richard Branson opened Virgin Cola… There have been hundreds of colas over the years… Who buys some substitute cola for a couple of cents less? Same goes for brand chocolate bars. We feel reasonably good about our products.”

Since I always claim that knowing business is more important to success in China than knowing China, these Buffett bon mots are right on point.

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General Michael V. Hayden, Director of the CIA, gave a speech this week at Kansas State University, on, among other things, China's future relationship with the United States. Hayden had this to say:

China, a communist-led, nuclear state that aspires to—and will likely achieve—great power status during this century, will be the focus of U.S. attention. As such, it deserves special mention today.

As is often the case with issues of real consequence for our national security, there are differing views about where China is headed and what its motivations are. Let me give you Mike Hayden’s view: China is a competitor—certainly in the economic realm, and, increasingly, on the geopolitical stage. But China is not an inevitable enemy. There are good policy choices available to both Washington and Beijing that can keep us on the largely peaceful, constructive path we’ve been on for almost 40 years now.

I say that with full appreciation for the remarkable speed and scope of China’s recent military buildup. The Chinese have fully absorbed the lessons of both Gulf wars, developing and integrating advanced weaponry into a modern military force. While it’s true that these new capabilities could pose a risk to U.S. forces and interests in the region, the military modernization is as much about projecting strength as anything else. After two centuries of perceived Western hegemony, China is determined to flex its muscle. It sees an advanced military force as an essential element of great power status. And it is the Intelligence Community’s view that any Chinese regime, even a democratic one, would have similar nationalist goals.

Don’t misunderstand. The military buildup is troubling, because it reinforces long-held concerns about Chinese intentions toward Taiwan. But even without that issue, we assess that a build-up would continue—albeit one that might look somewhat different.

As important as military strength is to China today, economic development and political stability are just as central to its leaders’ thinking—as Ambassador Zhou himself made clear when he was here just 11 weeks ago. From the U.S. perspective, China’s growing engagement with the rest of the world is driven primarily by two things: a need for access to markets, resources, technology, and expertise, and a desire to assert its influence in the region and with developing countries in other parts of the world.

I should note that even as it aspires to a larger global role, China faces significant domestic challenges and structural weaknesses: things like uneven income distribution, growing dependence on foreign oil and other imported resources, environmental degradation, an aging population, and massive migration from rural areas to cities. All of these factors will influence China’s trajectory, and we can’t ignore them. But to me, the key question for the future is whether China is ready to accept the responsibility that comes along with “great power status.”

Today, China’s behavior in the international realm is focused almost exclusively on narrowly defined Chinese objectives. We saw that in the country’s dealings with Sudan, where protection of its oil interests was paramount. Let me give you another example. Two years ago, Beijing pledged to Pacific Island nations more than $370 million at a forum specifically designed to undermine Taiwan’s ties to the region. Much of China’s aid to the developing world comes with few, if any, conditions attached, which undermines the West’s own efforts to promote good governance.

Whether China begins to engage the world in ways that are less narrowly focused will greatly influence the U.S.-China relationship in the new century. If Beijing begins to accept greater responsibility for the health of the international system—as all global powers should—we will remain on a constructive, even if competitive, path. If not, the rise of China begins to look more adversarial.

I concur.

For more views on this speech, check out the following:

1. "Is China Our Enemy?" By Gordon Chang.
2. "CIA director sounds off on the future of the world," at FP Passport.
3. "Pundits talk about China," at Uncommon Misconceptions."
4. "CIA chief says China’s rapid military buildup troubling," at 1913Intel.
5. "I'd Agree With This," at Liberty Pundit.
6. "China and the CIA," at the Seminal.

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I gave a talk last week at the Plastics News Executive Forum in Tampa, Florida as one of three on a China panel. Jim Walter, Senior VP - Worldwide Product Integrity at Mattel, led off with a fascinating and informative talk on how he spent his summer vacation. Jeremy Haft President of BChinaB and author of the book, All The Tea in China, then gave an excellent presentation on the opportunities in China. My talk was called The Eight Yins And Yangs and it dealt with the contradictions of doing business in China.

On my way to Florida, I read a preview copy of the just released book, Managing the Dragon, by Jack Perkowski. The book details Perkowski's business life from the time he decided to leave NYC investment banking to embark upon business in China, and the trials and tribulations he faced along the way.

This book is the best book I have read on how to do business in China. The best, Jerry! Businesspeople often ask me what book they should read to learn about China. From now on, I will tell them, Managing The Dragon. It is that good.

One of the reasons I liked it so much is because I agreed with just about every word of advice in there on how to conduct business in China. The book helped me to hone my speech, because my speech was pretty much tracking the book's advice before I had even read it.

In addition to being a great primer on how to conduct business in China, parts of it were simply riveting. My favorite chapters were on how Perkowski managed to extricate his company from a couple of joint ventures, once peacefully and once by having to engage in "guerilla warfare." I absolutely loved the warfare chapter both because it was so exciting and because I went through pretty much the exact same thing (just add threatened violence and vodka) on behalf of a client in Russia.

The Economist Magazine calls Managing the Dragon a must read:

Managing the Dragon, Jack Perkowski's story of his almost 13 years running Asimco, an automotive components maker, in China is therefore a rare treat—a first-hand account of the struggle to build a business there. Tim Clissold, Mr Perkowski's former colleague, has already described how Asimco's Chinese partners cheated it out of millions, in his riveting 2004 book, “Mr China”. But Mr Perkowski hung on, and his wise and ultimately optimistic account should be required reading for anyone starting a business in China. Mr Perkowski is sensible on every issue—from the need to nurture (and listen to) local managers to the relative importance of local over central government relations. Most of all, foreigners must not shun the impossibly cut-throat local market because the price paid for a product in China today will be its price globally tomorrow.

Buy it. Read it. You will not be disappointed. I Promise.

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Our last poll was such a success, I am running another one, even more sophisticated this time. The official Chinese government position is that he was right 70% of the time and wrong the other 30%.

Please vote AND please comment.

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When my daughters were four or five years old, I would love to mention someone they knew and then ask, "mean or nice?" I would give them maybe 2-3 seconds to answer and I would then blurt out another name. They would outgrow the game (and prove themselves too nuanced to run for political office) once they started to hedge by trying to explain how someone was sometimes mean and sometimes nice.

With apologies to Jeremiah over at the Granite Studio, who somehow manages to find subtlety in Chinese history, and with a thumbing of my nose to those who will write in and accuse me of being simplistic (duh!), here goes the Chinese history version.

Zhou Enlai, mean or nice?

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Since December or so, my firm has been faced with a steady onslaught (that is definitely the right word) of China labor law work. Mostly, what we have been doing is helping companies get into compliance with China's new labor law by hammering out Chinese language contracts with their employees and by drafting Chinese language employment manuals. Almost invariably, our clients ask us if we can also help them with the day to day issues of maintaining a Chinese payroll, which mostly involves making sure the company complies with China's somewhat complicated social benefits and tax payment requirements.

We then tell them they need a company that does this sort of bookkeeping/accounting work all the time and that has the systems in place to handle this sort of thing efficiently. Tim Lamb (hence the title to this post) is one of the people to whom we refer our clients. Tim is Director of FDI [Foreign Direct Investment] Services at JLJ Group, which company is licensed to provide HR dispatching and agency services in China. Dispatching is the employment of personnel. Agency services consists of managing "only the payroll, social benefits and tax payments on behalf of an employer for its own employees."

I am aware of very few companies in China that can handle this work to international standards. Tim can.

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I have always wanted to be cool. Tommy Lee Jones cool. Jack Nicholson cool. Lauren Bacall cool. Phil Jackson cool. Kwai Chang Caine cool. You know what I mean. Been there done that cool. I mean so cool that when I win or lose an Oscar or win or lose an NBA Championship you cannot tell by looking at me whether I have just won or just lost. That's cool.

I ain't that cool. No way.

I have to confess to being delighted/ecstatic/thrilled/overjoyed/elated/euphoric at our having just won the ABA (American Bar Association -- that's bar as in lawyers, not as in taverns or pubs!) Journal's Top Black Letter Law Blog award. The ABA Journal editors started it off by choosing our blog as one of the top 100 law blogs (out of countless thousands of law blogs) and then you, our loyal readers, voted us to the top.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Three days ago, I did a post, entitled, "Barack Obama On China. Say It Ain't So . . . .Oh But It Is," in which I went after Barack Obama for calling for the United States to ban Chinese toys. In that post, I wondered "whether Mr. Obama completely fails to understand world trade or if he is simply calling for this ban as the ultimate in political pandering. Seems his understanding just increased.

According to this Reuters article (h/t to The Scarlet Pimpernel), entitled, "Obama Retreats From Call For China Toy - Import Ban," Mr. Obama today "stepped back from a pledge to halt U.S. imports of Chinese-made toys because of safety concerns." Instead, he has "reiterated his longstanding call for barring toys with more than a trace amount of lead" and called for doubling "the funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission."

I am happy to welcome Mr. Obama back to reality.

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One of the things I cannot stand about public television and public radio here in the U.S. is how they constantly beg for money. Well I am proud to announce we are not doing that.

The ABA (American Bar Association) Journal editors chose us as one of the top 100 law blogs and then threw the final decisions on best blog out to the public. We are (for some unknown reason) in the Black Letter Law category and there is some other blog out there (that shall remain nameless because there is no need for anyone even to know about it) that is slowly encroaching upon our first place position. So we desperately need you to CLICK HERE and vote China Law Blog!

Oh, and while you are at it, please also vote for the Transnational Law Blog in the law student blog category. This blog is co-written by my firm's summer associate last summer, Travis Hodgkins. Travis is a good guy and it is a very good blog. Click here for that one. I am also pushing for the What About Clients? Blog in the "All Business" Category, both because it is a truly excellent blog and because its driving force, Dan Hull, is a good friend of mine.

The following blogs (all great blogs, of course) have put up posts in an effort to bring out the China Law Blog vote.

ImageThief (who uses the same post to riff on PR nudity)
Cal Poly MBA Trip
The Humanaught
Beijing Boyce
Eyes East
Briefing Sheet
China Hearsay
Peking Duck (who in addition to calling for readers to vote for us, makes clear that we are not a "neocon, fascist, CCP-boot-licking stooge."
Experience Not Logic
Practice Sources
China Business Law Blog
DalianDalian
The Horse's Mouth, which alleges that a failure to vote for us "will cause your underwear to turn carnivorous and consume your genitals in your sleep."
Zhongnanhai
Sinocidal (the forum, actually) But spreading the pernicious lie that I like cats.
Cup of Cha, which couples it with its own poll as to why people are voting for us. Cup of Cha provides three interesting choices: 1) Fear of CLB's growing power, 2) To placate Cup of Cha's writer, Josh, and 3) Free will. In very early returns, fear of our power is way out front. For the record, we do not care one bit why you vote for us, but we do really, really want you to vote for us.
China Business Blog
Silicon Hutong
The Black China Hand ("with enthusiasm")

I also owe a massive debt of gratitude to Lonnie Hodge and David DeGeest of The China Dreamblogue/Culture Fish Media and Christine Lu of The Chinese Business Network, who have been using various high tech means to bring out the vote.

We thank these fine people and those who have already voted and we plead for more. Voting runs until January 2, but vote NOW. Please.

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There are certain businesses I always have trouble understanding.

I remember many years ago my firm was representing a Korean internet company in its U.S. venture capital deals. Money was flowing in to this company from the Korea, the United States and Japan and everyone was telling me I was crazy to allow them to pay us by the hour, rather than requiring they give us an equity stake. "Equity stake," I would tell people, I still do not understand what their product does or how it will ever make any money. The dot.com bubble burst and this company very quickly ran through its millions and is no more.

My friend Lonnie Hodges (you all know Lonnie, he's the guy behind the late great China Bandwidth blog) had been telling me for months about his China internet business, CultureFish, and I just was not getting it. Then when he told me of one huge American technology company that had retained Culture and how another was on the verge of doing so, I decided I had to know. So instead of asking him to explain his business again, I sought an explanation of what the massive technology company had retained CultureFish to do. Now I get it.

CultureFish is helping this company set up its adwords account at Baidu.

Now that probably does not sound like much to those of you who have gone online and bought keywords at Google in English, but it is. It is because Baidu is not yet where it should be in terms of ease of use, particularly for foreigners and it is because the choice of Chinese keywords is critical, and very few people have experience with that and with working with foreigners. This big company hired CultureFish after having tried on its own for months.

CultureFish's success in helping foreign companies with their Baidu keyword marketing was based so much on CultureFish establishing close relations with Baidu that Baidu turned around and is now sending all international business clients that want to do work with Baidu in China to CultureFish.

CultureFish has established similar relationships with other internet and mobile phone advertising companies as well.

Interesting stuff and I think I even understand it.

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As everyone probably knows by now, Miss China was crowned Miss World 2007 in Sanya, China (h/t to Fili). Though I did not watch any of the event and have not a single complaint about Zhang Zilin (see below), I have to think her victory is somehow connected to the event being held in China.

No matter, her crowning has no deep meaning and will have no worldwide repercussions.

Not only that, for once, I am speechless.

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As much as I hate begging, I hate losing even more.

So with that in mind, I am begging all our loyal readers (and anyone else) to vote for China Law Blog. We are in the race of our lives (how's that for drama) for the best "black letter law" blog. The ABA (American Bar Association) Journal editors chose us as one of the top ten blogs in this category. Now it is up to the people to decide which of the ten will prevail. Click here and vote China Law Blog!

Oh, and while you are at it, please also vote for the Transnational Law Blog in the law student blog category. This blog is co-written by my firm's summer associate last summer, Travis Hodgkins. Travis is a good guy and it is a very good blog. Click here for that one. I am also pushing for the What About Clients? Blog in the "All Business" Category, both because it is a truly excellent blog and because its driving force, Dan Hull, is a good friend of mine.

Many thanks to the following blogs for putting up posts in an effort to bring out the China Law Blog vote.

ImageThief (who uses the same post to riff on PR nudity)
Cal Poly MBA Trip
The Humanaught
Beijing Boyce
Eyes East
Briefing Sheet
China Hearsay
Peking Duck (who in addition to calling for readers to vote for us, makes clear that we are not a "neocon, fascist, CCP-boot-licking stooge."
Experience Not Logic
Practice Sources
China Business Law Blog
DalianDalian
The Horse's Mouth, which alleges that a failure to vote for us "will cause your underwear to turn carnivorous and consume your genitals in your sleep."
Zhongnanhai
Sinocidal (the forum, actually) But spreading the pernicious lie that I like cats.
Cup of Cha, which couples it with its own poll as to why people are voting for us. Cup of Cha provides three interesting choices: 1) Fear of CLB's growing power, 2) To placate Cup of Cha's writer, Josh, and 3) Free will. In very early returns, fear of our power is way out front. For the record, we do not care one bit why you vote for us, but we do really, really want you to vote for us.
China Business Blog
Silicon Hutong

I also owe a massive debt of gratitude to Lonnie Hodge and David DeGeest of The China Dreamblogue/Culture Fish Media and Christine Lu of The Chinese Business Network, who have been using various high tech means to bring out the vote.

We cannot let these fine people down. And as for those blogs still sitting on the fence, it is not too late; voting runs until January 2.

The Slaw blog has a post up that does a good job setting forth in one place all of the 100 blawgs up for top honors.

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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.

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David DeGeest is one of only 100 remaining foreigners still in the running (pun intended) to carry the torch for the 2008 Olympics. China is going to name eight people for this esteemed task and I am asking you, my dear readers, to vote early and often for Mr. DeGeest. To vote for Mr. DeGeest, go here, where you can also find out more about what makes David tick.

David is presently living in China and working with Lonnie Hodge (he of the late, great OneManBandwidth blog) on the Dreamblogue project. As part of the Dreamblogue project, David and professor Hodge will travel to China's 22 provinces "to promote international understanding of China," while raising funds to build libraries, orphanages, and rural schools in China. Lonnie and David will be blogging about their journey here. So a vote for David is publicity for their project, and publicity for their project is more money for the little children, and what could be better than that?

So vote for David.

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Been a bit too busy to blog on the recently completed American Chamber of Comerce (AmCham) event in Beijing on China's digital universe. I am somewhat glad I waited as so much good stuff has already been written on it that I can get away with mostly just pulling and summarizing.

AmCham's brand new blog, the AmCham Daily, had this to say about the event:

Matt Roberts of About.com moderated the first panel - Decoding China’s Internet Scene - and asked what trends will shape the Internet in China. Siliconhutong.com’s David Wolf, CEO of Wolf Group Asia, cited growing access to wireless and the ensuing mobility this provides as the guiding trend for the next five to ten years. Andrew Lih, a new media academic who is authoring a book about online collaboration, stressed the importance of avoiding situations where content might get your site shut down. “Anyone who can stay ahead of ICP issues will win out in the end,” he said. Micah Truman, CEO of Wanmo Performance Advertising, said e-commerce is the trend to watch: “It’s about to go absolutely nuts.”

Jeremy Goldkorn of The Standards Group and danwei.org moderated the second panel on the business of blogging, kicking off the discussion by asking the speakers why they blog.

On the risks involved in blogging, Will Moss of PR site imagethief.com said he worries about offending current and potential clients, even though he never writes about the former. Despite this, he said the benefits of blogging - an increased profile and potential to attract clients - outweighed the risks. Chinalawblog.com’s Dan Harris, founding member of law firm Harris & Moure, answered that his company is small enough that even if his blog offended half the world, there would still be another half full of potential clients. “The greatest risk is to my marriage because I spend so much time online,” he joked.

David Wolf from Silicon Hutong had this to say about the event, within minutes after its conclusion:

Just got of the dais from my panel at the AmCham-China "Under the Digital Influence 2007." The discussions so far have been superb.

What do I mean by that? I mean that this is one of those rare occasions where I have - without exception - learned something useful and valuable from every one of my fellow panelists.

Matt Roberts - Matt moderated, but his preparation, his selection of questions, and the fact that he sneaked his questions to us beforehand made our discussion livelier and better.

Micah Truman - eCommerce is coming back, and it's coming back HUGE.

Andrew Lih - The tools the Chinese government uses to block certain websites are getting stronger, more robust, and more precise. In one sense, that's disturbing, but in another sense - the precision sense - it is actually a good thing.

Jeremy Goldkorn - Moderated. Ask risky questions, even weird ones. You'll be happier with the answers. Jeremy likes asking the tough questions - of all people, including his friends, and it brings out the best in a group of smart people.

Dan Harris - Comments that add value are fine, but your dedication to free speech cannot overwhelm the value of editing stupid, ad homenim, or irrelevant attacks from your site.

Will Moss - Will finds what I do: the opportunity to build chemistry with potential clients outweighs the danger of chasing potential business away. Also - companies don't blog, people do.

China Expat had this to say about the event:

Yesterday’s AmCham event ‘Under the Digital Influence’ gave an excellent overview of the internet scene in China. There were two panels, the first entitled “Decoding China's Internet Scene” and the second “The Business of Blogging.” Panelists consisted of a virtual who’s who of the China internet world (I’m inclined to say ‘no pun intended’ but I haven’t decided whether it was yet). The discussion was pretty engaging, and it was one of those rare panel events where no one looked sleepy in the 3+ hours.

The first group gave a good amount of insight into a few topics, most interestingly the issue of firewalls/blocking of sites in China. The panelists (Sam Flemming, Andrew Lih, David Wolf and moderator Matt Roberts whose bios can be found here) talked about the apparent government process of deciding which sites to block. I say ‘apparent’ because officials do not comment on what sites are blocked or why. In contrast, other countries often provide lists of banned sites and reasons (pornography, political sensitivity etc).

Another interesting exchange was about the development of web 2.0 (social communities like Facebook etc) in China. The panelists generally agreed that there has not been enough local innovation here despite the wealth of technology talent. Many times Chinese simply adapt foreign favorites, even for sites with basic function like search engine Baidu (which is practically a replication of Google). Andrew Lih even claimed that at one point users in China trying to get to Google were literally redirected to Baidu, something which I had never heard, but somehow find easy to believe.

IP lawyer extraordinaire Stan Abrams over at China Hearsay enjoyed the first panel so much, he discussed C to C commerce in the cab leaving the conference. He then remarked on what a geek this made him and I concurred until I realized I was in that cab and a part of the conversation!

Within the first five minutes of the commencement of the first panel, I knew I was going to enjoy it. All of the panelists so clearly knew whereof they spoke and Roberts so clearly knew the questions to be asked. By the time it concluded, I had written down six questions I wanted to ask, but discretion limited me to two. I tasked CLB co-blogger Steve Dickinson with taking notes and at the conclusion of the first panel he admitted he had been too wrapped up in it to take notes.

As for my panel, I will simply state that I learned tons from my co-panelists and was hugely impressed by Jeremy Goldkorn's fabulous handling of our group. I truly feel honored to have been able to participate in a panel with such thoughtful and gracious people.

Jim Boyce of AmCham deserves massive kudos for putting together such a great event and for his hospitality, both before the event and after. Jim is a great guy and he is seeking to be one of the foreign torchbearers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He would be a great representative of China's expat community and I urge you to go here and vote for Jim.

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The results are in and China Law Blog has won the Chinalyst Best Blog Award in the Business/Law category. A big thanks to all who voted for us and to Chinalyst for putting on the competition. I am honored by your support. Chinalyst's competition did a great job highlighting the depth and strength of the Chinese blogosphere and as soon as I get the time, I plan to check out countless interesting looking China blogs of which I was previously unfamiliar.

Thanks again.

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The race for best blog over at the Chinalyst competition is getting down to the wire, with only two days left. Therefore, I beg, implore, plead, and cajole all loyal and not so loyal readers to click HERE and vote for China Law Blog. Push that little plus sign on the right and rest easy, knowing you have done the right thing.

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China Law Blog is in the running for Best Blog in the "Business-Law Blog" category over at Chinalyst. If you want to vote for us (and I know you do, right?) click here and then click again on the point box on the left. In the spirit of public radio and televison pledge drives, I will keep running this post unless and until I am assured of total victory and we are definitely not there yet.

Thanks.

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China Law Blog is in the running for Best Blog in the "Business-Law Blog" category over at Chinalyst. If you want to vote for us (and I know you do, right?) click here and then click again on the point box on the left. In the spirit of public radio and televison pledge drives, I will keep running this post unless and until I am assured of total victory and we are definitely not there yet.

Thanks.

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China Law Blog is in the running for Best Blog in the "Business-Law Blog" category over at Chinalyst. If you want to vote for us (and I know you do, right?) click here and then click again on the point box on the left. In the spirit of public radio and televison pledge drives, I will keep running this post unless and until I am assured of total victory.

Momma needs a new pair of shoes.

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The July 9 issue of the National Law Journal has an article entitled, "Law blogs can be a successful strategy for job seekers," and CLB's own Travis Hodgkins is pictured and the focus.

Well, okay, he's not really with CLB, but he is with Harris & Moure and he has done a post on here, so let's not get too technical. The point of the article is that law student blogging can lead to big things:

Second-year law student Travis Hodgkins didn't land his summer associate position through top-notch grades, a position on law review or through the traditional on-campus interviewing process.

He landed his dream job by blogging.

Hodgkins, who will begin his third year at University of California Hastings College of the Law, is spending this summer working in Shanghai, China, for Seattle-based law firm Harris & Moure, a job he was offered after name partner Dan Harris messaged him on his law blog, www.transnationallawblog.com, which focuses on events in international law.

"The reality is we never would have hired Travis if not for his blog," said Harris.

For many law students, keeping up a professional blog has become another way to make employment connections. It enables an employer to see students' writing ability and knowledge about a particular subject and, more importantly, it shows that the student is motivated, innovative and takes initiative, Hodgkins said.

"A blog is like a huge billboard sign that is saying to the entire blogosphere, 'I'm a law student that has studied these areas of law and I need a job,' " he said.

I am then quoted regarding the subjects on which law students should blog:

Which is why it is important that if a student wants to attract employers, the substance of the blog should be about a particular area of the law, rather than just a personal journal, said Harris.

"It matters hugely what the person writes about," he said. "Travis' blog contributed in the sense that those who write on China law felt they needed to stop by the site every day to make sure they weren't missing anything."

Though it is true we would never have hired Travis without his blog, the reality is that his blog merely brought him to our attention. Before hiring him we met up with him in person. But it is really quite interesting how blogging is transferring the legal landscape.

For those interested in reading more on legal blogging, I highly recommend the Real Lawyers Have Blogs blog, written by my friend and fellow Seattleite (if one counts Bainbridge Island), Kevin O'Keefe. Oh, and Travis's blog, with a great new post on one of my favorite subjcts, Paris Hilton, can be found here.

Now if I could just figure out how to adjust the damn font size on this new system!

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Just a brief GFW update.  I am hoping that by tomorrow China Law Blog will be independent of Typepad and, thus, no longer prey to the Net Nanny. 

Now for the mushy part.  During this time of "blockage" we have received countless words of support online and via e-mail and they mean a lot to me. If I have failed to thank any of you for this before now, please accept my heartfelt thanks now. 

I would particularly like to thank Andy Scott over at the Briefing Blog, Andrew Hupert over at DiligenceChina blog and the somewhat anonymous force behind the ImageThief Blog, all of whom offered me concrete assistance.  I am just glad all three of these blogs were already on our blogroll based strictly on their quality, for I fear that if they were not, I might have to consider adding a second criterion for inclusion.

Again, thank you all.

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Never had so much trouble deciding in what category to put a post before.  I started this blog with six categories and they have never changed.  They are as follows:

1. China Business.  Anything remotely business related (and not legal) goes in here.
2. China Travel.   Like it says.  Not terribly common.
3. Events.  Seminars and the like.
4. Good People.  People I want to rave about.
5. Legal News.  The heart and soul of this blog.
6. Recommended Reading.  Somewhat of a catchall.  Usually used when I just refer briefly to another post or article. 

This is the first time I have ever written about our categories because this is the first time I have been nearly completely nonplussed as to where to put a post.  The post this time is on an article I just read from Xinhua proclaiming that "all ethnic groups in China are equal and no racial discrimination exists."  Not sure if this is the Communist stage of which Marx talked about or what, but certainly kudos are in order.  But there is more:

"China's ethnic groups enjoy equal status and live in harmony. There is no discrimination (directed at any ethnicity)," Dainzhub, who is of Tibetan origin, said at a press conference in response to a Reuters reporter who asked whether racial discrimination existed in Chinese society.

China has 55 ethnic minority groups. The Han people account for more than 90 percent of the country's total population.

"People from different ethnic groups often help each other and their relations are harmonious," he said, adding the central government was investing more money to alleviate poverty in some ethnic minority groups.

"The 56 ethnic groups are like brothers and sisters living in one family," said Dainzhub.

I am going to put this one in the good people category, but if China keeps this up, I am going to have to add one for fiction.

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Just kidding.

Give them two more weeks and if it changes, cancel the boycott. I am dead serious.

It is ironic Time's China blog offends me so much since its overriding goal seems to be to say nothing so as not to offend anyone.  Actually, that is what offends me. 

Time starts a China blog and then leaves out the good stuff that makes a blog a blog.  It reads like none of its writers have read any other China blogs before starting this one.  It has no heart, no voice, no soul.  It has nothing to say.  No reason for being. 

There are excellent China blogs out there with which I nearly always agree.  DiligenceChina, ChinaBusinessServices and ImageThief come to mind.  There are excellent blogs out there with which I usually agree, like Chinese Law Prof blog, EastWestNorthSouth, Silicon Hutong, and Angry Chinese Blogger.  There are excellent China blogs with which I sometimes strongly agree and sometimes strongly disagree, like the 88s, Peking Duck, Sinocidal and China Confidential.

I immensely enjoy all of these blogs (and many more) and I strive to read them every day because they might have something to say that nobody else is saying.  It may be a new tidbit of information, a new story, a new way of looking at things, or a new idea.  I do not know what I will find on these blogs, but I do know that if I do not check them regularly I might find myself out of the China loop on something and I cannot brook that.  I have been checking Time's blog each day, but just to see how long it can go without saying anything of any import. 

Every Time China blog post is a rehash of what someone has already said, mostly weeks or even months ago.  Here is a list of their posts so far:

• China's one child policy creates brats
• Beijing is polluted, by Simon Elegant
• "If you take your eyes off China for even a few days, a lot can change," by Susan Jakes
• Beijing is clear today, by Simon Elegant
• Bird flu is back
• Where are the children's playgrounds?
• A building was here yesterday and now it is gone, by Susan Jakes
• Migrants and Money
• Danwei, China Digital Times, EastSouthNorthWest are great. "I'm now going to write about them. Then maybe they'll write about us."
• It's not easy being green.

And remember, it is not some ESLer in Nanjing I am picking on here, it is the Time-Warner empire, which has the money and the people to do so much better. 

So Time -- get bloglike or go home.  More advice: if you want to tell people CLB has it all wrong about you, do a post entitled:  Screw China Law Blog.  I dare you.

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The other day I did a post entitled, "Gerald Ford Epitomizes The United States, But What About China?"  The post asked who epitomizes China and we got a slew of responses --53 comments so far, with Zhou Enlai most often mentioned. 

Chris over at the Eyes East blog went for Yao Ming:

I have absolutely no qualification for any of this. Gerald Ford was out of office before I was born. So was Jimmy Carter. OK, now that I've sacrificed any credibility, I'm going to offer the one Chinese icon absolutely no one (in China) dislikes:

Yao Ming.

CLB and Granite Studio have both argued rather convincingly that Yao is what China wants to be. Since he's not actually a political figure, there's no worries about actually talking about him. And my students love to tell me how many times to Rockets have beaten the Lakers (who I suppose I should root for, being from LA). If I'm dead wrong on this, blame it on my youth and the fact that I don't actually watch basketball.

I responded to Eyes East's comment by asking a series of questions:

Chris --

Thanks for checking in. I too have absolutely no qualification for this.

Yao Ming is an interesting choice. Very interesting.

Reminds me of Korea's Chan Ho Park during his heyday in the mid-1990's. Everywhere I went in Korea, people would mention him. EVERYWHERE. I would sit down at the sushi restaurant in my hotel, and the sushi chef would say "Chan Ho Park. Best Pitcher" and give a thumbs up sign. To which I would ALWAYS say, "Chan Ho Park. Good pitcher. NOT best pitcher." Those who spoke better English would sometimes try to tell me he was the best pitcher ever. To which I would say, he is a good pitcher, not even a great pitcher and nobody in the United States thinks he's a great pitcher. They would then tell me that the Korean papers were saying he was the best pitcher in the United States. I finally tired of telling the truth about Park and bursting everyone's bubble and just started flashing my own thumbs up in response. Park faded fast in every way.

Yao Ming is better than Park ever was and he has tremendous potential. But I mention Park because it is not clear to me that China's love of Ming goes beyond Korea's fleeting love of Park. Do the Chinese respect/love Ming himself or, like the Koreans and Park (and I have no doubt this was true of Park), do they simply like basking in the fact that a Chinese person is at the top of an American (worldwide) game?  Does Ming symbolize China or just Chinese pride?  What are China's views on his character?  What would happen if you were to ask your class to name China's greatest figure from among Zhou Enlai, Sun Yat Sen and Yao Ming? Would they laugh or just start answering?

I am asking these questions because I have no idea of the answer and I would actually love to know. Sorry for "assigning you a 20 page essay, but wouldn't you love to know too?

Chris sought to respond to my questions via a comment to this blog, but due to new blocking by Typepad (If you are having problems leaving comments please: 1)Go here and fill out the Typepad form to get your IP address unblocked, and/or  2) e-mail me with your comment.)  So instead, he did a new post on his blog, which I am putting here now because it is too good to remain blocked:

I'm feeling a bit left out. Earlier this week, China Law Blog put up a post on the recently deceased Gerald Ford, saying the 38th president epitomizes American values. Who, Dan then asked, is China's Ford? Who encapsulates what China is or wants to be?

Then Jeremiah over at the Granite Studio jumped in with his own historical take on it. These being two of my favorite blogs and both daily reads, I was all set to put my own thoughts into the discussion. I did manage to get one comment onto CLB, but since then I've been cut off.

Despite being in one of the most hooked-up countries in the world [Korea, which is, I believe, THE most internet connected country in the world], I seem to be stuck in the one room with internet connectivity worse than what I had in China.  For some reason, I can't get a comment up on either CLB or the Granite Studio, mostly because of their comment spam filters. I don't begrudge their want of security; it's my connection that's lagging. I would have just let the conversation go it's own way without me, since it's been interesting enough without me dragging it down, but Dan put a comment on my last post asking me to jump back in, so here goes.

And I meant to reply. The questions are indeed interesting, and nationalism and identity issues were my bread and butter during undergrad, so I've been following this discussion at every step. But, as I mentioned, I can't seem to get a comment up on either site, so hopefully this will suffice for both Granite Studio and CLB:

First off: Chan Ho Park. Did you really have to bring up that painful memory? The last thing I remember him doing was giving up two grand slams to the same player in the same inning in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Sometimes it's just hard being a Dodger fan.

Anyway, here's my unqualified and generally unresearched thoughts. Keep in mind that my students are now in another country and I won't see them until March.

Do the Chinese respect/love Ming himself or, like the Koreans and Park (and I have no doubt this was true of Park) do they simply like basking in the fact that a Chinese person is at the top of an American (worldwide) game?
I'd say it's nationalistic first and personal second. While Yao definitely gets credit for being a stellar player, there are a lot of stellar players in the NBA. While I occasionally hear other names mentioned, what I get a lot is how much better Yao is than Kobe or Shaq.

Does Yao Ming symbolize China or just Chinese pride?
Not sure how to answer this one. Offhand, I'd say pride more than the country itself, since China is just too plain big to wrap up in any individual (much as Mao tried).

What are China's views on his character? No idea. Will ask around when I'm back in China.

What would happen if you were to ask your class to name China's greatest figure from among Zhou Enlai, Sun Yat Sen and Yao Ming? Would they laugh or just start answering.
Again, couldn't say, but definitely something to bring up next semester.

I think Dan and Jeremiah said it best in comparing Yao's newfound assertiveness with China's recent realization that it is, in fact, a world power. Yao is a symbol, not a leader. He's not setting policy and no one is likely to appoint him to a government post, but as an icon, he works. He's someone the Chinese, either the CCP [The Communist Party] or just plain everyone, can build a myth around because, one, he's succeeding internationally, and two, he's from the mainland, not Taiwan or Hong Kong. He's all PRC.

This seems to be getting farther and farther away from Gerald Ford. Here's my attempt to bring it back:

As Yao excels on the international stage, especially against American players, he gives the Chinese some symbolic cover to be more chauvinist in their personal nationalism. He's not a national healer, like Ford, so it's not a direct parallel, but by being where he is and doing what he does, he's giving the Chinese a way to talk about moving from "up and comer" to whatever's next. Again, it's all symbolic. He isn't actually doing anything besides playing basketball.

I'd be curious to see what would happen if there were another equally successful Chinese NBA star (or several). Would Yao still be the one? Or would every Chinese player get the same attention?

Frankly Chris, I am not sure whether Typepad blocked you because of your IP address or if some person or software program did so in response to your seeking to evoke sympathy as a Dodger fan.  How can "fans" who arrive in the 3rd inning and leaving in the 7th ever deserve sympathy?  I am a Cubs fan.  Nough said. 

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I virtually never point out when another website "endorses" us.  I figure our readers stay or leave based on our content; compliments will not help.  But I just cannot resist this one because I find it so darn funny. 

China Law Blog has just been anointed as trendy.  That's right, go to the Fashion Trends Blog and look for us right above the Chocolate & Zucchini Blog, which has posts with titles like, "Croquants Ch�taigne et Noix de P�can."  Now that's trendy. 

Now I just have to convince my kids, who when I tell them about this newest honor will immediately say "no way."   Way. 

That's right, uh huh, we bad.

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I grew up 45 minutes from Grand Rapids, Michigan, which city will always be associated with our 38th President, Gerald R. Ford.  Everyone I ever knew from Grand Rapids (and there are plenty of those people) would talk about having known someone who played football with or at least knew President Ford.  I saw him from about ten feet away at a rally in Grand Rapids once and I will never forget it. 

Forget the politics, he was an American like George Washington was an American.  He was what Americans call "salt of the earth."  Modest.  Quietly religious.  Hard working.  Steady.  Solid.  Genuine. 

American.

For days I have been wanting to write something on our late President, but could not think of any way to legitimately link it to China. 

Then it hit me.  Who is China's Gerald Ford?  Who among China's pantheon is or was nearly universally liked and respected.  Of what Chinese person, past or present, would just about every Chinese person be proud to say, "he (or she) came from China?"  Who epitomizes the China the Chinese want China to be?  I really am curious about this. 

The comment lines are wide open.

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Just saw that Sam Flemming at China Word of Mouth Blog has tagged me for what is called a blog meme.  Sam was tagged by the Net Savvy Executive Blog, who was tagged by the Resonance Partnership Blog, who was tagged by Diva Marketing Blog, who was tagged by Shel Israel, of Naked Conversations, who is a pretty famous guy....

What this means is that I have to list five things you don't know about me.  Reminds me of those horrible chain letters to which I never responded as a child, but for fear of a fate worse than death, I am going to keep this one alive.  I put China in the title of this post because I cannot even remember the last time I did a post without China or Chinese in the title and I fear bad things will happen to me if I leave it out.   

It does not help that Sam's life sounds so much more interesting than mine, but here goes:

1.  I feel it is my duty to watch just about every movie.  During a particularly hot day while I was in law school, I sat through four straight movies, including Porky's.  (It may even have been Porky's II, but I am not sure).  This three day weekend I saw Little Miss Sunshine (much worse than I expected), Charlotte's Web (well done, but strictly for kids), Pursuit of Happyness (better than I expected) and Dreamgirls (every bit as good as I expected).  Saw Dreamgirls on Christmas Day, day after James Brown died.  I have not read a novel since polishing off The Kite Runner in one day about two years ago and before that it was Crime and Punishment in 1981.  My father is a retired English professor and I have nothing against novels; it's just that movies do the same thing (or nearly so) for me and in about 1/10 the time.  I admit this makes me a Philistine.    

2.  I majored in French not because of an overwhelming interest in it, but because I knew it would be easy because I had lived in France when I was a kid and because the most beautiful girl at my college was leaving for France the next semester and I knew going on that program would increase my odds of getting a date.  She is now my wife. 

3. If there is reincarnation, I spent a prior life in Japan.  I seem to have an amazing facility to understand Japanese (not true of any other language) and an amazing ability to find my way around Japan (not true of any other country).  I was in the courthouse in Sapporo anxiously awaiting a judge's decision in a crucial case.  I was in a hot stuffy room making small talk with my local counsel when the tension and cigarette smoke told me I had to leave.  I wanted ice cream and peace and quiet.  I just started walking as though I knew where I was going and it turned out I did.  I ended up at a beautiful park with a tiny ice cream store (this was the only store in this completely residential neighborhood) at its border.  I bought ice cream and the shopkeeper smiled at me as though she knew I would be showing up. I felt I had been to both the store and the park before.  I eat Japanese food just about every day, usually twice a day.   

4.   The most important class I ever took was typing.  My parents insisted I take it during high school and I am just so glad they did.  Definitely more helpful to me than the international law course I took in law school.  Not kidding.  Not sure if there is a moral to this, but it seems there has to be.

5.  Bob Dylan, Walter Payton, Marvin Gaye, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Henry (Scoop) Jackson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were the people I looked up to when I was a kid and, to a certain extent, still do.   For years I wanted to be the next Pistol Pete; I now live my basketball dreams through my daughters, both of whom (I am certain) can beat Sam's kid in hoops.   

Next up for tagging (you're it):

• Lonnie at One Man Bandwidth
• Andrew at DiligenceChina
• Richard (not Ivan) at Peking Duck
• Craig at Going Global

Please don't hate me.

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It's official.

Voting has now opened for the Weblogs Award's Best Asian Blog of 2006 and if you wish to vote for China Law Blog you can do so by clicking here.   China Law Blog has the coveted second slot.  Please do vote every day until the voting concludes. 

Much appreciated.

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