Talk everywhere is of crisis and panic emanating from the US financial centers. Yet in China, a different yet familiar kind of crisis is playing itself out. 

Because of strict regulation and an overwhelming domestic focus, as FT.com put it, Chinese financial institutions are not overly exposed to US subprime-related assets or firms, yet China’s overall economy, with its reliance on exports and with China’s…

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By Eddie Choi 

The current financial tsunami has further weakened the US economy. Recently I was asked by friends and colleagues in the trade show industry for whether or not there would be decrease of the US buyers traveling in Hong Kong and China for visiting trade shows. I think the answer is quite obvious. As far as I know, the number of the US buyers who travel long-haul to visit sourcing trade shows has started declining since last year.

As a B2B marketer, this is my thought: even if the buyers stop traveling to visit trade shows, those sourcing and procurement jobs still need to be carried on. Will they do more online sourcing? It will be interesting to know if there is any correlation when there is a cutback in corporate expenses (I am talking mainly the spending for the long-haul sourcing trip), online sourcing activity will be increased. Read the rest of “Finding Buyers in Bad Economy” or post a comment

By Josh Gartner

For years economists have wondered whether the inevitable rising power of China was similar to Japan in the 1980s. If you remember (and that requires you to be over 22), people used to think that Japan was an unstoppable beast destined to take over the world. Movies and popular media frequently made reference to this, of in now-comical ways.

Among some of the most notable examples of this frenzy were Gung Ho (Ron Howard’s film), the scene in Back to the Future II when old Marty is talking to his Japanese bosses, and the hilariously out of date Rising Sun, which was a Michael Crichton book, turned into a movie only after Japan’s downfall had already become clear. The popular theory was that Japanese people were more dedicated to their work, and willing to put in longer hours than people in the West. This gap in work ethic meant that Japan was an unstoppable force in the global economy, and that we would all soon be working as mannies in Tokyo. Read the rest of “Is China the Next Japan?” or post a comment

Nowadays, anybody arriving at terminal 3 of Beijing Capital Airport disembarks at one of the largest and most modern terminals in the world. Due to the immensity of the building, passengers are transported to their terminals with trains and there is a subway connection to the other terminals. The situation in Shanghai is slightly different. Here people are suspended above the city as they travel into Shanghai with an average speed of 430 km/h in the only open to the public, magnetically driven Maglev train in the world.  

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Many entrepreneurs still consider China as the Shangri-la of infinite possibilities. The immense population and the annual ‘double-digit’ economic growth result in a projection of flashy Scrooge McDuck dollar signs in the eyes of numerous businessmen.

Of the ‘so-called’ 1,3 billion potential clients, an estimated 80% lives far away from the major cities with…

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