That Guy From China

So, today I’m checking out the Globe and Mail online, and find an article titled, “The entrepreneurs who see opportunity in crisis“.  I’ve been almost preaching to Canadian businesspeople the need to be aggressive in this recession, that there are plenty of opportunities available to those with vision and guts.  So I want to read about other Canadian entrepreneurs who share this idea.

The first paragraph quickly sets me straight:

YIWU, China — Zhou Xiaoguang knows a thing or two about surviving hard times. As a girl of 17, she left her poor Chinese village to make a living as a peddler. She sold embroidery hoops, needles and patterns, hefting a 100-kilogram sack as she moved by train from town to town.

It goes on to detail how this penniless peasant went on to build a multi-million dollar enterprise.  And it profiles other successful Chinese businesspeople as well.  The message they all have in common — yes, the economic recession is going to hurt a lot of people.  Even put a lot of people out of business.  But for those who survive, they’ll come out stronger on the other side, not only more experienced, but with a lot of their competition out of the way.

While Canadians are cutting back on spending, closing down facilities, etc., they are doing the opposite.  They’re buying up other companies (at bargain basement prices), expanding their facilities, etc.  So when this is all done, they’ll be in a far stronger position, and ready to dominate.

Folks, China’s rapid growth, and their increasing domination on the world market, isn’t because of the government.  Its because of the people.  The Chinese are the New Capitalists, and they’re out-competing us in every way possible.  Its not just about “cheap labor”; it is about businesspeople with both the vision and the guts to excel.

While there are some entrepreneurs here in Canada, by far the majority of businesspeople I talk to seem to be stuck in the “I’m doing well enough, I don’t need to do more” mode.  That, or “Now is not a good time to be taking risks.”  In the short term, that may work.  But over the longer term, those companies that are taking a passive stance, or that are afraid to take risks, are simply going to be out-competed and rendered obsolete by other companies that are aggressive, and that take risks.

It has just been confirmed that I will be one of the main speakers at the National Convention of American Atheists!  Right up there with noted luminaries such as Richard Dawkins…I’m quite excited about this!  I’ll be going there with Nate Phelps (son of the notorious Fred Phelps of “God Hates Fags” fame), who is also an atheist, and will be talking about his experiences growing up in the Phelps home.  Nate and I have been corresponding quite a bit recently, and are collaborating on our presentations.

The abstract of my presentation is as follows:

While there is some debate over whether the Chinese government should be classified as an atheist government, there is no doubt whatsoever that their education is an atheist system.  Not only is religion not taught, it is actively discouraged.  Thus, a great many Chinese grow up as atheists.  However, the educational system fails to teach critical thinking skills; instead, information is presented in a format where all students must simply accept and repeat what they are taught, and disagreement or alternative ideas are discouraged and penalized.  The result is that, when presented with new information and beliefs, many Chinese are unable to rationally evaluate that information.  Much of what we see in China today — rapid spread of religion and cults, a dogmatic defense of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and proliferation of numerous worthless or dangerous products — is a result of this.  This presentation will give an overview of the current situation and trends within China, and then discuss some of the ramifications, and lessons that can be learned by us.

This is the second time that I’ve had the opportunity to be a speaker at a major conference (I was also a speaker at the World Humanist Congress in Washington, D.C. last year), and I hope that this exposure and experience will give me even more opportunities in future!

Note: If you don’t know who the Mosuo are, read “Who are the Mosuo?” in the links at the top of this page, and/or go to the website for my non-profit organization that works with them.

Almost as soon as I returned to Canada in September, I went about joining the Rotary Club of Vancouver; and, once accepted, I then contacted all the Rotary clubs in the Greater Vancouver area about the possibility of doing presentations at their meetings, to give information about the Mosuo, and who they are.

On Tuesday, Jan. 6 I gave my very first presentation, at the Rotary Club of Vancouver.  Their reaction was quite warm, and a number of people afterwards expressed interest in leaning more about them.  I also received offers from several people who said they’d be interested to help me out with my efforts.

On Wednesday, Jan. 7 I spoke at two clubs: the Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise in the morning, and the Rotary Club of Vancouver Chinatown at noon.  Both clubs are much smaller than the RCOV, but this allowed for much more interaction with the people who were there.  Not only was I warmly received, but both clubs have offered to bring me back for another presentation, and to share the information about my non-profit organization with all their members.

I’d like to thank all these clubs for their generosity in giving me the opportunity to do these presentations; and over the next two months, I’ll be doing presentations at more than a dozen other Rotary clubs.

I’m gonna’ kick this blog off with what I know will be a fairly controversial stance.  I will preface this by explaining that I have lived and worked in China for 15 years, from 1993-2008.  I have established two successful companies there, as well as a non-profit organization working with one of China’s ethnic minority groups.  I’ve had my life seriously impacted by Chinese gov’t policies; and have many Chinese friends who’ve suffered (some greatly) at the hands of the Chinese government.

I do not in any way deny that there are abuses there.  Nor do I feel that we should turn a blind eye to those abuses.

But I think that we need some perspective.

I’m Canadian…and proud of being Canadian.  I was born two days before Canada’s centennial birthday, so Canada is almost exactly 100 years older than me.  Which makes Canada 141 years old at the time I’m writing this.   141 years ago, Canada was founded as a nation, based on principles of democracy and equality.  Yet women were not allowed to vote until 1918.  And non-white immigrant groups, especially Chinese, were not only not allowed to vote, but actively discriminated against (in 1885 implemented the head tax, and in 1923 outlawed most Chinese immigration).  And if you want to argue that those are ancient history…what about WW II, when more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians were rounded up and put in internment camps, and all their property seized (stolen) by the government?

And this doesn’t even get into the shameful manner in which we treated Canada’s indigenous peoples throughout most of our history.

My point…a country that was founded on the principles of democracy and equality has taken 141 years to reach the point we are at today.  During that time, we’ve committed terrible abuses of our own.  But we did — slowly — change, evolve, and improve.  So that today, we live in a country that, while it still has problems, nevertheless is an excellent example to the world of both democracy and equality.

Now, let us consider China.

China is 5000 years old.  In all that time, it has never had the principles of democracy or equality.  Yes, there have been terrible abuses, both past and present.

But the fact is, the Chinese people today enjoy greater freedom than at any other time in China’s history.  And those freedoms are continuing to increase.  When I went to China in 1993, I had to get permission from the police to visit a Chinese person’s home; today, Chinese and foreigners mix freely, and frequently.  In 1993, almost no Chinese were allowed to leave China, and those who did were accompanied by political monitors; today, Chinese the majority of Chinese citizens are free to travel internationally as they please, so long as they have enough money (in fact, the main barrier to Chinese travel today is not the Chinese gov’t, but rather foreign gov’ts who refuse to grant visas to many of those potential travellers).  In 1993, discussion of any political issues would get you in serious trouble; today, politics are discussed everywhere (albeit there’s still a line you can’t cross).  In 1993, the Chinese gov’t had an iron grip on information, and the people had little or no opportunity to get any other perspectives or news; today, with the internet and the frequent interaction with foreigners, Chinese have access to tons of information that can no longer be controlled by the government (their efforts to block certain portions of the internet has really only resulted in teaching Chinese how to hack around those blocks).

No, China is not perfect; and yes, there are still plenty of abuses.

But look how far China has come in only fifteen years!!! It has taken us 141 years, in a nation founded on principles of democracy and equality, to reach the point we are at today!  It is ludicrous to expect that another nation — particularly one that has never had those principles as the basis of its government — to accomplish the same changes in only ten or fifteen years!

So yes…we should push China to continue changing; and no, we should never turn a blind eye to the abuses, or a deaf ear to cries for help.  But we should also recognize that China is moving in the right direction.  And instead of simply reviling them with blanket condemnation, we should also be recognizing the positive changes that have taken place, and seeking to build cooperative ties with them in order to encourage continued positive development in the future.

Canada has, in fact, been instrumental in some of China’s changes.  We have had exchanges of lawyers, for example; where Chinese lawyers came to Canada to learn about the Canadian legal system, and Canadian lawyers went to China to learn about their legal system.  Some of the changes taking place in Chinese law today are a result of those exchanges.

It is very easy to simply sit back in the comfort of our Canadian homes, and condemn the Chinese government.  Not only is it easy…it makes us feel good, too.  It shows how much better we are.  It is not so easy to take the time to really understand the full situation in China, and just how complex it is.  Nor is it easy to examine our own history, and our own abuses.

And it takes time, and effort, and risk to build ties between Canada and China.

Yet, if you are truly concerned about freedom and equality for the Chinese people — and not just using it as an excuse to play the holier-than-thou game — then I’d suggest that this is exactly what we need to do.  To let the Chinese government know that we absolutely condemn the abuses within their system; but that we also are willing to work with them, as equal partners, to continue the process of positive change within that country.  And to offer them the experience that we ourselves have had, in evolving from a nation that killed its native peoples and had blatantly racist policies, to a nation where we enjoy one of the highest standards of freedom and equality in the world.

This is, in part, simply to test out the functionality of some of the plugins I’ve added, in this case to make sure that video can easily be inserted.

But I’ll also give some background.

In 2006, I started a new business in China called “Shou Ling Tong” (literally translated, it means “Smart Hands”).  It was one of the very first companies in China to introduce Baby Sign Language to Chinese families.

We had to set up everything from scratch…designing teaching materials (using Chinese Sign Language instead of American Sign Language), training the teachers, etc.  However, my staff were absolutely wonderful, and also very creative.

At one point, my teachers got together, took a popular Chinese song, and added sign language to it; the result looked beautiful, so we made a video of it that we added to YouTube.  Here, for your enjoyment, is that video:

I hate to say it…but it seems that an awful lot of Canadians just don’t have balls any more.  American, Australian, and European companies are aggressively pursuing the Chinese market, but Canadians are almost invisible.  At a recent industrial trade show in Shanghai that had over 2000 international exhibitors, not one single Canadian company was present.

It can’t be because the culture is too different…Americans, Australians, and Europeans are doing fine.  It can’t be the distance…we are closer in Vancouver than the vast majority of American companies who are in China.  It can’t be that we don’t have anything to offer…we’re one of the most advanced countries on the planet, with huge natural resources and a thriving technological sector.

In fact, the only possible excuse that I can come up with is that Canadians are simply too complacent.  They rely primarily on the Canadian and American markets, and just can’t be bothered to go any further than that.

Of course, now that the financial crisis has crippled the U.S. economy, and Canadian companies who relied on that market for their profits are facing serious problems, perhaps it will inspire them to get off their butts, and actually be a little adventurous.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m proud of being Canadian.  I’m proud of my country, and everything it stands for.  Which is why I am so embarassed and dismayed by this Canadian apathy.  We could be a major world player.  We’ve got the people, the tools, the talent, and the resources.

All we lack is the drive and determination.

Perhaps the current economic situation will shake people out of their apathy, and get them thinking more internationally.  I sure hope so.  We have so much to offer, and so much that we could do.  Its a shame to see it all squandered.

“The China Challenge” is a monthly seminar that I am running, at which I explain to participants some of the most frequent problems that Canadians will face in doing business in China; what the root causes are; and how best they can prepare themselves for those situations.  It is very practical, with role plays and case studies based on real situations. The purpose is not just to give you head knowledge, but to develop practical skills — to both be able to identify the causes of cultural conflict, and to find effective solutions.

The seminar is a half day seminar, usually from 1:00-5:30.  The location may vary, but usually is held at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver.  The seminar is followed by an optional Chinese dinner, at which I will explain many of the intricacies of eating and drinking at a Chinese business banquet.  This portion is very lively and fun for everyone involved, as well as being very important (since the odds are that a great deal of your business dealings with Chinese will take place around the dinner table).

If you think you might be interested to check it out…be sure to let me know!

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.