That Guy From China

For the past 15 years — from 1993-2008 — I have been living and working in China.  During that time, I’ve established two successful businesses, and a non-profit organization.  Probably 75% of my work in China focused on cross-cultural issues: helping foreign companies/organizations understand how to do business in China; and helping Chinese companies/organizations understand how to do business with the West.  The core of my focus was on cultural differences, and helping both sides understand each other better.

I was, however, rather embarassed at times to be a Canadian.  While American, Australian, and European companies were expanding aggressively into China, Canadian companies were doing almost nothing.  In fact, the vast majority of Canadian professionals in China are working for American or European companies.

Now that I’m back in Canada, I’ve decided to focus my attentions specifically on Canadian businesses, and encourage/push them to be more proactive and aggressive in getting into the Chinese market.  This blog has been set up to comment on some of the issues that are relevant to Canadians doing business in China.

In addition, I’m going to be hosting a monthly seminar called The China Challenge, which will provide very practical and useful advice for those who are interested in China.

Unfortunately, while I personally enjoy debates, and dislike censorship, the practical reality is that I need to be very cautious about my reputation in China.  If this blog were to have a lot of strongly anti-China posts, it not only could cause problems for me to renew my Chinese visa, but could also cause problems for my non-profit organization, and the Chinese who are associated with it.  Therefore, I’ve decided that all posts will require approval before they appear; and if I feel that the post would cause problems, I may either edit the content, or not post it at all.

My apologies in advance to those who I know will be upset or offended by this; but I’d point out that this in no manner, shape, or form stifles your own freedom of speech.  There are tons of places available to you where you can say whatever you like, and let your own sentiments and beliefs be known.  And I’d encourage you to use them.

That being said, I do hope that people will find this blog interesting and useful; and I do look forward to peoples comments and opinions.