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Books that I recently read (part 1)

A few weeks ago I received an email from a reader of my blog who wanted to know something about what books I normally read. Then I realized I did not write about books for quite some time. The last time was probably around New Year, when I wrote about the best books that I read in 2008. That post was about non-fiction books, but I also read quite a lot of fiction (mainly novels). I normally read in bed before going to sleep, to relax a bit and get my mind off of work (I often work until late at night, and if I close my computer right before I go to sleep I don’t sleep well). Below are some of the books that I read during the past 3 months or so. I’ll break up the post into two pieces, otherwise it will be a bit too long.

Stieg Larsson – The Millenium Trilogy 
(The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with Fire, The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest)
I started reading the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson while on holiday in Holland in September. I had not heard of the books before, but the first book was on sale so I just gave it a try. The next day I already bought part 2 and 3! The books are partly a thriller with several story lines that all start in part one, and partly the story about how a small magazine is fighting for its existence. Next to that the book also gives a good insight in Swedish society (6 week holidays, going home at 5 exactly, most people seem to have summer houses and spend many weekends there – maybe the reality is different?). Once you start reading you want to finish all 3 books, even though the main character Mikael Blomkvist is not somebody I could easily relate to. He is very much against big corporations and people that earn good money by worker harder and smarter than others. But that makes it also intriguing, while reading the book I thought often about his actions and I tried to understand him. Maybe that was part of the attraction of the book? He seems very happy with his life and that is great for him, but I would not want to be him. I feel the main character is very much like Stieg Larsson, and it’s a pity he passed away before he could see the success of his books. The other main character, Lisbeth Salander, is even more weird. But her weirdness adds to the storyline, and without her there would not even have been a story (at least not in part 2 and 3). The books are quite a long read, book 1 and 2 both about 500 pages and book 3 even more than that. But they are an easy read, and I read each book in a couple of days. If you’re not sure just read book 1, which is a complete story with a real ending, and decide after that if you also want to read the other books.

Anthony Capella – The Various Flavours of Coffee

When I read books about wine I always have the urge to open up a bottle. This book is centered around coffee and it had exactly the same effect on me: several times during the book I just had to make myself a freshly grinded cup of black coffee! Therefore if wonder whether people who don’t drink coffee would enjoy this story as much as coffee aficionados. Most of this historical novel takes place in 19th century London, where a young aspiring poet and lover-of-life-without-money, Robert Wallis, meets a coffee trader who employs him to write a book that defines the aromas of all kinds of coffee. Robert falls in love with the coffee traders daughter, and that is the thread that keeps the story together. The Various Flavours of Coffee is a bit of a strange book actually, very different from a ‘normal’ novel. The book combines a love of coffee with a story about love and romance, with the struggle for woman’s voting rights mixed in and with a background story that shows the bad side of hardcore capitalism. It is not a book that will end up in my top 10 for this year, but it was still well worth the read because it is so different. The story was quite interesting with some strange twists, the descriptions of life and doing business in London in the late 1800’s were excellent, and of course I learned a lot about coffee as well. One drawback for me was that I could not relate to Robert Williams. He is just plain lazy and (just like Mikael Blomkvist in the Millenium Trilogy) he develops strong anti-capitalist principles. Nevertheless I do not regret reading the book and I might try out other books by Anthony Capella.

The Ship and the Shore – Vicki Baum

This was an unexpected book, I found it in my parents book shelf while vacationing in Holland and read it during a weekend in Shanghai. The book was written in 1941 by Austrian writer Vicki Baum. I had never heard of her and had to look her up on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicki_Baum): it turns out she was one of the first modern bestseller authors and she among others also wrote a book about Shanghai (note to self: I need to find this book). I loved the book, it describes the events that happen during one night on a ship that is due to harbour on an island in the Dutch West Indies. It’s a story about love, plantation life in the tropics in the late 1930’s and the racial tensions between the white planters and the local workers. I loved it and found it so good that I may reread it in a couple of years. The descriptions of life on board and on the island are very vivid and make the story come alive. The story itself is very special as well, the further you get into the book the more you start to understand the characters and what motivates them. If this book is still available somewhere (or would become available as an ebook in the future) I would highly recommend it.

Tomorrow I will post the second part of this article, with among others the best book I read so far this year and a book that will appeal to all long-distance runners out there.

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Sprained ankle injury (almost) over

Almost 5 weeks ago I sprained my ankle pretty badly while doing a trail run at Tianmashan. I originally thought that I would not be able to run for 1-2 weeks, but it turned out the injury was a bit worse than I had  expected. It took 3 weeks just to get rid of most of the pain, so then I tried running again for the first time. But that was a bad idea: after running for just 10-15 minutes the foot and ankle were suddenly a lot more painful. I managed to wait another 2 weeks before this weekend I finally allowed myself back on the treadmill. I say ‘managed to wait’ because it was very difficult not to run for me. When you are training for a half marathon and suddenly cut out all training you literally feel a bit depressed. I need to run in order to relax after work and of course to stay in shape (I gained several kilo’s over the past 5 weeks, just because of burning a lot less calories).

Last night I ran a very slow 15 minutes on the treadmill (about 2 km) and everything felt fine afterward. I was very relieved, but did not want to cheer to quickly. I know from experience that only the next day you really know if you are going to be fine, so I was a bit nervous when I got up this morning. But everything felt fine, even during (and after) the yoga class that my wife and I take every Sunday morning. I was so happy that I went for another 3 km run right after yoga, and my foot still feels fine! There is still a bit of minor pain when I try to run outside, so that I won’t do yet, but on the treadmill I am doing fine.

So now the question is how I am going to prepare myself for the Shanghai half marathon that I plan to run in less than 3 weeks. First of all I am glad I opted for the half marathon instead of the full one, going for a full one without real training would be virtual suicide. I should be able to finish the half marathon without much training, but I won’t be able to get in shape on time. I think I am going to try to run 4-5 times a week from now on, beginning with short runs (5 km or so) and going up to 10-15 km by next week. I won’t go for speed during training, because I cannot run a personal best time anyway, but at least I want to be able to finish the race without too much pain.

I am also thinking about doing a mini detox during the next 2 weeks. I did one last year in preparation for the Hong Kong Trailwalker and felt a lot healthier while doing it. I won’t overdo it, however, especially not because I also need to practice a lot, so my body needs the calories. I probably should just avoid alcohol & coffee for a while, but still eat relatively normal (more veggies, less meat). And for sure the fast food chains in Shanghai won’t see me until after the half marathon!

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An evening with Adriaan van Dis

When I was growing up in the 1980’s in Holland I used to watch the literary talk show Hier is… Adriaan van Dis. That’s probably what made Adriaan van Dis quite famous, but he is much more than just a TV host, because he is actually one of Holland’s most famous writers (both novels and poetry). Over the years I read most of his books, with themes that are mainly related to his personal life, such as his families Indonesian roots, his homosexuality and his travels all over the world. Most of his novels are easy to read and quite witty – even though many of his themes are relatively heavy. He plays with words and combines them in innovative ways, sometimes even inventing whole new words.

So when I heard a few weeks ago that Adriaan van Dis would give a talk in Shanghai this week, I immediately signed up for it. I looked forward to hearing him speak about his life as a writer and he didn’t disappoint me. Because many Dutch people live in Hongqiao, the event took place there. Good for me, it was literally a stone’s throw from my house in a nice coffee bar / restaurant just off Hongmei Lu. About 80 people turned up for the event, a lot more than I had expected. I saw a lot of Dutch acquaintances that I had not met for a while (some I had not seen for years actually), and because the event only started at 8:45 PM instead of the planned 8 PM, I had a lot of time to catch up with old friends and get to know new people.

One of Adriaan van Dis’ first books described a trip to China in 1986. It was titled ‘Een barbaar in China’, literally meaning ‘A barbarian in China’. I reread the book on the plane from Holland to China last week, it’s a short novel that you can read in 2-3 hours. During his 1986 trip he traveled along the Silk Route and spent about 6 weeks in China. Living in contemporary China you don’t recognize the China that he describes. And the opposite happened to him: he was in China for the first time in over 20 years, and he of also did not recognize the country anymore. He seemed to be impressed by Shanghai, making a rhyme on the way from the airport to the city along the lines of Shanghai high high high and Shanghai buy buy buy, upon seeing only skycrapers and shopping malls.

‘Een barbaar in China’ was of course a topic during the evening, but he mainly talked about his latest book De Wandelaar (The Walker), in which he describes the daily walks of a Dutch person living in Paris with his dog. Adriaan van Dis has been living in Paris for many years and makes daily long walks on his doctor’s request, so the book is based on his own experiences, showing the darker side of Paris that most tourist never get to see. Quite interesting to hear, especially because I had just started reading his book. He also talked about his upcoming book about South-Africa, that he is currently writing. Adriaan van Dis studied South-African language and literature (Afrikaans) and he revealed that he had even been trained in Paris in the early 1970’s to infiltrate in South-Africa to support the ANC (he never used his training though). Based on what he told the audience the book should be an interesting read as well.

The evening ended around 11 PM. I enjoyed hearing Adriaan van Dis speak, he is very eloquent and has a very big knowledge about all kinds of topics (especially literature and politics). I assume that next to writing and walking around Paris, he spends a lot of time reading magazines and newspapers. During the evening I decided to read all of his books that I did not have the chance to read yet, including some of his poetry. He read some of his poems and they were quite impressive – even more so because he explained the background and because he read them himself. It was an evening to remember, thanks to the Dutch Association in Shanghai for organizing this!

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Job opening: Chief Commercial Officer at Spil Games Asia

Spil Games Asia is looking for a Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), based in Shanghai. I have spoken to a couple of good candidates already, but I want to make sure I don’t miss any candidates that are not aware of the job opening. In the past I found some excellent people through this blog, therefore I decided to put some information on this position here as well.

What does the CCO at Spil Games Asia do? This will be a new position in the company. The way I see it, is that the CCO will be in charge of all marketing, product and business development activities for the Chinese websites of Spil Games Asia. This means that you are in charge of growing the websites (more users, spending more time on the site, coming back more often etc.) by optimizing the product (new features on the websites, different structure etc.) and by setting up the right partnerships with other companies and products. Depending on the background of the candidate the role could be even broader in the future. You will report to me, but functionally you will also report to the CCO of Spil Games in The Netherlands.

Who are we looking for? The best candidate (M/F) is a smart, internet-savvy, experienced manager in an online (preferably gaming) company with a passion for and understanding of everything related to the Web. If you’re not active online there is no need to apply. You should speak, read and write fluent Chinese (native Mandarin speaker preferred, basic or intermediate Chinese skills is not sufficient) and have good written and spoken English skills.

You should like to work in an entrepreneurial environment, because we try to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit in the company. That means work hard & play hard, but it also means that every renminbi has to be earned first before it can be spent – something multinationals sometimes tend to forget. The ideal candidate will have at least 10 years work experience out of which at least 5 in an online environment. A technical background is preferred but is not a hard requirement.

If you’re interested or want more information feel free to get in touch with our HR manager Ms. Switer Cheng at switer.cheng (at) spilgamesasia (dot) com

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The end of my Android G1 – and the real reason why the iPhone doesn't sell well in China

Bad luck, I dropped my G1 phone last night and my screen did not survive it. Because the phone has a touch screen it is virtually useless now. I am going to try to get it repaired, because I really like the phone’s operating system. If that doesn’t work I will need to start looking for a new phone. Not sure what I will do in that case, another Android or going back to the iPhone?

I like Android, but I also still like the iPhone. However, buying a iPhone 3G or 3GS in China does not make sense. The hacked version cannot be used on China’s 3G networks and the official one has no wifi. Even more important, and a fact that has been overlooked in every media article that I read about the lacklustre sales of the iPhone in China, is that I cannot use my current China Mobile number on the official iPhone. There is no number portability in China between providers, and because the vast majority of people uses China Mobile they would all need a new mobile number in order to start using the official iPhone that is sold by China Unicom. In combination with a price that is a lot higher than the hacked version it is not surprising that nobody wants to buy it. Did Apple overlook this?

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Shanghai Disneyland to open in 2014

It took a few years, but Shanghai Disneyland has finally been approved! The original idea to build a Shanghai Disneyland was thought up by former premier Zhu Rongji in 1990 during his tenure as mayor of Shanghai. It took Disney and the Chinese authorities almost 20 years to get from an idea to an approved plan! In 2006 it seemed there would be a go (see my blogpost about it), but it seemed the Shanghai mayor was not able to get it past the State Council.

The park will be about 1000 acres, which would be similar to the parks in Tokyo and Paris, and bigger than the original Disneyland in Anaheim. The location will be quite close to the city, somewhere between Pudong airport and downtown. The legal structure will be a joint venture in which Disney will only have a 40% minority share (maybe that’s part of the reason why it took so long to agree on this?), and 60% will be owned by a consortium of government appointed companies. That likely won’t make it a lot of fun to manage the business, good luck with that Disney…

Accoring to a CCTV report this morning the park should open in 2014. Considering how quickly the Expo Shanghai 2010 site was built, that seems like a very long time. Just in time for my kids to be old enough to appreciate the Magic Kingdoma and its rides, though. If we still live in Shanghai by that time of course (I have no plans to leave), but otherwise we’ll surely come back to visit.

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Tudou.com again included in the Silicon Alley Insider list

While going through my RSS feeds from the past days I noticed that Tudou.com was again included in the 2009 version of the Silicon Alley Insider top 60. This is a list of the 60 most valuable private Internet start-ups. Last year Tudou landed at place 22 with a USD 300 million valuation, this year we were at place 27 but at a higher valuation of USD 500 million. The analysis that SAI provided:

Tudou is largely seen as the YouTube of China, which represents a large growth opportunity as more and more Chinese aggressively consume online video. A year ago the site had 60 million monthly unique visitors, which has likely grown closer to 90 million. Though YouTube is clearly a threat, the Chinese are well-known for strongly favoring their own Web sites and so far this has proven true with Tudou, which has a greater market share in China than YouTube.

Revenue figures are hard to come by, but the company is likely losing a lot of money due to high bandwidth and licensing costs. Online video aggregators have come under scrutiny recently due to questions about the viability of their business models, but we still believe the opportunity is still large in the space and there is value in the leaders while the industry figures out how to turn viewers into profits.

Last year we gave the company a conservative $300 million valuation. This year we get a little more aggressive given the company’s growth the past year, resulting in a $500 million valuation.

Of course the list is quite arbitrary (where is Spil Games for example? Much smaller competitor Miniclip is in there at place 38) and the makers also acknowledge that, but it’s still nice to be included once again in such a ranking.

Note: I will not be able to comment on the valuation or on any of the other figures in the article, nor on the position of our competitors.

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Halloween 2009: Trick or Treat!

Today is Halloween and probably for the first time in 10 years in China I am celebrating it. Most Chinese have no idea what Halloween is, but in an expat compound like the one that we are now living in it is a big thing. On Friday Scott’s kindergarten already did a Trick or Treat (Scott could not join, because he was still sick), and tonight was the big Halloween night.

This afternoon my wife and I went Halloween shopping: we bought a Halloween costume for Scott and masks for ourselves, plus a lot of decoration materials for the house. We also bought candy bars and chocolate for about 50 kids. We were just in time because many parents were in the City Supermarket as well hunting for treats and a lot of candy had sold out already.


We received a notice from the compound that the Trick or Treat would start at 6:30 PM, but already before 6 PM the first kids rang our door bell. And from that moment until 8 PM the bell kept on ringing! Around 7 PM we had run out of candy already, and had to check our storage for other things to give away. Around 7:30 we even went out to buy additional treats for the children. We were amazed by the number of kids in our compound, until we found out that there were at least two school buses that had unloaded their students in our compound to give them a special Halloween experience! No big deal, we probably gave at least 100 kids a candy bar and all were very happy. Some were so happy that they came back a few times to get more chocolate bars (3 girls came back 3 times until we figured out that they had been here twice already!).

Scott is still not completely well, but he was feeling good enough to dress up as a pirate and join his father and mother for a round of Trick or Treat. He liked it a lot, getting something at every door where we rang the bell, even though he did not want to eat any of it (he still hardly eats after being sick for a week). We walked from house to house with some of his kindergarten classmates, most of them are a bit older and some were truly scared of the dressed up people. But Scott seemed to totally ignore it, he did not even mind me wearing a scary mask! I guess he is still too young to understand that you have to be afraid when people put on a horror mask? It was a fun evening, and next year should be even better when Scott and Elaine will be a little older.

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Short trip to Holland

I am in Holland at the moment where I will give a speech at the WECBA Executive Conference this afternoon. It’s a very short and also very busy trip, but that’s how I like it.

I arrived in Holland Monday evening around 7 pm and had dinner with my parents in Amsterdam. The next morning I got up early to catch up on emails and then went directly to the Spil Games office in Hilversum, where I had several meetings during the day before leaving around 4 pm to go to The Hague. At 6 pm I had a cocktail reception followed by a dinner in the Ridderzaal (The Knight’s Hall), with among others Dutch minister of foreign trade Frank Heemskerk and many CEOs of big Chinese companies.


This morning I got up early to work on my presentation for this afternoon, and I just finished it. The conference starts in 30 minutes, so just in time 🙂 Luckily I also had time for a short walk on the beach in front of my hotel (the Steigenberger Kurhaus Hotel, a beautiful classic hotel – the Dutch government picks up the bill :-). Right after my speech I need to leave for the airport, because I will fly back to China late this afternoon. I hope I can catch up on some sleep on the plane, because I missed out on a lot of sleep over the past 2 days…