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While there is such a thing as a Chinese firewall, even here it is perfectly legal to have a VPN that allows you to browse anything, anytime, anywhere.  

Meaning, it is expresely permitted to mask your online activity. As long as the State does not make any money on getting you that online access.  We even pay for ours with our Chinese credit card...   Interesting, especially when happening the same week that China topped 500 million online users.

Remember back in school when you first saw a topographic map?  Some were even those three dimensional plastic things as big as a table that showed the lakes, rivers, mountains and such. They were like little models of the world that you could touch.  Totally cool when you're six. 

Well, I was always fascinated with them and when I was old enough to start sailing, it was a pretty easy transition to understanding the outlines of a coast, the depth of a channel, where the reefs were, etc... So, it is pretty cool that I make those for a living now here in Mainland China.

My maps come in the form of legal opinions, rather than in the fancy three dimensional colored plastic versions I first saw back in elemantary school - but they are maps, of a sort, just the same.

Sometimes, it does not matter who is right or wrong.  Life happens.  And while it is ok to lose your patience or your sense of humor for a few minutes every now and agian - there are times when you are swept up in a series of events that are going to beat you whether you like it or not.

We do a pretty good job of keeping these to a minimum with our clients.  But, every now and again you just get sideswiped.  When that happens the only thing you can do is recognize you have to pick your battles and move on.

A tree branch falls on the power lines during a snow storm?  Get out the candles and call it a romantic night at home.  A freighter runs aground in New Zealand?  Send all your customers a link to CNN and figure out how to push the restart button.

China is not behind an iron curtain, not formally anyway but it might help you to think it is sometimes...

For while there is a formal legal and financial system here, it is written to deal with the way the world works here...not where you come from.  This should not be a surprise but it still seems to cause great consternation when we are dealing with our clients.

Their law is written for their world and world view and particular circumstances and is not anti-anything really...

Yes, China is part of the world economy and things can ebb and flow into and out of China much more seamlessly than ever.  However, money flowing in or out crosses the border.  So, rather than worry about what you might be able to get away with inside China, the State here manages the choke point or bottleneck and leaves much of the rest alone as development charges on.   

There is an interesting argument going in the opinion / editorial pages of the local papers here.

To welcome the Year of the Dragon, China Post last week issued a stamp featuring an image of the mystical creature.  However, the design by Shenzhen-based Chen Shaohua has triggered controversey (among the Chinese themselves) as some have criticized the dragon stamp for appearing too ferocious and potentially damanging China's image abroad.

For example, writer Zhang Yiyi attacked Chen's design, saying it showed ignorance of how the dragon is seen in other cultures.

In response to the criticism, Chen Shaohua told the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily that he hoped his dragon would help exorcise evil spirits in 2012 and protect China's economy at a time of global financial turmoil.  

A couple of news items caught my attention this week.  Not so much for the underlying stories themselves, but more because of what they seemed to say about the world views of the socieites in which these events were unfolding.

Meaning, how much attention were the courts or legislators paying attention to the larger outside world, what did they think they could get away with and how far and how fast was it smart to change their society -- and in what direction?

One story was about The Church of Kopimism that was recognized in Sweden this week.  The other was about the gas price doubling in Nigeria overnight.

How does Secured Sourcing work?

X + 5% is how it works, meaning, the cost of your goods plus 5% that’s it.

No trading companies, no brokers, no agents, no commissions and no more worrying about pushing ‘send’ when transferring  funds for your next outsourced purchase in China.  You remain in contact with the shop floor on your orders, and we merely facilitate communications.  

We are not a trading company.  We act as local counsel to hundreds of companies from every corner of the world.  Now, after a decade of experience here on the ground, we are simply putting the lessons learned to work through Secured Sourcing.

A common tooling arrangement with a Chinese manufacturer outlines that a fixed number of production runs or units are required before the tooling is returned to you.   Sound familiar? 

If you have ever engaged in such an arrangement, you gave away your designs by approving the contract.  Here in China, a factory draws you in by offering to front the tooling costs to be returned to you after a certain time / production run period.  But, by doing so you have confirmed their ownership in perpetuity of both the tooling and the underlying design embedded in that tooling.  And because you gave your design away, you will never have a legally enforceable right to get it back.  I know there are varying opinions on this subject and if you want to pay someone a thousand dollars an hour to fight that fight for you, go ahead.  It will not work, but if it makes you feel better to buy your lawyer another yacht, so be it.  It is your money.

Let’s start with the basics.   While Hong Kong was ‘handed over’ to China in 1997, because of some unique treaty based obligations embedded in the Sino-British Joint Declaration first initialed in 1984, China and Hong Kong must be considered two separate countries for most business purposes, especially those dealing with outsourced manufacturing of goods. 

What about that contract you have with your ‘partners’ in Hong Kong?  Such an English language contract to procure goods over in Mainland China is not worth the paper it is written on if not also backed up with a China compliant contract in Chinese.   

Lawmaker in California Tries To Bring Loaded Gun On Plane and is cited for a misdemeanor. Huh?

Now, I know that I have not been in the United States for a long time, but I'm a bit surprised to see a Califronia lawmaker being cited for a misdemeanor and released after being caught trying to board a plane with a loaded gun.  "I apologize for the regrettable error that I made this morning," said Donnelly.  

 Um...sorry but what the hell?  Are you kidding me?  If anyone out there believes that would happen if he spoke Spanish, Farsi or Chinese as a first language then I have some swamp land for sale that I'd like to talk to you about.

I guess the point is that from out here it makes the US look pretty silly to be spending a zillion dollars on the TSA sexually assaulting people before they get on planes, while letting some white guy caught trying to board a plane with a loaded gun off the hook with an 'I'm sorry...'