media - Authorities threathen illegal English language print publications

An official of the Administration of Press and Publications (APP) focused in a recent interview with state news agency Xinhua on the great number of illegal publications in English, targeting the lucrative market of expats and other foreigners in China.

APP deputy director Liu Binjie said Chinese law stipulates that no individual or organization is allowed to publish, print, circulate or import publications without official approval.
Liu, who is in charge of the country's struggle against pornographic and illegal publications, warned that some foreign language publications aimed mainly at foreigners working in China are illegal because they are either not officially approved or published through illegal channels.

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internet - China's largest internet trial

Hefei, Anhui, earlier this week

A row of defendants, facing trial in the capital of Anhui province, Hefei, earlier this week, the largest case against internet users ever in China, reports the always diligent ESWN, who also has a long list of references to media reports.

Demographically, most of the defendants are high school graduates and five of them have university experience. For example, one defendant is a fourth-year-student majoring in mathematics/applied mathematics at the Shandong Institute of Technology; another defendant is a teacher at Number 8 Secondary School in the city of Shangqiu, Henan province.

Many of the defendants knew each other only over the internet and met for the first time during the trial. The case was widely reported in the Chinese media, but Western media kept silent. Why? There internet users were no political activists, but made money with porn. The initial free website www.99bbs.com was founded in 2002 by a 19-year old Fujian resident Wang Rong, who is still at large in the US. Because the servers were located in the US, it was out of reach for Chinese law enforcement. In 2003 it switched to porn and a year later it became a paid service. ESWN:

As a whole, the web site has more than 300,000 registered users who logged more than 400 million hits. As of 5 pm on November 15, 2004, the computer records show that the pornographic section had 75,772 registered users. It had 42,705 pornographic pictures which had been viewed a total of 32,734,600 times; there were 4,784 pornographic articles, which had been viewed a total of 24,340,060 times; there were 4,094 pornographic movies, which had been viewed 1,900,525 times. The brothel directory section had 47,452 registered users, with 207 web pages which had viewed 252,731 times. It is statistics such as these that have caused the media to label this as the greatest Internet criminal trial in Chinese history.

What the ESWN-dispatch otherwise shows is how powerless Chinese authorities are when it concerns "internet-related crimes". Summary of a summary, originating from Xinhua:

1. Since Internet technology is diversified and changing, it is difficult to block illegal websites.
2. Since the Internet service providers can see the high revenues from the web sites, some of these providers have formed business partnerships with the web sites and then they made it difficult for law enforcement to obtain criminal evidence.
3. The related laws are incomplete, so that it is difficult to determine the legality of web sites.
4. The public security bureau only has a small professional staff and therefore suffers from lack of manpower and technology. Since the telecommunications and Internet service providers are not cooperating, the staff is having a tough enough time trying to block these web sites and there is no time left to spend on collecting evidence and prosecuting these operators. The battle is being lost if they can only block one web site at a time.

Making money on the internet

life - Debunking the guanxi-nonsense at CNN

Jeremy at Danwei again rightfully curses CNN for not helping the business travellers in China to understand this country. It is just amazing to see with what a load of bullshit they still think they can get away with. An example of the whole nonsense you find here.

Once initial contact is made, building a close relationship with business associates is key. Unlike in the Western world, the Chinese are unlikely to enter into business until a personal relationship, or "guanxi" has been established. Friendships may be cultivated at business dinners and goodwill expressed through the giving of small gifts.

Let me assure you that giving big gifts works much better. The bigger the business, the bigger the gifts. Building up relationships is in China as important as it is elsewhere. But unlike many other countries, because Chinese tend to be more social than, say, Dutch, building up those relationships is not your main problem in China. To close with Danwei:

That looks real helpful. And it reassures us of the high quality we can expect from CNN's 'Eye on China' — a whole week of China coverage centred on the FORTUNE Global Forum in Beijing next week.

Here is more on guanxi.

life - How to kill your husband


Last night I joined a large crowd for a Chinese premiere of "High crimes in Shanghai", a new documentary by Sylvie Levey. The movie focuses on three female inmates in the Songjiang prison in Shanghai. It is a compelling document of the prison system in China, and I'm not going to summerize it, that would always be very inadequate. The way how Levey is able to show the emotions of the three inmates, in a dehumanized surrounding, is quite amazing.
It all plays in a model-prison in Shanghai, not really an average one. And we see how prisoners get awarded for their behavior, while we do not see the punisments. Cels to isolate prisoners were there, but the film crew was not even allowed to have a look at them. But still, it shows the system how it is meant to be, and that is as far as I know the first time for a foreign crew.
Apart from a small countries, the rest of the world has to for the French sponsor of the documentary to air it possibly in June, then it can be released to the rest of the world too.
One of the discussions in the after-session was about the large number of women being in prison for killing their husbands. While things do improved in terms of help that is available compared to ten, twenty years ago, many women see no other way out than after being mistreated, threathened than to kill, and they are being shot or get in the best case life.
"We have even books on how to kill a husband," told a Chinese - female - friend who also attended the viewing. Must be a bestseller, I suggested. "Not really," she said with a mean smile. "It is all common knowledge, we do not need those books."

Books on Chinese prisons

book - Talking on 'networks in China'



The Benelux Business Association has kindly asked me to address their breakfast meeting on coming Thursday. I will talk about two of the fifteen misunderstandings I describe in my book (only available in German and Dutch, perhaps later this year in English). I will focus on a part of the guanxi-discussion and talk about networks in China and how that relates to the way the government works (and sometimes not works).
It will be a tough call, the meetings starts at 7:30 AM at the JW Marriot Hotel at Nanjing West Road. When you are interested and want to attend, please write to the GM of the BBA. Costs for non-members 200 Rmb.

media - Nieman Foundation pulls out of China program Harvard



The Nieman Foundation for journalism at Harvard University has pulled out of the planned program for Chinese officials who will be trained to deal with media ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after a stir emerged among its former fellows, AP reports.

Bob Giles, curator of the foundation, decided to end the partnership after Nieman alumni raised concerns last weekend about the Chinese government's history of media oppression.

The program still will take place. As said before, I would great encourage this kind of exchange, since that is the only way to start a dialog about the differences between the media systems and what is the best way to change them. But journalists tend to be rather conservative in this approach and have not really an idea about how fast China is changing - although there is still much room for improvement. Same goes for the international trade unions, but that is another story.

Addition: Bill Bishop says it even stronger in his weblog. I always feel reluctant to mess around with other country's internal affairs. :-)

Perhaps those same Western journalists should take courses in how to avoid continually and credulously regurgitating White House propaganda.

Books on Beijing Olympics

media – Another That’s story
A cover of That's

Former That’s Shanghai-owner Mark Kitto was last week again the talk of the town as the Financial Times published his story (here republished by Danwei) on how he was forced out of the media business in China. Maria Trombly asked Kitto’s former business partner Kathleen Lau about her take on the story. Lau sold her share in the company in 2001 to Kitto. Here a short excerpt of their email exchange.
Lau is very critical about the media coverage up to now: “Unfortunately, the western press has chosen only to talk to Mark and not seek out anyone else that was involved. The third business partner, whose name is still on the company formed with Mark that signed the contract with the government partner, has never been contacted by any journalists. Everyone simply bought into the story that Mark founded the magazine by himself. Notone person thought to check this out. This is false.” And about what happened after the conflict emerged and much of the staff walked out: “None of the people left with Mark. After working alongside his staff for years, they all picked off the spoils of That’s Shanghai. This is extremely sad.”

Q: Was Mark Kitto badly treated and forced out of That’s Shanghai?
Lau: In the case of That’s Shanghai, the government partner owned the publishing permit for That’s Shanghai, and Mark's company wrote, produced, sold ads and made the money. They paid the government a monthly fee for the use of the name. There is an exclusive contract.When the government partner used the That’s Shanghai content to produce their own [new publication] That's China, it is….. a violation of their trust. Unfortunately, there was no clause in the contract to this affect – a loophole. Stilll, this is bad business practice on the part of the government and Mark had the right to pursue his grievance.However, he chose instead to pursue a covert deal with Tom.com. Secret memos were sent to senior managers asking their support to stop producing the magazine under the That's name, and to produce it under another magazine name. No changes in content or format, just a change in the name ….. This too is in violation of the contract….
(Word leaked out and that was reason for the government partners to oust Mark Kitto.)
Lau: The story could have gone another way. Had Mark succeeded, the government partners would have suddenly found itself without a magazine, and another magazine with the exact content and format appear under a different name. In this case, could you say they were badly treated?To me, this was a case of one bad business maneuver being out-maneuvered by another. It was a race to see who could outdo whom first and Mark lost. Didthe government partner have an unfair advantage? Probably. In any business fight you have to access your opponent. In this case, the gov't was much bigger than him.If Mark were fighting with Tom.com or any other company, he would probablyhave lost too.Q: Was his later business venture unethically undermined?Lau: Unfortunately for Mark, Voyage magazine did not have a magazine permit. … In China, publishing a magazine without a permit is illegal. Is this governmentcontrol. Yes. Is it unethical? No…In the U.S. one cannot walk down the street with an opened liquor bottle, in China, it is legal. The laws in the two countries are different. Whatever your feelings about them, they are still law that has to be abided by if you live in that country.
Q: Is there reason for foreign parties to fear investments in this sector where government control and interference is the primary issue?
Lau: There is not one industry in this country that did not start out with a required "joint-venture" set up. Even 5-star hotels used to require that 100% ownership revert to the Chinese partners after 5 years!!! Today, there are foreign wholly owned hotels. China "releases" every industry carefully, seeing what can go wrong and how to maintain growth without losing control. The media industry is in transition. Contrary to what the article states, publishing in China is getting easier, not harder. Witness the numbers of other English magazines coming onto the market. Now, there's even a Spa magazine. This does not even include the Chinese magazines being published by foreign companies. Their numbers will only increase.

Books on media in China

economy – Two golden weeks to buy your real estate

Stringent measures to curb speculation in real estate offer home buyers a two week’s window of opportunity, writes real estate consulent Sam Crispin in Chinabiz today. From June 1 a new tax of five percent of the total sales value on properties will be implemented for real estate bought and sold within two years.
While it does not affect the owners who are living in apartments themselves, speculators might be hard hit and try to get rid of much of their property before June 1.

A short term sell off does seem inevitable and thus price falls at heat comes out of the market. Anyone looking for a bargain may like to try picking something up before the end of this month, sellers could well be rather flexible to avoid paying caught up in the tax trap, but better be quick. In other cases some buyers might… simply try to add the news costs onto the sales prices, but are unlikely to get away with that one.

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media - What went wrong with the Rmb story

The story in the People's Daily yesterday about the planned revaluation of the renminbi, denied later, has caused quite some upheaval. Bloomberg sent the initial story into the financial world, causing an estimated US$ 2 billion in transactions and many angry faces as it proved to be wrong.
Andrew Browne of the WSJ has an excellent wrap-up (subscription needed) of the story and this is what he says about the role of the newswires:

Bloomberg defended its handling of the story. "If China's government newspaper runs a story saying China is relaxing its currency peg, that is big news, and it's natural that it should be on Bloomberg," said Judith Czelusniak, Bloomberg's spokeswoman in New York. "We'd be remiss in not reporting it," she said. When the People's Daily announced their story was a poor translation "we reported that immediately," she added.
Reuters added to what turned out to be a chain of confusion. At one point, it flashed the news that Bloomberg was quoting the People's Daily as reporting a yuan appreciation.

I think they should have more clear that this was only a very dodgy story, even when published in the People's Daily.

internet - Google China office merely a meeting room



The publicity storm about Google entering the China market seems to have been a bit of storm in a cup of water. The first questions on how large their China operation would be were raised by Danwei, who pointed out that the 'representative office' they are going to open would not really be able to do any business in Renminbi, and castigated Reuters for sloppy reporting.
It now seem that Google is only opening a representative office, that will merely function as a meeting room for passying-by employees. None of its employees will even work fulltime in China, according to the company spokeswoman.
Now, I wonder why all those media (and weblog's of course) have been spilling to much energy on what is going to be an expensive meeting room?


Books on Google

internet - The Guardian and the Google discussion



The Guardian picked up my entries on the Google Webaccelerator, who is unfortunately not accepting new users anymore. What I find interesting to see all those opinions in the comments of people who are living in an uncensored world.
For me the system is working excellent, but got many emails from people who were unfortunately too late to download it. I have discussed the official announcement that Google stopped new applications because of capacity problems, but engineers denounce that as nonsense. So, it would be interesting to see how things develop further, while I enjoy my new tool.
Regarding the Google venture in China is this rant by Danwei useful to follow, who raises a couple of valid questions, like why they set up a representative office in China if they want to do business, since a rep office cannot do business, cannot have a bankbook and not deal with the Renminbi. Sounds like a mistake by the reporting journalists or a screw-up by Google. We will keep following this.

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history - Chinese originate from Africa, not Peking man

Peking man

More rewriting of history books is in the air as a team from Fudan University - part of an international group - has discovered that the Chinese do not originate from the Peking man but from Africa, like we all do. Originally from the Ming Pao Daily in Hong Kong:

Based on DNA analyses of 100,000 samples gathered from around the world, a
number of human families, including the ancestors of black, brown, white and yellow people, evolved in East Africa some 150,000 years ago, said Li Hui-gen, a member of [the] team.
About 100,000 years ago, some of those humans began to leave Africa, with the yellow people moving to China via South and Southeast Asia, Li claimed.

Seems we have more in common than we thought. If it is true, of course.

On human origin

media - As expected: no revaluation

The People's Daily screwed up, as we learned later last night, when it mistranslated an article that suggested a revaluation of the renminbi next week, it admitted in a fax to Bloomberg. But it was enough to get the financial market into high gear, noted Bloomberg. Financial and media websites all over the world carried the initial story.
It is very similar to an incident in the second half of the 1990s when the China Daily had an article on the same issue, where one out of three economists defended a revaluation. Since the China Daily was then still perceived as having an official status, alarms went off in the financial world.
The media are mostly trying to move away from this 'official' status, although in real life it is the connection with the government, more than anything else, that defines the influence of media in China. Especially the People's Daily of course, as the national paper of the Communist Party still has this position.

economy - People's Daily announces revaluation?

Never seens such a crazy piece, but this is what you get if journalists have no clue what a revaluation means. After a decade, they got out of practise. As a principle, you do not announce this a week ahead, even not an hour ahead, to avoid speculation. So what to think of this lead in a Bloomberg dispatch.

China will loosen the yuan's fixed- exchange rate for the first time in a decade, according to the online edition of the People's Daily, a Communist Party-owned newspaper. The paper didn't say where it got the information.

I could not find the article in the People's Daily right away, but this is very weird. There are two possibilities, it is true or it is not true. When it is true, it might trigger off a rush that will force the financial authorities to delay any revaluation. Bloomberg has more details:

The yuan will be allowed to rise or fall from 1.26 percent to 6.03 percent ``in a span of one month and one year'' after a meeting next week between U.S. and Chinese officials, according to the People's Daily Online. The currency has been pegged at about 8.3 per dollar since 1995. A central bank spokesman declined to comment. The yen strengthened against the dollar and the euro after the report.

It simply does not fit with other articles in the People's Daily like this one.

meetup - What were they talking about?

Hu and Bush in Moscow

And in what language, wonders China Snippets. Talking relaxed without aides seems to be new for both gentlemen. Wonder whether the lipreaders could make anything out of it?

Books on George Bush

economy - No pain, no gain at the stockmarket

A third day of falling share prices at the stock markets in China after the regulatory body started to sell off the non-tradable shares in state-owned companies on Monday. Consensus seems to be growing among experts that this excercise is really needed to improve the long-term performance of the stock markets.
In the Financial Times of today:

"It will be a case of short-term pain, long-term gain," said Stephen Green, an economist at Standard Chartered in Shanghai. "If you are going to try and address this issue, then they are going about it the right way." It was highly unlikely there would be a sustained drop in the market as a result of the share-sale programme, he said.
Zhao Danyang, a fund manager at Guotai Junan Asset Management in Shenzhen, said the trial reform was a long-term positive for the stock market. "But the corporate governance structure can't be improved overnight. It takes time."

Some measures have been taken to mitigate the pain. New IPO's will be most likely halted for the months to come and one of the four first companies to list their two-third non-tradable shares offered compensation to its current shareholders for possible losses.

Stephen Green on the stock market

media - Nieman training program for Chinese officials causes a stir


The intention of several Harvard institutions, including the Nieman Foundation, to conduct a media training for Chinese officials involved in handling the media during the 2008 Olympics has quite a stir among previous fellows, all journalists, of the Foundation, according to the New York Times today. The officials want to get a better understanding of how the American media work ahead of this prestegious event.
The event was disclosed this weekend, as former fellows gather for a meeting and asked questions. The curator Bob Giles confirmed the Nieman Foundation was involved in the eigth-day program. The New York Times:

"The reaction was visceral right off the bat," Mr. Berkes said yesterday. He said he objected to lending the program's good name to a repressive government to teach tactics that could be used to thwart reporters. "The major interest of the Chinese will be to limit damaging news coverage," he said.

Eugene Carlson, a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, said the concern was as much with educating Chinese officials "about how to duck questions" as it was
with Mr. Giles's decision to involve the foundation.

The officials will be paying for the training course.

I do not agree with the Pavlov-reaction of the quoted journalists. What China is dearly missing is more exposure to the rest of the world, especially when it concerns the media. That is one of the reason why I think it is important to join this kind of meetings and participate in it. Of course, it does make a difference whether you are training journalists or officials, but both need it very much.

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media - SCMP gets lost in the new media revolution

"They call it a podcast," commented Andrea Leung (t-salon) just now in a chat. Traditional media are not very fast in learning that the media world is changing dramatically, but the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post is ignoring the new media revolution say friend and foe of the paper.
They still think that paid-access is a way to run a media website, have no RSS-feeds and they seems to be the only Hong Kong medium that did not feature weblogs yet.
So, it was strange to find suddenly a 'podcast' announced at their home page. It seemed an initiative of their technology desk, but since it is also lacking an RSS-feed, it might be hard to get a podcasting audience. "A blogger can do it better," says Andrea about their podcast. You can decide yourself.

books on new media

Protest - Greetings from Huashui (part II)

After the riot

The Dutch reporter Hans Moleman visited the rebellious Zhejiang village Huashui two weeks after villagers chased away the local government as it tried to break up a blockade against polluting chemical factories. The demonstrators are still going strong, Moleman reported this weekend in this paper, adding must flavor to earlier stories. Parts of his report, roughly translated from Dutch: (part I is here)

Two weeks after the battle the tents are still standing next to the factory and a huge concrete pole blocks the road. Next to the main tent, partly in a ditch, a black van of Max Chemical Company stands still where it landed after it tried to pass the blockade, the window smashed, tires destroyed.
The village reacts enthusiastically when their foreign visitor arrives. People wave and keep on telling their message. “You have to tell the government in Beijing they have to help us,” says some of the women. (snip)
Last year they also demonstrated against the factory, they explain. Then all the men were arrested. So, now old people and women took the lead. “They do not dare to take us on like they did with the men.”
The protestors of Huashui are the simple people of the country side, with their often worn out clothes. But they are no poor farmers. The houses in the villages show a certain wealth: they are solid buildings with often three storey’s. This is Zhejiang, the richest province of China (that is too much, Hans – FT), on a few hours drive from Shanghai. This is an emerging middle class, annoyed with the quality of the local government. Untrustworthy grabbers are they, says one grandma, while a crowd surrounding the visitors cheers. “I will tell you exactly how these things work. The bosses of the Party in Dongyang own a part of the factory. That is why they do not want to stop the pollution! That would cost them money and would stop them from making a profit. They all cover each other, drive is big cars, and meanwhile they poison our village.”
A few women show their lots of land close to the factory with their black, poisoned crop. From one of the chimneys smoke emerges. “You see, the factory is still continuing,” says one of the protestors.
When we walk to the river, two men on scooters come out of a gate of the Max Chemical. They keep a distance. “They belong to the municipality, they keep an eye on us.”
When we near our car, one of the men on scooters writes down our license plate and talks into a mobile. Our driver gets nervous. “We have to get out here. Just call your embassy to be sure. There is only one way back to Dongyang, perhaps the police will stop us there.”
In a hurry, our driver starts driving on the concrete road. The men on scooters follow us, talking into their mobiles. When we leave Huashui, our driver speeds, turns into a side road when the scooters are out of sight. (snip)
“Last year, five disabled children were born in our village,” says one of the old women on the barricade. “It must be the factory, we never had that kind of things before.” But didn’t the government say the Max Chemical Company will close and promised compensation for the victims?
“Do you really think we believe that kind of promises? We only leave the barricade when the factory is really closed and we have the money.”
And: “We have no fear anymore. We have won once; we have chased away the mayor and his forces. They cannot seek revenge. We are old people and will be dead very soon anyway. We are doing this for our children and grandchildren. People first, has our president Hu told us. We just remember him to his word. He should protect us, not the bosses.”

On protests in China

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law - Documentary on Songjian women's prison



Another great event by the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents' Club (SFCC) on Thursday 12 May: a viewing of Sylvie Levey's documentary "High Crimes in Shanghai", about the Songjian Women's Prison. A remarkable achievement to get access there!
From the invitation:

An Liu-long, one of 900 women housed at the Sonjiang prison tells her story, under the surveillance of the guards, and so illuminates the issues of violence towards women, the difficulties of migrant workers and the temptation that crime poses in their struggle to survive.
Exceptionally the film also reveals the daily routine of a Chinese prison; life in cells, compulsory work, military discipline alternating with leisure time and the famous “gai zao” – the surprisingly paternalist re-education of the soul.
Despite not yet having been broadcast in France “High Crimes” has already rewarded Sylvie Levey’s two years of negotiations to get it made by winning the Best

Sylvie made this other great documentary about colonel Jin Xin, China's first transexual. For details, please contact the event organizer Michael Mackey.

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economy - Shares enter free fall

Shanghai stock markets

Shares at the domestic stock markets entered into a free fall after trade reopened after the May holidays. The long anticipated drop was triggered off by the permission to sell the previously non-tradable shares of four state-owned companies, the start of much more.
Value of shares fell ten percent - the maximum change allowed on one day - within the first 30 seconds of trade. The financial authorities do need a strong stomach in the coming weeks.

Books on China's stock exchange

Protest – Greetings from Huashui (part I)

After the riot

The Dutch reporter Hans Moleman visited the rebellious Zhejiang village Huashui two weeks after villagers chased away the local government as it tried to break up a blockade against polluting chemical factories. The demonstrators are still going strong, Moleman reported this weekend in this paper, adding must flavor to earlier stories. Parts of his report, roughly translated from Dutch:

They came under the cover of the night, using the long concrete road from the city Dongyang. At five in the morning a long motorcade entered the village. Most of the villagers were still asleep, but woke up as soon as the rumor went around. They are here, come to help us!
It was a strange group of people getting of the busses at the Huashui Middle School that had been set up as a command post by the local government. Official of the transport bureau, the construction bureau, the land office, yes, even members of the Women’s Federation were mobilized, together with a unit of the riot police.
Their task: to sort out the rebellious village. To clear the tents die that been blocking access roads to the Max Chemical Company for two week, a factory owned by the mayor. They were still sleepy, the auxiliary forces of the mayor. Most of them did not want to do this job, one of the auxiliary police men later told his friend in the village. “But the head of the departments and party official had appointed the volunteers. And then you have to, otherwise you lose your job and your house.” He got a uniform coat, a helmet, a truncheon and a shield. Do not use for, just intimidate, was their assignment, It Is only old women in those tents, and they will run away when they see us.
It all went very differently. After the morning fog disappeared on that April 10, Huashui was celebrating a victory. The peaceful eviction developed into a battle, and the villagers had won. Thousands of people from the valleys had come to the barricade; with stones and sticks they chased the local authorities away. Thirty three auxiliary agents needed treatment in a hospital, many left their uniforms behind as they fled. An angry mob turned cars from party members upside down at the school yard, windows of busses were smashed.
A few days before the local government had sent a letter to the village, with the urgent appeal to stop the mutiny. That letter is very telling about the relation between the Chinese state and its citizens. The authorities fear the people, are aware of the mistrust towards the ruling power.

“Dear villagers, the standard of living at the country side has improved, but some people are misusing your goodness. They want to disturb our good life and stop our development.
“To restore order and a stable, safe and harmonious life in Huashui, we have to do the following: “A harmonious society asks for a collective effort; please trust your government and support us in sorting out any problems; 2. Building tents is illegal and makes no sense. It makes children to stay away from school and stops farmers from working. Please stop doing this. 3. We have to convince the old women in the tents they have to go home. These women are weak and all this is bad for their health 4. Be alert and do not listen to a few evil people with hidden agenda’s. We have to get them into our circle so they can help our village again.”

Tomorrow: the situation in Huashui after two weeks

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China Herald Angel investor service

A market place for great projects, looking for initial investment

A medical trade magazine with great future in China looks for an angel investor for USD 200,000. Interested? Ask for more details at the new angel-investor service of the China Herald.
(Having a great idea for a business in China and looking for exposure to get seed money? Try this 'no cure, no pay' service by the China Herald.

business - What is this angel investor service about?

A short explanation of the test with the China Herald Angel investor service that started today, so I do not have to write too many individual emails. While China is booming and money is floating around, many bright business ideas (including a few of myself) find it rather hard to get funded, I discovered. Sometimes because they are too small for the professional VC's, sometimes because many bright ideas are not about semi-conductors and just fall out of the scope of many investors.
There are also enough individuals around who do not mind to invest in some of those bright ideas, if they believe in it themselves. As we discovered the hard way: having a bright idea is not enough to generate revenue.
But it seems worthwhile to see whether it can work. What is the procedure? First, you have to convince me your idea makes sense. Since I do not put money in it myself, that should be doable unless it is really a crazy idea. Then I put up an ad that should convince smaller investors. And then the real work starts. Of course, the service is not for free, but packages can be developed depending on the situation of your project. Here is our first example:

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China Herald Angel investor service

Market place for great projects, looking for initial investment

A medical trade magazine with great future in China looks for an angel investor for USD 200,000. Interested? Ask for more details at the new angel-investor service of the China Herald.
(Having a great idea for a business in China and looking for exposure to get seed money? Try this 'no cure, no pay' service by the China Herald.

internet - Bridging the digital divide



The Shanghai Foreign Correspondents' Club is organizing on the 19th of this month a meeting that seems very attractive, but since I will be in Brussels then, I would have to rely on others to blog this meeting. (Their website is not updated so has no relevant information).
Kenny Lin, now CEO of Town and Talent Technologies (TTT) is trying to bridge the digital divide between the Yellow Sheep River village in Gansu province and the rest of the world. Dr. Lin writes:

"We have installed IT-school computer classrooms. This gave the opportunity to villagers to be trained in computer classes, build their own websites and start e-business. This charity-motivated project has led to a $20M business investment, which has enabled the operation to now encompass more than 100 duplications of the original success at Yellow Sheep River Village, and the building of the Yellow Sheep River International Convention Centre. I will explain how the "social entrepreneur" business approach is demonstrating that "charity" investment can turn a profit thus enabling the establishment and sustaining of "digital centres" in the digital divided regions. The company's mission is to expand its operations to over 1000 places and employ 10,000 digital workers, thus not only living up to its name: "One Thousand Towns and Ten Thousand Talents" but showcasing poverty elimination by means of bridging the digital divide.

Write to Elyn for more information on this event.

Books on digital divide

internet - My speed has accelerated



My colleague at the office just complained about the slow speed of the internet today: this Sunday is the first working day after the May holiday. In the past few days I have been concentrating on the ability of the Google Web Accelerator to make our internet nanny oblivious, but it also improves my overal access to the internet greatly. The little icon that says I have now saved more than 14 hours of surfing might be all to obvious propaganda, but it really works.
I advised my colleague to download the service, but Google has already stopped new applicants, their website says now. The service has reached the maximum number of users it can support.

(commercial)

China Herald Angel investor service

A market place for great projects, looking for initial investment

A medical trade magazine with great future in China looks for an angel investor for USD 200,000. Interested? Ask for more details at the new angel-investor service of the China Herald.
(Having a great idea for a business in China and looking for exposure to get seed money? Try this 'no cure, no pay' service by the China Herald.

(commercial)

China Herald Angel investor service

A market place for great projects, looking for initial investment

A medical trade magazine with great future in China looks for an angel investor for USD 200,000. Interested? Ask for more details at the new angel-investor service of the China Herald.
(Having a great idea for a business in China and looking for exposure to get seed money? Try this 'no cure, no pay' service by the China Herald.