About three months ago, my phone rang at home, I picked it up, heard the words “You f***** China lover.  Go live with those Commies if you like them so much,” and then the line when click.   A week later it happened again.  Then it recently happened again.  

I laughed each time, and if anything, was surprised the call did not come earlier.  I can see where the caller was coming from — there are some out there who, in their fear of the world and own geopolitical insecurity, interpret another’s intellectual curiosity, passion, writing about via a blog such as this, taking a group of students to a communist country (politcally but certainly not economically), resisting the urge to judge or condemn the warts of China without knowing all the facts, etc., as un-American. 

I plead guilty to the first part, but definitely not to be being “un-American.”  Do those issues impact business in some way, shape or form?  Of course, but so does how the English commoners view the monarchy of England, but I don’t write and blog about that.

In any event, I do occassionallly write about and highlight the dark side of China.  I try, though, not to make a ”the world/China is half-empty” view the focus of this blog because:  (1)  the purpose of this blog is to focus on interesting business issues related to global business and China, not to wake up every day and bash Beijing re: its ineptitude and/or corruption; and (2) the dark side of China is complex and I highly doubt I can offer an answer or practical solution to those problems that someone far brighter than me has not already thought of — e.g., the “Taiwan issue”.    

This post is another example of how sometimes I do write about the dark side of China, and on that note I highlight and refer you to Lonnie Hodge’s great post on “When the Revolution Comes“.  His post, and the video and pics it refers to, say all that need to be said about China needing to get parts of its act together.  I am bullish on China and certain other parts of Asia, but I am also not naive or ignorant of some of the many messes they will need to clean up and address over the coming decades.

Now back to the person out there who keeps calling me at night … ”How do you like them apples now?”   Good Will Hunting.  Man, I adore that movie!