Two concepts that foreigners are always told about are “Face” and “Guanxi”. “Face” is usually explained as not embarrassing people. It seems that every business book about China makes a point of explaining that you cannot point out workers mistakes, because it will cause them to “lose face,” which would be a great embarrassment. “ [...] Keep reading »

We’ve seen how limited interconnectedness and a lack of communication have been causing problems in China’s banks and hospitals. Today I want to bring up a third trend that is critical to understanding how China works. China’s Government This might not be a popular view in the West, but China’s National government has created some excellent [...] Keep reading »

Yesterday, we looked at some of the banking problems in China. Today we are going to start to see a trend; institutions in China are poorly connected at best. This affects hospitals abilities to effectively treat diseases, and provide responsible treatments. Before we start it is important to understand that China does not have family doctors, almo [...] Keep reading »

Throughout the economic downturn China has kept huge numbers of people employed by starting massive infrastructure projects. They’ve built hundreds of miles of high-speed rail, started construction on new subway lines, and have worked on improving the freeway system. It seems China has all the infrastructure it could ever need, maybe even more th [...] Keep reading »

This week’s story brings an old story back to the front page. China and Japan are quarreling over the fishing boat accident again, that happened late in 2010. This time Japan has sent the fishing boat captain a letter for the repairs to their coast guard boats. You probably heard about this story, because as it escalated China stopped trading [...] Keep reading »

A topic I have been fascinated with recently is trying to figure out what China’s long-term goal is concerning North Korea. I can tell you China would probably say North Korea is a sovereign nation, and that they would never interfere with their internal affairs. It’s a pretty safe guess because that’s China’s stance on just about every [...] Keep reading »

Last year I had the rare treat of watching North Korea play Myanmar at the Asia Women’s Cup in Chengdu (I ended up rooting for Myanmar because they were the underdogs). I attended the game with two of my close friends, and it ended up leading to an interesting discovery. I had asked what I hoped sounded like an innocent question, “How does Chin [...] Keep reading »

In China I often hear opinions stated as facts, so today I present to you: The two best Chinese poets, Li Bai and Dufu. These two are known by virtually all Chinese people, regardless of their level of education. I have chosen a few of their best short poems for you to read today to introduce you to some of the finer things in Chinese culture. A fe [...] Keep reading »

This week brings a look again at pollution in China with a story from the Guardian. So despite all the talk of China winning the battle for Green Energy (which I don’t believe), China’s carbon dioxide emissions increased more than any other country in the world. China’s total emissions are now greater than Europe, Africa, Latin America, and S [...] Keep reading »