While that’s a nice tagline, it should really say:

Corruption is working

or

Corruption is alive and well

When you have corrupt leaders in Africa who refuse to participate in the international capitalist system and instead hoard assets, engage in genocide and starve their peoples to death, this is not a failure of capitalism. This is corruption and a refusal of other nations to breach the sovereignty of said African nation.

Capitalism has raised millions of people in China and elsewhere in Asia and South America out of poverty. We’ve shown the failure of Communism. 50 years ago the Chinese kid would have looked the same as the African kid. While the current Chinese kid does not exemplify the ideal outcome, it is definitely a better outcome than his continuance in the situation on the left.

Capitalism certainly isn’t perfect, but then again nothing is. Everything must go through growing pains.

We need to think of the next stage as Compassionate Capitalism. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to solve problems of people, not of business, to work towards a better future for all and think of the triple bottom line (people, planet, profits-in that order).

If this picture inspires something in you, it is your responsibility as a world citizen to use the best tools at your disposal: you, your abilities, and entrepreneurship to take action and solve these types of global challenges. Grassroots level (i.e. with the entrepreneur) is the best place to start.

That being said, anyone of us could start the next Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which does tremendous work to increase access to healthcare and education around the world. Or choose your issue, maybe it is clean water (such as charity:water), maybe it is starvation, maybe it is corruption. The point is, what are YOU going to do about it.

TAKE ACTION

And if you’re a party cadre or the family member of a revolutionary martyr, you get discounted entry to Century Park (in English, no less, because you know, revolutionary martyrs only read English):

Then, of course there are just the misspellings (which has since been corrected),

and of course the seemingly mistranslated:

I always love an Unimaginative Journey and a Goodwill tour of Narcissus Queens…

However, I will give this one credit for the (perhaps unintended) play on the popular health food market in the western US (Trader Joe’s):

You can buy literally everything imaginable on Taobao from mobile phone recharge cards to patio furniture and shoes.  I’ve bought shirts, shoes, books, etc on Taobao.

Setting up an account is relatively simple if you can read some Chinese.  All you need is an email account, password, and the ability to navi-guess around the site in Chinese.  Actually buying and paying online becomes more complex, requiring a local bank account with either 一卡通 or 信用卡.  But this is how most of us get our salaries paid anyway.  If you can find a local friend to help you set up the link between your Taobao account and your bank account (through Alipay, of course) the first time, its pretty easy to just type in your PIN number whenever you want to buy something in the future.  Taobaofieldguide.com has a much more comprehensive and picture-oriented description of how to search and buy on Taobao.  They also offer to help you do it, for a small fee of course. Update Nov 12, 2011:  My Chinese tutor is offering Taobao (and Chinese online shopping, in general) training sessions to help get your accounts set up, bank account linked, and you shopping online. 300RMB for 2 hours + review materials. Contact: Lucy 134 825449 83 wangxin0824[at]hotmail[dot]com . Only in Shanghai.

Feeling relatively confident in my Chinese reading ability and comfortable navi-guessing and shopping on Taobao, today I decided to try my hand at selling on Taobao. And ran into a Great Wall. To sell on Taobao, you of course need a local bank account linked to Taobao through Alipay (again), which since mine was already linked was easy enough.  However, you also have to verify your identity, and while this may sound simple, for a foreigner, it’s not.

First I tried pretending I was a local because I have a local bank account, yada yada, Not so fine.  You must input the ID # matching the person who opened the bank account.  In this case, it has to be the number of digits on a local Hukou ID card (If you don’t know what a Hukou is, this post probably doesn’t apply to you…).  Well since I’m not a local, I don’t have a Hukou so my bank account was opened with my Passport, which obviously doesn’t have the right amount of digits.  Fail #1

There is an option for Foreigners to sell on Taobao. So next I tried that: first line, OK.  Second line, please input your Guarantor’s name, ID number, phone number, etc, etc.  Uh…FAIL #2.  So as a foreigner selling on Taobao is much more difficult.

I guess they’re afraid we’ll list something super expensive, let some poor unsuspecting local buy it and transfer the money, and then leave the country with his money.  Granted, it could happen, but what’s the highest value item anyone’s ever bought on Taobao (without first seeing the item)?  Maybe 10,000RMB, maybe 100,000RMB?  So all of US$1400 or US$14,000?  Is that really worth it?  Fail #3.  That’s why banks, credit cards, et al have insurance and fraud protection.

Anyway, as you can see I was a bit frustrated with my Taobao selling experience today and I wanted to save other foreigners the same annoyance and waste of time.  And I’m sorry, I don’t know what happens after IF you get a Guarantor to validate your account.

It’s also interesting to note the differences between Taobao and eBay.  Taobao takes the money immediately from the seller’s account and holds it in escrow while waiting for confirmation from the buyer that the item has been received (or a certain period of time has passed) before sending the money to the seller.  eBay lets the buyer and seller decide between themselves how and when to pay and ship.

Can I further point out that since Taobao holds the money in escrow awaiting confirmation of item receipt from the buyer, that the whole paranoia of foreign seller runs out of town with the money is NOT very likely.  Fail #4

And that’s today’s Taobao 101 Guide.

Overruns, 2nds, and ‘it just fell off the truck’ do end up in Shanghai.  However, they are not easy to find: some hunting and lots of patience are required.  Recently I had a very satisfied shopping customer looking for specific brands, namely Banana Republic, LK Bennet, Reiss, Joseph, and Diane von Furstenburg.  We did manage to find a number of the brands she was looking for, at places besides the outlet malls.  While I never guarantee these are ‘real’ (whatever real means in this country), its worth taking a look.  Right?

For discount designers tucked away in small shops, try XinLe Road, ChangLe Road, HuaShan Road, JuLu Road, Maoming South Road and Fengxian Road.

For additional help shopping my shanghai, and the best prices, please contact me!

Hello Friends, Can you help me? I’m looking for experienced network marketeers to head up a new network in your country and I wondered if you could think of anyone who you feel would like to be involved as a Country Leader at this crucial launch stage.
We are not looking to sign up ‘regular’ distributors at this moment but are looking for the serious team players who will become our global team partners.
As a fouder of this NEW very narrow NICHE business in your country, first year total earnings of $100,000 potential with second year earnings of $100,000 a month potential for the right people.
If you can help me that would be great and your input would be much appreciated.
Look forward to hearing back from you.

Best wishes,

Teodor M Muntean

MY RESPONSE

Teodor,
You know that network marketing is borderline illegal in China and is governed by many complex and unclear laws, regulations, and procedures. This is why Mary Kay and Amway had to offer retail outlets in addition to network marketing distributions when entering the market. This is also the reason many other network marketing companies have not entered China. Pursuant to that, you will not find an ‘experienced network marketeer’ in China who can lead a whole country network.

I think you’re jumping the gun. You can’t, nor should you even consider, finding a Chinese business partner on the internet, particularly on a site devoted to helping travelers. That’s just absurd! And shows a complete lack of knowledge and commitment to the Chinese market on your part.

To properly setup and start a networking marketing business in China, you will need no less than 1Million US Dollars. Also, if you opt to go with a local partner, that organization needs to be considered very closely. You should personally be here researching the options and making sure you can trust them.

My feeling is you know nothing about China and this is more like a scam than a real intent to do business here.

However, before you jump on the China bandwagon, you should probably read about how bad things have gotten in Shanghai.  In this article from the Telegraph, foreign service companies as well as Chinese manufacturing companies are closing left and right without paying up their workers.

After reading that article, this article may seem a bit dated (which it is, October 08), but some people think that Money can still be made in China, just not the easy money of a decade ago.

If that inspires you to give the China market a shot, Make sure you have what it takes and are well prepared.

As the Communist Party, continuing to adhere to Marxist principles, the government owns the land.  People can and do own the buildings on top of the land but they don’t own the land.  The land is used for development under ‘land use rights.’  Land use rights last for between 40-70 years, depending on the type of development.

This explains to me why all the construction in China is so poor: there’s point in investing in quality construction when your lease term is only 40-70years.  The construction only needs to last 40-70years, not a lifetime or even many generations like some of the great historical buildings we still admire today.  Why spend the money on something that won’t be around for more than 50years, because you can cut corners and get it done for cheaper if you sacrifice quality.  My apartment, according to my dad’s guess is 10-12 years-old, while in fact, its about 4 years.  It just looks older due to number of factors, among which, shoddy construction, air pollution, and acid rain.

Sure this might sound like a sarcastic post (and it largely is) but have a look for yourself.  Land ownership leads to stricter  standards and higher quality construction than ‘land use rights.’

Unfortunately, those changes were not lasting.  Despite the fact that the Paralympics are currently going on, the skies have already greyed over, the pollution has returned, and the streets are jammed again.  Some of the changes will remain, though: the renovated airport (now one of the largest in the world), the modern, extensive subway lines, the unique venues of the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, and Beijingers pride in having hosted such an unrivaled Olympic games.

If you’re curious for more insight into China and reading the blogs of China-based expats isn’t enough for you, also check out NBC’s lessons in Chinese Culture 101.  I can’t say I wholly agree with the portrayal, as many are far from complete and give only positive snippets of Chinese culture, but what makes them interesting is NBC’s take on Chinese culture.

I expect that with the upcoming election, China’s continued phenomenal growth, the 2010 Shanghai Expo, the 2010 Guangzhou Pan Asia games, and everything else, we’ll continue to hear a lot about and from China.

Symbolizing China’s feelings toward foreigners – A summary of new movie examining China’s complex relationship with outsiders, through a Chinese Graduate student’s life in the US

Blogging in China

Bush’s speech on China

China: The High Tech Police State

Faces of China in Photographs – Some amazing pictures of the diversity and yet similarity of China’s people (pdf)

How to bring China into International Systems

Video of Beijing preparing for the Games