Comments on: The China market for its foreign investors

By: Guohua

Guohua — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:02:21 +0000

I read it and lent it to one of my colleauges long ago. WikiLeaks is more interesting than the book because it has more secrets.

By: MyLaowai

MyLaowai — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:47:38 +0000

It’s been nearly a year – how did you get on with that book?

By: Guohua

Guohua — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:58:58 +0000

They reconcile with themselves, but not with the place.

By: Gongbao Jiding

Gongbao Jiding — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:34:47 +0000

Which then begs the question- why on Earth would they live in that place?

When I don’t like the place I’m living- I up and leave. I moved to Shanghai, and I’m fairly happy here, compared to any of my previous domiciles. Why stay?

And, furthermore, why hate? Where one man sees heaven, another sees hell- and only thinking makes it so…

By: Guohua

Guohua — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:03:28 +0000

Order placed.

By: Guohua

Guohua — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:26:37 +0000

As I said to JR, 书不尽言，言不尽意.

It then follows that your life is kind of detached from the place you live, or well protected against it. For example, you won’t leave the comfort zone of hanging around with other rich expats in Shanghai and remain outside of the local mainstream community. If I were you, I’d learn the language, leave the comfort zone for a while, and learn to appreciate something local.

By: Guohua

Guohua — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:19:40 +0000

Thanks! I’ll try to order this book. Last time, my Encyclepedia Britanica disk had to be shipped to an American address and then to my Beijing address via a friend in the U.S. because Amazon did not sell software to China. Still wondering why. Hope my luck is better this time.

By: Guohua

Guohua — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:12:51 +0000

I came across this in my reading “书不尽言，言不尽意。” (another very old line under the sun, but completely new to me) It can be roughly translated as “You cannot write down everything you want to say; and you cannot say everything you mean.” It’s about the limitations of writing and speaking.

For my country, 我是恨铁不成钢 (hard to translate. literally, “I’m angry about iron unable to become steel”. it’s about expectation. what I mean by it is that I want China better, but I find that it’s no better, which therefore makes me feel sort of angry.

Maybe I’m not defending China’s image. I’m just counerbalancing MyLaowai’s post so that a fuller view of China can be presented.

About MyLaowai’s being hated and other claims of mine about him, I drew the conclusions from his various posts, including “A Word of Advice”.

I agree with you that his posts are entertaining, for example, in the sense that “兄弟，最近有什么不开心的事情，说出来让大家开心一下”.

finally, you must have missed my point in posting the joke. Again, 书不尽言，言不尽意. what i mean is if he gives more information, the claims can be totally different.

E.g.: 走到哪里都拎着笔记本———————是记录冷饮销售量的笔记本

By: MyLaowai

MyLaowai — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:29:56 +0000

Here’s a thought for you, Guohua (and anyone else reading this):

A person is not the place s/he lives. It’s actually possible for a person to loathe and despise nearly everything about the place s/he lives, whilst still loving nearly everything about his or her own life.

Think about that.

By: MyLaowai

MyLaowai — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:11:32 +0000

Here’s a good book for you to read, Guohua:

http://www.amazon.com/Poorly-Made-China-Insiders-Production/dp/0470405589

Actually, I’d recommend this book to any and every person thinking about doing business in the Celestial Kingdom, as well as anyone buying anything manufactured there.