Archive for September, 2007
I finally had a chance to watch PBS’ The People’s Court: China’s Legal Revolution.
I enjoyed it, very much. and learned a thing or two. Scroll down and click on Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and the final Interview, and then come back here and comment.
What did you learn that you did not know before? Many scholars argue that economic growth is facilitated by a strong rule of law. Some even go a step farther, and argue that economic growth requires a strong rule of law. Yet, China does not yet have a strong rule of law and it’s booming. How do you explain that?
September 30th, 2007
This has little to directly do with China, but everything to do with life and how each of us might better approach and live it.
Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon and the Lecture of a Lifetime.
And see today’s follow up WSJ article, The Professor’s Manifesto: What It Meant To Readers.
September 27th, 2007
How would C.S. Lewis of Mere Christianity fame view the following?
Check out this recent post by the Shanghaiist blog, “China Home to the World’s Largest Christian Population?“.
So let me ask what some will label as a politically incorrect question …
If China is home to the world’s largest Christian population, the quoted number of 400 million is staggering. What business opportunities does this growth and market present? Is this activity and market fair game? If so, when and how would you tap into it? Further, is it “ethical” to make money being part of the machinery that helps bring people to Christ?
Of course, we all appreciate that the church (in any religion) would never mix business with their core mission, but assuming they could or did so commingle, what business opportunities are presented to generate revenue from the Chinese flock as they come to grips with their salvation?
See also my previous related post titled, “Does Economic Development Encourage or Discourage the Growth of Christianity in China?”
See also the related post on this blog by recent MBA graduate Jared Samarin titled, “Confucius Makes a Comeback.”
Any modern day C.S. Lewis’ out there?
Your thoughts on this topic?
September 24th, 2007
Kudos for Lonnie Hodge and David DeGeest of The Dreamblogue for bringing these excellent You Tube videos to my attention.
These clips are incredible for how they illustrate the risks, rewards and realities of doing business in China. And remember that its the addiction of the West, i.e., you and me, for goods, that fuels much of what you see in these videos.
And for a book that just came out which relates to this issue that has received some very good reviews, see Sara Bongiorni’s, A Day Without ‘Made in China’: One Family’s True Life Adventure in a Global Economy, where the author decides to test whether she and her family can live for a year without buying anything ‘Made in China’. See also Thomas Friedman’s recent op-ed pieces, Doha and Dalian and Lead, Follow or Move Aside.
Enjoy …. and please come back and tell me what you think of these videos.
December 28, 2007 Update: Christine Lu of the China Business Network just scored an interview with Vance Miller. Click HERE to check it out.
September 19th, 2007
I get really, really depressed when I hear people, young or old, say, “I don’t vote because it won’t make a lick of difference” or “It doesn’t matter who is mayor, governor or president and what their policies are – it’s the same old status quo.”
Maybe sometimes they are right.
But then you read something like the following NY Times article [subscription may be required] by Thomas Friedman titled, Iraq Through China’s Lens, and you realize those doom and gloom folks are wrong.
To the extent that China may one day eat our economic or geopolitical lunch, this article points out that our little side journey into Iraq has not helped us.
For the record, no, I don’t always buy and drink the Kool-Aid that Friedman can serve up. But on the subject of this op-ed piece, he nailed it and is dead on correct.
People, personnel selection and policy selection and priorities sure have mattered in the case of Iraq. Just think of all the intellectual, financial, social, emotional and spiritual resources and capital that have gone into Iraq, and will continue to do so, that could have been used elsewhere and/or in a different manner. No, on second thought, strike my suggestion that you do that. I want you to have a good, positive, joyful day; not a depressing one. I really do.
September 18th, 2007
I was recently contacted by Christine Lu of the China Business Network re: our MBA trip to China, our MBA program, and our MS in Industrial Technology (IT) program.
Click HERE to listen to the radio interview (5 minutes) re: our annual China trip.
Click HERE to listen to the podcast (20 minutes) about our MBA and MS in IT program.
For the record, the latter 20 minute podcast is a textbook case of how an interviewee (me) can muddle up an interview.
In my enthusiasm for what we seek to accomplish and are doing at Cal Poly I talked waaaaay too much, should have let her talk more, should have let the dialogue naturally flow. Drs. Whitaker and Beamon, who teach your Communication for Mangers course, would rightfully and justifiably take me to task for this blabbing. I would rate my own performance a “D”, at best. I am clearly rusty at giving interviews.
Listen … and learn … how not to do it. Christine Lu was very good and a gracious interviewer. I was not a very good interviewee this go-around.
My main point for this self-criticism is to actually make and educational point: More and more the soft skills are becoming the hard skills in business.
It can be tough for some students and professionals to swallow that something without a formula, something so subjective as communication, can really knock them on their behinds.
My secondary point is that these skills can easily atrophy. They need to be nurtured and developed and refreshed throughout your career — a one time MBA class dealing with communication issues only means you are on your way, not that you are set for life in this important area of business. Don’t assume that just because you made it through your MBA communication course that you can now run back to the back room of your firm and you never have to speak or write in front of people again.
Don’t believe it? Then click HERE and HERE for these recent Wall Street Journal articles [subscription may be required] on this topic.
Ms. Lu has such an interesting background — as I understand it she moved to the US from Taiwan with her family when she was very young, grew up in the Los Angeles area in a Latino neighborhood, did her undergrad at Boston University, spent 4 or 5 years in Shanghai working with/for the Home Shopping Network seeking to make inroads into the Chinese market, and she is now back living in the San Diego area.
I have been perusing her blog. It’s great. I wish I had 1/100th of her web and technology skills. It is a wealth of information and resources. Check it out.
September 16th, 2007
Now that I have your attention, let’s talk cinema.
“Lust, Caution” is the latest from Ang Lee, the Chinese director best known for gay cowboy love in “Brokeback Mountain” and for turning Ziyi Zhang into a mega-star in “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.”
The movie is based on a fictional novel with the same name by Eileen Chang, and it depicts love and betrayal in Japan-occupied and espionage-riddled 1940’s Shanghai (one of the cities we will visit).
The lead character is a man named Mr. Yee, a powerful Chinese traitor working for the Japanese, who finds himself entangled with a young student activist, played by Tang Wei, ordered to assassinate him.
“Lust, Caution” will screen at the Venice Film Festival at the end of August, followed by a September 28 American release. Supposedly it will have an NC-17 rating, which is usually the kiss of death in attracting American movie goers.
I look forward to seeing it. I love, just love, Ang Lee’s work.
Let me know what you think.
Other links related to “Lust, Caution”:
October 5, 2007 Wall Street Journal Film Review
Jakob Montrasio: Old Shanghai in Ang Lee’s New Movie
YouTube: Press Conference for Lust, Caution – for those who understand Mandarin!
September 12th, 2007
Check out this short, somewhat low key NY Times article about President Bush’s recent announcement that he will attend the upcoming Olympics in Beijing.
At first I quickly browsed the article and thought, “Big deal — another visit by a head of state to another country.”
But five minutes later it hit me, I did a double take and thought, “Holy cow, this really is a pretty big deal,” and I went back and re-read the article, in detail.
Why do you think our President visiting Beijing for this event is (or is not) a big deal? I believe this announcement is significant.
Why would the US say yes to this invite by China President Hu Jintao, what do we hope to gain by such an acceptance, and what do you think will be our pre- and post-Games strategy to obtain that goal? What are the risks if we guess wrong on this?
Conversely, how might this help the Chinese in their domestic and geopolitical strategy plans, what do they hope to gain, and what do you think will be their pre- and post-Games strategy to get there? And what do they stand to lose if they guess wrong on this?
Or, has this whole thing (and the result) already been orchestrated by the Washington and Beijing behind the scenes?
Sport is pure! Sport is pure! Let the athletes compete and keep politics and the politicians out of the Olympics!
Yeah, right. If you believe that, my friend, let me take away the crack pipe you have been smoking.
Big stuff. High stakes. It will be interesting to see if both sides can control the diplomacy game and play the world audience to their advantage.
Stay tuned ….
September 7th, 2007
I grew up hearing the song Route 66 playing on the AM radio (yes, this thing called an AM radio really did exist). Great memories, and I often fantasized about hoping into a convertible and experiencing the Route 66 journey.
Rob Gifford, of NPR fame, recently came out with a book titled, China Road. Gifford spent the past six years working and traveling as a reporter for National Public Radio (NPR) in China.
I bought it this past Friday, could not put it down over the weekend, and finished it last night.
I loved this book, and would put it right up there with some of the other vicarious pleasure reads about China I have experienced with such books as Peter Hessler’s, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze; John Pomfret’s, Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China, Tim Clissold’s, Mr. China: A Memoir; and Jung Chang’s, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, among others.
(By the way, just ignore the negators out there who nit pick these types of books apart and often just want to rain on your party of enjoyment, and ask them this simple question, ”Have YOU ever written a book like this? Have YOU even ever written and published a book at all? Since you have not done so, please sit down and shut your trap until that occurs and you earn the right to complain. Don’t grouse by the fact that I enjoyed this book and you did not. Thank you.”)
Gifford’s book is about his journey along Route 312 in China. Route 312 is China’s version of Route 66 in the US.
As the book cover notes, Route 312 flows three thousand miles from east to west, passing through the factory towns of the coastal areas, through the rural heart of China, then up into the Gobi Desert, where it merges with the Old Silk Road. The highway witnesses every part of the social and economic revolution that is turning China upside down.
This is not an academic book, but an experiential one.
I felt that in a very intimate and moving way he captured so much of the good and bad of China, so that if one is not a “China hand” one can still grasp, understand and relate to it on a number of levels.
It’s also clearly not a “I love China and you should too” book that some would predict an NPR reporter would write. When Gifford sees something that makes him love China, he let’s you know it and and when he witnesses something that make him hate China he pulls no punches.
The following quote one page 274 his book sticks in my mind:
It’s impossible to be neutral about China. Some foreigners hate it from the moment they set foot here. Others love it so much they put down roots and never go home. I wonder if other countries divide people so intensely in their emotions. For myself, I have always tried to retain my own unity of opposites, attempting to keep the love and hate in balance. But’ it’s difficult, especially as a journalist. I’m supposed not to care. I’m just supposed to observe. But how can I not care when one fifth of humanity is being convulsed before my eyes, and thousands are making millions and millions are being crushed? And if I seem a little confused about China, it’s because I am. And if you’re not confused, then you simply haven’t been paying attention. [Emphasis mine.]
Here, here.
I was grateful for him taking the time to write and share this incredible road trip and experience with me.
Check out his book. You won’t regret it.
September 3rd, 2007
