Posterous
Casper is using Posterous to post everything online. Shouldn't you?
I_wear_my_sunglasses_at_night_thumb
Casper Oppenhuis de Jong
owns this site
19
subscribers
 

Casper’s posterous

contemplations of Mandarin & Apple, cool & hot, mince pies & Oriental allies

Beijing selling China to the world

2009-12-01 07:37:25.0Jin Zhu and Ding Qingfenadvertisement,CNN,Made in China,MOC11020263Foreign and Military Affairs2@webnews/enpproperty-->

The government has started a global charm offensive aimed at getting more consumers to reach for "Made in China" products.

The groundbreaking ad campaign is seeking to boost the image of Chinese goods around the world.

The initiative is believed to be the government's first foray into branding, something experts are hailing as "a PR breakthrough".

The Ministry of Commerce said the initiative was designed to promote Chinese-made products "in a fair and objective way".

The campaign started on Nov 23 with a 30-second spot on CNN International, CNN US and CNN Headline News, the ministry said in a statement.

Related readings:
Beijing selling China to the world MOC urges to promote service trade in economic recovery
Beijing selling China to the world China suffers from protectionism: MOC
Beijing selling China to the world China's MOC sets conditions on GM-Delphi deal
Beijing selling China to the world MOC: Anti-dumping probes 'based on facts'
Beijing selling China to the world Made-in-China light rail train taps European market

The ad, which carries the hook "Made in China: Made with the world" shares the message "co-operation and participation" and highlights the fact that Chinese companies work with overseas firms to produce quality products.

In the ad, a series of goods with the "Made in China" label are shown being made with the help of top foreign firms.

An MP3 player is described as "Made in China with software from Silicon Valley". A fashion shoot includes clothes labeled "Made in China with French designers". And a refrigerator bears the text "Made in China with European styling".

The campaign "reflects the Chinese firms' attitude and aspiration of strengthening cooperation with other countries to provide quality goods for foreign consumers", the statement said.

Chen Na, a press secretary with the China Advertising Association of Commerce, said the campaign was commissioned by the ministry with participation from four industry groups.

The four groups are the China Advertising Association of Commerce, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Products and Arts-Crafts, and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles.

The ad, which was created by DDB Guoan in Beijing, has been in development for months. The agency won the account last year.

China is known as the "world's factory". It is the planet's largest manufacturer of more than 210 industrial products.

"Chinese products can be found everywhere in the world now. However, some do not have a good reputation. The task of promoting the brand is imminent," said Huang Shengmin, dean of the Advertising Department of Communication University of China.

 

via chinadaily.com.cn

China Daily's take on the recent 'Made In China' campaign by the Chinese government. I doubt this 'global charm offensive' is going to make a difference. Does not in any way change the position China is in; razor thing margins and no innovation. It just tries to justify it by pointing the finger at others.

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted December 1, 2009
// 0 Comments

China Spreads Aid in Africa, With a Catch

The New York Times interestingly reported about China's attempts to (financially) recolonize Africa, right after I have had some interesting talks about this last weekend. These neoimperialistic tendencies of China are nothing new, but easily scare viewers that are new to this show. 


I personally believe that 'The West' has waited to long to help - and in the end; benefit from - Africa. We have let Rwanda happen. And not to mention Sudan. The Chinese have another approach to the problem that we call Africa: stop seeing it as a problem. Start seeing the opportunities and reap them.

China Spreads Aid in Africa, With a Catch  (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/world/africa/22namibia.html

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted September 22, 2009
// 0 Comments

Free work the way to go?

2 very interesting pieces on how to secure (career) opportunities through doing free work.

Free work can offer job seekers and entrepreneurs(-to-be) great skills and contacts. I personally see this as more of a way to go than internships or placements.

How to Get a Job Without Experience (Harvard Business Review)

Recession-Proof Graduate (Charlie Hoehn)

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted August 17, 2009
// 0 Comments

Hammer Pant

One of those classic internet/YouTube/marketing memes.
 
Everyone happy, clean hit & run, brilliant footage. Me likes.
 

(h/t @techfader)
Casper Oppenhuis de Jong
嘉仕博

 

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted June 7, 2009
// 0 Comments

Michael Wolf in Hong Kong

http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/intro/index.html
 
photography speaks a language that needs no translation.
michael wolf happens to be fluent in that language.
 
persistent volatility in pictures from a culture that's hard to capture.

       
Click here to download:
Michael_Wolf_in_Hong_Kong.zip (356 KB)

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted June 7, 2009
// 0 Comments

TechCrunch Article on Sequoia/Zhang Fan

Is Sequoia China in Trouble?
from TechCrunch by Sarah Lacy
(via @niubi)

BEIJING, CHINA– Starbucks is a franchise in China that worked. The company opened locations at the bottom of all the major tourist hotels and downtown areas where returning Chinese, expats and business people traveling to China would pop in for some familiarity and to hold meetings, much like they do in the U.S. For people hoping to mix with that crowd, Starbucks became something of an aspirational brand in China. Tea was what your parents drank; a latte was something exotic and western.

No one thought Starbucks would work in China, but it did. Sequoia Capital, however, is not Starbucks.

There are a few ways to set up venture activity in China. One is to become a limited partner for a local firm. Another is to relocate an existing partner to build an office. The most common is to hire well-known, connected investors already in China, and Intel Capital, which has been investing in China longer than almost anyone, is one of a few farm systems for that. Typically this is known as  the “franchise model.” The hired China partners operate under the Kleiner Perkins or Sequoia brand name and typically share the same limited partners, but the funds themselves are separate. In exchange for that name and fund raising advantage, the Valley firms take a healthy chunk of the carry.

It seemed like the best of all strategies a few years ago. These firms want experts but don’t necessarily want to slow down or meddle in their deal making. But the cachet of the top Valley brands only goes so far over here. In 2008 Kleiner Perkins’ China partnership exploded, with two of its four partners quitting in a dispute that was far more contentious than a lot of Valley media reported at the time. In a week of touring China’s start-up scene, I’ve barely heard the KPCB brand mentioned at all. Now, it seems it’s Sequoia’s turn for some humble China pie.

It’s no secret Mike Mortiz has been traveling back-and-forth to China a great deal, and he’s fond of telling reporters that’s because of all the opportunity. I asked him at Kenshoo’s recent US launch party about the unique challenges of investing in China versus the US, Europe or Israel. He said he wasn’t trying to stonewall on the answer, but that all venture investing was just hard, no one place more than another.

Really? Several sources in China and Silicon Valley have confirmed Moritz has been in China this week addressing Sequoia’s so-called “China Problem.” In February, one of Sequoia China’s founding partners, Zhang Fan, resigned due to “personal reasons.” I’ve now talked to close to twenty sources in the venture scene in Beijing and Shanghai who say those “reasons” were that Zhang was well known for taking bribes, kickbacks and other unethical behavior. People are fond of pointing out that Zhang’s biggest hit was Asia Media Company, which later had to de-list from the Tokyo Stock Exchange under a scandal. Whether it’s true or not, he certainly didn’t do Sequoia’s brand any favors here.

That left the other founding managing director at the helm, the highly respected Neil Shen, who founded Ctrip.com, the so-called “Expedia of China,” and Home Inns & Hotels Management. I’ve talked to several VCs and entrepreneurs in China who say Shen is a prickly guy but his deal judgment is unparalleled in the country. He’s even a bit of a hero to some entrepreneurs. But unfortunately, Shen too is in hot water. U.S. firm Carlyle Group is suing Shen for more than $200 million in damages for allegedly blocking a Carlyle deal in a Chinese medical research firm. Said one person close to Sequoia in China, “Moritz will have to fire him. He has no choice.”

If that’s the case, it may not be obvious at first. Venture capitalists tend to fire partners gradually and quietly. Frequently they’re still given offices and assistants as they phase out of decision making.

Even the widespread speculation could be a big blow for Sequoia, which at one point seemed to be one of the better-adapted Valley names here. It still employs two other managing directors and several more vice presidents and associates in China, but for many Chinese entrepreneurs Shen represented the brand as much as Moritz does in the U.S. There are few China investors with solid operating experience, particularly in the Internet.

And it can’t be good news for Sequoia’s limited partners who haven’t taken too kindly to Sequoia’s pressure to make them invest in not only China, but in other unproven Sequoia funds aimed at India and later stage U.S. companies, according to very wide-spread reports and my own reporting.

Player hating is part of human nature, so it’s no surprise that other Valley investors have whispered with glee that the once-dominant Sequoia seems distracted by all this. The competition’s biggest fear: Moritz solves the problems and Sequoia starts to focus on what it does well again.

(Sequoia did not respond to a detailed request for comment or clairification of this story and has a long-standing policy of not commenting on the firm’s internal matters.) 

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted May 17, 2009
// 0 Comments

Sino Solid - Vol VI

Hi there,


It took me a couple of weeks to get around writing the next update. Hope to get back into this tradition. :)
Working hard on expanding and improving this weekly China update. Therefore, it is crucial you send me your feedback on it. Expect a small survey next week with more specific questions.

Let's go:

Economics & Business

China Stocks ‘Bubble’ Ready to Burst, Galaxy Says (Bloomberg)
China is at risk of a stock market “bubble” that may burst as investor confidence in the nation’s economic recovery weakens and bank lending slows, according to China Galaxy Securities Co., the nation’s largest brokerage.

If China loses faith the dollar will collapse (Financial Times)
Emerging economies such as China and Russia are calling for alternatives to the dollar as a reserve currency. The trigger is the Federal Reserve’s liberal policy of expanding the money supply to prop up America’s banking system and its over-indebted households.

Ernst & Young Cuts Staff In China (ChinaCSR)
Ernst & Young, one of the world's biggest auditing companies, is reportedly encouraging 20% of its staff in China to leave the company.

Chinese listed companies net profit up 450% in Q1 (People's Daily)
The combined net profit of all the 1,624 listed companies in the Chinese mainland hit 203.8 billion yuan (about 30 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, up 450.39 percent from the last quarter in 2008, reports from the country's two main exchanges showed Monday. 

Politics & International Relations

China’s Graduates: One Word– Engineering (Wall Street Journal)
The rising ranks of China’s unemployed college graduates are reaching critical levels just as the country suffers its worst economic slump in two decades, and creating enough jobs for them has become a national priority.

China's 'black jails' uncovered (Al Jazeera)
Local officials in China are using secret "black jails" to imprison citizens who threaten to report corruption to central authorities, an Al Jazeera investigation has revealed.

These student protests-turned-riots in Beijing in 1919 became a symbol for those struggling to strengthen China, and the name “May Fourth” became shorthand for a cultural movement that lasted over half a decade and gave birth to some of China’s finest writers, artists, and scholars.

China Forces Dozens of Mexican Travelers Into Quarantine (Wall Street Journal)
The A/H1N1 flu outbreak is leading to a potential diplomatic row between China and Mexico, as Chinese health authorities round up and quarantine scores of Mexicans -- only one of whom is thus far reported to be sick -- as they fly in on business and holiday trips.


Make it an amazing week!

Best wishes,

Casper Oppenhuis de Jong
嘉仕博







Loading mentions Retweet
Posted May 5, 2009
// 0 Comments

Vol V - Sino Soap Opera

Hi there,

Sorry for the delay in updating you! Had to write over 10,000 words for university and had to celebrate actually achieving that goal. :)

Without further ado, this update should get you up to date with what's happening on and about the Chinese internets:

Development of China Microfinance
As microfinance grows rapidly throughout the developing world, one of the largest microfinance markets still remains widely untapped.  Today, approximately five hundred million rural and tens of millions of urban Chinese do not have access to credit. Compared to the rest of the developing world, Chinese microfinance is a recent phenomenon and has developed slowly. This article details the development of poverty alleviation in China, more specifically microfinance, from 1979 through 1996.
Wokai

China Unicom Finally Signs iPhone Contract With Apple
Just days after China Unicom denied rumors of a deal, new reports in Chinese media state China Unicom has finally reached an agreement with Apple to introduce Apple's 3G iPhone into China and the two companies will formally announce the news on May 17, the World Telecommunication Day.
ChinaTechNews

South Africa: Uproar over visa refusal for Dalai Lama
The South African government has denied the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a Peace Conference that will be held in South Africa. The government decision has sparked an uproar online on Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
Global Voices

Safer Battery Technology Gives China an Edge in Developing Affordable Electric Cars
China’s government is beefing up support for the development of “new energy” cars, because it thinks China can use electric vehicle technology to leapfrog into the forefront of the global auto industry.
Wall Street Journal

Racism in China
Recently, browsing through the Chinese blogs in my favorites list, I came across a rather surprising imagea mockup of “evolution” in several different countries parodying the classic from-monkey-to-man evolution image found in high school textbooks. The reason it was posted in China is that the “evolution” line leads to a picture of a crab with watches on (an internet meme), but the first thing that would strike any American looking at the image would be that Africa’s evolution line ends without evolving beyond apes.
ChinaGeeks

What makes Chinese art Chinese?
An old advertising slogan proclaims, "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's" (rye bread). Now it develops that an artist doesn't have to be Chinese, or even live in China, to make Chinese art. He or she can even be Jewish.
Philly

China quake school toll stirs grim findings, anger
China's effort to erase public anger over the many schools destroyed by a vast earthquake last year is facing a new campaign for answers and troubling findings that classrooms suffered far worse than government offices.
Reuters

Left behind are piles of brick and rubble, houses without roofs and hurt feelings. It is the most recent fault line to develop between Chinese rulers and Xinjiang province's majority ethnic Uighur population, a Turkic-speaking people who have long chafed under Beijing's rule and who worry that their culture is slowly disappearing. 
Washington Post

Beefed it up a bit for you. Any thoughts, feedback and ideas are always welcome! Hope to announce some exciting new ideas in the near future.

Cheerios,

Casper Oppenhuis de Jong
嘉仕博

P.S.: PDF file added for an extra visual 'touch'.

(download)

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted March 25, 2009
// 0 Comments

Reasons why people who work with computers have so much spare time...

Loading mentions Retweet
Posted March 14, 2009
// 0 Comments

Weekend Brunches

Left Shanghai for Chengdu little under a year ago. And a couple of months ago I left Chengdu for the United Kingdom.

Obviously, there are numerous things I miss from China. One being the Sunday brunches with my friends at places like Sasha's/萨莎.

That really struck me when the New York Times ran this piece about extravagant brunches in New York on the weekends:

'For decades the New York brunch has been far more than just a meal. It is an institution, an event that can start in midmorning and continue until late afternoon, a ritual in which eggs Benedict are routinely washed down by a seemingly endless stream of mimosas and Bloody Marys.'

Funny how the especially the expats in Shanghai managed to create a similar environment and standard. Of course the brunches were not as extravagant as the New York versions, they were extravagant nonetheless. 
One sobering fact in China then hits you when you step outside the Westin/Sasha's/Four Season's to grab a cab though. Upbeat street vendors greet you and your cab drivers never fails to make you laugh with some funny English quotes. These people rarely make more a month than what I just paid for a bottle of champagne. A humbling aftertaste remains.








Loading mentions Retweet
Posted March 14, 2009
// 0 Comments