China Apprentice

“If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.” - Thomas Jefferson

Photo by Fatty Tuna

China is often admired for its vibrant variety of cuisine, a long and enchanting history, delicate ceramic, silk, and other cultural arts, not to mention, a vibrant street market of cheap copied DVDs, pirated software, and fake designer clothing. The dichotomy of rich cultural heritage based in Confucian and Daoist doctrine paired with an almost flagrant neglect for characteristically “western” values for intellectual property rights (IPR) can surprise the unassuming visitor. The fakes, the poor product quality, and an apparent disregard for IPR make foreign governments and businesses unsure of China’s innovation potential. Understanding the past, present, and future of China IPR is key to successful business in China.

Foreign media consistently overwhelms the international community with impressive statistics of China’s growth. That growth is enthusiastically fueled by continual investment from the world’s multinational corporations in the new “socialist economy with Chinese characteristics.” Depending on the source, China’s GDP growth hovers at just a fraction under 10% year-on-year – a record for a country’s development by almost any standard. The so-called “gradualist-reform” inspired by Deng Xiaoping’s famous Southern Tour in 1992 and subsequent opening of the economy that led to China’s eventual inclusion in the World Trade Organization in 2001 has attracted a frenzy of foreign direct investment and an overall global rush to enter the China market. Annual factory growth, though slowing in recent months, holds steady at around 17% while export growth hovers around 20-30% . It wasn’t long before the world recognized China would become the “factory of the world”. The technical competitive advantages of companies opening facilities in China rolled in on waves of technology and intellectual property transfer. Literally millions of China’s poorest citizens were trained to operate all manner of machinery in order to manufacture anything the world ordered.

The more Gucci pocketbooks and James Bond movies China’s workers manufactured, the more local people realized they might like one or two themselves. After all, a fake Rolex from one of the original Rolex factories really didn’t seem so different from the real thing sold for thousands times the price in downtown London. Fakes and counterfeit products are good export moneymakers too. In fact piracy and counterfeiting has been consistently on the rise since China took the title from Taiwan, Russia, and Southeast Asia. The Geneva Chamber of Commerce claims that 7% of all global trade is counterfeit goods. Estimates put foreign firm’s losses at $20 billion annually with two out of five companies losing more than 20 percent of their local revenue sometimes reaching as much as $150 million annually. And this isn’t just fake CDs and DVDs. Half the motorcycles sold in the China market are imitations of Japanese Yamaha and Honda. 97% of 1300 synthetic medicines produced in China are copies. High-technology items, such as microprocessors, are knocked off as well, modified to accommodate pirated components in video game consoles or computers thereby creating a value-chain based on piracy. There’s often no way to reliably tell if a product is real or not. Of course, most people probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that the “US-based Business Software Alliance claims that 96 percent of China’s software is illegally copied.” A CD of software on the street sells for less than a dollar and legitimate stores are virtually nonexistent. The processes for mitigating the mass IPR problems are weak at best. It can take five to six years in China to successfully remove a bad-faith trademark that violates IPR. Counterfeit products take up valuable Chinese domestic market share and are also aggressively exported overseas creating a real problem for both Chinese and foreign companies trying to leverage corporate intellectual property in China. (more…)

Running in Guangzhou?! When most tourists come to Guangzhou, their first instinct is to turn around and run away! Can it really be possible to run/jog/walk for exercise in the third largest metropolis in China?!

In a former life, I was a runner. And a biker. And a swimmer. And a guy that liked outdoor activities. I used to do all these things for fun. In China, the first two are almost exclusively forms of transportation. Few people would consider outdoor movement as a benefit to health unless of course it involved getting to and from work. I consider riding a finicky red Chinese bike 10km to school one of the most dangerous activities I’ve ever done (more so than skydiving, motorcycling, and a Chinese buffet).

But things are changing. The Olympics are approaching and in an effort to boost government controlled media coverage of general Chinese population fitness, outdoor sporting events are growing. I spotted one such event advertisement in my apartment building elevator just the other day. The event was called the 安利健康跑 or “Health Run” sponsored by big names such as Amway and 7-11. Interested in joining this new Chinese 热浪 in outdoor health, I gave them a call. A week or so before the event and several phone calls later, I received the same answer - registration was full! Knowing well that in China when things are closed, full, or unavailable, negotiation is name of the game. I paid a visit to the main sponsor - Amway - on the 43rd floor of the tallest building in Guangzhou (they actually occupy three of the highest floors). I strolled in with my school backpack wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I asked to talk to someone important regarding the upcoming event their company was sponsoring. A friendly woman met with me and again explained that the slots had all been taken and I would just have to wait till next year. Huh?

So, I decided to just show up and register the day of the race. I walked over (I live just minutes from the sports center in Tianhe) this morning at 0645. The race was to start at 0730. I scoured the expansive sports center grounds looking for just one booth where I could potentially register for the race. No luck. I asked race staff personnel. I even asked competitors if they had any extra race T-shirts. I failed. I resolved to just run the race sans registration.

People gradually filled the sports center till there were thousands surrounding me. I didn’t see another white-faced foreigner - they were obviously way smarter than me to know not to show up on a Sunday morning in downtown G-town for a run. Anyway, we packed in like sardines at the starting line (actually a human chain made by red-shirted volunteers restraining the pulsing crowd). Everyone surrounding me was probably an average age of 16. At this point I started to realize what may have happened with “registration”. In an effort to promote outdoor sports and healthy lifestyle, the government powers-that-be had obviously partnered with Amway (for big foreign money) and handed out free T-shirts to all the local college/high school students. They said, be there, clap your silly hotdog balloons, and represent your city/country - we’re putting on a good show.

In fact, most of the performances/shows/表演/concerts I see in China seem to be more concerned with putting on a good “show” than actually entertaining the guests. This “race” was no different. Before we got started (not at 0730 as advertised but an hour later at 0830), there was the obligatory public officials’ speeches. Anyone who thinks they are important has to say a few words - usually consisting of several long sentences first welcoming all the VIPs and then some carefully chosen philosophical 成语 to help everyone know how clever this particular public official is. All this is delivered in a dramatic tone of speech with the voice rising to almost shouting volume three or four times during which everyone bangs their clapping balloons together - the teenage crowd not quite sure what was just said because the speakers are turned up to max volume and distorting the important guy’s yelling. After several people in a row deliver their long-winded speech always ending with “健康跑开始”, we started.

Racing. Chinese style. Guys in loafers and dress pants. Girls in mini-skirts. Jeans, heels, suits, but certainly no hats - no one wears anything on their head (except for the two random folks in the photo above - but I think it was just them and me). A mass push forward and competitors in green and white 健康跑 shirts are all tripping over each other to get to the end for the lottery give-away. Out of shape, hungover, and a little fat, I passed all of them - except for the token fast guy at the front who will be in the paper tomorrow. Everyone had to stop from sheer exhaustion. All these teenagers who should be in the best shape of their lives (at least from all the basketball and soccer) threw their hands up like they’d been running a marathon and hit the Great Wall. The course wasn’t long. It followed a circuit around the sports center tracing the four major roads that encircle it. Though police had blocked off part of the road, cars and buses still screamed by. I almost hurdled a lady getting out of a cab. As I passed the finish line and watched people walking in behind me, I looked around for some refreshment. Not a water bottle or Gatorade to be found. Then again, I hadn’t registered anyway.

So, being so pitifully out of shape, I was exhausted. I walked home and picked up a Subway sandwich on the way. The masses hung around for the ceremony that I knew would just be another “show”. Honestly, I’m not so sure I can say I feel “healthier” after the “Health Run”. Occasionally when I run outdoors in China, I develop a nasty cold that only attacks my nose and throat. It never really develops into a sickness but I’m convinced the pollution has something to do with it. Nothing quite compares with a jog through Guangzhou CBD where the sun is blocked out by smog at 0800, buses belch exhaust in your face in a plume of smoke and heat, rotten vegetable garbage puddles splash at your feet, and raw sewage odors fill your huffing nostrils. That’s one (un)healthy race down for Fall 2007. Can’t wait for the next.

Seriously though, if you’re reading this post to try to figure out where and how to run in Guangzhou, I have a few suggestions… (more…)

Sometimes the US can be a little harsh on China in relation to the rest of the world. May have something to do with the enormous perceived trade surplus. Here is a recent poll of world public opinion of China. Worth checking out in its entirety at China Public Opinion Poll.

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We’re starting a series on great weekend trips from Guangzhou. You live in the city for a while and you soon see everything there is to do in Guangzhou proper. You need a little escape. We’ve seen some things and traveled some places close to Guangzhou that typically get left out of the guidebooks. Here is a recent extended weekend trip we recently took up to Fujian province. Easily a half-day train or 5-hour bus ride away. Here are some tips. If you really are interested in copying parts of this trip, let us know.

Getting there from Guangzhou: 5-hour bus to Meizhou, private car (Mr. 李 138-2380-5526 - 200 元) to Yongding 永定, stay in Yongding, bus to surrounding 土楼 Hakka-style earth buildings (客家).

Five hour bus to Xiamen. Stay on the island or see the post about cheap sleeps in China.

Romantic private cottages overlooking water with views of Taiwan on gulangyu island - Haoyue Park

Out-of-the-way laid-back bar on Gulangyu island not to miss - Slowly Cafe 592-2064821

Be sure not to miss a small gallery where you can check out creative art made from fish bones. Buy a framed one for less than 100 RMB.

Information on youth hostels in China
www.hostelbees.com - China Hostel Directory
www.yhachina.com - Youth Hostel Association of China
www.yhaxm.com - Xiamen youth hostel

Be sure not to miss the crowded beach on the island off the coast of Xiamen - indeed a sight to be seen during the May holiday. The number of sheer people on the shore makes you forget there’s sand. All sorts of activities for sale - paddle boats, kayaks, jet skis and of course these huge human hamster balls!

Any foreigner that’s spent longer than a couple hours in China soon gets lost. You’re lost culturally, linguistically, gastronomically, and if not physically wandering around completely confused in a sea of characters, pinyin, and really tall buildings. What’s more, the smog (BJ sand?) blocks out any reference to direction you might glean from the sun’s position in the sky. You’re lost and just wish someone could help.

So you gear up to ask someone for directions. You practice that one sentence you learned back at the language class and repeat it in your head a couple dozen times while summoning the courage to ask someone. When you do finally build up the guts to stop someone on the street, you have the fortune of curtailing a local (Shanghaiese or Cantonese) whose Mandarin accent totally throws you off. You ask your victim to “repeat please one more time a little”. She points, waves, gesticulates, and leaves you even more confused than before. You’re about to give up and just go home to dust off your Chinese flashcards and try to figure out where you went wrong when your phone beeps in a message. It’s from your subscription to this blog and to your luck they have a post that could just save your day!

That’s right, by mere fortune ourselves, a friend from Shanghai clued us into a great new service in China for foreigners! And unlike many great things to come to Shanghai for the expat community, this one is also available in Guangzhou! Woohoo! It works like this: you’re trapped in a taxi, out shopping, or just stumbling drunk from a Garden Hotel pub crawl and have nothing on you besides a wad of one and ten kuais, an umbrella with two broken wires poking out, three “business cards” of naked ladies that were shoved in your hand as you walk down the street, and a couple ragged tissues for an emergency pit stop. Alright McGyver, what do you do to get to that new shop/club/park your friend told you about last week? You have no address, no phone number, and no idea how to get there.

Get yourself a little “guanxi”! A text messaging service (that apparently has been around since 2005) is your new lifeline. Send an SMS to 85880 with the name of your desired location preceded with a “2″ and the service will reply within seconds with the address and phone number. You reply again with a “2C” and it comes back with the same info in Chinese characters. Convenient! Not sure about the price of this service yet. Check it out yourself by texting “2baby” for “Baby Face”. You can even text a name and district to find, for example “2gym tianhe”, all the gyms in Tianhe district. Apparently there is another service too at 118855 for all China Mobile subscribers. Not sure in which other cities this works but definitely covered in BJ, SH, and GZ. Give it a try, go get lost!

The pace of China’s development is so fast that often a new store/restaurant will only be around a month or so before it’s torn down in a day and replaced a week later with another entrepreneurial venture. Even in our own neighborhood, we have trouble keeping up with the rate of change among the local businesses. While it can be frustrating trying to stay in the know, it can also be fascinating to see what comes next. For this reason though, we’ve found Chinese travel books (you know like LP and RG) to be almost useless when it comes to finding reliable lodging or restaurant information. About all they’re good for on a China vacation is pointing out the major tourist attractions. Often those aren’t even the best parts because EVERYONE goes to see them. Usually the off-hand bar or temple you stumble upon can leave the most memorable impression in China.

Anyway, use the guides for what they are - a very general “guide”. With a few hours of time to waste on the bus this last trip, I also tracked down some great China travel resources… on my phone. Yup, with a GPRS enabled phone, you can easily surf WAP-enabled (or regular but slower) websites at 120 kph on a bumpy bus in the rolling mountains of Hunan. I use an ‘05 O2 Mini Windows Mobile phone. I have raved before about how it’s singularly the best piece of electronics I’ve ever purchased. On the road, I managed to track down a few sites that are good for up-to-date info on China travel destinations. They serve as nice mobile supplements to your already out-dated guidebook: (more…)

With the semiannual Canton Fair headed to Guangzhou next week, we’re happy to pass on a few tricks and tips. The Guangzhou subway map is constantly changing as new lines go into operation every year. Just 1.5 years ago, there were only two lines and now there are five. Knowing how to navigate this underground network is critical to avoiding the traffic jams above. This resource can help you plan your trip around the city. It’s better than a map! Enter your location and your destination and the system will tell you the fastest way to get from point A to B. It tells you which mode of transportation to take, where to change stations, and how long each leg of the trip should take you. It’s a great resource that figures in distance to the stations on foot, the number of subway stops, and even the hundreds of bus lines zipping around the city. Optimize your commute or figure out the best travel route to get to the fair. You’ll save money and time - check it out here.

You can search for days to find a good Guangzhou map. Unfortunately, none of them really cut it when it comes to finding a particular road or address in China. Guangzhou city streets can be difficult to navigate if you don’t have the right guide. Here is a time-saving essential resource for finding your way around Guangzhou and China’s cities. This interactive map is considered the “Mapquest” of China and a great way to find almost any address. The only catch - you need to type in Chinese the address you’re looking for. Get a good translation of the characters into pinyin (or use your www.pleco.com dictionary) select your city, and start finding your way around. This resource is better than any scanned or real estate company map you’ll find on the internet. Of course a good map of Shanghai and a map of Beijing is essential if you travel around the country. This interactive map covers all cities and is one of the easiest ways to get directions in China. Check it out.

While we’re in interactive map mode, also worth mentioning is an informative map of Tianhe, Shamian island, and greater Guangzhou.  These maps are intended for adoptive parents coming to Guangzhou looking to adopt Chinese children and infants.  It’s complete with photos of major attractions and information from other couples and families about their adoption experiences in Guangzhou.  Worth taking a look if you’re coming to Guangzhou just for a few days or a week.  China adoptions are centered in Guangzhou and every Chinese child that leaves China with new foreign parents must process through the Canton adoption system.  Start exploring here.

When you’re tired of my rant about business school in China, you need to check out an unmatched resource for China MBA news and information.  China MBA and Higher Education News posts daily articles about China’s top business schools and business education relating to China worldwide.  Worth a regular read or even a subscription if you’re a business student/professional in or out of China.  And of course it’s not all business.  They throw in a good laugh here and there.

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources person (that which we used to call personnel manager) asked the young MBA fresh out of university, ‘And what starting salary were you looking for?’The candidate said, ‘In the neighborhood of US$125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.’

The HR person said, ‘Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years — say, a red Corvette?’

The graduate sat up straight and said, ‘Wow! Are you kidding?’

And the HR Person said, ‘Certainly, …but you started it.’

Just discovered another fellow Guangzhou blogger, John, over at Got Rice? Aside from many intriguing pieces, he’s put together one of the most extensive lists of China blog links I think I’ve ever seen. If things get any more crowded over there in the Blogroll, we might have to do something similar. Worth perusing for a while and expanding your China blog-reading universe (it’s the Big Bang all over again).