Just days ahead of June 4, celebrity author Zhang Lijia remembers in the New Work Times her May-days in 1989 when she helped to organize demonstraties, like they took place all over China, adding to the concerns of the leadership in Beijing.
Despite the setbacks and the brutal repression Zhang Lijia ends with an optimistic tone:
We’re still in a cage here. But for many, my fellow marchers included, it has grown so large that we hardly feel its limits. In that sense the 1989 protests weren’t a total failure. Without our efforts, China’s rulers might have not expanded the cage at all.
Commercial Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Soon this story of her, together with about twenty other often personal accounts of our speakers will document "A Changing China" as the book is called. Do subscribe to our mailing list to stay updated.
Xu Ming, currently the Asia-Pacific director of the IEDE business school from Madrid and a former Chinese diplomat in Latin America, has joined the China Speakers Bureau as a speaker. From our profile:
As a former diplomat in Latin America, Xu Ming is not only a fluent Spanish-speaker, but also has
a profound knowledge of the intense relations between Chinese politics and international business. He is one of very few Chinese speakers who has been part of China's bureaucracy and can help the business world to deal with it.
In "Socialism Is Great!" Zhang recounts her quest for freedom -- from constraints both political and familial. It's a tale that crackles with insight and wit: "My peers and I were too young to appreciate the pleasures of boredom compared to the political terror our parents suffered," she observes. Bent on not becoming "another faceless worker ant," she carved out her independence, wearing Western-style clothes, studying English, publishing flowery articles in the factory's newsletter and earning a degree at a technical school. It's no wonder, then, that when the protests broke out at Tiananmen Square in 1989, Zhang was right there, leading a group of marchers from her factory. Now a journalist in Beijing, she offers both an inspiring personal story and a unique look at a time when, as she puts it, "the colorful trash of capitalism was creeping into China's gray kingdom."
Commercial Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you want to invite her at your conference or meeting, do get in touch.
Just like Japan in the 1980s China is now going overseas in a major shopping spree to spend a part of its USD two trillion in foreign reserves. But that is where the similarities stop, says Shaun Rein in a commentary on NPR.
While the Japanese were quick to install glass ceilings for foreign managers in their companies and capture assets on the cheap, the Chinese are making acquisitions specifically to get management experience and expertise. They want strategic access to natural resources. And they need to acquire valuable brands and marketing know-how, since China does not yet have truly global brands like Japan's Sony and Toyota.
The US should see China not as a treat, but at least as part of the solution for its current problems, Rein argues:
The U.S. should view China, with its $2 trillion in foreign reserves and appetite for T-bills, more as a lifeline than a potential enemy superpower. As the most influential participants in global institutions like the U.N. and G20, China and America are the lynchpins for worldwide economic recovery. Injecting Chinese capital into American industry is part of the solution, not the problem.
Commercial Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you need him or any other of our speakers to explain more in detail how the relationship between China and the US could work out, do get in touch.
As a part of a special program on the economic relations between China and the US, the China Speakers Bureau is supporting a trip to New York and San Francisco this autumn by two of our speakers, Xu Ping and Mark Schaub, both senior partners at China's largest law firm King&Wood. If you are interested in their program, do let us know.
In the latest newsletter for May 2009 of the China Speakers Bureau we make clear China will not, and does not want to.But China is offering the world unprecedented opportunities, as part of its 1.5 trillion US dollar in foreign reserves are being spent. Our speakers can help you to make a more sound decisions in how to tap into those funds.
This and many other issues, in our newsletter for May.
With the US dollar in decline as the leading global currency, the financial world is looking for alternatives. China's currency, the Renminbi, is not going to be one, writes Arthur Kroeber in the Financial Times. The Renminbi might be expanding its global network, but that does not make it a possible replacement for the US dollar says the Beijing-based economic analyst.
The renminbi will clearly internationalise significantly over the next five to 10 years. Over a longer period (10-20 years) it may emerge as a secondary reserve currency like the Japanese yen, although this is not certain. But for it to replace the dollar as the main global reserve currency, many decades and a combination of improbable events would be needed.
Plenty of currencies internationalise without becoming substantial vehicles for reserve holdings (Swiss franc, Singapore dollar, etc). The renminbi will certainly become far more widely used in many countries because of China’s large role in global trade and the vast numbers of Chinese business and leisure travelers who will trot the globe.
Unlike many nations, where pickup games are played in town squares and neighborhood streets, football has never had a wide popular following in China. "Huilongguan Super League is still building the first stage of grassroots football, while in England, grassroots football is the base of the whole football pyramid," says Rowan Simons, a U.K. citizen who runs China's only legally registered amateur football club in China with about 3,500 members. According to FIFA's 2006 "big count," a survey of all its member associations, there were only 382,762 junior players in China. In England, there are 820,000. "Football talent is not manufactured in sports schools. The English Football Association spends over 50% of its resources on grassroots football development," says Rowan. "If participation among kids [in China] could be raised to the level in England, I guarantee you that among the extra 25 million young players, there are 11 who could develop into World Cup stars."
Rowan Simons is hoping for a change of China's sporting policies:
That kind of reform can happen quickly if the central leadership changes their approach to football and returns it "to the people," says Rowan. "There are senior leaders now asking why Chinese football is in perpetual crisis, and they are looking for solutions. But even if the authorities don't take active steps to encourage private and community-owned networks, it will still happen. It's the people's game."
Commercial Rowan Simons is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having him as a speaker, do let us know.
"I was born in a working class family. My mother worked in a military missile factory in Nanjing. When I was a teenager, was enacted a policy by which people could pass the job to their children, and my mother decided to take it. My father had been sent to another city. "
It was 1980.China has just launched the process of economic reforms, and Zhang dreamed of going to college and become a writer."Instead I found myself with 16 years, becoming a full worker control, with strong British accent."The factory had a long list of prohibitions. The first three years you could not go out with a guy and you could not paint the lips or carry heels. Every month you have to show blood to prove that no rule were pregnant. "
Commercial Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.
Yet another movie about the Japanese atrocities in Nanjing is causing an uproar in China, writes the LA Times . Celebrity author and Nanjing native Zhang Liji a tries to explain why giving the Japanese soldiers a human face is still a hard sell in China. The LA Times:
Nanjing native Lijia Zhang, a writer, said that many here believed the film glorified Japanese soldiers but that she had mixed emotions.
"I understand the hatred. The atrocities were incredibly brutal, but the Japanese were still human," she said. "But for most Chinese what happened in Nanjing is still a running sore. This victim mentality is a form of narrow nationalism. It's a pity."
Commercial
Zhang Lijia is also a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you want to share her insights at your conference or meeting, do get in touch.
“In some ways, the concept of the sex park and its sudden closure represent the same phenomenon, a sense in China that sex has been repressed and should be ‘opened up’ to match the culture of sex abroad,” said sociologist James Farrer, author of a book on youth sex culture in Shanghai. “And ‘opening up’ in China means commercial exploitation.”
Farrer continued, “As for the closing of the park, it reflects the reality that Chinese are indeed conservative about sex, at least in public, though not necessarily very conservative in private.”
Looking at the part, Farrer wonders whether it would have attracted that much attention from China's consumers, since the parks seemed rather boring compared to real life in China:
“People in China are willing to pay for sex in barber shops and saunas because they get a straightforward sexual service, often including full intercourse. There are now sexual services for women as well,” he said. “The theme park in contrast was just a bunch of exhibits and pictures, and people would have quickly tired with it.”
"For most construction projects, the central or local budget provide only 1/4 to 1/3 of the funds. For the remainder, local governments raised money through local investment companies, which either borrowed from banks or issued debt. The total amount of this liability has built up quite quickly in the past few years. For example, in Shanghai, I was able to find from public sources over 300 billion RMB in local investment debt just looking at the past three years. In contrast, Shanghai's annual revenue in 2008 was only 120 billion RMB. So, debt is already nearly three times that of revenue in Shanghai. The thousands of cities in China are in the same situation. Banks are willing to lend to these entities because it is presumed that the local governments and ultimately the central government would guarantee these loans. Thus, total government deficit should include these liabilities, which would put China's deficit as a share of GDP at closer to 50-60% instead of the official 20%."
Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau . Do you want this expert on China's financial and political systems at your conference? Do let us know.
At the global offices of the China Speakers Bureau we have been doing some bean counting again and have made our monthly top-10 of most-sought speakers. (Here you can find the April 2009 one.) Some fast upwards movements in positions, although more than half of the April-winners remained also on the list for May.
Highest newcomer is Zhang Lijia , the celebrity author whose autobiography ""Socialism Is Great!": A Worker's Memoir of the New China keeps on getting more translations and more book tours. She has moved up into the second position and since she will get more attention - including a chapter in our upcoming book "A Changing China" - we expect her to be here also in June.
Getting into mainstream media is still a solid way to generate interest, as Shaun Rein shows with his continued presences in leading US publications. But also Sam Flemming, who participated last week in our Global China Chat on social networks, brands and consumers, saw a spike of traffic to his profile because of that initiative. Producing a steady stream of appealing books, like Paul Frenchwho published a new book on foreign correspondents in China, is another way.
Another remarkable newcomer is Zhang Juwei, the director at the China Academy Of Social Sciences (CASS), who only joined our service recently. He illustrates a clear trend in the China Speakers Bureau, and at the same time a dilemma. Event organizers do prefer to have speakers with a background in Mainland China when they look for speakers on China. And while we have great speakers on almost any subject, the number of native Mainland Chinese at our service is limited. There are at least three reasons for that.
First, the pool of Chinese politicians is very limited, if not absent. George Bush - some of you might still remember him as the former US president - took with the help of the Washington Speakers Bureau within a month after his retirement the stage to earn some pocket money. We do expect China to follow this trend, but it is not yet there.
Also another pool of potential speakers, the retired business executives with international exposure is limited in China, mainly because they are not yet retired. China's economic development is still that new, most of its well-known business leaders still work. That is also going to change, as more Chinese business leaders with international exposure will retire, but that might still take a while. Most retired business people in China tend to be Taiwanese or from Hong Kong and event organizers told me repeatedly, that is still not the real thing they want.
Then, most of our assignments are mostly outside China or for foreign organizations and companies in China. Crossing cultural borders in a setting as a speaker is tough. While people might be excellent speakers in
their own country, addressing people in other countries and cultures is still an art that is difficult to master.
After those deliberation, let's turn to our May 2009 most-sought speakers list (with April in brackets).
New: book on foreign correspondents in China - Paul French
Our celebrity author Paul French will have his newest book in the book stores from June 1: Through the Looking Glass: China's Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao. The historical account of foreign correspondents in China, who have played such an important role in shaping the Western perception of China. Paul French will embark on a major book tour, for the time being in China.
From the press release:
The convulsive history of foreign journalists in China starts with the newspapers printed in the European Factories of Canton in the 1820s and ends with the Communist revolution in 1949. It also starts with a duel between two editors over the China’s future and ends with a fistfight in Shanghai over the revolution.
The men and women of the foreign press experienced China’s history and development; its convulsions and upheavals; revolutions and wars. They had front row seats at every major twist and turn in China’s fortunes. They reported on the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion; saw the Summer Palace burn; endured the Boxer Rebellion; witnessed the Qing Dynasty’s death, the birth of a Nationalist China and its struggle for survival against rampant warlordism. They followed the rise of the Communists, total war and then revolution. When the Unequal Treaties were signed, the foreign press were there; when foreign troops occupied and looted Beijing in 1900 they were present too; they saw the Republic born in 1911 and an increasingly politically strident China assert itself on May Fourth 1919. Foreign journalists stood in the streets witnessing the blood letting of the First Shanghai War in 1932 and then were blown of their feet by the bombing of the Second Shanghai War in 1937. They tracked Japanese aggression from the annexation of Manchuria, the fall of Shanghai and the Rape of Nanjing through to the assault on the Nationalist wartime capital of Chongqing as they cowered in the same bomb shelters as everybody else. They witnessed the fratricidal Civil War, the flight of Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan and the early days of the People’s Republic. The old China press corps were the witnesses and the primary interpreters to millions globally of the history of modern China and they were themselves a cast of fascinating characters.
Like journalists everywhere they took sides, they brought their own assumptions and prejudices to China along with their hopes, dreams and fears. They weren’t infallible; they got the story completely wrong as often as they got it partially right. They were a mixed bunch - from long timers such as George ‘Morrison of Peking’; glamorous journalist-sojourners such as Peter Fleming and Emily Hahn; and reporter-tourists such as Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn along with numerous less celebrated, but no less interesting, members of the old China press corps. A fair few were drunks, philanderers and frauds; more than one was a spy – they changed sides, they lost their impartiality, they displayed bias and a few were downright scoundrels and liars. But most did their job ably and professionally, some passionately and a select few with rare flair and touches of genius.
Paul French's book tour brings him to Beijing and Hong Kong:
Beijing
Tuesday June 16 – The Beijing Bookworm Through the Looking Glass – China’s Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao
Wednesday June 17 – The Bookworm at the Yin Yang Community Centre “Girl Reporters” in China
The Bookworm at the Yin Yang Community Centre The First Courtyard, Hegezhuang Village, Chaoyang District, Beijing Tel.: 6431.2108 Email: contact@yinyangbeijing.com
Thursday June 18 – The China Foreign Correspondents’ Club Through the Looking Glass – China’s Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao http://www.fccchina.org/
Hong Kong
Monday June 22 – Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club Through the Looking Glass – China’s Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao
HK FCC, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong Time: 11.15 Tel: 852 2521 1511 http://www.fcchk.org/
Commercial Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau and covers a wide range of subjects. When you need him for your conference or meeting, do let us know.
Our speaker, assistant-professor Victor Shih will be debating coming Tuesday in Brussels with Levin Zhu, the CEO of the China International Capital Corporation (CIC) on the future of China. His session "Countering the global recessions. Is China an economic threat or a locomotive of growth" is part of a larger meeting of the "Friends of Europe". From the announcement:
Europe and the United States have both complained of China's runaway trade surpluses. But with worldwide recession looming, analysts point to the stimulatory impact that lower-cost Chinese manufactured goods have on the world economy, and particularly to the benefits gained by EU and U.S. high-tech and services companies. With some estimates suggesting that only 15% of added-value from its export industries stays inside China, how should we see China’s future role in the international economic order? And if – despite fresh efforts to relaunch the WTO’s Doha Round – protectionist pressures around Europe lead to new trade barriers might a less dynamic Chinese economy aggravate the worldwide slowdown?
After the meeting on Tuesday, more information.
Commercial Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau . When you are interested in having him as a speaker, do get in touch.
Much criticism is heard about how China is spending its 4 trillion Renminbi (430 billion euro) stimulus package against the economic crisis and especially private companies seem to be left out, says Arthur Kroeber in a wide range of US newspapers.
"My suspicion is that the stimulus will basically benefit the state sector at the expense of the private sector," said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Dragonomics, an economic research firm in Beijing.
In a few hours the China Speakers Bureau will open the doors of our second Global China Chat of today with CIC-founder Sam Flemming. After a busy hour of discussing with Asia and Europe, the second chat is focusing on the times zones in Europe and the Americas. The agenda for the chat you can find here.
An overview of the first chat, you can find here.
For joining, just click at the interface below. The chat will be active about 30 minutes before the official start.
When you have questions ahead of time, do mail us.
The China Speakers Bureau is hosting on Thursday 14 May two sessions with CIC's founder Sam Flemming on social networks in China, brand, consumers and how they interact with technology of the now-famous start-up CoverItLive.com. At the first announcement of this Global China Chat you find the agenda for today .
The first chat focuses on European and Asian time zones and will start at 5 PM Beijing time and 11 AM CEST.
A second chat focusing on Europe and the Americas will be hosted later today and its interface will emerge here after the first chat has finished. When you want to send in questions ahead of time, do let us know.
To enter the chat, you only need to click on the interface below. We will activate the chat ahead of time for people to get familiar with the system. Do not that the interface only give the time in Europe, and that has confused people in the past.
We are looking forward to an interesting exchange with Sam Flemming.
The efforts by China's environmental authorities to ban the popular plastic bags from their supermarkets has been met with a lot of skepticism. But according to environmental lawyer Charles McElwee the introduction of the ban is now getting into phase 3 and really getting serious. Letting the supermarkets charge for their plastic bags seems to have been the smartest idea. From his weblog:
My personal observation has been that compliance with the policy at least within the outer-ring road in Shanghai has been pretty good. 袋子吗? I never buy the bags so I can’t comment on their thickness. I’m quite sure, however, I could not tell a 0.025mm bag from a 0.030mm bag.
Remember when judging compliance that vendors do not need to charge for plastic bags for unpackaged food items (from raw meat to youtiao), although the bags they use must be “thick” ones. Guys, I know you like the ultra-thins, but really it’s time to give them up.
CommercialCharles McElwee is also a speakers at the China Speakers Bureau and a leading expert on China's environmental change. When you need him at your conference, do get in touch.
While China's bean counters try to stress positive figures in its economic development, assistant-professor Victor Shih sees very troublesome signals as prices for industrial goods fall by huge percentages over the first three months of 2009. From his weblog:
I strongly suggest readers take a close look at it. There is still some incomplete reporting though. For example, capital goods on the PBOC website shows a price increase of 0.1%, but the price of industrial goods decreased in March. What's the relationship between the two? Instead of getting industrial output figures, we find some data on individual categories of industrial outputs, like cars, buses, and TVs at the end of the table. We find that the MoM price of washing machines stayed the same while the price of TVs fell in March...etc. What about other industrial goods used by firms, like heavy machineries?? In a way, this is very disappointing. I think China has made great strides in statistical reporting, but when things get bad, they return back to their old game: obfuscation. Of course, all governments are tempted to do so when things get bad!
Chinese companies, lead by their government, are currently spending much of the Chinese trade deficit by spending overseas. But getting access to those companies, the relevant Chinese government departments and tapping into that process is not easy. Xu Ping and Mark Schaub, senior partners at China's largest law firm King and Wood, have been working with almost all those larger Chinese companies and are currently preparing a trip to the US for this autumn with Chinese outbound investments as a theme. At the China Speakers Bureau we are assisting both veteran lawyers in preparing their trip.
For the beginning of June we will set up a Global China Chat with both Xu Ping and Mark Schaub; we will be organizing their trip, including New York and San Francisco for next autumn. They will be giving half-day seminars for law firms and other companies and organizations who are looking for help in getting access to Chinese companies.
Next week, we will set a date for the Global China Chat on outbound Chinese investments and plan some other actions. If you are already interested, do get in touch.
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. The historical account of foreign correspondents in China, who have played such an important role in shaping the Western perception of China. Paul French will embark on a major book tour, for the time being in China.
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