About China blogosphere, travel, and entrepreneurship

Via Twitter and YouTube, I’ve been following Christine Lu, founder of China Business Network, on her first week back in Shanghai. Her vlog is a great resource for people and companies who are considering entering the China market. Subscribe to her feed now .

Here’s a quick guide to the interviews and what I thought were the most interesting points. I only embedded a few videos…just follow the links to Christine’s blog!

Erica Kerner, Director of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games for Adidas

• Christine’s posts here, here, and here.
• Background: 15+ years in Greater China, 10 years in Shanghai. “Shanghai is my home.”
• There are interesting challenges for consumer marketers reaching the domestic China markets. Huge intergenerational differences exist between the grandparents who went through the Cultural Revolution; parents who are getting their “first everything” - first car, first apartment; and kids who have everything as soon as they are born.

Jeff Hu, CEO of HealthOne.cn

• Christine’s post here
• Relationships are important in business worldwide. But in China, there is a “duality” between those you hold in your “inner circle” and those outside. Those in your “inner circle” will do anything for each other, but if you are not in that “inner circle” then you are “s*** on a stick”
• This duality made sense in a resource poor, people abundant country like China. You can’t spread your resources too thin.
• Advice for people considering China market entry. Do NOT try to “make a big splash”, but take a step by step, cautious approach.
• If your prospective Chinese partner thinks they have the upper hand, expect long, protracted negotiations.

Todd Anthony Tyler, Fashion Photographer

• Christine’s posts here, here, here and here.
• In the creative field, you can add value as a foreigner because you bring an “outside influence” and a perspective on trying to create something special, not just focusing on making money.
• Foreign creatives may come from an upbringing infused with a cultural milieu that brings a different eye to creative challenges.

Jay Zhou, graphic designer

• Christine’s posts here, here, here, and here . Also you can watch Jay get a tattoo here!
• She believes many Westerners still have a perception of China as in the “old times”, all the men with long hair, (like in Kung Fu times?!).
• Opportunity for foreigners is to bring creativity and a fresh perspective. The education system in China is very “traditional.”
• Advice to foreigners: learn the language, learn the food, and treat Chinese as equals.

Shaun Rein, founder and CEO of China Market Research Group (CMR)

• Christine’s posts here, here, here, here, and here.
• US perceptions are shaped by US mainstream media, like the Wall Street Journal or New York Times. You have to take into account the “ulterior motives” of US media (what are these, Shaun?) to take into account their editorial bias.
• China is entering a new phase. In 1997, it was mostly a producer, export-led economy. Today, 2008, domestic consumption is fueling growth. This has led to the need for CMR’s market research services.
• Significant change in Chinese attitude. In 1997, there was a feeling of pessimism: “we are behind, and we need to catch up to the West.” Today, 2008, there is a much more optimistic feeling. “Every expects their paycheck to go up, for there to be more.”
• Role of foreigners: (1) Provide broader perspective. Shaun does not agree with the point that “everything is different in China” so international experience can be applied. (2) Represent corporate culture. He used the example of Goldman Sachs. In order to use your corporate culture as an advantage, you need to bring that into the local market through people familiar with the home office.
• Shaun also talks about the need for empowered local management with home office credibility so that can move quickly to respond to the market and not be second-guessed.

Tracy Deng, VP of Marketing, Tudou

• First Christine shows a little bit of the Tudou office, which looks a bit like the Facebook offices in Palo Alto. Then she lets Tracy introduce herself. Tracy then shares her opinion on the differences between foreign and homegrown Chinese startups. She goes on to talk about where foreigners can be most useful in China.
• This is by far the most interesting interview to me, for some reason.
• Tudou is now the #1 video sharing site (aka “the YouTube of China) with 53% user share, 60 MM unique visitors/month, and 10 MM unique visitors/day.
• Leadership was due to first mover advantage. They started out with students but now have user demographics similar to the internet at large in China: 46% female, geographic and income mix similar to overall China internet, strength in 20-30 year olds.
• Customer acquisition purely through word of mouth.
• Differences between Foreign-run (MNC) and homegrown China startups. Even though staff is comparable in quality and background:
• Difference 1 - Mindset - startups have a survival mindset, and feel like they have to grow or die. MNC employees work as employees but startup employees take ownership.
• Difference 2 - Strategic Importance - Multinationals consider China “part of their globalized strategy” and part of the future, so “lets give it a try.”
• Difference 3 - Decision making and independence - Multinationals may put their local teams on a short leash and not allow them to make decisions independently.
• How foreigners can be successful - bring a new perspective, seek new opportunities, and be creative. Areas where foreigners have been most successful (in her mind) is fashion, design, and art.

Siok Siok Tan, Award Winning Filmmaker

• Christine’s posts are here, here, and here.
• Background: from Singapore, lived in China for 5-6 years
• She is working on a project called Boomtown Beijing
• She believes that Western POV is shaped by a very narrow range of information about China, with little showing modern China or “people having fun”…mostly covering people in China under “extreme conditions.”
• Role of foreigner in China is to “represent a system of knowledge” based on language, culture, and upbringing. This is hard to replicate. So it is true that “more people in China speak English” but that doesn’t mean foreigners can’t play a role.
• The job of foreigners is to “transmit this knowledge” and “institutional memory” to the local partners and employees that they work with.

Most people with some China experience may find that they already agree with most of the perspectives in these interviews. But I think most foreigners looking at the China market must learn to listen and appreciate the complexity of Chinese society and business culture today before coming to a “snap” judgment on how they think things really are. In my opinion, nothing in China is as simple as it might appear at first glance!