China´s complicated Africa relationship - Howard French

+Howard French 

When it comes to Chinese abroad, avoiding cliches is tough. Author Howard French of China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. According to this review in the Huffington Post, he does a good job.

The Huffington Post:

Meanwhile, French also captures well the frustrations many Africans hold against this surge of Chinese attention, one aspect of which is the tendency for Chinese to import their own workers and subsequently underinvest Racism is also a source of contention, particularly with respect to Chinese opinions of Africans' work ethic. "Black people are not good at getting things done. Their customs were formed back when there was no telephone and no highway," is one of the less offensive quotes French captures. 

Yet, as French writes in retort, "I felt like reminding [his host] that perhaps forty million Chinese people had died of starvation a half century earlier ... It was the largest famine in history. A snapshot taken then would have given a very different picture of the supposedly essential character of Chinese people, and it would have entirely missed the point. Governments matter. Markets matter. History matters. International circumstances matter." 

Perhaps even more important than this superficial racism is the combination of ignorance toward African history and arrogance that the West has long been guilty of alone. Both make China's future standing on the continent vulnerable. Yet, instead of attempting to engage the broader population or insist that government relations be conducted at an institutional level, China prefers to deal directly with individual African leaders. The result is, quite ironically, a subversion of African governance.

The full review in the Huffington Post.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you looking for more experts on China´s outbound investments at the China Speakers Bureau? Do have a look at this recent list.

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Foreign firms make fewer mistakes entering China - Tom Doctoroff

Tom Doctoroff

One of the changes advertising guru Tom Doctoroff saw in his twenty years in China is that foreign companies are making fewer mistakes, when they try to get to the Chinese consumers, he writes in the Huffington Post. They are (mostly) better in aligning with Chinese preferences.

Tom Doctoroff:

As a result, market entrants finally do homework before landing here. Corporate (and agency) marketing structures have been internationalized. Fewer foreign companies make egregious errors. Most realize global brands must be brought into alignment with a Chinese -- a Confucian -- worldview. Back in 2000, eBay crashed and burned because it assumed the "thrill of the auction," a distinctly American individualistic position, would drive consumers to e-commerce sites. In the process, they neglected the importance of dramatizing product range and on-line security reassurance. In 2006, Best Buy entered the PRC and quickly failed. Its model of high-end in-store service and premium prices was flat wrong for China, perhaps the most price sensitive market in the world, particularly for goods consumed in home. Today, retailers such as Uniqlo, Zara and H&M are all making profits. Quintessentially "Western" brands such as Starbucks, Haagen Dazs and Nike have succeeded by bringing their products into alignment with Chinese cultural imperatives. 

There are fewer big misfires to report. More in the Huffington Post.

Tom Doctoroff is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

China Weekly Hangout

What is behind due diligence firms in China, we asked ourselves as one of the leading voices in the industry, Peter Humphrey was arrested last summer for illegal business practices. The +China Weekly Hangout will discuss due diligence of the due diligence firms on September 25. You can read our announcement here, or register for participation at our event page. Joining us from Taiwan is Miguel De Vinci (aka 李洛傑).

Are foreign firms having a harder time, the +China Weekly Hangout wondered on August 22. Western journalists focus on Western firms in China, that might be fair, but they ignore China's real challenges argue +Janet Carmosky and +Richard Brubaker, moderated by +Fons Tuinstra of the China Speakers Bureau.

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Tech woman to watch, Huffinton Post - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

The Huffington Post published a "Women to Watch" segment on women in tech, including our cultural sociologist Tricia Wang, currently writing a book on her experience in China. "Everyone knows that you don't ask someone what their anonymous name is."

The Huffington Post"

Tricia Wang is a cultural sociologist. She's studying how people use technology there, but not the early adopters of iOS 6 or the folks excited by the "floating" TV at CES. Instead, these are the users of imitation "shanzhai" phones, the immigrants who sleep in Internet cafes, the working-class commuters who rent DVD players for hourlong trains rides. 

Wang is a rising star in pop-academia; her Instagram photos (and wonderful commentary) have been featured in Fast Company, while the Atlantic has glommed onto her notes on Weibo, China's Twitter-analogue. But perhaps her most interesting observations are on the (lack of) a culture of trust in China. In an interview with Canvas8, she talks about how China's "history of people trying to rat each other out"has made Internet culture there surprisingly intricate and difficult to navigate. 

"If you have a bad day, you don't put that on Renren [China's Facebook] – you create an anonymous account on a different site," she said in the interview. "There are all these other social networks where people participate in these anonymous groups. And everyone knows that you don't ask someone what their anonymous name is."

More (other women to watch) in the Huffington Post.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

The China Weekly Hangout will discuss this Thursday the new gateways for Chinese to Europe, with a focus on Cyprus. Read our announcement here, or register for this event here. 

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