Man, kids are the best.

Just this week my seven year old, Amelia, asked me the following questions:

First set of questions: “Papa, who came first - God or humans? And if God came first, then who made God?”

Second set of questions: “Papa, how big is the Great Wall? And how many inches are in the Earth?”

Ok.

So where does one start with the first set of questions? That’s a pretty big issue to tackle. Did my best.

Re: the first part of the second set of questions, you would think it’s an easy question to answer …. until you find yourself having to explain it to someone who has never seen the Great Wall and/or whose sense of “big” is completely different than your own. But I did a bit better on this one, due to the good work of a recent National Geographic feature on China that I could show her.

Click HERE to see this visual of the Great Wall super-imposed onto a map of the United States that appeared inside that issue (it was a special issue on China called China: Inside the Dragon).   You will need to use a current version of Adobe to be able to view this picture when you click on it.   The scope of this project was amazing. Can you imagine being the project manager responsible for making this thing happen, meeting budget, finding the right personnel, etc.? Makes my piddly little management worries and stresses seem insignificant.

And little Amelia, you are the best. Thank you for your wonderful honesty and curiosity about the world. It inspires and reminds me to keep learning and asking questions.

Prof. Carr Feb. 23, 2009 addendum:

Two points I should add re the Great Wall.

Myth No. 1 — The Wall worked.

Reality — As with most walls, it was a failure. It did not keep the Mongols out. They just went around it and/or bribed the Walls’ guards to let them through.

Myth No. 2 — You can see it from outer space and/or the moon.

Reality — Nope. Sorry. An urban legend that has developed over the years. In 2003 a Chinese astronaut, the first in space for China as I remember, was forced to admit one could not see it from space. Their Ministry of Education then had to go back and wipe the egg off its face and school textbooks that had been making this claim.

That said, it really is a marvel to look at and walk. Quite an ancient “stimulus package”.

Source for the above addendum on myths and reality: Julia Lovell’s, The Great Wall: China Against the World: 1000 BC - 2000 AD (Grove Press, 2006). A pretty good scholarly book on this subject. The introduction chapter (”Who Made The Great Wall of China?”) and Chapter One (”Why Walls?”) are outstanding. Some of the other chapters are pretty good; others not so good and can be a bit dry. A good book, though, if you really like Chinese history books and the topic of The Great Wall (and the building of walls in general to try to solve social, economic and political problems). Probably not your first pick for a book to read, though, if you don’t have said interests.

Great article in today’s WSJ re how Pacific Ocean transport costs are soaring and some firms are bringing factory jobs back from China. Click HERE to read the article. It gives a great inside look at what it costs to ship something from China to the US and from Mexico to the US.

Be sure to take a close look at the article’s graphics and charts, as those pictures tell a powerful story.

My own prediction: Yes, a firm here and there will bring back said factory jobs, but Mexico (in particular), as much as I love the place, in my view, does not have its act together nearly enough, to take full advantage of this global comparative advantage softball it has been thrown. Also remember that many firms don’t go to China only because of cheap production costs — many also set up shop in China because they want to be ready and positioned to hit big in the China domestic market if/when it takes off, as applied to their industry and consumption of their product category.

Time will tell.

Your thoughts? And what business opportunities will this change in the landscape create?

Note: This article should give you boatloads of questions to ask if we are again able to visit a port facility in China. If peope ain’t shippin’, then Chinese ports won’t be as busy as would otherwise be the case.

Shenzhen is one of my favorite cities in China. Some find it too overwhelming, new, crass and “sterile”. One reason I like the place is that some of the first friends I made in China live and do business in Shenzhen. I also like its business energy and entrepreneurialism — the wild west mentality of the place, even with its warts and all, fascinates me. The reason it is repulsive to some is the very reason I like to visit this place in southern China.

The NY Times just ran a nice article on Shenzhen, with photo feature. Click HERE for the article and HERE for the pics and short narrative. The students with an architecture background in our program will especially enjoy these pics and the discussion.

Due to the India addition to the trip, we unfortunately won’t have time to visit Shenzhen this year, but in my view, it is one of China’s faces that you should try to see sometime (sooner rather than later) in your business and travel career. Doing so will help you reach a deeper understanding of China.

The money quote in the video feature noted above is right on: Shenzhen is an echo of our own past. You look at it and see what the US did and could do in the 1920s and 1930s and post WWII when it pursued its own massive building of infrastructure and cities (things we can’t really do anymore for a plethora of reasons).

That is exactly one of the feelings I get each time I visit and experience Shenzhen.

See also this related National Geographic pictorial on China’s Instant Cities.

A while back Pierre and Kyle posted on the topic of cheap cars in India and the market for them. Click HERE to refer back to their posts.

Periodic Cal Poly MBA Trip blog follower Sin Yaw Wang then jumped into the discussion and raised the following point:

The car is way too expensive for India that, by the way, does not have the road system for more cars. What India should have developed is an electric bicycle industry like China. At US $300 each for high-end model, they are (more) affordable and easier to manufacture. They also pollute much less.

Of course, they also make less money for companies like Tata. Hmm, what’s good for the company is not for the country. Maybe that’s why there should be a stronger government. Oh, never mind, that will be China.

Today’s WSJ contains a nice article on his point, Riding Two-Wheelers in India: Honda Bets the Middle Class Will Chose Its Motorcycles Over Rivals’ Cheap Cars.

The article points out that while most of the world’s auto global giants are rushing to supply low-cost cars to the masses in India, Honda is taking another route and focusing on motorcycles. I would loved to have been in the board rooms listening to the debate and discussion on whether to go car, bike or motorcycle in India.

Time to buy a few shares of Honda stock?

Some of you have recently asked me what to do with your passports, particularly in China. Carry them on your person or other?

I can’t/won’t advise you on this.  In the FAQ document I try to give you some items and issues on this to think through and analyze.   This is your call to investigate and make. For myself, I will likely carry a copy of my passport and visa on me, not the original. I will also carry with me a copy of the Trip Information Sheet and my airline ticket so that if I am stopped I can pull out a document that verifies what I tell people as to why I am in China. There is risk in my strategy. I may find that they don’t find this acceptable. So you should not assume that my way is the only way or right way. Everybody is responsible for their own selves on this issue on this trip.  I will also copy and email to my email account a PDF of my passport, visa and airline ticket.

See this recent good CLB post on this very topic, Is That A Passport In Your Pants or Are You Just Happy To See Me? Thanks, Dan Harris. As always, you have a way with titles for blog posts, of which I admittedly used verbatim in this post to grab my own student’s attention.

As I try to mention in our predeparture sessions, China is cracking down on expats with the wrong or expired visa in advance of the Olympics (and World Expo in Shanghai). There are a number of theories why they are doing this. I won’t go into that in detail here, but in short, my own view is that they are coupling the Olympics and World Expo with visa issuance and renewal to find out who the “gamers” are in their country that are not playing by the rules, paying taxes, starting unregistered firms, to get a handle on who is legitimately there, etc., and, they are doing this as part of a fear of terrorism in lieu of those events. Whatever the case, this is an issue to take seriously.

See, e.g., the below email excerpt I recently received from one of our MBA alumni now living and working in China where he/she describes a situation that is even more heavy handed than I realized:

The visa situation is horrible leading up to the Olypmics. The government is going to the [___ citizen] homes and trying to take away their visa by showing they are on the wrong type (i.e., working with a tourist visa). I got mine before these problems. I was on a student visa and now on a business visit visa for work. It was easier to call me an “internship” to get the visa. When I need to renew it might be difficult. My _____[omitted] company is trying to get a license here and get him/her a working visa but he/she is having difficulties so he/she keeps going to other countries to get a tourist visa. We have had guests who had a lot of problems, it is hurting our business. Last week _______ [omitted] came and spoke to ______[omitted name] [and us] because the police are calling people and asking questions to find reason to deport them. It is crazy here. They have pulled over two of my foreign friends and taken away their scooters and tried to take their passports.

As you can see, the Chinese don’t waste time endlessly debating visa, passport and immigration issues like we do in the US and Washington D.C. They make a decision, execute and get it done. Don’t blame them. They are only enforcing the laws that have been on their books for some time which hoards of companies and expats were violating en masse, but now said expats are crying that the enforcement rules have changed. Happens all the time in regulatory environments across the globe. Further, in terms of an checkpoint, or an opportunity to create a checkpoint via the Olympics or World Expo, the Chinese strategy here is pretty darn effective and efficient, in my view.

And for cryin’ out loud, folks, if you DO carry your original passport on your person or in your backpack (can easily be cut open with a knife from behind), do NOT lose it or let it get it stolen!! Per the FAQ document, if your passport is lost or stolen I can do nothing for you other than drop you off at the embassy or consulate to solve this problem (plan for it to take a few days), you are on your own, and the rest of us move on. Any extra expense in you catching up with us will be yours to incur.

Take this issue seriously! Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.

Last quarter I had you watch The Tank Man. Most of you seemed to like the video. Many of you were understandably shocked by how today’s young people and students in China did not know about or had forgotten the T*a*an*^n S***r* incident of the same day of this post, 19 years ago (click HERE for a picture that is worth a thousand words in memoriam to those brave souls who put themselves on the line that day; h/t to the China Law Blog for the picture lead).

This article in today’s Wall Street Journal (click HERE) touches on this very point. See, read and learn more about this phenomenon among the youth and college educated of today’s China. Your thoughts?

See also this recent WSJ article. Christian Groups Step Delicately in Sichuan. I had written on this very topic in my recent post, Human Rights, Part II. This raises an interesting religious, moral, legal and ethical question: What would Jesus do?

That is …

1. Would he travel to Sichuan, and pray, comfort and give counseling (only) and not violate or challenge Chinese law that forbids proselytizing in China, particularly by foreigners (at least via spoken as opposed to conduct)?

OR

2. Would he travel to China and enter China under the guise of signaling aid and comfort as the reason for being there but the true purpose being otherwise (see related quote in the article, “When Jesus said go out to the world and preach the gospel, he didn’t say just go to those places where you can get a visa.”)?

OR

3. Does is matter what said motivation is for going there? The point being he went and he served.

I don’t have a clue what he (or any icon in another religion) would do in this situation. I am a mere mortal that cannot read heavenly minds. Nor do I have the confidence to boldly advise others that the answer is black and white due to a piece of scripture I select to support my case while ignoring those segments that may suggest otherwise.

This is a difficult question but an important one to ask for China, its future, and how China and religious organizations interact in the future for the betterment of a “harmonious” society.

What do you think?