Just flew back from Beijing tonight, where it was a lot colder than in Shanghai (running in shorts and t-shirts early in the morning is not recommended – I got a bit of a cold because of that). The reason I went over was because I was asked to give a presentation at Vok Dams yearly trend.lab. Vok Dams is a German live event marketing company (the leading one in Germany actually), and they organize so-called trend.labs in Germany, the US and China. These are seminars in which the latest trends in marketing and PR are discussed with an audience of mainly marketing people. I talked about trends in online marketing in China, and enjoyed the giving this presentation and the questions people had. Anybody interested in this subject, feel free to contact me (note: am quite busy this week, so answer may take few days).

After the seminar was over I visited a friend of mine, Tobias, who was just appointed CFO of Mercedes-Benz China. He has 90 people working for him. When I was still at DaimlerChyrsler in Beijing we had a total staff in the whole company of about 90 people! The company is really growing.

After meeting Tobias I met up with Olle, who is in charge of business development Asia Pacific at Red Herring. I knew Olle from several years ago, when I just left DaimlerChrysler and he was part of the EU-China management program. I met him a few times in Beijing and Shanghai, but lost touch with him. But because of the publicity around Toodou he contacted me again, and we had an interesting talk about start-ups in China, and Toodou in particular.

At night I had dinner with another friend of mine, Carlo Crosetto and his wife Susanne. Carlo is the new CFO of Beijing Jeep (or actually Beijing Benz Daimler Chrysler as it is called now that they also start producing Mercedes-Benz passenger cars). My wife was supposed to join, but she could not make her flight from Shanghai on time due to work, so she was just in time for dessert. We had a last drink at their house and then went back to the hotel. My wife had to finish a presentation, and continued working until 5 AM, while I got some sleep.

Saturday I went for a long run and went to the spa in the Kempinski. A nice and relaxed day. Qi worked the whole day (consultants do not have an easy life!). At night we were invited for the German Ball. Qi missed the beginning because of her work, but she was just in time for dinner to start. Met many former colleagues and friends, although most people have in the meantime left China. Only the ones who are really making a career still seem to be here! We were invited by Vok Dams, who were also one of the sponsors. In case they read it: Thanks guys, I appreciate it!

Sunday morning we had a big breakfast at Kempinski, and then we packed our suitcases. We went for a a walk along the Liang Ma river and in the Sanlitun diplomatic compound. It was beautiful weather, but a bit cold. I visited my old tailor, he still recognized me although I had not been there in 3 years (Rong Xin Tailor, above the Friendship supermarket on the northern part of Sanlitun Street – north of the Spanish embassy). After the walk I took a cab to the airport. Qi stayed in Beijing for meetings. All in all some good days, some new business ideas and meeting lots of old friends.
note: the terrorist threat in 4-5 star hotels (see post below) as mentioned on the American embassy site seems to be based on unreliable sources – at least according to the Chinese government. In the hotel I did not see any change – no additional security and people could walk in and out even through the side- and back doors.

One week ago my Apple Powerbook became incredibly slow, so I took it to the Apple store for a check-up. They told me it was a hardware problem and they only do software. So I went to the hardware center where they checked everything and then told me it is a software problem… Back to the store again where they would reinstall my operating system. This would take a few hours, but when I called them that evening they were still working on it and told me to come back on Friday. I came back around lunchtime, but they told me they were still not finished. This surprised me, but I decided to keep calm. On Saturday I picked up my laptop and I was told that the hard drive was broken and has to be replaced. This was very strange, because the computer was checked just two days ago and it did not show any problems with the hard drive.

So on Monday back to the Apple hardware center again – this is the only place that is closed in China over the weekend! It was my last day of warranty, so I was just in time. After some discussions they told me it would take about 2 weeks to get back my computer, because a new HD had to be ordered. This part is not available in China, I was told. Hard to believe, because they are produced here, but OK. Two hours later I get a call: Sir, your hard disk is damaged because of coffee, so there is no warranty. Excuse me? Coffee on my HD? I am 100% sure that I never ever spilled coffee on it. I told them this, but they said there was coffee inside the case! Suddenly I started to suspect the Apple store. The HD was working fine when I entered, then it took them two days to install the OS, and suddenly the hard disk fails completely. Maybe there was another reason it took so long? Problem is, I cannot prove it.

But that’s not all. Shortly after that I get another call: Sir, the HD is not the original HD, you replaced it with another one. Well, I may know a little bit about computers, but certainly not enough to start opening my laptop and replacing a HD. Because the computer has never been repaired before it must probably have happened when I bought it in Hong Kong last year. I won’t say the store’s name (yet), because everybody is innocent until proven guilty, but it is a store that claims to be Apple’s worldwide best store about 5 years ago.

So I call the store, and finally get through to someone who is able to understand my problem. This person says he will look into it and call me back. Of course he did not call back, so I call him the next day. He is not in (I was actually told by his colleague that he was sitting on the toilet!) but would call me back right away. After one hour still no call, so I call him again and manage to get him on the phone. No apologies about not calling back, but only the remark that ‘your Powerbook was custom-made, and in China they do not sell custom-made Powerbooks’. Well, that does not help me much, so I ask him to get in touch with Apple directly. He promises to do that and call me back. That was two days ago…

I am very angry at Apple’s service in China, it seems their presence is too small to have normal service centers and the service they provide is terrible. And I have the distinct impression that their store in Hong Kong has been cheating me – at least they give the impression by not calling me back. Not sure what to do now, but I won’t leave it at this. I bought an expensive top-of-the-line 12” Powerbook a year ago, and am not going to accept lame excuses.

One thing is for sure already: if I don’t hear from Apple this week I am going to make the switch back to a new Windows laptop, at least they provide normal service in Shanghai. My computer is an essential part of my business, and I cannot afford to be without it for so long. I am using an old Sony Vaio laptop now, and that is not an optimal solution. To be continued…

A posting on the Oriental List tonight linked to a warning on the US embassy in Beijing site, that reports a terrorist threat from Islamic fundamentalists to attack 4- and 5-star hotels in China. I hardly ever stay in top hotels anymore (if you have to pay yourself you think twice before staying there), but from tomorrow onwards I will stay in the 5-star Kempinski Hotel in Beijing for a few days. Let’s see if they have any extra security measures, I suppose not. Not that I am afraid, it’s probably all blown out of proportion (just like bird flu), but I find it interesting to see if you will notice anything.

Talking about bird flu, it seems the hype is a bit over in Europe. First there were many reports on bird flu breaking out all over Eastern Europe, and later even Germany. But suddenly there are no reports anymore. Censorship in Europe? Or did the virus just disappear? Or did the media finally realize they were once again making an elephant out of a mouse?

This morning for the first time I had the feeling that autumn is starting (I don’t like to use the word ‘fall’, it sounds depressing). It was raining, a bit windy and the streets around my office were full of fallen leaves. Sitting in the back of a taxi it was interesting to observe people who were struggling to get a taxi as well (when it rains it is impossible to get a taxi on the streets, especially in the morning – that’s why I always reserve taxi’s in advance when driving to work).

Temperatures in Shanghai are still OK, today around 21 degrees Celcius (70 degrees F). But a week ago we still had 26 degrees, so it is getting cooler quickly now. I don’t look forward to the Shanghai winter. It is not really cold (it hardly ever drops below freezing), but because it is humid and none of the buildings have central heating it feels cold everywhere. Beijing winters, with its very cold but dry air, are much better. And at least you know that when you are cold outside, it will be warm inside the buildings.

Rebecca McKinnon, former bureau chief of CNN in China and an active blogger, was one of the participants of the Shanghai bloggercon last weekend. On her blog she wrote a post about it, and one issue she mentions there has been going through my head for the past couple of hours. She noticed that web 2.0 is potentially a very Chinese thing: at the core of web 2.0 is social networking and relationship building. And these are the bricks of the Chinese economy: guanxi (relationships).

Rebecca states it like this:
The Chinese economy functions today (to the extent that it does) thanks largely to personal relationship networks: networks that enable people to get stuff done despite bone-headed regulations, politics, logistical obstacles, and everything else. You are nothing in China – and can accomplish very little – without a good “guanxi” network. Expect Chinese internet users to seize upon Web 2.0 tools as a way to expand and deepen their human relationships, enhancing both personal lives and businesses.

I never really gave it much thought, but being an active participant on the internet in China can give you a much bigger network that can help you out in difficult situations. By following people’s blogs and commenting on them, you can get to know other people quite well (and they get to know you), without having physically met. Micah Sittig mentions this on his blog as well when he describes the blogger meeting:
“…this was the first time that many of these people had the chance to meet face-to-face, but the camraderie felt was deep because lots of these guys have been very good friends online for years”

This is of course true all over the world, but because you have to rely more on guanxi in China, it can have a much bigger impact here. Could a poor but intelligent migrant worker build a network through his blog and step up the social ladder because of the guanxi he can develop? Maybe, but he likely does not know about blogging yet and does not have the funds to go online. But this will come. There are smart people out there who otherwise just do not get the chance to show their skills.

The same is true for Chinese companies, building an online network can enhance your reputation in the business community in China. Through the guanxi you make it can directly or indirectly bring in new business, or help you make friends to solve your problems. The only problem is that most Chinese business owners here do not even read blogs yet. But I am sure that time will come sooner than many people expect. At the lastest when the current generation of students start working and bring their blogs with them.

I was preparing a presentation and did a Google image search on ‘China Internet’. I did this a few days ago as well, but then Google seemed to be very slow and did not show the pictures. When I tried it this morning I got the first few pictures, but the others did not display. Strange, because just before that I had done several image searches on other keywords without a problem. I tried other keywords, but from that moment on only got the message ‘the document contains no data’.

What does this mean? It seems that the search term ‘China internet’ is blocked in Google, at least for images. Once you hit a forbidden combination of keywords, as a punishment other image searches also do not work anymore. Luckily there is still Yahoo image search, which seems to have no problem with these keywords. I am starting to use Yahoo more and more lately for search (they are getting quite good!), and now I will also start using them for image search.

This week the Toodou.com team moved into its new office in an old warehouse on the Suzhou Creek. A good reason to throw a party, and so we did!

Coincidentally the party was the night before Shanghai Bloggercon, so many of the bloggers that made Toodou well-known were able to attend as well. Furthermore, the traditional media were there, several VC’s, and of course lots of friends. In total about 200 people showed up, and it was already busy before the official starting time of 8 PM.

To add to the fun, we decided to allow anybody to put graffiti on the white walls. At first only a few people made some paintings, but when one professional artist took out his airbrush suddenly everybody started to ‘help’. The result: a very colorful office! Interestingly, most people did not sign their creations with their names, but with their weblog addresses.

IDG, the company that invested in Toodou, also put its name on one of the pillars. But it seems that another VC (who I won’t name) was not so impressed with them, because a few minutes later he put a big cross through IDG’s name!

All pictures from the party can be viewed and downloaded here

Update: Just noticed that Fons Tuinstra already put an entry on his blog before I had a chance to write.

According to an article in the China Daily, the government has decided to introduce a black list of all companies and individuals that have offered bribes in sectors such as construction, finance, education, and government procurement. The hope is that this will reduce corruption.

But will it really? First of all giving bribes and kick-backs is so common that it will be a huge list. So I suppose only the big cases will end up there. Second, it could have the exact opposite effect. If someone needs vendors for the company he works for and is looking for some money on the side for himself, he can use the list to find suitable suppliers!

The article also includes a sentence I do not fully understand: “The maximum penalty for a bribe-taker is the death sentence. But in reality, punishment for bribe-takers is usually much heavier.” Does the China Daily employ any editors who check the articles before they are published?