Chinese Business Horror Stories

A few of the stories I have heard about doing business in China.

Jude Shao, Stanford Graduate. 10 years in prison, finally paroled. A what is sad about this case is the evidence did not matter.

For Entrepreneur, Business Trip Ends in a Chinese Jail - Apex CEO took trip to China, and was forced to sign paper work giving away his entire business.

Miller leads effort on behalf of detained American citizen in China

There are 50-60 American citizens in Jail for economic crimes who are ethnic Chinese

Translation if your ethnic Chinese, the Chinese have no problem putting you in jail and it may be an issue of who has more power locally.

Hearsay/Urban Legends...

Many stories of Taiwanese who go to China, divorce Taiwanese wife, marry Chinese wife and start a business in China. Business does well so the husband has time in the US or Taiwan. They go back and the business is gone, or the Chinese wife has filed a lawsuit, or they get thrown in jail until they pay ex-amount of money.

Taiwanese American goes to China on business, and gets locked up in Jail. Ex Girl friend (Chinese), then goes to ex-wife and tells her husband is in Jail and needs $4 Million due to some business problem, and the ex husband's business has no money in it. Currently money request is at $1 Million. Ex Wife (Taiwanese) said we are divorced, sorry. Father says I already gave away my money to my two sons. Brother contacts US embassy who confirms person is in jail due to business reasons.

Taiwanese moves to China, divorces first wife, marries a Chinese. Does really well for 3 months, then new wife and his business partner make some type of deal and he ends up in debt and flees the country. Business and all money was taken by wife and partner.

Students turning East

Students turning East from the Milwaukee Sentinal. China is providing a Chinese teacher through an exchange program from where at an elementary school each students gets a 30 minute class in Chinese everyday. Chinese teachers for over 200 locations in the US have been provided.

Lang Lang - Piano Prodigy

An article about him in the NY Times, I think the LA Times also had one. A Prodigy, A Piano, Hardship, Stardom; Dreams Comes True For Lang

Previous post I wrote on Lang Lang, 35 million kids learning piano in china and for background on Piano playing in the Chinese community - music lessons and chinese americans

Taiwan Hospitals Enter China

Taiwan Hospitals Enter China from the WSJ. Private Taiwanese companies are entering the Chinese health field, since the amount the patient pays in China for a hospital stay is more than what is paid in Taiwan. Very interesting. Affordable health care is a major challenge for the Chinese government, and Taiwan has among the best and most affordable in the world. Very efficient process that I hear about a lot, especially after my wife's family has anything to do with the US health area (like arranging an appointment - in Taiwan you can go to any Dr. you want).

China's Manufacturing

Two interesting articles from Business Week:

• China Losing Luster with U.S. Manufacturers - Product quality and intellectual property concerns.
• Can the U.S. Bring Jobs Back from China? - About how in some industries it's not possible to bring them back because the suppliers are no longer in the US and China has been increasing it's productivity so that it is higher than US companies in some industries.

It's good the author recognizes that China offers more than low priced labor, but there are trade offs. The product quality area is a huge danger for China's economy.

Learning Chinese from the Comfort of Your Computer

Learning Chinese from the Comfort of Your Computer - good article that lists the major Learning Chinese sites.

• Chinesepod
• Italki.com
• Gigachinese.com
• Livemocha.com

ChildBook's Facebook Page

I just set up a page on FaceBook for ChildBook.

On what to do with it, suggestions are appreciated! I guess I should have a chat with my daughter, she has a Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/business/dashboard/#/pages/Learning-Chinese-Products-for-Children-from-ChildBookcom/42151381891

Chinese New Year Celebration Links & Information

1. New-Year-Lesson Plan

2. Chinese New Year Coloring pages including description of their meaning.

3. Crafts and Projects for students.

4. Chinese New Year Events for the US and Canada

5. Typical Wall Scrolls for Chinese New Year you can create

6. Chinese New Year Greetings Coloring Pages/Pictures

7. Chinese New Year Coloring Pictures - Zodiac, Calendar, Animals, and Horoscope

8. Listing of Chinese New Year related books.

Chinese Restaurant Cycle

1. Open restaurant offer great food and prices.
2. Raise prices to make a profit.
3. Less customers, so need to sell.
4. Lower prices to get lots of customers.
5. New person buys and starts over.

Other steps.
a. Chef leaves, changing taste of food, less customers.
b. Same type of restaurant opens next door. Landlord has no ethnics, price war ensues.

My wife and I went out to dinner at a local noodle house (the one in HK Plaza in RH) that just raised it's prices, and the waitresses are wearing jackets (may be they turned down the heat to save money). Good food, but the latest price hike does not make sense.

Marketing Consulting

On the side I also do some Marketing Consulting. I know, with what free time? It's a for company that is distributing projector screens in the US, that are made in China. So there is a Chinese connection to this! What I have learned about Chinese culture helps a lot in working with them. I think they were in a bit of shock after I went through their initial catalog with a red pen (10 years as an Engineer with lots of usage of red ink on blue prints builds bad habits). I am surprised at what a big market their is for projector screens and how many people are competing in this market. Projector screens are a lot more high tech than I thought with the coatings and fabrics, viewing angles, and such. My job is to make all this stuff make sense, in other translate the science type into what regular people can understand. Of course I need to understand it first, which is coming along.

Schools increase teaching of Chinese language

Schools increase teaching of Chinese language from Cincinnati, Ohio. And this from Miami, Florida Mandarin class raises cool factor

Exciting the increase in people Learning Chinese.

Wow quote:

''Wow,'' said Zheng, principal of the Contemporary Chinese School of South Florida's Broward-Davie campus. ``We were expecting 25 children. We got 50.'' and they still have a waiting list for another 12 students after they added a second class.

Sat observation - new Chinatown

I was talking to an ethnic Chinese parent who had their daughter go to a Cram School for SAT during the summer, and their daughter got 780 on the English and Math each. Impressive. There are a lot of those type SAT prep centers in the Rowland Heights area.

Cute Comment on Learning Chinese

Angela said she likes learning Chinese because "I am Chinese" and "because I can speak to my mom in Chinese."
Six-year-old Angela Chan

Another good reason Why Learn Chinese!

Full story - Students get crash course in foreign languages at a local library in Fresno, California at part of International Week.

I wonder if the knew that Fresno used to have a Chinatown - Fresno's tunnels a gateway to secret history of Chinatown

China fears grow over job losses

China fears grow over job losses - Good article discussing how China's leadership is worried about the impact of increased unemployment due to the lack of a safety net, especially for unregistered workers.  There is also a video of a demonstration showing how wide spread phones are that can take video are.

Huge Growth in Chinese Classes

Classes in Chinese Grow as the Language Rides a Wave of Popularity from the NY Times. Good article about the huge growth seen in Learning Chinese in the US and how 50,000 students (estimated) are studying Chinese. I did not know about the Chinese AP test, For the Chinese SAT II test I tracked down a study guides - Chinese SAT II Books with practice mock tests.

So how do I get these 50,000 students to become aware of ChildBook.com and our Learning Chinese books, music, and DVD's?