China Speakers Bureau: December 2010

Facebook should be in China - Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Kuo via Flickr

Baidu spokesperson Kaiser Kuo triggered off many comments, as he wrote during the visit of Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Beijing, that the largest social platform should also come to China. Zuckerberg visited Baidu's headquarter and had lunch with its CEO Robin Li.
Kaiser Kuo (in the Q&A Answer service Quora, here quoted in Forbes)

…a Facebook entry into China would be fraught with challenges but personally I believe that having Facebook in China, even if it were compelled to abide by China’s strict censorship requirements, would still be better than not having it here. I believe that it would be a net positive for China’s Internet users. More connectivity is better than less. I felt the same way when Google entered China and acquiesced to the demands of censors: Even though they were censored, they nevertheless helped to expand the information horizons of Chinese Internet users, and I’m very thankful that some compromise was arrived at.

He admits such a move would not be without problems, in the debate that follows:

But yeah, I agree that it would be difficult. And if they did something like this it would bring down a major storm of condemnation from rights groups

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Kaiser Kuo is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: Baidu, censorship, Facebook, Kaiser Kuo

Chinese men now "dressed to impress" - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Women have been driving the Chinese consumer market for a long time, but now Chinese men are miving in and focusing more on skin care products and other cosmetics, tells Shaun Rein in this discussion on CNBC. Not only foreign brands like L'Oreal, but also Chinese brands are doing good business.
"Men in China are more open-minded than those in the US," says Shaun Rein. "They now want to dress to impress." Where they US counterparts had the masculine, smoking, shooting cowboy as the image to refer too, Chinese men just do not want to look like their parents, the farmers of the past.
Rein expects the market for male cosmetics products to grow 25-30 percent in the next 3-5 years, although often the first purchase is still done by the wifes and girlfriends.

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Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, cosmetics, Shaun Rein

From Journalism to Self-Publishing Books - Nieman Reports

John Harvard, founder via Wikipedia

The book publishing service of the China Speakers Bureau made it into the prestigious Nieman Reports of Harvard University.

So earlier this year we at the China Speakers Bureau decided to help potential authors get their words published as books. The bureau is a venture I started a few years ago with fellow Shanghai correspondent Maria Korolov Trombly. Now in addition to arranging for speakers in China we are guiding authors through the process of publishing books on demand. Earlier this year we published our first book, “A Changing China,” a collection of essays by 17 of our speakers about how they have seen China change.

When we decided to produce “A Changing China,” we discussed briefly whether we should try to find a traditional publishing house for it. But authors who were part of our speakers bureau were telling us how much harder it was getting to find a publisher for what they had written—or wanted to write. Some turned to us for help in gaining access to a publisher, but by then we had decided not to head in that direction. For this collection of essays, we knew it would be hard to find the right publisher, and we also thought that doing so could add to our costs and not necessarily give us any benefit. In addition, if we went with a traditional publisher, it would mean that our book would not be available for sale for a year or more.

More in the winter edition of the Nieman Reports.

How Ivory Coast dropped in wealth, compared to China - Howard French

Howard French by Fantake via Flickr

When Howard French arrived in the 1980s arrived as a foreign correspondent in Ivory Coast it was doing much better than China, he reports in The Atlantic. Now the former Shanghai-correspondent goes back to a depressing country.

My frustrations, though, went back even further. I had moved to the country in December 1979, when Ivory Coast was still well ahead of China in per capita wealth, its main city, Abidjan, reflected both a polish and ambition seldom associated with the continent, and Cote d'Ivoire, as its leaders insist on calling the country, was the sub-region's surest engine, drawing economic migrants from far and wide.

That country, a place with a seeming bright future, began to come unraveled before my eyes after I returned there for The New York Times after a nearly decade-long absence, in 1994.

And on China and Ivory Coast now, Howard French reports:

An interesting footnote here is a notably quiet China, which has famously claimed non-interference as the basis for its foreign policy; a point it drives home in its relations with African countries. In the real world, where situations like that of Ivory Coast proliferate, with a stance like this, can China be the friend of African peoples and not just of governments?

Increasingly, with China's profile fast rising on the continent, the answer, like the open question of how the United States engages the continent, will make an enormous difference in the lives of millions.

Much more in The Atlantic.

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Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Howard French, Ivory Coast

Military pondering combat plane for space - Wendell Minnick

Not only for space via Wikipedia

A supersonic combat aircraft is next on the wishlist of China's aviation industry, defense specialist Wendell Minnick writes in Defense News. China is looking for a new bomber in the 21th century, meaning also militarizing space.

Revealed at the recent 8th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (2010 Zhuhai Airshow), the winners of the 4th National Future Aircraft Design Competition were the Merlin fighter-bomber, SkyNet airship, Wolf Rider unmanned combat aircraft and the Shadow Dragon unmanned bomber. Though the four design concepts are well beyond China’s technical capabilities and “smack of science fiction fantasy,” all four represent a real effort on the part of the People’s Liberation Army to militarize space, said Ian Easton, a specialist in Chinese aeronautics at the Washington-based Project 2049 Institute.

More information on the different models (including pictures) at Wendell Minnick's weblog.

Wendell Minnick by Fantake via Flickr

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Wendell Minnick is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, military, UAV, Wendell Minnick

China inside out - Bill Dodson

Bill Dodson

Our exclusive speaker Bill Dodson just had his book China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Reshaping China and its Relationship with the World released at the publisher Wiley's.
A highly animated and energetic speaker, he presents in a clear and understandable way the important trends impacting China markets, business interests invested in the country and international relations with other nations. He uses high-profile current events underscored by personal anecdotes from his years of living and working in China to explain China's culture, politics, industrial policies and investment trends.

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Bill Dodson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: Bill Dodson, China, China Speakers Bureau

Young Chinese less romantic about the US - Helen Wang

Helen Wang via Flickr

Helen Wang answers questions from ATimes, on the day of the official launch of her book The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You. How do young Chinese look at the US?

Twenty years ago, when I first came to the US, China was just opening. Chinese had very little information on the world. After all, during the Cold War we were adversaries. Once China opened, we began to see that the world was very different than we had been raised to think. And once we could, we all wanted to go to America. I viewed America as a place for the impossible, a romantic version of what the world was not - a dream come true.

Even now, young people in China still look up to the US, but that has begun to change over the last couple of years. Largely because of the financial crisis, some say: "See, maybe they don't know what they are doing." Also, as a Chinese living in America, I felt that up until about two or three years ago, American news coming out of China was very biased - not very right on - but that has changed recently. I feel the coverage now by American media outlets is actually quite fair and balanced on China. I think a lot of American media has done a better job recently of focusing on getting first-hand information in China, less surface stories, and less American-centric...

When I left China twenty years ago, there was no Chinese dream. But now there is: now people in China can start a business, they can own homes, they can drive new cars, and they can send their children to college. In many ways, Chinese see how Americans live and they want more of the same thing. The difference is that Chinese are very much focused on their own economics - they feel that as long as they stay out of politics they can have a good life.

More at Atimes.

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Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Helen Wang, middle class

The sensitive words on the internet today - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn by Fantake via Flickr

Jeremy Goldkorn of the media site Danwei explains to CNN how China's domestic internet companies deal with sensitive issues, to prevent them from getting into trouble with the internet censors.

Internet companies in China are treating Chinese characters for "Liu Xiaobo," "Nobel," and peace prize as "sensitive words," said Jeremy Goldkorn, editor of Danwei.org -- a website about Chinese media and Internet. Acting on government instructions, the companies are deleting text containing those words, preventing such text from being uploaded, or returning no results on searches for the words, he said.

"I think the main aim is to reduce the chances of Chinese citizens seeing that the Liu Xiaobo Nobel Prize is big news internationally, and to make it more difficult for articles sympathetic to Liu Xiaobo and photos of him to be copied and circulated inside China," Goldkorn said.

Many foreign websites hit the international filters of China's censors, or are block altogether. As is Goldkorn's website Danwei.

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Jeremy Goldkorn is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: censorship, China, China Speakers Bureau, Danwei, internet, Jeremy Goldkorn

Scary China bubble develops in the US - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Import into China is growing, the Renminbi might slight appreciate after the Christmas shopping is done and the government is addressing overheating in real estate, tells Shaun Rein Bloomberg. But the real problem is the China IPO bubble developing in the US. (Clip at the bottom of this message).

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Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, economy, renminbi, Shaun Rein

Taiwan to mass produce cruise missiles - Wendell Minnick

A Tomahawk cruise missile via Wikipedia

Taiwan is preparing for a mass production of two kinds of cruise missiles to set off against the perceived threat from the mainland, writes defense expert Wendell Minnick in Defense News. The US has been trying, for now in vain, to kill the program.

Taiwan's Deputy Defense Minister Chao Shih-chang told legislators on Nov. 8 that production for the two missiles [ of the Hsiung Feng 2E (HF-2E) land attack cruise missile (LACM) and the Hsiung Feng 3 (HF-3) anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM)] had already begun. Chao made the comments during questioning by the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and Defense Committee. In response to a question about the missiles by legislator Lin Yu-fang of the ruling party Kuomintang (KMT), Chao said the programs, code-named the Chichun (Lance Hawk) and Chuifeng (Chasing Wind), were "progressing smoothly."...

China continues to deploy more short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) and new cruise missiles along its coast targeting Taiwan. The only alternative is to deploy a counter response to that threat, he said. China currently has roughly 1,300 to 1,500 SRBMs aimed at the island. Taiwan has no offensive missile capability, [according to an official with the Ministry of National Defense (MND)]

The HF-2E could "be a tactical deterrent and strategic bargaining chip in possible military confidence-building measures" with China, said the analyst.

Pin the nail on the donkey investment decisons - Amy Sommers

Amy Sommers by Fantake via Flickr

China stocks are hot at the US markets, whether they go IPO or through merging a shell, while class action law suits against Chinese companies go up. Shanghai-based lawyer Amy Sommers looks in Forbes at the risks for investors.

Are US investors in China companies intrigued by the China brand and playing ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ in their investment decisions? From where I sit in Shanghai, that’s my general impression.

For those interested in investing in China companies, I would recommend viewing a company’s reverse-merger history as a potential red flag deserving of further scrutiny of business fundamentals before proceeding. An IPO led by a reputable investment bank may be somewhat less risky.

Also, bear in mind that the listing standards for the Shanghai exchange are very high – China’s capital markets are still relatively undeveloped and so the CSRC limits listings to companies they deem mature. Consequently, the Chinese companies that are pursuing listings on exchanges outside of China generally are doing so because they can’t qualify to list in China, perhaps in part because they are more volatile/immature. As a result, generally speaking such companies have a higher risk profile. If investors recognize this and allocate their capital accordingly, then they are consciously assuming risk and can plan accordingly.

More in Forbes.

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Amy Sommers is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.
The China Speakers Bureau will be live on air at the American Entrepreneur Radio tonight. Check here for more details.

Labels: Amy Sommers, China, China Speakers Bureau, investments, IPO

China's nationalism - Helen H. Wang

Helen Wang by Fantake via Flickr

How nationalistic are the Chinese, Helen Wang wonders in Forbes. Americans often see China as the next big enemy, but are still treated and even admired by many Chinese. How does that work?
Helen Wang:

Americans are highly respected in China. Jim Chapman, an American corporate lawyer in Silicon Valley, told me that he was pleasantly surprised that he was treated so well when he was in China. “That’s why I like to go to China,” he said. “People there are very nice and polite to me, although they treat other Chinese somewhat rude.”

Yes, there is a nationalistic tendency among Chinese youth. Especially during the 2008 Olympic torch relay, Chinese youths stood behind their government and protested against Western media’s reportage on Tibetan unrest. Some of China’s “angry youth” called for a boycott of French products.

However, I believe that the nationalistic rhetoric by China’s “angry youth” is reactive rather than proactive...

China can be a threat to the U.S. if the U.S. treats it as one. There is a profound mistrust between the two countries. China suspects that America seeks to stop China from rising and interprets everything the U.S. does through this lens. America worries about China’s nationalism and sees China as a growing power that will challenge its global hegemony. Such mistrust can be a self-fulfilling prophecy and a source of global instability.

More arguments and stories in Forbes.
Helen Wang's book The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You is available now. The official launch will take place in Palo Alto on December 10. Please check in here for more details.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.
The China Speakers Bureau will be live on air at the American Entrepreneur Radio tonight. Check here for more details.

China Speakers Bureau on American Entrepreneur Radio tonight

Zhang Lijia by Fantake via Flickr

Both Maria Korolov and Fons Tuinstra COO and president of the China Speakers Bureau will be joining the radio show by American Entrepreneur Radio at their show with David Iwinsky on international economy. We will be explaining how we run our businesses, covering a wide range of continents.
You can tune in to the show at 9PM CET, 3AM EST:

Listen live on 1360 AM (local only)

Stream online at TAEradio.com

Don't have access to the radio or internet? Listen to TAE from your phone by dialing (724) 898-9669 (WMNY)

Interact Live on TalkShoe - www.TAEradio.com/talkshoe
Missed the appearance? Download the podcast at TAEradio.com/episodes

Please tune in.

Update: You can listen to our discussion now here (the second segment)

Rapping Professor: Recent Performance Highlights in Shanghai

At the China Speakers Bureau we have a few hidden jewels, who seldom make the mainstream media, but do a great job as a speaker. Take Matthew Bloomfield, our rapping professor. We just stumbled into this recent video of him.
When you need the rapping professor at your meeting, do get in touch.

A superpower needs better education - Shaun Rein

No Chinese Eton yet via Wikipedia

Whether China is going to be a superpower has less to do with its military might, but more with its ability to reform its archaic education system, argues Shaun Rein in Forbes. Chinese parents often worry their children do not get the best possible education and send them abroad.
Shaun Rein:

To cement its superpower status, China needs to improve its educational system so it doesn't just produce great academic research and innovation but also attracts the world's top students. All great powers draw in the world's best and train the future leaders of their allies and vassal states. That is soft power at its finest. The British have had Eton and Oxford, the U.S. St. Paul's and Harvard. China needs its own global centers of learning.

China's educational system at present causes its best and brightest to move abroad for their studies. Several hundred thousand Chinese study abroad every year, 128,000 in the U.S. alone this year. Nearly 20% of the non-European Union international students in the United Kingdom are Chinese. When I was a graduate student at Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences a decade ago I had more classmates from China than from any other nation except the U.S.

Onlye when the best and the brightest come to China to study, the country is ready for a great future, Rein argues.

Young foreigners often fall in love with the country and want to stay there or bring positive experiences home with them. They should be allowed to work in China, if only to build soft power. Their presence in offices also helps local workers. They do not take jobs away from Chinese. Under the current system, I wouldn't have been allowed to stay in China and work after I completed my education.

Forbes Beijing Bureau Chief joins book launch - Helen Wang

Helen Wang by Fantake via Flickr

The formal book launch of The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World's Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You by Helen Wang on December 10 in Palo Alto, will be joined to by Gady Epstein, the Beijing Bureau Chief of Forbes. When you want to attend the book launch, please register here.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, Helen Wang, middle class

No trade backlash against China - Shaun Rein

Image by Fantake via Flickr

Is there a danger of a trade backlash from the US and Europe against China's as both Western economy continue to lose momentum. That risk is very low, says Shaun Rein in a comment on CNBC. On top of that, China has already started to diffuse any possible political problems.
Also more on China's recent announcement on "prudent" monetary action: no big moves expected.

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Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, economy, Shaun Rein, trade deficit

Time to understand N-Korea - Shaun Rein

"Not insane" via Wikipedia

North-Korea is moving very calculated and it is weird both the US and South-Korea do not treat it accordingly, says Shaun Rein in an analysis in Forbes.
Shaun Rein:

They are coolly calculated measures to gain power. If North Korea didn't attack and appear crazy, no one would care about it, and it would become forgotten, similar to smaller countries like Laos. Instead Kim Jong Il plays the part of the loose cannon and thereby gains attention and clout for his country, pressures China to give more aid, and even gets visits from former American presidents like Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, all of which makes him appear more powerful to North Korean citizens.

The West wrongly assumes North-Korea is insane, while they act pretty calculated, says Shaun Rein. But there are more myths on North-Korea:

The second myth is that the U.S. has the means to pressure China into forcing North Korea to stop its nuclear initiatives. If anything, the more frustrated America gets about North Korea, the better it is for the Chinese, because all that tension helps to create a buffer against American hegemony...

Finally, the third myth: Increased economic sanctions, as many are calling for now, will not cause the Kim regime to be more cooperative or be replaced. If anything, economic sanctions, though they further impoverish ordinary North Koreans, bolster the power of Kim and his close coterie of family and friends. Sanctions are a tenet of American diplomacy that should be shelved--permanently.

Much more in Forbes.

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Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Labels: China, China Speakers Bureau, North Korea, Shaun Rein, USA

Monday, December 20, 2010

Facebook should be in China - Kaiser Kuo

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Chinese men now "dressed to impress" - Shaun Rein

From Journalism to Self-Publishing Books - Nieman Reports

Monday, December 13, 2010

How Ivory Coast dropped in wealth, compared to China - Howard French

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Military pondering combat plane for space - Wendell Minnick

Saturday, December 11, 2010

China inside out - Bill Dodson

Friday, December 10, 2010

Young Chinese less romantic about the US - Helen Wang

The sensitive words on the internet today - Jeremy Goldkorn

Scary China bubble develops in the US - Shaun Rein

Taiwan to mass produce cruise missiles - Wendell Minnick

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Pin the nail on the donkey investment decisons - Amy Sommers

China's nationalism - Helen H. Wang

China Speakers Bureau on American Entrepreneur Radio tonight

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Rapping Professor: Recent Performance Highlights in Shanghai

A superpower needs better education - Shaun Rein

Monday, December 6, 2010

Forbes Beijing Bureau Chief joins book launch - Helen Wang

No trade backlash against China - Shaun Rein

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Time to understand N-Korea - Shaun Rein

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Monday, December 20, 2010

Facebook should be in China - Kaiser Kuo

Related articles

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Chinese men now "dressed to impress" - Shaun Rein

Related articles

From Journalism to Self-Publishing Books - Nieman Reports

Monday, December 13, 2010

How Ivory Coast dropped in wealth, compared to China - Howard French

Related articles

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Military pondering combat plane for space - Wendell Minnick

Related articles

Saturday, December 11, 2010

China inside out - Bill Dodson

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Young Chinese less romantic about the US - Helen Wang

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The sensitive words on the internet today - Jeremy Goldkorn

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Scary China bubble develops in the US - Shaun Rein

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Taiwan to mass produce cruise missiles - Wendell Minnick

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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Pin the nail on the donkey investment decisons - Amy Sommers

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China's nationalism - Helen H. Wang

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China Speakers Bureau on American Entrepreneur Radio tonight

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Rapping Professor: Recent Performance Highlights in Shanghai

A superpower needs better education - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Monday, December 6, 2010

Forbes Beijing Bureau Chief joins book launch - Helen Wang

Related articles

No trade backlash against China - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Time to understand N-Korea - Shaun Rein

Related articles

Contributors

Links

Previous Posts

Archives