Most-sought speakers for November 2010

Kaiser Kuo in 2008 via Wikipedia

Huge changes in this month's list of most-sought speakers, compared to October. Kaiser Kuo gained the top position and certainly made the biggest move this month. As he took his position as director international communication at China's largest search engine Baidu, we feared he might be working more behind the scenes. But for the past month, his valuable contributions kept on surprising us in a pleasant way.
His statement that internet censorship in  China was not giving Baidu a competitive advantage over Google irked some, according to the tweets we saw. His argument that the internet is not making us stupid got almost universal approval.
In terms of news the past month has been pretty busy for our speakers. Mostly our radar screen picks up a few quotes per day, but some of our speakers, including Rupert Hoogewerf, Wendell Minnick and Shaun Rein made many appearances.
Two newcomers on our top-10: John van Fleet, or educational and marketing specialist and CEIBS' Annette Nijs entered our list. Welcome.

The overview of the most-sought speakers for November 2010 (October in brackets)
1. Kaiser Kuo (4)

Annette Nijs via Flickr

2. William Overholt (8)
3. Arthur Kroeber (5)
4. Shaun Rein (1)
5. Rupert Hoogewerf (3)
6. William Bao Bean (9)
7. Paul French (2)
8. Wendell Minnick (10)
9. Annette Nijs (-)
10. John van Fleet (-)

Related articles

• Baidu's Robin Li tops IT-rich list - Rupert Hoogewerf (chinaherald.net)
• Private planes: waiting for China's rich - Rupert Hoogewerf (chinaherald.net)
• Taiwan returns rockets and hurts US ties - Wendell Minnick (chinaherald.net)
• How Baidu Won China (businessweek.com)

Democracy, a matter of the Party - Helen Wang

Helen Wang via Flickr

Helen Wang looks at the prospects of democracy in China, inside and outside the Communist Party. Both options do not look very viable, she writes in Forbes.
The Communist Party has picked up the best and the brightest, also from those returning from overseas.
Helen Wang:

In a trip to Shenzhen in August, Wen Jiaobao surprised many China watchers by saying that without political reform China may lose what it has already achieved economically. That view was reconfirmed in an interview with CNN on September 23, when Wen told Fareed Zakaria that “the people’s wishes for and needs for democracy and freedom are irresistible.” I was particularly struck by his ending line: “I will not fall in spite of strong wind and harsh rain, and I will not yield till the last day of my life.”

But the leadership in Beijing was divided and Wen's efforts were shelved for the time being. Still, there is only one option for those who are looking for a change, as Wang concedes:

While the most competitive young people in America went into business, or even, in recent years, nonprofits, some of the brightest young people in China went into the government and joined the Communist Party. They recognized that the party is the only game in town and that party membership has significant advantages, such as career advancement, social status, or personal connections.

More in Forbes.

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

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Most-sought speakers for October 2010

Hurun by Fantake via Flickr

It's October and it might not come as a surprise that Rupert Hoogewerf or Hurun has appeared as the largest mover in our most-sought speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. This years' Hurun rich list attracted much attention, as it showed how Chinese women are conquering top positions, how retail is becoming more important and real estate tycoons are losing their financial leverage - although still important.
Rupert Hoogewerf replaced Kaiser Kuo on the third place, as Kuo is now working more behind the scenes of China's largest search engine, Baidu.com.
Not quiet have been our numbers one and two. Shaun Rein was already our most-quoted speaker, but is now appearing in mainstream media at least twice a week. This month he blamed Apple's Steve Jobs for being too US-centric and was caught predicting two, three decades of solid growth for China. Paul French is not that much quoted, but very busy on this book tour, promoting his latest book Fat China. Obvious, with good results.
Worth mentioning is also the staying power of two relative newcomers, Helen Wang and Wendell Minnick. Often, new speakers on our roster are in danger of slipping away into the dark corners of our databases, but both are able to attract enough attention to say in our top ten.
Now, the official top-10 of most-sought speakers for October (September between brackets

1. Shaun Rein (1)
2. Paul French (2)
3. Rupert Hoogewerf or Hurun (-)
4. Kaiser Kuo (3)
5. Arthur Kroeber (7)
6. Tom Doctoroff (5)
7. Helen Wang (7)
8. William Overholt (8)
9. William Bao Bean (9)
10. Wendell Minnick (10)

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Related articles

• Zong Qinghou, richest man in China - Rupert Hoogewerf (chinaherald.net)
• Why the bears are wrong on China - Arthur Kroeber (chinaherald.net)
• China's Baidu as a game-changer - Kaiser Kuo (chinaherald.net)
• "China's Self-Made Women Dominate the World's Rich List" and related posts (medindia.net)
• The Paper-Recycling Queen (wired.com)

Internet, a feedback system for the government - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn by Fantake via Flickr

China's governments, central, provincial and local, are using the internet increasingly to listen what is happening in their huge country. So, internet analyst and Danwei.org owner Jeremy Goldkorn was not amazed when the central government started a website, allowing its citizens to talk directly to them, he tells CNN.

"The government has been aware of the power of the internet for some time and it has become a major way for the Party to gauge public opinions," said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of the popular China media website Danwei.org.

Goldkorn cited two much-publicized live Internet chat sessions between netizens and Hu and Wen.

"Although politically incorrect messages will surely be censored on this board, there may still be a genuine feedback mechanism even for those posters," Goldkorn said.

The website was launched last week by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist party.
More at CNN.

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

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