Microsoft lanza su propio Twitter? en China
2009-12-02 18:55:00 Windows Live Messenger es bastante popular en China, por lo que Microsoft ha decidido capitalizar esta preferencia lanzando recientemente un nuevo servicio llamado MSN Juku el cual, por cierto, es bastante similar a Twitter. MSN Juku es un servicio al que puede acceder cualquier usuario chino con una cuenta en Windows Live MSN, el cual le ...Este es un post de ILMAISTRO.COM, Blog de Tecnologia. Suscribirse via RSS. Sígueme en Twitter.Microsoft lanza su propio Twitter… en China
By: il maistro
Solicitation of funds by Sathya Sai Baba VIPs
2009-10-22 23:24:00 Former International Chairman of the Sathya Sai Organization, Indulal Shah wrote while soliciting for money to build the Chaitanya Jyothi Museum in Prashanthi Nilayam, ?As regards the final cost it cannot be ascertained now fully since it will depend on the international world quality which will have to be maintained for such a monument by ...
Mike Orlando: attending music china 2009
2009-10-08 19:34:00 Mike Orlando will be performing at this year's MUSIC CHINA 2009 in Shanghai,China on Oct.13th,14th,15th,16th. He will be be performing for ELECA International,Rocktron & GHS Strings & Shredneck. http://www.musicchina-expo.com/-indexen.asp Shanghai New International Expo Centre 2345 Longyang Road, Pudong New Area Shanghai P.R.C. 201204 China This is a content summary only. Visit Truth In Shredding to find out more!
China Company Formation: Meet The New Hong Kong. Same As The Old Hong Kong
2009-09-23 19:28:00 Won't Get Fooled Again. My roommate my senior year in college was a Who fanatic. And when I say fanatic, I mean fanatic. This guy had lived a few years in London and he had the urban trench coat and the British accent down pat. Most annoyingly, the only beer he would buy was Guiness, which he would not even refrigerate. He did this knowing full well that neither I nor our other roommate would ever touch the stuff. He had about 1000 Who albums, and before you tell me that the Who never made 1000 albums, let me tell you that about 990 of those were bootlegs or "European editions," or whatever. He had the Who doing just about every song you can think of. Seriously. Sorry for the rambling, but I thought of the Who today when a reader sent me a China Daily article, entitled, "HK attracts record investment in 2008," and asked how much of this might be due to an increase in companies investing in China through Hong Kong. I do not know, but I am sure some of it is. Ten years ...
By: China Law Blog
Champ Serena Williams Heads To China Open, Sony Ericsson Championships
2009-09-23 14:44:00 By Kelly Jad'on Within this last week we’ve seen a side of Serena Williams that’s been long forgotten emerge from the dark side of international competition. Though hotly criticized, it pales in comparison to Mike Tyson’s ear-biting episode against Evander Holyfield or the attack on Nancy Kerrigan by Tonya Harding’s ex-husband’s friends. Williams, a tough competitor on the line, apologized and will return another day to battle it out on the court. Serena has fought against difficult days in her past as well. Usually she bites her tongue, staves off anger and calls upon her inner strength and faith to see her way through a game. The youngest of five daughters, Serena found her way onto the tennis court, propelled by her father, encouraged by her mother, and trailing her older sisters. The entire family coalesced on the courts, practicing daily. Venus and Serena really excelled, and were finally allowed to participate ...
By: BasilandSpice
China commits to carbon-cutting deal at UN
2009-09-23 04:37:00 China pledged yesterday to slow the growth of its emissions despite the rapid expansion of its economy.
By: Get rich
China Unicom iPhone due on October 15; 8GB($293), 16GB($439) on a 2-yr cont
2009-09-23 01:39:00 The iPhone will definitely be available in China via China Unicom, but as to when it will exactly hit the local market and how much it?ll cost, there?s still no official word on these matters. However, there is a report that pegs the China iPhone launch as October 15th. As far as pricing goes, the ...
By: PMP Today
China promises 'notable' reduction in growth of greenhouse gases
2009-09-22 20:04:00 China's president sought to demonstrate his commitment to fighting climate change on Tuesday, promising a 'notable' reduction in the growth of carbon dioxide emissions Chinese President Hu Jintao speaks during the Summit on Climate Change Photo: AFP/
By: Get rich
Understanding China FCPA Risks. Who Is A Foreign Official?
2009-09-22 19:46:00 I am becoming obsessed with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) because I see it as one of the the "most missed" things for United States companies doing business in or with China. The other day, I was interviewed by a news service reporter who asked me whether the FCPA is a big issue for my firm's clients. She was calling me to discuss a post I did earlier this year about a client who chose to walk away from a China deal out of fear of violating the FCPA. She asked me if this was common and whether my firm's clients are concerned about the FCPA. I told her this was actually the first time in years a client had even raised an FCPA issue with me and that clients never even broach the subject with us when going into China. I told her I am the only one who ever brings it up and when I do, clients are generally not terribly interested. I see this as a huge mistake, particularly since the US Department of Justice has made clear it intends to increase its pursuit of FCPA c...
By: China Law Blog
Google sigue perdiendo cuota de mercado en China
2009-09-22 09:09:00 Dada la supremacÃa absoluta que tiene Google en el terreno de las búsquedas en gran parte de Europa y América, a veces no somos conscientes de que hay paÃses muy importantes en los que no sólo no es el lÃder, sino en los que además está perdiendo cuota de mercado ejercicio tras ejercicio. Hace cosa de un año dediqué un artÃculo a este tema y os hablé de los casos de Rusia, la República Checa, Corea del Sur, Japón y China, donde herramientas de búsqueda locales superan ampliamente en número...
Is the U.S. Losing the Pacific? - WSJ.com
2009-09-22 06:03:00 Yet the trend is not in America’s favor. The Obama administration has curbed the Navy’s expansion plans and sent signals that it doesn’t believe in expanding missile defense. Beijing has meanwhile poured money into access denial capabilities, including antiship ballistic missiles, cyberwarfare and antisatellite weapons. The American Enterprise Institute’s Dan Blumenthal estimates that China has ...
By: 1913 Intel
China Says Military Arsenal Comparable With West - NYTimes.com
2009-09-22 05:46:00 China’s military now possesses most of the sophisticated weapon systems found in the arsenals of developed Western nations, the country’s defense minister said in comments published Monday. Many of China’s systems, including the J-10 fighter jet, latest-generation tanks, navy destroyers, and cruise and intercontinental ballistic missiles, match or are close to matching the capabilities of those ...
By: 1913 Intel
China Distributes Aid in Africa, With a Catch
2009-09-22 05:05:00 WINDHOEK, Namibia It is not every day that global leaders set foot in this southern African nation of gravel roads, towering sand dunes and a mere two million people.
By: Get rich
CPhone breaks cover in China, gives oPhone some Android competition
2009-09-21 21:07:00 Android is capturing the hearts and minds of smartphone users around the world. Surprisingly, China’s Red Wall of Censorship hasn’t gotten in the way of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Chinese aspirations.…
Brief: China Mobile: We have over half a billion customers
2009-09-21 15:11:00 China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), the world’s largest operator, has broken the half billion mark. They have 502 million customers. That is all. [Photo via Boston.com's The Big Picture] Related News from IntoMobile: China…
China Marketing And Branding. Reading The Tea Leaves.
2009-09-20 22:08:00 The DragonBeat blog has a great post, entitled, "Why foreigners are beating China’s tea-makers on their home turf." The post is on why China has none of the leading tea brands worldwide, but what it says pretty much applies across the board to Chinese branding in general. The comments are interesting as well, with many of them complaining about how bad Lipton tea is and how the Lipton market is completely different from the market for Chinese tea. Wrong. If anything, Lipton is a classic example of great branding and of how a Western company has managed to take a ho-hum product (in this case, Lipton tea) and market it in such a way as to trump the market. When will there be a Chinese Lipton and who will that be?
By: China Law Blog
China Law Journals In English
2009-09-20 21:28:00 Chinese Law Prof Blog recently did a post on Chinese law journals in English. His list consists of the following journals currently in publication: Frontiers of Law in China. Peking University Journal of Legal Studies. No online edition, but you can subscribe here. Tsinghua China Law Review. This is brand new, but it shows tremendous promise. I was provided with its first issue and I was quite impressed. It reads like a legitimate U.S. law school law journal in pretty much every respect. The Tsinghua journal's Board of Editors is comprised of "students at the Tsinghua University School of Law, both Chinese law students and foreign students in the LLM Program in Chinese Law." I know its Editor-in-Chief, Carlton Willey, and I know how committed he is on making this Journal a must read for those doing legal business in China. I suggest you check it out.
By: China Law Blog
RaptorRex!
2009-09-19 20:50:00 This is RaptorRex, a 125 million year old, man-size precursor to the most terrifying tyrant of the Late Cretaceous Period - Tyrannosaurus Rex, the apex predator of North America. A native of China that was smuggled to the US and sold to a private collector who wisely donated the fossil to science and returned the fossil back to China. Look how similar RaptorRex is to T.rex with slender, powerful legs, two-fingered forearms, massive olfactory glands, and teeth serrated like knives. You might say that T.rex is really RaptorRex on steroids with the difference of the legs being much bulky than its ancestor. Related articles by ZemantaTiny 'T. Rex': New Fossil Shows the Dinosaur King Started Small (time.com) Tiny T. rex fossil find startles scientists (cnn.com) Tiny T-Rex: New Fossil Shows the Dinosaur King Started Small (time.com) Mini T. Rex Recovered (scientificamerican.com) Early, smaller version of T. rex discovered (ctv.ca) US returns fossils to China (guardian.co.uk) Tiny ance...
Climate change: 20% of China is now desert.
2009-09-19 10:54:00 Sean Gallagher is a photojournalist living in China. With the support of Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting to highlight the impact of desertification in China.Almost 20% of China's land is now desert, affecting 400 million people. In Western China over one million acres of fertile land turn into desert. Per year. Last year they suffered a peak drought.Climate change, wind and water erosion, industrialization, agriculture, untimely policy changes, you name it.China's desertification is not only a problem for the Chinese. It impacts the world as a whole. I am not talking about what 1,000,000 acres of desert mean to the world's climate, alone: the more fertile land turns into sand, the more China is looking for agriculture land abroad, competing with European biofuel companies and Arab countries trying to secure their food production too. And money buys land in Africa. Easily. Even if this means they need to reduce their own food production.Video courtesy Sean Gallagher. Discover...
Lehman, Recession, Black Swan and China
2009-09-17 07:52:00 Well?what now? Are we back to business as usual again as recession comes to an end with green shoots growing and reaching productive stage with every passing day? Was the collapse of capitalism, free-markets as it?s been mostly known by most so long is purely an isolated non-significant outlier for the near-to-medium future; or it ...
Snake with foot found in China
2009-09-17 04:17:00 A snake with a single clawed foot has been discovered in China, according to reportsSnake that grew a foot out of its bodyDean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night."I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China.Mrs Duan said she was so scared she grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to death before preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.The snake ? 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger ? is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China's West Normal University in Nanchang.Snake expert Long Shuai said: "It is truly shocking but we won't know the cause until we've conducted an autopsy."A more common mutation among snakes is the growth of a second head, which occurs in a similar way to the formation of Siamese twins in humans.Such anima...
By: Believe OR Not
US China Economic Relations
2009-09-16 09:07:00 The relationship between China and the US reminds you of a couple permanently squabbling with each other - but no matter how much they find fault with their partner, they know they couldn't live without each other.China and US is a classic love hate relationship. It is an intriguing example of how economic ties can bind in a way that political ideology never could.Statistics for US China Economic Relations.The US has a large trade deficit with China. In 2008, it stood at $268 billion. (US trade deficit stats)For every $1 China spends on US goods, US citizens spend $4.46 in China.Exports to the United States account for 6 percent of China’s entire economic output.US exports to China account for 0.5% of US GDP. In a trade war, there would be one clear loser. (China US trade at NY Times)Because of this large trade surplus China has substantial foreign currency reserves. With these foreign currency reserves, China has accumulated $2 trillion in foreign reserves, mostly in Treasury bo...
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About China's Education System.
2009-09-16 08:28:00 Teachingtips.com did an article entitled, "25 Surprising Facts About China’s Education System." (h/t to China Economics Blog) And though I am not prepared to say all 25 will surprise you, certainly most of them are at least pretty interesting. On top of that, each fact has a link to its source, which usually provides more interesting/surprising information.
By: China Law Blog
Futurología: Se filtran especificaicones y fotos del Motorola E11
2009-09-16 05:12:00 Aún no ha sido anunciado oficialmente y ya sabemos casi todo sobre él, hablamos del Motorola E11 un equipo que podría tener una difusión enorme, pues según dicen los rumores, será visto desde las costas americanas hasta las chinas, pasando por Europa y otras latitudes en el camino. En cuanto a sus especificaciones, nos toparemos ...
By: TecnoSquad
The FCPA And China. Do I Need To Get All Loud On You?
2009-09-15 19:08:00 I spent my high school junior year living in Istanbul, where my father was teaching while on sabbatical. There was one other American family in our Bebek apartment building: the Richards. Adelle Richards was the matriarch of that family and there are three things I will always remember about her: 1. No matter how many times we told her we were from Kalamazoo, Michigan, she would always introduce us and refer to us as being from Illinois. Frankly, with her listening skills, I was just impressed she even remembered it to be somewhere in the Midwest. 2. When there was a small fire in our building and everyone was evacuated, she asked my father to run into her apartment to take something out, even though her husband was standing right next to her. My father actually did it, but the explanation for that will have to come in another post. And anyway, there ought to be a limit to one trashing per family per post. 3. I absolutely hated seeing her in any of our neighborhood stores b...
By: China Law Blog
'Stellar' stocks: China favorites
2009-09-15 06:00:00 "We see tremendous opportunities in China, which should rise regardless of US market gyrations," says Richard Schmidt. In Stellar Stock Alert he looks at a trio of ideas."China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) is one of our newest holdings. We bought the Chinese telecom company last month. Recent price action has turned the 200-day average positive. "In our view, we’re early in this up move and expect greater growth in the near future. CHL is a strong buy. "Netease.com (NASDAQ: NTES) is another one of our new holdings, purchased just one month ago. Between 2006 and 2009, the stock traded within a fairly wide trading range ($14-$26). That trading range provides significant support for future growth."And, earlier this year, the stock broke out of that trading range to the upside. It’s now continuing a very long-term uptrend that goes back to 2002. "In August, the stock ran up strong, then pulled back to the 50-day moving average. Th...
"Socialized" Medicine In China And The US. What's That You
2009-09-14 19:38:00 Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics.From the movie, The Graduate. "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Joltin' Joe has left and gone away." From the song, Mrs. Robinson, by Simon & Garfunkel Earlier this year, in a post entitled, China Has Health Care Too I talked about health care as one of the great opportunities for foreign businesses in China: A few months ago I was on a China panel at Northwestern's Kellogg Business School where, among other things, we were asked to list China's best opportunities. I stressed that because I am not a China business expert, I would have to answer the question based entirely on what I was seeing of my firm's clients and, based on that, I listed health care, technology, and food. If I had to pick just one of the three, I would pick hea...
By: China Law Blog
Topless Women, Rule Of Law, And Perceptions Of China.
2009-09-13 23:28:00 Matt Schivenza's always interesting blog has a new post up on nudity (well, sorta) in China, entitled, "Foreign Woman Removes Top At Beach in Qingdao, Causes Major Disturbance." The post tracks exactly what I was talking about this morning with a client. No, not nudity, but rule of law in China and how so many Americans misunderstand its extent in China and misperceive what China is really like. Bear with me here as I discuss the rule of law in China as the nudity discussion will follow. The client with whom I was having this discussion is a very successful and sophisticated international businessperson who has been doing business in China for around five years. He was telling me of how an American competitor of his had gotten into legal troubles and was on the verge of pulling out of China. My client told me he thought his competitor had brought the problems onto his company by believing he could get away with not following Chinese laws. We then talked about how when i...
By: China Law Blog
Obama Administration Agrees To Hold Unconditional Talks With Iran Signaling
2009-09-13 04:25:00 WARNING — Before You Flip Your Lids — Remember: President Barack Hussein Obama, While Campaigning For The Oval Office, Clearly Stated “Just Because We Agree To Talk Doesn’t Mean We Can’t Say NO“… Now that the Obama Administration has agreed to speak with... This is only a comment summary. Visit http://guntotingliberal.com to view the lastest content complete with some of the most outrageous original photoshops in the political blogosphere!
Love In China. Actions Speak Instead Of Words.
2009-09-12 10:08:00 I just love this post, "Saying “I love you†with a toilet: of indirect displays of love in Chinese families," over at the Speaking of China blog. I love it because it perfectly illustrates how Chinese express an emotion (in this case love) differently than in the West. Differently, not necessarily better or worse. The post is about an American woman, married to a Chinese man, and how her in-laws show their affection for her by first installing a stand-up toilet, and then adding on rooms to their house. A Chinese client of mine (who has been living in the United States for probably 15 years now) told me of how her father never once told her mother that he loved her, but that her mother always knew from the way he acted. There has to be a way to relate this post to doing business in China and I would love (see how easy we Westerners are with that word) for someone to expound on it.
By: China Law Blog
The Future Of Space Lies East: Chinese Space Stations Vs America?s Timid Na
2009-09-11 04:54:00 (Image: a model of the Chinese space station at the Chinese Pavilion, Hannover Expo. Credit: © Mark Wade of Astronautix.com) With the release of the Augustine Report not too long ago, there has been a flurry of outcry regarding the future of humanity, most notably from the Mars Society. While some may lament the fall of ...
By: Colony Worlds
Protecting Your IP In China -- The Basics.
2009-09-10 21:12:00 Stan Abrams over at China Hearsay is (or will be?) speaking on China intellectual property at an IP conference for SMEs in the Netherlands and he has mapped out on his blog what he is going to say. And here it is: 1. Register your IP as early as possible. 2. Don’t sacrifice IP protection for speed (i.e. don’t jump into the market before you take care of your IP). 3. Have a well-crafted, reasonable, and feasible China IP plan in place before anything goes wrong. 4. Do your homework (keep your eyes open for infringement and listen to your distributors and agents). 5. Check up frequently on licensees, distributors, agents, and manufacturers. 6. Avail yourself of all reasonable enforcement measures (after doing a cost benefit analysis of course), but understand the obstacles involved. Couldn't have said it better myself.
By: China Law Blog
How China's Birthday And Shanghai's Expo Are Good For The Legal B
2009-09-09 12:58:00 I have to admit one of my favorite things is forming a China WFOE for foreign companies. I love them because co-blogger Steve Dickinson and our Chinese affiliated lawyers do all the work. I also love them because it is the rare WFOE that does not also need real estate, labor law, and IP assistance to go with the new company. They often require additional work as well, such as contracts, environmental compliance, government approvals, etc. In other words, the forming of one WFOE is almost always the forming of a long term and fruitful legal relationship. Which is why I have to admit to loving China's 60th Birthday celebrations and Shanghai's upcoming Expo. Please allow me to explain. Every time China has a big event, (see the Olympic games for past proof), it starts tightening up on visas. Over the last few weeks, we are hearing more and more about foreigners getting stopped on the street or in their apartment lobby! So why is this a good thing for my law firm? Becaus...
By: China Law Blog
Our First China Hummer Post. Our Silence Said It All.
2009-09-09 12:28:00 Virtually every week, somebody emails or calls me with the perfect (usually distressed) United States company for me to pitch to "all the people" I know in China. I have even gotten calls from government agencies asking me what they should be doing to lure Chinese businesses. Here is what I am seeing. Chinese companies looking to buy American companies are usually looking for a valuable technology or commodity or, to a much lesser extent, a strong brand name. If the company you are pitching has neither, the chances of a Chinese company buying it are really slim. People have told me that Chinese companies "have to be" interested in companies with really good marketing people. They tell me Chinese companies are terrible at marketing and so they obviously will be buying American companies that are good at it. That's true in theory, false in reality. There are a few oddball purchases and formations out there and those generally consist of the following. -- The wealthy C...
By: China Law Blog
China Sex, Mistresses, And Improper Payments, And What They Mean For Your C
2009-09-08 12:28:00 Yesterday, I wrote a post on how important contracts are in China. The post was about a China Daily article on what has been described as China's first foreign nail house. The China Daily article included an interview with CLB's own Steve Dickinson, who said the case really hinged on the lease agreement (i.e., the contract) between the landlord and the tenant. According to Steve, the lease itself would control whatever compensation the landlord would be required to pay the tenant for the tenant's eviction due to the building being demolished. The thrust of my post, entitled, "China's First Foreign Nail House. Dude, Where's Your Contract?" was that contracts are usually determinative in China. In response to this post, "Sean" asked this great question in the form of a comment: "So when is the contract everything, and when do you have to be worried about a judge ruling against you in the interest of "fairness" to the Chinese counterpart? ("Fairness" in terms of your prev...
By: China Law Blog
Will Obama Soon Be Kicking China Tires?
2009-09-08 05:28:00 President Obama faces a September 17th deadline to determine whether to go along with the International Trade Commission’s recommendation to impose high tariffs on low end Chinese tires. The US has the authority to impose these tariffs under section 421 of China’s complicated WTO accession agreement. There were six similar cases during the Bush administration, although in no cases were tariffs implemented, including four separate cases where President Bush himself shot down the commission’s prescription. This is the first China trade case for President Obama and it is therefore being watched very closely both in the United States and in China. Interestingly, the tire unions brought this case and the tire companies have been noticeably quiet, presumably in an effort to maintain their good standing in China as they try to capture a piece of the rapidly expanding Chinese tire market. It will be interesting to see how Obama plays this as he tries to avoid angering the Chinese be...
By: China Law Blog
China's First Foreign Nail House. Dude, Where's Your Contract?
2009-09-07 18:58:00 Lara Farrar and Xie Yu have written an excellent article for the China Daily and AsiaOne on the recent controversy swirling around what is being called China's first foreign nail house case. The article is entitled, "1st foreigner 'nail household' in China," and it details the travails Tim Hilbert has been having in getting compensation from his landlord for the demolition of the Beijing building that housed Hilbert's restaurant, "Tim's Texas Roadhouse." This is an excellent article because, near as I can tell, it is the only English language article out there that actually correctly analyzes the legal issues. And yes, it is from the China Daily! The article starts out by setting the factual stage: Tim Hilbert may have been the first foreigner holed up in one of China's famous "nail houses" -- buildings occupied by stubborn tenants who refuse to leave despite the demolition of structures around them. But he told China Daily that he does not want to be tagged a "trouble...
By: China Law Blog
Jones Xu Zheng, CHINA
2009-09-07 11:03:00 Heartthrob No. 0941Name: Jones Xu Zheng (å¾æ”¿)Profession: ModelBirthday: May 5, 1986Birthplace: Shanghai, ChinaBlood Type: AHeight: 186 cm.Weight: 78 kg.Hobbies: BasketballKnown for: winning 2005 Men’s Uno Chinese Models Championship
By: Asian Heartthrob
China Has 703 Million Cell Phone Users. The Middle Class Is Rising.
2009-09-06 04:28:00 703 million. (h/t Shanghaiist) Think about that for just a minute. That's about 2.5 times the population of the United States. More than three years ago (gosh, have we really been here that long??!!) I did a post on how China had hit 410 million cell phone users. In that post, I stated the following: I love this sort of hard number because to me it is a very accurate way to measure China's growth and increasing wealth, perhaps even more so than a more standard measure like per capita income, which can be easily manipulated and whose impact is heavily dependent on living costs. The way I see, it, if someone can afford a mobile phone, they are a legitimate potential buyer of Western products and a legitimate potential customer for Western retailers. The comments to that post (and some of our other posts) questioned the validity of the number. I recall someone saying that the number reflected the fact that many users had two phones. One for business and a "black phone" for ...
By: China Law Blog
China Law On Term Employment Contracts.
2009-09-03 14:28:00 One of our clients is coming to the end of its contract term with the bulk of its China employees. They wrote Steve asking him some questions regarding fixed term employment contracts under Chinese law. Steve's reply is a made to order blog post, so here goes: Pursuant to Chinese law, you are permitted to enter into two fixed term contracts with an employee. The term of these contracts can be any fixed term that is agreed between the parties. Typically, in China, the term ranges from one to five years. At the end of the second fixed term contract, you have two choices. You can chose not to continue the employment relationship or you can chose to continue the employment relationship under an open term relationship. An open term relationship requires a written contract. This contract has no term. It terminates only under the following circumstances: 1) the employee voluntarily resigns, 2) the employee reaches retirement age or 3) the employee is terminated for "cause." Term...
By: China Law Blog
On The Demise Of China Manufacturing.....Kidding!
2009-09-03 06:18:00 BBC radio news did an interview last night with the owner of a company out of Houston, Texas, who had moved his manufacturing from China back to the United States. Unfortunately, I tuned in way too late to hear the whole story, but I heard the following (I think): 1. His company pays its US employees $8 an hour. It was paying its China employees 50 cents an hour. 2. He had quality issues in China. He has pretty much zero defects in the United States. 3. His shipping costs from the new US base are considerably less, though he expects costs to run about $2.50 more per piece. 4. His company makes "Chi" brand hair irons. I was planning to tie this BBC story in to a post today on various "hidden" costs of manufacturing in China and why the decision to go there for manufacturing is not as simple as some seem to believe. Then this morning I came across an excellent post on this same story on an excellent blog I just discovered. The blog is China Manufacturing Blog. It is wri...
By: China Law Blog
China And Doing It By Heart. One Day You Are In And The Next Day You Are O
2009-08-31 06:48:00 Just read a great post over at Seth Godin's blog. The fact it was a great post is not the least bit unusual for that blog, but that I can relate it to legal work in China (well sorta, anyway) is. The post is entitled "The problem with doing it by heart" and its gist is that people sometimes become such creatures of habit that they fail to question and analyze and maybe even modify the way they do things. The post concludes with the following lesson: The next time you or one of your people starts rattling off the obvious truth by heart, wonder about whether it's obvious because it's true, or true because it's obvious. So true. Many years ago at my old firm, a young immigration lawyer (who was always to angry about something) complained to me how a litigation lawyer in the firm had been dissing him. The immigration lawyer had gone to the litigation lawyer with a question on court procedure and the litigation lawyer told the immigration lawyer he did not know the answer and ...
By: China Law Blog
cherry song created a new blog: wholesale electronics from China actfind
2009-08-31 05:02:00 cherry song created a new blog: wholesale electronics from China actfind
China Honey, You Are An Adulterer. Can You Stand By YOUR Labels?
2009-08-29 18:28:00 A couple of Chinese "executives" were recently found guilty in Seattle Federal Court of having imported and distributed adulterated (well it at least sounds like adulterer) and mislabeled honey into the United States. The honey contained "ciproflaxin, an antibiotic that is used to fight bacterial infections but in rare cases can cause tendon damage and is barred from the food supply." The honey was also mislabeled as having come "Russia, Ukraine and possibly Poland" even though it really came from China. This all reminds me of a couple very good clients who were subjected to full on federal investigations. To camouflage the client, I am going to be very vague here, but I assure you that you will get the gist. Here are the stories: Client 1 is engaged in a very profitable business shipping food product to China, where it is combined with other product, processed, and then shipped to the United States. One day, around a dozen federal agents (from various agencies) show up, ...
By: China Law Blog
Manufacturing In China. Because There Are 1.3 Billion People There.
2009-08-26 17:38:00 I expected the routine this morning from a Wall Street Journal article entitled "LG Display Plans Plant in China." I expected it would say that LG was going to be manufacturing in China either to save costs or, more likely, to diversify its manufacturing. But the following line from the article gave me an ah-ha moment: "China's LCD market is growing rapidly, so we felt it's necessary to manufacture LCDs from the region in the long run," said LG Display spokesman Park Sang-bae. Ah-ha! Now I know many of you have already realized this (and on one level, so had I), especially those of you in the business of buying and selling product, but China manufacturing is in its second wave. China's first wave was strictly for cost savings; its second wave is for internal consumption. In a backward analysis brought on by this article, I realized that many (maybe as many as three quarters of them) of my firm's clients who we have been helping go into China are going there more to sell t...
By: China Law Blog
China: Where East Eats West.
2009-08-26 00:38:00 Whirlwind China entrepreneur and friend Sam Goodman has a great and blissfully short book out on how to do business in China. I say blissfully short not because I did not like his book (because I did), but because its shortness is one of its strengths. Most people wanting to learn the ins and outs of doing business in China neither want to nor have the time to read an encyclopedia on the subject. They want something that gives them a full overview of the basics in a hard-hitting and relevant way. Sam's newly released tome, Where East Eats West, is that book. Sam is a somewhat rare beast in China: an experienced and successful expat entrepreneur. Sam started a chain of cafes in 1997, called Beijing Sammies. Sam built these cafes into a real business and then sold them in 2003. His book does a great job distilling what he learned from those experiences. The book consists of a series of many very short, very informative, chapters. Though I see this book's highest and bes...
By: China Law Blog
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in China. September 3, 2009, Teleconference.
2009-08-25 17:43:00 Stafford Publications is putting on a teleconference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in China. Before I talk about that though, there is one thing I have to get out of the way. Every time I see a very British name like Stafford, I cannot help but smile and remember a hometown friend of mine who named his business "Tafford." My friend's business has become quite successful on a national level and my friends and I still always effect a very British accent whenever we discuss it. Now here's the funny part, my friend came up with the name from an expression we back then: Take a Flying F--k On a Rolling Donut. That equals TAFFORD. Get it? Sorry. Anyway, this teleconference will be on September 3 and it features really good people and it will be focusing on the following: This seminar will examine recent FCPA enforcement focused on business activity in China, discuss the unique FCPA challenges of conducting business in China, and outline strategies for effective ...
By: China Law Blog
China's Big Political Picture Writ Small For Business.
2009-08-23 19:18:00 I am not generally a fan of extrapolating the way a country conducts its politics to the way its enterprises conduct its businesses even in China where so many businesses are government owned. I am not saying it cannot be done, but I generally find it too complicated for too little value. David Dayton, a guy who truly knows the way China conducts its manufacturing, just came out with an analogy laden post, entitled, "Rio Tinto and Urumqi as Corporate Culture Lessons,"linking China's recent handling of its Western region with how its factories treat foreigners. Though I am dubious of the value (beyond entertainment) of making this linkage, I am convinced Dayton is spot on regarding Chinese factories and I am going to focus on that. Dayton sees China using the following four step process to deal with its problems out West: 1. Round them up. 2. Insist everything is okay. 3. Identify a common enemy. 4. Show them the money. 1. Round them up. Anyone against the factory will be...
By: China Law Blog
China's Border Disputes And Use Of Force. A Serious Analysis.
2009-08-23 17:48:00 The Sun Bin blog has a fascinating and thoughtful post analyzing how China handles border disputes and when it uses its military. The post, entitled "China's Policy in Border Disputes," mostly consists of an interview with Professor M. Taylor Fravel of MIT, whose academic focus has been on Chinese territorial disputes and its use of force. This is an interesting and important post and I highly recommend it.
By: China Law Blog
|
|
 |
|
 |
