And to see him come at this from a bit different angle, also/listen to Kaiser’s presentation at TEDx Honolulu.  Click HERE.

When you applied to the MBA program we required you to write an essay that addressed the ethics of Google (and other firms) doing business in a China, and the ethics of internet censorship in general.  And Google was also in the news a great deal for its (alleged) decision to pull out of China. But before you read the rest of this post and watch the below video, be sure to read my initial post (and the cited WSJ article) therein, Battling the Information Barbarians, as it will give you a historical perspective on this issue.

Then, check out this video presentation (click HERE) of Kaiser Kuo at my undergrad alma mater, the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.  This video is an opportunity for you to invest.   While it starts out a bit slow, and may not be as funny or as intellectually “un”challenging (i.e., easy) as the Jon Stewart videos I asked you to watch, Kaiser’s talk is an excellent and thoughtful take on things, and worth your time.  He speaks directly to the very essay admission questions you responded to when you applied to the program.

It is a 1 hour and 18 minute broadcast (includes Q&A).  The last 1/2 of his main presentation is where he hits most of the meat but watch the whole video.  The intro takes about 2:40 minutes to get through to get to his actual speech.  His talk is titled, “Shouting Across the Chasm: Chinese and American Netizens Clash in Cyberspace”.  You will learn a great deal about the true Internet and information landscape in China that you did not know before.

[March 2012 update/addenedum sent in from MBA student Keith Cody:  "If you found the web player difficult to use, click HERE for a direct link to the mp4 video, you can download it and play it back in your preferred player."]

FYI, Kaiser is a UC Berkeley grad and four years ago he exclusively spoke to our MBAs during our trip to China. Below is a more beefy bio for Kaiser.

Your thoughts and takeaways from his talk?  And what are your thoughts after reading the WSJ article noted above about China “Battling the Barbarians”?

Kaiser Kuo:  Born in the U. S. to Chinese parents, Kuo lives in China and identifies equally as American and Chinese. Formerly director of digital strategy for the Beijing office of a global advertising agency, Kuo has worked as a technology and business writer for publications such as Time, TimeAsia, China Economic Review, Asia Inc., and the South China Morning Post.  He has serves as an advisor for Youku.com, a leading video sharing company in China (China’s YouTube).  He currently serves as the Director of International Communication for Baidu (China’s Google).  Kuo co-founded China’s most famous rock band, Tang Dynasty, and continues to be active in the Chinese music scene.

I recently finished James Fallows terrific book,  Postcards From Tomorrow Square: Reports From China. Can’t recommend it enough.  It will be required reading for our next China trip.

I also just came across his most recent article in The Atlantic, How I Survived China.  Also a great read.  

Regardless of whether one agrees with what Fallow’s sees and/or concludes, the guy can flat out write, and I have to utmost respect for those who can do so.

I don’t know the answer to this question.  

For me, it depends on the day you ask me, and, the product, issue and/or industry in question.  This BBC podcast (click HERE) I just listened to is one of the more thoughtful and balanced pieces I have come across on the subject.  

For those of you who have been to the PRC, what say you on this topic and after listening to this podcast?

This is another introductory post and video to peek your interest about the trip and get you thinking about China and its many faces.  Its also shows a part of “China” that China (or any country throwing its birthday party) wants the public to see.

This 3.5 minute video is by photojournalist Dan Chung (click HERE) who covered China’s 60th Anniversary National Day parade with a mix of time-lapse and slow motion.

This birthday bash, and the Beijing Olympics, convinced me that the Chinese are slowly but surely “getting” (note I did not say “mastering”) this thing in business and politics called …. marketing.

E.g., a woman’s military brigade wearing white gogo boots and berets with pinkish thigh cut skirts, AND while carrying sub-machine-guns?  This part was right out of an Austin Powers movie.  No peasant and  Chairman Mao suit wearing people waiving Little Red books here.

Your thoughts?

Post event side note:  When China and the CCP’s 60th birthday bash took place, a few folks emailed me asking me to post some thoughts on the topic.  Sorry, but I have nothing original to add on this subject, and I can only link you to this cool video that shows you in visual form that the Chinese feel pretty strongly that after two centuries of perceived Western humiliation, they are back and some of their best days may lie ahead.

Enjoy!

Every time I travel to China I am asked the following by Chinese parents I meet, “As you are an educator what advice do you have for us to get our kid into a good  US private high school or boarding school and/or university?” (Emphasis mine.)  

This is a complex question, to which there are no easy answers, mainly because every student’s file and situation really is different.  The problems of American education at all levels notwithstanding (and I concede there are many), most that know education well and have actually spent meaningful time in classrooms around the world observing what is taking place still see the US as the Swiss watch of brands in the education industry.  Hence, the intense desire I see in mainland China to get their kid over here/to the US for an education.

So one of the first things I tell them is, “Start to prepare well in advance, and by the way how is your kid’s TOEFL or IELTS scores and their SSAT or ISEE scores (if applying for a private high school or a boarding school) and SAT scores (if applying for university?”  

Usually the answer is, “Not so good.”  

These entrance exams are significant admission hurdles for kids from China to overcome (including understanding that YOU, the kid, are supposed to write your own essay - not your parent, uncle, the education agent your family hired), even for the little emperors/ess from the rich families with good opportunities and resources.  

The Chinese know this, and I have just learned that one of the things they (including a group of profs from Tsinghau U) have done to make an end-run around this challenge is what I call the “Lenovo solution”.  To wit, if you don’t want to take the time to build a brand, buy one, or in the case of education, buy the US school.  

Click HERE and HERE to read more about this development.  In short, the Chinese have purchased an old Verizon training campus (mainly a hotel) in Massachusetts and plan to it into a one year boarding school program (focusing mainly on ESL and culture adaptation for 60 to 100 students year) that will in turn feed the student into UMass under what I assume is an MOU between the Chinese and UMass.

UMass is in turn, I suspect, salivating over the out-of-state tuition (high!) most of these students will pay when they shift over to UMass given the especially sorry state of the Massachusetts economy right now.

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures, and only time will tell if this experiment will result in a win for the families, kids, the boarding school, AND UMass.  

In my view, private US high schools, boarding schools and universities would be wise to closely monitor this development, as if this experiment is successful and more Chinese and/or other countries and universities follow this model, said change will result in some new winners and losers.

Oh, and my own advice to the wealthy Chinese parents asking me about the above option in Massachusetts?  

I would tell them the following:  ”Look, if your kid has some decent talent and work ethic, do this the right way … believe in yourself and earn it … and that means you timely apply to a regular quality private high school or boarding school in the US where they will get the initial support they need to succeed and pointed in the right direction (yes, you will have to pay for it and it won’t be cheap but you own factories and businesses and have lots more money than I ever will so no sympathy here!).  And let them go and start them in the 9th grade, not the 11th.  If you do this I am fully confident your kid has a very bright future in front of him/her and that he/she will in turn get into an excellent US university (in part because in doing 9th through the 12th grade in the US their English skills and college TOEFL scores will be excellent).  And the way, there are 2,000 to 3,000 universities in the US, not 10, and hundreds and hundreds of them, maybe more, are quite good.  Please pick the one that is a good fit for your kid and will engage his/her mind, which means your family will have to do your homework, work hard to learn about those differences and I recommend he/she visit the campus.  Just because it’s an Ivy (one of the 10 you and your neighbors told you about) does not mean your kid should go there, will like it there, will succeed there, and/or that they will actually learn anything there.  I beg you to stop listening to the bad and misinformed advice of your friends, neighbors, the Internet and/or the hack educational agent you hired for your kid that takes commissions from poor quality Western schools and ‘guaranteed’ you a Harvard admission yet said agent has never even been to the US, and who don’t know jack about education in the USA, and instead listen to those who know US education and how kids learn here and what it takes for them to succeed.”

Submitted by: David McKinnon

President Obama recently appointed Jon Huntsman, Jr. as the U.S. Ambassador to China.  This was a very interesting move.  Not only is Huntsman a Republican, but he was a big supporter of John McCain and he served as a campaign advisor.  I think this shows how important US relations with China really are.   So important that Obama felt it necessary to put partisan politics aside and appoint who he felt would be the best choice, a move that angered quite a few Democrats.  He recognized that this appointment is not one that can be taken lightly or filled by somebody just because they’re “in his club.” Also, Huntsman served as the Governor of my home state of Utah, so I thought I could fill you in on who he is and a little about his background.

So, what is an ambassador?  What do they do?  Before answering those questions, just know that, if you ever run across one, you’re expected to address them as “Your Excellency.”

Believe it or not, it is said that Genghis Khan was the first to introduce the idea of ambassadors.  Back in the early 1200’s Khan saw the potential that a trade partnership with Khwarezmia (a neighboring empire) could produce.  Khan sent representatives to establish ties, but they were killed by skeptical government officials.  Khan sent a second party, and all but one were killed.  Khan, believing that his representatives should have protection and immunity, became furious and conquered the empire.  This set a precedent for representative relations among foreign governments.

Nowadays, Ambassadors are protected by diplomatic immunity – that means no parking tickets, ever (I know that because Morgan repeatedly complains about the millions owed by visiting UN officials to the city of New York for unpaid parking tickets).  Ambassadors are our nation’s highest ranking government representatives in the country they serve.  They manage the different aspects of the embassy.  They manage the economic and political relationship with the country, and oversee the interests and welfare of US citizens living there.  For a more complete list of what Ambassador Responsibilities include, you can check out this link:

http://montevideo.usembassy.gov/usaweb/paginas/01-03EN.shtml

Hunstman served a church mission in Taiwan where he was able to learn Mandarin Chinese.  Many of you know that I served a similar church mission in Ecuador.  I think this gives him a unique view, having directly worked with and served common people, not just dignitaries.   He has a business background, graduating with a degree from Wharton.  He later lived in Taipei with his family for a few years, which allowed him to adapt his business background to Asian practices.  I think all of these things caught Obama’s eye and as a result, Huntsman gained his trust. Huntsman has the tools to succeed in China, and be an effective representative of our nation.

So what do you guys think?  What are some of the issues you see Huntsman discussing or addressing in the future?  He is there to represent our government’s interests, so what are some of the pressing issues or interests that will be addressed in the coming years?  Will economic issues dominate roundtable discussions, and how aggressive will the US be with more sensitive issues, such as human rights and the environment?

Professor Carr January 19, 2011 addendum:  And here is a wonderful WSJ article to follow up on David’s post on how Huntsman is charming them in Beijing:  When Diplomacy Means Abandoning the Rule Book.

Submitted by: Patrick Johansing

In the Chinese political system there are two centers of power, the President and the Premier.  The current President is Hu Jintao.  This position was created in 1982 and it was intended to be mostly a symbolic position without too much power, but it has grown into a very important position.  His main role is to appoint all the Ministers, which are equivalent to our Secretaries (Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasure, etc.).  In fact, he is even supposed to appoint the Premier which is the most important minister post, but this responsibility is actually taken over by the National People’s Congress.  Aside from this power, he also has the power to declare war; although he does not have control over the military, which is semi-autonomous and controlled by the State Central Military Commission.  His typical day to day activities include determining national policies and generating political support for them.  He also serves as the general secretary of the communist party.  He is limited to two five year terms.

The current Premier is Wen Jiabao.  His main responsibility is to organize and administer the Chinese Civil Bureaucracy.  He’s the guy that implements the policies determined by the President.  This means he gets down to the nitty gritty and figures out the logistics of the implementation.

I wanted to find American counterparts for each of these, but it looks like they both take on certain responsibilities that are left up to our President.  I thought that this division of power was pretty interesting, especially since neither the President nor the Premier has control of the military.  My thoughts are that this was probably a reaction to the atrocities caused by Mao Zedong, who was responsible for the Cultural Revolution; a separation of powers will make it more difficult for a single leader to cause such massive destruction.

Submitted by: Ashley Breneman

The months leading up to the Olympic games in Beijing proved to be more problematic for the government than most of us were aware.  Pollution was just one of the issues that the government had to face and fix before the Olympics began in August.  While preparing for the arrival of millions of foreigners, the government was simultaneously trying to quietly deal with the aftermath of the May 12th earthquake in the Sichuan Province of China.

The earthquake, which was registered at 7.9 on the Richter magnitude scale, killed over 87,000 people. The initial response of the government was highly commended as they mobilized over 146,000 troops in just a matter of days.  This quickly changed after the alarming announcement of the number of schools that were crumbled during the earthquake, causing a large number of the casualties to be children.

Thousands of parents accused local officials of cutting corners when building the schools since nearby buildings had minimal damage compared to the flattened schools.  These schoolhouses have since been called “tofu-dregs schoolhouses” which mocks both the quality and quantity of the many poorly built schools that killed so many children the day of the quake.  The central government estimates that over 7,000 inadequately engineered schoolrooms collapsed during the earthquake.

At first glance, it seems extremely immoral and irresponsible that the government would approve of buildings that were not built to withstand a large earthquake.  With the standards that govern the design of buildings in the United States, an accident of this magnitude would never occur today.  However, there is one big difference between the US and China- the size of the population.  When constructing these buildings, the government had to decide between constructing highly sturdy buildings and educating the majority of the population.  They chose to educate as many as possible and hope that a “once in a lifetime” earthquake would never occur.  So did they do the right thing?  What would you have done if you had to make the same decision?

Regardless of the decisions made to construct the building, the real controversy lies in the reaction of the government following the earthquake.  Many officials promised to get to the bottom of the crisis and figure out who was to blame.  This is when the commonly talked about “government corruption” stepped in.  As the victims’ parents and news reporters continually demanded an answer of who was to blame, they were one-by-one harassed or detained by government officials.  I can’t say that I have an answer for how the government should respond, but silencing many heartbroken families will likely lead to more and more demonstrations against the government. Instead of hushing the many mourning families, the government should find a way to address their concerns and prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again in the future.

To read more about the Sichuan Province earthquake, see the following articles:

1.  In Year After Quake, China Sealed an Opened Door

2.  Loss, Mourning and Hope Amid the Rubble

3.  Wikipedia- 2008 Sichuan Earthquake

I had asked you to read a post on negotiation and the SIlk Market in Beijing, where I will take you for some shopping. To refresh click HERE.

Check out this excellent NY Times article, Facing Counterfeiting Crackdown, Beijing Vendors Fight Back just published that discusses the legal crackdown at the Silk Market and the creative way in which some of the vendors there are fighting back against the trademark infringement cases that have been filed against them.

Said article nicely highlights the tension between how the West and China approach and differ in some of their views of intellectual property protection, how much of this issue is also tied to history an that portion of my session with you last week on Chinese history (e.g., the Opium Wars, Confucianism, the carving up of China by colonial powers), etc. Said article also highlights why when/if you lecture the Chinese in IP theft and lack of protection, buddy, be careful as you sometimes do so at your own peril!

Other:

By the way, for those of you looking to buy a suit in China at the Silk Market in Beijing (see my earlier post Lessons On Negotiating (The Ultimate Sport), In Asia), see this short YouTube VIDEO I recently came across on this very topic. I think it’s pretty well done and fairly accurate. Keep in mind, though, that the prices you will see in this video are lower for a number of reasons. E.g., he came back 10 days later to pick up his suit and did not need it the next day, he also went into a local neighborhood (in this case in Shanghai) that many Westerners would not feel comfortable going into to buy his suit, note his language skills and I assume he was/is a repeat customer for this tailor, etc. As you are MBA students, you recognize and appreciate the impact said variables can have on price.