That Guy From China

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for awhile, and a discussion with a friend of mine, Dionne Chingkoe (you can check out her blog here), who is involved in an activity to raise money and awareness of homeless issues by living outside for five days, inspired me to write this post.

Humanism is about human rights, equality, personal liberty, and social responsibility.  In the U.S., the American Humanist Association is active in a lot of different areas, such as getting involved on university campuses, and in social issues.  The International Humanist and Ethical Union is politically active in highlighting human rights abuses around the world; and also actively involved in the United Nations.

But even though Canada has a Humanist association of its own, Humanism in Canada is virtually irrelevant.  Most people don’t even know what it is.  Humanist organizations on university campuses are invisible or non-existent.  They seem to have no voice in important political and social issues.

I was talking with some people a few weeks ago who were criticizing Christian efforts to deliberately target international students coming to Canada.  They know these students are isolated, and invite them to church by offering a variety of social activities.  The comments from others was that this was obviously exploitative behavior, taking advantage of people when they’re weak in order to indoctrinate them into their religion.

I disagreed.

I don’t see how one can be criticized for seeking to reach out to others.  It isn’t the fault of Christian organizations for doing this.  It is the fault of Humanists for not getting similarly involved, and offering those students an alternative.

Right now, Humanism in Canada seems to be commited primarly to navel-gazing…to discussing what Humanism is, and refining the core philosophy.  But all of that is pointless and useless if it isn’t translated into action.

I am in the process now of contacting various Humanist organizations and individuals in Canada, as well as the AHA and IHEU, to try to start an initiative to challenge Humanists to start getting more involved, and making themselves more relevant to society as a whole.

Hope to keep people updated on my progress.

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.