Party of the people or the profits? – the WTO-column

(later also at Chinabiz)
“Hold on, all this talk about ‘people oriented’ business is very interesting, but should I not first make a profit for our shareholders? Is it not the society that should take care of the people?”
The anonymous Chinese business man in the back of the Shanghai conference room referred to the classic dilemma between capitalism and socialism, and for that reason rather relevant in de country like China that is still finding its way into the global economy.

This dilemma came up during a discussion at the newly establish party school in Shanghai at a one-day forum on leadership. A group of Chinese mayors, CEO’s of state-owned companies and Chinese and foreign scholars discussed how to deal with leadership in a globalizing world in a fairly new and open setting.
The impressive new building of the China Economic Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP) is not unlike a church: huge and impressive, meant to make the visitor feel small and humble. Opinions at the site were very much divided on the question whether CELAP is just an extension of the traditional party school or really the open and innovative institute its leaders say it wants to be. Like so much in China, it is probably the result of many conflicting motives and interests, that all can be valid at the same time.

The building has cost an 800 million Renminbi (100 million US dollar) and is one of three institutes set up at the request by former party leader Jiang Zemin, two years ago. I joined the festivities and discussions for a good reason. In any discussion about long term developments in China, the communist party has been, is and most likely will be the most important platform. Some people will not like that, but it would be a strategic mistake to think it will be different anyway soon. CELAP has an advantage other schools, like the famous CEIBS, can only dream of.
By opening up to a foreign audience, the new party school diverts from the traditional rather closed way of discussing important issues in a more secretive fashion. Since it is part of profound changes in China, the ruling party is changing too. Not acknowledging the profound way China’s structures are changing, means missing much of the actual change that is taking place.
When I arrived a decade ago in China, I wondered whether there was something like a private economy. “How can you think that,” my Chinese friends told me. “This is a communist country, how can we have a private economy?” Still, they took me to many companies that smelled like private companies, acted like private companies, but mostly were called ‘collective’ companies.
In political discussion the issue of private companies popped up, but only in 1999 the central government said that companies should reregister under their truthful name, and suddenly a private economy emerged that was larger than the state-owned economy.
When I now ask whether a civil society is emerging, people react in a similar way. But I do see how the government is actively retreating from regulating the society in every detail, and how new ways to negotiate deals in this society emerge. Again, China does not have the regulations to deal with that civil society yet, but when it becomes strong enough it will officially emerge, and become part of the society.
When CELAP can facilitate the discussion about these new features that emerge in the Chinese society, the 800 million Renminbi spent on its beautiful building is well spend. It would explain also the enthusiasm of foreign academic institutions to set up affiliation with CELAP, and will explain why international students are eager to get their degrees also at this starting institute.

Fons Tuinstra
Also published at the blogger news.

economy - US tourist Blodget explores the Bund

Infamous former securities analyst Henry Blodget is continuing his investigation into the Chinese economy and has already visited the Bund, the China Digital Times discovered. I'm quite sure that average first-time tourists could beat his observations.

media - The monthly ban


The ministry of culture has issued a ban against slightly pornographic games, notes Danwei. In total about six games have been banned for upsetting some of China's most-upset officials.
The rather hapless ministry bans something on average once a month, issues a press release that is taken up by the Chinese media to illustrate how caring their government is, although it is unlikely that more action has been taken than issuing the press release.
Western media will report tomorrow then that an evil government is cracking down on the freedom of speech. All become a routine.

CELAP - Business leaders East and West share value systems

Professor Fu Pingping of the Chinese University in Hong Kong addres short a survey among business leaders. "While doing business in the Orient and the West has different, they did share their most important values," Fu said, without going into details. They shared both the five most important attributes, and the least desirable ones.
"Culture is harder to change than structure," Fu added, "but no culture is solid, it can be changed.

CELAP - SAIC dealing with globalization

"We cannot rely fully on foreign partners, and we cannot repel them," says Hu Maoyuan, CEO of SAIC addressing the way his company wants to globalize it operation. His company has joint ventures with both GM and Volkswagen. "We lack both the time and resources to develop our own brands in China," he added. Foreign partners would be concerned if he would set up his own operation, that might trigger off fears among the foreign partners. Hu: "We tried to ease those fears among our foreign partners."
Taking an investment of 10 percent in Korean automotive producer Ssangyong is the way SAIC wants to develop its own track in the international competition. In that way SAIC can use foreign expertise, without IPR infringements, another principle of the Shanghai-based company. Hu: "Again, we want to develop a win-win situation."

CELAP - Building a successful JV - SAIC

SAIC-CEO Hu Maoyuan tells the audiences in CELAP how to make his mostly 73 50/50 joint ventures successful in a country where many others fail. "Put the interest of our joint venture first, not those of the parent companies," Hu says.
Hu has been dealing with many conflicts between the foreign and Chinese staff. "We are a bit like the UN, that many nationalities we are dealing with."
Speaking with one voice, is important, Hu says. "We have to create a win-win situation for all of us." He recalls how many of the Chinese employees worked unpaid overtime to help the company work better. But the foreign managers were suspicious and thought they were conspiring against the foreigners. Hu moved in and made sure that everybody worked in a time, and made the different nationalities to work together, no longer activities by Chinese only.
SAIC is having JV's with both GM and Volkswagen in Shanghai.

CELAP - Hard to get rid of old traditions

Good morning from the new premisis of CELAP in Shanghai. After some interesting but rather general speeches on leadership, the mayor of Hangzou Sun Zhonghuan is trying to bore us to death at the leadership forum in Shanghai with his propaganda. Later the CEO of SAIC: there is still hope.

internet - More BBS' protests emerge

The Washington Post does a round-up of the protests against the restrictions on university BBS's nationwide and mentions a few events I have not yet seen reported elsewhere.

The effort appears to have provoked a backlash among students. On Tuesday, one
student disrupted a discussion at Beijing University to speak out against the new restrictions, kneeling and bowing several times when the moderator refused to call on him. The panelists, members of a national government advisory congress, intervened and heard the student out, according to one witness and accounts by others posted on the Internet.

While the protest on Friday by about 100 Tsinghua-students has been widely reported, I did not hear yet that also in Nanjing 200 students went out in protest, according to the Washington Post:

Another demonstration took place on Tuesday at Nanjing University west of Shanghai, where more than 200 students participated in an evening vigil around a
campus fountain, students said.

life - Just missed the NK premier
Pak Pong Ju
North Korean premier Pak Pong Ju visited this afternoon the site where the Communist Party has been established just after lunch, I read from dispatches from my colleagues who try to follow him. I was just returning from a lovely lunch myself with two colleagues at Simply Thai at the same Xintiandi, who had been picking my brain on weblogs in China.
Quite a difference in the way Shanghai is dealing with its official visitors, compared to the past. In the past the city would be flooded by police, who effectively changed the traffic for a few hours in a mess, so the motorcade could pass by. Now, I must have almost passed the premier and had not noticed it, if my colleagues had not posted their dispatches. Seems a rather uneventful visit anyway.

media - Marketing strategy for business paper

Earlier this month I reported how the China Business News was trying to increase their sales by handing out their daily paper for free. Despite the free offer, very few people took the paper and this morning the paper introduced a new marketing trick: a free pen. It still did not work, as far as I could see, but I took only a bit of time to watch the operation.

life - Lost in translation

Quality translations are sometimes very hard to get. Last week in Shantou we had two excellent translators from Shanghai. Yesterday, funny things happened. So, one of the vice presidents headed the department of "problem development" according to the translator. Must be the trouble maker in the party.

CELAP - A different style of party school

Xi Jieren

"Open and innovative," were two of the key words in the speech of Xi Jieren at the press conference today at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP). The about 800 million Renminbi (100 million US dolar) is on of three highly prestigous new training schools for government officials in China.

The academy is meant to impress, the huge buildings and hall have the same effect churces have on their visitors, they make you feel small. It can serve up to 1.200 students at the same time and has accomodation for 800, mostly director-generals, mayors, CEO's of state-owned companies and higher up.

"It is just another party school," said my more cynical colleague from an international newswire. "I wonder what kind of international students are interested in learning about the three represents?" But then it is a party school with international ambitions, holding a press conference and on Friday a high-profile public conference on leaders in a global world.

CELAP is very much a symbol of the strength of the one party-state, and of its ability to change its content without changing the labels. I asked of course about their BBS, but that was not yet around. Wireless access is, so on Friday I will most likely report from the site.

education - A lingdao training institute

CELAP in Pudong

Attending press conferences in China is not my favorite way to kill time, but it looks like I'm going to make an exception tomorrow, at the China Executive Leadership Academy in Pudong (CELAP) opens its doors. The Shanghai-based centre is set up by the central government to train its highest leaders, lingdao in Chinese.
For Friday a top-end conference including representatives of forty of the largest state-owned enterprises will discuss leadership in a changing societ, cultural pluralism and globalization. A fax I received today includeed a letter of invitation of its executive vice president Xi Jieren, suggesting I'm welcome on Friday.
Reason enough to go to the press conference and test their wireless access.

internet – Fighting a ban with humor and tags

The clampdown on China’s bulletin boards or BBS’s keeps on spreading over the internet combing both humor, new media tools and some gloomy prospects. Danwei summarizes here.
Isaac Mao answered questions of Rebecca MacKinnon in Global Voices and he expects also a clampdown on weblogs:

Not only BBS, but all internet sites are tightened by government in these days.
Even personal website with independant domain name should be declared before
June (see Zheng’s post)

Isaac is looking for strategies where blogs will be hosted on many servers, preferably outside China.
ESWN has been analyzing the ‘closure’ messages on different BBS’s and sees a wide variation of approaches. The SMTH Tsinghua BBS complies with the order, but reacts emotionally:

Accordingly, the BBS committee wishes to use this letter as a public notice and, at the same time, we ask all our users inside and outside the school to support the decisions of the BBS committee and love SMTH as you have done for the last ten years.During these ten years, many of our users have graduated from Tsinghua University and they have maintained their deep emotional attachment to SMTH. SMTH continues to be an important channel and source of information for them after they graduated.During these ten years, many non-Tsinghua users have also benefited from the scholarly and information platforms at SMTH.
Over these ten years, SMTH created a deep foundation for a scholarly board, and the contribution from the outside visitors have given SMTH a great reputation in the field of education.

They could have done very little apart from complying, writes ESWN. Students are now protesting with humor at the BBS, using ‘mis’-quotation from chairman Mao.
China Digital Times has the most complete overview of the situation.
The information office of the State Council has promised more openness. I know their head (formally he has the title minister) Zhao Qizheng from his time as vice-mayor at Shanghai and know he is up to the challenge. With the BBS’s he has a little issue to prove what his words are worth.

life - Dealing with the bureaucracy

Later today more about the BBS's, but first a report of a troublesome day with the bureaucracy. For one thing I admire those Chinese bureaucrates very much. They have a great talent in solving all those problems they have first created themselves.
Today I resumed my efforts to get a certificate that would state I have no criminal record. Earlier I got the basic form at the notary office in my district, and a friendly Mr. Wang had found out at what district police station I needed to get a chop for that form. At the Feng Lin police station again a friendly reception and they studied the paper I had taken along. They had never seen such paper before.
In the end the highest-in-charge decided he could not chop my paper, since I had no Shanghai hukou - the internal passport for Chinese citizens. That was of course not good enough for me and they tried to find out where I could get my paper chopped. The Xuhui court, they said after consulting with experts. I faced again the traffic jams and went to the court.
There they denied it was there business, and I should go back to the police station. I asked them to call the police station to make sure I would not go back for nothing. No problem, the official said after I saw him making the phone call. They would help me.
At the police station they were very friendly, offered me a seat and water, but felt increasingly uncomfortable, as I showed no intention to leave. I got there a call from a district police man who actually urged me to leave, but I intended to hang on until something happened. He suggested many other places I could visit too, but I stayed put. It worked out, not the immigration service, not the legal bureau and not a higher court could issue the chop. My friends at my danwei, the ministry of foreign affairs will. I will get a jar of tea and park myself there too for a morning.
"Things are much better than ten years ago," a lady told me in the police station. Of course they are.

internet - Surging traffic on my weblog

The first two months of this year, this weblog passed twice the threshold of 10,000 visitors, a record. But now March still has more than ten days to go, and I have passed the 10,000 visitors, while the daily average pendels between 500 and 700 in the past few weeks.
The rise is symbolic for the growing number of webloggers in China. The counter at cnblog.org is close to 700,000, but this is an automated feature, my estimation would be close to one million. Also at Sinoplice, the overview of English language weblogs is growing very fast, although that might also come because I have started their RSS feed to monitor the changes.
I have given up linking to all weblogs I can get my hands on, I only pick the more interesting ones, otherwise I would have to hire people to maintain my weblog.

internet - To the North Korean model


When you can read this, the situation might have cleared up, but I will most certainly not make any jokes about the North Korean model for the internet. After the uproar that started last week because of new restraints on BBS's I joked in one of the comments on this blog that only North Korea has found an effective way to keep its country closed: no access at all.
This morning I could not get access to almost anything here in Shanghai, just like a few of my colleagues. The internet had slowed down to a trickle, and of course I thought we had to deal with an upsurge in filtering activities that caused the internet to virtually close down.
While it supported my key argument, as an internet addict I was still not happy about the whole situation. Still not sure it is really nanny, I just skyped with a friend in the US (very few people today online) and she said it was a global problem, since the US also saw a slowdown. You can never be sure.
For more updates on the developments in China, you can follow this technorati-tag (thanks for the tip, Andrea).
Danwei points at this post by Isaac(whose RSS-feed does not work very well) who predicts more North-Korean like action in China, he qualifies as "red terrorism".

I wrote on CNBlog that not only BBS is dying in China as a majoy window to watch China's public voice, but also those centralized Blog hosting services. They are all very easy to be blocked or orderred to shut down by gov. I'm happy to see that more and more netcitzen and bloggers realized it and moving to more distributed blogging solutions.

Isaac fears that the weblogs hosted in China are going to be the next ones that will have to register and advises them to get a host abroad.

internet - Stream of comments on BBS-protest

another pic by Maomy

Comments on the restrictions of the BBS's at the larger universities keep on appearing on the internet. "I called a friend in Nanjing University yesterday," writes Amy Gu. She was really sad."Where could I check all the useful information(on the other BBS including SMTH ) later?"

"I guess Mr. Zhou Qi, Director of Ministry of Education(the one who announced the new rules of campus BBS), was one of the Tsinghua students, who benifited from using SMTH, before he got the admission from New York State University."

Danwei congratulates our internet nanny: "Way to go. You will chase away the finest minds of this generation!"

Technorati will generate more in the near future.

media - The tsunami conference in Shantou



A fare well picture, together with Andrew Lih (right), taken yesterday in the journalism school of Shantou University, just before I left the tsunami conference held there for Chinese journalists.

internet - BBS-protest in pictures

Protest at Tsinghua University
I missed in my original post the pictures of the student protest against the restrictions on their BBS's at Tsinghua University by Maomy. Fortunately, T-salon pointed at them directly. I expect more reports in the upcoming days, as details are still scatchy. While the traditional media are mostly very eager to pick up on protests in China, that does not seem to work over the weekend.

internet - My ten favorite places in Shanghai


Wang Jianshou told us about his favorite places in Shanghai, a thing that might come up in our next Shanghai webloggers meetup. Here is mine:

1. Favorite Starbucks: Xujiahui. Huge, much light and the possibility to sit outside when weather permits; rather quiet although in the middle of one of the busiest places
2. Favorite watering hole: Sasha's. Stylish, good service and a beautiful garden.
3. Favorite Xinjiang restaurant: Yishan Road 280; larger and cleaner than average and live music in addition to good food
4. Favorite subway station: Shanxi Lu; not because of the station, but because of the exit at the Parkson-side. An excellent place to observe people, how they behave and check the latest trends in fashion
5. Favorite park: Ruijin park. Nice a quiet place in the middle of a hectic city, reflecting it prosperous past
6. Favorite street: Hengshan Road. Best route to one of the nearest subway stations with many attractive side-streets that invite for a longer stroll.
7. Favorite club: the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club. One of the prime examples to show that you do not have to meet only business people in Shanghai
8. Favorite mode of transportation: the subway beats everything, as long as you live near one.
9. Favorite district: Xujiahui, almost everything you want on walking distance: subway, Hengshan Road, Sasha's and Starbucks.
10. Favorite supermarket: Carrefour. Despite great efforts of domestic supermarkets, Carrefour is offering an ideal combition of products and services both in and around the supermarket

travel - A civilian airport with military characteristics

A strange sound I noticed yesterday at the Shantou airport, as I was waiting for my return flight to Shanghai. A roaring engine, that did not sound like a civilian airplane. Moments later I saw about six fighter jets landing on the runway, I would use half an hour later to take off. Parachutes were used to reduce their speed while landing. Later the fighter jets passed the waiting hall and parked in front of a building next to it. I cannot remember I have seen this combined used of a civil airport being used by fighter planes before.

internet - Protest hit blogoshpere as BBS's restrict access

Students and other users of the popular bulletin boards started protests as access to this most used internet tools was restricted over the past week. Bulletin boards China-wide started in introduce different, but very restrictive measure to limit access by users from outside the universities. The BBS's allowed people to participate in debate anonymously and that explains part of their influence.
Bulletin boards in Beijing, Nanjing and Guangdong restricted the access to certain IP-addresses, started to require ID-cards or plainly cited 'technical problems' to take BBS's out of the air.
BBS's started to take down protest against the measure, but protest came out in different ways. Emails from universities suggest students havve been actively been protesting.